Constructing Chinese characters: keypad design for mobile phones

Increased use of mobile phones and associated services in China highlights the need for effective Chinese input methods for mobile devices. Mapping thousands of characters to a standard telephone keypad is a significant challenge. Structure-based methods provide an appealing known-character/known-code solution, but assigning multiple strokes to each key forces users to learn new, often unfamiliar, mappings. Using an established stroke input method, our study revealed important effects of keypad legend on performance. Novice user performance was evaluated with several alternative keypad designs. The results confirmed that both abstract symbols and concrete examples helped improve the usability of the keypad in Chinese text-entry tasks. Further, combining abstract symbols and concrete examples resulted in performance nearly tripling as compared to the original design. The stroke-to-key mapping accuracy also increased significantly. Handwriting analysis confirmed that the reduced errors are directly associated with the keypad-based text-entry technique.     

Constructing Chinese characters: keypad design for mobile phones

Increased use of mobile phones and associated services in China highlights the need for effective Chinese input methods for mobile devices. Mapping thousands of characters to a standard telephone keypad is a significant challenge. Structure-based methods provide an appealing known-character/known-code solution, but assigning multiple strokes to each key forces users to learn new, often unfamiliar, mappings. Using an established stroke input method, our study revealed important effects of keypad legend on performance. Novice user performance was evaluated with several alternative keypad designs. The results confirmed that both abstract symbols and concrete examples helped improve the usability of the keypad in Chinese text-entry tasks. Further, combining abstract symbols and concrete examples resulted in performance nearly tripling as compared to the original design. The stroke-to-key mapping accuracy also increased significantly. Handwriting analysis confirmed that the reduced errors are directly associated with the keypad-based text-entry technique.     

Improvised layout of keypad entry system for mobile phones

In this paper, we present a critical review of the current layout of alphabets on a mobile keypad and seek to improvise it for optimized text entry to facilitate user interaction with or without the use of predictive text input techniques. Currently, most mobile phones use multi-press as the preferred method of text entry though they also offer word-based disambiguation schemes. However, keypad layouts are not optimized for text entry using word based disambiguation schemes as several matches exist for the same numeric combination, some of which are frequently used words. This scheme effectively slows down text entry speeds, requiring more tapping for disambiguating matches. The proposed model seeks to reduce the number of matches for any possible numeric combinations, by optimization of keypad layout by repositioning alphabets on the keypad. For users not using dictionary, our model requires lesser tapping for commonly used alphabets and groups commonly used key combinations together such as in a computer keyboard.The proposed model was derived by simulation of the mobile phone keypad on a computer system and it uses cognitive agents to derive the most optimum keypad layout. Our model uses frequently used English words from a dictionary and attempts to minimize the number of matches for any given numeric key combinations, though the same could easily be duplicated for other languages. The model is expected to cause a significant rise in the text input speeds of mobile phones and other embedded devices with limited text entry capabilities, leading to better usability and customer satisfaction.     

新音形编码汉字输入法设计

针对当前汉字输入法普遍存在的不足,提出了一种新音形编码汉字输入法,即利用汉字的首拼音、韵母及组成汉字的基本笔画和少数高频部件来对汉字编码,是对以前笔画和音形编码汉字输入法的改进。它既有笔画输入法低重码率、输入高效的特点,又切合广大拼音输入法用户的输入习惯,能够很好地满足多种用户群的需求。阐述了这种编码输入法对汉字的编码规则,对各编码的按键分布及重码率进行详实的统计,深入分析论证了其重码率低的优点,简要介绍了这种输入法在Android平台下的实现。     

Human factors design considerations for public videotex input devices

Eight experiments which formed an integral part of a comprehensive human factors investigation on the design of an input device for public videotex services are reported. Results of the first phase led to the design and construction of two simple keypad devices: a linear configuration, with function keys and numerics arranged in horizontal rows, and a square arrangement, with the function keys clustered around a touch-telephone numeric layout. Evaluation of these keypads with 130 novice users was carried out in Phase Two. While there was little difference in performance between the two pads, an interaction between user preference and duration of use was apparent. A slight preference was indicated for the linear pad on initial presentation but preference shifted towards the square arrangement as the duration of use increased. In the third, and major, phase of the research programme, the two simple keypads were compared with a small alphanumeric keypad and a full-sized keyboard. Results showed that novice users consistently performed best with the simple pads and showed a clear preference for these devices over the alphanumeric keypad and full keyboard. The experienced users, who had been trained on the full-sized keyboard, showed no advantage in performance with this device over the simple pads or the alphanumeric keypad but did indicate a clear preference for the keyboard. These results confirm that, with respect to input devices for public videotex systems, differential requirements exist for different types of users. For a diverse group such as the general public, a minimal function keypad appears to be the best compromise device for simple information retrieval tasks.     

