Text-Input via DVD-remote numeric buttons

[jcee]

what about mapping button directly to individual screens/menüs? so one does not need to zap through too much screens to get to the desired point?!

(i am planing to put my xbox in the car.. would be nice to have a quicker naviagtion.. also a one-botton-off would be nice)

and what about using something linke a t9 alphanum input mode instead of (or in addition to ) the on-screen keyboard?!

[chadoe]

and what about using something linke a t9 alphanum input mode
that's a very good idea, that would be a much faster way to search for an artist/album/song.

[forza]

unfortunatley aol and tegic have the t9 predictive text entry sewn up in many patents, i believe this would prevent us from incorporating this technology into xbmc.

see this link (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-parser?sect1=pto2&sect2=hitoff&p=1&u=%2fnetahtml%2fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=s&l=50&term1=tegic&field1=&co1=and&term2=&field2=&d=ptxt) (us patent office) for more information.

[mknight]

it wouldn't need to be predictive text, it can be a simple filter. i press 6 on my remote and it knows the first letter is m,n or o. whatever is in the database that starts with m,n or o is presented. then i press 2 and now it its second letter is a, b or c. so rather than predicting i might spell a word like match, it simply shows anything that fits.

i have a rio digital receiver, and i also have a navigation system in my car. both of these devices will narrow down your available choices and filter based on the input you give them. neither is a tegic or t9 system just a simple filter. it is surprising how just a few letters or numbers are needed to lock in on exactly the right artist (or in the case of navigation street name) using this method.

[hugge]

feature suggestion for the search box in xbmc

i have search the forum but didn't find anyone suggesting this.

i programme a bit myself (vb) and have made a program that works like the multitap function of a mobile phone.

e.g. key 1 = .-() key 2 = abc, 3 = def and so on. you press several times for the specific letter you want.

i was wondering if this was possible for the xbmc aswell, since the input method used is very slow.

another thing i would consider a nice feature is predictive input method (also like mobilephones, t9). of course the words has to be know my the xbox, but it shouldn't be that much of a problem since the files contain the names, and can be split into and array or something.

you can write me if you want more details of the idea or see the multitap programme i wrote in vb. (using ati remote wonder via number keys)

i think this would make searching for files much easier and i would make it myself if i knew how. so i guess i can only offer my help if wanted making it. :-p

[BurZum]

since there are a people complaining about the virtual keyboard and others having the idea of modding a usb keyboard i got the idea of using mulitap input.
(multitap : is the same input type that you use when writing sms messages w.o. dictionary)

this would probarbly speed up input a lot compared to moving a cursor. the only thing i fear might be a problem is the response for the button-presses from the remote. can the xbox react to quick sucessive butoonpresses on the same button i.e 3 tapps on 2 to get c

possible mapping, (from cellular):
0 : 0, other things like : ,.() and so on
1 : space
2 : a,b,c,2
3 : d,e,f,3
4 : g,h,i,4
5 : j,k,l,5
6 : m,n,o,6
7 : p,q,r,s,7
8 : t,u,v,8
9 : w,x,y,z,9

have this ever been considered?

[MagicMan]

brilliant idea - i support this * :thumbsup:
someone probably already wrote a gpl version of t9 as well - i would not be surprised..

[BurZum]

t9 would also be great! a english dictionary with about 6 000 words takes about 20k. there are source avaliable at this link:


http://koti.mbnet.fi/korsu/ft.html

[wtz]

:bump:

as mentioned in another thread(by forza):
unfortunatley aol and tegic have the t9 predictive text entry sewn up in many patents, i believe this would prevent us from incorporating this technology into xbmc.

see this link (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-parser?sect1=pto2&sect2=hitoff&p=1&u=%2fnetahtml%2fsearch-bool.html&r=0&f=s&l=50&term1=tegic&field1=&co1=and&term2=&field2=&d=ptxt) (us patent office) for more information.



however a "filter" would be great like mention by mknight:
it wouldn't need to be predictive text, it can be a simple filter. i press 6 on my remote and it knows the first letter is m,n or o. whatever is in the database that starts with m,n or o is presented. then i press 2 and now it its second letter is a, b or c. so rather than predicting i might spell a word like match, it simply shows anything that fits.

i have a rio digital receiver, and i also have a navigation system in my car. both of these devices will narrow down your available choices and filter based on the input you give them. neither is a tegic or t9 system just a simple filter. it is surprising how just a few letters or numbers are needed to lock in on exactly the right artist (or in the case of navigation street name) using this method.

[Ltriples]

first, i'm sorry for my bad english.

second, my feature suggestion:

i'd like to see a keyboard layout like on a phone. so you can fast search in your music libary. picture:

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/system/microsoft/mce/tv/searchkeyword.jpg

i hope it's not suggested before. thx

[jmarshall]

if you have the remote, you already have this input style.

[sho]

if you have the remote, you already have this input style.
wouldn´t it be ideal then to add it to the online manual?

http://manual.xboxmediacenter.de/wakka.p....n&v=va3 (http://manual.xboxmediacenter.de/wakka.php?wakka=generalfunction&v=va3)

[jmarshall]

indeed (done btw)

[Vortex]

What do you guys think of adding input logic to the keypad numbers on a remote such that you can input anything that requires the "virtual keyboard".

Blackberry boasts this idea as SureType (http://www.blackberry.com/products/suretype/index.shtml).

My thoughts were that it would be SureType with a twise, there would be a dictionary for common words and so if you want to type the name of a movie which contains common english words and say
1=ABC, 2=DEF, 3=GHI, 4=JKL, 5=MNO, 6=PQR, 7=STU, 8=VWX, 9=YZ

You should be able to hit 5265 and it should automatically start resolving to and display 'mermaid' with a list of other potential matches from the dictionary.

