Abstract:
Predefined text may be repetitively entered into graphical user interfaces in response to mouse commands. This enables systems with reduced keyboard functions to more easily insert the text data. In addition, in systems with conventional keyboards, the user can automate the entry of common text.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     This invention relates generally to input/output techniques for processor-based systems and particularly to techniques for entering text into graphical user interfaces. 
     Processor-based systems are becoming increasingly smaller and more portable. For example cellular phones now have many capabilities formerly only available with full scale personal computers. Similarly, battery-operated handheld processor-based systems such as a personal digital assistants (PDAs) also have., advanced computer functionalities. Both telephones and PDAs are now available which provide cellular links to the Internet, and advanced scheduling capabilities, all of which involve, to varying degrees, the entry of text into graphical user interfaces. 
     Similarly, there is increasing acceptance of set top computers. These computers provide computer functionalities generally using a television receiver as their display. Commonly, they are positioned on top of the television receiver housing and are coupled thereto for operation under control by a remote control unit (RCU). Conventionally, the RCU implements mouse-like control of graphical user interfaces displayed on the television receiver. A full scale keyboard may not provided. One usage model of the set top computer is to operate the computer much like a television receiver is conventionally operated—using a remote control rather than a keyboard. Thus, set top computers may provide advanced computer functionality as well as to access the Internet. 
     In the course of accessing Internet web sites, it is commonly necessary to input information into graphical user interfaces. In a variety of Internet applications it is desirable to input common text information. To buy items over the Internet, conventionally information is required such as the user&#39;s name, address, and information about the items being purchased as well as credit card information. The user normally repetitively enters the information over and over with each transaction. 
     While these repetitive tasks may be unnecessarily time consuming in connection with processor-based systems which have full scale keyboards, in systems with reduced keyboards or no keyboards, they become extremely onerous. For example, in connection with some set top computers and the PalmPilot PDA, the user may input text information by mouse clicking on the “keys” of a graphical user interface in the form of a keyboard. Of course, moving the cursor to align with each graphical key and operating the “key” tends to be time consuming and to require, in many cases, considerable manual dexterity. Similarly, with set top computer systems operated through RCUs, text entry tends to be challenging. 
     Thus, there is a continuing need for better ways to enter text in connection with processor-based systems. 
     SUMMARY 
     In accordance with one aspect, a method of providing code for text entry fields in Internet web pages includes identifying a mouse event and determining whether the mouse event is associated with a text entry field. A set of text entry options are displayed. The code corresponding to a selected option is copied into the text entry field. 
     Other aspects are set forth in the accompanying detailed description and claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a front elevational view of one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  shows a graphical user interface in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  shows an expanded form of the graphical user interface shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  shows a still further expanded form of the graphical user interface shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 5  shows an Internet web page and the application of the graphical user interface shown in  FIG. 2  to entering text into text entry fields in the web page; 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic depiction of one embodiment for software for implementing the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic depiction of the interaction between the operating system and a text entry memory array in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a flow chart showing software for implementing one embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 9  is a block diagram showing a hardware implementation of one embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A processor-based system  10  shown in  FIG. 1 , includes a television receiver  12 , a processor-based unit  14  and a remote control unit (RCU)  16 . The remote control unit  16  enables the user to remotely control, using infrared signals for example, the processor-based unit  14  and the receiver  12 . For example, the RCU  16  may have an infrared transceiver  18  which communicates with transceivers  20  and  22  on the receiver  12  and the unit  14  respectively. 
     The user can make mouse selections using the RCU  16 . The term “mouse” as used herein is not limited to the conventional external device connected to desktop computer systems but rather extends to any device which enables user interaction with a graphical user interface through control of a cursor or through control of highlighting of selected items on a graphical user interface. 
     Thus, the RCU  16  includes a left mouse button  28  and a right mouse button  30  and a plurality of direction controls  26  within a compact control area  24 . In this way, the user can manipulate the position of a cursor using the controls  26  and may select items displayed on the display screen  34  in association with that cursor. Alternatively, as is well known, the controls  26  may be used to highlight potentially selectable options displayed on the display screen  34 . These options may then be selected using the left mouse button  28 . 
     The remote control unit  16  may also include a plurality of other controls including a numerical keypad  32  to facilitate channel selection and for numerical inputs. While the RCU  16  has been illustrated as being an infrared based system, other systems may be used as well, including those that make use of radio frequency or ultrasonic signals and those that are cable based. 
