Patent Document ID: 9201861
Application ID: 13643161

Base Claim:
1. A character input prediction apparatus comprising: a first operation input unit configured to obtain information of a first character input operation that is performed by a user using a character key layout display in which a plurality of character keys are arranged; a dictionary storage unit configured to store a dictionary including a plurality of candidate character strings; a character key layout management unit configured to store a character key layout showing the arrangement of the plurality of character keys in the character key layout display; a first indication movement detection unit configured to detect a first indication position and a first indication direction in the character key layout display from the information of the first character input operation, the first indication position showing a position of the first character input operation, and the first indication direction showing a movement direction of the first character input operation; a first filter generation unit configured to determine a vector having the first indication position as a base point using the first indication position and the first indication direction, and determine a first character range using the character key layout, the first character range including a plurality of character keys located in an extending direction of the vector; and a dictionary search unit configured to search the plurality of candidate character strings included in the dictionary, for a predictive character string that includes a character corresponding to any one of the plurality of character keys included in the first character range.

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Claim 11:
11. The character input prediction apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: a second operation input unit configured to obtain information of a second character input operation that is performed by the user using the character key layout display; a second indication movement detection unit configured to detect a second indication position and a second indication direction in the character key layout display from the information of the second character input operation, the second indication position showing a position of the second character input operation, and the second indication direction showing a movement direction of the second character input operation; a second filter generation unit configured to determine a second character range in the character key layout display using the second indication position, the second indication direction, and the character key layout, the second character range being located in the second indication direction with the second indication position as the base point; and a filter synthesis unit configured to extract a third character range that is included in both the first character range and the second character range, wherein the dictionary search unit is configured to search the plurality of candidate character strings included in the dictionary, for the predictive character string that includes any character included in the third character range.