The invention generally relates to a text input method for an electronic device, and even more particularly, relates to a method for entering an Internet address into an electronic device with limited text entry capabilities.
As more handheld electronic devices, such as wireless telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), are able to browse the Internet, the need to enter a specific Internet address, such as a Universal Resource Locator (URL), on these devices becomes more common. Typically, the text input methods for handheld devices are inefficient. For example, a wireless telephone typically includes a keypad rather than a keyboard. Keypads are designed first and foremost for entering numerals, such as the numerals of a telephone number. Entering letters into a wireless telephone using a keypad is a slow and awkward process because the keypad may have to be selected numerous times to enter a single letter. For example, to enter the letter “c”, the “2” button on the keypad is selected three times. Moreover, even if one of these handheld electronic devices includes a keyboard, the size limitations of the handheld device require that the keyboard have small keys that make the keyboard difficult to use.
Most web browsers for handheld devices do not focus on entering URLs because the text input is so difficult. Instead, users are encouraged to stay within a preset list of links that are provided by default. When a link from the preset list is selected, only navigation is necessary and text input is avoided. However, as more people use handheld devices to browse the Internet, the preset list of links is not enough to satisfy all users. These users often try to enter new URLs to get to the websites they want to view and encounter the input deficiencies described above.
Thus, there is a need for an improved method and system for entering text, such as a URL, into an electronic device with limited text entry capabilities.
In one embodiment, the present invention attempts to aid a user in entering text, such as a URL, into a handheld device by matching the entered text to previously visited URLs and displaying these URLs in a list. The entered text may also be matched to any stored list of URLs or text. Typically, the matching searches for any instances of the entered text no matter the location of the entered text in the matched string. For example, if the entered text is “ample”, then the URL “www.example.com” may be returned even though it begins with “www” and even though the string “example” begins with “ex”. In other words, in one embodiment of the invention, if the entered text is found anywhere in a searched URL, then that URL is returned as a possible match.
If one of the listed URLs is the URL desired by the user, then the user may select that URL and navigate a web browser to the URL without entering any more text. In some embodiments, the invention also automatically adds a prefix and suffix to the text entered by the user and displays the combined text as one of the URLs in the list. These features significantly reduce the difficulty of entering URLs, especially on a device with limited input capabilities, while also allowing users the freedom to browse to the Internet addresses they want to view.
When entering a URL into a web browser using an embodiment of the present invention, a user begins by entering text by some means, such as keyboard 32 (
These and other features, advantages, and aspects of the present invention may be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the disclosed embodiments and by reference to the appended drawings and claims.
An embodiment of the present invention is incorporated into a web browser program module that is used in conjunction with a handheld electronic device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA). The invention may also be incorporated into a web browser program module for use in conjunction with a wireless telephone such as a cellular telephone or a personal communications service (PCS) telephone. In other embodiments, the invention may be incorporated into a web browser for use on any type of computing device such as a personal computer, workstation, etc. embodiments, the invention may be incorporated into a web browser for use on any type of computing device such as a personal computer, workstation, etc.
In one embodiment of the invention, when a user begins entering a Universal Resource Locator (URL) into the web browser, the end user is provided with a list of URLs. The list of URLs is provided by analyzing the entered characters and displaying the URLs that the user is most likely attempting to enter. Typically, a history folder or a memory cache is searched to find URLs that match the text entered by the user. The user may then select one of the displayed URLs or continue entering characters.
In some embodiments, the present invention automatically adds a suffix and/or a prefix to the text the user is entering and displays the combined text as one of the options in the list of URLs. For example, the invention may automatically add a “www.” and a “.com” to the text the user is entering and display this combined text as one of the options so that the user does not have to enter the suffix and prefix. Thus, many of the awkward acts associated with current methods of entering text using a handheld electronic device may be avoided because the user typically only has to enter a few characters before selecting the URL that is desired.
Having briefly described the present invention, an exemplary operating environment for the invention will be described in reference to
Exemplary Operating Environment
Although not required, the invention will be described in the context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computing device. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types.