Additionally, media names would also be silently added to a media dictionary so that if have the movie Cars on the box, you could type 1156 and it would resolve to that.

The more applied example would searching for tunes. You could type 5125 and it would start resolving to 'Madonna' and display it on the screen and you hit go.

Do you guys think, is this something anyone would use? It was just a thought.

[spiff]

yeah. we thought so three years ago when we added it.

basic sms input that is, no t9.

[lexicon]

wow, that's great, I had no idea either. added to wiki:
http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/wiki/index.php?title=On_Screen_Keyboard

[LaTropa64]

That is cool. Nice to know. I'll start using it now. :)

[gav1577]

hi i thought a pretty neat idea although quite far out would be to have t9/predictive text like on a mobile when renaming movies and files it can take quite some time to rename allot of files films music ect especially if ur in another room of the house would save going back and fore the pc. renaming can become quite tiresome unless u have a keyboard hooked up to the xbox maybe a cool feature for the future :)

[jmarshall]

XBMC already supports SMS style input.

Someone "just" needs to write a T9 extension for it.

A patch is welcome.

[gav1577]

I would have a go if i could code. would be cool though:D

[Gamester17]

it is available for python http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=12350

[spiff]

i thought t9 was under patent and you had to lincense the technology from t9. or do they void for noncommercial?

[plooger]

(talk about bringing something back from the dead, eh?)
if you have the remote, you already have this input style.wouldn´t it be ideal then to add it to the online manual (http://manual.xboxmediacenter.de/wakka.php?wakka=generalfunction&v=va3)?

indeed (done btw)

I'm struggling to find any information on "multi-tap" text entry... such as under which conditions it is available, and details on the key/character associations for the various supported remotes.

The link provided above for the old wiki is broken, and I've been unable to locate any info on multi-tap in the new wiki.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...

[spiff]

it works whenever there's a on screen keyboard. mapped like a cell phone..

[plooger]

it works whenever there's a on screen keyboard. mapped like a cell phone..
Thanks for the reply.

I only have an Xbox DVD-Remote, so here's its multi-tap entry that I observed...
XBOX DVD-Remote multi-tap input mapping
---------------------------------------
1 : . , ; : ' " - + _ = ? ` ~ 1
2 : a b c 2
3 : d e f 3
4 : g h i 4
5 : j k l 5
6 : m n o 6
7 : p q r s 7
8 : t u v 8
9 : w x y z 9
0 : {space} ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) [ ] { } < > / \ | 0

Back : {backspace}
I don't know if it is feasible, but I would love to see some additional keys mapped to facilitate data entry without having to drop-down to the virtual keyboard:
Play : {done/enter}
Stop : {cancel entry} (same effect as Menu)

Forward : {shift cursor one character to right}
Reverse : {shift cursor one character to left}
Chapter Right : {jump cursor one word to right}
Chapter Left : {jump cursor one word to left}

Title : {Caps Shift}
Info : Cycle through character set modes, as follows:Normal (abc2)
Leading Caps (Abc2)
Caps Lock (ABC2)
Num Lock (0-9 keys only enter numbers, no entry delays)
IP Address (0-9 keys only enter numbers, no entry delays; Chapter Right or Forward complete octet entry where built-in mechanism doesn't automatically do so)
Symbols? (special symbol-entry mapping, TBD, for 0-9 keys)

Pause : {pull-up and cycle through recent text entry strings; cycle by repeated Pause key presses}

Also, given the infrequent need to enter most symbols, would it make sense to move "1" and "0" to the front of their respective cycles?

I don't have a Media Center Extender remote to test, but I imagine the above additions wouldn't conflict so long as they're only applicable within the context of the virtual keyboard.

Thanks for listening...

[sho]

The link provided above for the old wiki is broken, and I've been unable to locate any info on multi-tap in the new wiki.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...
The information was probably never incorperated from the old Wacko Wiki (or whatever that abomination was called :) )
I will look into if it still exists somewhere in cyberspace and move the info if it's still relevant.

[tsouthen]

Is there any way to active the SMS style input from the keyboard? For example, is it possible to configure the numeric keypad numbers to work the same way the number buttons work on the remote?

I have a Snapstream Firefly remote that can be easily setup to map its buttons to any keystroke. I have things setup nicely to work with XBMC except for the Search dialog. Repeatedly pressing the number buttons just results in repeated numbers. I suspect this is because XBMC doesn't realize this is a remote and just sees them as key presses.

Thanks!

[jmarshall]

You need to map the numbers to the XBMC action: "number9" et al.

That way it knows it's from a remote.

Note that this is different to "nine" which would result in a 9.

[tsouthen]

Thank you for the replay, unfortunately this doesn't seem to work.

In Keymap.xml I already see this in the global keyboard section:
<nine>Number9</nine>

Just to be sure, I tried adding this to the VirtualKeyboard section:
<keyboard>
<zero>Number0</zero>
<one>Number1</one>
<two>Number2</two>
<three>Number3</three>
<four>Number4</four>
<five>Number5</five>
<six>Number6</six>
<seven>Number7</seven>
<eight>Number8</eight>
<nine>Number9</nine>
</keyboard>

So, in theory, pressing "9" repeatedly on the keyboard should result in SMS style input, shouldn't it?

In any case it doesn't work from the remote nor the keyboard. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[jmarshall]

It won't work for keyboard based inputs as it uses direct reading of the keyboard in that dialog.

If the only way to map a remote is to keyboard actions, then it's not going to be possible.

If, however, you can map the remote directly (i.e. without relying on <keyboard> sections) then it'll work just fine.