Method and system for entering text in computer equipment

• US 5,623,406 A
• Filed: 03/06/1995
• Issued: 04/22/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Jean D. Ichbiah
• Original Assignee: Jean D. Ichbiah
• Inventors: Ichbiah, Jean D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phu K.
• Application Number:
  US08/398,897
• Time in Patent Office: 778 Days
• Field of Search: 364/419.15, 364/419.07, 364/419.19, 395/145, 395/148, 345/25, 345/26
• US Class Current: 704/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0489 using dedicated keyboard keys or combinations thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

A system for very fast entry of text into a computer. The system uses a current glossary, which may be custom generated to reflect common phrases and words pertaining to any specific subject matter, as a source for retrieving words and phrases from abbreviations. Text entry is input into the system through the entry of word abbreviations, phrase abbreviations and text entries. The system uses non-fixed abbreviations for words and phrases. A word abbreviation starts with the initial of the word and includes a subset of its other letters. A phrase abbreviation starts with the initials of its first word, or two words, and includes a subset of the initials of its other words. Words and phrases satisfying a specific abbreviation are displayed in advisory tables. A desired word or phrase may be selected using an expansion command. The expanded term is then entered into the system and thereby permits entry of lengthy phrases and words with minimal text entry. Finally, the systems proposes phrases that are likely continuations to the last entered words, allowing fast selection and input of such continuations.

Claims

1. A method for rapid entry of text into a computer, said text comprising a plurality of phrases, words and characters, each of said words including an initial corresponding to a first character in the word, said method comprising:

selecting a subject specific current glossary comprising a plurality of subject specific phrases for use by the computer;

entering a sequence of characters including a first character and at least one other subsequent character in the computer;

selecting a set of matching phrases from the current glossary by the computer wherein each said matching phrases includes a sequence of words such that

(i) the initial of a first word in said sequence of words matches the first character of the entered sequence of characters,

(ii) the entered sequence of characters is a subset of a set of characters that match the initials of the words in the sequence of words, and

(iii) the entered sequence of characters are in the same order as the initials of the matching words in the matching phrase;

displaying the set of matching phrases; and

selecting one of said phrases in the displayed set of matching phrases using a phrase selection command for use by the computer,

whereby a phrase is dynamically selected for use by the computer using less characters than that present in the phrase without the use of a predetermined abbreviation for the selected phrase.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said method further comprises:

selecting from the selected current glossary a set of continuations of the selected one of said displayed phrases wherein (i) each of the selected continuations is a phrase comprising at least one word, and (ii) forms another phrase within the selected subject specific glossary when added to the last two words of the selected phrase;

displaying the set of selected continuations; and

selecting one of the displayed continuations using a continuation selection command for use by the computer,

whereby a continuation of the selected phrase is dynamically selected for use by the computer using a number of characters having less characters than that present in the selected continuation without the use of a predetermined abbreviation for the selected continuation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the subject specific glossary further comprises a plurality of words and said method further comprises:

selecting a set of matching words from the current glossary by the computer wherein each said matching words is such that

(i) the initial of the matching word matches the first character of the entered sequence of characters,

(ii) the entered sequence of characters is a subset of a set of characters that match the characters in said matching word, and (iii) the entered sequence of characters is in the same order as the matching characters in the matching word;

displaying the set of matching words; and

selecting one of said matching words using a word selection command,

whereby a word is dynamically selected for use by the computer using less characters than that present in the word without the use of a predetermined abbreviation for the selected word.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein characters match if they differ at most by a case or by a diacritical mark.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the phrase selection command and the continuation selection command are the same command.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the computer is a point and select system including a display and a corresponding mouse or pen pointing device and the selection of one of said displayed phrases and words is performed on the display with the pointing device.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein said computer includes a word processing program and said method further comprises:

storing a selected text comprising a plurality of said selected phrases, selected continuations and selected words for use by the computer;

forwarding the selected text to a word processing program upon entry of a text forwarding command; and

storing said selected text for use by the word processing program in the computer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the text forwarding command is a carriage return.

