Candidate list enhancement for predictive text input in electronic devices

• US 20060146028A1
• Filed: 12/30/2004
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Harman, Robert M., Chatterjee, Manjirnath A., Chang, Ying Y.
• Granted Patent: US 7,466,859 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/169
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/018 Input/output arrangements for oriental characters
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques

Abstract

A method in a portable electronic device (100) including inputting a first word component, for example, a letter or stroke, displaying a first candidate list having at least a first completion candidate including the first word component, inputting a second word component, displaying a second candidate list having a second completion candidate, the second completion candidate including the first and second word components, and de-prioritizing the first completion candidate of the first candidate list relative to at least one other candidate of the second candidate list.

Claims

1. A method in an electronic device, the method comprising:

inputting a character combination including at least one character at a user interface of the electronic device;

generating a first word list having at least a first completion candidate including the character combination;

adding an additional character to the character combination;

generating a second word list having at least a second completion candidate including the character combination with the additional character;

de-prioritizing the first completion candidate relative to the second completion candidate of the second word list.

2. The method of claim 1, de-prioritizing the first completion candidate by excluding the first completion candidate from the second word list.

3. The method of claim 2, excluding the first completion candidate from the second word list when the first completion candidate includes the character combination with the additional character.

4. The method of claim 1,

the second word list includes the first completion candidate,

displaying the second completion candidate of the second word list, de-prioritizing the first completion candidate by not displaying the first completion candidate.

5. The method of claim 4, de-prioritizing the first completion candidate when the first completion candidate includes the character combination with the additional character.

6. The method of claim 1,

the second word list includes the first completion candidate,

de-prioritizing includes ordering the presentation of the first completion candidate after the second completion candidate when generating the second word list.

7. The method of claim 1,

ordering at least some completion candidates of the first word list based on a likelihood that the completion candidates of the first word list match a predicted completion including the input character combination.

8. The method of claim 1,

displaying at least some completion candidates of the second word list on a visual display,

scrolling among and selecting one of the displayed completion candidates.

9. The method of claim 8,

displaying one of the completion candidates on another portion of the visual display before selecting any of the completion candidates, a property of the completion candidate displayed on another portion of the visual display indicative of whether a selection has been made.

10. A method in a portable electronic device, the method comprising:

inputting a first word component at a user interface;

displaying a first candidate list having at least a first completion candidate including the first word component;

inputting a second word component at the user interface;

displaying a second candidate list having a second completion candidate, the second completion candidate including the first and second word components;

de-prioritizing the first completion candidate relative to at least one other candidate of the second candidate list.

11. The method of claim 10, de-prioritizing the first completion candidate when the first completion candidate includes the second word component.

12. The method of claim 10, de-prioritizing the first completion candidate includes excluding the first completion candidate from the displayed second candidate list.

13. The method of claim 10, de-prioritizing the first completion candidate includes ordering presentation of the first completion candidate after presentation of the second completion candidate when displaying the second candidate list.

14. The method of claim 10, ordering at least some completion candidates of the first and second candidate lists based on likelihood that the ordered completion candidates will match a predicted completion.

15. The method of claim 10,

inputting the first and second word components includes inputting first and second character symbols,

the first and second character symbols forming a symbol combination.

16. The method of claim 10,

inputting the first and second word components includes forming a character combination having a string of first and second Roman letters.

17. A handheld electronic device comprising:

a user input;

a processor coupled to the user input;

a display coupled to the processor,

the processor generating a first list having at least a first completion candidate including a first word component in response to the first word component input at the user input,

the processor generating a second list having at least a second completion candidate in response to a second word component input at the user input, the second completion candidate including the first word component and the second word component,

the processor de-prioritizing the first completion candidate relative to the second completion candidate.

18. The device of claim 17, the processor de-prioritizing the first completion candidate by excluding the first completion candidate from the second list.

19. The device of claim 18, the first completion candidate excluded from the second list includes the second word component.

20. The device of claim 17, the user input is a keypad having a reduced number of keys, at least some of the keys capable of inputting more than one word component.

22. The device of claim 17, the display visually presenting the first and second lists to the user.