Tsinghua University

Shuming Xu

Chen Yang

Xiaorong Gao

Bingchuan Liu

Xinyi Yan

The present invention provides a virtual keyboard for inputting Chinese characters and a configuring method thereof, an input method, and a Chinese character input system. The configuring method includes the following steps: setting a geometric layout of the virtual keyboard; and setting initials and finals on available keys of the virtual keyboard respectively using a cost function-based search algorithm so as to obtain an optimal layout of initial keys and final keys, wherein the initial keys and the final keys in the optimal layout are set based on a minimum cost function value for spelling all Chinese syllables, and the minimum cost function value is a minimum sum of weighted distances of the initial keys and the final keys for all the Chinese syllables. When the Chinese characters are input by the virtual keyboard obtained by this method, the number of operation times and the movement distance can be reduced effectively and thus the input efficiency of the Chinese characters and the usability of the virtual keyboard are greatly improved.

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Beijing, China

Shuming Xu