With reference to
One or more application programs 66 are loaded into memory 62 and run on the operating system 64. Examples of applications include e-mail programs, scheduling programs, PIM (personal information management) programs, word processing programs, spreadsheet programs and so forth. Another example of an application program 66 is a web browser program module such as the “POCKET INTERNET EXPLORER” web browser from Microsoft Corporation or another web browser.
The handheld computing device 20 also has a notification manager 68, loaded in memory 62, which executes on the processor 60. The notification manager 68 handles notification requests from the applications 66.
The handheld computing device 20 has a power supply 70, which is implemented as one or more batteries. The power supply 70 might further include an external power source that overrides or recharges the built-in batteries, such as an AC adapter or a powered docking cradle.
The handheld computing device 20 is also shown with three types of external notification mechanisms: an LED 40, a vibration device 72, and an audio generator 74. These devices are directly coupled to the power supply 70 so that when activated they remain on for a duration dictated by the notification mechanism even though the processor and other components might shut down to conserve battery power. The LED 40 preferably remains on indefinitely until the user takes action. The current versions of the vibration device 72 and audio generator 74 use too much power for today's handheld computing device's batteries, and so they are configured to turn off when the rest of the system does or at some finite duration after activation.
The handheld computing device 20 may also include a transmitter (not shown) and a receiver (not shown) for communicating with a wireless network such as a PCS or cellular network. The transmitter is used to convert speech, text or other data into electrical impulses for transmission. The receiver is used to receive transmission signals and reproduce them in their original form (audio, video, etc.). The handheld computing device 20 may also include a wireless modem (not shown) well-known to those skilled in the art so that the device 20 may be used to view and interact with the content of a global computer network such as the Internet.
Intelligent Text Entry Mechanism
In one embodiment, the present invention attempts to aid a user in entering text, such as a URL, into a handheld device by matching the entered text to previously visited URLs and displaying these URLs in a list. If one of the listed URLs is the URL desired by the user, then the user may select that URL and navigate a web browser to the URL without entering any more text. In some embodiments, the invention also automatically adds a prefix and suffix to the text entered by the user and displays the combined text as one of the URLs in the list. These features significantly reduce the difficulty of entering URLs, especially on a device with limited input capabilities, while also allowing users the freedom to browse to the Internet addresses they want to view.
When entering a URL into a web browser using an embodiment of the present invention, a user begins by entering text by some means, such as keyboard 32 (
The first option allows the user to enter text until the list of matches (provided by options 3 and 4) is thinned out, or until the desired URL is fully entered and is used for browsing (option 2).
The third option allows the browser to add one or more prefix and suffix combinations to any single word entry (a single word is considered the text until a period is entered) and provide them at the top of the list of matches to the user. For example, consider a user that wants to browse to the URL “www.foo.com”. If the browser is being used in North America, the prefix “www” and the suffix “com” are very common in North America and the browser may be configured to provide those by default. Thus, the user simply needs to enter the text “foo” into the web browser and the item “www.foo.com” will be added at the top of the list of URLs that match the word “foo”. The user may then select this URL from the list and the web browser will navigate to the address “www.foo.com”.
The fourth option allows the user to select the desired URL from a list of possible matches for the current text based on URLs that have been visited before. This option is provided because selection from a list is much easier than text entry, especially when dealing with lengthy URLs and an inefficient text input method. As an example of the fourth option, consider again the user that wants to browse to the URL “www.foo.com”. If the user has previously visited this address, then simply typing in “f” will match to the “foo” part of the URL (saved in the history folder) and the URL will be returned as an item in the list. If there are many matches, the user can cull the list by typing in more letters to make the matches more accurate. If the user sees the desired URL in the list, then the user may select the desired URL and the web browser will navigate to that URL.
In a preferred embodiment, the options described above may be presented to the user in a “Go to . . . ” menu as described below.
