In case that an error occurs while inputting a character (referred to as all forms of characters that can be inputted, including English, Korean, numbers, special characters and the like) on a PC or a mobile device, a conventional method for revising an error is to delete all the characters, which were inputted after an erroneous character, by using a delete function key like Backspace, and then input a correct character, or move a cursor to the erroneous character by using a mouse (for a PC) or a finger touch (for a mobile device), and then delete the erroneous character, and then input a correct character so that the error is revised.
However, the method for revising an error by using a delete function key such as Backspace and the like has a problem in that not only an erroneous character but also other characters normally inputted between the erroneous character and a current cursor position are all deleted. Also, the method for moving a cursor to an erroneous character by using a mouse has the problem in that it requires a user to take a hand off the keyboard and use the mouse to move the cursor to a desired position, and then perform the action of revising the error and moving the cursor to its previous position again; so, the actions are troublesome and time-consuming. The same is true for a case of moving a cursor by means of a finger touch. In the case that a device has a small-sized touch screen such as a mobile device, it is necessary to move the cursor to a desired position by means of a finger touch within a small screen, so it is more difficult and troublesome to move the cursor to a precise position.
To solve the problems above, there is a method for revising an error, what is called an automatic revising function. This function has already been commercialized and mounted on various mobile devices, wherein, when a user inputs a word A and if it is decided that the word A is an error, the word A is automatically revised into word B. Word B, which is automatically revised and inputted, is not something that is directly inputted by a user, but something that has been already inputted in a library.
As such, since the conventional automatic revising function sets an input word for revision, not a word that a user inputs with an intention of revising, but a word that a system presumes that a user might have inputted, if the accuracy of such presumption is low, there is a problem in that a wrong word that a user never intended to input is actually inputted. This is partially based on which there is a limit to words registered to the library. Since users frequently use newly coined words or abbreviations on a current PC or a mobile device, unless the library is frequently updated, a problem caused by the limit to the library can occur more frequently. For that reason, although the automatic revising function is mounted on devices, many users turn off the function, thereby inputting characters without the function working.
To address such problems of the conventional automatic revising function, this inventor has invented a completely new method for revising an error. In the new method for revising an error designed by this inventor, when a user inputs a new character string and gives a command of revision, the new, inputted character string is recognized as a desired character string for the revision that the user desires, the new character string is compared with already inputted character strings, and it is decided that a character string having a high correlation with the new character string among the already inputted character strings is a candidate character string to be revised, thereby being replaced with the new character string. In addition to the method in which a user gives a direct command of revision, a method in which a system automatically figures out a user's intention of revising is also possible. Such new method for revising an error is registered to Korea Patent Registration No. 10-1294558.
In the above new method for revising an error, since a wrongly inputted character string is replaced with a new character string that a user newly inputs with an intention of revising, it is possible to provide an error revising function that suits a user's intention in comparison with the conventional automatic revising function. Since the method for revising an error operates in such a way that a correlation between a desired character string for revision that a user newly inputs with an intention of revising and an already inputted character strings is decided so as to replace a character string having a high correlation, the accuracy of the error revising function is determined according to the accuracy of deciding a correlation between character strings.
As provided in the specification of Korea Patent Registration No. 10-1294558, as a method for deciding a correlation, in the conventional automatic revising function, it is possible to use a conventional method for deciding a correlation between a word that a user actually inputs and a word in a library, for example, a method for deciding a correlation based on characters adjacent to each other on a keyboard or characters of which input orders are reversed. However, such conventional method fails to carry out the quantification of correlation decisions, when comprehensively considering various typing errors that can be caused by a user. Also, error typing habits, which are different among users, are not considered in a quantitatively accurate way when deciding a correlation. Moreover, according to the method for revising an error of Korea Patent Registration No. 10-1294558, a new function, in which a word including an already inputted error is not inputted as a whole, only an erroneous character string is replaced with a correct character string, is implemented, the conventional method for deciding a correlation does not consider the particularity of deciding a correlation between partial character strings.
Therefore, there is a need for a new method for deciding a correlation in order to more accurately implement the method for revising an error of Korea Patent Registration No. 10-1294558.