Abstract:
A method and associated apparatus for indicating additional character combination choices from a disambiguation function on a handheld electronic device.

Description:
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/555,002, filed Oct. 31, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field 
     The disclosed and claimed concept relates generally to handheld electronic devices that employ a text disambiguation function and, more particularly, to an improved method of displaying character combination choices that are generated by a text disambiguation function on the handheld electronic device. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples of such handheld devices include, for instance, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellular telephones, and the like. Many handheld electronic devices also feature wireless communication capability, although many such handheld devices are stand-alone devices that are functional without communication with other devices. 
     Such handheld electronic devices are generally intended to be portable, and thus are of a relatively compact configuration in which keys and other input structures often perform multiple functions under certain circumstances or may otherwise have multiple aspects or features assigned thereto. With advances in technology, handheld electronic devices are built to have progressively smaller form factors yet have progressively greater numbers of applications and features resident thereon. As a practical matter, the keys of a keypad can only be reduced to a certain small size before the keys become relatively unusable. 
     One way of providing numerous letters in a small space has been to provide a “reduced keyboard” in which multiple letters, symbols, and/or digits, and the like, are assigned to any given key. For example, a touch-tone telephone includes a reduced keyboard by providing twelve keys, of which ten have digits thereon, and of these ten keys, eight have letters assigned thereto. For instance, one of the keys includes the digit “2” as well as the letters “A”, “B”, and “C”. Since a single actuation of such a key potentially could be intended by the user to refer to any of the letters “A”, “B”, and “C”, and potentially could also be intended to refer to the digit “2”, the input (by actuation of the key) generally is an ambiguous input and is in need of some type of disambiguation in order to be useful for text entry purposes. 
     In order to enable a user to make use of the multiple letters, digits, and the like on any given key in a reduced keyboard, a software-based text disambiguation function is utilized. In such a system, a user typically presses keys to which one or more characters have been assigned, generally pressing each key one time for each desired letter, and the disambiguation software attempts to disambiguate the intended input. One example of such a system is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/931,281, entitled “Handheld Electronic Device With Text Disambiguation,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. As is known, many such systems display an output component as the user is typing (pressing keys) that includes a list of possible intended input character strings (i.e., what the user intended while typing) that are generated by the disambiguation software. 
     In many current software-based text disambiguation systems, an output component, which includes the list of possible intended inputs that is generated by the disambiguation software, is output on the display of the handheld electronic device. A problem arises when the length of a possible intended input is so large that the remaining possible intended inputs cannot fit on the display. In these situations, the list is typically split and the user must take some additional action, such as scrolling a thumbwheel or pressing a predetermined function button, to move from one possible intended input to the next possible intended input. The drawback with current systems, however, is that the indicators, which indicate that there are additional possible intended inputs beyond the one possible intended input that is currently being displayed, are typically located in multiple locations on the display, thereby making it difficult for the user to determine whether there are additional possible intended inputs and where the additional possible intended inputs are located in relation to the possible intended input that is currently being displayed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A full understanding of the disclosed and claimed concept can be gained from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a top plan view of an embodiment of the improved handheld electronic device in accordance with the disclosed and claimed concept; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic depiction of the handheld electronic device of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIGS. 3 ,  3 A, and  3 B each depict an output that can be generated on the improved handheld electronic device of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  depicts another output that can be generated on the improved handheld electronic device of  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart depicting one embodiment of an improved method in accordance with the disclosed and claimed concept. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
     As used herein, the phrase “a number of” or variations thereof means one or an integer greater than one. 
     As used herein, the phrase “alphanumeric” or variations thereof shall broadly refer to a letter, such as a Latin letter, and/or a digit such as, without limitation, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, and combinations thereof. 
     Directional phrases used herein, such as, for example, upper, lower, left, right, vertical, horizontal, top, bottom, above, beneath, clockwise, counterclockwise and derivatives thereof, relate to the orientation of the elements shown in the drawings and are not limiting upon the claims unless expressly recited therein. 
