AU2012209049B2

AU2012209049B2 - Improved process and apparatus for selecting an item from a database

Info

Publication number: AU2012209049B2
Application number: AU2012209049A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Kevin William Dinn
Original assignee: Kannuu Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Kannuu Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2005-08-12
Filing date: 2012-08-02
Publication date: 2014-11-20
Anticipated expiration: 2026-08-11
Also published as: AU2012209049A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for selecting database items from a database, where the 5 database items are indexed by a list of item identifiers. The item identifiers may be in the form of text. An initial display is generated which includes one or more parts of the item identifiers. Selection of the one or more parts may be made and results in the generation of a 10 display of a further one or more parts for selection. The further one or more parts may be selected in order to add to the selected one or more parts to build a larger part or whole of an item identifier. Selection from a large list of item identifiers may be carried out in a 15 relatively short time period. 250907 (3MMatter) P5 7 20 .Au.2

Description

AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION Standard Patent Applicant (s) : Kannuu Pty Ltd invention Title; IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTING AN ITEM FROM A DATABASE The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method for performing it known to me/us: - 1 IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTING AN ITEM FROM A DATABASE Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improved process and apparatus for selecting an item from a database, and more particularly, but not exclusively, relates to a method and apparatus for rapidly selecting items from a list of items identified by a text field. 10 Background of the Invention There are many applications on computing devices which require selection from a list where the item identifier for the list is text based. These include 15 selecting a contact from an address book, selecting a record from a database, selecting a word from a dictionary, etc. The user of such systems has to enter enough information to narrow a search of the list down to a 20 single entry to be selected. This usually entails entering several of the initial letters of the search term resulting in a smaller subset of the list, then scrolling through the subset to manually point out the desired item. This can be a cumbersome process requiring the user 25 to be able to enter any letter in their language's alphabet as well as possibly numbers and other symbols. This is particularly onerous on small, hand held devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), remote controls, etc. 30 On hand held devices with a keypad such as mobile phones (Figure 1), the entry of alphabetic characters as well as numerics and symbols is achieved through a cumbersome system of multiply pressing the 12 number keys 35E87_I ChMatters) P5720.AL. l (0 to 9 and "*" and "#"). This method has the disadvantages of: Being a complicated, unnatural system which needs to be learnt, 5 * Requiring accurate presses of generally very small buttons resulting in accidental pressing of adjacent buttons, * Requiring the user to be able to read and discern very small labels on the buttons, 10 & Requiring constant shift of gaze between buttons and screen to track the input, * only allowing the entry of one character at a time, not a group of characters at a time. Other handheld devices take input through a touch 15 screen such as PDAs (Figure 2). These allow text input through generally two methods: an on-screen keyboard and handwriting recognition. The on-screen keyboard method involves presenting an image of a keyboard on the screen. The buttons on this on 20 screen keyboard are too small to be selected using fingers so a stylus is required. This results in a slow, error prone selection of individual characters with the disadvantages: e Access to numbers and additional symbols usually 25 requiring at least two presses as they require the keyboard to go into another mode to allow access to them, " Small key images are hard to see for those with any impairment of vision and hard to select for 30 those with limited dexterity, * Characters are only entered one at a time. 3559G7_1 (SHMgt-) P57206.AU.2 - 3 Handwriting recognition systems have the disadvantage of a high error rate in recognising characters unless either the system is trained with the user's handwriting or the user learns a set of distinctive ways to input 5 letters that are amenable to the device's programming. This method has the disadvantages of: e Needing a stylus for input, e Being slow to enter each letter, e Requiring a constant cycle of entry, checking of 10 accuracy of the entry and correction of misinterpretation of entries, e Characters are only entered one at a time. Even using a fully fledged keyboard to specify the characters to select an object has disadvantages: 15 e It is still necessary to enter one character at a time, e It is still necessary to enter enough characters to generate a manageable subset list and then select from it, the alternative would be to enter 20 sufficient characters each time to uniquely identify the entry which may require almost all of the entry to be specified, e Except for adept touch typists there is still a need to constantly move one's gaze between the 25 keyboard and the screen. There is need for an improved method of selecting items from a list.

