Method and system for character sequence checking according to a selected language

• US 20050125731A1
• Filed: 01/19/2005
• Published: 06/09/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Appalabattula, Chakrapani, Jurion, Benoit Jules, Chai, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 7,721,203 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/262
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/129 Handling non-Latin characters, e.g. kana-to-kanji conversion

Abstract

A method and system for checking the validity of a sequence of input characters according to the syntactical rules of a selected language is provided. If an input character may not begin a valid sequence of characters, or if the input character may not be appended to a previously input sequence of characters according to the rules of the selected language, the newly input character may be prohibited from being displayed singularly or appended to the previous sequence and displayed on the user'"'"'s computer. Previously input character sequences may be edited by determining the sequence validity context of previously input sequences of characters.

Claims

1-18. -18. (canceled)

19. A computer-readable medium on which is stored a computer program for checking a sequence of input characters, the computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, perform acts of:

receiving a first character of the sequence of input characters;

receiving a second character of the sequence of input characters; and

if the first character and the second character form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character, displaying a complex character formed by a combination of the first and second characters prior to receiving additional characters.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, the computer program further comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, perform acts of:

if the first character and the second character do not form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character, not displaying a complex character formed by a combination of the first and second characters prior to receiving additional characters.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein determining if the first and second characters form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character of the selected language comprises:

in a state transition table, assigning a first state to the first character according to the rules associated with the selected language;

assigning a second state to the second character according to the rules associated with the selected language;

determining whether the state transition table includes a state transition from the first state to the second state;

if the state transition table includes a state transition from the first state to the second state, determining the first and second characters form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character of the selected language; and

if the state transition table does not include a state transition from the first state to the second state, determining the first and second characters do not form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character of the selected language.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, the computer program further comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, perform acts of:

determining whether combining the first and second characters creates a complete sequence of characters to form a complex character according to the rules associated with the selected language;

if the sequence of characters is a complete sequence of characters forming a complex character according to the rules associated with the selected language, determining whether a third input character begins a second valid sequence of characters for forming a complex character according to rules associated with the selected language;

if the third character begins a second valid sequence of characters for forming a complex character according to rules associated with the selected language, accepting the third character for display; and

if the third character does not begin a second valid sequence of characters for forming a complex character according to rules associated with the selected language, prohibiting accepting the third character for display.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein determining whether combining the first and second characters creates a complete sequence of characters to form a complex character according to the rules associated with the selected language comprises determining whether the second state points to a third transition state representing a reset transition action.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, the computer program further comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, perform acts of:

determining whether the first character begins a valid sequence of characters for forming a complex character according to the rules associated with the selected language;

if the first character begins a valid sequence of characters for forming a complex character according to rules associated with the selected language, accepting the first character for display;

if the first character does not begin a valid sequence of characters for forming a complex character according to rules associated with the selected language, prohibiting accepting the first character for display; and

if the first character is accepted for display, displaying the character to a user on a display screen prior to receiving any additional characters.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, the computer program further comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, perform acts of:

determining whether combining the first and second characters creates a complete sequence of characters to form a complex character according to the rules associated with the selected language; and

if the sequence of characters is a complete sequence of characters forming a complex character according to the rules associated with the selected language, prohibiting combining additional characters to the sequence of characters.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the rules comprise one or more rules for creating complex characters according to a selected language.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the selected language is Thai.

28. A computer-readable medium on which is stored a computer program for checking a sequence of input characters, the computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, perform acts of:

receiving a first character of the sequence of input characters;

receiving a second character of the sequence of input characters;

if the first character and the second character form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character, displaying a complex character formed by the first character and the second character prior to receiving additional characters; and

if the first character and the second character do not form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character, displaying the first character.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, the computer program further comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, perform acts of:

receiving a third character of the sequence of input characters; and

if the first, second, and third characters do not form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character, displaying the complex character formed by the first character and second character.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, the computer program further comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, perform acts of:

if the first, second, and third characters do not form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character, discarding the third character.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, the computer program further comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, perform acts of displaying a complex character formed by a combination of the first, second, and third characters prior to receiving additional characters if the first, second, and third characters form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character of the selected language.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein determining if the first and second characters form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character of the selected language comprises:

in a state transition table, assigning a first state to the first character according to the rules associated with the selected language;

assigning a second state to the second character according to the rules associated with the selected language;

determining whether the state transition table includes a state transition from the first state to the second state;

if the state transition table includes a state transition from the first state to the second state, determining the first and second characters form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character of the selected language; and

if the state transition table does not include a state transition from the first state to the second state, determining the first and second characters do not form a valid sequence of characters according to rules associated with forming a complex character of the selected language.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, the computer program further comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, perform acts of:

determining whether the first character begins a valid sequence of characters for forming a complex character according to the rules associated with the selected language;

if the first character begins a valid sequence of characters for forming a complex character according to rules associated with the selected language, accepting the first character for display;

if the first character does not begin a valid sequence of characters for forming a complex character according to rules associated with the selected language, prohibiting accepting the first character for display; and

if the first character is accepted for display, displaying the character to a user on a display screen prior to receiving any additional characters.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the rules comprise one or more rules for creating complex characters according to a selected language.

35. A method of establishing a sequence validation context of a sequence of characters forming at least a portion of a complex character, comprising acts of:

beginning with a last character of a sequence of characters, determining whether the last character is valid as a complete sequence of characters comprising a complex character according to rules for forming a complex character;

if the last character of a sequence of characters is not valid as a complete sequence of characters comprising a complex character, then determining whether a combination of the last character and a character input immediately to the left of the last character is valid as a complete sequence of characters comprising a complex character;

if the combination is not valid as a complete sequence of characters comprising the complex character, then creating subsequent combinations of characters by adding one character at a time to the left of the last subsequent combination and determining whether each new combination after each added character is valid as a complete sequence of characters comprising a complex character until a valid sequence of characters is found for forming a complex character according to the rules for forming a complex character; and

when a valid sequence of characters is found for forming a complex character according to the rules for forming a complex character, returning a context for the combination as the context for a complex character.

36. The method of claim 35, the method further comprising:

determining a maximum number of characters that comprises a valid sequence of characters according to the rules for forming a complex character; and

wherein adding one character at a time to the left of the last subsequent combination and determining whether each new combination after each added character is valid as a complete sequence of characters comprising a complex character occurs until the maximum number of characters that comprises a valid sequence have been combined or until a valid sequence of characters is found for forming a complex character according to the rules for forming a complex character.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein determining whether each new combination after each added character is valid as a complete sequence of characters comprising a complex character comprises determining in a state transition table whether each new combination after each added character points to a transition state representing a reset transition action.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein the rules comprise one or more rules for creating complex characters according to a selected language.