HK1059667B - Method and apparatus for accelerated entry of symbols on a reduced keypad - Google Patents

Description

Method and apparatus for expediting symbol entry on reduced keypad

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the design of typeable devices, and more particularly to devices that accelerate symbol entry using a reduced keyboard.

Background

A standard desktop computer keyboard includes 100 or more keys. The keyboard may be used to encode symbols much more than the keys it has, including letters, capital letters, accented letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and function symbols (e.g., symbols used to encode cursor movement, character deletion, or quick access to the internet). Thus, many keys are typically required to encode more than one symbol. As the number of different functions that a computer keyboard is required to perform has increased, the number of keys on a typical keyboard has also increased, resulting in a keyboard that has recently become increasingly large in size (up to the size of a tray used to hold turkeys).

When we refer to a reduced keyboard such as a telephone keypad, the constraint of encoding many symbols on a small number of keys becomes more stringent. When there are many symbols on a key, some way must be provided to distinguish between the symbols, that is, to determine which symbol is to be entered. There are generally three basic methods for distinguishing between the symbols of a multi-symbol key:

1) a combination or shift mechanism (clicking or shifting mechanism) that presses a plurality of keys at a time, a typical example being the use of a cap-shift key to distinguish between lower and upper case letters; 2) a multi-tap mechanism, the telephone keypad typically operates in this manner, e.g., for key 2, one input "a", two inputs "b", and three inputs "c"; and 3) predictive text methods, using software to predict the symbols to be entered. The method in Riskin US5,031,206 is used as an example.

Recent advances have optimized combinations of these approaches. For example, Gutowitz US09/347,188, incorporated herein by reference, teaches an optimization method that combines a multi-tap mechanism with a prediction method. Gutowitz PCT/US99/29,343, incorporated herein by reference, teaches a method for optimally combining a conversion mechanism with a prediction mechanism.

Extending the above teachings to the entry of a large set of symbols (including numbers, punctuation marks, functional symbols, accented letters, etc.) introduces some subtle but important issues. When the number of symbols to be encoded is very large and the number of keys is very small, additional limitations arise beyond the problems associated with proper differentiation. These limitations arise because many symbols must be represented on a single key. In particular, on a telephone keypad with a small number of keys, it may be difficult to mark a key with all the symbols that it needs to encode. The present invention addresses these problems.

Disclosure of Invention

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for inputting letters, punctuation marks, numbers and functional symbols in a man-machine controlled manner. Objects of the invention also include:

limited multi-tap depth. User studies have shown that one of the most troublesome aspects of the multi-tap method is that many symbols may require many additional keystrokes. For example, lettersIn a standard multi-tap, four keystrokes are required. In the present invention, since most symbols can be obtained with a) the auxiliary conversion key or b) one additional key according to the present embodiment, the multi-tap depth is limited. Some uncommon symbols may require two or more additional keystrokes.

Reduced number of keys per symbol. As just described, one desirable feature of the present invention is to limit the number of keystrokes (worst case) required to type any symbol. It is another object of the invention to reduce the number of expected keystrokes (average) when entering most symbols.

A concentrated focal point. Novice users are accustomed to focusing their attention on the keyboard, while more advanced users tend to focus their attention on the display. In view of usability, it is important to avoid forcing the user to shift focus from the keyboard to the screen and back to the keyboard again. In the present invention, the keypad label provides a way for a novice user to find all or most of the symbols without viewing the display. Advanced users who have knowledge of the designation between symbols and keys may still focus their attention on the display.

Discoverability. All or most of the symbols are visually encoded in the following manner: the key operations required to type these symbols are apparent from visual inspection, i.e. a language independent manner. This coding helps novice users find out how to operate the keyboard by simply browsing the keyboard.

Progressive discoverability. Symbols are organized into a plurality of ordered groups according to their probability of occurrence. The most likely symbol to appear can be obtained in an easy to find way with few keys. It may be more difficult to find out how to enter a less common symbol and a less common symbol may require more laborious multi-tap. In order to encode a large number of symbols on a limited number of keys, some symbols must have more specifying information. An advantage of the present invention is that the additional information requirements are focused on those symbols that are infrequent, which in a typical environment are easily avoided by the average user.

Capability. There is a belief that the importance of entering text on cell phones or other handheld devices will continue to increase, and the various applications for entering text on these devices will expand. The invention provides all punctuation marks that can be found on a standard English keyboard. For example, it may be used to edit a computer program. The invention can meet the needs of all types of users due to the discoverability and the ability.

And (4) compact display. By combining symbols related to the font, the invention saves keyboard space. For visual inspection, several symbols are allowed to be presented in as little space as is required for a single symbol. This objective is particularly important for handheld devices such as cellular telephones that have a very limited surface area available for labeling and the keys may be small.

Seamless integration of multi-tap and predictive text methods. In the prior art, these methods are generally given as alternatives. However, according to the teachings of the present invention, multiple keystrokes and prediction methods can be seamlessly integrated into a single device at the same time, and thus the user can utilize both methods, increasing the usability of the text input mechanism.

The core inventive idea, the result of which is developed into the preferred embodiment presented below, is that a single key can support multiple ordered groups, but only a subset of each group needs to be visually presented on the surface of a key, and the members of each group can be entered using multi-tap or predictive methods, or both, while the auxiliary key is a convenient and efficient method to select the ordered groups and perform the multi-tap function. The purpose of the invention is as follows: limited multi-tap depth, reduced number of keystrokes per symbol, focused focus, discoverability, progressive discoverability, power, compact display, and seamless integration of multi-tap and predictive text methods, all of which can be achieved by judicious application of the invention.