     In addition, while the present invention has been described with respect to a set top computer system, the present invention is also applicable to any processor based system including those which have reduced keyboard functionalities such as cellular telephones, PDAs, processor-based appliances and the like. In addition, the present invention is applicable as well to personal computer systems such as desktop and laptop computer systems. 
     The right mouse button  30  may used to select a graphical user interface  36 , shown in FIG.  2 . The graphical user interface  36  is responsible for facilitating the entry of text into graphical user interfaces associated with computer applications such as those presented by Internet web pages. Thus, based on the position of a cursor or highlighting, upon selecting the right mouse button, the graphical user interface  36  appears proximate to the highlighting or cursor. 
     The graphical user interface  36  includes a view icon  38 , an icon  40  for arranging icons, a paste icon  42 , a new icon  44 , a properties icon  46  and a text entry icon  48  which includes the entries “save to text list”, “insert text”, and “number entry”. Each of the icons may be selected using the mouse operation. Namely, by positioning a cursor or highlighting on the desired icon, using the controls  26 , and operating the left mouse button  28 , a particular icon  38  through  48  may be selected. Alternatively, drop down on pop-up menus may expand automatically as is well known. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , when the “number entry” icon  48   a  in the text entry icon  48  is selected, a numerical “keyboard”  50  of the type commonly found on telephones is presented. This allows the user to mouse click to select any of the numbers for making numerical entries into graphical user interfaces. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 4 , the graphical user interface  36  has been expanded by selecting the icon  48   b , titled “save to text line”, which causes a drop down menu  52  to appear in association with the graphical user interface  36 . The drop down menu  32  includes the icon  54  for a business list, the icon  56  for a personal list, the icon  58  for user names, the icon  60  for passwords, the icon  62  for a Universal Resource Locator (URL), the icon  64  for special numbers., and the icons  66  and  68  for custom lists. 
     As illustrated, when the user selects the icon  58 , a drop down menu  70  appears which provides text entry fields for a parameter name and value. This allows the user to enter well known user names for accessing different Internet web sites. 
     Thus, each of the entries in the drop down menu  52  enable storage of desired text entry information. For example, the business list icon  54  may accept information related to the user&#39;s business address telephone number, fax number and e-mail address as well as his or her name and company name. The personal list icon  56  may accept the same kind of information about the user&#39;s home address. The passwords icon  60  may accept for storage a number of different passwords which are used in different situations, so that these passwords may be automatically entered by generating mouse events. Similarly, a URL list icon  62  simply lists universal resource locators which may be entered for subsequent mouse selection. The icon  64  enables entry of pre-entered numerical sequences such as credit card numbers, passwords, telephone numbers and the like. 
     The icons  66  and  68  provide for other information which may be repetitively entered into graphical user interfaces by a particular user. In other words, the user can program the information which the user wishes to have for mouse selection. 
     An example of the application of the software for automated text entry, shown in.  FIG. 5 , involves a typical text entry graphical user interface  73  normally found in association with web sites. For example, when the user wishes to receive more information or buy a product the user may be called upon to enter text into a text entry field. Commonly, the text entry fields may be established by software objects such as JAVA or ACTIVEX objects which facilitate the collection of information and its transmittal to a remote server for response. 
     In order to avoid simply typing the information in, the user can click on the right mouse button  30  at the name blank causing the graphical user interface  36  to appear. In this example, the user selects the insert text icon  48   b  and business list icon  54 . The user then simply clicks on the requested information, such as the region  72   b  in the user&#39;s business list information field  72 . This automatically causes the user&#39;s name to be inserted into the field. Obviously, the user can proceed through each of the requested items in the graphical user interface  36  providing information from the user&#39;s business list  73 . Thus, the user can use simple mouse operations to enter text without necessitating an elaborate keyboard sequence. This facilitates text entry not only in connection with conventional computer systems but particularly in connection with systems which have either no keyboard or limited keyboard functions. 
     In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, shown in,  FIG. 6 , software for implementing the automatic text entry may be provided as a text insertion plug-in  76  which may be plugged into a conventional browser application program  74 . Typical browser application programs include Eudora, Internet Explorer and Netscape. 
