The Soft Input Panel (also called S.I.P.) is a special on-screen input method for devices which do not have standard hardware keyboards. SIP is commonly used in Microsoft

Pocket PC A Pocket PC (P/PC, PPC) is a class of personal digital assistant (PDA) that runs the Windows Mobile or Windows Embedded Compact operating system that has some of the abilities of modern desktop PCs. The name was introduced by Microsoft in 2000 ...

and Tablet PC devices, where there is no room for a hardware keyboard. In

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

there is a similar on-screen keyboard used as a Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) which also has an ability to change its layout according to current keyboard language and key layout. It was patented by Microsoft in November 2004 under the patent number 6819315.US Patent 6819315 - Soft input panel system and method

References

{{Reflist Accessibility API Windows administration Microsoft Tablet PC Smartphones Computer-related introductions in 2004