Speed typing apparatus and method

• US 5,664,896 A
• Filed: 08/29/1996
• Issued: 09/09/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Marvin R. Blumberg
• Original Assignee: Marvin R. Blumberg
• Inventors: Blumberg, Marvin R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hilten, John S.
• Application Number:
  US08/705,093
• Time in Patent Office: 376 Days
• Field of Search: 400/91, 400/100, 400/110, 400/484, 400/485, 395/326, 395/794, 395/796, 395/803
• US Class Current: 400/485
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques

Abstract

A speed typing method and apparatus having multiple letters associated with each key of a keyboard. By utilizing multiple characters on each key, fewer than 26 letter keys may be employed. Each key on the keyboard is associated with a numerical code. The system uses the numerical code associated with a typed word to access a dictionary or table of words stored in memory at a memory location corresponding to the input numerical code. The system may display all of the words available to the user in response to the input code. The user then selects one of the available words to be placed in the document. Alternatively the system may enable display of one or more preferred words.

Claims

1. A method for enabling text formed from letters of an alphabet to be created on a display device using a word processing system including a computer having a memory storage, a display device and an input device including a plurality of operator-selectable input elements, said method comprising:

defining a set of plural input elements numbering less than the total number of letters of an alphabet;

assigning a plurality of letters of the alphabet to the input elements of said set such that each input element has one or more letters and at least one of the input elements has a plurality of letters;

assigning at least one input element code to each input element of said set such that not more than one input element code is assigned to at least one of said input elements having a plurality of letters;

storing in the memory storage a list of words formed from letters of the alphabet and word codes, each of the word codes formed from a series of one or more input element codes, each of said word codes associated with one or more or said words and at least one of said word codes associated with more than one word;

detecting a word by reading a series of input elements selected by the operator and retaining the series of input element codes associated with each selected input element;

creating a word code formed from the series of input element codes associated with each selected input element;

searching the memory storage and locating at least one word associated with each created word code; and

displaying at least one of said words located in the memory storage on the display device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning a plurality of letters comprises assigning a single letter to at least one of said input elements of said set.

3. The method of claim 1 including locating from the memory storage all words associated with said created word code and displaying all of said words, and wherein the method further comprises enabling the operator to select at least one of the displayed words and removing the unselected words from the display.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of enabling the operator to select at least one of the displayed words comprises the steps of displaying a numerical identifier adjacent each displayed word and enabling the user to select a displayed word by selecting the corresponding numerical identifier.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of enabling the operator to select at least one of the displayed words comprises the step of enabling the user to highlight one of the displayed words.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling the operator to select which of the words responsive to a created word code is to be displayed.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising defining an alternate set of plural input elements less than the total number of letters in an alphabet and enabling an operator to select an input element from one of said set and said alternate set of plural input elements.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of searching and locating comprise the steps of searching and locating less than all words associated with said created word code.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of creating a word code further comprises the step of determining the completion of a word.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said step of determining the completion of a word comprises detecting operator selection of input elements associated with a space, punctuation mark, or an Enter key.

11. The method of claim 1 including locating from the memory storage all words associated with said created word code and displaying a plurality of said words less than the total number of all words associated with said created word code, and wherein the method further comprises enabling the operator to select at least one of the displayed words and removing the unselected words from the display.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the steps of enabling the operator to select a displayed word and removing the unselected words occurs after words have been displayed for a plurality of created word codes.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of enabling the user to edit the at least one selected word by selecting an input element to form an edited word, creating an edit word code formed from the series of input element codes associated with the edited word, and setting the edit word code as the created word code.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning a plurality of letters of the alphabet to the input elements comprises assigning each letter of the alphabet to the input elements of said set.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the input element codes are associated with a number and wherein the word codes stored in memory storage are a series of numbers stored in numerical order.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying the input element code associated with a selected input element.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of words corresponds to a group of words having a common subject.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of defining a set of plural input elements further comprises the step of selecting different keyboard configurations.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning a plurality of letters of the alphabet to the input elements comprises assigning at least one vowel and at least one consonant to at least one input element.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning a plurality of letters of the alphabet to the input elements comprises assigning no more than one vowel to at least one input element.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning a plurality of letters of the alphabet to the input elements comprises assigning seldom-used letters to the same input element.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning a plurality of letters of the alphabet to the input elements comprises assigning letters to the input elements to minimize the number of words associated with the same word code.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the input element code comprises a numerical value.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the input element code is a unique numerical code.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling the user to select preferred words for each word code stored in the memory storage.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of enabling the user to select preferred words further comprises enabling the user to select a prioritized order of preferred words.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of selecting preferred words for each word code stored in the memory storage based upon usage of words.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling the user to add at least one new word to the list of words.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying comprises displaying letters associated with each input element selected by the operator.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising the steps of enabling the user to select at least one of the displayed letters to create a new word, displaying the new word and storing the new word in memory storage associated with a word code representing the series of input elements selected by the operator.

31. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing an overlay to indicate letters associated with each input element.

32. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling the user to select preferred words for each word code stored in memory storage to designate a word as a preferred word.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying comprises displaying at least one of said words located in the memory storage in scrollable windows on the display device.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying comprises displaying each word in a stacked horizontal arrangement.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of displaying further comprises displaying letters associated with each selected input element vertically above the horizontal arrangement.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising the step of locating a word code in memory closest to the created word code if the created word code is not found in memory.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of displaying further comprises displaying words having greater preference above words having lower preference.

38. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining that a selected word code is not in memory.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein the series of selected input elements corresponds to less than an entire word.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising the step of providing an audible alert after the step of displaying at least one of said words located in the memory storage.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning a plurality of letters of the alphabet to the input elements comprises assigning each letter of the alphabet to the input elements in an alphabetical order.