9. The method of claim 3 wherein said method further comprises entering a phrase display limitation command including a number of phrases to be displayed whereby the display of the set of selected phrases is limited to the entered number of items, and a word display limitation command including a number of words to be displayed whereby the display of the set of selected words is limited to the entered number of items.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said display limitation command further comprises a minimum length value whereby words from the set of selected words having more than a specified number of characters will be displayed.

11. The method of claim 3 wherein each of said plurality of characters includes a corresponding phrase or word and said method further comprises entering one of said plurality of characters into the computer, displaying the corresponding phrase or word by the computer, and entry of the phrase selection entry command whereby the single corresponding phrase or word is entered as text into the computer.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said method further comprises the step of compiling a subject specific glossary with the computer from an existing body of text comprising at least one computer readable file for use as the subject specific current glossary, wherein the compiling of the subject specific glossary comprises:

selecting the body of text for processing by the computer;

entering into the computer a phrase inclusion criteria for including a phrase within the body of text in the subject specific glossary, said phrase inclusion criteria including a minimum number of times a phrase must appear in the body of text for inclusion in the subject specific glossary;

analyzing the body of text by the computer for selection of phrases that satisfy the phrase inclusion criteria; and

storing each of the selected phrases into the subject specific glossary.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said phrase inclusion criteria for including a phrase within the body of text in the subject specific glossary further includes a minimum word frequency limitation and a maximum number of words in the phrase limitation.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein said phrase inclusion criteria for including a phrase within the body of text in the subject specific glossary further includes a merit value for each selected phrase, said merit value being proportional to the number of times the selected phrase is found in the body of text times the number of characters in the selected phrase, and said step of displaying the set of matching phrases further comprises ordering the set of matching phrases according to the merit value associated with each of the matching phrases in said set of matching phrases for display by the computer,

whereby the phrase inclusion criteria for including a phrase favors inclusion into the subject specific glossary of long phrases for which use of an abbreviation amounts to entering much less characters than that present in the phrase.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein said method further comprises:

entering into the computer a word inclusion criteria for including a word within the body of text in the subject specific glossary, said word inclusion criteria including a minimum number of times a word must appear in the body of text for inclusion in the subject specific glossary;

analyzing the body of text by the computer for selection of words that satisfy the word inclusion criteria; and

storing each of the selected words into the subject specific glossary.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said word inclusion criteria for including a word within the body of text in the subject specific glossary further includes a merit value for each selected word, said merit value being proportional to the number of times the selected word is found in the body of text times the number of characters in the selected word, and said step of displaying the set of matching words further comprises ordering the set of matching words according to the merit value associated with each of the matching words in said set of matching words for display by the computer,

whereby the word inclusion criteria for including a word favors display of matching words that are long even if less frequent in the body of text.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

compiling a plurality of subject specific glossaries;

attaching a unique name to each compiled subject specific glossary; and

storing each uniquely named subject specific glossary into the computer,

whereby a plurality of subject specific glossaries are stored into the computer.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

selecting two or more of the plurality of subject specific glossaries stored into the computer;

combining the selected two or more subject specific glossaries into a new subject specific glossary;

attaching a unique name to the new subject specific glossary and storing the new subject specific glossary on the computer.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

producing a temporary subject specific glossary by compiling a set of phrases entered into the computer as text;

forming a merged subject specific glossary by combining the temporary glossary with the current subject specific glossary; and

using the merged subject specific glossary as the current subject specific glossary for selection of matching phrases and matching words,

whereby a method is offered for automatically updating the subject specific current glossary to include phrases and words recently entered into the computer as text.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the compiled subject specific glossary is stored on the computer in the form of a text file and includes one or more phrase sections and word sections wherein

each of said phrase sections comprises a phrase heading enclosed in a pair of square brackets and at least one phrase entry,

each of said word sections comprises a word heading enclosed in a pair of square brackets and at least one word entry, and

each of said phrase entries being on a single line and comprising an optional phrase comment enclosed by a pair of curly brackets, a sequence of letters, and a phrase, and

each of said word entries being on a single line and comprising an optional word comment enclosed by a pair of curly brackets, a single letter, and a word,

whereby the text file is stored in a format that allows modification of the entries of a glossary by conventional means such as a word processor.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein the minimum number of characters limitation equals one.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said matching phrases further includes a sequence of words such that the initial of the second word in said sequence of words matches the second character of the entered sequence of characters.