The present invention therefore teaches a device for symbol input, characterized in that it comprises: a plurality of keys, wherein at least one of said keys is a multiple ordered set key effective to input a plurality of ordered sets of symbols, wherein at least two of said ordered sets of symbols input by said multiple ordered set key comprise at least two symbols; an iteration unit or a prediction unit coupled to the multiple ordered keys for selecting members of the ordered set for input, wherein at least one of the multiple ordered keys comprises a symbol pair of a punctuation mark and a number, the punctuation mark being selected from the group consisting of! Is there a A set of% - (/) @ said number selected from a set consisting of 0-9, said pair selected such that punctuation symbols and numbers in the pair have a morphological overlap allowing the punctuation symbols and numbers to occupy substantially the same keyboard surface area.

The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing a typeable device, the method comprising the steps of: selecting a plurality of symbols to be input; dividing the plurality of symbols into a plurality of ordered groups; associating said plurality of ordered groups with a plurality of keys such that at least one of said keys is assigned more than one of said ordered groups and each of said keys is operative to enter a member of said ordered group assigned to said key, assigning each of the numbers 0-9 to said key, respectively, and assigning a punctuation mark to each of the number-assigned keys.

Drawings

The invention is described with reference to a series of drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a keyboard of an apparatus constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows an example of the use of punctuation keys;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the use of numeric keys;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of the use of a differentiating key;

FIG. 5 shows an example of the use of a CapW key;

FIG. 6 is a method of making a typeable device according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates one example of dividing ordered groups by adding an auxiliary key and using a symbol advance key;

figure 8 shows a visual display of multiple ordered groups.

Detailed Description

The invention is first described with reference to fig. 1. Fig. 1 shows an apparatus 1000 for inputting letters including accented letters, punctuation, numbers, and various functional symbols. The device includes a plurality of keys. Some keys, such as 1001, are used only for entering punctuation (in this case a symbol and a space). Other keys, such as 1002, are used to enter symbols and perform functions (in this example, # symbols and fix and next functions). These functions will be explained below. Other keys are used for entering punctuation marks and numbers, e.g. 1003 is used for entering the number 1 and the punctuation mark! (exclamation point), (comma), and (period). Still others, such as 1016, are used to enter numbers, punctuation marks and letters (9, symbols in this example) (right parentheses) and the letters w, x, y and z). According to the present invention, one key 1005 is an auxiliary key that is electrically connected to at least some of the punctuation input keys (e.g., 1001-1004) such that one of the punctuation symbols from the key is input when the auxiliary key is activated in conjunction with the key specifically used to input the punctuation. Depending on the implementation, the first auxiliary key may be activated before, after or during activation of the corresponding punctuation key. In a preferred arrangement, the first auxiliary key functions like a shift key. That is, when the key is actuated ("held down" in the case of a mechanical key), all punctuation keys that are also actuated ("pressed" in the case of a mechanical key) will enter an associated one of the punctuation symbols. An apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention may include a second auxiliary key 1006 for selecting one of the numbers associated with the numeric key for entry when the key is actuated in conjunction with one of a plurality of keys (e.g., 1003 or 1004) particularly for entering a number. Like the first auxiliary key, the second auxiliary key may be activated before, after or during activation of the corresponding numeric key to effect selective entry of one of the numbers.

The device built according to the invention may also comprise a third auxiliary key 1007 for selecting one or more of the letters associated with the letter key when this key is operated in conjunction with one of the keys, for example 1004, particularly for coding letters. In the device shown in FIG. 1, the letter selected is CEHLNSTY, which is based on the invention disclosed in Gutowitz PCT/US99/29,343, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Operation of the first auxiliary key (punctuation key)

The first auxiliary key 1005 is used to input punctuation marks. The operation thereof will be explained with reference to fig. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates a phrase entered when a first auxiliary key is used to enter letters in conjunction with a multi-tap mechanismltr: -) ö. In this example, the first auxiliary key is implemented as a shift key as a preferred embodiment. That is, the auxiliary key may be kept depressed, and selection of a punctuation mark to be selected from one key encoding a plurality of punctuation marks can be achieved as long as the key is kept depressed. Alternative methods of implementing the auxiliary key include a) pressing and releasing the auxiliary key: acting on the next key to be pressed, b) pressing an auxiliary key after the punctuation key, acting on the previously pressed key, c) auxiliaryThe help key is a mode locking key: once pressed, the action continues for all punctuation keys subsequently pressed until the auxiliary key is pressed again, d) the auxiliary key is represented by the length of the key press time, for example, if a letter and punctuation key are pressed quickly, a letter is entered, and if pressed and held down, a punctuation symbol is entered. Other methods of implementing the first auxiliary key according to the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. This is also true for other auxiliary keys as will be described below. An essential feature of this aspect of the invention is that the first auxiliary key is for selecting a punctuation mark from a plurality of marks, possibly including alphabetic marks and coded by alphabetic and punctuation keys.

For the flow chart of fig. 2, assume the association of symbols with keys as shown in fig. 1, i.e. one key for coding the letters abc and punctuation? And the like. This particular association of symbols and keys, which contains many of the inventive features of the patent claims claimed herein, is described in detail below.

Thus, in the first step 2001 of FIG. 2, the key 1004 is pressed three times to input the letter "c", then (step 2002) the key 1015 is pressed twice to input the letter "u", and so on, until "r" is input (step 2006), then in step 2008 the first auxiliary key 1005 is pressed and held down while keys 1015, 1012, and 1016 are pressed down in sequence (step 2009-2011) to generate emoticons: -).

