Handheld electronic device with text disambiguation
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 disambiguating an 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 memory comprising a first linguistic source and a second linguistic source, at least a portion of the objects being in the first linguistic source, at least a portion of the objects being in the second linguistic source, the plurality of objects including a plurality of language objects comprising a plurality of word objects and a plurality of frequency objects, at least a portion of the language objects being associated with an associated frequency object, the input apparatus including a plurality of input members, at least a portion of the input members having a number of characters assigned thereto, the method comprising:
detecting an ambiguous input including a number of input member actuations of a number of the input members, at least one of the input members having a plurality of characters assigned thereto;
identifying in the first linguistic source a first language object having at least an initial portion corresponding with the ambiguous input;
identifying in the second linguistic source a second language object having at least an initial portion corresponding with the ambiguous input, wherein the first language object and the second language object have different spellings;
outputting an output including at least one of a language object which corresponds with the first language object and a language object which corresponds with the second language object;
receiving a selection of one of the first language object and the second language object;
detecting an additional ambiguous input including one or more characters that are entered at the end of the selected language object; and
outputting one or more artificial variants that include the selected language object and the additional ambiguous input,
wherein the one or more artificial variants are neither a prefix of a word object nor are identical to a word object.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one of a language object which corresponds with the first language object and a language object which corresponds with the second language object is a prefix object.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first language object and the second language object comprise word objects.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining a first frequency object, the first frequency object being associated with the first language object and having a first frequency value;
obtaining a second frequency object, the second frequency object being associated with the second language object and having a second frequency value; and
determining that one of the first frequency value and the second frequency value is less than the other of the first frequency value and the second frequency value.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising the steps of:
associating the first frequency value with the language object which corresponds with the first language object;
associating the second frequency value with the language object which corresponds with the second language object; and
outputting as at least a portion of the output the language object which corresponds with the first language object and the language object which corresponds with the second language object in descending order of frequency value.
6. The method of claim 4 further including:
filtering, from the output, the language object associated with the one of the first frequency value and the second frequency value that has a lower frequency value.
7. A handheld electronic device comprising:
a processor;
a memory having a plurality of objects stored therein;
an input apparatus; and
an output apparatus;
the memory comprising
a first linguistic source and a second linguistic source;
at least a portion of the objects of the plurality of objects being in the first linguistic source;
at least a portion of the objects of the plurality of objects being in the second linguistic source;
the plurality of objects including a plurality of language objects comprising a plurality of word objects and a plurality of frequency objects, at least a portion of the language objects being associated with an associated frequency object;
the input apparatus including a plurality of input members, at least a portion of the input members having a number of characters assigned thereto;
the processor being adapted to:
detect an ambiguous input including a number of actuations of the input members, at least one of the input members having a plurality of characters assigned thereto;
identify in the first linguistic source a first language object having at least an initial portion corresponding with the ambiguous input;
identify in the second linguistic source a second language object having at least an initial portion corresponding with the ambiguous input, wherein the first language object and the second language object have different spellings;
provide to the output apparatus an output including at least one of a language object which corresponds with the first language object and a language object which corresponds with the second language object;
receive a selection of one of the first language object and the second language object;
detect an additional ambiguous input including one or more characters that are entered at the end of the selected language object; and
output one or more artificial variants that include the selected language object and the additional ambiguous input,
wherein the one or more artificial variants are neither a prefix of a word object nor are identical to a word object.
8. The handheld electronic device of claim 7 wherein the at least one of a language object which corresponds with the first language object and a language object which corresponds with the second language object is a prefix object.
9. The handheld electronic device of claim 7 wherein the first language object and the second language object comprise word objects.
10. The handheld electronic device of claim 7 wherein the processor is adapted to:
obtain a first frequency object, the first frequency object being associated with the first language object and having a first frequency value;
obtain a second frequency object, the second frequency object being associated with the second language object and having a second frequency value; and
determine that one of the first frequency value and the second frequency value is less than the other of the first frequency value and the second frequency value.
11. The handheld electronic device of claim 10 wherein the processor is adapted to:
associate the first frequency value with the language object which corresponds with the first language object;
associate the second frequency value with the language object which corresponds with the second language object; and
output to the output apparatus as at least a portion of the output the language object which corresponds with the first language object and the language object which corresponds with the second language object in descending order of frequency value.
12. The handheld electronic device of claim 10 wherein the processor is adapted to filter, from the output, the language object associated with the one of the first frequency value and the second frequency value that has a lower frequency value.