WO2006026050A2

WO2006026050A2 - Method for entering a character into an electronic device

Info

Publication number: WO2006026050A2
Application number: PCT/US2005/027652
Authority: WO
Inventors: Zhi-Feng Wang; Xiao-Min Zhang
Original assignee: Motorola Inc.
Priority date: 2004-08-30
Filing date: 2005-08-05
Publication date: 2006-03-09
Also published as: WO2006026050A3; CN1744008A; CN1317632C

Abstract

A method (300) for entering a character and character strings, into an electronic device (100) is provided. The method (300) includes displaying (320) groups of characters on a display screen (105) of the device (100), each one of the groups being displayed such that they have a visually distinctive representation compared to all other groups. Next, a selecting step (330) selects a chosen group from one of the groups in response to actuation of one of a set of user interface keys (106), each of the interface keys (106) being depicted in a manner that uniquely associates each one of the set of user interface keys with a respective one of the groups of characters.

Description

METHOD FOR ENTERING A CHARACTER INTO AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of character input into an electronic device. The invention is particularly useful for, but not necessarily limited to, entering phone numbers or short text messages into an electronic device having a relatively small number of input keys.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Portable handheld electronic devices such as handheld wireless communications devices (e.g. cellphones) that are easy to transport are becoming commonplace. Such handheld electronic devices come in a variety of different form factors and support many features and functions .

For purposes of convenience there is a general trend toward miniaturization of many types of handheld electronic devices, specifically handheld wireless communication devices. Miniaturization generally makes it easier to carry the device, including fitting the device into a user's pocket/purse or attaching the device to a user's belt. However, such miniaturization generally results in a limited number of keypad keys available for the entry of information such as short messaging or email text.

Touch screens have been used on handheld electronic devices in which the keypad keys are displayed on the touch screen and allow a user to enter text and commands by simply "^{^}touching' ' an area of the screen displaying a key associated with a desired letter or command. Although touch screens are useful and offer easy to use they are relatively expensive and therefore are usually only used on "high tier devices'¹ that are focused for "high end users. Accordingly, today the majority of handheld electronic devices, specifically handheld wireless communication devices, use a standard telephone keypad having ten number keys, an asterisk or star (#) key, and a hash or pound (#) key. For English and many other alphabet languages, the numeric keypad of the device is overlaid with an alphabet keypad where three or more letters of the alphabet are associated with each number key. For example, the number five (5) key is associated with the letters j -k- 1. In some reduced keypad electronic devices, upon entering an alphabet entry mode, a user employs multiple key presses to enter letters to make words and names for use by features such short messaging and address book name selection.

Currently, one common way to enter text messages using a conventional reduced keypad handheld electronic device is through the multi-tap method. The multi-tap method is a way of using the conventional keypad of a telephone to input text. The multi-tap method typically requires the user to press the TWO through NINE keys for writing letters, the ONE and ZERO keys for symbols and punctuation, and the asterisk (*) and pound (#) keys for moving the cursor to the left and right, however on some devices additional function keys can be used for cursor control. For any of the alphabet letters, the user is required to press the TWO through NINE keys to scroll through the letters and number choices associated with that key. For example, when the TWO key is pressed once, the character "a" is displayed. The second press of the same key (the TWO key) displays the character "b", the third press of the same key displays the character "c" and finally the fourth press of the TWO key displays the number "2".

Chinese and other character-based languages such as Japanese kanji, do not have a manageable number of alphabet letters that can be overlaid onto a reduced keypad. For example, Chinese does not use an alphabet and instead has about 5000 to 7000 commonly used characters. Advantageously, many phonetic systems have been developed to standardize the pronunciation of, for example, Mandarin Chinese. Several of these phonetic systems use the Roman alphabet as phonetic symbols, such as the 10 Wade-Giles and the pinyin systems for Mandarin Chinese, and other phonetic systems use a unique phonetic symbol set, such as the zhuyin system for Mandarin Chinese which has a 37-symbol phonetic alphabet. Cantonese Chinese also has a phonetic system using the Roman alphabet.

