Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Display peripheral interface input device – Including keyboard
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-27
2004-07-06
Mengistu, Amare (Department: 2673)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Display peripheral interface input device
Including keyboard
C345S170000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06760012
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an input device with a memory and a user interface, which comprises a display unit and a keyboard comprising several keys, which can be used to input text. Particularly the present invention relates to the editing of erroneous text on this device and a method for editing the erroneous text by using the input device.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A mobile communication unit is an example of an input device, which comprises a keyboard with a limited number of keys. In several mobile communication standards used presently it is possible to send a short textmessage from the user terminal or mobile communication unit to e.g. another mobile communication unit, which supports reception of such messages. The most common mobile communication units are hand-held mobile phones, a good example of which are Nokia 2110 and Nokia 6110 mobile phones. In addition to the keys reserved for starting a call and using menu functions, mobile phones often contain a familiar button-telephone-like keyboard with 12 keys arranged in matrix of four rows by three columns: numbers
1
-
9
and *,
0
and #. For writing of SMS-messages, most of the number keys (
2
-
9
,
0
and #) in Nokia 2110 mobile phone can be used to produce letters and other symbols. In this case, a part of the producible symbols reside “under” each key, e.g. in order first three letters, then the number of the numeric keyboard and after these two or three special symbols. In this case a desired symbol is selected by pressing a key several times in a row without exceeding a certain period of time between presses. In this way it is possible to produce e.g. letter ‘B’ by pressing number key
2
twice in a row. When continuing to write the word BART, the user is required to wait a while and then press number key
2
once to produce letter ‘A’. Then the user can continue and press number key
7
without waiting. The first press produces letter ‘P’, a second press changes ‘P’ to ‘R’, which is now accepted by waiting a while or by continuing by inputting letter ‘T’ by pressing another number key. Letter ‘T’ is the first letter to be produced with number key
8
, so it will be input with only one press of number key
8
. To correct an error, a cursor is displayed on the display of the mobile phone in addition to the text, which cursor can be moved within the text and beside or under which a symbol can be removed by pressing correction key C. The presented method of writing an SMS-message is easy to learn, but using it is laborsome and slow.
To ease typing on a limited keyboard, several different probability-based or guessing systems have been developed to guess the words meant by the user, when he/she inputs text without specifying which letter of a given key he/she means when pressing that key. These systems are aimed to avoid or at least reduce the need for repeated keypresses. One probability-based system based on a statistical model to feed text has been presented in the patent publication GB 2 266 797 B, “Data Storage Apparatus”. The publication presents a system, where e.g. a mobile phone searches its memory for such words, every symbol of which is included in partial sets of letters corresponding to different keys, selected by the user by pressing number keys. The phone selects the most probable word for an input word. Statistical methods can be used to significantly speed up the writing of an SMS-message, but the downside of their use is that they can guess the word totally wrong too. In this case it is possible that the second and fourth letter of a five-letter word have been guessed wrong, and the meaning of the word is thus totally altered. The editing function supported by the SMS composition function of the present mobile communication units would require the user to move the cursor to the correct location symbol by symbol, erase the erroneous symbol and input a correct symbol in a way familiar from e.g. Nokia 2110. Thus as the statistical method possibly produces several erroneous letters, the speed advantage of the statisticality is lost or at least a part of it is lost. While writing the user may also notice that e.g. a word should be added before the latest written word e.g. in English an article should be added or changed and thus add a new letter into the article preceding the word.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Now a method and means have been developed to edit input text, where a defined amount N of keys of a number keyboard of a telephone are arranged to correspond the same amount N of displayed symbols. By pressing one of these keys the user can select a symbol corresponding to that key as a correction point. Optionally the symbol at the correction point can be replaced with another symbol without a separate command from the user. Preferably, the said N displayed symbols are the N latest input symbols. Preferably the same keys of the number keyboard or a part of those keys that were used to input the text are used for this kind of targeting or optionally the targeting and the automatically following editing. Preferably the editing is started by shifting into a dedicated editing mode e.g by pressing a key provided for this purpose, normally not use for typing, e.g. the asterisk key (*). Preferably the editing mode is exited by pressing a certain key or after a defined time has elapsed from the last keypress. The advantage of an editing method according to the present invention is that an editing more efficient than the prior art is reached, because the cursor does not have to be moved by one single symbol at a time but its position can be selected as per the invention from N edited symbols by pressing one key that corresponds a desired new position of the cursor.
According to a first embodiment of the invention there is provided a method for editing input using an input device, which comprises a keyboard to input text and a display unit to display the input text, the method comprising the steps of:
displaying no more than a first number of symbols from the input text on the display unit grouped according to a first matrix,
grouping the said first number of keys of the keyboard to editing keys according to a defined second matrix;
defining a singular correlation, where every editing key corresponds to one position of a grouped symbol, between the symbols grouped according to said first matrix and the positions of the editing keys grouped according to said second matrix; and
selecting a position of a grouped symbol corresponding to an editing key as the editing position as a response to the use of the editing key, wherein the input device is a button telephone and the keyboard is the number keyboard of a telephone.
According to a first embodiment of the invention there is provided an input device, which has a keyboard to input text and a display unit to display the input text, which input device comprises
first means for displaying at most the first number of symbols from the input text grouped according to a first matrix on the display unit, wherein
said keyboard comprises a first number of keys grouped as editing keys according to a second matrix; and the input device further comprises:
means for defining a singular correlation, where each key corresponds to one position of a grouped symbol, between symbols grouped according to said first matrix; and editing keys grouped according to said second matrix;
means for selecting the position of the group symbol corresponding to the editing key as the editing position as a response to the use of an editing key wherein the input device is a button telephone and the keyboard is a telephone's number keyboard.
In method for editing input text according to a second embodiment of the present invention as a response to a defined first command given with a certain key, a grouped symbol in an editing position is replaced with an other symbol from a symbol group of a basic key producing the grouped symbol, and as a response to a command given with an other certain key a new basic key is selected to replace the group of symbols
Dharia Prabodh M.
Mengistu Amare
Nokia Mobile Phones Ltd.
Perman & Green LLP
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