Cellular communications systems continue to grow in popularity and have become an integral part of both personal and business communications. Cellular phones allow users to place and receive voice calls most anywhere they travel. Moreover, as cellular telephone technology has increased, so too has the functionality of cellular devices. For example, many cellular devices now incorporate personal digital assistant (PDA) features such as calendars, address books, task lists, etc. Moreover, such multi-function devices may also allow users to wirelessly send and receive electronic mail (email) messages and access the Internet via a cellular network.
Even so, as the functionality of cellular communications devices continues to increase, so too does the demand for smaller devices which are easier for users to carry. As a result, some cellular communications devices which also provide email or text messaging features do not have enough space to provide a full keypad with all of the traditional QWERTY keys. As a result, such devices typically utilize shared or multi-symbol keys, some of which are used to enter multiple letters, numbers, and/or punctuation symbols, for example. Of course, this makes it more challenging for users to enter desired symbols, as pressing a multi-symbol key may cause the device to display one of the other symbols shared by that key instead of the desired symbol.
Various approaches are therefore used to facilitate typing with multi-symbol keys. One approach is to enable multi-tap typing, where pressing a key a certain number of times enters the corresponding symbol on the key (e.g., pressing a key twice enters the second symbol on the key). While this makes it easier for a user to select the desired symbol, it may still be somewhat cumbersome in that it may require a user to press the keys many times to type relatively few letters.
Another approach to facilitate word entry with multi-symbol keys is predictive word entry. That is, a software module run by the wireless device's processor attempts to predict the particular word or phrase the user is trying to type based upon the combination of keys that are pressed or actuated. An example of a cellular telephone device including a predictive text editor application is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,170 to Williams et al. This device includes a display, a keypad having a plurality of keys each associated with several letters, and a processor controlling the display in accordance with the operation of the keypad. The processor runs a predictive editor program for generating an output including a word matching a received string of ambiguous key strokes. While the predictive editor program is active, pressing the “1” key on the phone will allow a “smart” insertion of punctuation. That is, the predictive editor program tries to predict, based on the situation, which commonly used punctuation mark is intended. These may include the period, comma, question mark, exclamation point, and apostrophe. The default value will most often suggest a period, if no other matches seem appropriate. A match function is performed by pressing the “*” key, which allows the user to toggle through a list of symbol choices which may include a period, comma, etc. Despite the advantages provided by such devices, further predictive typing/editing functionality may be desirable in certain applications.