Patent ID: 8504566

Claim:
A method of providing a number of search results for a handheld electronic device, the method comprising: receiving an input layout type of the handheld device at a server, wherein the input layout including a plurality of input keys, each of at least one portion of the input keys having a plurality of characters assigned thereto; receiving a number of selections of a number of the input keys of the input layout at the server; determining, at the server, a number of possible combinations of the characters based upon the received input layout type and the received number of selections; disambiguating at the server the number of possible combinations of the characters using an algorithm to provide a rendered output, wherein the disambiguating at the server is a function of a disambiguation type at the handheld electronic device so that the disambiguation algorithm at the server is the same or substantially similar to a disambiguation algorithm of the handheld electronic device; searching for a number of search results based on the rendered output; and sending the number of search results from the server to the handheld electronic device.