- 4 Summary of the Invention In accordance with a first aspect, the present invention provides a computer-implemented method of selecting an item from a plurality of items, the method comprising: 5 generating, by at least one computer processor, a first display, the first display comprising a part of an item identifier for at least a first set of items and a part of an item identifier for at least a second set of items in a database; and 10 enabling, by the at least one computer processor, selection of one of the two parts of the item identifiers by a user using a directional controller on an input device of a computing device; generating, by the at least one computer processor, 15 in response to the selection of the one of the two parts, a further display; the further display comprising: an additional part of an item identifier for at least a third set of items and an additional part of an item identifier for at least a fourth set of items; and 20 the selected part of the item identifier; enabling, by the at least one computer processor, selection of one of at least two additional parts of the item identifiers by the user using the directional controller of the input device; 25 combining, by the at least one computer processor, the selected part of the item identifiers with the selected additional part of the item identifiers to create a larger part of the item identifiers; and displaying, by the at least one computer processor, 30 the larger part of the item identifiers; - 5 wherein the parts of item identifiers and the additional parts of the item identifiers are alphanumeric symbols and the additional parts of the item identifiers are longer than a single alphanumeric symbol but shorter 5 than complete item identifier; and wherein the first set of items and the second set of items are mutually exclusive of one another and the third set of items and the fourth set of items are mutually exclusive subsets of the first set of items or the second 10 set of items. In embodiments, the method comprises a further step of iterating the selections until the item identifiers are completed. In embodiments, the step of generating the first display 15 includes selecting the one or more parts of the item identifiers to be displayed based on predetermined criterion. The predetermined criterion may be a frequency of selection of database items associated within the item identifier parts. The predetermined criterion may also be 20 a ranking of the one or more parts of item identifiers in relation to a tree hierarchy classification of the one or more parts of item identifiers. In some embodiments, the item identifiers are a text strings. The item identifiers may be words. 25 In embodiments, the database is stored in a memory of the computing device. The computing device may be, for example, a mobile telephone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The step of enabling selection may allow the selection of the one or more parts of the item identifiers 30 by way of a joystick.

In accordance with a second aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for selecting items, the apparatus comprising: an output display; 5 an input with a directional controller; and a computer processor configured to execute a method comprising: associating the items with a corresponding item identifier; 10 generating a first display on the output display, the first display comprising: a part of an item identifier for at least a first set of items and a part of an item identifier for at least a second set of items in a database; 15 enabling selection of one of at least two parts of the item identifiers by a user using the directional controller of the input; generating, in response to the selection of the one of the two parts of item identifiers, a further display on 20 the output display, the further display comprising: an additional part of an item identifier for at least a third set of items and an additional part of an item identifier for at least a fourth set of items; and the selected part of the item identifier; 25 enabling selection of one of the two additional parts of the item identifiers by the user using the directional controller of the input; - 6a combining the selected part of the item identifiers with the selected additional part of the item identifiers to create a larger part of the item identifiers; and displaying the larger part of the item identifiers on 5 the output display; wherein the parts of item identifiers and the additional parts of the item identifiers are alphanumeric symbols and the additional parts of the item identifiers are longer than a single alphanumeric symbol but shorter 10 than complete item identifier; and wherein the first set of items and the second set of items are mutually exclusive of one another and the third set of items and the fourth set of items are mutually exclusive subsets of the first set of items or the second 15 set of items. In embodiments, the processor is arranged to select the one or more parts of the item identifiers to be displayed based on a predetermined criterion. The predetermined criterion may be a frequency of selection of database 20 items associated within the item identifier parts. The predetermined criterion may also be a ranking of the one or more parts of item identifiers in relation to a tree hierarchy classification of the one or more parts of item identifiers. 25 In some embodiments, the apparatus includes a memory storing the tree hierarchy, or a memory storing the database. In embodiments, the item identifiers are text strings and may be words. 30 18. The apparatus in accordance with claim 17, wherein the item identifiers are words.

