Reduced keypad for a mobile communication device for predictive input
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of input keys collectively forming an alphabetic keypad layout and an alphanumeric keypad layout, wherein the plurality of input keys includes a first input key associated with an alphabetic character set of the alphabetic keypad layout and further associated with an alphanumeric character set of the alphanumeric keypad layout, the alphabetic character set including a first set of alphabetic characters and the alphanumeric character set including a number and a second set of alphabetic characters;
wherein the apparatus is configured to operate in a first mode to receive as input a first alphabetic character out of said first set of alphabetic characters in response to an activation of the first input key, and in a second mode to receive as input a second alphabetic character out of the second set of alphabetic characters in response to an activation of the first input key, the second alphabetic character out of the second set of alphabetic characters being separate and distinct from the first alphabetic character out of the first set of alphabetic characters; and
wherein the alphabetic keypad layout includes two or more alphabetic characters sequentially reordered to reduce a number of words generated by a predictive input routine; and
wherein;
the apparatus is configured, as part of receiving as input the first alphabetic character out of the first set of alphabetic characters in the first mode, to receive a single activation of the first input key; and
the apparatus is further configured, as part of receiving as input the second alphabetic character out of the second set of alphabetic characters in the second mode, to allow for selection of the second alphabetic character out of the second set of alphabetic characters through one or more consecutive activations of the first input key.
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Abstract
An apparatus (600) is provided with a first (635) and a second (645) plurality of input keys. At least some input keys of the first plurality of input keys are associated with both a numeric value and a first set of alphabetic values, and arranged in a first alphabetic keypad layout based on their respective first sets of alphabetic values. The second plurality of input keys are positioned adjacent to the first plurality of input keys. At least some input keys of the second plurality of input keys are associated with at least one alphabetic value, and arranged in a second alphabetic keypad layout. At least some of the input keys of the first plurality of input keys have a second set of alphabetic values that is used as part of the second alphabetic keypad layout and at least some of the input keys of the first and second pluralities of input keys are arranged to provide a reduced group of words generated by a predictive text input routine for an input key sequence entered by a user.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of input keys collectively forming an alphabetic keypad layout and an alphanumeric keypad layout, wherein the plurality of input keys includes a first input key associated with an alphabetic character set of the alphabetic keypad layout and further associated with an alphanumeric character set of the alphanumeric keypad layout, the alphabetic character set including a first set of alphabetic characters and the alphanumeric character set including a number and a second set of alphabetic characters; wherein the apparatus is configured to operate in a first mode to receive as input a first alphabetic character out of said first set of alphabetic characters in response to an activation of the first input key, and in a second mode to receive as input a second alphabetic character out of the second set of alphabetic characters in response to an activation of the first input key, the second alphabetic character out of the second set of alphabetic characters being separate and distinct from the first alphabetic character out of the first set of alphabetic characters; and wherein the alphabetic keypad layout includes two or more alphabetic characters sequentially reordered to reduce a number of words generated by a predictive input routine; and wherein; the apparatus is configured, as part of receiving as input the first alphabetic character out of the first set of alphabetic characters in the first mode, to receive a single activation of the first input key; and the apparatus is further configured, as part of receiving as input the second alphabetic character out of the second set of alphabetic characters in the second mode, to allow for selection of the second alphabetic character out of the second set of alphabetic characters through one or more consecutive activations of the first input key. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 21, 22, 23)
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8. An apparatus, comprising:
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a first plurality of input keys, at least one input key of the first plurality of input keys being associated in a first mode with an alphanumeric character set comprising a numeric character and one or more first alphabetic characters, and further associated in a second mode with an alphabetic character set comprising one or more second alphabetic characters, said at least one input key and at least some of the first plurality of input keys being arranged in an alphanumeric telephone keypad layout, and the at least one input key being associated in the first mode with characters in the alphanumeric character set which are distinct from characters in the alphabetic character set with which the at least one input key is associated in the second mode; a second plurality of input keys, partially surrounding the first plurality of input keys, at least some of the second plurality of input keys associated in the second mode with one or more additional alphabetic characters of said alphabetic character set to form a non-standard alphabetic keyboard layout in conjunction with the first plurality of input keys, the non-standard alphabetic keyboard layout comprising at least two alphabetic characters sequentially transposed with respect to a QWERTY, QWERTZ, or DVORAK layout character sequence, the at least two alphabetic characters being associated in the second mode with separate input keys to reduce multiple word matches associated with an entered key sequence during a predictive text input process in the second mode, wherein the standard keyboard layout sequence is one of QWERTY, QWERTZ or DVORAK; and a memory coupled to the first and second pluralities of input keys, the memory having a dictionary from which a group of words associated with the entered key sequence can be generated during the predictive text input process; and wherein; the apparatus is further configured, as part of operation in the first mode, to allow for selection of the numeric character or one of the one or more first alphabetic characters associated with the at least one input key by receiving one or more consecutive activations of the at least one input key; and the apparatus is further configured, as part of operation in the second mode, to allow for input of a single character of the one or more second alphabetic characters associated with the at least one input key via a single activation of the at least one input key. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 24)
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16. An apparatus, comprising:
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four rows of data entry keys, each of the four rows including a plurality of keys wherein at least one of the keys in the plurality of keys is assigned a first set of characters of an alphabetic keypad layout for input in a first mode of the apparatus and a second set of characters of an alphanumeric telephone keypad layout for input in a second mode of the apparatus, each of the first and second sets including at least one alphabetic character, and the second set including at least one number, wherein the first and second set of characters are not identical sets of characters; wherein; at least one of the sets of characters is the set YI, said set YI being assigned to a single data entry key; and the apparatus is configured, as part of operation in the first mode, to input allow for input of a single character out of the first set of characters by receiving a single activation of the at least one key; the apparatus is further configured, as part of operation in the second mode, to allow for selection as input of a character out of the second set of characters by receiving one or more consecutive activations of the at least one key; and a memory including a database of words from which a list of words associated with a key activation sequence input by a user can be generated. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 25)
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Specification