Operation of a second auxiliary key (number key)

The device constructed according to the invention may further comprise a second auxiliary key. If at least one of the plurality of symbol keys of the present invention is used for inputting letters and numbers, the second auxiliary key is operated such that at least one coded number is input when the second auxiliary key and one of the letters and the number keys are activated in combination, and at least one of the letters coded by the one of the letters and the number keys is input when one of the letters and the number keys is activated without combining the second auxiliary key or any other of the keys used for inputting symbols.

In other words, the present invention also provides a second auxiliary key to be used for inputting numbers. The function of the first auxiliary key is similar to that of the first auxiliary key, except that the first auxiliary key selects a punctuation symbol from an alphabetic punctuation key and the second auxiliary key selects a number from a key for coding numbers and other possible symbols. Thus, for example, if the phrase to be input is "cu 18 r: - ", the phrase will be entered as shown in fig. 3. Steps 3001-3004 of fig. 3 are the same as steps 2001-2004 of fig. 2 for inputting "cu l", and in step 3005, the second auxiliary key 1006 is actuated such that when the key 1015 is actuated in step 3006, the number 8 is input. In step 3007, the second auxiliary key 1006 is released. Then, in step 3008-: -) as described in figure 2.

Operation of the third auxiliary key (discrimination key)

Some embodiments of the invention may provide a third auxiliary key for selecting certain letters for input. The selection of the letter to be entered may be made according to the invention disclosed in Gutowitz' 343, but according to the invention the selection may be made according to any scheme. For clarity of explanation, the scheme of Gutowitz' 343 is used herein, in which the letters CEHLNSTY are selected from keys 2-9, respectively. In the invention disclosed in Gutowitz' 343, other letters are selected by the predictive software. Thus, returning to the phrase "cu l8 r: - "example, and referring to FIG. 4, it is seen that the phrase can be entered using the first, second, and third auxiliary keys, as follows: in step 4001, a third auxiliary key 1007 is actuated along with key 1004. This step enters the letter "c". In step 4002, the third auxiliary key 1007 is released and then the key 1015 is actuated in step 4003. Activation of key 1015 will enter the letter "u" due to the predictive software. Then, in step 4004, key 1001 is actuated to enter a space. In step 4005, key 1007 is actuated in conjunction with key 1012 to enter a "1". The key 1007 is then released in step 4007. The second auxiliary key 1006 is actuated in conjunction with the key 1015 to input the number 8 (steps 4008 and 4009). Then, in step 4010, key 1014 is actuated, resulting in the entry of the letter "r" due to the prediction software. In steps 4012 through 4015, the sequence ": -)".

Operation of the fourth auxiliary key (capitalization key)

The fourth auxiliary key 1009 is used to input capital letters. As in the case of the first, second and third auxiliary keys, the fourth auxiliary key is operated in combination with the other keys to perform one input action. This fourth auxiliary key may be activated before, after or during activation of said other key, as in the case of the other auxiliary keys described above, in order to perform the required action. In a preferred arrangement, the fourth auxiliary key is actuated after the other key to perform a caps operation. Thus, if one wishes to enter capital lettersAnd as described in fig. 4 using an embodiment including a third auxiliary key, the third auxiliary key 1007 would be actuated in conjunction with key 1004 to enter "C" and then actuate the fourth auxiliary key 1009 to convert the lower case letter "C" to the upper case letter "C". The advantage of this arrangement is to allow a novel and inventive man-machine extension of capitalization operations. Thus, the present invention provides a new operation, the "CapW" (capital) operation. The CapW operation is obtained when some other auxiliary key is operated in conjunction with the caps key 1009. The other auxiliary key, if present, is preferably a distinguish key 1007. This is preferred because capitalization relates only to letters, and not to numbers or punctuation marks, and therefore it is natural to associate capitalization with another key for inputting letters. Capitalization needs may arise in several ways, for example, when a word is a proper noun: fred, the first letter of capitalization is required. Alternatively, when the word is an abbreviation: when FRED, the word needs to be capitalized in its entirety. Other capitalization forms may be required in other cases, such as the alternate capital letter: DoCoMo. The CapW bond is capable of providing at least one capitalization form. When multiple forms are defined, repeatActivation of the CapW key will in turn select the plurality of available formats.

For example, assume that three forms are defined: capitalized first letter, capitalized all letters, and all letters are not capitalized. Then, referring to FIG. 5, the steps taken to enter the capital-letter sequence FRED are revealed. In step 5001, "fred" is input. The input may take any method: multi-tap, predictive, or otherwise. Then, in step 5002, a CapW bond 1009 is initiated. The activation is preferably accomplished by operating keys 1007 and 1009 substantially simultaneously. The first activation of the CapW bond after the input of the sequence "Fred" results in the sequence "Fred". The second activation of the CapW bond in step 5003 results in the second uppercase form being used to generate the sequence "FRED". If the user then decides to cancel all capitalization, a third successive activation of the CapW key will return the input to the non-capitalized word "fred".

