WO2002035336A1

WO2002035336A1 - Text inputting system

Info

Publication number: WO2002035336A1
Application number: PCT/CN2000/000370
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lapyan Leung; Mankin Lau; Chicheong Yung; Wailok Lee
Original assignee: Qcode Information Technology Limited
Priority date: 2000-10-27
Filing date: 2000-10-27
Publication date: 2002-05-02
Also published as: AU2001211265A1

Abstract

A method is described for allowing a user to input letters to form text words, the method using a display (10) for displaying a series of screens and an input device, e.g. a keyboard (12), each screen being in the form of a matrix of cells, that is capable of displaying letters within the cells and the input device being capable of selecting letters within the cells. Words are input by: 1) displaying a first screen in which commonly occurring individual letters appear alone in some of the cells and the remaining letters of the character are displayed in the remaining cells; 2) selecting a letter by either: a) if the desired letter is displayed individually in a cell of the first screen, then selecting the cell containing that letter by pressing the key of the keyboard corresponding to the cell of the matrix or b) if the desired letter is displayed in a cell that also displays other letters, then selecting the cell containing the desired letter by pressing the key of the keyboard corresponding to the cell of the matrix and displaying a second screen in which individual letters from the selected cell of the first screen appear alone in cells of the second screen and selecting the cell containing the desired letter by means of the input device; 3) searching in a stored dictionary for words containing the letter or letters that have been selected by the user and displaying at least one such word, and a) allowing the user to select the word as inputted text; or b) allowing the user to enter further letters of the word by repeating steps (1 to 3); or c) allowing the user to end the word, thereby entering the word as inputted text, and, if required, allowing the user to enter the next word starting at step (1) above.

Description

TEXT INPUTTING SYSTEM

Field of Invention The present invention relates to a system for inputting text into a computer or other data processing system using a matrix of cells shown on a display, the number of cells being fewer than the number of letters in the alphabet.

Background Art US Patent No.5953541 contains a useful summary of prior art in the field of text entry using a keyboard with fewer keys than the number of letters in the alphabet. The US patent itself uses key that are ambiguous in that each key can represent more than one letter and so the pressing of any one key is not enough to input a letter unambiguously. The system searches a dictionary of words and suggests words with letters corresponding to the combination of ambiguous keys pressed and the appropriate word is selected. One disadvantage of this system is that words cannot be inputted if they are not in the dictionary.

Summary of Invention

The object of the invention is to provide a text inputting system with high speed, minimum keystrokes, and especially can input words which are not in the dictionary.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for allowing a user to input letters form a character set (which comprises all the letters of the alphabet, optionally together with numbers and punctuation) to form text made up of words, the method using a display for displaying a series of _ _

screens and an input device, each screen being in the form of a matrix of cells that is capable of displaying letters within the cells and the input device being capable of selecting letters within the cells, the method allowing the user to input words by selecting at least on letter of the word and comprising:

1) displaying a first screen in which individual letters appear alone in some of the cells and the remaining letters of the character set (optionally together with the letters displayed individually in the cells) are displayed in the remaining cells, the letters displayed individually in the cells being commonly occurring letters of a word, optionally taking into account any preceding letters of the word input by the user and/or the immediately preceding words entered;

2) allowing the user to selecting a letter by either:

a) if the desired letter is displayed individually in a cell of the first screen, then selecting the cell containing that letter by means of the input device or

b) if the desired letter is displayed in a cell that also displays other letters, then selecting the cell containing the desired letter by means of the input device, displaying a second screen in which individual letters from the selected cell of the first screen appear alone in cells of the second screen and selecting the cell containing the desired letter by means of the input device;

3) searching in a stored dictionary containing groupings of letters for a grouping of letters containing the letter or letters that have been selected by the user and if found in the dictionary, displaying at least one such grouping, the displayed grouping being a commonly occurring word or a commonly occurring part of a word, optionally taking into account the preceding word entered by the user (if any) and

a) allowing the user to select the grouping of letters, optionally as inputted text; or

b) allowing the user to enter further letters of the word by repeating steps 1 to 3 or

c) allowing the user to end the word, thereby entering the word as inputted text

and, if required, allowing the user to enter the next word starting at step 1 above.

The " dictionary " is any collection of words; the basis for the dictionary will generally be supplied with the software but the user will generally be able to add words to, and possibly remove words from, the dictionary.