     One embodiment of a handheld electronic device  2  in accordance with the disclosed and claimed concept is depicted generally in  FIG. 1 . The handheld electronic device  2  of  FIG. 1  is depicted schematically in  FIG. 2 . The handheld electronic device  2  includes a housing  4  upon which is disposed a processor unit that includes an input apparatus  6 , an output apparatus  8 , a processor  10 , a memory  12 , and a wireless transceiver  13 . The processor  10  may be, for instance, and without limitation, a microprocessor (μP) and is responsive to inputs from the input apparatus  6  and provides output signals to the output apparatus  8 . The processor  10  also interfaces with the memory  12  which, as will be discussed in greater detail below, contains one or more routines that are used to implement the disclosed and claimed concept. The processor  10  and the memory  12  together form a processor apparatus. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the input apparatus  6  includes a keypad  14  and a navigational input member  16 . The keypad  14  is in the exemplary form of a reduced QWERTY keyboard including a plurality of keys  18  that serve as input members. Many of the keys  18  each have a plurality of characters assigned thereto. The keypad  14  also includes an &lt;ALT&gt; key  20 , an &lt;ENTER&gt; key  22 , and a &lt;SPACE&gt; key  23 . It is noted, however, that the keypad  14  may be of other configurations, such as an AZERTY keyboard, a QWERTY keyboard, a QWERTZ keyboard or another keyboard arrangement, whether or not reduced, and whether presently known or unknown. 
     The keys  18  are located on a front face  24  of the housing  4 , and the navigational input member  16 , which is in the exemplary form a trackball  36 , is disposed on the front face  24  of the housing  4  as well. The trackball  36  is rotatable in various directions thereby allowing for the navigation of the cursor  32 , which is displayed on the output apparatus  8 , in various directions including up, down, left, right, and any combination thereof. Moreover, the trackball  36  can also be depressed to provide a selection or other input based upon the current location of the cursor  32 . Accordingly, rotation of the trackball  36  can navigate the cursor  32  over a particular program icon  34 , while depression of the trackball  36  can launch the program. It should be noted that a trackwheel (not shown), which can be disposed on a side  26  of the housing  4 , can be used in lieu of the trackball  36 . Similar to the trackball  36 , the trackwheel can serve as an input member since the trackwheel is capable of being rotated in a clockwise or a counterclockwise direction as well as being depressed. Rotation of the trackwheel can provide a navigation or other input, while depression of the trackwheel can provide a selection or other input. For example, if a cursor  32  is located over a given program icon  34 , that program will be launched when the trackwheel is depressed. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the memory  12  can be any of a variety of types of internal and/or external storage media such as, without limitation, RAM, ROM, EPROM(s), EEPROM(s), and the like that provide a storage register for data storage such as in the fashion of an internal storage area of a computer, and can be volatile memory or nonvolatile memory. As can be seen from  FIG. 2 , the memory  12  is in electronic communication with the processor  10 . The memory  12  additionally can include one or more routines depicted generally with the numeral  38  for the processing of data. The routines  38  can be in any of a variety of forms such as, without limitation, software, firmware, and the like. 
     The output apparatus  8  includes a display  40  upon which can be provided an output  42 . A number of exemplary outputs  42  are depicted on the display  40  in  FIGS. 3 ,  3 A,  3 B, and  4 . Each exemplary output  42  includes a text component  44  and a variant component  46 . As can be seen from these figures, the variant component  46  extends substantially horizontally across the display  40 . This, however, is not meant to be limiting since the variant component  46  can also extend across the display  40  substantially vertically or can be otherwise disposed. Preferably, the variant component  46  is located generally in the vicinity of the text component  44 . Referring to  FIGS. 3 ,  3 A,  3 B, and  4 , the variant component  46  includes a selectable output  48  that can be selected by the user for possible output on the output apparatus  8  of the handheld electronic device  2 . The display  40  also includes a caret (cursor)  50  in the text component  44  which depicts generally where the next output will be displayed. 