Operation of fifth auxiliary key (symbol advance key)

The symbol advance key, or "move down" key 1002, provides for the selection of symbols by advancing in the order specified for a group of symbols. That is, if the symbols a1, a2.. an are set in an ordered group, then a2 is behind a1, a3 is behind a2, and so on. Typically, an ordered set has a circular order such that a1 follows an. An ordered set may include all symbols on one key, or only a subset of the symbols on one key. Grouping symbols into ordered groups is an important design decision for building reduced keyboards. For example, consider the case of key 1015. This key encodes the three letters t, u and v, the number 8 and the punctuation colon (: this key is a key. It may also encode other symbols, such as a semicolon (;) that is not displayed on the key surface. The symbols may all be arranged in a single order (e.g., tuv 8;) or in multiple ordered groups (e.g., all letters in one group and all numbers and punctuation in a second group). According to the invention, the grouping of symbols into groups is governed by the presence and type of auxiliary keys. For example, a device that provides only one punctuation key should provide symbols that are divided into two groups. One set includes symbols entered when the punctuation key is activated and the other set includes symbols entered when the punctuation key is not activated. Thus, in this embodiment, the symbols t, u and v will be in one ordered group, while the symbol 8: (ii) a Will be in another ordered group. Referring to fig. 7, it can be seen that in step 7001, punctuation bonds have been added to the device, dividing the ordered set into two ordered sets as described above. If a distinguishing key is also provided and is used to select the letter t, the above group should be: (t) (uv) (8:;). The increased separation of the discriminating bonds is shown at step 7002. Finally, if a numeric key is also provided, the group should be (t) (uv) (8) (;). The separation of the numeric keys is shown at step 7003. The effect of this aspect of the invention is that the addition of auxiliary keys reduces the size of the ordered set, limiting the depth of multi-tap, which is a desirable advantage of the invention. Fig. 7 also illustrates the role of the symbol advance key. Before the ordered group separation in step 7001, as the symbol advance key is successively activated a plurality of times, the symbol advance key sequentially inputs the symbols tuv 8: (ii) a . Then, after the ordered set has been separated by the punctuation key, the symbol advance key enters the symbols tuv or 8, respectively, in sequence, depending on whether the punctuation key has been actuated: (ii) a .

Thus, with reference to FIG. 6, a method of generating a typeable device according to the present invention comprises the steps of:

6001 selects a number of symbols to be input,

6002 assigns a plurality of the plurality of symbols to a plurality of ordered groups,

6003 assigns the ordered groups to a plurality of keys such that at least one key is assigned more than one ordered group and each key is effective to enter a member of the assigned ordered group.

If the typing device has at least one auxiliary key, some ordered groups may be associated with the auxiliary key or auxiliary keys, whereby the method may further comprise the steps of: and

6004 assigns one or more of said designated ordered groups to a secondary key which is associated with said plurality of keys having a plurality of ordered groups designated thereto, such that when said secondary key is actuated in conjunction with said plurality of keys having a plurality of ordered groups designated thereto, one of said designated ordered groups can be optimally selected for input.

Integration of prediction mechanisms

One desirable feature of the present invention is to limit the number of keystrokes required to input any symbol (worst case) and to reduce the number of anticipated keystrokes to input most symbols (average case). Each additional auxiliary key helps to further reduce the worst-case number of keystrokes, whether the symbol advance is accomplished by multiple keystrokes or preferably using one auxiliary symbol advance key. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the process of adding additional auxiliary keys can be performed extremely so that each symbol can be unambiguously entered using one symbol key in combination with one auxiliary key. The problem is that in the case of a reduced keyboard, the number of keys that can be increased is greatly limited. In most cases, an ordered set will include more than one symbol. If there is statistical regularity in the occurrence of symbols within an ordered set, the software can be designed to predict which symbols occur preferentially in any given context. Examples of such software have been cited previously. In each case, the function of the software is to change the ordering within an ordered set. Thus, in the case of key 1015, the prediction software may determine that the ordered set (uv) should be ordered as (vu) under certain circumstances. For example, if the letter "wea" has been previously entered, then "v" is more likely to be entered when key 1015 is pressed because "weaves" is a word and "weaves" is not the beginning of any word in English. Likewise, for punctuation ordered sets (:;) there may be a context where the semicolon is more likely than a colon, so the semicolon should be ordered before in that context. For example, emoticons; -) may be more sensitive than the emoticons: -) are more common. If so, the prediction software may determine that when the activation key 1015 is encountered while the punctuation key is actuated, and then the activation keys 1012 and 1016 while the punctuation key is actuated, then a semicolon rather than a colon should be entered. In this example, this would likely be the input emoticon that the user intended; -).

Thus, the present invention allows the selection of symbols within an ordered set using a multi-tap method, or equivalently, a symbol advance key, or a predictive system, or all of the above. In fact, a unique feature of the present invention is to allow the multi-tap method and the predictive method to coexist seamlessly in a single device at the same time.

Returning an example phrase "cu 8 r: - ", and referring to FIG. 6, the phrase may be entered via the first, second and third auxiliary keys using a symbol advance key or using predictive software, as follows: in step 6001, the third auxiliary key 1007 is actuated, as is key 1004. This step enters the letter "c". In step 6002, third auxiliary key 1007 is released and key 1015 is actuated in step 6003. In this example, assume that 1) the ordered set of inputs by the 1015 key in the current context is (vu), and 2) that predictive software is provided so that v will become u when a space is entered directly after the key 1015 is actuated. Subsequently in step 6003, v will be entered, but when a space is entered using the 1001 key in step 6004, v will change to u. If the user so desires, u may also be obtained by replacing the alternative step 6004(alt) in which the symbol advance key 1002 is actuated to change v to u before continuing to type a space. In each case, the entry of the phrase can be accomplished by the same method as described in FIG. 4.

Seamless integration of multi-tap and predictive methods has the advantage that at any given moment, the user can choose to rely on the predictive system to produce the desired result when sufficient context has been provided, or to directly control the input using the symbol advance key or its multi-tap equivalent.

