Mobile wireless communications device providing enhanced predictive word entry and related methods
View Patent ↗A mobile wireless communications device may include a portable, handheld housing, and a display and keyboard carried by the portable, handheld housing. The keyboard may include a plurality of multi-symbol keys each having indicia of a plurality of respective symbols thereon, and a predetermined multi-symbol key may have a comma/apostrophe symbol and at least one other symbol thereon. A controller may be used for generating, in response to an ambiguous input including an ambiguous punctuation input, a menu of possible desired words including at least one word with a comma and at least one word with an apostrophe and at least one other character additional to the ambiguous input. The device further includes a multiple-axis input device that is operable to provide movement inputs to move to, for example, a variant output and is further operable to provide a selection input as to, for example, the variant output.
1. A method of enabling input on a handheld electronic device, the handheld electronic device having a language option selector configured for selecting, among a plurality of languages, a language for disambiguating ambiguous input, the method comprising:
detecting an ambiguous input;
outputting a word corresponding with the ambiguous input;
outputting a language output indicative of a language used to interpret the ambiguous input;
outputting a first indicator to highlight the word;
outputting a second indicator to replace the first indicator and to highlight the language output based, at least in part, on a first language selection input;
outputting one or more additional outputs indicative of one or more additional languages based, at least in part, on a second language selection input associated with the highlighted language output; and
detecting, using a processor, a selected language from the one or more additional languages based, at least in part, on a third language selection input associated with the one or more additional outputs, wherein the selected language is used for disambiguation.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting as the word a word followed by an apostrophe punctuation symbol and the letter “S” or a word followed by a comma.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising detecting as the word a word followed by the apostrophe punctuation symbol and in turn followed by the letter “S”, and outputting another word comprising a word followed by the letter “S” and in turn followed by the apostrophe punctuation symbol.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the handheld electronic device comprises a multiple-axis input device.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the multiple-axis input device is capable of navigating a display screen directly horizontally.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the multiple-axis input device is a computer-simulated trackball.
7. A handheld electronic device comprising:
a processor apparatus comprising a processor and a memory;
an input apparatus structured to provide input to the processor apparatus and comprising a plurality of input keys;
an output apparatus structured to receive output signals from the processor apparatus;
a language option selector configured for selecting, among a plurality of languages, a language for disambiguating ambiguous input;
the memory having stored therein a number of routines which, when executed on the processor, cause the handheld electronic device to perform operations comprising:
detecting an ambiguous input;
outputting a word corresponding with the ambiguous input;
outputting a language output indicative of a language used to interpret the ambiguous input;
outputting a first indicator to highlight the word;
outputting a second indicator to replace the first indicator and to highlight the language output based, at least in part, on a first language selection input;
outputting one or more additional outputs indicative of one or more additional languages based, at least in part, on a second language selection input associated with the highlighted language output; and
detecting a selected language from the one or more additional languages based, at least in part, on a third language selection input associated with the one or more additional outputs, wherein the selected language is used for disambiguation.
8. The handheld electronic device of claim 7 wherein the operations further comprise detecting as the word a word followed by an apostrophe punctuation symbol and the letter “S” or a word followed by a comma.
9. The handheld electronic device of claim 8 wherein the operations further comprise detecting as the word a word followed by the apostrophe punctuation symbol and in turn followed by the letter “S”, and outputting another word comprising a word followed by the letter “S” and in turn followed by the apostrophe punctuation symbol.
10. The handheld electronic device of claim 8 wherein the input apparatus further comprises a multiple-axis input device, wherein the multiple-axis input device comprises one of: a track ball, a touch pad, and a joystick.
11. The handheld electronic device of claim 8 wherein the input apparatus further comprises a multiple-axis input device, wherein one of the plurality of keys is an <ESCAPE> key disposed adjacent the multiple-axis input device and which when actuated provides to the processor an input that undoes the input from the multiple-axis input device.
12. The handheld electronic device of claim 8 , further comprising a multiple-axis input device.
13. The handheld electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the multiple-axis input device is capable of navigating a display screen directly horizontally.
14. The handheld electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the multiple-axis input device is a computer-simulated trackball.