Patent ID: 7432831

Claim:
A method of establishing a first password and a second password for use by a handheld electronic device and a second electronic device for gaining access to the handheld electronic device, said handheld electronic device having a first reduced keyboard with a plurality of first keys for entering characters ambiguously; said second electronic device having a second reduced keyboard with a plurality of second keys for entering characters ambiguously wherein said handheld electronic device has a first non-predictive keystroke interpretation system and said second electronic device has a second non-predictive keystroke interpretation system, the method comprising: performing a first key depression sequence on the handheld electronic device, said first depression sequence entering a predetermined character string ambiguously based on the characters assigned to the keys of the first reduced keyboard; converting the first key depression sequence into a first password character string using the first non-predictive keystroke interpretation system; determining a second password character string that would result from: (i) performing a second key depression sequence on the second reduced keyboard of the second electronic device by entering the predetermined character string on the second reduced keyboard ambiguously, and (ii) converting the second key depression sequence using the second non-predictive keystroke interpretation system to form the second password character string; and storing the first password character string as said first password and the second password character string as said second password on the handheld electronic device.