Basic punctuation symbol set

As previously mentioned, an important aspect of the present invention is to reduce the number of keystrokes required to enter a symbol on average. In the case of punctuation input, it is therefore important to assign punctuation symbols to the keys in such a way that the most common symbols can be input with the least keystrokes. Some of the most commonly used symbols have been determined by statistical analysis to be space (), period (), comma (), quotation marks ('), exclamation marks (|), question marks (. All of these common symbols can be placed on a standard telephone keypad with the addition of a punctuation key and a distinguishing key in such a way that each common symbol is entered only once per keystroke. These symbols are referred to as the base symbol set. Although the basic symbol set is determined by statistical analysis and is a preferred embodiment of the symbol set, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that one or more of the symbols may be replaced with other symbols without departing from the scope of the invention. The essential feature of this basic symbol set is that they are all the most commonly used punctuation symbols. The basic punctuation mark set can provide enough punctuation to support short message editing applications, and the entry of email addresses and most URLs. A secondary symbol set may be defined, including the symbols tab, &, $,; - {, }, [, ], -,', ", and the like. The input of symbols in the secondary symbol set will be described below.

Preferred association of elements in the set of elementary symbols with keys of a standard telephone keypad

In adapting the present invention to improve a standard telephone keypad, the following determinations must be made of 1) which symbols are associated with which keys, and 2) in which group a symbol is included in the case of a given key having multiple ordered groups. The present invention provides a wide variety of options. The following options are best in view of the currently available information.

Periods, commas and spaces. These common symbols occur more frequently than many letters. In the preferred embodiment, a space is provided on the 1001 key and a period is provided on the 1003 key. No associated activation of the auxiliary keys is required when entering these symbols. Commas are also provided on the 1003 key. In the case where no distinguishing key is provided, the comma and period are in one ordered set, i.e., an ordered set comprising (,). In the case where a distinguishing key is provided, the comma is in its own ordered set and the distinguishing key is utilized to select the comma.

Asterisks and well numbers (pound). The setting of these symbols is specified by the ISO protocol. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, they are associated with the 1001 and 1002 keys, respectively.

Single quotation marks. In english, quotation marks are punctuation marks that have a very strong statistical correlation with letters. This feature enables the prediction software to predict well its occurrence in a string. Thus, a quotation mark may be included in an ordered group of letters. In a preferred embodiment, a quotation mark is provided on a 1012 key, which is included in the ordered set of letters on that key. In other languages, other punctuation marks may be placed in the same way.

Ten like-numbered punctuation marks. There are 10 commonly used punctuation marks that can correspond closely to numbers one to one. The correspondence is based on the likeness of the symbols on the common font. That is, the exclamation point (|) is similar to the number 1, the question mark (. The standard telephone keypad has the numbers 1-9 and 0 set at the keys 1003, 1004, 1010 and 1017, respectively. Thus, according to the association determined by the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the punctuation mark! Is there a % - (/) @ is associated with keys 1003, 1004, 1010-.

Character overlapping

One notable and very useful feature of the above-described association of punctuation marks with numbers is that this similarity of shape allows the punctuation marks and numbers to occupy substantially the same keyboard surface location. By overlaying each digit with its associated punctuation mark, very small keys can be marked in such a way that both the digit and the punctuation mark are visible. Visually marking the presence of all possible symbols to be entered enables a novice user to browse the keys for the desired number or punctuation. Furthermore, it improves the ease of learning, as this shape helps the user to remember which keys are associated with those symbols. By appropriate coloring, highlighting, font design and other visual methods, the numbers and punctuation can be clearly visually distinguished even if they overlap each other. Although the present invention does not require punctuation marks to be superimposed with associated numbers, it teaches how to do so when desired. The association of numbers with punctuation increases the discoverability of the keypad as does the appropriate application of visual cues. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the color of the numeric indicia is the same as the color of the numeric keys, the color of the punctuation mark is the same as the color of the punctuation keys, and the color of the indicia of the unambiguous letters selected by the distinguishing key is the same as the color of the distinguishing key itself.

Set of secondary symbols

Up to this point, 15 punctuation marks are set in the preferred setting on the telephone keypad. However, a standard desktop keyboard may encode 32 or more punctuation marks. Continuing with the application of the aspects of the invention, it is convenient to associate most of these symbols with keys on the telephone keypad in a manner that preserves discoverability, reduced worst case key strokes, and reduced average case key strokes. The arrangement of these secondary symbols provides progressive discoverability. Once the user finds how the primary symbols are associated with numbers by likeness, they can accurately guess where other symbols are located, even without the visual indicia of the association between these secondary symbols and the keys. For example, when a rationale has been found, it can be guessed that a semicolon (;) should be associated with the key 1015 that marks a colon (: to). If the semicolon is set in an ordered group with colon (: then when the user understands that the symbol advance key is for advancing in symbol order, he will understand that to obtain the semicolon, the punctuation key 1005 must be activated in conjunction with the 1015 key and then the symbol advance key 1002 must be activated. This is a discoverable nature: enabling the user to extend the experience gained from the operation of one aspect of the mechanism to the operation of the other aspects of the invention.

In this way, the pipe character (|) may be set in an ordered group having an exclamation point (|), the back slash (\\) may be set in an ordered group having a slash (/), and so on, thereby forming a plurality of groups (([ { "<), () ]" >), (+) (the groups may additionally include letters), and (^). These latter associations are not as strong in shape as the associations described previously, and they also include less used symbols. The keyboard designer therefore has considerable freedom in choosing the positions of the symbols and may even choose to ignore the symbols altogether. On a keyboard that includes more than 12 keys of a standard keypad, some of the keys may be used to encode more commonly used secondary symbols. For example, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the & symbol is associated with the back function symbol on key 1008, and the $ symbol is associated with the Caps/CapW function symbol on key 1009.

