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 processor-implemented method of disambiguating an input into a handheld electronic device including a memory having stored therein a plurality of objects including a plurality of language objects and a plurality of frequency objects, at least some of the language objects each being associated with an associated frequency object, the plurality of language objects including a plurality of word objects and a plurality of N-gram objects, substantially each N-gram object including at least a first character, the method comprising steps performed by the processor of:
detecting an ambiguous input;
generating a number of prefix objects corresponding with the ambiguous input;
identifying a language object corresponding to each of at least some of the prefix objects, each language object having a frequency value;
outputting at least some of the prefix objects as a default output and one or more variants in descending order of frequency value of the identified language objects;
detecting a selection input of one of the variants;
detecting an input key selection that is entered at the end of the selected variant; and
outputting, in response to the input key selection, one or more artificial variants that do not correspond to any of the plurality of word objects.
2. A handheld electronic device comprising:
a processor;
an input apparatus including a plurality of input keys, at least some of the keys each having a character assigned thereto;
an output apparatus; and
a memory having stored therein a plurality of objects including a plurality of language objects and a plurality of frequency objects, at least some of the language objects each being associated with an associated frequency object, the plurality of language objects including a plurality of word objects and a plurality of N-gram objects, substantially each N-gram object including at least a first character, and a routine,
wherein the processor is configured to execute the routine to
detect an ambiguous input of a plurality of input key selections;
generate a number of prefix objects corresponding with the ambiguous input;
identify in the memory, a language object corresponding to each of at least some of the prefix objects, each language object having a frequency value;
output at least some of the prefix objects as a default output and one or more variant outputs in descending order of frequency value of the identified language objects;
detect a selection input with respect to one of the variant outputs;
detect another input key selection that is entered at the end of the selected variant object; and
output, in response to the another input key selection, one or more artificial variants that do not correspond to any of the plurality of word objects.