The groupings of letters displayed in step 3 may all be whole words. The word selected may be either identical to the desired word or not:

(i) If the desired word is identical to the displayed word, it can simply be accepted and incorporated in the text inputted and the next word can be input. (ii) If the desired word is not identical to the displayed word, but is similar to it, the displayed word can still be selected, in which case words similar to the selected word can be displayed from a dictionary of stored words and the desired word selected from the display and incorporated in the text inputted. For example if the desired word is " container " and the word selected in step 3a is" contain", the word" contain "need not be incorporated into the text but instead the display can be made to show similar words or words containing the same root, e.g. the words "containing" , "container" and" contained"; these may be displayed sequentially or all together and the word " container" can be selected and incorporated in the final text. By way of example, the words can be displayed in the cells in a matrix of a further screen and the cell displaying the desired word can be selected to input the word into the text.

In addition to storing and displaying whole words, the dictionary may also store and display letter groupings that, although not words in themselves, are roots common to several words, e.g. the root "compris-" may be displayed, which is common to " comprise " , " comprises " , " comprising " and "comprised" . If a part word is selected in step 3a, then the procedure in paragraph ii) above should be followed to input the desired word into the text.

In an alternative embodiment, the word can only selected in step 3 a) if the desired word is identical to the displayed word.

In step 3 a, more than one grouping of letters may be displayed, in which case the method includes allowing the user to select the desired grouping from the list displayed.

The present application can be used for entering text on a matrix keyboard that contains fewer keys than the letters of the character set, e.g. a numerical keyboard. Thus the present invention can be used on the keyboard of a mobile (cellular) or fixed-line telephone or on a hand-held (palmtop) or on the numerical keyboard of a laptop computers or other computer. In the foregoing examples, the data input device is a keyboard and the matrix shown on the display will generally have an arrangement of cells corresponding to the keys on the keyboard for ease of data inputting. Alternatively, the display may be a touch-sensitive screen in which the display and the input device are combined. In another possible embodiment, the input device may be a mouse or joystick for moving a pointer over the matrix displayed and cell can be selected by pointing at the desired cell and "clicking" the mouse or joystick.

We have found that a 3x3 matrix provides very fast data input. We have found that it is possible using a 3x3 matrix to enter text at a rate that is lower than one key strokes for each letter, e.g. 0.8-0.9 strokes per letter in normal text.

In addition to selecting letters, the input device can be used to select functions to be performed, e.g. it can be used to select words displayed in step 3 a), to display and select words with the same root, to indicate the end of a word, to select a punctuation screen so that punctuation can be entered, to run a spell checker etc. Such additional functions are preferably shown on the display separately from the matrix containing letters and can be selected in the same way as letters, e.g. by "clicking" on a displayed function box with a mouse or joystick or by providing separate keys on a keyboard, which may be replicated on the display or not. By way of example only, the described functions can be chosen, in the case of a standard telephone keypad, by the " * " , "#" and "0" keys. Alternatively, on a number keyboard, the same functions can be performed by the " + " , X _\ "» and "/" keys.

When a keyboard is used, the display can be separate from the keys, e.g. a matrix keyboard and a separate display may be provided in the same housing, as in a mobile telephone, or in an adjacent housing.

One substantial advantage of the present invention over the prior art is that it allows a word to be entered as text even if that word does not appear in the dictionary of stored words. If desired, the entered word can be incorporated in the dictionary. The dictionary of stored words can be in any language and so the present invention is applicable to all languages where words are expressed as a string of letters.

Preferably the cells containing letters displayed by themselves are arranged in one or more rows (or columns) of the matrix and the cells containing more than one letter are arranged in one or more different rows (or columns). With a 3x3 matrix, it is preferable to arrange the cells containing letters displayed by themselves in two rows while the cells containing more than one letter are arranged in a third row. Thus the three cells containing more than one letter can each contain up to 9 letters so that when one of them is selected and the second screen is displayed, all the letters of the selected key can be displayed individually and unambiguously in the cells of the second screen. However, any arrangement of the letters within the cells is possible so long as at least some of the cells contain only one letter.

The cells that display more than one letter (multiple letter cells) can include letters that are also displayed individually in other cells (individual letter cells) or the letters that are displayed in the individual letter cells can be excluded from the multiple letter cells. The former is preferred so that that each multiple letter cell consistently displays the same multiple letters. If the user does not notice the required letter in the individual letter cells, he can still select it by selecting the appropriate multiple letter cell and selecting the desired letter from the second screen.

Brief description of the drawings:

Figures la to lo show the various screens for entering the sentence "we promised you with the best text input system" according to the present invention.

Detailed description to the preferred embodiments The present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to Figures la to lo which show the various screens for entering the sentence "we promised you with the best text input system" . It should be noted that Figures la to lh are at the top of successive pages of the drawings and Figures li to lo are shown at the bottom of the successive pages of the drawings.

