Handheld electronic device with text disambiguation

• US 9,588,596 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2014
• Issued: 03/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Fux, Vadim, Elizarov, Michael G., Kolomiets, Sergey V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lerner, Martin
• Application Number:
  US14/280,169
• Publication Number:
  US 20140247225A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,026 Days
• Field of Search: 704/1, 704/9, 710/67, 715/257, 715/816
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques

Abstract

Systems, methods, and software can be used to disambiguate an input into a handheld electronic device. In some aspect, one computer-implemented method includes detecting an ambiguous input including one or more selections of one or more input keys; generating one or more prefix objects corresponding with the ambiguous input; generating an output set including at least some of the one or more prefix objects, wherein each of the at least some of the one or more prefix objects is associated with an identified corresponding word object; determining, using a processor, a quantity of prefix objects in the output set is fewer than a predetermined quantity, and, based on the determination, adding as an orphan prefix object to the output set an additional prefix object of the one or more of prefix objects for which a corresponding word object was not identified; and outputting the output set.

Claims

1. A method of disambiguating an input into a handheld electronic device, the method comprising:

detecting an ambiguous input including one or more selections of one or more input keys;

generating one or more prefix objects corresponding with the ambiguous input;

generating an output set including at least some of the one or more prefix objects, wherein each of the at least some of the one or more prefix objects is associated with an identified corresponding word object;

determining, using a processor, a quantity of prefix objects in the output set is fewer than a predetermined quantity, and, based on the determination, adding as an orphan prefix object to the output set an additional prefix object of the one or more of prefix objects for which a corresponding word object was not identified;

outputting the output set;

detecting an additional selection of one or more input keys;

determining that a selection input was not detected between the detection of the ambiguous input and the detection of the additional selection; and

generating one or more additional prefix objects corresponding with the ambiguous input plus the additional selection without generating an additional prefix object corresponding with the orphan prefix object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein adding to the output set the additional prefix object for which a corresponding word object was not identified includes positioning the orphan prefix object at a position corresponding with a relatively low frequency.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a particular prefix object of the one or more prefix objects is of a length having a first quantity of characters;

determining that a particular identified word object corresponding with the particular prefix object is of a length having a second quantity of characters;

determining that the first quantity is equal to the second quantity; and

positioning the particular prefix object in the output set at a position corresponding with a relatively high frequency.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the at least some of the one or more prefix objects is positioned in the output set at a position corresponding to a frequency object associated with the identified corresponding word object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting the output set includes displaying at least some of the prefix objects in the output set.

6. A handheld electronic device comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory device that stores a set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to;

detect an ambiguous input including one or more selections of one or more input keys;

generate one or more prefix objects corresponding with the ambiguous input;

generate an output set including at least some of the one or more prefix objects, wherein each of the at least some of the one or more prefix objects is associated with an identified corresponding word object;

determine a quantity of prefix objects in the output set is fewer than a predetermined quantity, and, based on the determination, adding as an orphan prefix object to the output set an additional prefix object of the one or more of prefix objects for which a corresponding word object was not identified;

output the output set;

detect an additional selection of one or more input keys;

determine that a selection input was not detected between the detection of the ambiguous input and the detection of the additional selection; and

generate one or more additional prefix objects corresponding with the ambiguous input plus the additional selection without generating an additional prefix object corresponding with the orphan prefix object.

7. The handheld electronic device of claim 6, wherein adding to the output set the additional prefix object for which a corresponding word object was not identified includes positioning the orphan prefix object at a position corresponding with a relatively low frequency.

8. The handheld electronic device of claim 6, wherein the set of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the at least one processor to:

determine that a particular prefix object of the one or more prefix objects is of a length having a first quantity of characters;

determine that a particular identified word object corresponding with the particular prefix object is of a length having a second quantity of characters;

determine that the first quantity is equal to the second quantity; and

position the particular prefix object in the output set at a position corresponding with a relatively high frequency.

9. The handheld electronic device of claim 6, wherein each of the at least some of the one or more prefix objects is positioned in the output set at a position corresponding to a frequency object associated with the identified corresponding word object.

10. The handheld electronic device of claim 6, wherein outputting the output set includes displaying at least some of the prefix objects in the output set.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations including:

detecting an ambiguous input including one or more selections of one or more input keys;

generating one or more prefix objects corresponding with the ambiguous input;

generating an output set including at least some of the one or more prefix objects, wherein each of the at least some of the one or more prefix objects is associated with an identified corresponding word object;

determining a quantity of prefix objects in the output set is fewer than a predetermined quantity, and, based on the determination, adding as an orphan prefix object to the output set an additional prefix object of the one or more of prefix objects for which a corresponding word object was not identified;

outputting the output set;

detecting an additional selection of one or more input keys;

determining that a selection input was not detected between the detection of the ambiguous input and the detection of the additional selection; and

generating one or more additional prefix objects corresponding with the ambiguous input plus the additional selection without generating an additional prefix object corresponding with the orphan prefix object.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein adding to the output set the additional prefix object for which a corresponding word object was not identified includes positioning the orphan prefix object at a position corresponding with a relatively low frequency.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

determining that a particular prefix object of the one or more prefix objects is of a length having a first quantity of characters;

determining that a particular identified word object corresponding with the particular prefix object is of a length having a second quantity of characters;

determining that the first quantity is equal to the second quantity; and

positioning the particular prefix object in the output set at a position corresponding with a relatively high frequency.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein each of the at least some of the one or more prefix objects is positioned in the output set at a position corresponding to a frequency object associated with the identified corresponding word object.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein outputting the output set includes displaying at least some of the prefix objects in the output set.