Disambiguating ambiguous characters

• US 20060013487A1
• Filed: 07/11/2005
• Published: 01/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.), Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tegic Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Bradford, Ethan R., Longe, Michael R., Meurs, Pim Van, Kay, David J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,966,003 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/232 Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs

Abstract

In one general sense, information may be presented to a user by receiving one or more ambiguous characters that may be resolved to one of at least two disambiguated characters, exchanging at least one of the ambiguous characters with a host, receiving, from the host, results that reflect disambiguated terms related to the ambiguous characters exchanged with the host, rendering the results in a manner enabling the user to perceive which of the disambiguated terms will be used upon user selection of an aspect of the results, and enabling the user to select an aspect of the results to effect use of a corresponding one of the disambiguated terms.

Claims

1. A method of presenting information to a user, the method comprising:

receiving one or more ambiguous characters that may be resolved to one of at least two disambiguated characters;

exchanging at least one of the ambiguous characters with a host;

receiving, from the host, results that reflect disambiguated terms related to the ambiguous characters exchanged with the host;

rendering the results in a manner enabling the user to perceive which of the disambiguated terms will be used upon user selection of an aspect of the results; and

enabling the user to select an aspect of the results to effect use of a corresponding one of the disambiguated terms.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

using a wireless phone with a reduced-entry keypad to enter the one or more ambiguous characters;

transmitting at least some of the ambiguous characters to the host across a wireless network;

rendering the results in a display on the wireless phone; and

enabling the user to manipulate the reduced-entry keypad of the wireless phone to select an aspect of the results that effects one of the disambiguated terms for use as a selected disambiguated term.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

enabling the user to enter a special character;

using the special character to select a subset from within the results; and

rendering the subset.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein enabling the user to enter the special character includes enabling the user to select a “

#”

key, a “

*”

key, or an arrow button as a mechanism to effect selection of the subset.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

analyzing the one or more ambiguous characters before exchanging the sequence with the host;

rendering the results in response to analyzing the sequence;

enabling the user to interact with the results; and

as a result of user interaction with the results, exchanging at least some of the ambiguous characters with the host to update the results.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining if a threshold number of ambiguous characters has been received; and

exchanging the ambiguous characters upon receipt of the threshold number of ambiguous characters.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

determining if an updated threshold of updated ambiguous characters have been received;

exchanging the updated ambiguous characters upon receipt of the updated threshold of ambiguous characters;

receiving updated results from the host; and

rendering the updated results.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein establishing communications with the host includes activating an inactive communications channel.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein establishing communications with the host includes accessing an active communications channel.

10. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

establishing communications with the host upon receipt of the threshold number of ambiguous characters; and

exchanging the ambiguous characters when communications have been established.

11. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

establishing communications with the host upon receipt of the threshold number of ambiguous characters and nonambiguous characters; and

exchanging the ambiguous characters and the nonambiguous characters when communications have been established.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving nonambiguous characters; and

exchanging nonambiguous characters with the host.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the ambiguous characters includes receiving only ambiguous characters.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the ambiguous characters includes receiving handwritten input resulting from a handwriting recognition system.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the ambiguous characters includes receiving an indication of a handwritten stroke in an ideographic language.

16. A method of presenting information to a user, the method comprising:

receiving one or more ambiguous characters that may be resolved to one of at least two disambiguated characters;

analyzing the ambiguous characters;

based on analysis of the ambiguous characters, generating results that identify several user applications that are related to the ambiguous characters;

rendering the results in a manner enabling the user to perceive which one of the several user applications will be launched in response to user selection of a corresponding aspect of the results; and

enabling the user to select one aspect of the results to effect a launch of the user application corresponding to the selected aspect of the results.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

using a wireless phone with a reduced-entry keypad to enter the one or more ambiguous characters;

relating the ambiguous characters to disambiguated terms and identifying the several user applications based on the disambiguated terms;

rendering the results in a display on the wireless phone with an indication of an application that will be launched upon user selection of the aspect of the results corresponding to the user application; and

enabling the user to use a reduced-entry keypad of the wireless phone to select one aspect of the results corresponding to one of the several user applications.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

based upon the one or more received ambiguous characters, identifying a first corresponding disambiguated result that is attainable through invocation of a browser application;

based upon the one or more received ambiguous characters, identifying a second ill corresponding disambiguated result that is attainable through invocation of a directory service application;

rendering the first corresponding disambiguated result and the second corresponding disambiguated result; and

enabling selection by the user of the first corresponding result or the second corresponding result.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein identifying the first corresponding disambiguated result that is attainable through invocation of the browser application includes identifying the first corresponding disambiguated result that is attainable through invocation of a browser application that is configured to render content using a markup language other than a Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML).

20. The method of claim 18 wherein identifying the first corresponding disambiguated result that is attainable through invocation of the browser application includes enabling the user to access different applications through the browser application.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein enabling the user to access the different applications through the browsing application includes enabling the user to access at least one of a mapping service, a web browsing service, an advertising service, an instant messaging service, and an email service.

22. The method of claim 17 wherein rendering the results in a display on the wireless phone with the indication of the application includes rendering the results with an icon representative of the application.

23. The method of claim 16 further comprising relating the ambiguous characters to disambiguated terms and identifying the several user applications based on the disambiguated terms.

24. A computer program on a computer readable medium configured to present information to a user, the computer program comprising:

an input code segment structured and arranged to receive one or more ambiguous characters that may be resolved to one of at least two disambiguated characters;

an exchanging code segment structured and arranged to exchange at least one of the ambiguous characters with a host;

a receiving code segment structured and arranged to receive, from the host, results that reflect disambiguated terms related to the ambiguous characters exchanged with the host;

a rendering code segment structured and arranged to render the results in a manner enabling the user to perceive which of the disambiguated terms will be used upon user selection of an aspect of the results; and

an enabling code segment structured and arranged to enable the user to select an aspect of the results to effect use of a corresponding one of the disambiguated terms.

25. A computer program on a computer readable medium configured to present information to a user, the computer program comprising:

an input code segment structured and arranged to receive one or more ambiguous characters that may be resolved to one of at least two disambiguated characters;

an analysis code segment structured and arranged to analyze the ambiguous characters;

a results code segment structured and arranged to, based on analysis of the ambiguous characters, generate results that identify several user applications that are related to the ambiguous characters;

a rendering code segment structured and arranged to render the results in a manner enabling the user to perceive which one of the several user applications will be launched in response to user selection of a corresponding aspect of the results; and

a selection code segment structured and arranged to enabling the user to select one aspect of the results to effect a launch of the user application corresponding to the selected aspect of the results.

26. The computer program of claim 25 wherein the rendering code segment is structured and arranged to render the results with an icon representative of the application.

27. The computer program of claim 25 further comprising a relating code segment structured and arranged to relate the ambiguous characters to disambiguated terms and identify the several user applications based on the disambiguated terms.