Handheld electronic device and method for disambiguation of text input providing suppression of low probability artificial variants

1. A method of enabling input into a handheld electronic device comprising:

detecting an ambiguous character-string input that comprises a current character input and a previous character input;

generating a plurality of character permutations of the ambiguous character-string input, at least one of the character permutations being a potential artificial variant that is neither a prefix of a word object nor is identical to a word object;

outputting at least one of the character permutations other than the potential artificial variant;

determining that the potential artificial variant has been displayed during a current session;

based on the determination that the potential artificial variant has been displayed during a current session, outputting a displayed artificial variant as a representation of the potential artificial variant, wherein the displayed artificial variant is outputted at a position of relatively lower priority than at least one of the outputted character permutations;

determining that the displayed artificial variant is not selected; and

based on the determination that the displayed artificial variant is not selected, suppressing from being output an offspring artificial variant of the unselected artificial variant when a next character input associated with the ambiguous character-string is detected.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of outputting at least one of the character permutations comprises:

determining an N-gram object corresponding to the at least one character permutation;

arranging the at least one character permutation based on a frequency associated with the corresponding N-gram object into an output set; and

outputting the output set.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

making a determination that at least a portion of the potential artificial variant corresponds with an N-gram object associated with a frequency object having a frequency value above a predetermined threshold.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

making a determination that a final set of characters of the potential artificial variant corresponds with an N-gram object associated with a frequency object having a frequency value above a predetermined threshold.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the N-gram object comprises three characters, and the final set of characters of the potential artificial variant comprises three characters.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

making a second determination that at least a portion of the suppressed offspring artificial variant corresponds with an N-gram object associated with a frequency object having a frequency value above a predetermined threshold; and

based on the second determination, outputting the suppressed offspring artificial variant.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

making a second determination that a final set of characters of the suppressed offspring artificial variant corresponds with an N-gram object associated with a frequency object having a frequency value above a predetermined threshold; and

based on the second determination, outputting the suppressed offspring artificial variant.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the N-gram object comprises three characters, and the final set of characters of the suppressed offspring artificial variant comprises three characters.

9. A handheld electronic device comprising:

an input apparatus;

an output apparatus; and

a processor apparatus comprising a processor and a memory,

wherein the processor apparatus is structured to:

detect an ambiguous character-string input that comprises a current character input and a previous character input;

generate a plurality of character permutations of the ambiguous character-string input, at least one of the character permutations being a potential artificial variant that is neither a prefix of a word object nor is identical to a word object;

output at least one of the character permutations other than the potential artificial variant;

determine that the potential artificial variant has been displayed during a current session;

based on the determination that the potential artificial variant has been displayed during a current session, output a displayed artificial variant as a representation of the potential artificial variant, wherein the displayed artificial variant is outputted at a position of relatively lower priority than at least one of the outputted character permutations;

determine that the displayed artificial variant is not selected; and

based on the determination that the displayed artificial variant is not selected, suppress from being output an offspring artificial variant of the unselected artificial variant when a next character input associated with the ambiguous character-string is detected.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further structured to, as part of being structured to output the at least one of the character permutations:

determine an N-gram objects corresponding to the at least one character permutations;

arrange the at least one character permutations based on a frequency associated with the corresponding N-gram objects into an output set; and

output the output set.

11. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further structured to make a determination that at least a portion of the potential artificial variant corresponds with an N-gram object associated with a frequency object having a frequency value above a predetermined threshold.

12. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further structured to make a determination that a final set of characters of the potential artificial variant corresponds with an N-gram object associated with a frequency object having a frequency value above a predetermined threshold.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the N-gram object, and the final set of characters of the potential artificial variant comprises three characters.

14. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further structured to:

make a second determination that at least a portion of the suppressed offspring artificial variant corresponds with an N-gram object associated with a frequency object having a frequency value above a predetermined threshold; and

based on the second determination, output the suppressed offspring artificial variant.

15. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further structured to:

make a second determination that a final set of characters of the suppressed offspring artificial variant corresponds with an N-gram object associated with a frequency object having a frequency value above a predetermined threshold; and

based on the second determination, output the suppressed offspring artificial variant.

16. The device of claim 15 , wherein the N-gram object comprises three characters, and the final set of characters of the suppressed offspring artificial variant comprises three characters.

17. A non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program routine adapted to be executed to implement a method for controlling a display using a processor based on input from one or more input devices to enable input, the method comprising:

detecting an ambiguous character-string input that comprises a current character input and a previous character input;

generating a plurality of character permutations of the ambiguous character-string input, at least one of the character permutations being a potential artificial variant that is neither a prefix of a word object nor is identical to a word object;

outputting at least one of the character permutations other than the potential artificial variant;

determining that the potential artificial variant has been displayed during a current session;

based on the determination that the potential artificial variant has been displayed during a current session, outputting a displayed artificial variant as a representation of the potential artificial variant, wherein the displayed artificial variant is outputted at a position of relatively lower priority than at least one of the outputted character permutations;

determining that the displayed artificial variant is not selected; and

based on the determination that the displayed artificial variant is not selected, suppressing from being output an offspring artificial variant of the unselected artificial variant when a next character input associated with the ambiguous character-string is detected.