Patent ID: 7143043

Claim:
A method for inputting data in a character-by-character manner to a mobile communication device having a constrained keyboard with ambiguous keys, the mobile communication device also having a microphone for picking up voice input, said method comprising: (a) receiving voice input from a user using the microphone, the voice input pertaining to a single character; (b) detecting, substantially concurrently with said receiving (a), that one of the ambiguous keys of the keyboard has been selected by the user as a selected key, the selected key having a plurality of characters associated therewith; (c) obtaining reference patterns associated with the selected key, the reference patterns being a set of predetermined reference patterns selected from a plurality of reference patterns based on the selected key; (d) comparing the voice input with the obtained reference patterns to produce comparison data; and (e) identifying a character that was intended to be input by the user based on the comparison data, said identifying (e) of the character that was intended to be input by the user includes at least (e1) determining whether one of the obtained reference patterns matches the voice input based on the comparison data, and (e2) selecting the character from the plurality of the characters associated with the selected key in accordance with the determined one of the obtained reference patterns, wherein said identifying (e) is synchronized with the detection of the selected key by said detecting (b), and wherein the obtained reference patterns are speech reference patterns.