Method of providing a number of search results for a handheld electronic device, and system and handheld electronic device employing the same

Abstract

A method provides search results for a handheld electronic device including an input apparatus having a plurality of input members, each of at least a portion of which have a plurality of characters assigned thereto. A type of the input apparatus is sent from the device to a server. The device receives a number of activations of a number of the input members, and sends the received number of activations to the server. The server determines a number of possible combinations of the characters based upon the received input apparatus type and the received number of activations, searches for a number of search results as a function of the number of possible combinations of the characters, and sends the number of search results to the device. The device receives the number of search results, and displays at least a portion of the number of search results.

1 - 25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . A method of providing a number of search results for a handheld electronic device, the method comprising:
 receiving, at a server, data associated with one or more input key selections at the handheld electronic device;   determining, at the server, one or more interpretations of the one or more input key selections based on the received data associated with the one or more input key selections and either a keyboard layout type associated with the handheld electronic device or a disambiguation algorithm associated with the handheld electronic device;   transmitting, by the server, one or more search results determined based on the one or more interpretations to the handheld electronic device.   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein at least one key associated with the one or more input key selections includes a plurality of characters assigned thereto, and further wherein each of the one or more interpretations has a number of characters that is equal to the number of input key selections. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 rendering a disambiguation result at the handheld electronic device before displaying the one or more search results received from the server at the handheld electronic device.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 rendering a disambiguation result from the disambiguation algorithm at the handheld electronic device;   performing the disambiguation algorithm at the server independent of the disambiguation algorithm of the handheld electronic device; and   sending the rendered disambiguation results at the handheld device to the server.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 receiving a unique identification of the handheld electronic device at the server; and   performing the determination of the one or more interpretations at the server as a function of the unique identification.   
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 modifying a keyboard of the handheld electronic device provide a different sub-type;   sending the different sub-type from the handheld electronic device to the server;   receiving the different keyboard sub-type at the server; and   determining at the server the one or more interpretations based upon the received different keyboard sub-type.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 providing, as the one or more of search results, one or more e-mail addresses responsive to a global address lookup.   
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 providing, as the one or more search results, one or more music titles responsive to a music lookup.   
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 providing, as the one or more search results, one or more users of an instant messaging server, wherein the instant messaging server is the server.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 providing, as the one or more search results, one or more keys of a user group.   
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 providing, as the one or more search results, one or more names of persons from a social networking server, wherein the social networking server is the server.   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 using as the server a web server including a web page having a drop down menu; and   receiving the one or more input key selections at the server from the drop down menu on the web page.   
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 using as the server a search engine server including a web page having an entry field; and   receiving the one or more input key selections at the server from the entry field on the web page.   
     
     
         39 . A server comprising:
 a processor;   memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, at a server, data associated with one or more input key selections at the handheld electronic device; 
 determining, at the server, one or more interpretations of the one or more input key selections based on the received data associated with the one or more input key selections and either a keyboard layout type associated with the handheld electronic device or a disambiguation algorithm associated with the handheld electronic device; 
 transmitting, by the server, one or more search results determined based on the one or more interpretations to the handheld electronic device. 
   
     
     
         40 . The server of  claim 39 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a unique identification of the handheld electronic device at the server; and   performing the determination of the one or more interpretations at the server as a function of the unique identification.   
     
     
         41 . The server of  claim 39 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 providing, as the one or more of search results, one or more of:
 e-mail addresses responsive to a global address lookup, 
 music titles responsive to a music lookup, 
 users of an instant messaging server, wherein the instant messaging server is the server, 
 keys of a user group, or 
 names of persons from a social networking server, wherein the social networking server is the server. 
   
     
     
         42 . The server of  claim 39 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 using as the server a web server including a web page having a drop down menu; and   receiving the one or more input key selections at the server from the drop down menu on the web page.   
     
     
         43 . The server of  claim 39 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 using as the server a search engine server including a web page having an entry field; and   receiving the one or more input key selections at the server from the entry field on the web page.   
     
     
         44 . A handheld electronic device, comprising:
 a processor;   memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 transmitting, to a server, data associated with one or more input key selections at the handheld electronic device and either a keyboard layout type associated with the handheld electronic device or a disambiguation algorithm associated with the handheld electronic device; 
 receiving, from the server, one or more search results determined based on the one or more input key selections and either the keyboard layout type or the disambiguation algorithm. 
   
     
     
         45 . The handheld electronic device of  claim 44 , wherein the memory further comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 transmitting, to the server, a unique identification of the handheld electronic device, wherein the one or more search results are further determined based on the unique identification.   
     
     
         46 . The handheld electronic device of  claim 44 , wherein the search results comprise one or more of:
 e-mail addresses responsive to a global address lookup,   music titles responsive to a music lookup,   users of an instant messaging server, wherein the instant messaging server is the server,   keys of a user group, or   names of persons from a social networking server, wherein the social networking server is the server.   
     
     
         47 . The handheld electronic device of  claim 44 , wherein the one or more input key selections comprise one or more selections from a drop down menu of a web page associated with the server. 
     
     
         48 . The handheld electronic device of  claim 44 , wherein the one or more input key selections are entered into an entry field of a web page associated with the server.