Alphanumeric data input system and method

Abstract

An alphanumeric data input system, and related method, comprising a 3x4 alphanumeric keypad of keys, a display, and a program controlling the operation of these components. The keys represent digits from '0' to '9' and '*' and '#' signs respectively and the keys for digits from '2' to '9' also represent the letters of alphabet sequentially in respective groups of three to four letters. At least one of the keys upon pressing will cause the display to display the letters of the associated group in both lowercase and uppercase and the associated number together in the form of a grid of locations corresponding in position to the keys of the keypad. Subsequent pressing of one of the keys corresponding to the location at which a desired character is displayed will result in input of that character. Pressing of the keys representing the initial string of a word will enable matching through the database for a word sharing the same initial string and then displaying of the word in its root form on the display. Subsequent pressing of one or more of the keys representing a respective suffix available from the database will result in addition of the suffix to the root word and thus input of the complete word.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a system and method for entering (and retrieving) alphanumeric data. Background technique [0002] A standard 3x4 alphanumeric keypad, such as that used on mobile phones, has twelve keys, ten representing the digits "0" through "9" and one for the asterisk The key for "*" and another key for the number sign "#" (Figure 1). Due to the limited number of keys, it is impossible to map every letter of the alphabet to a specific key. Therefore, the number keys "2" to "9" are also used to represent the letters "a" to "z" respectively, they are sequentially divided into eight groups, each group has three to four letters, in the alphanumeric mode can be pressed multiple times These letters are retrieved. [0003] In order to type a particular letter, the relevant key will have to be pressed more than once before the desired letter is obtained, with the last press indicating the corresponding number. This standard multi-tap m...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0006] Another disadvantage is that when you need to type complete long words such as "illumination" and "approximately", you may actually have to determine it based on the first few letters you start typing

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