Functional morphology (function morphology)

Some punctuation and functional symbols (e.g., tab or back) do not have a glyph representation and are not shaped like a guide when setting a position. The arrangement of these symbols therefore requires a tangible abstraction. Space, line feed, back and tab therefore have some family similarity, since each symbol is the position for manipulating the next symbol to be entered. According to the teachings of such symbolic associations given by functional morphology, different schemes can be adopted to implement the association according to these teachings. One preferred way to apply these methods to a telephone keypad is to associate a line feed with a plurality of space bars. Therefore, when pressing onceBlank spaceThe key ö 1001 is used to input a space symbol, and when pressed twice in succession, a space and a line feed are input. Each additional successive depression of key 1001 will result in an additional wrap. An alternative embodiment, for example, may be to press once to enter the space key, press twice to enter the tab symbol, and then enter one tab symbol per press.

When provided, these keys may also be used to distinguish members of a family defined by functional similarities. For example, activating a numeric key in conjunction with the space key may represent a tab symbol, since the tab symbol represents multiple spaces. Thus, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, activating numeric keys 1006 in conjunction with the space bar 1001 will generate a tab function symbol. If other auxiliary keys are provided (e.g., the distinguish key 1007), the key may be actuated in conjunction with the space key to generate a back. This is not the mechanism of choice in the preferred embodiment shown in figure 1. A single key 1008 is used in the figure to enter back. The figure shows an alternative mechanism for coding the fallback symbol that is preferred for its discoverability. However, design constraints may not allow one key to be used for this purpose, and if not, it is preferable to use the combination of keys 1007 and 1001 for entering rollback.

Predicted punctuation

It has been pointed out that punctuation symbols may have sufficient statistical relevance to other symbols (e.g., letters), allowing the predictive mechanism to reduce the number of keystrokes expected in a valuable manner. One aspect of the preferred embodiments of the invention disclosed herein can facilitate the use of predictive methods to input punctuation. In the preferred embodiment, punctuation symbols similar to the left parenthesis: (* * [ { and < are in turn associated with the number 6, and punctuation marks analogous to right parentheses:) ] ö ] } and > are in turn associated with the number 9. The left-like parenthesis symbols and the right-like parenthesis symbols have a functional morphological relationship therebetween, because the left-like parenthesis symbols often appear in matching pairs with the right-like parenthesis symbols. This matched pair feature can be used to reduce the desired number of keystrokes required to input these symbols. Consider the input of the following sentence: < so the (after) well' l "go" >. If the ordered set of punctuation on the 6 keys is ("[ { <, and the ordered set on the 9 keys is }" ] >, entering these parentheses-like symbols using a symbol advance key would require five keystrokes to enter <, one keystroke to enter (, one keystroke), two keystrokes to enter ", and five keystrokes to enter > for a total of 16 keystrokes, however, according to the invention, the order of the right-like parentheses symbols can be set as a function of the left-like parentheses symbols to reduce the number of keystrokes. The last input unmatched left-hand parenthesis symbol is <), twice-typed (becomes the new last input left-hand parenthesis symbol), once-typed (now matched), and once-typed > (matches the remaining unmatched left-hand parenthesis symbol < matches), for a total of 11 keystrokes. Thus, in this example, the average number of keystrokes per parenthesized symbol drops from nearly 3 to less than 2, although the worst case holds 5 keystrokes per symbol. Although there are many symbols that resemble parenthetical ordered groups compared to other ordered groups, there may be very few expected keystrokes maintained on these ordered groups based on the pairing characteristics of the symbols.

Processing accented letters

The preferred embodiment of the present invention extends the progressive discoverability feature to the processing of accented letters. Many languages contain accented letters, and depending on the language, any given letter may produce many accents. Also, consonants and/or vowels may have accents depending on the language. While roman alphabet based languages can generally be read aloud without emphasis, the inclusion of emphasis enhances the comfortable viewing of the entered text by native language users of the language. It is therefore highly desirable to provide a mechanism for entering accented letters on a reduced keyboard and it is also desirable to enter these accented letters as simply as possible.

A predictive mechanism may be employed to reduce the number of keystrokes required to enter an accented letter even if there are many accented letters and each contains many accents. Devices constructed in accordance with the present invention, as processed in numbers, punctuation and unapproved letters, are most focused on reducing the number of keystrokes (an easy-to-use aspect) and discoverability (an easy-to-learn aspect). Discoverability is enhanced when the familiar letter category is utilized to help assign letters to keys. The method of processing accented letters taught by the preferred embodiment of the present invention is to place accented consonants and non-accented corresponding consonants on the same key and to place all accented vowels on the same key or on some keys that are distinct from those keys where non-accented vowels are placed. Extensive numerical studies by the inventors have shown that this arrangement is not only easy to learn, but also enables the number of keystrokes required to input accented letters to be reduced to the optimum when using a predictive mechanism to select accented letters for priority input. When applying these concepts to a telephone keypad, it must be remembered that only a few symbols can be displayed on the surface of any key. In general, for most western european languages, accented vowels occur more frequently than accented consonants. Therefore, in the processing of these languages, it is preferable to display accented vowel letters on the key surface, but the representation of accented consonants is limited. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the key 1017 is used to input all accented vowels. It should be noted that placing all accented vowels on a single key will result in a large number of ordered groups. For example, for some languages, the ordered set may include e 'e' e ^ a 'a' a ^ etc. (where the accent mark is written after the letter it applies). In these cases, it is not possible to display all accented letters on the surface of a small key so that they can be seen by the human eye. To alleviate this problem, an abstract form of representation of multiple available accented letters is preferable to a more concrete and detailed notation of a single accented letter. In fig. 1, the abstract form is an upper line over all vowels, although other arrangements will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

It is also disclosed that the position of accented letters and abstract forms representing accents can be combined with the operation of the differentiating key simultaneously according to the invention, thereby making the operation of accented letters by the differentiating key easier to find when needed. In fig. 1, it is shown that the part of the upper line above the letter e is visually distinct from the other parts of the upper line, while e itself has visual properties (color, brightness, font or other visual cues) linking it to the upper line and the differentiating key. Such vision-related systems guide the user to understand: the discrimination key should be actuated in conjunction with the 1017 key to enter any accented letter e.

