Handheld electronic device with text disambiguation allowing dynamic expansion of input key associations
View Patent ↗A handheld electronic device includes a reduced QWERTY keyboard and disambiguation software. The device provides output in the form of a default output and variants. The output is based largely upon the likelihood that a user intended a particular output, but the device also provides additional variants that are not based solely on likelihood and are provided by various logic structures on the device. The device enables editing during text entry and a learning function that allows the disambiguation function to adapt for a customized experience. The disambiguation function can be disabled to provide alternate keystroke interpretation. Additionally, the device can facilitate variant selection by displaying a <NEXT> key to enable variant selection without changing hand position. If an input field into which text is being entered is determined to be special, a disambiguated result can be sought from a predetermined data source prior to other data sources.
1. A method of enabling input on an electronic device having stored therein a plurality of objects comprising a plurality of characters, at least some of the characters being in an unchangeable static character set, the method comprising:
detecting an input of at least a particular character not included in the unchangeable static character set;
detecting an ambiguous text input;
employing the unchangeable static character set and the particular character in disambiguating the ambiguous text input; and
outputting the particular character as at least a portion of an inter interpretation of the ambiguous text input.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of objects further comprise a number of language objects stored in at least a first dictionary, the method further comprising:
detecting the input of the particular character as being a part of a new language object not already stored on the electronic device; and
storing the new language object in the at least first dictionary.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising outputting a number of interpretations of the ambiguous text input, at least some of the interpretations each comprising at least an initial number of the characters of a language object of the number of language objects, at least one of the interpretations comprising the particular character and being an artificial variant that does not correspond with a language object.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising outputting the artificial variant at a location of relatively lower priority than the at least some of the interpretations.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a first input as the input of the particular character;
detecting a second input as the input of a character in the unchangeable static character set; wherein the first input is not the same input as the second input.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device has a plurality of input keys, and wherein the electronic device has stored therein a map file comprising an assignment of each character to a corresponding input key, and further comprising:
detecting a press-and-hold actuation of a particular input key; and
outputting at least a first character from the map file that is assigned to the particular input key and is not in the unchangeable static character set.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising detecting as the input of the particular character at least one of a navigational input and a selection input with respect to the at least one particular character.
8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising detecting as the input of the particular character an input of a character from the map file that is not included in the unchangeable static character set.
9. An electronic device comprising:
a processor apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the memory having stored therein a plurality of objects comprising a plurality of characters, at least some of the characters being in an unchangeable static character set;
an input apparatus structured to provide input to the processor apparatus; and
the memory further having stored therein a number of routines which, when executed on the processor, cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising:
detecting an input of at least a particular character not included in the unchangeable static character set;
detecting an ambiguous text input;
employing the unchangeable static character set and the particular character in disambiguating the ambiguous text input and
outputting the particular character as at least a portion of an interpretation of the ambiguous text input.
10. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of objects further comprise a number of language objects stored in at least a first dictionary, and wherein the operations further comprise:
detecting the input of the particular character as being a part of a new language object not already stored on the electronic device; and
storing the new language object in the at least first dictionary.
11. The electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise outputting a number of interpretations of the ambiguous text input, at least some of the interpretations each comprising at least an initial number of the characters of a language object of the number of language objects, at least one of the interpretations comprising the particular character and being an artificial variant that does not correspond with a language object.
12. The electronic device of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise outputting the artificial variant at a location of relatively lower priority than the at least some of the interpretations.
13. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
detecting a first input as the input of the particular character;
detecting a second input as the input of a character in the unchangeable static character set; wherein the first input is not the same input as the second input.
14. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the input apparatus comprises a plurality of input keys, and wherein the memory has stored therein a map file comprising an assignment of each character to a corresponding input key, and wherein the operations further comprise:
detecting a press-and-hold actuation of a particular input key; and
outputting at least a first character from the map file that is assigned to the particular input key and is not in the unchangeable static character set.
15. The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise detecting as the input of the particular character at least one of a navigational input and a selection input with respect to the particular character.
16. The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise detecting as the input of the particular character an input of a character from the map file that is not already included in the unchangeable static character set.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unchangeable static character set comprises valid characters in a language associated with the plurality of stored objects.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the particular character not included in the static character set comprises a variant of a character in the unchangeable static character set.