EXTENSIBLE INPUT METHOD EDITOR DICTIONARY

• US 20090327313A1
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kung, Yun-Chiang-Jordan, Huang, Yu-Li, Liu, Hsiang-Fu, Lee, Chin-Nan
• Granted Patent: US 8,862,989 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries

Abstract

An extensible reading system is described that provides a method of extending the readings supported by an IME application without updating the entire application. The extensible reading system separates the IME reading dictionary from the IME application, so that the user can update or supplement the dictionary with new readings without modifying the IME application. The extensible reading system receives custom readings from a user that include a sequence of keyboard characters and a selection of a language character that is to be inserted into a document when a user inputs the sequence of keyboard characters. Thus, the extensible reading system allows the user to update the readings for mapping keyboard characters to language characters much more frequently.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for adding new readings that map multiple keyboard characters to a language character in an input method editor application, the method comprising:

receiving a new reading, comprising,

receiving a sequence of keyboard characters for the new reading;

receiving a selection of a language character that is to be inserted into a document when a user inputs the sequence of keyboard characters;

storing the sequence of keyboard characters and the selected language character in an extensible input method editor dictionary, wherein the dictionary is updatable without updating the input method editor application.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a new reading comprises importing a file containing multiple new readings.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising, receiving a request to export readings from the extensible input method editor dictionary and exporting the readings to a file.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the received sequence of keyboard characters includes characters from a Western keyboard having English characters and the language character is a character of an East Asian language.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising loading the input method editor dictionary in the input method editor application, receiving the sequence of keyboard characters, and inserting the language character into the document.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, before storing the new reading, determining if a limit of readings has been reached, and if so, displaying a warning to the user that the new reading cannot be stored.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, before storing the new reading, determining if a limit of readings has been reached, and if so, prompting the user to remove a reading from the dictionary to make room for the new reading.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the sequence of keyboard characters comprises creating an identifier for the sequence of keyboard characters based on character codes associated with each keyboard character in the sequence.

9. A computer system for providing extensible input method readings, the system comprising:

an extensible dictionary component configured to store readings that each comprise a mapping from a sequence of keyboard characters to a language character;

an dictionary loading component configured to dynamically load readings from the extensible dictionary component when the system is invoked; and

an input method component configured to input language characters based on received sequences of keyboard characters that match sequences of keyboard characters stored by the extensible dictionary component.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising a dictionary editing component configured to modify the readings stored by the extensible dictionary component.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the extensible dictionary component stores readings in two dictionaries:

one containing static readings defined by the author of an input method application and the other containing dynamic readings defined by an end user of the application.

12. The system of claim 9 further comprising a dictionary import/export component configured to:

1) import new readings and add them to the dictionary and

     2) export existing readings in the dictionary to an external storage medium.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the dictionary import/export component exports readings to a plaintext file.

14. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system to insert language characters into a document, by a method comprising:

receiving a request to direct input to an application through an input method editor for converting keyboard characters to language characters;

loading readings that map keyboard characters to language characters from an extensible dictionary that contains readings provided by an end user;

receiving a sequence of keyboard characters input to the application;

determining whether the input sequence of keyboard characters matches a sequence of keyboard characters associated with a reading in the extensible dictionary;

providing to a user of the application a list of one or more language characters associated with one or more readings that have matching sequences of keyboard characters, wherein the list contains at least one language character from a reading provided by an end user.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein determining whether the input sequence of keyboard characters matches comprises identifying partial matches in the extensible dictionary using a wildcard.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein receiving a sequence of keyboard characters comprises receiving the sequence of keyboard characters from a virtual keyboard displayed on a display of the computer system.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 further comprising receiving from the user of the application a selection of a member of the list of one or more language characters and inserting the selected language character into the document.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein loading readings comprises receiving a file containing new readings associated with the user of the application and loading the readings from the file into the extensible dictionary.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein determining whether the input sequence of keyboard characters matches a sequence of keyboard characters associated with a reading in the extensible dictionary comprises matching compound sequences of characters associated with multiple readings in the dictionary.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the system determines whether the input sequence of keyboard characters matches before the user of the application has finished entering the input sequence.