利用小键盘输入汉字的思路与实现

通过对汉字输入法录入形式的比较,以及对汉字输入法特征及数字键的分析,提出利用数字小键盘实现汉字输入技术的思路和办法,并用C语言实现,达到数字键也能方便输入汉字的效果,并能应用于各种具有数字小键盘设备的汉字输入。     

基于嵌入式平台的手写汉字识别系统的设计

随着移动技术与相关技术的迅速发展,手机、个人掌上电脑(PDA)、笔记本电脑等各种电子设备变得流行,它们已成为人们工作和娱乐必不可少的随身用品。对于各种移动电子设备在中国的推广使用,汉字输入是一个必须考虑的问题。传统的输入方式大多使用键盘,不论是笔记本电脑使用的标准键盘,还是各手机厂商设计的简化键盘,都是使用键盘采集信息,然后通过汉语拼音或者笔画输入等方式完成汉字输入。对于嵌入式小型设备来说,原有键盘设计引起占用空间大和输入汉字效率低等诸多问题。如何解决这些问题,同时保证设备足够的显示空间,又不添加新的复杂硬件设备。一种叫做触摸屏手写汉字输入的技术越来越受到人们的推崇。以Windows CE 5.0为运行平台,Embedded Visual C 4.0,为开发环境,设计和实现了一套屏幕手写识别系统,不仅能对现有汉字进行有效识别,用户还可以根据需要自行对字库扩展,有助于提高汉字的识别率。     

基于嵌入式平台的手写汉字识别系统的设计

随着移动技术与相关技术的迅速发展,手机、个人掌上电脑（PDA）、笔记本电脑等各种电子设备变得流行．它们已成为人们工作和娱乐必不可少的随身用品。对于各种移动电子设备在中国的推广使用．汉字输入是一个必须考虑的问题。传统的输入方式大多使用键盘,不论是笔记本电脑使用的标准键盘,还是各手机厂商设计的简化键盘,都是使用键盘采集信息,然后通过汉语拼音或者笔画输入等方式完成汉字输入。对于嵌入式小型设备来说．原有键盘设计引起占用空间大和输入汉字效率低等诸多问题。如何解决这些问题,同时保证设备足够的显示空间,又不添加新的复杂硬件设备。一种叫做触摸屏手写汉字输入的技术越来越受到人们的推崇。以Windows CE5．0为运行平台,Embedded Visual C＋＋ 4．0,为开发环境,设计和实现了一套屏幕手写识别系统,不仅能对现有汉字进行有效识别．用户还可以根据需要自行对字库扩展．有助于提高汉字的识别率．     

基于日志分析的中文输入法用户行为研究

与拼音文字不同,用户在进行中文输入时需要借助输入法软件完成从拼音串到汉字串的转换过程,输入法因此成为中文用户进行人机交互的基础性工具,而输入法的相关技术研发也一直是学术界与产业界的关注热点。在中文输入法技术的研究中,用户的行为特点对输入法软件的词库建立、算法设计、交互方式设计与性能评价等多方面都有着至关重要的作用,但由于数据获取与分析的困难,这方面的相关研究尚不多见。该文利用某中文输入法在用户许可下收集的超过4.1亿条用户输入行为记录,进行了中文输入法用户行为的分析研究,针对不同类别应用程序的输入词频差异,不同用户在同类应用程序中的不同候选词条的选择等行为特点进行了挖掘分析,研究结果会对深入了解中文输入法用户行为,进而改进输入法软件性能具有一定的指导意义。     

基于规则库的汉字输入法自动评测系统的设计

汉字编码输入法是汉字输入电脑的主要方式。对输入法进行科学评价,从而帮助软件开发人员和输入法用户进行自我改进或评估,有其十分积极的意义。本文在实际应用基础上,提出了通过汉字输入系统输入规则库的建立,在选定的输入法状态下,通过计算机自动模拟汉字输入得到输入法码本,并以码本为基础根据信息技术国家标准完成输入法性能自动评价的思路。     

