Patent Summary In-Part

Apple has 20 paragraphs in their patent summary alone on this subject matter and so we've only presented a summary in-part below. This is a very detailed patent and one that could only be truly appreciated by those living in China.

Methods, systems, and computer program products, for inputting text are disclosed. In one aspect, an interface for entering electronic text on a touch-sensitive display device is disclosed. The interface includes a virtual keyboard consisting of a first key plane and a second key plane. The first key plane includes a set of initial phonetic symbols of a phonetic alphabet. The second key plane includes a set of final phonetic symbols of the phonetic alphabet. The first key plane and the second key plane are touch-sensitive and operable to receive user input directed toward each of the phonetic symbols to generate electronic text input. The virtual keyboard switches between the first key plane and the second key plane in response to predetermined user input triggers received on the virtual keyboard.

In some implementations, the first key plane further includes a set of medial phonetic symbols of the phonetic alphabet. In some implementations, the second key plane further includes a set of medial phonetic symbols of the phonetic alphabet. In some implementations, the second key plane further includes a set of tone marks associated with the phonetic alphabet. In some implementations, the first and the second key planes both include an identical set of medial phonetic symbols of the phonetic alphabet. In some implementations, the phonetic symbols are Zhuyin symbols of a Chinese Zhuyin alphabet and are arranged in horizontal rows on the first and the second key planes in predetermined phonetic groups of the Chinese Zhuyin alphabet. In some implementations, the first and the second key planes each includes a shift key for switching between the first and the second key planes. In some implementations, the predetermined user input triggers include a user selecting one of the set of initial phonetic symbols of the phonetic alphabet on the first key plane. In some implementations, the predetermined user input triggers include a user selecting one of the set of tone marks associated with the phonetic alphabet on the second key plane. In some implementations, the predetermined user input triggers include a user selecting a shift key on the first or the second key plane that is operable to trigger key plane switching in the virtual keyboard between the first and the second key planes. In some implementations, the predetermined user input triggers include a user deleting a last-entered initial phonetic symbol in a text input stream while the second key plane is being presented. In some implementations, the predetermined user input triggers include a user deleting a last-entered tone mark in a text input stream while the first key plane is being presented.

In some implementations, the secondary key plane further includes a set of tone marks associated with the phonetic alphabet. In some implementations, the primary key plane further includes a set of medial phonetic symbols of the phonetic alphabet. In some implementations, the second key plane further includes a set of medial phonetic symbols of the phonetic alphabet. In some implementations, the first and the second key planes each further includes an identical set of medial phonetic symbols of the phonetic alphabet. In some implementations, the phonetic symbols are Zhuyin symbols of a Chinese Zhuyin alphabet and are arranged in horizontal rows on the first and the second key planes in predetermined phonetic groups of the Chinese Zhuyin alphabet. In some implementations, the primary and the secondary key planes each includes a shift key that is operable to trigger key plane switching in the virtual keyboard between the primary and the secondary key planes when invoked by user input. In some implementations, while presenting the primary key plane of the virtual keyboard, a second user input invoking the shift key on the primary key plane is received. Upon the second user input being received, the secondary key plane of the virtual keyboard is presented in place of the primary key plane. In some implementations, while presenting the secondary key plane of the virtual keyboard, a second user input invoking the shift key on the secondary key plane is received. Upon the second user input being received, the primary key plane of the virtual key board is presented in place of the secondary key plane. In some implementations, a second user input selecting one of the tone marks on the secondary key plane is received. Upon the second user input being received, the primary key plane of the virtual keyboard is presented in place of the secondary key plane. In some implementations, after the second user input is received and while the primary key plane is being presented, a third user input deleting the selected tone mark is received. Upon the third user input being received, the secondary key plane of the virtual key board is presented in place of the primary key plane. In some implementations, while the secondary key plane is being presented, a second user input deleting the selected initial phonetic symbol is received. Upon the second user input being received, the primary key plane of the virtual keyboard is presented in place of the secondary key plane.

Zhuyin Symbols Table

Apple's patent FIG. 3 is a table including Zhuyin symbols of a Zhuyin phonetic alphabet for inputting Chinese characters.

Other Patent Figures

Apple's Patent FIGS. 5A to 5J illustrate an example process for entering text on the example user interface shown in FIGS. 4A-4B. Patent FIGS. 6A-6B illustrate an example process for input correction (e.g., deleting a previously entered input symbol) on the example user interface shown in FIGS. 4A-4B.

Apple credits Chia-Chi Chou as the sole inventor of patent application 20100231523, originally filed in Q2 2009.

Another Noteworthy Patent Application Published Today

Patent: Efficient Service Discovery for Peer-to-Peer Networking Devices

This particular Apple patent is about techniques for discovering and/or advertising services. A service as described in the patent may be any one of a variety of applications or other facilities such as multi-player games (e.g. a card game on each of several devices, etc.) or collaborative applications (e.g. music creation applications, one on each of a plurality of devices, or document creation or authoring applications, one on each of a plurality of devices, etc.) or social networking applications (e.g. a Facebook application on each of a plurality of devices, or a LinkedIn application on each of a plurality of devices or a MySpace application on each of a plurality of devices, etc.), or voice chat applications, or text chat applications or instant messaging applications, etc.

For more information see patent application 20100235525.

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