Discovery-aided visual display

On phones with visual display screens, the user may also be instructed to find the keystroke combinations required to enter any symbol, even if those symbols are not displayed as an explicit marker on the keyboard. As described above, the symbols on a key are arranged in one or more ordered groups. The number of ordered groups is a function of the number of auxiliary keys that can be operated in conjunction with the symbol keys. One of the generally ordered sets is an ordered set operable when the symbol key is depressed without an auxiliary key associated therewith. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, key 1015 encodes the following 4 ordered groups: (8) (;) (t) (uv). These groups are selected by numeric keys, punctuation keys, a distinguish key and an unassisted key, respectively. A novice user may not understand how to use the auxiliary keys and if the device is fully discoverable, the user can be instructed to operate correctly without the need for verbal or written instructions. It is assumed that the current number key is a given color (e.g., blue) and the number on the symbol key is also blue, the punctuation key is green and the punctuation symbol on the symbol key is also green, the distinguishing key is red, and the distinguished letter is also red, and the letter not affected by the distinguishing key is also black. Then, when the novice user presses key 1015, a display will be seen that displays the different ordered groups in different colors. Displaying different groups in different colors provides the user with an indication of: 1) which auxiliary key to press to obtain the desired symbol, and 2) to help the user identify those symbols that are not explicitly marked on the key itself. Those skilled in the art should readily understand that: instead of colors, other visual cues (e.g., shading or fonts) may be used to mark the ordered group and its associated auxiliary keys. In fact, referring to FIG. 8, it can be seen that visual display 8000 has: an ordered set 8001, including black labeled "t"; a second ordered set 8002, comprising grey-labelled "uv"; a third ordered set 8003, comprising the number "8" in gray italics; and a last ordered set 8004, including underlined punctuation marks colon and semicolon.

Fixed key

Fixed key functionality is directed to embodiments that incorporate a particular type of predictive text mechanism. Methods to block or cancel these retroactive changes may be desirable if the predictive text mechanism is such that the display and entry of symbols can be modified based on subsequently entered information. Fixed keys provide these methods. The last retrospective change can be cancelled whenever the key is activated. The fixed key is designed to simplify non-word typing. The mode in which the predictive software can perform retrospective changes is referred to as an automatic mode, while the mode in which retrospective changes cannot occur is referred to as a manual mode. A novice user may enter the manual mode (by tapping next in the automatic mode) whenever a word (e.g., URL) is encountered that is unlikely to be in a dictionary or reference list of words. Although this is the most reliable method of entering non-words, some of the functionality of the automatic mode may be lost. The automatic mode is able to accurately input many non-words and does not require additional keystrokes per letter, whereas the manual mode may require some additional keystrokes on these words. A more advanced method of entering non-words is to start typing in the automatic mode and enter the manual mode only if an error occurs. If the letters that were correct before the retrospective change are retrospectively changed, the automatic mode is an error. When this occurs, the user can press a fixed key to 1) cancel the retrospective change, and 2) enter manual mode. One example of where this may occur is when a user wishes to enter an english name that is not an english source, such as "quad". When the word is entered in the automatic mode, the first 4 letters "quad" can appear exactly. However, when the "e" key is pressed, the display may be changed to "pubde". At this point, the user can press the fixed key to get "quade" and then complete the word in manual mode to get "quader".

Integration of symbol advancement with predictive text mechanisms

It has been discovered that the present invention allows for the selection of members of an ordered group by using symbol advance keys or predictive text mechanisms, or both. It is also disclosed that fixed keys may facilitate a special integration of the predictive mechanism with the multi-tap (or symbol-advance) mechanism. In general, good predictive text mechanisms can be relied upon to accurately enter sequences of letters commonly used in languages. However, some sequences, such as URLs or email addresses, may be beyond the predictive capabilities of the algorithm. If the user wishes to enter such a sequence, it may be necessary to switch from control by the predictive mechanism to entering the sequence using the more laborious but definitive method provided by the symbol-advance keys (or equivalently, the multi-tap method). According to this aspect of the invention, when, during the entry of a sequence of letters delimited by punctuation, the user activates the symbol advance key for the remainder of the entry sequence until the next punctuation, the prediction mechanism will prevent retrospective changes from being made to the entered sequence of letters. One non-obvious reason for this limitation is that when the user activates the symbol advance key, it indicates that they wish to more closely control the appearance of the text input mechanism, and does not want the predictive software to decide which letter to display. This situation is similar to the situation where the driver would switch from automatic to manual gear when driving on a road. When a punctuation mark (typically a space character) is entered, meaning that the user has completed a difficult or infrequent sequence of entries, full operation of the prediction software is resumed.

In view of the above, it should be noted that many modifications of the embodiments discussed in this specification will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and reference should be made to the appended claims for an understanding of the full scope of the invention.

