Patent ID: 6286064
Filing Date: 2001-09-04
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A system for disambiguating ambiguous input sequences entered by a user and for the interpretation and display of unambiguous input sequences entered by the user, the system comprising:(a) a user input device having a plurality of inputs, each of the plurality of inputs associated with a plurality of characters, an input sequence being generated each time an input is selected by manipulating the user input device, wherein the generated input sequence corresponds to the sequence of inputs that have been selected, and wherein the generated input sequence has a textual interpretation that is unambiguous and a textual interpretation that is ambiguous due to the plurality of characters associated with each input;(b) a memory containing a plurality of objects, each of the plurality of objects associated with an input sequence;(c) a display to depict system output to the user; and(d) a processor coupled to the user input device, memory and display, the processor:(i) processing each generated input sequence as an ambiguous selection of the characters associated with the input sequence to identify from the plurality of objects in memory at least one object associated with each generated input sequence;(ii) simultaneously processing each generated input sequence as an unambiguous selection of a specific character associated to identify an unambiguous textual interpretation that is associated with the generated input sequence; and(iii) generating an output signal causing the display to display at least one of the identified objects associated with the generated input sequence and to simultaneously display the identified unambiguous textual interpretation that is associated with the input sequence.