Rapid entry of data and information on a reduced size input area
OwnerMichael Goreninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and device designed to improve the speed, accuracy, and ease of entry of characters and other symbols by a user. The device is designed to use a reduced size input area as an input source and optionally as a display screen. A set of characters or other symbols is divided into subsets, each subset being represented by a control button for display on the reduced size input area for user selection. A user's selection of a control button produces a secondary set of buttons representing the characters or other symbols in the selected subset for user selection, storage, and display.
Claims30
A device for use in inputting a set of characters or symbols, comprising:
- a set of control input mechanisms each of which has one character or symbol displayed thereon initially and is associated with a respective subset of characters or symbols;
- a set of secondary input mechanisms, wherein each secondary input mechanism is associated with a respective control input mechanism, and wherein each secondary input mechanism represents a specific character or symbol in said respective subset of characters or symbols;
- a display area for display of a user-selected character or symbol associated with a selected secondary input mechanism;
- and
- an input source for user selection of a control input mechanism and a secondary input mechanism.
A device for use in inputting a set of characters or other symbols, comprising:
- a viewing area including an input source and a display source;
- a plurality of control buttons each of which has one character or symbol displayed thereon initially and is associated with a respective subset of characters or symbols, and wherein said input source is used to activate said control buttons;
- a plurality of secondary buttons, wherein each secondary button is associated with a respective control button, and wherein each secondary button represents a specific character or symbol in said respective subset of characters or symbols;
- and
- wherein said display source is used to display a user-selected character or symbol associated with a selected secondary button.
A device comprising:
- a touch-sensitive input screen;
- a plurality of control buttons each of which has one character or symbol displayed thereon initially and is associated with a respective subset of characters or symbols, wherein said touch-sensitive input screen is used to display and activate said control buttons;
- and
- a plurality of secondary buttons, wherein each secondary button is associated with a respective control button, wherein each secondary button represents a specific character or symbol, and wherein said touch-sensitive input screen is used to display and activate said secondary buttons.
A method for receiving input with respect to and displaying information selected from a set of characters or symbols comprising the steps of:
- displaying a plurality of control buttons on an input source of a device, wherein each control button has one character or symbol displayed thereon initially and is associated with a respective subset of the set of characters or symbols;
- receiving a user selection of one of said control buttons from said input source;
- in response to receiving a user selection of one of said control buttons, displaying on said input source a plurality of secondary buttons each of which represents a respective character or symbol from the subset associated with said selected control button;
- receiving a user selection of one of said secondary buttons from said input source;
- and
- displaying the character or symbol represented by said selected secondary button on a viewing area of said device.
A method for receiving input with respect to and displaying information selected from a set of characters or symbols comprising the steps of:
- displaying a plurality of control buttons on a first input source, wherein each button has one character or symbol displayed thereon initially and is associated with a respective subset of the set of characters or symbols;
- receiving a user selection of one of said control buttons from said first input source;
- displaying a plurality of secondary buttons on a second input source, wherein each secondary button represents a specific character or symbol from the subset associated with said selected control button;
- receiving a user selection of one of said secondary buttons from said second input source;
- storing said selected character or symbol on a storage medium;
- and
- displaying the selected character or symbol.
A computer readable medium having instructions stored therein which when executed causes the following steps to be performed:
- displaying a plurality of control buttons on an input source of a device, wherein each control button has one character or symbol displayed thereon initially and is associated with a respective subset of the set of characters or symbols;
- receiving a user selection of one of said control buttons from said input source;
- in response to receiving a user selection of one of said control buttons, displaying on said input source a plurality of secondary buttons each of which represents a respective character or symbol from the subset associated with said selected control button;
- receiving a user selection of one of said secondary buttons from said input source;
- and
- displaying the character or symbol represented by said selected secondary button on a viewing area of said device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.