Referring initially to Figure la, there is shown a display 10, which reproduces an image of a numeric keyboard 12, and a 3x3 matrix having nine individual cells that correspond to the number keys 1 to 9 of the keyboard. The actual keyboard is not shown but it is essentially identical to the image 12 shown on the display. The keyboard and display are connected to a common processing unit, e.g. in a computer or a telephone. The processing unit holds a list of words arranged in order of frequency of occurrence in the language concerned, e.g. English, so that the most frequently occurring word beginning with certain inputted letters can be displayed. It also holds lists of letters arranged in the order of frequency of that letter taking into account the preceding letter(s) of the word being inputted. It also holds a list of initial letters of words arranged in order of frequency of occurrence.

An area 16 is provided for showing the keys that have been pressed to enter the text.

The individual cells of the 3x3 matrix 14 have, in the top row, the full alphabet distributed between three keys, as shown, i.e. "a to i" , "j to r" and "s to z" . The six most common initial letters of words in English are shown in the six cells of the second and third row.

In order to input the word "we" , the letter "w" needs to be entered. It is one of the six common letters displayed individually and is shown in a cell corresponding to the number "7 " of the keyboard. When the number 7 is pressed, the letter "w" appears in a text area 18 (see Figure lb). Simultaneously, the computer searches its dictionary and pulls out the word that it has stored as the commonest word begirining with the letter " w" ,which is the word "what" . However, that is not the required word and therefore the second letter needs to be input. As can be seen from the matrix of Figure lb, the letter"e" corresponds to the number 4 and so when the number 4 is pressed, the letters "we" appear in the text area 18 (see Figure lc). It should be noted that the letters occurring in the six cells of the second and third row of the matrix 14 in Figure lb are not the same as the letters in Figure la. This is because the letters in Figure la are the letters that the computer system has pre-programmed as the commonest letters to start a word whereas the six letters in the cells of the second and third row of the matrix shown in Figure lb are the letters that the computer has stored as the commonest letters following an initial letter "w" .

Turning to Figure lc, the computer system has suggested the word "well" as being the commonest word starting with the letters "we" . However, the word "we" is the word required and can be selected by pressing the "0" symbol on the keyboard. This indicates that the letters entered form the complete word required and the system automatically introduces a space and allows the next word to be input.

It is now necessary to introduce the word "promise" . The starting letter "p" does not feature in the six cells of the second and third rows of the matrix and accordingly it is necessary to pull down a second and third rows of the matrix and accordingly it is necessary to pull down a second screen that includes the letter "p" ; this is done by pressing the number "2" on the keyboard that selects all the letters between "j " and"r" . The second screen is shown in Figure le. The letter" p "can be selected by pressing the number "7" . The resulting display is shown in Figure If where the computer system has suggested the word "please " . This is not the required word and accordingly it is necessary to input the second letter of the desired word by pressing the number "6" , which corresponds to the letter "r" . Similarly, the letter "o" and "m" can be inputted by pressing the numbers "4" and " 8 " which correspond to the letters " o " and " m " on matrices that are not shown in Figure 1. After entering the letters "prom" the display is as shown in Figure lg. The computer system suggests the word "promise" which is the correct word and which is selected by pressing the " * " key. The " * " automatically accepts the suggested word and inserts a space after it. The state of the display at this stage is shown in Figure lh.

The word "you" is input by selecting the initial letter "y" by pressing the "9" key. The resulting display is shown in Figure li where it can be seen that the computer suggests the word "you" which is accepted by pressing the "* " key. The resulting display is shown in Figure lj.

The letters "w" and "i" are also input, although the matrices used are not shown in Figure 1. The resulting display is shown in Figure Ik where the computer suggests the word "with" , which is accepted by pressing by the " *" key.

Using similar letter and word entry techniques, the expression "we promise you with the best text" is inputted (see Figure 11). Then the word " system" is inputted again using similar letter and word entry techniques. The letter "s" of the word "system" is selected by pressing the key "8" and using similar techniques, the word "system "is inputted by means of matrices (not shown in Figure 1). In order to introduce a full stop at the end of the sentence, the punctuation matrix is called up by pressing the " * " key again and the resulting matrix is shown in Figure In. The full stop is selected by pressing the key 8 on the keypad. The cursor automatically backspaces to delete the extra space created by the first " * " key and inserts a full stop and a space.

If the word "promised" or "promising" is required instead of the word

"promise" in the above example, the word "promise" can be accepted in the display shown in Figure lg by pressing the function key "#" . This will display common alternative words having the root "promis-" in the cells of a matrix incorporated in a further screen, and any word can be accepted by pressing the key of the matrix keyboard corresponding to the cell in which the desired word is displayed. If the desired word does not feature in the matrix, further words can be displayed in successive matrices by pressing the "0" again until the desired word is displayed. If the desired word is not displayed, after the last matrix containing words has been displayed, the " 0 " key can be pressed again to allow the user to enter further letters. Alternatively only the root "promis-" might be displayed and selected by pressing the "#" key, in which case all the words stored in the dictionary with that root are displayed by successively pressing the "#" key. In either case, the correct word "promised" or "promising" is selected by pressing the " * " key.

