Granted Patent B2

US 8,036,878 · App. 11/131,867 · Granted Oct 11, 2011

Abstract

Claims (67)

1. A device, comprising:

a display screen for displaying m-words of data;

a text entry device for entering data;

a processor receiving data from the text entry device and causing it to be displayed on the display screen;

a nonvolatile memory storing a pre-defined x-gram dictionary containing a plurality of entries, each said entry including an index, a candidate word and a frequency;

said processor selecting a list of n-number of candidate words from said dictionary whose index matches the a precursor, where n>1;

said processor causing m-number of candidate words from said list of candidate words to be displayed on said display screen, where m>1;

said processor causing the display to prompt the user to select one of the displayed candidate words or enter a desired word using said text entry device;

wherein upon initial activation and before entry of data into a text field in said text entry device said processor initializes a precursor to a predefined word and wherein the predefined word is selected from the x-gram dictionary from among the plurality of entries as the word associated with the highest order of frequency count and after entry or selection of a word using said text entry device said processor setting the precursor to equal the word selected or entered by the user,

said processor selecting a list of n-number of candidate words from said dictionary whose index matches the precursor, where n>1;

whereby said precursor provides a context for predicting a next word to be entered into said text entry device.

2. The device according to claim 1 , wherein:

said precursor is greater than one word in length, and in response to the selection of a candidate word, said processor updates the precursor by appending the selected or entered word to the end of the precursor and deleting the leading word, selects a new list of candidate words whose index matches the precursor and causes the display to prompt the user to either select one of the displayed candidate words or enter a desired word using said text entry device.

3. The device according to claim 1 , wherein said dictionary containing a frequency associated with at least selected ones of the plurality of entries, said candidate words are displayed on the display screen in an order corresponding to their respective frequency.

4. The device according to claim 1 , wherein if m, the number of words capable of being displayed on the display screen is less than n, the number of candidate words retrieved, then said processor causes m-number of candidate words having the highest frequency from said list of candidate words to be displayed on said display screen.

5. The device according to claim 1 , wherein:

said precursor comprises at least one word; and

if m, the number of words capable of being displayed on the display screen is greater than n, the number of candidate words retrieved, then said processor causes n-number of candidate words from said list of candidate words to be displayed on said display screen, and if said precursor is greater than or equal 2 then the processor deletes the leading word from the precursor, selects a supplemental list of candidate words from said dictionary whose index matches the precursor, and displays m-n number of said supplemental candidate words to be displayed on said display screen.

6. The device according to claim 5 , wherein said candidate words are displayed on the display screen in an order corresponding to their respective frequency.

7. The device according to claim 1 , wherein said processor periodically updates the frequency of selected said candidate words stored in said nonvolatile memory to reflect a frequency of usage.

8. The device according to claim 1 , wherein if said processor is unable to find a match between at least one said index stored in said dictionary and said precursor, then said processor creates a new entry in said dictionary in which said precursor is the index and the candidate word is the word entered using said text entry device.

9. The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor causes selected said candidate words from the selected list to be displayed whose initial character(s) match the character(s) entered using said text entry device.

10. The device according to claim 1 , wherein said processor causes the display screen to display only candidate words whose score exceeds a threshold value.

11. The device according to claim 1 , wherein:

said precursor comprises at least one word; and

if n, the number of candidate words retrieved is a threshold number of words greater than m, the number of words capable of being displayed on the display screen, then said processor increases the size of the precursor by one word, and selects a list of candidate words from said dictionary whose index matches the precursor.