     As stated above, a shortcoming of current disambiguation systems is that indicators, which indicate that there are additional possible intended inputs beyond the one possible intended input that is currently being displayed, are typically located in multiple locations on the display  40 . Accordingly, the user&#39;s ability to enter data into the handheld electronic device  2  is hindered due to the fact that the user might not recognize that there are additional possible intended inputs available and/or not know where the additional possible intended inputs may be found. 
     The disclosed and claimed concept enables the handheld electronic device  2  to overcome this shortcoming by having a routine  38  that is adapted to display a single visual indicator which is located at a single location on the display  40 . The visual indicator not only represents that additional subsets of the list of possible intended inputs (character combination choices) are displayable on the output apparatus  8  of the handheld electronic device  2  in response to the handheld electronic device  2  detecting a navigational input in a particular direction, but it also represents the direction in which the additional subsets may be found. 
     By way of example, referring to  FIGS. 1 ,  3 ,  3 A, and  3 B, when the language that is currently operative on the handheld electronic device  2  is German and the user actuates the keys  18  on the handheld electronic device  2  that correspond to “mannerfantasien”, the disambiguation function of the handheld electronic device  2  will generate a list of three possible intended inputs in response to the detected ambiguous key sequence. The three possible intended inputs are as follows: (1) männerfantasien (hereinafter, referred to as the first subset), (2) männredabyssieb (hereinafter, referred to as the second subset), and (3) männredabyssien (hereinafter, referred to as the third subset). The variant component  46 , however, is unable to contain all three possible intended inputs simultaneously due to the length of each possible intended input. Accordingly, the handheld electronic device  2  will display only one possible intended input (L e . , a subset of the three possible inputs) within the variant component  46  at any one time. It should be noted, however, that despite  FIGS. 3 ,  3 A,  3 B, and  4  depicting one possible intended input, in its entirety, being displayed within the variant component  46 , there may be instances when only a portion of the possible intended input is displayed within the variant component  46 . 
     Continuing with  FIG. 3 , upon detecting the ambiguous key sequence that corresponds with “mannerfantasien”, the handheld electronic device  2  will display “männerfantasien” within the variant component  46  as well as in the text component  44 . As stated above, the variant component  46  is unable to simultaneously contain all of the possible intended inputs. Therefore, in order to assist the user in data entry, a first visual indicator  52  is displayed in the variant component  46  that allows the user to ascertain whether or not there are additional subsets available and where the additional subsets may be found. Moreover, the first visual indicator  52  is also displayed at a single location  53  for easy reference by the user. It should be noted that despite  FIG. 3  depicting the first visual indicator  52  as being located in the variant component  46 , the first visual indicator  52  can be located anywhere on the display  40 . The first visual indicator  52  represents that additional possible intended inputs are displayable within the variant component  46 , in place of the first subset, if the handheld electronic device  2  detects a navigational input in a first direction. In the embodiment that is depicted in  FIG. 3 , the first visual indicator  52  is a graphic  54  having a pointing portion  56  that points towards the first direction. In this particular embodiment, the pointing portion  56  of the first visual indicator  52  points towards the “right”. Accordingly, when the handheld electronic device  2  detects a navigational input from the trackball  36  to the “right” or a clockwise rotation of a trackwheel (if a trackwheel is being used as the navigational input member  16 ), the handheld electronic device  2  will replace “männerfantasien” with the second subset, “männredabyssieb”, in addition to replacing the first visual indicator  52  with a second visual indicator  58 . 
