Overlay keyboard for touch screen devices

A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising instructions for:

• displaying a virtual keyboard on the touch screen of the device so that at least a subset of a plurality of physical keys of a physical keyboard overlaid on the virtual keyboard correspond to a plurality of virtual keys of the virtual keyboard, and where actuation of each of the subset of physical keys of the physical keyboard would trigger a corresponding virtual key of the virtual keyboard, wherein the physical keyboard is configured for being removably attached to the touch screen of a handheld limited-display device, wherein the touch screen supports visual display of a limited-size virtual keyboard having a plurality of virtual keys, wherein the physical keyboard overlay comprises a plurality of physical keys, wherein one or more physical keys of the plurality of physical keys directly correspond to one or more corresponding virtual keys, wherein the physical keyboard comprises at least a first physical key that is positioned over a corresponding first virtual key by a first alignment offset, such that the first physical key does not directly overlay the corresponding first virtual key, when the physical keyboard overlay is removably attached to the handheld limited-display device, and wherein at least a first actuator in a diagonal operational relationship with both the first physical key and the corresponding first virtual key, wherein the first actuator engages the first virtual key, in response to user interaction with the first physical key.

A system, comprising:

• a physical keyboard overlay configured for being removably attached to a touch screen display of a touch screen of a handheld limited-display device, wherein the touch screen display supports visual display of a limited-size virtual keyboard having a plurality of virtual keys,
• wherein the physical keyboard overlay comprises a plurality of physical keys, wherein one or more physical keys of the plurality of physical keys directly correspond to one or more corresponding virtual keys,
• wherein the physical keyboard overlay comprises at least a first physical key that is positioned over a corresponding first virtual key by a first alignment offset, such that the first physical key does not directly overlay the corresponding first virtual key, when the physical keyboard overlay is removably attached to the handheld limited-display device,
• wherein at least a first actuator in a diagonal operational relationship with both the first physical key and the corresponding first virtual key, wherein the first actuator engages the first virtual key, in response to user interaction with the first physical key, and
• wherein a physical key of a row of the plurality of physical keys of the physical keyboard is aligned in a same direction as a plurality of other physical keys of the row.