Handheld electronic device with text disambiguation
View Patent ↗A handheld electronic device includes a reduced QWERTY keyboard and is enabled with disambiguation software. The device provides output in the form of a default output and a number of variants. The output is based largely upon the frequency, i.e., the likelihood that a user intended a particular output, but various features of the device provide additional variants that are not based solely on frequency and rather are provided by various logic structures resident on the device. The device enables editing during text entry and also provides a learning function that allows the disambiguation function to adapt to provide a customized experience for the user. The disambiguation function can be selectively disabled and an alternate keystroke interpretation system provided. Additionally, the device can facilitate the selection of variants by displaying a graphic of a special <NEXT> key of the keypad that enables a user to progressively select variants generally without changing the position of the user's hands on the device.
1. A method of enabling input into a handheld electronic device, the handheld electronic device including an input apparatus, an output apparatus, and a memory having a plurality of objects stored therein, the plurality of objects including a plurality of language objects and a plurality of frequency objects, each of at least a portion of the language objects of the plurality of language objects being associated with an associated frequency object of the plurality of frequency objects, the input apparatus including a plurality of linguistic input members, each of at least a portion of the linguistic input members of the plurality of linguistic input members having a plurality of linguistic elements assigned thereto, the method comprising:
detecting an ambiguous input comprising a number of actuations of a number of linguistic input members;
responsive to detecting a first actuation of said number of actuations, initiating a language entry session on the handheld electronic device;
with each actuation of the number of actuations, building up an input sequence and outputting a disambiguated interpretation of the input sequence;
detecting a delimiter input that does not additionally include an input of a <SPACE> from the input apparatus; and
responsive to said detecting a delimiter input, terminating the language entry session;
detecting a post-termination actuation of a linguistic input member of the plurality of linguistic input members without a movement of a caret beyond an end of the disambiguated interpretation; and
responsive to said detecting a post-termination actuation of a linguistic input member of the plurality of linguistic input members without a movement of a caret beyond an end of the disambiguated interpretation, reinitiating said language entry session by adding the post-termination actuation to the input sequence and outputting a disambiguated interpretation of the input sequence.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining that a focus of the handheld electronic device is on a location adjacent said language entry session, and detecting as said post-termination actuation an actuation of a linguistic input member of the plurality of linguistic input members effective at the location.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting as the delimiter input that does not additionally include an input of a <SPACE> one of an actuation of an <ENTER> key of the input apparatus and a translation of a rotatable thumbwheel of the input apparatus.
4. A handheld electronic device comprising:
an input apparatus;
an output apparatus; and
a processor apparatus;
the processor apparatus including a processor and a memory having a plurality of objects stored therein, the plurality of objects including a plurality of language objects and a plurality of frequency objects, each of at least a portion of the language objects of the plurality of language objects being associated with an associated frequency object of the plurality of frequency objects;
the input apparatus including a plurality of linguistic input members, each of at least a portion of the linguistic input members of the plurality of linguistic input members having a plurality of linguistic elements assigned thereto;
the processor apparatus being adapted to detect an ambiguous input comprising a number of actuations of a number of linguistic input members;
responsive to detecting a first actuation of said number of actuations, the processor apparatus being adapted to initiate a language entry session on the handheld electronic device;
with each actuation of the number of actuations, the processor apparatus being adapted to build up an input sequence and output a disambiguated interpretation of the input sequence;
the processor apparatus being adapted to detect a delimiter input that does not additionally include an input of a <SPACE> from the input apparatus; and
responsive to said detecting a delimiter input, the processor apparatus being adapted to terminate the language entry session;
the processor apparatus being adapted to detect a post-termination actuation of a linguistic input member of the plurality of linguistic input members without a movement of a caret beyond an end of the disambiguated interpretation; and
responsive to said detecting a post-termination actuation of a linguistic input member of the plurality of linguistic input members without a movement of a caret beyond an end of the disambiguated interpretation, the processor apparatus being adapted to reinitiate said language entry session by adding the post-termination actuation to the input sequence and outputting a disambiguated interpretation of the input sequence.