Communication terminal and method of providing unified interface to the same

Abstract

A communication terminal and a method of providing a unified natural language interface to the same are disclosed. The method includes: determining, when text information containing many characters is created, whether the text information conforms to one of preset grammatical constraints; extracting, when the text information conforms to one of the grammatical constraints, tokens of one or more of characters from the text information, and extracting, when the text information does not conform to one of the grammatical constraints, one or more characters having an attribute probability higher than a reference probability as a token; and analyzing the extracted tokens to, determine a function to handle the extracted tokens, and executing the determined function based on the extracted tokens.

1 . A method of providing a unified interface to a communication terminal, said method operable in a control unit instructing said control unit to execute the steps of:
 determining, when text information containing many characters is created, whether the text information conforms to one of preset grammatical constraints;   extracting, when the text information conforms to one of the grammatical constraints, tokens of one or more of characters from the text information, and extracting, when the text information does not conform to one of the grammatical constraints, one or more characters having an attribute probability higher than a reference probability as a token;   analyzing the extracted tokens,   determining a function to handle the extracted tokens, and executing the determined function on the extracted tokens.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein extracting, when the text information does not conform to a grammatical constraint, one or more characters comprises:
 identifying a first attribute probability of a character in the text information and a second attribute probability of two or more consecutive characters; and   extracting, when one of the first attribute probability and second attribute probability is higher than a reference probability, at least one character whose first or second attribute probability is higher than the reference probability as a part of a token.   
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein extracting one or more characters comprises extracting consecutive digits as a token. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the grammatical constraints are matched with attribute keywords, wherein determining whether the text information conforms to one of the grammatical constraints comprises checking whether one or more consecutive characters are equal to one of the attribute keywords, and wherein extracting tokens comprises extracting, when one or more consecutive characters are equal to one of the attribute keywords, tokens at preset positions in the text information. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the function is one of a schedule entry function, a housekeeping book entry function, a phonebook search function, and a phonebook entry function. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the determined function is executed using descriptive data including creation date, creation time, and target of the text information. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein a token corresponds to date, time, currency, name, location, telephone number, or instruction for determining the function. 
   
   
       8 . A method of providing a unified interface to a communication terminal, said terminal comprising:
 a processor in communication with a memory, the memory including code which when accessed by the processor causes the processor to execute step for:
 extracting, when a communication message containing text information composed of multiple characters is created, one or more characters having an attribute probability higher than a reference probability as a token by analyzing pre-stored attribute probabilities of consecutive characters; and 
 executing a schedule entry function through rearrangement of extracted tokens. 
   
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein extracting one or more characters is performed when the text information does not conform to one of preset grammatical constraints. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein extracting one or more characters comprises:
 identifying a first attribute probability of a character in the text information and a second attribute probability of two or more consecutive characters; and   extracting, when one of the first attribute probability and second attribute probability is higher than the reference probability, at least one character whose first or second attribute probability is higher than the reference probability as a part of a token.   
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein extracting one or more characters further comprises extracting consecutive digits as a token. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein a token corresponds to date, time, currency, name, or location. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the grammatical constraints are matched with attribute keywords, wherein extracting one or more characters further comprises extracting, when one or more consecutive characters are equal to one of the attribute keywords, tokens at preset positions in the text information. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein a token corresponds to date, time, currency, name, or location. 
   
   
       15 . A method of providing a unified interface to a communication terminal comprising a processor and a memory, the processor reading instruction from said memory to execute the steps of:
 determining, when text information containing many characters is created, whether one or more consecutive characters are equal to an attribute keyword;   extracting, when one or more consecutive characters are equal to an attribute keyword, two or more consecutive characters immediately following the attribute keyword as a token; and   selecting a function to process the extracted token on the basis of the attribute keyword, and   executing the selected function using the extracted token.   
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the attribute keyword indicates an instruction to execute the function and the function is one of a phonebook search function and a phonebook entry function. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the token indicates a telephone number. 
   
   
       18 . A communication terminal comprising:
 a text information classifier determining, when text information containing many characters is created, whether the text information conforms to one of preset grammatical constraints;   a grammatical extractor extracting, when the text information conforms to one of the grammatical constraints, tokens of one or more of characters from the text information;   a non-grammatical extractor analyzing, when the text information does not conform to one of the grammatical constraints, pre-stored attribute probabilities of consecutive characters, and extracting one or more characters having an attribute probability higher than a reference probability as a token; and   a token processor analyzing the extracted tokens, determining a function to handle the extracted tokens, and   executing the determined function on the extracted tokens.   
   
   
       19 . The communication terminal of  claim 18 , further comprising a memory unit storing the grammatical constraints, first attribute probabilities of single characters, and second attribute probabilities of two or more consecutive characters, 
   
   
       20 . The communication terminal of  claim 19 , wherein the non-grammatical extractor extracts consecutive digits as a token. 
   
   
       21 . The communication terminal of  claim 19 , wherein the memory unit stores the grammatical constraints matched with attribute keywords, the text information classifier checks whether one or more consecutive characters are equal to one of the attribute keywords, and the grammatical extractor extracts, when one or more consecutive characters are equal to one of the attribute keywords, tokens at preset positions in the text information. 
   
   
       22 . The communication terminal of  claim 19 , wherein the function is one of a schedule entry function, a housekeeping book entry function, a phonebook search function, and a phonebook entry function. 
   
   
       23 . The communication terminal of  claim 19 , wherein the token processor executes the determined function using descriptive data including creation date, creation time, and target of the text information. 
   
   
       24 . The communication terminal of  claim 19 , wherein a token corresponds to date, time, currency, name, location, telephone number, or instruction. 
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprises executing a housekeeping book entry function through rearrangement of the extracted tokens. 
   
   
       26 . The terminal of  claim 18 , wherein the non-grammatical extractor extracts, when one of a first attribute probability of a character and a second attribute probability of two or more consecutive characters is higher than the reference probability, at least one character whose first or second attribute probability is higher than the reference probability as a part of a token.