Claims (32)

1. An apparatus for inputting symbols, comprising:

a plurality of keys, wherein at least one of said keys is a multiple ordered set key effective to input a plurality of ordered sets of symbols, wherein at least two of said ordered sets of symbols input by said multiple ordered set key comprise at least two symbols;

an iteration unit or a prediction unit, coupled to the multiple ordered group key to select a member of the ordered group for input,

wherein at least one of said multiple ordered groups of key inputs comprises a symbol pair comprising a punctuation mark and a number, said punctuation mark being selected from the group consisting of! Is there a A set of% - (/) @ said number selected from a set consisting of 0-9, said pair selected such that punctuation symbols and numbers in the pair have a morphological overlap allowing the punctuation symbols and numbers to occupy substantially the same keyboard surface area.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising, a punctuation assist key, wherein at least one of said ordered sets entered by said multiple ordered set key is a punctuation set comprising punctuation symbols and another of said ordered sets entered by said multiple ordered set key does not contain punctuation symbols, said punctuation assist key being associated with at least one of said multiple ordered set keys to preferentially select members of said punctuation set for entry when said punctuation assist key is actuated in conjunction with said multiple ordered set key.

3. The device of claim 1, further comprising a numeric auxiliary key and at least one numeric key, said at least one numeric key effective to enter at least one number and at least one ordered group, said numeric auxiliary key associated with said at least one numeric key to prioritize entry of said at least one number upon activation of said numeric auxiliary key in conjunction with said numeric key.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a symbol advance key associated with at least one of said multiple ordered group keys for preferentially selecting for entry a member of at least one ordered group on said at least one multiple ordered group key when said at least one multiple ordered group key is activated in association with said symbol advance key and for sequentially selecting in a prescribed order for entry members of said at least one ordered group when said symbol advance key is activated a plurality of consecutive times.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the prescribed order is defined as a function of a previously input sequence of symbols.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of said multiple ordered groups keys is marked with at least one symbol from each of said ordered groups entered by said multiple ordered group key.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the indicia for letters, punctuation marks and numbers have visual differences encoded by differences in font size, color, brightness or typeface of the indicia.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein at least one of said multiple ordered sets of keys inputs at least one punctuation ordered set, wherein said punctuation ordered set comprises at least one punctuation symbol, and further providing that at least one of said punctuation symbols in said punctuation ordered set is a common punctuation symbol, said common punctuation symbol corresponding to at least one of said indicia.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the common punctuation mark is selected from the group consisting of a comma, an exclamation mark, a question mark, a percentile, an underline, a hyphen, a left parenthesis, a right parenthesis, a colon, an at symbol, an asterisk, and a pound sign.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected pair consists of the number 1 and the punctuation mark.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected pair consists of the number 2 and a punctuation question mark.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected pair consists of a number 3 and a punctuation mark percentile.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected pair consists of the number 4 and a punctuation underline.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected pair consists of the number 5 and a punctuation hyphen.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected pair consists of a number 6 and a punctuation mark left parenthesis.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected pair consists of a number 7 and a punctuation mark diagonal.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected pair consists of a number 8 and a punctuation mark colon.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected pair consists of the number 9 and a punctuation right parenthesis.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the selected pair consists of a number 0 and a punctuation mark at character.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each member of the selected pair is associated with a label on the at least one multiply ordered group key, wherein the labels overlap.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 further comprising an illumination means effective to preferentially illuminate overlapping indicia associated with numbers in said pair or overlapping indicia associated with said punctuation marks in said pair.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one ordered group entered by at least one of said multiple ordered group keys consists of accented letters.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the ordered set of accented letters consists of accented vowels.

24. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a differentiating auxiliary key, wherein at least one multiple ordered group key inputs an ordered group of letters, said ordered group of letters comprising letters, said differentiating auxiliary key being associated with said at least one multiple ordered group key that inputs an ordered group of letters, such that upon actuation of said differentiating auxiliary key in conjunction with entry of said at least one multiple ordered group key of an ordered group of letters, entry of one of said letters in said ordered group of letters is preferentially selected.

25. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an uppercase auxiliary key operative to uppercase a previously entered letter, the uppercase auxiliary key being associated with an ordered set of uppercase patterns such that members of the ordered set of uppercase patterns are successively applied to a sequence of the previously entered letter when the uppercase auxiliary key is successively actuated.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the ordered set of capitalization modes comprises a mode that capitalizes the first letter of a word or capitalizes all letters of a word or does not capitalize all letters of a word.

27. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a fixed key effective to cancel a last retrospective change effected by the prediction unit.

28. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a space key for entering a space character, such that one activation of the space key results in the entry of one space character, two consecutive activations will enter a sequence of characters including a carriage return, and each successive activation of the space key will enter an additional sequence of characters including a carriage return.

29. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising a space key for entering a space symbol, and wherein said numeric auxiliary key is combined with said space key for entering a tab symbol when said numeric auxiliary key is actuated in conjunction with said space key.

30. The device of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of auxiliary keys associated with at least one multiple ordered group key such that upon activation of one of said auxiliary keys in association with at least one of said multiple ordered group keys, one of said ordered groups is selected for input, and wherein said ordered groups comprise a symbol of a type selected from the group consisting of punctuation, numbers and letters, and each of said auxiliary keys is labeled in a visually distinct manner, and at least one member of at least one ordered group corresponds to one of said labels on said at least one multiple ordered group key, wherein a corresponding label has visually the same characteristics as a corresponding label of said auxiliary key selected for input, whereby association of said auxiliary key with said ordered group is discoverable.

31. A method of forming a typeable device, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting a plurality of symbols to be input;

dividing the plurality of symbols into a plurality of ordered groups;

associating said plurality of ordered groups with a plurality of keys such that at least one of said keys is assigned more than one of said ordered groups and each of said keys is operative to enter a member of said ordered group assigned to said key, assigning each of the numbers 0-9 to said key, respectively, and assigning a punctuation mark to each of the number-assigned keys.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the steps of: assigning one or more designated ordered groups to a secondary key associated with said key to which an ordered group is assigned such that upon actuation of said secondary key in association with said key to which an ordered group is assigned, a preference is given to entry of one of said designated ordered groups.