Abstract: A user interface (102) of a portable electronic device (100) includes a plurality of keys (112). The user interface (102) includes a first group of keys representing vowel characters (402), and a second group of keys representing consonant characters (202). The second group of keys is separate from the first group of keys. For the first group of keys, a first key represents leading vowels (422, 424, 426), a second key represents above and below vowels (428, 430), and a third key represents following vowels (432, 434, 436). The second group of keys may be subdivided into phonetic consonant groups (FIGS. 5 & 6) or alphabetic consonant groups (FIGS. 7 & 8).

Abstract: The present invention is a user interface (120) for an ideographic character input device (100) comprising three rows (148, 150, 152) of adjacent input keys. A first row (148) includes keys that represent linear character strokes, a third row (152) includes keys that represent non-linear character strokes, and the second row (154) includes keys that represent a linear character stroke, a non-linear character stroke and a dot. The user interface (120) may also function as a numeric keypad in which the first row (148) includes keys 1 through 3, the second row (150) includes keys 4 through 6 and the third row (152) includes keys 7 through 9. The three rows (148, 150, 152) include single stroke keys corresponding to individual character strokes used to form a particular ideographic character. The user interface also includes at least one combination stroke key corresponding to a particular activation sequence of the single stroke keys used to form the ideographic character.

Abstract: A user interface (102) of a portable electronic device (100) includes a plurality of keys (112). The user interface (102) includes a first group of keys representing vowel characters (402), and a second group of keys representing consonant characters (202). The second group of keys is separate from the first group of keys. For the first group of keys, a first key represents leading vowels (422, 424, 426), a second key represents above and below vowels (428, 430), and a third key represents following vowels (432, 434, 436). The second group of keys may be subdivided into phonetic consonant groups (FIGS. 5 & 6) or alphabetic consonant groups (FIGS. 7 & 8).

Abstract: The present invention is a user interface (120) for an ideographic character input device (100) comprising three rows (148, 150, 152) of adjacent input keys. A first row (148) includes keys that represent linear character strokes, a third row (152) includes keys that represent non-linear character strokes, and the second row (154) includes keys that represent a linear character stroke, a non-linear character stroke and a dot. The user interface (120) may also function as a numeric keypad in which the first row (148) includes keys 1 through 3, the second row (150) includes keys 4 through 6 and the third row (152) includes keys 7 through 9. The three rows (148, 150, 152) include single stroke keys corresponding to individual character strokes used to form a particular ideographic character. The user interface also includes at least one combination stroke key corresponding to a particular activation sequence of the single stroke keys used to form the ideographic character.