Although there are over 5000 commonly used Chinese characters, there 15 are only approximately 400 basic phonetic syllables in Mandarin Chinese speech. Thus, many different Chinese characters use the same Mandarin Chinese phonetic syllable. An extreme example is the Mandarin

Chinese pinyin word "yi"; this phonetic syllable represents over 100 different Chinese characters, each with a different meaning. Additionally, Mandarin Chinese uses four standard tones to differentiate meanings. Thus, the same phonetic syllable, when pronounced using a different tone, has a different meaning. Using the phonetic word "yi" as an example, at least 20 characters use the first tone, at least 31 characters use the second tone, at least 16 characters use the third tone, and at least 63 characters use the fourth tone.

As will be apparent to a person skilled in the art, there are various methods of entering alphanumeric text

(e.g. English) and character-based languages (e.g. Chinese characters) into a reduced keypad handheld electronic device. However it would be advantageous if an alternative reduced keypad entry method and device were provided to users. In this specification, including the claims, the terms

"comprises¹, "comprising' or similar terms are intended to mean a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a method or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include those elements solely, but may well include other elements not listed. Also, throughout this specification the term ^v"key'' has the broad meaning of any key, button or actuator having a dedicated, variable or programmable function that is actuatable by a user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the invention there is provided a method for entering a character into an electronic device, the method including: displaying groups of characters on a display screen of the device, each one of the groups being displayed such that they have a visually distinctive representation compared to all other said groups; selecting a chosen group from one of said groups in response to actuation of one of a set of user interface keys, each of said interface keys being depicted in a manner that uniquely associates each one of the set of user interface keys with a respective one of said groups of characters; displaying individual characters from the chosen group on the display screen of the device, each of said individual characters being displayed such that they have a visually distinctive representation compared to all other said individual characters from the chosen group; and selecting a chosen character in response to actuation of one of the set of user interface keys, said interface keys being depicted in a manner that uniquely associates each one of the set of user interface keys with a respective one of said individual characters. Suitably, the method is repeated to provide a character string comprising the chosen character plus other chosen characters sequentially selected at the step of selecting a chosen character. Preferably, the displaying a chosen group and selecting a chosen group are repeated until the number of characters forming the chosen group is less than a Key Threshold Value. The Key Threshold Value is suitably equal to the number of keys comprising the user interface keys .

Preferably, the displaying groups is further characterised by the visually distinctive representation for each of the groups being a specific colour.

Suitably, the selecting a chosen group is further characterised by each of said interface keys being depicted by the specific colour of an associated one of the groups of characters .

Suitably, the displaying groups is characterised by each one of the groups having one member of the group displayed in a distinctive manner compared to the rest of the members of that group.

Preferably, the selecting a chosen group includes selecting the one member of the group displayed in a distinctive manner when the actuation of one of a set of user interface keys is actuated for a first time duration compared to a time threshold value, and the complete group is selected when the actuation of one of a set of user interface keys is actuated for a second time duration compared to the time threshold value.

Preferably, the displaying individual characters is further characterised by the visually distinctive representation for each of the groups being a specific colour.

Suitably, the selecting individual characters is further characterised by each of said interface keys being depicted by the specific colour of an associated one of the groups of characters .

The method includes the further step of processing the character string.

The processing is characterised by inserting the character string in a display area of the display screen.

Suitably, processing is characterised by dialling a telephone number comprising the character string.

BRIEFDESCRIPTIONOFTHEDRAWINGS

In order that the invention may be readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to a preferred embodiment as illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating circuitry of an electronic device in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates a symbol entry mode displayed on a display screen of the electronic device of Fig 1; Fig. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for entering a character into the electronic device Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 illustrates a character entry mode displaying groups of characters on a display screen of the electronic device of Fig 1;

Fig. 5 further illustrates the character entry mode displaying groups of characters on the display screen of the electronic device of Fig 1;

Fig. 6 illustrates the character entry mode displaying individual characters on the display screen of the electronic device of Fig 1; and Fig. 7 illustrates an edit mode for editing character strings input by the method of Fig 3 and displayed on an input entry region of the display screen of the electronic device of Fig 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE

INVENTION

In the drawings, like numerals on different Figs are used to indicate like elements throughout. With reference to Fig. 1, there is illustrated an electronic device in the form of a handheld wireless communications device 100 comprising a radio frequency communications unit 102 coupled to be in communication with a processor 103. The handheld wireless communications device 100 also has a set of user interface keys 106 and a display screen 105 coupled to be in communication with the processor 3. There are also auxiliary keys 130 operatively coupled to the processor 103.

