Augmented list for searching large indexes

A process for searching a database of items for a specific item in the database of items, comprising:

• obtaining matches of an original sub-string using a matching technique;
• organizing the sub-string matches into sub-groups containing items from the database of items;
• associating a single available character with the sub-group of items such that a number of sub-groups is less than or equal to a number of available characters;
• for each of the sub-groups, select an item in the sub-group to represent that sub-group using the information retrieval system and based on scoring criteria;
• generate an augmented list view of items containing sub-group representations of at most each of the sub-groups where the sub-group representation for each of the sub-groups is a name of the item in the sub-group selected to represent that sub-group;
• determining whether the specific item is contained in the augmented list view;
• and
• revising the original sub-string using a pinned character from the augmented list view to generate a revised sub-string that includes the pinned character.

A method for navigating a database of items to find a specific item in the database of items that is desired by a user, comprising:

• using a portable media player having a limited input mechanism to perform the following:
• inputting an empty sub-string;
• obtaining a count of matches for the empty sub-string from a hash table;
• selecting a sub-group for processing from the matches for the empty sub-string, where there is a sub-group for each available English language character, and for each of the sub-groups performing the following actions:
• determining whether a count of items for the sub-group being processed is in the hash table;
• if the count of items for the sub-group being processed is not in the hash table, then looking up matches for an expanded sub-string and obtaining a count of the matches for the expanded sub-string using an information retrieval system, where the expanded sub-string is defined as the empty sub-string plus an additional character associated with the sub-group being processed;
• if the count of items for the sub-group being processed is in the hash table, then retrieving the count of items for the sub-group being processed from the hash table;
• selecting an item in the sub-group being processed to represent the sub-group by using the information retrieval system and based on scoring criteria;
• generating an augmented list view of items based on the empty sub-string, where each of the sub-groups are represented in the augmented list view by the item selected to represent the sub-group, and where the number of sub-groups represented in the augmented list view is less than or equal to a number of available characters;
• determining that the specific item in the database of items that is desired by the user is not shown in the augmented list view;
• pinning a character shown in the augmented list view using the limited input mechanism to obtain a pinned character;
• revising the empty sub-string based on pinned character to generate a revised sub-string, such that the revised sub-string includes the pinned character;
• and
• repeating the above process actions by substituting the revised sub-string for the empty sub-string and determining whether a count of matches for the revised sub-string is greater than a list threshold.