- 6b In embodiments, the apparatus is a mobile telephone or, for example, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The input of the apparatus may be a joystick. 5 Brief description of the drawings Features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 10 Figure 1 is a representation of a traditional mobile telephone layout. Figure 2 is a representation of a touch screen input device. Figure 3 is a representation of a traditional address 15 book at start of selection process. Image shows first four entries in address book with selection indicator over first one. There is no entry in search refinement field. Figure 4 is a representation of a selection from reduced list of contacts from an address book using a 20 traditional selection process. Image shows user has entered "je" to refine the search to a managable number of - 7 entries and then used the cursor to move the highlight to specify "Jessie Lares" Figure 5 is a representation of an opening joystick based selection menu using the present invention. 5 Figure 6 is a representation name partially specified using the present invention. Figure 7 is a representation of an example table of words. Figure 8 is a representation of an example structure 10 of tree for words in example table. Figure 9 is a representation of a touch screen option selection. Description of preferred embodiment 15 The following description of the present invention relates to selection of a contact from an address book of a mobile telephone. The invention is however not limited to this application and may be implemented on any device with computational processing ability on any list which is 20 indexed by a text based value. The conventional way of selecting a contact from an address book on a mobile telephone entails the user following the sequence: 1. The user starts the address book application and 25 is presented with a the full list of all contacts in the address book, (Figure 3) 2. Using the multi-tap feature on the device to enter characters with multiple presses of keypad keys, the user enters the first letter of the name they 30 want to find, 3M%987)_ (CHMutter) P572C6.AU).2 - 8 3. This results in the list of names presented changing from the entire address book to only those names starting with the specified letter, 4. The user can now decided to use the joystick to 5 move the selection to the desired contact and select it (Figure 4), if however the list is still too long the user goes back to step 2 above to enter the next character and proceeds until the list is short enough to find the contact, 10 5. Once the contact is selected, their information is presented and the user is given the option of calling them, emailing them, etc. In an embodiment of the current invention the above process can be streamlined greatly by presenting the user 15 with the following sequence: 1. The user starts the address book application which is implemented based on the present invention, the user is presented with 4 strings in a circular menu indicating the strings are selected by 20 movements of the joystick in the directions left, right, up and down (Figure 5), these initial four options are the four most likely word sections in the database at the start of a contact name based on an analysis of the frequency of words in the 25 address book; 2. If the user sees the word section that starts, or is a continuation of, the contact they want to select they move the joystick in the indicated direction to select that word section, appending 30 it to the name thus far specified. The next set of most likely word sections which continue the name thus far specified are then presented (Figure 6), 35695W7 (HMim_ ) 0 /206.AU.2 - 9 if the selection is not complete the user repeats this step 2; 3. If the word section the user desires is not presented they activate the "more" function, in 5 this case a press in of the joystick to be presented with the next most likely set of four options to continue the name thus tar specified, the user then repeats step 2; 4. Once the user has completed the name the user is 10 then presented with their information and the user is given the option of calling them, emailing them, etc. Using an address book application implemented with the present invention as described above has the following is advantages over the traditional system as described previously: * There are significantly less key presses or movements of the joystick as the mostly letters are presented first and it is likely that it will 20 be possible to specify several letters of the name at a time, " only the joystick has been used so there is no need to transfer the thumb or finger between buttons and risk mis-hitting buttons, 25 * The labels selected from are presented on the screen rather than being printed on the buttons meaning the user is able to maintain their gaze on the screen the entire time rather than constantly flick between the screen and the keypad, 30 * Another advantage of on-screen labels is that it is possible to increase the size of the labels to make them more readable for those with vision 3559937_1 (CRMtUrs) PU7206.AU n - 10 impairment, an option not possible for labels on small keypad keys. It should be obvious to someone skilled in the art that the present invention has much broader application 5 than just the example listed above, as well as a mobile phone, the present invention can be used to improve list selection on other devices including but not limited to personal computers, tablet PCs, PDAs, remote controls and small watch sized devices. 10 Also, as well as the above sample application the present invention can be used to select an item from any list which is indexed by a text based value. The list could be of any size from a handful of entries to a large database of thousands or even millions of entries. The 15 list does not just have to be contacts in an address book, applications could include but are not limited to selection from any text indexed database, for example a list of products in an inventory, selection of word definitions from a dictionary, selection of answers from 20 an FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) document, etc. Implementation Preferably the present invention would be implemented as software within an application which maintains or allows viewing of some list of information. The list would 25 be accessible through an index field which is text based. The text may be based on any language or symbolic system as long as it can be represented on the screen for selection. Table of values 30 Figure 7 shows an example table of words which may be the text string indices from which a selection is to be made. 359%871 (CHMAIE.rJ P$720V.AU.2 - 11 Hierarchical tree In order to facilitate selection from the list of text indices using the present invention, the list needs to be processed as a hierarchical tree of word sections. 5 In one variation of the implementation of the present invention in software there may be a pre-processing phase where the list of indices is analysed and the hierarchical tree is generated and stored in some computer accessible memory to assist processing. 10 The hierarchical tree of word sections is an internal representation of the structure of the words in the list. Where words share the same starting letter or letters those words are added under the same node, where words diverge a branch in the hierarchical tree is formed. This 15 process continues to form further entries and branches down the tree to correspond with the subsequent letters -in the words. As an example, the logical hierarchical tree structure for the list in Figure 7 is illustrated in 20 Figure 8. As can be seen, where words have common letters in sequence they share a node in the tree structure, where the characters diverge (for example after the first 'n" for "Andrew Jones" and "Anne Parkes") a branch in the tree is formed. 25 Node rankings Associated with each end node is a ranking value. In the most basic of systems this value would be one for each end node but in other systems it could be any number representing a ranking, for instance for a phone book 30 application the number could be the number of times that contact was accessed giving more frequently used contacts higher priority. Z$GK87,1 (GHMattsrs) PS72OM Ai.J.2 - 12 For the branch nodes in the tree their ranking value is the sum of all the ranking values of the the nodes immediately below them in the tree. Presenting options 5 In an implementation of the present invention, the system presents word section options. The number of options presented depends on the mode by which the options are being selected. On a touch screen the options may be in a 3 by 2 grid to be selected by a stylus (Figure 9) 10 in this case the system would be generating up to 5 word sections at a time leaving the sixth menu option to indicate "more" where none of the presented 5 options is applicable. In the case of a menu driven by a joystick such as 15 that which is commonly found on a mobile phone the system could present up to 4 word section options indicated by presses of the joystick in the four directions (left, right, up and down) and having a press in of the joystick to indicate "more". 20 Each word section option presented corresponds to a node in the notional hierarchical tree. In order to determine which nodes to present the system will use the following logic: 1. Exclude nodes which have already been presented 25 (i.e. They have been presented to the user and the user has selected "more" to indicate none of those presented are appropriate) 2. Select the nodes with the highest ranking values 12 T.71,irm ---- --. . 1 , 1 - 13 string "J" is 5 but if the node for "ohn_" is included in the oclection the ranki-I .C-. "J" should be treated as 2, the sum of the rankings of the unselected nodes. 5 4. Point 3 above means some iterations may be performed to select the optimum node set 5. Select up to the number of menu choices that are presentable. Thus for our example tree in Figure 8 it four word 10 section are to be selected for a joystick based interface, the first four options would be: Word Section Ranking Value "An"2 2 "John_" 3 "J"p 2 (ranking of "J" minus ranking of "ohn_" which is presented separately) "Peter Smith" 1 Figure 5 shows how this selection set may be is represented on a joystick based interface. If the user was to select the "John" option then the options to be presented would be : Word Section Ranking Value "Smith" 1 "Sykes" l "Jones" 1 20 Figure 6 shows how this selection set may be represented on a joystick based interface. b6957_1 (GH.MAUens) P5;o.AU.2 - 14 If the user was to select the "An" option from the original menu then the options to be presented w'_ul b: Word Section Ranking Value "drewJones" 1 "neParkes" 5 Once the user selects a word section that takes them to the end of the index then the item has been uniquely specified and the system can then perform the processing applicable to the application. In the example of a phone book system the user may be presented with options to 10 initiate a phone call or send a text message to the contact. As can be seen from the above example, even using just a joystick it is possible to very rapidly narrow a text based search to a single entry with very few joystick 15 actions using the present invention. While the example presented is based on a trivial number of entries, the present invention provides a significant increase in efficiency of selections from lists with many more items as well 20 It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments 25 are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. S5&aDe7J (GM.ter) PS720a.Au 2

