Handheld electronic device with disambiguation of compound word text input

Abstract

A handheld electronic device includes a reduced QWERTY keyboard and is enabled with disambiguation software that is operable to disambiguate compound word text input. The device provides output in the form of a default output and a number of variants. The output is based largely upon the frequency, i.e., the likelihood that a user intended a particular output, but various features of the device provide additional variants that are not based solely on frequency and rather are provided by various logic structures resident on the device.

1 - 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . A method of disambiguating an input into a handheld electronic device, the method comprising:
 providing a plurality of stored language objects in the handheld electronic device;   detecting an ambiguous input;   identifying from the plurality of stored language objects a first language object corresponding to an initial portion of the ambiguous input;   identifying from the plurality of stored language objects a second language object corresponding to a second portion of the ambiguous input following the initial portion;   identifying from the plurality of stored language objects an alternate first language object corresponding to an alternate initial portion of the ambiguous input;   identifying from the plurality of stored language objects an alternate second language object corresponding to an alternate second portion of the ambiguous input following the alternate initial portion; and   outputting a solution representative of the first language object and at least a portion of the second language object and an alternate solution representative of the alternate first language object and at least a portion of the alternate second language object.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein said detecting an ambiguous input comprises detecting the initial portion followed by detecting the second portion, and further comprising, responsive to said identifying a first language object and said detecting the second portion, initiating said identifying a second language object. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising outputting the solution and the alternate solution in descending order of priority. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising identifying an additional language object corresponding to the entire ambiguous input, and outputting an additional solution representative of at least a portion of the additional language object as being of a higher priority than either of the solution and the alternate solution. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising outputting the solution and the alternate solution in descending order of priority by outputting the solution and the alternate solution in ascending order of the difference in length between the initial and second portions and the difference in length between the alternate initial and alternate second portions. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising determining that the difference in length between the initial and second portions is equal to the difference in length between the alternate initial and alternate second portions and, responsive to said determining, outputting the solution and the alternate solution in descending order of priority by obtaining at least a first frequency value of at least a first frequency object for each of the solution and the alternate solution and outputting the solution and the alternate solution in descending order of frequency value. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising obtaining as the at least a first frequency value for the solution a first frequency value of a first frequency object associated with the first language object summed with a second frequency value of a second frequency object associated with the second language object, and further comprising obtaining as the at least a first frequency value for the alternate solution an alternate first frequency value of an alternate first frequency object associated with the alternate first language object summed with an alternate second frequency value of an alternate second frequency object associated with the alternate second language object. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising determining that another portion of the ambiguous input that follows the initial portion of the ambiguous input is consistent with a suffix object from among a number of predetermined suffix objects stored in the memory, employing as the second portion of the ambiguous input the portion of the ambiguous input following the another portion, and outputting the solution to be representative of the first language object followed by the suffix object followed by the at least a portion of the second language object. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising outputting as the solution an output representative of the first language object and an initial portion of the second language object having a length equal to the length of the second portion of the ambiguous input. 
     
     
         25 . A handheld electronic device comprising:
 an input apparatus;   an output apparatus;   a processor apparatus comprising a memory having stored therein a plurality of language objects;   the processor apparatus being structured to detect an ambiguous input;   the processor apparatus being structured to identify in the memory a first language object corresponding to an initial portion of the ambiguous input, and to identify in the memory a second language object corresponding to a second portion of the ambiguous input following the initial portion;   the processor apparatus being structured to identify in the memory an alternate first language object corresponding to an alternate initial portion of the ambiguous input, and to identify in the memory an alternate second language object corresponding to an alternate second portion of the ambiguous input following the alternate initial portion; and   the processor apparatus being structured to output a solution representative of the first language object and at least a portion of the second language object and an alternate solution representative of the alternate first language object and at least a portion of the alternate second language object.   
     
     
         26 . The handheld electronic device of  claim 25 , wherein the processor apparatus is structured to output the solution and the alternate solution in descending order of priority by outputting the solution and the alternate solution in ascending order of the difference in length between the initial and second portions and the difference in length between the alternate initial and alternate second portions. 
     
     
         27 . The handheld electronic device of  claim 25 , wherein the processor apparatus is structured to determine that the difference in length between the initial and second portions is equal to the difference in length between the alternate initial and alternate second portions and, responsive to said determination, the processor apparatus is structured to output the solution and the alternate solution in descending order of priority by obtaining at least a first frequency value of at least a first frequency object for each of the solution and the alternate solution and to output the solution and the alternate solution in descending order of frequency value. 
     
     
         28 . The handheld electronic device of  claim 27 , wherein the processor apparatus is structured to obtain as the at least a first frequency value for the solution a first frequency value of a first frequency object associated with the first language object summed with a second frequency value of a second frequency object associated with the second language object, and wherein the processor apparatus is structured to obtain as the at least a first frequency value for the alternate solution an alternate first frequency value of an alternate first frequency object associated with the alternate first language object summed with an alternate second frequency value of an alternate second frequency object associated with the alternate second language object. 
     
     
         29 . The handheld electronic device of  claim 25 , wherein the processor apparatus is structured to determine that another portion of the ambiguous input that follows the initial portion of the ambiguous input corresponds with a suffix object from among a number of predetermined suffix objects stored in the memory, to employ as the second portion of the ambiguous input the portion of the ambiguous input following the another portion, and to output the solution to be representative of the first language object followed by the suffix object followed by the at least a portion of the second language object. 
     
     
         30 . The handheld electronic device of  claim 25 , wherein the processor apparatus is structured to output as the solution an output representative of the first language object and an initial portion of the second language object having a length equal to the length of the second portion of the ambiguous input.