US Patent 7057607 Application-independent text entry for touch-sensitive display

A user interface method and apparatus for an electronic device operates by detecting (108) a stroke of a touch sensitive display (170) forming a part of the electronic device. The stroke is categorized (116) as one of a swish type stroke and a non-swish type stroke. If the stroke is a non-swish stroke, it is translated (132) into an application function. If the stroke is a swish stroke, it is converted (128) to a character input function. The touch sensitive display (170) has a grid (50) containing cells (51, 53, etc.), with each cell containing a plurality of characters, and the grid can overlay application interface to thereby occupying a common area, up to and including the entire area, of the touch sensitive display (170).