Method of creating text using a computer

• US RE32,773 E
• Filed: 04/21/1986
• Issued: 10/25/1988
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/1983
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Dorothy Goldwasser, Eric P. Goldwasser
• Original Assignee: Dorothy Goldwasser, Eric P. Goldwasser
• Inventors: Goldwasser, Dorothy, Goldwasser, Eric P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleming, Michael R.
• Application Number:
  US06/854,430
• Time in Patent Office: 918 Days
• Field of Search: 364/200, 364/900, 364/419, 340/707, 340/708, 340/365 P, 434/167, 434/169, 434/308, 400/98, 400/95
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/243 Form filling; Merging, e.g. graphical processing of form or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/276 Stenotyping, code gives word, guess-ahead for partial word input

Abstract

A method of creating text using a computer having a display screen and a pointing mechanism for identifying locations on the display screen. The method involves displaying a list of commonly used words on the screen so that the user may select the words to be used in the text by successively pointing to them. The computer responds to the pointing mechanism and displays on the screen a line of text comprising the identified words in their successive order of selection.

Claims

1. mechanism is a touch-sensitive display..]. .Iadd.12. A method of enabling text to be created on a display screen using a computer having a memory, said display screen and means for selecting positions on said screen, said method comprising the steps of:

(A) storing in said memory a dictionary of frequently used linguistic expressions, at least some of said linguistic expressions each comprising a plurality of letters which form words of a given language;

(B) sub-dividing said dictionary into numerous predetermined screen presentations of predetermined words including;

(i) a first of said screen presentations comprising the most commonly used words in the given language, without regard to the initial letters of these most commonly used words,

(ii) a first plurality of said screen presentations comprising other commonly used words of the given language, each screen presentation of said first plurality consisting of words all having the same initial letter, and the initial letters of the words in each of said screen presentations of the first plurality being different from the initial letters of the words in the other screen presentations of the first plurality, and

(iii) a second plurality of said screen presentations comprising words of the given language, each screen presentation of said second plurality consisting of words all having a predetermined initial and second letter, and combinations of initial and second letters of the words in each of said screen presentations of the second plurality being different from combinations of initial and second letters of the words in other screen presentations of the second plurality;

(C) displaying, on a first section of said screen, at least one line of text, as said text is progressively created in response to a user'"'"'s indication of respective selected positions;

(D) continuously displaying, on a second section of said screen, a plurality of individual letters of the alphabet of the given language arranged in a predetermined pattern;

(E) displaying, on a third section of said screen various ones of said screen presentations one at a time in response to a user'"'"'s indications of various selected positions;

(i) prior to the selection of the initial letter of each new word to be concatenated to the text, initially displaying, on said third section of the screen, said first screen presentation comprising the most commonly used words of the given language,

(F) in response to the user'"'"'s selection of a position in said third section of the screen corresponding to a selected one of the commonly used words in said initially displayed screen presentation, displaying said selected word following a space concatenated to the end of said line of text for adding said selected word to said text;

(G) in response to the user'"'"'s lack of selection of a position identified in step (F) in said third section of the screen and in response to the user'"'"'s selection of a position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected initial letter,

(i) displaying, on said third section of the screen, one of the screen presentations of said first plurality, said one displayed screen presentation consisting of words all having initial letters corresponding to said selected initial letter;

(H) in response to the user'"'"'s selection of a position in said third section of the screen corresponding to a selected one of the words in the screen presentation being displayed in step (G) (i), displaying said selected one word following a space concatenated to the end of said text for adding said selected one word to said text;

(I) in response to the user'"'"'s lack of selection of a position identified in step (H) in said third section of the screen and in response to the user'"'"'s selection of a position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected second letter,

(i) displaying, on said third section of the screen, one of the screen presentations of said second plurality, said one displayed screen presentation consisting of words all having initial and second letters corresponding to said initial letter selected in step (G) and said second letter selected in step (I); and

