User interface for visual cooperation between text input and display device

1. A user-interface system for entering an alphanumeric string for identifying information content, the system comprising:

presentation logic for displaying on a presentation device an image of a virtual user alphanumeric interface, the virtual user alphanumeric interface including an image of an overloaded keypad that has a two dimensional configuration of alphanumeric clusters, a plurality of clusters corresponding to a set of selectable alphanumeric symbols including alphanumeric characters and alphanumeric numerals, the virtual user alphanumeric interface further including a string field for displaying the alphanumeric string of alphanumeric symbols selected by a user;

selection logic for receiving user actions from an input device with a five button interface, said interface including four navigation-direction controls and a selection control, said selection logic including logic, cooperative with the presentation logic, to present visual cues to aid in the navigation of said image of an overloaded keypad of the virtual user alphanumeric interface and the selection of an alphanumeric symbol, said logic to present visual cues including logic to signify on the image of the virtual user alphanumeric interface the user selection of an alphanumeric cluster while maintaining the display of unselected alphanumeric clusters of the two dimensional configuration of the alphanumeric clusters and including logic to cause the selected alphanumeric cluster to be displayed in the string field of the virtual user alphanumeric interface;

wherein the presentation device is a television and the input device is a physically separate remote control device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each symbol of a cluster is selectable by acting only on the corresponding cluster.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein an alphanumeric cluster is selectable via a cluster selection action and a cluster-symbol selection action selects one of the alphanumeric symbols of the selected cluster.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the set of selectable alphanumeric characters is presented in alphabetical order.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the set of selectable alphanumeric characters of at least one cluster is presented in an order according to an alphabet occurrence frequency of a predetermined language.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the set of selectable alphanumeric characters of at least one cluster is presented in an order according to an alphabet occurrence frequency of characters in words that describe items in a searchable collection of information content.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein a presentation order of the set of selectable alphanumeric characters of at least one cluster is changed from an initial presentation order based on the received user actions.

8. A user-interface system for entering an alphanumeric string for identifying information content, the system comprising:

presentation logic for displaying on a presentation device an image of a virtual user alphanumeric interface, the virtual user alphanumeric interface including an image of an overloaded keypad that has a two dimensional configuration of alphanumeric clusters, a plurality of clusters corresponding to a set of selectable alphanumeric symbols including alphanumeric characters and alphanumeric numerals, the virtual user alphanumeric interface further including a string field for displaying the alphanumeric string of alphanumeric symbols selected by a user;

selection logic for receiving user actions from an input device, said selection logic including logic, cooperative with the presentation logic, to present visual cues to aid in the navigation of said image of an overloaded keypad of the virtual user alphanumeric interface and the selection of an alphanumeric cluster to cause the selected cluster to be displayed in the string field of the virtual user alphanumeric interface while maintaining the display of unselected alphanumeric clusters of the two dimensional configuration of the alphanumeric clusters; and

disambiguation logic to receive the selected clusters and to disambiguate the selection to a probable user selection;

wherein the presentation device is a television and the input device is a physically separate remote control device.

9. A user-interface system for entering an alphanumeric string for identifying information content, the system comprising:

presentation logic for displaying on a presentation device an image of a virtual user alphanumeric interface, the virtual user alphanumeric interface including an image of an overloaded keypad that has a two dimensional configuration of alphanumeric clusters, a plurality of clusters corresponding to a set of selectable alphanumeric symbols including alphanumeric characters and alphanumeric numerals, the virtual user alphanumeric interface further including a string field for displaying the alphanumeric string of alphanumeric symbols selected by a user, wherein the alphanumeric characters are presented in a non-alphabetic order to facilitate selection of a probable string via reduced user selection actions; and

selection logic for receiving user actions from an input device, said selection logic including logic, cooperative with the presentation logic, to present visual cues to aid in the navigation of said image of an overloaded keypad of the virtual user alphanumeric interface and the selection of an alphanumeric symbol, said logic to present visual cues including logic to signify on the image of the virtual user alphanumeric interface the user selection of an alphanumeric cluster while maintaining the display of unselected alphanumeric clusters of the two dimensional configuration of the alphanumeric clusters and including logic to cause the selected alphanumeric cluster to be displayed in the string field of the virtual user alphanumeric interface;