What input errors do you experience? Typing and pointing errors of mobile Web users

Small devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) are widely used to access the World Wide Web (Web). However, accessing the Web from small devices is affected by poor interface bandwidth, such as small keyboards and limited pointing devices. There is little empirical work investigating the input difficulties caused by such insufficient facilities, however, anecdotal evidence suggests that there is a link between able-bodied users of the mobile Web and motor impaired users of the Web on desktop computers. This being the case we could transfer the solutions which already exists for motor impaired users into the mobile Web and vice versa. This paper presents a user study that investigates the input errors of mobile Web users in both typing and pointing. The study identifies six types of typing errors and three types of pointing errors shared between our two user domains. We find that mobile Web users often confuse the different characters located on the same key, press keys that are adjacent to the target key, and miss certain key presses. When using a stylus, they also click in the wrong places, slide the stylus during multiple clicks, and make errors when dragging. Our results confirm that despite using different input devices, mobile Web users share common problems with motor impaired desktop users; and we therefore surmise that it will be beneficial to transfer available solutions between these user domains in order to address their common problems.     

A Listening Keyboard for Users with Motor Impairments—A Usability Study

Computer users with motor impairments find it difficult and, in many cases, impossible to access PC functionality through the physical keyboard-and-mouse interface. Studies show that even able-bodied users experience similar difficulties when interacting with mobile devices; this is due to the reduced size/usability of the input interfaces. Advances in speech recognition have made it possible to design speech interfaces for alphanumeric data entry and indirect manipulation (cursor control). Although several related commercial applications exist, such systems do not provide a complete solution for arbitrary keyboard and mouse access, such as the access needed for, say, typing, compiling, and executing a C++ program.We carried out a usability study to support the development of a speech user interface for arbitrary keyboard access and mouse control. The study showed that speech interaction with an ideal listening keyboard is better for users with motor impairments than handstick, in terms of task completion time (37% better), typing rate (74% better), and error rates (63% better). We believe that these results apply to both permanent and task-induced motor impairments. In particular, a follow-up experiment showed that handstick approximates conventional modes of alphanumeric input available on mobile devices (e.g., PDAs, cellular phones, and personal organizers). These modes of input include miniaturized keyboards, stylus soft keyboards, cellular phone numberpads, and handwriting recognition software. This result suggests that a listening keyboard would be an effective mode for alphanumeric input on future mobile devices.This study contributed to the development of SUITEKeys—a speech user interface for arbitrary keyboard and mouse access available for MS platforms as freeware.     

Enhanced auditory feedback for Korean touch screen keyboards

With the increasing popularity of touch screen mobile devices, improving the usability and the user experience while inputting text on these devices is becoming increasingly important. Most conventional touch screen keyboards on mobile devices rely heavily on visual feedback, while auditory feedback seldom includes any useful information about what is being inputted by the user. The auditory feedback usually simply replicates the sounds produced by a physical keyboard. This paper describes the development of an enhanced auditory feedback mechanism for a Korean touch screen keyboard called the enhanced auditory feedback (EAF) mechanism. EAF has subtle phonetic auditory feedback generated using the acoustic phonetic features of human speech. While typing with EAF, users can acquire non-invasive auditory clues about the keys pressed. In this work, we compare conventional auditory feedback for a touch screen keyboard used in touch screen mobile devices with that of EAF and explore the possibility of using enhanced auditory feedback for touch screen keyboards.     

面向连续叠写的高精简中文手写识别方法研究

连续手写识别是中文手写输入技术的核心,自然、快捷地输入中文信息一直是模式识别乃至人工智能领域追求的目标。提出了一种有效克服小屏幕限制的连续叠写汉字识别方法。该方法基于切分-识别集成的解码框架,先使用过切分算法处理输入的书写轨迹;然后启用一种新颖的感知机算法判定字符的边界;随后采用来自字符分类模型、几何模型和语言模型的多种上下文信息进行路径解码。为适应不同类型的移动终端,特别提出了一种高效压缩字符分类模型的方法,以有效减少字符识别过程对存储和内存的占用。该识别方法已在Android平台上部署,并进行了大规模的测试实验。实验结果证实了该识别方法的性能和效率。     

