METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING HINDI INPUT TO A DEVICE USING A NUMERIC KEYPAD

A method is disclosed for operating a device having a numeric keypad to provide intelligent text input for Indian scripts, such as Hindi. In this method predetermined number keys, such as 2 and 3, are reserved for vowels. These keys produce either independent vowels or dependent vowels (matras) depending on the character preceding the text buffer insertion point. If the character preceding the insertion point is a consonant, keys 2 and 3 produce dependent vowels, in all other cases these keys produce independent vowels. If the user wishes to change the dependent vowel into an independent vowel, the user can do this by pressing a context switch key, such as *, and the dependent vowel in sequence. As a result, the vowel is inserted as an independent vowel, thereby overriding the context into which the vowel is being entered. Other number keys, in the preferred embodiment 4,5,6,7,8 and 9, are reserved for consonants. If the user presses any of these keys, a consonant is inserted into the display. If the user wishes to create a consonant cluster, the user can do this by pressing the * key and one of the consonant keys in sequence.