The processor 103 includes an encoder/decoder 111 with an associated Code Read Only Memory (ROM) 112 storing data for encoding and decoding voice or other signals that may be transmitted or received by the radio-telephone 100. The processor 103 also includes a micro-processor 113 coupled, by a common data and address bus 117, to the encoder/decoder 111, a character Read Only Memory (ROM) 114, a Random Access Memory (RAM) 104, static programmable memory 116 and a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) interface 118. The static programmable memory 116 and a SIM (often called a SIM card) operatively coupled to the SIM interface 118 each can store, amongst other things, selected incoming text messages and a Telephone Number Database TND (phonebook) comprising a number field for telephone numbers and name field for identifiers associated with one the numbers in the name field. For instance, one entry in the Telephone Number Database TND may be 91999111111 (entered in the number field) with an associated identifier ^{"^}Steven C at work'¹ in the name field. The SIM card and static memory 116 may also store passwords for allowing accessibility to password protected functions on the handheld wireless communications device 100.

The micro-processor 113 has ports for coupling to the set of user interface keys 106 screen 105 and an alert module 115 that typically contains an alert speaker, vibrator motor and associated drivers. Also, micro¬ processor 113 has ports for coupling to a microphone 135 and communications speaker 140. The character Read only memory 114 stores code for decoding or encoding text messages that may be received by the communication unit 102. In this embodiment the character Read Only Memory 114 also stores operating code (OC) for micro-processor 113 and code for performing functions associated with the handheld wireless communications device 100.

The radio frequency communications unit 102 is a combined receiver and transmitter having a common antenna 107. The communications unit 102 has a transceiver 108 coupled to antenna 107 via a radio frequency amplifier 109. The transceiver 108 is also coupled to a combined modulator/demodulator 110 that couples the communications unit 102 to the processor 103.

Referring to Fig 2 there is illustrated a symbol entry mode displayed on the display screen 105 of the electronic device (handheld wireless communications device 100) . The symbol entry mode displays groups of indicia 160,161, 162, 163 and 164 on the display screen 105. Each one of the groups of indicia is displayed such that they have a visually distinctive representation compared to all other groups. For instance, one of the groups 161 comprises symbols including numbers 0 to 9, that are displayed in a visually distinctive representation compared to all other groups 160,162,163 and 164. Another of the groups 162 comprises symbols { } [ ] \ / + = ( ) _ that are displayed in a visually distinctive representation compared to all other groups 160,161,163 and 164. Similarly, another of the groups 163 comprises symbols $ | % * Y "" & # ~ - < > that are displayed in a visually distinctive representation compared to all other groups 160,161,162 and 164. Another of the groups 164 comprises symbols in the form of punctuation marks ! , . ; that are displayed in a visually distinctive representation compared to all other groups 160,161,162 and 163. Finally, group 160 comprises text entry mode selection indicated by indicia ^v"abc'' or edit mode indicated by indicia ^{^}EDIT¹¹ that are displayed in visually distinctive representation compared to all other groups 161,162,163 and 164.

As illustrated, the set of user interface keys 106 includes a down key 150, an up key 151, a left key 152, a right key 153 and an enter or ^{^}OK¹¹ key 154. The user interface keys 106 are depicted in a manner that uniquely associates each one of the set of user interface keys 150 to 154 with a respective one of the groups of indicia 160 to 164. For instance, key 150 is associated to select the group of indicia 160, key 151 is associated to select the group of indicia 161, key 152 is associated to select the group of indicia 162, key 153 is associated to select the group of indicia 163 and key 154 is associated to select the group of indicia 164.

The display screen 105 also has an input entry region

158 that can display commands or indicia selected by actuation of one of the keys 150 to 154. In this embodiment, the auxiliary keys 130 comprise a power key for switching the device 100 on or off and a send key for sending, answering and terminating telephone calls.

Referring to Fig 3 there is illustrated a method 300 for entering a character or characters into the electronic device (handheld wireless communications device 100) . The method 300 is invoked at a start step 310 by a user actuating the down key 150, that forms part of the set of user interface keys 106. In this regard, the down key 150 is actuated when the device 100 is in the symbol entry mode of Fig. 2, wherein the down key 150 is actuated (pressed) for more than 1 second. Hence, the highlighted

(distinctively displayed) indicia ^{^}abc" is selected that means select text or character entry mode. However, if the down key 150 is pressed for less than 1 second then the non-highlighted indicia § EDIT§ is selected then an edit mode is performed.