(J) in response to the user'"'"'s selection of a position in said third section of the screen corresponding to a selected one of the words in the screen presentation being displaying in step (I) (i), displaying said selected one word following a space concatenated to the end of said text for adding

2. said selected one word to said text. .Iaddend. .Iadd.13. The method defined in claim 12, further comprising the steps of displaying following a space concatenated to the end of said text the initial letter selected in step (G) and the second letter selected in step (I) immediately following the respective selections thereof. .Iaddend. .Iadd.14. The method defined in claim 12, wherein said individual letters are displayed on said second section of said screen arranged in the pattern they appear on a keyboard. .Iaddend. .Iadd.15. The method defined in claim 14, wherein said individual letters are arranged on said screen in the order they appear on a QWERTY keyboard. .Iaddend. .Iadd.16. The method defined in claim 1, wherein said means for selecting positions on said screen comprises a pointing mechanism for pointing at the screen. .Iaddend. .Iadd.17. The method defined in claim 16, wherein said pointing mechanism

3. is a light pen. .Iaddend. .Iadd.18. The method defined in claim 16, wherein said pointing mechanism is a touch sensitive display. .Iaddend. .Iadd.19. The method defined in claim 12, wherein said first screen presentation of said dictionary includes an essentially fixed, standard dictionary of linguistic expressions which are normally frequently used by at least a given segment of the public, and a variable, personal dictionary of linguistic expressions which are frequently used by a frequent individual user, said method further comprising the steps of:

(K) determining the frequency of use of at least some of said words of said given language that are added to said text; and

(L) storing in said personal dictionary the words of said language which are most frequently used as determined in step (K). .Iaddend. .Iadd.20. The method defined in claim 12, further comprising the steps of;

(K) in response to the selection of a position of an existing word in said text in said first section of said screen, displaying the existing word, whose position was identified in said first section of said screen, concatenated to the end of said text following a space thereby adding said

4. selected existing word to the text. .Iaddend. .Iadd.21. The method defined in claim 12, including the further steps of:

including in said numerous screen presentations;

(iv) a third plurality of screen presentations comprising words of the given language, each screen presentation of the third plurality consisting of words all having a predetermined initial, second and third letter, and combinations of initial, second and third letters of the words in each of said screen presentations of the third plurality being different from combinations of initial, second and third letters of the words in other screen presentations of the third plurality,

(K) in response to the user'"'"'s lack of selection of a position identified in step (J) in said third section of the screen and in response to the user'"'"'s selection of a position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected third letter,

(i) displaying, on said third section of the screen, one of the screen presentations of said third plurality, said one displayed screen presentation consisting of words all having initial, second and third letters corresponding to said initial letter selected in step (G), said second letter selected in step (I) and said third letter selected in step (K); and

(L) in response to the user'"'"'s selection of a position in said third section of the screen corresponding to a selected one of the words in the screen presentation being displayed in steps (K) (i), displaying said selected one word following a space concatenated to the end of said text for adding

5. said selected word to said text. .Iaddend. .Iadd.22. The method defined in claim 21, including the further step of:

(M) in response to the user'"'"'s lack of selection of a position identified in step (L) in said third section of the screen and in response to the user'"'"'s selection of a position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected fourth letter, blanking out from said one screen presentation of said third plurality all words which do not contain said selected initial, second, third and fourth letters for facilitating the user'"'"'s seeing those remaining words of said one screen presentation of said third plurality which do contain said selected initial, second, third and fourth letters. .Iaddend. .Iadd.23. The method defined in claim 22, including the further steps of;

(N) in response to the user'"'"'s selection of a position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected fifth letter, blanking out from said one screen presentation of said third plurality all words which do not contain said selected initial, second, third, fourth and fifth letters for facilitating the user'"'"'s seeing those remaining words which do contain said selected initial, second, third, fourth and fifth letters, and

