Device incorporating improved text input mechanism

• US 20060265208A1
• Filed: 05/18/2005
• Published: 11/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VL Collective IP, LLC (VideoLabs, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Neuer Wall Treuhand GmbH
• Inventors: Assadollahi, Ramin O.
• Granted Patent: US 8,036,878 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs

Abstract

A device including a display screen for displaying m-words of data, a text entry device for entering data, a processor receiving data from the text entry device and causing it to be displayed on the display screen. Upon activation the processor initializes a precursor to a predefined value. The device further includes a non-volatile memory storing a dictionary containing a plurality of entries, each entry including an index, a candidate word, and a score. The processor selects a list of n-number of candidate words from the dictionary whose index matches the precursor, and causes m-number of candidate words from the list of candidate words to be displayed on the display screen. The processor causes the display to prompt the user to select one of the displayed candidate words or enter a desired word using the text entry device.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a display screen for displaying m-words of data;

a text entry device for entering data;

a processor receiving data from the text entry device and causing it to be displayed on the display screen, wherein upon activation said processor initializes a precursor to a predefined value;

a non-volatile memory storing a dictionary containing a plurality of entries, each said entry including an index, a candidate word;

said processor selecting a list of n-number of candidate words from said dictionary whose index matches the precursor;

said processor causing m-number of candidate words from said list of candidate words to be displayed on said display screen;

said processor causing the display to prompt the user to select one of the displayed candidate words or enter a desired word using said text entry device.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein in response to the selection of a candidate word, said processor updates the precursor by appending the selected candidate word to the end of the precursor and deleting the leading word, selects a new list of candidate words whose index matches the precursor and causes the display to prompt the user to either select one of the displayed candidate words or enter a desired word using said text entry device.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein said dictionary containing a score associated with at least selected ones of the plurality of entries, said candidate words are displayed on the display screen in an order corresponding to their respective score.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein said dictionary containing a score associated with at least selected ones of the plurality of entries;

and

wherein if m, the number of words capable of being displayed on the display screen is less than n, the number of candidate words retrieved, then said processor causes m-number of candidate words having the highest score from said list of candidate words to be displayed on said display screen.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein:

said precursor comprises at least one word; and

if m, the number of words capable of being displayed on the display screen is greater than n, the number of candidate words retrieved, then said processor causes n-number of candidate words from said list of candidate words to be displayed on said display screen, and if said precursor is greater than or equal 2 then the processor deletes the leading word from the precursor, selects a supplemental list of candidate words from said dictionary whose index matches the precursor, and displays m-n number of said supplemental candidate words to be displayed on said display screen.

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein said dictionary containing a score associated with at least selected ones of the plurality of entries;

and

wherein said candidate words are displayed on the display screen in an order corresponding to their respective score.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein said dictionary containing a score associated with at least selected ones of the plurality of entries, and said processor periodically updates the score of selected said candidate words stored in said non-volatile memory to reflect a frequency of usage.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein if said processor is unable to find a match between at least one said index stored in said dictionary and said precursor, then said processor creates a new entry in said dictionary in which said precursor is the index and the candidate word is the word entered using said text entry device.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the processor causes selected said candidate words from the selected list to be displayed whose initial character(s) match the character(s) entered using said text entry device.

10. The device according to claim 1, wherein said dictionary containing a score associated with at least selected ones of the plurality of entries;

and

wherein said processor causes the display screen to display only candidate words whose score exceeds a threshold value.

11. The device according to claim 1, wherein:

said precursor comprises at least one word; and

if n, the number of candidate words retrieved is a threshold number of words greater than m, the number of words capable of being displayed on the display screen, then said processor increases the size of the precursor by one word, and selects a list of candidate words from said dictionary whose index matches the precursor.

12. A method for inputting text to be displayed on a display screen capable of displaying m-words of data, comprising the steps:

initializing a precursor to a predefined value;

receiving text input data and causing it to be displayed on the display screen;

providing a dictionary containing a plurality of entries, each said entry including an index, a candidate word;

selecting, from the dictionary, a list of n-number of candidate words whose index matches the precursor, the dictionary containing a plurality of entries, each said entry including an index, a candidate word;

causing m-number of candidate words from said list of candidate words to be displayed on said display screen; and

prompting the user to select one of the displayed candidate words or enter a desired word.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein said dictionary containing a score associated with at least selected ones of the plurality of entries;

and

wherein said candidate words are displayed on the display screen in an order corresponding to their respective score.

14. The method according to claim 12, comprising, in response to the selection of a candidate word, the steps:

updating the precursor by appending the selected candidate word to the end of the precursor and deleting the leading word;

selecting a new list of candidate words whose index matches the precursor; and

prompting the user to either select one of the displayed candidate words or enter a desired word.

15. The method according to claim 12, comprising updating periodically the score of selected said candidate words stored in said dictionary to reflect a frequency of usage.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein if no match between at least one said index stored in said dictionary and said precursor is found, then a new entry in said dictionary in which said precursor is the index and the candidate word is the entered word is created.

17. The method according to claim 12, wherein selected said candidate words from the selected list whose initial character(s) match the character(s) entered using a text entry device are displayed.

18. Computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for causing a processor to perform the method according to claim 12 when the computer program is executed by the processor.