     Continuing with  FIG. 3A , as can be seen from this figure, “männerfantasien” has been replaced with “männredabyssieb” in the variant component  46  as well as in the text component  44 . Moreover, the first visual indicator  52  has been replaced with the second visual indicator  58  which comprises a first pointing portion  60  which points towards the first direction, and a second pointing portion  62  which points towards a second direction. In this particular embodiment, the first pointing portion  60  of the second visual indicator  58  points towards the “right” while the second pointing portion  62  of the second visual indicator  58  points towards the “left”. Moreover, in this particular embodiment, the first and second pointing portions  60 ,  62  are interconnected. It should be noted, however, that in other embodiments the first and second point portions  60 ,  62  of the second visual indicator  58  are not interconnected (see  FIG. 4 ). Similar to the first visual indicator  52 , the first portion  60  of the second visual indicator  58  represents that additional possible intended inputs are displayable within the variant component  46  if the handheld electronic device  2  detects a navigational input in the first direction. However, unlike the first visual indicator  52 , the second portion  62  of the second visual indicator  58  also represents that the first subset can be displayable within the variant component  46  if the handheld electronic device  2  detects a navigational input in a second direction. Specifically, the second visual indicator  58  represents that a third subset is displayable within the variant component  46 , in place of the second subset, if the handheld electronic device  2  detects a navigational input in the first direction (La, to the “right”) while the first subset is displayable within the variant component  46 , in place of the second subset, if the handheld electronic device  2  detects a navigational input in the second direction (i.e., to the “left”). 
     Upon detecting a navigational input to the “right” or a clockwise rotation of the trackwheel, the handheld electronic device  2  will display the third subset in place of the second subset. Specifically, “männredabyssieb” will be replaced with the third subset, “männredabyssien”, in both the variant component  46  and the text component  44  (see  FIG. 3B ). When this occurs, the second visual indicator  58  will also be replaced with a third visual indicator  64 . 
     Alternatively, if the handheld electronic device  2  detects a navigational input to the “left” or a counterclockwise rotation of the trackwheel, then the handheld electronic device  2  will replace “männredabyssieb” with the first subset, “männerfantasien”, in addition to replacing the second visual indicator  58  with the first visual indicator  52 . 
     Continuing with  FIG. 3B , as can be seen from this figure, “männredabyssieb” has been replaced with the third subset, “männredabyssien”, in the variant component  46  as well as in the text component  44  because the handheld electronic device  2  detected a navigational input in the first direction. Additionally, the second visual indicator  58  has been replaced with a third visual indicator  64  which comprises a pointing portion  66  pointing towards the second direction. In this particular embodiment, the pointing portion  66  of the third visual indicator  64  points towards the “left.” The third visual indicator  64  represents that the second subset is displayable within the variant component  46  in place of the third subset if the handheld electronic device  2  detects a navigational input in the second direction. Moreover, the third visual indicator  64  also represents that “männredabyssien” is the final choice among the possible intended inputs by not having another pointing portion that points in the first direction. 
     Upon detecting a navigational input to the “left” or a counterclockwise rotation of the trackwheel, the handheld electronic device  2  will replace “männredabyssien” with the second subset, “männredabyssieb”, in both the variant component  46  and the text component  44  (see  FIG. 3A ). Additionally, the third visual indicator  64  will be replaced with the second visual indicator  58 . 
     Alternatively, if the handheld electronic device  2  detects a navigational input to the “right” or a clockwise rotation of the trackwheel, then the handheld electronic device  2  will replace “männredabyssien” with the first subset, “männerfantasien”, in both the variant component  46  and the text component  44  in addition to replacing the third visual indicator  64  with the first visual indicator  52 . In other words, a navigational input to the “right” or a clockwise rotation of the trackwheel enables the user to continuously scroll through the subsets. 
     It should be noted that in  FIGS. 3 ,  3 A,  3 B, and  4 , a language indicator  68  is provided in the variant component  46 . The language indicator is representative of a language that is currently operable on the handheld electronic device  2 . In these figures, “DE” represents that German is the language that is currently operative on the handheld electronic device  2 . 