基于实时样本采集的个性化手写汉字输入系统设计

手写汉字识别是手写汉字输入的基础。目前智能设备中的手写汉字输入法无法根据用户的汉字书写习惯,动态调整识别模型以提升手写汉字的正确识别率。通过对最新深度学习算法及训练模型的研究,提出了一种基于用户手写汉字样本实时采集的个性化手写汉字输入系统的设计方法。该方法将采集用户的手写汉字作为增量样本,通过对服务器端训练生成的手写汉字识别模型的再次训练,使识别模型能够更好地适应该用户的书写习惯,提升手写汉字输入系统的识别率。最后,在该理论方法的基础上,结合新设计的深度残差网络,进行了手写汉字识别的对比实验。实验结果显示,通过引入实时采集样本的再次训练,手写汉字识别模型的识别率有较大幅度的提升,能够更有效的满足用户在智能设备端对手写汉字输入系统的使用需求。     

Chinese character entry for mobile phones: a longitudinal investigation

The increasing popularity of Short Message Services (SMS) in China highlights the need for effective and efficient methods for entering Chinese text on mobile phones. While stroke-based methods have potential advantages over pronunciation-based solutions, usability issues have limited the effectiveness of existing stroke-based methods. One significant usability challenge has been the ambiguous stroke-to-key mapping rules that are typically employed. We proposed a new solution that employs a combination of abstract symbols and example strokes to help users map strokes to keys more effectively. A longitudinal experiment was used to evaluate character entry performance using both objective and subjective measures for our new design as well as the existing solution. The results confirmed that a new design allows for improved performance as well as higher satisfaction levels as compared to the original design. Further, after approximately 1 h of experience with the stroke-based method, novices were able to enter Chinese text at speeds comparable to that observed with the pronunciation-based Pinyin method. Results showed that the new design provided users with a better understanding of the system throughout the study, beginning with their first exposure to the keypad. By utilizing a combination of abstract representations and concrete examples of the available strokes, the new design reduced the ambiguity that typically exists regarding stroke-to-key mappings. In this way, usability was improved without any changes to the underlying technologies. Our results demonstrate that stroke-based solutions for Chinese character entry can be effective alternatives for mobile phones, providing an effective alternative for the many individuals who can write Chinese but do not speak the Mandarin dialect that serves as the basis for Pinyin. The improved solution could also be used with a traditional numeric keypad to allow one-handed data entry for desktop or mobile computers.     

一种手机数字键盘的维吾尔文字母输入法

介绍了一种基于PDA和手机上的维吾尔文字母输入方法,确定了数字键盘上维吾尔文字母键盘布局,采用键位加数字选择的方法完成维吾尔文字符的输入。     

一种手机数字键盘的维吾尔文字母输入法

介绍了一种基于PDA和手机上的维吾尔文字母输入方法，确定了数字键盘上维吾尔文字母键盘布局，采用键住加数字选择的方法完成维吾尔文字符的输入。     

A mobile environment for sketching-based skeleton generation

Articulated character animation is typically performed by manually creating and rigging a skeleton into an unfolded 3D object. However, such tasks are not trivial, as they require a substantial amount of training and practices. Although automatic skeleton extraction methods have been proposed, they generally may not guarantee that the resulting skeleton can help produce desired animations according to user intention. In this paper, we present a sketching-based skeleton generation method suitable for use in the mobile environment. This method takes user sketching as an input, and based on the mesh segmentation result of a 3D object, it estimates a skeleton for articulated character animation. In addition, we are currently developing a Web-based mobile platform to support mesh editing by a group of collaborative users and we depict the system architecture of such a platform. Results show that our method can produce better skeletons in terms of joint positions and topological structure.     

Directional bias in scrolling tasks: a study of users' scrolling behaviour using a mobile text-entry strategy

Mobile devices with limited interaction controls often employ cyclic scrolling for retrieval tasks. In this paper the scrolling behaviour of users entering text using a tree-key input technique based on two-phase cyclic character scrolling is studied. The results show that users have a tendency to scroll more from left-to-right than from right-to-left. However, users do also use the right-to-left functionality to both speed up their text entry task by choosing the shortest path and to make navigational corrections, suggesting that it is appropriate to provide bidirectional scrolling functionality in user interfaces on constrained mobile devices. In situations where a device architect is constrained to providing only unidirectional scrolling, the results suggest that a right-directional design is preferred over a left-directional design.