Similarly, the function described in the previous paragraph can also be used for selection words having the same root but different prefixes, e.g. "appoint" and "disappoint" .

The keys used to enter the sentence are displayed in text area 16 shown in Figure lo. The total number of keystrokes used to enter the above text is 38 and the total number of letters and punctuation marks is 47. Thus, the average number of keystrokes per letter is 0.81.

It can be seen from the above example that text can be entered unambiguously with a minimum of keystrokes, which substantially improves the speed of text entry. In addition, the system of the present invention allows words to be entered that are not in the pre-programmed dictionary.

The " * " key can also be arranged to function as a spell checker.

Claims

1. A method for allowing a user to input letters from a character set (which comprises all the letters of the alphabet, optionally together with numbers and punctuation) to form text made up of words, the method using a display for displaying a series of screens and an input device, each screen being in the form of a matrix of cells that is capable of displaying letters within the cells and the input device being capable of selecting letters within the cells, the method allowing the user to input words by selecting at least one letter of the word and comprising:

2) allowing the user to selecting a letter by either:

3) searching in a stored dictionary containing groupings of letters for a grouping of letters containing the letter or letters that have been selected by the user and displaying, if found in the dictionary, at least one such grouping, the displayed grouping being a commonly occurring word or a commonly occurring part of a word, optionally taking into account the preceding word entered by the user (if any) and

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, which comprises displaying from a dictionary of stored words at least one word that contains or is similar to the grouping of letters selected in step 3a) above, the method including allowing the user to select one of the words so displayed as inputted text.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein, in step 3 a, more than one word is displayed and the method includes allowing the user to select the desired word from the list of displayed words as inputted text.

4. A method as claimed in any one of claim 1 to claim 3, wherein the input device comprises a numerical matrix keyboard, e.g. the keyboard of a mobile (cellular) or fixed telephone or the keyboard of a hand-held (palmtop) computer or the numerical keyboard of a laptop computer or other computer.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the configuration of the cells of the matrix of the first and second screens corresponds to the configuration of at least some of the keys of the keyboard.

6. A method as claimed in any one of claim 1 to 5, wherein the cells containing letters displayed by themselves are arranged in one or more rows (or columns) of the matrix and the cells containing more than one letter are arranged in one or more different rows (or columns).

7. A method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the cells containing letters displayed by themselves are arranged in two rows and the cells containing more than one letter are arranged in a third row.

8. A system, e.g. hardware, software or firmware, for implementing the method of claim 1 , the system comprising:

1) means for displaying a first screen in the form of a matrix of cells in which individual letters appear alone in some of the cells and the remaining letters of the character set (optionally together with the letters displayed individually in the cells) are displayed in the remaining cells, the letters displayed individually in the cells being commonly occurring letters of a word, optionally taking into account any immediately preceding letters or words previously entered.

2) means for selecting a letter of a word by either:

a) if the desired letter is displayed individually in a cell of the first screen, by selecting that cell or

b) if the desired letter is displayed in a cell that also displays other letters, by selecting the cell containing that letter, and wherein the system comprises means for displaying a second screen in which individual letters from the selected cell of the first screen appear alone in cells of the second screen, whereby a letter displayed individually in a cell of the second screen can be selected by selecting the cell containing it;

3) means for automatically displaying the first screen once a letter has been selected for allowing the user to enter a new letter;

4) means for storing a dictionary of words;

5) means for selecting and displaying a grouping of letters from the dictionary containing the previously selected letter or letters, that grouping of letters being a commonly occurring word or part of a commonly occurring word, optionally taking into account the immediately preceding word(s) entered; 6) means for selecting the displayed grouping of letters and

7) means for automatically displaying the first screen once a word has been selected for allowing the user to enter a new word.

8. A system as claimed in claim 7 which also includes a display for displaying the first and second screens and an input device for selecting cells in matrices displayed on the screen.

9. A system as claimed in claim 8 which also includes means for displaying further words if the displayed word or part word or part word is not identical to the desired word and means for selecting a further word as the word of the text to be input

10. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the input device is a numerical keyboard, e.g. the keyboard of a mobile (cellular) or fixed telephone or the keyboard of a hand-held (palmtop) computer or the numerical keyboard of a laptop computers or other computer.

11. A system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the means for displaying the first screen is such that the cells containing letters displayed by themselves are arranged in at least one row and the cells containing more than one letter are arranged in at least one different row.