In text or character entry mode, the display screen 105, displays groups of characters as illustrated in Fig.

4. Accordingly, after the method 300 is invoked, at start step 310, there is provided a displaying step 320 for displaying groups of characters 170, 171, 172,173 and 174 on the display screen 105. Each one of the groups 170-174 is displayed such that they have a visually distinctive representation compared to all other groups. For instance, the visually distinctive representation could be grey scale shading, specific colours, specific patterns or shapes.

Furtheremore, each one of the groups 170-174 has one member of the group displayed in a distinctive manner compared to the rest of the members of that group (e.g. "^{^}S¹¹ for group

174; symbol ^v"<-§ for group 172; and symbol § ->^■£ for group 173 etc)

After the displaying step 320 a selecting step 330 provides for selecting a chosen group from one of the groups in response to actuation of one of the set of user interface keys 150 to 154, each of the interface keys 150 to 154 being depicted in a manner that uniquely associates each one of the set of user interface keys 150 to 154 with a respective one of the groups of characters 170-174. The interface keys 150 to 154 are depicted so that, they have an identical colour, pattern, shading or shape to that of an associated one of the groups of characters 170-174. If for example, key 154 is actuated then the chosen group selected is group 174. This group 174 comprises the characters j m p s k n q t l o r and u.

After the step of selecting 330 a key-press test step 335 determines if the key (e.g. key 154) that was actuated (pressed) for less than a time threshold value TimeTHV of 1 second. If the key 154 was actuated continuously for a time equal to or greater than time threshold value TimeTHV of 1 second then a distinctively displayed character (e.g ""S¹' for key 154; symbol ""<-§ for key 152; and symbol g - >•' for key 153 etc) is selected from the chosen group of characters 174 at a selecting step 340. However, if the key 154 was actuated for a time less than time threshold value TimeTHV of 1 second then test step 345 is performed for determining if the number of characters forming the chosen group is less than a Key Threshold Value KeyTHV. For this preferred embodiment there are five keys 150 to 154 forming the set of User Interface Keys 106, therefore the Key Threshold Value KeyTHV in this embodiment is 5. Accordingly, as will be apparent to a person skilled in the art, the Key Threshold Value KeyTHV is equal to the number of keys comprising the User Interface Keys 106. From the above, it will be apparent that the selecting step 330 provides for selecting one member (e.g. character ^{^}s¹') of the group displayed in a distinctive manner when the actuation of one of a set of user interface keys 106 is actuated for a first time duration compared to the time threshold value TimeTHV, and the complete group (e.g. group 174) is selected when the actuation of one of a set of user interface keys is actuated for a second time duration compared to the time threshold value TimeTHV.

If at the test step 345 the number of characters forming the chosen group is more than or equal to the Threshold Value KeyTHV then the method 300 returns to repeat the displaying step 320 and groups of characters 180, 181, 182,183 and 184 are displayed on the display screen 105 as illustrated in Fig. 5. Each one of the groups 180 to 184 is displayed such that they have a visually distinctive representation compared to all other groups. After step 320 is repeated the other above steps are also repeated as necessary. If at the repeated selecting step 330 key 154 is actuated for less than the time threshold value TimeTHV of 1 second then the chosen group selected will be group 184. This group 184 comprises the characters s t and u. However, if key 154 is actuated continuously for a period equal to or greater the time threshold value TimeTHV of 1 second then the distinctively displayed character character ^*"vt^M is selectected.

If at the test step 345 the number of characters forming the chosen group is less than the Threshold Value

KeyTHV then the method performs a step of displaying 350 proving for displaying individual characters from the chosen group (for example group 184) on the display screen

105, each of the characters being displayed such that they have a visually distinctive representation compared to all other characters from the chosen group. This is illustrated in Fig 6 and the visually distinctive representation could again typically be grey scale shading, specific colours, specific patterns or shapes.

Next, a step of selecting 360 provides for further selecting a chosen character in response to actuation of one of the set of user interface keys 150 to 154. Again, the interface keys are depicted in a manner that uniquely associates each one of the set of user interface keys 150 to 154 with a respective one of the individual characters 192, 193 and 194. The interface keys 152 to 154 are againg depicted so that, they have an identical colour, pattern, shading or shape to that of an associated one of groups the characters. For instance, if a user actuates Key 152 then character ^{^}m" (192) is selected; actuation of key 153 selects character ^{^}o'^• (193) and actuation of key 154 selects character ^{^}n'' (194) .

