Spelling correction for two-way mobile communication devices

A method for performing spelling error detection and correction for a two-way mobile communication device having a display screen and a telephone-type keypad, where input characters are mapped onto the keys in a many to one fashion, said method comprising:

• storing a plurality of acceptable character strings and associated information within an on-board dictionary resident within the two-way mobile communication device;
• receiving an input character string where an end of the input character string is indicated by a termination character;
• comparing the received input character string to the acceptable character strings and providing an indication when a character string substantially matching the received input character string is not found within the on-board dictionary;
• thereafter replacing the individual characters of the received input character string for which no substantial matches were found with characters mapped to the same key of the telephone-type keypad to generate a plurality of associated character strings;
• and
• comparing the associated character strings to the acceptable character strings to identify those of the associated character strings that substantially match the acceptable character strings within the on-board dictionary.

A computer readable media including computer program code for spell checking and correcting of character strings input to a mobile device through use of keys of the mobile device, said computer readable media comprising:

• computer program code for receiving a character input, the character input uniquely identifies a character;
• computer program code for determining whether the character input is a predetermined delimiter character;
• computer program code for adding the character input to a character string only after said computer program code for determining determines that the character input is not the predetermined delimiter character;
• computer program code for performing an initial dictionary look-up for the character string when said computer program code for determining determines that the character input is the delimiter character;
• computer program code for performing character substitutions on at least one character in the character string to produce a modified character string when said computer program code for performing of the initial dictionary look-up does not locate the character string, the character substitutions being limited to other characters mapped to a common key of the keys of the mobile device;
• and
• computer program code for performing a subsequent dictionary look-up for the modified character string following said computer program code for performing of the character substitutions.

A wireless two-way interactive communication device, comprising:

• a display screen;
• a telephone-type keypad, where the characters are mapped onto the keys in a many to one fashion;
• a storage device for storing a plurality of acceptable character strings and associated information within an on-board dictionary resident within said two-way mobile communication device;
• a memory for storing program code for a processor;
• a processor coupled to said storage device and said memory, said processor operates to execute said program code stored in said memory to identify input character strings which do not correspond to at least one of the acceptable character strings in said storage device, to generate replacement character strings for said identified input character strings using replacement characters being mapped to the same key as the character in said identified input character string being replaced, and then to identify those of the replacement character strings that correspond to at least one of the acceptable character strings in said storage device, and
• wherein the identified character strings being input include only uniquely identified characters.