Telephone keypad input technique

• US 4,872,196 A
• Filed: 07/18/1988
• Issued: 10/03/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Royer, Paul, Schaupp, George W. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US07/220,197
• Time in Patent Office: 442 Days
• Field of Search: 340/365 VL, 340/365 R, 400/110, 400/484, 400/95, 400/94, 400/93, 400/92, 400/91, 379/58, 379/63, 379/97
• US Class Current: 455/564
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/018 Input/output arrangements for oriental characters
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/70 methods for entering alphabetical characters, e.g. multi-tap or dictionary disambiguation

Abstract

Japanese language symbols are entered into a telephone keypad for storage in subsequent name/number recall memory. The kata-kana symbol matrix is used to represent the Japanese language. The matrix is stored in memory and selected keys on a keypad are used to progress through the matrix to identify selected entries within the matrix.

Claims

1. A method for entering one of a plurality of phonetic language symbols into a telephone apparatus having a keypad with at least one key for producing a first key signal and a second key signal, comprising:

providing a language symbol matrix having rows and columns and entries corresponding to an intersection of the rows and columns, each entry corresponding to one of the plurality of phonetic language symbols;

selecting the first key signal a selected number of times to progress along the rows of the matrix;

selecting the second key signal a selected number of times to progress along the columns of the matrix to designate an entry; and

providing an input signal to the telephone to indicate the selection of the designated entry.

2. A method for entering language symbols into a telephone apparatus, according to claim 1, wherein said keypad includes a single rocker key.

3. A method for entering language symbols into a telephone apparatus, according to claim 1, wherein said keypad includes a first key for producing the first key signal and a second key for producing the second key signal.

7. A method for entering language symbols into a telephone apparatus, according to claim 1, wherein said keypad includes a store key for producing the input signal.

8. A method for entering language symbols into a telephone apparatus, according to claim 1, further including the steps of:

repeating the previous three steps in order to build a word from the selected entries; and

providing a second input signal to the telephone to indicate the selection of the word.

9. A method for entering language symbols into a telephone apparatus, according to claim 8, wherein said keypad includes a function key for producing the second input signal.

4. A method for entering Japanese language kata-kana symbols into a cellular telephone apparatus having a memory and a keypad with a plurality of keys, comprising:

providing data in the memory in a form representing a kata-kana symbol matrix having a plurality of representative sound sequences;

designating keys of the telephone keypad with a symbol representing at least one of said representative sound sequences;

selecting a designated key in succession a selected number of times to designate a desired representative sound in the matrix;

providing a first input signal to the cellular telephone to indicate the selection of the designated representative sound in the matrix;

repeating the previous two steps using different designated keys in order to build a word from the selected representative sounds; and

providing a second input signal to the cellular telephone to indicate the selection of the word.

5. A method for entering Japanese language kata-kana symbols into a cellular telephone apparatus, according to claim 4, wherein said keypad includes a store key for producing the first input signal.

6. A method for entering Japanese language kata-kana symbols into a cellular telephone apparatus, according to claim 4, wherein said keypad includes a function key for producing the second input signal.

10. A method for entering Japanese language kata-kana symbols into a cellular telephone apparatus having a memory and a keypad with a plurality of keys, comprising:

providing data in the memory in a form representing a kata-kana symbol matrix having a plurality of representative sound sequences;

designating keys of the telephone keypad with a symbol representing at least one of said representative sound sequences;

selecting a designated key in succession a selected number of times to designate a desired representative sound in the matrix; and

providing an input signal to the cellular telephone to indicate the selection of the designated representative sound in the matrix.

11. A method for entering Japanese language kata-kana symbols into a cellular telephone apparatus, according to claim 10, wherein said keypad includes a store key for producing the input signal.