Bi-directional handwriting insertion and correction

Abstract

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for providing bi-directional handwriting recognition and correction. A combined handwriting recognizer is provided that supports left-to-right and right-to-left language recognition by using a combined dictionary. The combined dictionary includes a dictionary from a language in a first direction, along with a backwards version of a dictionary from a language in a second direction. The combined recognizer is used with the combined dictionary to generate a most likely recognition result for mixed direction hand written input received from a user. Character by character correction is provided for mixed left-to-right and right-to-left text. The most likely recognition result is displayed in a visual order. The user can correct a particular character to a different character. When recognized text needs to be sent to a separate application, an inverse bi-directional process is performed to convert the text from the visual order to the logical order.

1 . A method, comprising:
 identifying received text using a combined dictionary comprising a first dictionary for a language written in a left-to-right direction and a second dictionary for a language written in a right-to-left direction.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , one or more directions of one or more entries in the combined dictionary reversed such that one or more terms appear backwards. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising providing a correction feature that supports character by character correction of at least one of left-to-right and right-to-left text in a visual order. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , comprising performing the character by character correction in a handwriting input area. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising converting mixed left-to-right and right-to-left text in a visual order to a logical order using an inverse bi-directional process. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , comprising sending at least some of the mixed text, obtained from a handwriting input area, to an application in the converted logical order. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising estimating respective character breaks for mixed handwritten text if breaks between respective characters of the mixed handwritten text do not comprise whitespace. 
     
     
         8 . A system configured to perform the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         9 . A computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a microprocessor perform a method, comprising:
 identifying received text using a combined dictionary comprising a first dictionary for a language written in a left-to-right direction and a second dictionary for a language written in a right-to-left direction.   
     
     
         10 . The computer readable medium of  claim 9 , the method comprising receiving input from a user to correct a first character in the identified received text. 
     
     
         11 . The computer readable medium of  claim 10 , the method comprising displaying the corrected first character and a remaining set of one or more uncorrected characters in the identified received text as a second set of identified text. 
     
     
         12 . The computer readable medium of  claim 11 , the method comprising receiving a selection to send the second set of identified text to a separate application. 
     
     
         13 . The computer readable medium of  claim 12 , the method comprising converting the second set of identified text from a visual order to a logical order using an inverse bi-directional process based upon the received selection. 
     
     
         14 . The computer readable medium of  claim 13 , the method comprising sending the second set of identified text in the logical order to the separate application. 
     
     
         15 . The computer readable medium of  claim 13 , the method comprising performing a beam search as part of the inverse bi-directional process. 
     
     
         16 . A system, comprising:
 a searching module configured to perform, using a received visual string, a search that uses a heuristic cost function to estimate a promise of respective nodes; and   an ordering module configured to determine a logical order of the received visual string based upon one or more results of the search.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , the received visual string recognized by a combined recognizer. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , comprising a sending module configured to send the determined logical order of the received visual string to a separate application. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , the separate application configured to receive the determined logical order for manipulation by a user. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 16 , the search comprising a beam search.