Character Input Using Modern Remote Control

A method, comprising:

• generating for presentation on a display screen of a television a first set of selection options, each of the selection options from the first set identifying a sub-set of symbols, the presentation providing a visual representation of spatial relationship between the first set of selection options and a first group of input options available on a physical remote control;
• receiving a first user selection for the input options presented from the first group, the first user selection identifying a particular one of the sub-set of symbols selected from the first set;
• generating for presentation a second set of selection options corresponding to the particular sub-set of symbols selected from the first set, in response to receiving the first user selection, the presentation providing a visual representation of spatial relationship between the second set of selection options related to a particular one of the sub-set of symbols and a second group of input options available on the physical remote control, wherein the second group of input options being different from the first group of input options;
• and
• receiving a second user selection for the input options presented from the second group, the second user selection interpreted to identify a select one of the symbols from the sub-set.

A television system, comprising:

• a remote control paired to a television;
• a processor within the television, the processor having circuitry for executing an application, wherein the application includes,
• a tree generator module to generate a two-level ordered tree data structure for receiving user input, a first level and a second level of the ordered tree data structure comprising a plurality of nodes, each node in the first level associated with a sub-set of symbols and each node in the second level associated with a particular symbol within the sub-set of a corresponding first level node;
• a selection option extractor module to extract first level selection options, second level selection options and corresponding symbols mapped to the first level nodes and the second level nodes, respectively;
• a first level visual mapper module to generate a visual representation of a spatial relationship between the first level selection options corresponding to the first level nodes and a first group of options available on the remote control associated with the television, wherein the visual representation identifies sub-set of symbols from the first level nodes that are mapped to each one of the first group of options;
• a second level visual mapper module to generate the visual representation of the spatial relationship between the second level selection options corresponding to the second level nodes and a second group of options available on the remote control, wherein the visual representation identifies a symbol from a sub-set of symbols for a node selected from the first level that is mapped to each one of the second group of options;
• a user input processor to present the appropriate visual representation from the first level, the second level for user selection, and to receive and interpret the user selection from the first group and the second group of options to identify a specific symbol selected by user input at the remote control;
• and
• a display screen for presenting the visual representations generated for the first level and the second level for user selection and for detecting the user selection provided using the first group and the second group of options.