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of selecting an item from a plurality of items, the method comprising: 5 generating, by at least one computer processor, a first display, the first display comprising a part of an item identifier for at least a first set of items and a part of an item identifier for at least a second set of items in a database; and 10 enabling, by the at least one computer processor, selection of one of the two parts of the item identifiers by a user using a directional controller on an input device of a computing device; generating, by the at least one computer processor, 15 in response to the selection of the one of the two parts, a further display; the further display comprising: an additional part of an item identifier for at least a third set of items and an additional part of an item identifier for at least a fourth set of items; and 20 the selected part of the item identifier; enabling, by the at least one computer processor, selection of one of at least two additional parts of the item identifiers by the user using the directional controller of the input device; 25 combining, by the at least one computer processor, the selected part of the item identifiers with the selected additional part of the item identifiers to create a larger part of the item identifiers; and displaying, by the at least one computer processor, 30 the larger part of the item identifiers; - 16 wherein the parts of item identifiers and the additional parts of the item identifiers are alphanumeric symbols and the additional parts of the item identifiers are longer than a single alphanumeric symbol but shorter 5 than complete item identifier; and wherein the first set of items and the second set of items are mutually exclusive of one another and the third set of items and the fourth set of items are mutually exclusive subsets of the first set of items or the second 10 set of items.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1, comprising a further step of iterating the selections until the item identifiers are completed.