12. A method for inputting text to be displayed on a display screen of a device where the display screen is capable of displaying m-words of data, comprising the steps:

providing a pre-defined x-gram dictionary containing a plurality of entries, each said entry including an index, a candidate word and a frequency;

selecting, from the dictionary, a list of n-number of candidate words whose index matches a precursor, where n>1;

causing m-number of candidate words from said list of candidate words to be displayed on said display screen, where m>1; and

prompting the user to select one of the displayed candidate words or enter a word;

receiving text input and causing the selected or entered word to be displayed on the display screen;

upon initial activation of the device and before text is input into a text field of the device, initializing the precursor to a predefined word, wherein the predefined word is selected from the x-gram dictionary from among the plurality of entries as the word associated with the highest order of frequency count, and after the user selects or enters a word, said processor setting the precursor to equal the word selected or entered by the user; and

selecting, from the dictionary, a list of n-number of candidate words whose index matches the precursor;

whereby the precursor provides a context for predicting a next word to be entered into the entry device.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein said candidate words are displayed on the display screen in an order corresponding to their respective score.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the precursor is greater than one word in length and in response to the selection of a candidate word, the precursor is updated by appending the selected candidate word to the end of the precursor and deleting the leading word;

selecting a new list of candidate words whose index matches the precursor; and

prompting the user to either select one of the displayed candidate words or enter a desired word.

15. The method according to claim 12 , comprising updating periodically the frequency of selected said candidate words stored in said dictionary to reflect a frequency of usage.

16. The method according to claim 12 , wherein if no match between at least one said index stored in said dictionary and said precursor is found, then a new entry in said dictionary in which said precursor is the index and the candidate word is the entered word is created.

17. The method according to claim 12 , wherein selected said candidate words from the selected list whose initial character(s) match the character(s) entered using a text entry device are displayed.

18. Computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for causing a processor to perform the method according to claim 12 when the computer program is executed by the processor.

19. A device, comprising:

a display screen for displaying m-words of data;

a text entry device for entering data;

a processor receiving data from the text entry device and causing it to be displayed on the display screen;

a nonvolatile memory storing a pre-defined x-gram dictionary containing a plurality of entries, each said entry including an index, a frequency, and a candidate word;

means for providing a list of candidates for a next-word based on a precursor word, where the precursor word includes a last word entered or selected by the user, wherein if the last word entered is undefined said processor setting the precursor to equal a predefined word selected from the x-gram dictionary from among the plurality of entries as the word associated with the highest order of frequency count

said processor selecting a list of n-number of candidate words from said dictionary whose index matches the precursor, where n is greater than or equal 1;

said processor causing m-number of candidate words from said list of candidate words to be displayed on said display screen, where m is greater than or equal 1;

said processor causing the display to prompt the user to select one of the displayed candidate words or enter a desired word using said text entry device and setting the precursor to equal the word selected or entered by the user such that a new list of candidate words corresponding to the updated precursor is displayed;

whereby the precursor provides a context for predicting a next word to be entered into the device.

20. The device according to claim 1 further comprising a user-defined dictionary containing a plurality of entries, each said entry including an index, a candidate word, and a frequency.

21. The device according to claim 19 wherein said pre-defined dictionary is fixed.

22. A device, comprising:

a display screen for displaying m-words of data;

a text entry device for entering data;

a processor receiving data from the text entry device and causing it to be displayed on the display screen;

a nonvolatile memory storing a pre-defined x-gram dictionary containing a plurality of entries, where x≧2, each said x-gram dictionary entry including an index, a candidate word and a frequency;

said processor selecting a list of n-number of candidate words from said dictionary whose index matches the a precursor, where n>1; said processor causing m-number of candidate words from said list of candidate words to be displayed on said display screen, where m>1;

said processor causing the display to prompt the user to select one of the displayed candidate words or enter a desired word using said text entry device;

upon initial activation of the device and before text is input into a text field of said text entry device, initializing the precursor to a predefined word, wherein the predefined word is selected from the x-gram dictionary from among the plurality of entries as the word associated with the highest order of frequency count, and after the user selects or enters a word, said processor setting the precursor to equal the word selected or entered by the user;

said processor selecting a list of n-number of candidate words from said dictionary whose index matches the precursor, where n>1;

whereby said precursor provides a context for predicting a next word to be entered into said text entry device.

23. The device according to claim 22 , wherein:

said precursor is initialized to one or two immediately preceding word(s).

Assignments (10)