Predictive text

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Predictive text is an input technology designed for mobile phones. The technology allows words to be entered by a single keypress for each letter, as opposed to the multiple keypress approach used in the older generation of mobile phones. The intent is to simplify the writing of text messages, email, entries into an address book or calendar, and the like. For basic word or letter guessing systems, 'Predictive text' might also be described as 'disambiguating text entry', since such systems do not try to guess what the user intends to write in the future, only to determine what they most-likely intend to write in the present, given their past input.

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[edit] Dictionary vs. non-dictionary systems

Traditional disambiguation works by referencing a dictionary of commonly used words, though Eatoni offers a dictionary-less disambiguation system. In dictionary-based systems, as the user presses the number buttons, an algorithm searches the dictionary for a list of possible words that match the keypress combination, and offers up the most probable choice. The user can then confirm the selection and move on, or use a key to cycle through the possible combinations. To perform future predictions, disambiguation may be combined with a word completion facility.

Like a spelling dictionary, such as used in text-processing software (for example Microsoft Word) a disambiguation or predictive system may include a user database for storing entered words or phrases which are not in the pre-supplied database. When words are entered into the user database without direct user intervention, such systems are sometimes referred to as "learning" systems. Again like Microsoft Word, some disambiguation systems attempt to correct spelling, format text or perform other automatic rewrites, with the effect of either enhancing or obliterating user efforts to enter text.

[edit] History

Predictive entry of text from a telephone keypad has been known at least since the 1970s (Smith and Goodwin, 1971). Aspects of predictive text have been patented for instance by Kondraske (1985), and as a method for communicating with deaf people via phone in 1988 (Roy Feinson #4,754,474) . Predictive text was mainly used to look up names in directories over the phone, until mobile phone text messaging came into widespread use.

[edit] Example

Consider a typical phone keypad:

A standard ITU-T E.161 keypad used for text messaging.
A standard ITU-T E.161 keypad used for text messaging.

Suppose a user wishes to type 'The'. In a traditional "multi-tap" keypad entry system, it would be necessary to do the following:

Press 8 (tuv) once to select t.

Press 4 (ghi) twice to select h.

Press 3 (def) twice to select e.

Meanwhile, in a phone with predictive text, it is only necessary to:

Press 8 once to select the (tuv) group for the first character.

Press 4 once to select the (ghi) group for the second character.

Press 3 once to select the (def) group for the third character.

The system updates the display as each keypress is entered to show the most probable entry. In this case, predictive text reduced the number of button presses from 5 to 3. The effect is even greater with longer, more complex words.

A dictionary-based predictive system is based on hope that the desired word is in the dictionary. That hope may be misplaced if the word differs in any way from common usage. In particular, if the word is not spelled correctly, or typed correctly, or is slang, or is the name of a person, place, or thing. In these cases, some other mechanism must be used to enter the word.

Furthermore, the simple dictionary approach fails with agglutinative languages, where a single word doesn't necessarily represent a single semantic entity. A morphological synthesizer is needed.

[edit] Companies and products

Predictive text is developed and marketed in a variety of competing products. Such as AOL/Tegic Communications's T9; but there is also Motorola's iTap; ZiCorp's eZiText; Eatoni Ergonomic's LetterWise (character, rather than word-based prediction), WordWise (word-based prediction without a dictionary) and EQ3 (a Qwerty-like layout compatible with regular telephone keypads); Xrgomics' TenGO (a six-key reduced QWERTY keyboard system); and AdapTex (considers language, context, grammar and semantics).

iTap and eZiText can speculatively complete a word before all the letters have been typed. T9 and LetterWise do not.

[edit] Textonyms

Words produced by the same combination of keypresses are technically paragrams,[1] but in a world fond of neologisms, they're often referred to as "textonyms" (also ironically "txtonyms",) "adaptonyms", "cellodromes", or "T9onyms" (pronounced "tynonyms").[2]

One quoted example of textonyms shows that the keypresses required to produce the message "Ask the cool barmaid for nine pints of beer" could result in "Ask the book carnage for mind shots of adds". Such examples illustrate the importance of proof-reading text messages after typing them, or developing disambiguation systems with lower ambiguity.

Some "textonyms" include

  • 63 = me, of
  • 5477 = kiss, lips

According to the ispell dictionaries, some long lists of textonyms are:

  • 22737 = acres bards barer bares barfs baser bases bbses caper capes cards carer cares cases (English; 14 words)
  • 7254 = σάκη σακί ράλι πάλη ρακί σάμι ρακή ραμί ράκη σάλι σάμη σαλή πάλι (Greek; 13 words)

Such textonyms may even be adopted in regular speech, particularly by teenagers; for example, the use of "book" to mean "cool",[3] and "Zonino!" used to mean "Woohoo!".

A particularly ironic textonym is 76476633 which is the code for Smirnoff, an alcoholic beverage which shows up as 'Poisoned'.

You can search for textonyms of a word by visiting www.textonym.com.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^  Paragram - a word formed by altering a letter or group of letters in another word.

[edit] External links

[edit] Companies

[edit] Additional reference

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