Patent ID: 8018439

Claim:
A mobile device, comprising: a microprocessor; a reduced keyboard operatively coupled with said microprocessor, said reduced keyboard having a plurality of keys capable of allowing a user to provide a series of key presses to the microprocessor, wherein the plurality of keys at least comprises a selection confirmation indicator, an external function specification indicator, and a plurality of character keys associated with a plurality of characters such that at said series of key presses of said character keys comprises an ambiguous input string having a plurality of disambiguation types including: textual field input; numerical phone dialing input; textual input describing a function internal to said mobile device; and textual input describing a function external to said mobile device and supported by said mobile device via a network application; wherein said microprocessor is configured for: disambiguating said ambiguous strings of key presses into logical candidates comprising words, phrases, and number strings matching a disambiguation type; and a monitor operatively coupled with said microprocessor, the monitor configured for simultaneously displaying all candidates, wherein candidates are displayed differently based on their respective disambiguation type; a candidate selection device operatively coupled with said microprocessor, wherein the selection device is configured for allowing said user to indicate an intention to select one of the displayed candidates; a memory device containing phone numbers of user contacts; a software module having instructions for causing the microprocessor to: interpret selection of a textual field input and confirmation using the confirmation indicator as an indication to enter said textual input into a fillable field; interpret selection of numeric phone dialing input and confirmation using the confirmation indicator as an instruction to dial a phone number from the user contacts matching a numeric disambiguation of said input string upon a user pressing the selection confirmation indicator; interpret selection of an internal function and confirmation using the confirmation indicator as an instruction to launch said internal function; interpret selection of an external function and confirmation using the confirmation indicator as an instruction to launch said network application; and interpret selection of any of said textual field input, said numeric phone dialing input, and said internal function and selection of said external function specification indicator as an instruction to search for an external function that is described by the textual field input, numerical phone dialing input, or textual input describing a function internal to said mobile device.