Patent ID: 7376648

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for selecting a desired non-Roman-alphabet character from a set of non-Roman characters, comprising the steps of: providing an association database that includes, for each non-Roman-alphabet character of the set, a Roman alphabet phonetic transliteration associated with each said non-Roman-alphabet character and a plurality of words or phrases that are associated with each said non-Roman-alphabet character; receiving a phonetic transliteration of the desired non-Roman-alphabet character and at least one associated word or phrase that is associated with the desired non-Roman-alphabet character; accessing the association database and identifying as candidate characters those characters of the set that are associated with the received phonetic transliteration and with the at least one received associated word or phrase; if a number of candidate characters is greater than one, receiving additional associated words or phrases and repeating the accessing and identifying step until a number of candidate characters is narrowed down to a single candidate character, and providing the single candidate character as the desired non-Roman-alphabet character.