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart depicting one embodiment of the disclosed concept. As can be seen from this figure, the handheld electronic device  2  will detect an input at step  100 . The handheld electronic device  2  will then determine whether the detected input was an alphanumeric input at step  102 . 
     If the handheld electronic device  2  does determine at step  102  that the detected input was an alphanumeric input, then the handheld electronic device  2  will generate a number of character combination choices based on the detected alphanumeric input using the text disambiguation function of the handheld electronic device  2  at step  104 . The handheld electronic device  2  will then display an output that comprises a subset of the character combination choices in addition to a first visual indicator  52  at step  106 . For example, referring to  FIG. 3 , the handheld electronic device  2  would display the first subset, “mannerfantasien”, in addition to the first visual indicator  52  in response to determining at step  102  that the detected input was an alphanumeric input. Continuing with  FIG. 5 , after the output has been displayed at step  106 , the handheld electronic device  2  will then go to step  100 . 
     The handheld electronic device  2  will then detect another input at step  100 . Responsive to the detecting the input, the handheld electronic device  2  will then determine whether the detected input was an alphanumeric input at step  102 . If the handheld electronic device  2  determines that the detected input is not an alphanumeric input, then the handheld electronic device  2  will determine whether the detected input is a navigational input in a first direction at step  108 . 
     If the handheld electronic device  2  does determine that the detected input is a navigational input in the first direction at step  108 , then the handheld electronic device  2  will display an output that comprises the next subset of the character combination choices as well as the next visual indicator. For example, referring to  FIG. 3A , the handheld electronic device  2  would display the second subset, “männredabyssieb”, in place of the first subset in addition to displaying the second visual indicator  58  in place of the first visual indicator  52 . Continuing with  FIG. 5 , after the output has been displayed at step  110 , the handheld electronic device  2  will go to step  100 . 
     The handheld electronic device  2  will then detect yet another input at step  100 . Responsive to detecting the input, the handheld electronic device  2  will determine whether the detected input was an alphanumeric input at step  102 . If the handheld electronic device  2  determines that the input detected at step  102  is not an alphanumeric input, then the handheld electronic device  2  will determine whether the detected input is a navigational input in a first direction at step  108 . 
     If the handheld electronic device  2  does determine that the detected input is a navigational input in the first direction at step  108 , then the handheld electronic device  2  will display an output that comprises the next subset of the character combination choices as well as the next visual indicator. For example, referring to  FIG. 3B , the handheld electronic device  2  would display the third subset, “männredabyssien”, in place of the second subset in addition to displaying the third visual indicator  64  in place of the second visual indicator  58 . Continuing with  FIG. 5 , after the output has been displayed at step  110 , the handheld electronic device  2  will go to step  100 . 
     Alternatively, if the handheld electronic device  2  determines that the detected input is not a navigational input in the first direction at step  108 , then the handheld electronic device will determine whether the detected input was a navigational input in a second direction at step  112 . 
     If the handheld electronic device  2  does determine that the detected input is a navigational input in the second direction at step  112 , then the handheld electronic device  2  will display an output that comprises the prior subset and the prior visual indicator at step  114 . For example, referring to  FIG. 3A , the handheld electronic device  2  would display the second subset, “männredabyssieb”, in place of the third subset in addition to displaying the second visual indicator  58  in place of the third visual indicator  64 . Continuing with  FIG. 5 , after the output has been displayed at step  110 , the handheld electronic device  2  will go to step  100 . 
     Alternatively, if the handheld electronic device  2  determines that the detected input was not a navigational input in the second direction at step  112 , then the handheld electronic device  2  will take other action such as, without limitation, determining whether the detected input was a selection input at step  116 . 
     While specific embodiments of the disclosed and claimed concept have been described in detail, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, the particular arrangements disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting as to the scope of the disclosed and claimed concept which is to be given the full breadth of the claims appended and any and all equivalents thereof.