wherein the presentation device is a television and the input device is a physically separate remote control device.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the alphanumeric characters are presented in an order according to an alphabet occurrence frequency of a predetermined language.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the alphanumeric characters are presented in an order according to an alphabet occurrence frequency of characters in words that describe items in a searchable collection of information content.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein said selection logic further comprises logic to aid in the selection of a symbol from the set of symbols associated with the displayed alphanumeric cluster.

13. A user-interface method for entering an alphanumeric string for identifying information content, the method comprising:

displaying on a presentation device an image of a virtual user alphanumeric interface, the virtual user alphanumeric interface including an image of an overloaded keypad that has a two dimensional configuration of alphanumeric clusters, a plurality of clusters corresponding to a set of selectable alphanumeric symbols including alphanumeric characters and alphanumeric numerals, the virtual user alphanumeric interface further including a string field for displaying the alphanumeric string of alphanumeric symbols selected by a user;

receiving user actions from an input device with a five button interface, said interface including four navigation-direction controls and a selection control; and

presenting visual cues to aid in the navigation of said image of an overloaded keypad of the virtual user alphanumeric interface and the selection of an alphanumeric symbol, including presenting visual cues to signify on the image of the virtual user alphanumeric interface the user selection of an alphanumeric cluster while maintaining the display of unselected alphanumeric clusters of the two dimensional configuration of the alphanumeric clusters and cause causing the selected alphanumeric cluster to be displayed in the string field of the virtual user alphanumeric interface;

wherein the presentation device is a television and the input device is a physically separate remote control device.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein each symbol of a cluster is selectable by acting only on the corresponding cluster.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein an alphanumeric cluster is selectable via a cluster selection action and a cluster-symbol selection action selects one of the alphanumeric symbols of the selected cluster.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the set of selectable alphanumeric characters is presented in alphabetical order.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the set of selectable alphanumeric characters of at least one cluster is presented in an order according to an alphabet occurrence frequency of a predetermined language.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the set of selectable alphanumeric characters of at least one cluster is presented in an order according to an alphabet occurrence frequency of characters in words that describe items in a searchable collection of information content.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein a presentation order of the set of selectable alphanumeric characters of at least one cluster is changed from an initial presentation order based on the received user actions.

20. A user-interface method for entering an alphanumeric string for identifying information content, the method comprising:

displaying on a presentation device an image of a virtual user alphanumeric interface, the virtual user alphanumeric interface including an image of an overloaded keypad that has a two dimensional configuration of alphanumeric clusters, a plurality of clusters corresponding to a set of selectable alphanumeric symbols including alphanumeric characters and alphanumeric numerals, the virtual user alphanumeric interface further including a string field for displaying the alphanumeric string of alphanumeric symbols selected by a user, wherein the alphanumeric characters are presented in a non-alphabetic order to facilitate selection of a probable string via reduced user selection actions;

receiving user actions from an input device; and

presenting visual cues to aid in the navigation of said image of an overloaded keypad of the virtual user alphanumeric interface and the selection of an alphanumeric symbol, including signifying on the image of the virtual user alphanumeric interface the user selection of an alphanumeric cluster while maintaining the display of unselected alphanumeric clusters of the two dimensional configuration of the alphanumeric clusters and causing the selected character alphanumeric cluster to be displayed in the string field of the virtual user alphanumeric interface;

wherein the presentation device is a television and the input device is a physically separate remote control device.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the alphanumeric characters are presented in an order according to an alphabet occurrence frequency of a predetermined language.

22. The method of claim 20 , wherein the alphanumeric characters are presented in an order according to an alphabet occurrence frequency of characters in words that describe items in a searchable collection of information content.

23. The system of claim 20 , further comprising signifying on the image of the virtual user alphanumeric interface a user selection of a symbol from the set of symbols associated with the selected alphanumeric cluster.