     After the plug-in has been inserted, the browser  74  may interact with a database  78  which includes the text entry information which has been preprogrammed by the user. In addition, the browser  74  may operate with the operating system  80  to receive information about mouse events, as indicated at block  82 . A mouse event is basically the user&#39;s operation of a left or right mouse button indicating that the user wishes to select an icon. In addition, input/output selections may be provided, as indicated at  84 , through the operating system  80  to the plug-in  76  contained within the browser  74 . In this way, the plug-in and the browser receive the interfaces that are needed to implement the automated text entry function. 
     Conveniently, the plug-in may be implemented through object oriented programming languages such as JAVA, ACTIVEX or C++. In this way, different plug-ins may be provided to work with different browsers and different operating systems as necessary. 
     Referring next to  FIG. 7 , information from the operating system may interact with the database  78  which stores the text entry fields  90 . When the user makes a selection, this selection may be translated into a reference to the appropriate information which is stored in a memory array in the database  78 . One convenient way to implement the selection of the appropriate fields within the memory array is to have the operating system provide the correct stored text locator or pointer  86  to the selected field. In this way, the operating system may use a table stored in a separate memory area to correlate a given selection by the user into a pointer to a particular entry in the database. This facilitates the selection of the desired information because it reduces translations within the plug-in software. 
     Referring next of  FIG. 8 , software  92  for implementing one embodiment of automated text entry system begins by receiving notice of a mouse event on a text entry object as indicated in diamond  94 . A text entry object is basically a field which facilitates text entry. Generally, such fields may be displayed in web pages and maybe based on hypertext mark up language (HTML). Scripted HTML provides script which facilitates the entry of information into HTML. HTML generally does not have the capability to adaptively accept such text information. Thus, the text entry object corresponds to the script associated with a fill in the blank type graphical user interface (such as the interface  73  in  FIG. 5 ) on a web page. 
     If a mouse event has been received from the operating system, the text entry options may be displayed as indicated in block  96 . The text entry options may include the graphical user interfaces  36 ,  52  and  72  using the example of FIG.  5 . 
     At diamond  98  a check determines whether the user has selected any of the icons in the text entry option graphical user interface. If so, as indicated at block  100 , the code for the necessary pointer to retrieve the information from the database  78  may be acquired as illustrated in connection with FIG.  7 . 
     Next the plug-in identifies the intended text entry (block  102 ). When a mouse click is detected (diamond  104 ) the code for the text is posted to the data entry file associated with the web page (diamond  106 ). 
     Turning next to  FIG. 91 , a hardware implementation for the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1  includes a processor  108 . In one embodiment, the processor may be coupled to an accelerated graphics port (AGP) (See Accelerated Graphics Port Interface Specification, Revision 1.0, published on Jul. 31, 1996 by Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif.) chipset  110  for implementing an accelerated graphics port embodiment. The chipset  110  communicates with the AGP port  111  and the graphics accelerator  112 . The television  12  may be coupled to the video output of the graphics accelerator  112 . The chipset  112  accommodates the system memory  114 . 
     The chipset  110  is also coupled to a bus  118 . The bus  118  couples a TV tuner/capture card  120  which is coupled to an antenna  122  or other video input port, such as a cable input port, a satellite receiver/antenna or the like. The TV tuner/capture card  120  selects a desired television channel and also performs the video capture function. One exemplary video capture card is the ISVR-III video capture card available from Intel Corporation. 
     The bus  118  is also coupled to a bridge  124  which may couple a storage device such as a hard disk drive  126  or a FLASH memory. The software  92  and the database  78  may be stored on the hard disk drive  126 . The bridge  124  is also coupled to another bus  128 . The bus  128  may be coupled to a serial input/output (SIO) device  130 . The device  130  is in turn coupled to the infrared interface  22 . Also connected to the bus  128  is a basic input/output system (BIOS)  136 . 
     Thus, the present invention enables automated text entry without requiring typing or even use of a keyboard. By pre-typing the information into a graphical user interface and storing that information, code for the information may be repeatedly accessed and entered into text entry fields without re-typing the information. Thus, simple mouse click operations may be utilized to repetitively transfer information into text entry fields, particularly in connection with Internet web pages. This facilitates the operation of any processor-based system and is particularly useful in connection with those systems which have reduced keyboard capabilities. 
     While the present invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of this present invention.