“Go to . . . ” menu
Referring now to
The “Go to . . . ” menu also includes a list 210 of site matches that may be automatically displayed to the user. Alternatively, the list 210 may be displayed in response to the user selecting to open the list 210 such as by selecting a button, a tab, an arrow, etc. To generate the list 210, the text 215 that the user is entering is matched to pages in a history list/folder, the cache of the device, the most recently entered links or another stored list of Internet addresses. Potential matches are displayed in the list 210. The user may select one of the potential matches in the list 210 by scrolling through the list and pressing a key, button or control to navigate to a link and the web browser will navigate to the selected site.
In a preferred embodiment, input focus remains in the address field 205, even when an item in the list 210 is highlighted. Thus, if a user begins typing while focus is in the list 210, the focus will return to the address field and the characters will be added to the text 215 in the address field.
If the user only types one word into the address field 205, then the first entry in the potential match list will be that word with a prefix and a suffix (such as www. and .com) surrounding it. For example, as illustrated in
The last entry in the list 210 may be a “View History” option 220. This option is typically shown even if there are no other entries in the list. Selecting this option displays a history screen showing all links in the user's history list sorted chronologically. The user may then select one of the URLs from the history list and the web browser will navigate to that URL.
Referring now to
The method 300 begins at step 305 when the user begins entering text for a URL and the text is received by the application program 66. At decision step 310, it is determined whether the text is a single word. In a preferred embodiment, a single word is considered the text until a period is entered. If the text is a single word, i.e., no period has been entered yet, then the method proceeds to step 315. At step 315, an item in the list 210 is provided corresponding to the single word with an automatic prefix and suffix added to it. The method then proceeds to decision step 320.
At decision step 320, it is determined whether the text matches any previous addresses entered in the web browser. The previous addresses may include addresses of any previously viewed URLs in the browser's history list/folder, cache, or recently entered addresses. Of course, in alternative embodiments, the text may be matched against any stored list of addresses. For example, a stored list of addresses may be included with the web browser and the text may be matched against this list (even if the user has never visited that address). If the text matches any previous addresses, then the method proceeds to step 325 where the list of matches is presented to the user in the list 210 (
At decision step 330, it is determined whether the URL is complete, in other words, whether the user is ready to navigate to the URL in the address list 205 (
If the URL is not complete, then the method proceeds to decision step 340 where it is determined whether the user has selected one of the URLs in the list 210. If so, then the method proceeds to step 345 and the web browser navigates to the selected URL.
If the user does not select one of the URLs in the list 210, then the method returns to step 305 to wait for the user to enter more text of the URL.
Referring now to
In
Also note that, as illustrated in
However, in a preferred embodiment of the invention, the search for possible matches returns any matches to the string typed into the address field. A match may include any previously visited addresses that include the string typed into the address field without regard to where in the address the text appears. For example, suppose the user enters the string “ample” into the address field. Then, the search would return the address “www.example.com” if that address is in the history list or any of the other memory locations searched. All addresses that are searched that include the entered string in their address would be returned. In a preferred embodiment, the addresses are displayed in alphabetical order. Of course, a hierarchical approach to displaying the results may be used so that the result the user expects most is listed before others. For example, if the user enters the string “ample” into the address field, then the address “www.amplemoney.com” from the history list would be listed above the address “www.example.com” because it is more likely the user is attempting to enter the “www.amplemoney.com” address. Other similar well-known heuristics may be used to categorize and organize the search results in a manner that the user expects.
Referring now to
Referring now to
It should be understood that although the present invention has been described in reference to mobile electronic devices with limited text entry capabilities, the present invention may also be implemented in other environments as will be understood by those skilled in the art. It should be understood that the present invention may be incorporated into any web browser program module. For example, the present invention may be incorporated into a web browser program module for a desktop personal computer.
It should also be understood that the present invention may be extended to entering other text besides URLs. For example, the text entered by the user may be compared to text in a dictionary to provide the user with a list of possible text the user is attempting to enter.
It should be understood that the foregoing pertains only to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and that numerous changes may be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/269,432, filed Feb. 16, 2001.
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