42. The method of claim 1, wherein not more than one input element code is assigned to each of the input elements.

43. The method of claim 1, wherein each word is associated with one word code.

44. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a plurality of said word codes are associated with more than one word.

45. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of assigning an input element code to a sequential or simultaneous actuation of the input elements.

46. An apparatus for enabling text to be created on a display, the apparatus comprising:

an input device including a plurality of keys, at least one of the keys associated with a plurality of letters;

means for detecting selection of a sequence of one or more keystrokes of the keys;

a memory for storing a plurality of words each of which are associated with a word code representing a sequence of one or more keystrokes, each word code associated with one or more of said words and at least a plurality of said word codes associated with more than one word;

search means for comparing the detected sequence of keystrokes with the word codes in memory and for selecting the word code associated with the detected sequence of keystrokes;

means for displaying at least one of the words associated with the selected word code; and

,

means for selecting one of said displayed words and removing all unselected words from the display.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising means for selecting preferred words for each word code stored in memory.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the means for selecting preferred words further comprises selecting a prioritized order of preferred words.

49. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the means for selecting preferred words further comprises means for selecting a priority of preferred words for at least one word code stored in memory based upon usage of words.

50. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the means for displaying words further comprises displaying preferred words in priority to non-preferred words.

51. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the at least one key is associated with a single letter.

52. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising an overlay for indicating the letters associated with each key.

53. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the means for displaying comprises scrollable windows.

54. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the sequence of keystrokes corresponds to less than an entire word.

55. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the means for displaying comprises means for displaying preferred words in priority to non-preferred words.

56. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising means for indicating that a detected sequence of keystrokes is not in said memory.

57. The apparatus of claim 56, further comprising means for determining a word code closest to a detected sequence of keystrokes when said search means indicates that the detected sequence of keystrokes is not in said memory and for setting the closest word code as a selected word code.

58. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising means for displaying the letters associated with each key of the sequence of keystrokes.

59. The apparatus of claim 58, wherein the means for displaying further comprises displaying each selected word in a stacked horizontal arrangement and displaying the letters associated with each key of the sequence of keystrokes vertically above the horizontal arrangement.

60. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein words having greater preference are displayed above words having lower preference.

61. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the means for selecting comprises means for highlighting one of said letters or words.

62. The apparatus of claim 58, further comprising means for selecting at least one of said displayed letters to create a new word, displaying the new word and storing the new word in memory associated with a code representing the sequence of keystrokes.

63. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising means for assigning a plurality of letters in an alphabet to the keys such that at least one key has one or more letters and at least one of the keys has a plurality of letters.

64. The apparatus of claim 63, further comprising means for assigning a key code to each of the plurality of keys such that not more than one key code is assigned to each of the at least one of the keys having a plurality of letters, each word code representing a sequence of key codes.

65. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising means for assigning at least one key code to each of the plurality of keys, each word code representing a sequence of key codes.

66. The apparatus of claim 65, wherein no more than one key code is assigned to at least one of the at least one key associated with a plurality of letters.

67. The apparatus of claim 65, wherein not more than one key code is assigned to each of the plurality of keys.

68. The apparatus of claim 65, wherein the means for assigning a key code further comprises means for assigning a key code to a sequential or simultaneous actuation of the keys.

69. The apparatus of claim 65, wherein said search means compares a sequence of key codes associated with the detected sequence of keystrokes with the word codes in memory and selects the word code associated with the detected sequence of keystrokes.

70. The apparatus of claim 65, wherein the means for displaying further comprises means for displaying the key code associated with a selected key.

71. The apparatus of claim 65, wherein the key code comprises a numerical value.

72. The apparatus of claim 65, wherein the key code comprises a unique numerical value.

73. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising means for determining the completion of a word.

74. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein the means for determining the completion of a word comprises detecting an operator selection of a key associated with a space, punctuation mark, or an Enter key.

75. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein said display means displays less than all words associated with the selected word code.

76. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the means for displaying further comprises means for enabling the operator to select which of the words associated with the selected word code is to be displayed.

77. The apparatus of claim 46, the input device further comprising a plurality of alternate keys, at least one of the alternate keys associated with a plurality of letters.

78. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the means for displaying further comprises means for displaying a numerical identifier adjacent each displayed word, and the means for selecting further comprises means for selecting one of the displayed words by selecting the corresponding numerical identifier.

79. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the means for selecting comprise means for enabling the user to highlight one of the displayed words.

80. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the word codes are numbers stored in numerical order.

81. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the plurality of words stored in memory correspond to a group of words having a common subject.

82. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising means for enabling the user to select different configurations of said input device, each configuration having a different arrangement of letters on the keys of said input device.

83. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein at least one of the keys is associated with at least one vowel and at least one consonant.

84. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein no more than one vowel is associated with each key.

85. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein at least one key is associated with seldom-used letters.

86. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising means for enabling the user to add at least one new word to said memory.

87. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the word codes comprise numbers and the memory further stores the word codes in numerical order.

88. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising means for enabling the user to edit the selected word to form a detected sequence of edit keystrokes, and means for setting the detected sequence of edit keystrokes as the detected sequence of keystrokes.

89. The apparatus of claim 46, the plurality of keys each associated with a plurality of letters.

90. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein each word is associated with one word code.

91. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising means for assigning letters to the keys to minimize the number of words associated with the same word code.

92. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the means for selecting further comprises means for providing an audible alert.

93. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein each letter of an alphabet is associated with a key.

94. The apparatus of claim 46, further comprising means for assigning letters to the keys to in an alphabetical order.