Patent ID: 7387457

Claim:
An apparatus for character entry comprising: (i) a reduced keyboard comprising one row of keys, wherein (a) each of one or more keys on said one row of keys has a correspondence with a plurality of characters, (b) at least one of said one or more keys corresponds to at least one letter character and at least one non-letter character, (c) each of said plurality of characters is associated with a signature/dual signature pair, and (d) a unique signal is associated with the signature of all characters corresponding to said key, said unique signal being generated when said key is selected by a user; (ii) a memory storing a plurality of objects, each of said objects comprising: (a) a unique sequence of signature/dual signature pairs derived from at least one set of legal character combinations; and (b) one or more attributes associated with said unique sequence; (iii) an output device; and (iv) a processor coupled to said memory and said output device and in communication with said keyboard, said processor operable to (a) apply approximate typing rules to predict at least one object from said memory based on a sequence of signatures associated with a sequence of signals from said keyboard, and (b) output to said output device at least one character combination associated with said at least one object.