3. The method in accordance with claim 1 or 2, wherein 15 the step of generating the first display includes selecting the one or more parts of the item identifiers to be displayed based on predetermined criterion.

4. The method in accordance with claim 3, wherein the predetermined criterion is a frequency of selection of 20 database items associated within the item identifier parts.

5. The method in accordance with claim 3, wherein the predetermined criterion is a ranking of the one or more parts of item identifiers in relation to a tree hierarchy 25 classification of the one or more parts of item identifiers.

6. The method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the item identifiers are a text strings. - 17

7. The method in accordance with claim 6, wherein the item identifiers are a words.

8. The method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the database is stored in a 5 memory of the computing device.

9. The method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the computing device is a mobile telephone.

10. The method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the computing device is a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). 10

11. The method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the step of enabling selection allows selection of the one or more parts of the item identifiers by way of a joystick.

12. An apparatus for selecting items, the apparatus comprising: 15 an output display; an input with a directional controller; and a computer processor configured to execute a method comprising: associating the items with a corresponding item 20 identifier; generating a first display on the output display, the first display comprising: a part of an item identifier for at least a first set of items and a part of an item identifier for at least a 25 second set of items in a database; enabling selection of one of at least two parts of the item identifiers by a user using the directional controller of the input; - 18 generating, in response to the selection of the one of the two parts of item identifiers, a further display on the output display, the further display comprising: an additional part of an item identifier for at least 5 a third set of items and an additional part of an item identifier for at least a fourth set of items; and the selected part of the item identifier; enabling selection of one of the two additional parts of the item identifiers by the user using the directional 10 controller of the input; combining the selected part of the item identifiers with the selected additional part of the item identifiers to create a larger part of the item identifiers; and displaying the larger part of the item identifiers on 15 the output display; wherein the parts of item identifiers and the additional parts of the item identifiers are alphanumeric symbols and the additional parts of the item identifiers are longer than a single alphanumeric symbol but shorter 20 than complete item identifier; and wherein the first set of items and the second set of items are mutually exclusive of one another and the third set of items and the fourth set of items are mutually exclusive subsets of the first set of items or the second 25 set of items.

13. The apparatus in accordance with claim 12, wherein the processor is arranged to select the one or more parts of the item identifiers to be displayed based on a predetermined criterion. - 19

14. The apparatus in accordance with claim 13, wherein the predetermined criterion is a frequency of selection of database items associated with the item identifier parts.

15. The apparatus in accordance with claim 13, wherein 5 predetermined criterion is a ranking of the one or more parts of the item identifiers in relation to a tree hierarchy classification of the one or more parts of item identifiers.

16. The apparatus in accordance with claim 15, including 10 a memory storing the tree hierarchy.

17. The apparatus in accordance with claim 12, wherein the item identifiers are text strings.

18. The apparatus in accordance with claim 17, wherein the item identifiers are words. 15

19. The apparatus in accordance with any one of claims 12 to 18, including a memory storing the database.

20. The apparatus in accordance with claim 19, wherein the apparatus is a mobile telephone.

21. The apparatus in accordance with claim 18, wherein 20 the apparatus is a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).

22. The apparatus in accordance with claim 20, wherein the input is a joystick.