(O) in the event that all words of said one screen presentation of said third plurality become blanked out upon selection of said fifth letter, thereby indicating to the user a strong likelihood that the word has been

6. misspelled. .Iaddend. .Iadd.24. The method defined in claim 12, including the further step of:

(K) in response to the user'"'"'s selection of a position in said second section of the screen as identified in step (G) corresponding to a selected initial letter followed almost simultaneously by selection of another position in said second section of the screen as identified in step (I) corresponding to a selected second letter,

(i) almost immediately displaying, on said third section of the screen, one of the screen presentations of said second plurality, said one displayed screen presentation consisting of words all having initial and second letters corresponding to said initial and second letters almost

7. simultaneously selected in step (K) above. .Iaddend. .Iadd.25. The method defined in claim 12, including the step of:

(K) including in each of said screen presentations of said first plurality words of said language which are commonly used by at least a given segment of the public fluent in said language plus words of said language which are frequently used by a frequent individual user. .Iaddend. .Iadd.26. A method enabling text of a predetermined language to be composed on a display screen using a computer having a memory, said display screen and means for indicating to the computer selected positions on said screen, said method comprising the steps of;

(A) displaying, on a first section of said screen, at least one line of text, as said text is progressively composed in response to a user'"'"'s indication of respective selected positions on said screen;

(B) continuously displaying, on a second section of said screen, the letters of the alphabet of said language;

(C) in response to the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected initial letter, displaying on a third section of said screen numerous commonly used words of the language all beginning with said selected initial letter;

(D) in response to the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said third section of the screen corresponding to one of said displayed words in step (C), concatenating said word following a space to the end of said text on said first section of the screen;

(E) in response to the lack of the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said third section of the screen in step (D) and the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected second letter, displaying on said third section of said screen numerous commonly used words of the language all beginning with said selected initial and second letters; and

(F) in response to the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said third section of the screen corresponding to one of said displayed words in step (E), concatenating said word following a space to the end of said

8. text on said first section of the screen. .Iaddend. .Iadd.27. The method defined in claim 26, including the further steps of:

(G) in response to the lack of the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said third section of the screen in step (E) and the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected third letter, displaying on said third section of said screen numerous commonly used words of the language all beginning with said selected initial, second and third letters; and

(H) in response to the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said third section of the screen corresponding to one of the displayed words in a step (G), concatenating said word following a space to the end of said

9. text on said first section of the screen. .Iaddend. .Iadd.28. The method defined in claim 27, including the further step of:

(I) in response to the lack of the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said third section of the screen in step (G) and the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected fourth letter, blanking out from said third section of the screen those words displayed in step (G) not beginning with said selected initial, second, third and fourth letters. .Iaddend. .Iadd.29. The method defined in claim 28, including the further step of;

(J) in response to the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected fifth letter, blanking out from said third section of the screen those words remaining in step (I) not beginning with said selected initial, second, third, fourth and fifth letters, and

in the event that all words become blanked out informing the user of the strong likelihood that the user is misspelling a word. .Iaddend.

10. Iadd. The method defined in claim 27, including the further steps of:

(I) in response to the lack of the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said third section of the screen in step (G) and the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected fourth letter and wherein said selected initial, second, third and fourth letters are contained in a significant number of commonly used words in said language, displaying on said third section of said screen a number of words of the language all beginning with said selected initial, second, third and fourth letters; and

(J) in response to the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said third section of the screen corresponding to one of the displayed words in step (I), concatenating said word following a space to the end of said text on said first section of the screen. .Iaddend. .Iadd.31. The method defined in claim 30, including the further step of;

(K) in response to the lack of the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said third section of the screen in step (I) and the user'"'"'s indication of a selected position in said second section of the screen corresponding to a selected fifth letter, blanking out from said third section of the screen those words displayed in step (I) not beginning with said selected initial, second, third, fourth and fifth letters, and

in the event that all words become blanked out informing the user of the strong likelihood that the user is misspelling a word. .Iaddend.