After performing either steps 340 or 360 then a completed entering step 370 determines by actuation of the send key 130, or by any other means apparent to a person skilled in the art, if a user has completed entering characters. If no more entering is required then the user actuates key 150 for a time equal to or greater than time threshold value TimeTHV of 1 second. Alternatively, if key 150 is not actuacted, or actuated for less than 1 second, then more entries are deemed to be required and the method 300 returns to step 320. Hence, the method 300 is repeated to provide a character string comprising the chosen character plus other chosen characters sequentially selected at the step of selecting 360, the chosen characters being displayed in the input entry region 158. Any character (number, symbol or letter) selected by the method 300 is displayed in the input entry region 158 and text or character strings displayed in this region 158 can be edited by use of the group of interface keys 106 as described below.

. If no more entering is required at step 370 then a processing step 380 provides for either allowing editing of the chosen characters or character strings that are displayed in the input entry region 158 that is essentially a text display area; or storing the chosen characters in the static memory 116 or SIM card inserted into the SIM interface 118; or sending the chosen characters in a message by actuation of the send key comprising one of the auxiliary keys 130; or dialling a telephone number comprising the numbers in the character string by actuation of the send key.

In addition to the above, keys 150 and 151 can be actuated for stepping back to a previous displaying step displaying groups of characters or for returning to the symbol entry mode of Fig. 2.

After the processing step 380 the method terminates at an end step 390 and the symbol entry mode of Fig. 2 results. As previously stated, when in symbol entry mode if the down key 150 is pressed for less than 1 second then the non-highlighted indicia § EDIT§ is selected then an edit mode is performed. This edit mode is illustrated in Fig. 7 and actuation of the set of user interface keys 106 selects functions in a similar manner to selecting groups of characters or a chosen character as described above. For example, if key 154 is actuated then the group of functions comprising ^{^}"select¹', ^vvcut" , ^{v^}copy'', ^vvpaste" and ^{^}delete'¹ is selected.

The detailed description provides preferred exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention. Rather, the detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments provides those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention. It should be understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. For instance, although alphanumeric text has been described, ideographic or Asian characters can be input in a similar fashion. One example is pinyin based Chinese character entry.

Claims

WE CLAIM:

1. A method for entering a character into an electronic device, the method including: displaying groups of characters on a display screen of the device, each one of the groups being displayed such that they have a visually distinctive representation compared to all other said groups; selecting a chosen group from one of said groups in response to actuation of one of a set of user interface keys, each of said interface keys being depicted in a manner that uniquely associates each one of the set of user interface keys with a respective one of said groups of characters; displaying individual characters from the chosen group on the display screen of the device, each of said individual characters being displayed such that they have a visually distinctive representation compared to all other said individual characters from the chosen group; and selecting a chosen character in response to actuation of one of the set of user interface keys, said interface keys being depicted in a manner that uniquely associates each one of the set of user interface keys with a respective one of said individual characters.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method is repeated to provide a character string comprising the chosen character plus other chosen characters sequentially selected at the step of selecting a chosen character.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the displaying a chosen group and selecting a chosen group are repeated until the number of characters forming the chosen group is less than a Key Threshold Value.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the Key- Threshold Value is equal to the number of keys comprising the user interface keys.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the displaying groups is further characterised by the visually distinctive representation for each of the groups being a specific colour.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the selecting a chosen group is further characterised by each of said interface keys being depicted by the specific colour of an associated one of the groups of characters.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the displaying groups is characterised by each one of the groups having one member of the group displayed in a distinctive manner compared to the rest of the members of that group.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the selecting a chosen group includes selecting the one member of the group displayed in a distinctive manner when the actuation of one of a set of user interface keys is actuated for a first time duration compared to a time threshold value, and the complete group is selected when the actuation of one of a set of user interface keys is actuated for a second time duration compared to the time threshold value.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the displaying individual characters is further characterised by the visually distinctive representation for each of the groups being a specific colour.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the selecting individual characters is further characterised by each of said interface keys being depicted by the specific colour of an associated one of the groups of characters.

11. A method as claimed in claim 2, the method including the further step of processing the character string.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processing is characterised by inserting the character string in a display area of the display screen.

13. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processing is characterised by dialling a telephone number comprising the character string.