Transient Panel Enabling Message Correction Capabilities Prior to Data Submission

Abstract

A programmable device such as a smart phone allows a user an opportunity to make final corrections to textual data in a message after the user has instructed the device to send the message, but before transmittal of the message. The opportunity is temporary, to avoid impeding the flow of communication, and the textual data is transmitted unmodified if the opportunity to modify it is not accepted. Modifications made during the opportunity period may be used to adapt an autocorrect functionality of the programmable device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A program storage device, on which are stored instructions for causing one or more programmable control devices to:
 receive an instruction to transmit a textual data;   offer an opportunity through a user interface to modify the textual data after receiving the instruction and prior to transmitting the textual data;   transmit the textual data unmodified if the opportunity is not accepted;   modify the textual data responsive to received instructions if the opportunity is accepted, producing a modified textual data; and   transmit the modified textual data.   
     
     
         2 . The program storage device of  claim 1 , on which are further stored instructions for causing one or more programmable control devices to:
 receive the textual data in a textual input area of the user interface; and   autocorrect the textual data.   
     
     
         3 . The program storage device of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions for causing one or more programmable control devices to receive an instruction to transmit a textual data comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 transmit the textual data as a short message service message.   
     
     
         4 . The program storage device of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to modify the textual data responsive to received instructions comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 display at least a part of the textual data;   indicate a word in the textual data for possible correction;   suggest one or more alternatives to the word; and   modify the word in the textual data responsive to the received instructions.   
     
     
         5 . The program storage device of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to offer an opportunity to modify the textual data after receiving the instruction and prior to transmitting the textual data comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 offer the opportunity temporarily.   
     
     
         6 . The program storage device of  claim 5 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to offer an opportunity to modify the textual data after receiving the instruction and prior to transmitting the textual data further comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 remove the opportunity from the user interface after a predetermined time.   
     
     
         7 . The program storage device of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions for causing one or more programmable control devices to modify the textual data comprise instructions for causing one or more programmable control devices to:
 adapt an autocorrect functionality of the programmable control device responsive to modifications made to the textual data.   
     
     
         8 . A program storage device, on which are stored instructions for causing one or more programmable control devices to:
 receive textual data in a textual input area of a user interface;   autocorrect the textual data, generating an autocorrected textual data;   receive an instruction to transmit the autocorrected textual data;   offer a temporary opportunity to modify the autocorrected textual data after receiving the instruction to transmit and prior to transmitting the autocorrected textual data;   transmit the autocorrected textual data unmodified if the opportunity is not accepted;   modify the autocorrected textual data responsive to received instructions if the opportunity is accepted, producing a modified textual data; and   transmit the modified textual data.   
     
     
         9 . The program storage device of  claim 8 , on which are further stored instructions for causing one or more programmable control devices to:
 adapt an autocorrect dictionary responsive to modifications made to the textual data after accepting the opportunity.   
     
     
         10 . The program storage device of  claim 8 , on which are further stored instructions for causing one or more programmable control devices to:
 adapt a dictionary responsive to modifications made to the autocorrected textual data after accepting the opportunity,   wherein the dictionary is separate from an autocorrect dictionary.   
     
     
         11 . The program storage device of  claim 8 , on which are further stored instructions for causing one or more programmable control devices to:
 determine a number of words of the textual data not contained in an autocorrect dictionary,   wherein the temporary opportunity to modify the autocorrected textual data is offered only if the number exceeds a predetermined threshold value.   
     
     
         12 . A programmable device, comprising:
 one or more programmable control devices; and   a program storage device, coupled to the one or more programmable control devices, on which are stored instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:   offer a temporary opportunity to modify a textual data after receiving and before performing an instruction to transmit the textual data;   transmit the textual data unmodified if the opportunity is not accepted;   modify the textual data if the opportunity is accepted, producing a modified textual data; and   transmit the modified textual data.   
     
     
         13 . The programmable device of  claim 12 , wherein some of the instructions stored on the program storage device are executed by a first programmable control device of the one or more programmable control devices and some of the instructions stored on the program storage device are executed by a second programmable control device of the one or more programmable control devices. 
     
     
         14 . The programmable device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to offer a temporary opportunity to modify a textual data comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 offer the temporary opportunity for a predetermined time; and   retract the opportunity upon expiration of the predetermined time.   
     
     
         15 . The programmable device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to offer a temporary opportunity to modify a textual data comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 offer the temporary opportunity only if at least a predetermined number of correction suggestions have been identified by an autocorrect functionality.   
     
     
         16 . The programmable device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to offer a temporary opportunity to modify a textual data comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 offer the temporary opportunity only if at least a predetermined portion of the textual data has been identified by an autocorrect functionality for possible correction.   
     
     
         17 . The programmable device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to offer a temporary opportunity to modify a textual data comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 display a user interaction element in a user interface, wherein activation of the user interaction element indicates acceptance of the opportunity.   
     
     
         18 . The programmable device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to offer a temporary opportunity to modify a textual data comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 display an indication of how long the opportunity remains available in a user interface.   
     
     
         19 . The programmable device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to modify the textual data responsive to received instructions if the opportunity is accepted comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 offer suggested corrections to the textual data.   
     
     
         20 . The programmable device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to modify the textual data responsive to received instructions if the opportunity is accepted comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 offer an opportunity to replace the textual data with a new textual data.   
     
     
         21 . The programmable device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to modify the textual data responsive to received instructions if the opportunity is accepted comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 use an autocorrect functionality to offer suggestions for corrections to the textual data.   
     
     
         22 . The programmable device of  claim 12 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to modify the textual data responsive to received instructions comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 accept or reject modifications made to the textual data.   
     
     
         23 . A method, comprising:
 receiving an instruction to send a textual data from a programmable device;   offering an opportunity to modify the textual data before performing the instruction to send the textual data;   modifying the textual data in a user interface of the programmable device responsive to received instructions if the opportunity is accepted; and   transmitting the modified textual data from the programmable device.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 ,
 wherein offering an opportunity to modify the textual data before performing the instruction to send the textual data comprises:
 offering the opportunity only for a predetermined time, and 
   wherein transmitting the textual data comprises:
 transmitting the textual data unmodified if the opportunity is not accepted within the predetermined time. 
   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the predetermined time is no more than two seconds. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24 ,
 wherein offering an opportunity to modify the textual data comprises:
 accepting an instruction to reject the opportunity, and 
   wherein transmitting the textual data comprises:
 transmitting the textual data unmodified responsive to the instruction to reject the opportunity. 
   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein modifying the textual data comprises:
 employing an autocorrect functionality of the programmable device to suggest and make modifications to the textual data.   
     
     
         28 . A programmable device, comprising:
 one or more programmable control devices;   a display, coupled to one or more of the programmable control devices; and   a program storage device, coupled to the one or more programmable control devices, on which are stored instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 receive an instruction to transmit a textual data; 
 display an opportunity to modify the textual data before performing the received instruction; 
 display suggestions for modifying the textual data if the opportunity is accepted; 
 transmit the textual data unmodified if the opportunity is not accepted within a predetermined time; 
 modify the textual data responsive to received instructions if the opportunity is accepted, producing a modified textual data; and 
 transmit the modified textual data. 
   
     
     
         29 . The programmable device of  claim 28 , wherein the instructions stored on the program storage device further comprise instructions for causing one or more of the programmable control devices to:
 indicate on the display an indication that the opportunity is expiring.   
     
     
         30 . The programmable device of  claim 28 , wherein the instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to modify the textual data responsive to received instructions comprise instructions for causing the one or more programmable control devices to:
 use an autocorrect functionality to suggest modifications to the textual data.