<s>
An	O
input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
(	O
or	O
input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
editor	I-General_Concept
,	O
commonly	O
abbreviated	O
IME	O
)	O
is	O
an	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
component	O
or	O
program	O
that	O
enables	O
users	O
to	O
generate	O
characters	O
not	O
natively	O
available	O
on	O
their	O
input	B-Device
devices	I-Device
by	O
using	O
sequences	O
of	O
characters	O
(	O
or	O
mouse	O
operations	O
)	O
that	O
are	O
available	O
to	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
an	O
input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
is	O
usually	O
necessary	O
for	O
languages	O
that	O
have	O
more	O
graphemes	O
than	O
there	O
are	O
keys	O
on	O
the	O
keyboard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
instance	O
,	O
on	O
the	O
computer	O
,	O
this	O
allows	O
the	O
user	O
of	O
Latin	O
keyboards	O
to	O
input	O
Chinese	O
,	O
Japanese	O
,	O
Korean	B-Operating_System
and	O
Indic	O
characters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
some	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
an	O
input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
is	O
also	O
used	O
to	O
define	O
the	O
behaviour	O
of	O
the	O
dead	B-Device
keys	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
originally	O
coined	O
for	O
CJK	O
(	O
Chinese	O
,	O
Japanese	O
and	O
Korean	B-Operating_System
)	O
computing	O
,	O
the	O
term	O
is	O
now	O
sometimes	O
used	O
generically	O
to	O
refer	O
to	O
a	O
program	O
to	O
support	O
the	O
input	O
of	O
any	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
illustrate	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
X	B-Operating_System
Window	I-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
,	O
the	O
facility	O
to	O
allow	O
the	O
input	O
of	O
Latin	O
characters	O
with	O
diacritics	O
is	O
also	O
called	O
an	O
input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
or	O
later	O
Windows	B-Application
,	O
Input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
,	O
or	O
IME	O
,	O
are	O
also	O
called	O
Text	B-General_Concept
Input	I-General_Concept
Processor	I-General_Concept
,	O
which	O
are	O
implemented	O
by	O
the	O
Text	O
Services	O
Framework	O
API	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
the	O
term	O
input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
editor	I-General_Concept
was	O
originally	O
used	O
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
,	O
its	O
use	O
has	O
now	O
gained	O
acceptance	O
in	O
other	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
especially	O
when	O
it	O
is	O
important	O
to	O
distinguish	O
between	O
the	O
computer	B-Application
interface	I-Application
and	O
implementation	O
of	O
input	B-General_Concept
methods	I-General_Concept
,	O
or	O
among	O
the	O
input	B-General_Concept
methods	I-General_Concept
themselves	O
,	O
the	O
editing	O
functionality	O
of	O
the	O
program	O
or	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
component	O
providing	O
the	O
input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
the	O
general	O
support	O
of	O
input	B-General_Concept
methods	I-General_Concept
in	O
an	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
term	O
has	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
gained	O
general	O
acceptance	O
on	O
the	O
Linux	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
;	O
it	O
is	O
also	O
used	O
on	O
the	O
Mac	O
OS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
generally	O
refers	O
to	O
a	O
particular	O
way	O
to	O
use	O
the	O
keyboard	O
to	O
input	O
a	O
particular	O
language	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
the	O
Cangjie	O
method	O
,	O
the	O
pinyin	O
method	O
,	O
or	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
dead	B-Device
keys	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
the	O
other	O
hand	O
,	O
the	O
term	O
input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
editor	I-General_Concept
on	O
Microsoft	O
products	O
refers	O
to	O
the	O
actual	O
program	O
that	O
allows	O
an	O
input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
to	O
be	O
used	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
MS	O
New	O
Pinyin	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PRIME	O
or	O
SCIM	B-Language
prefer	O
the	O
term	O
of	O
Input	B-General_Concept
Method	I-General_Concept
Engine	O
,	O
Input	B-General_Concept
Method	I-General_Concept
platform	O
or	O
Input	B-General_Concept
Method	I-General_Concept
environment	O
,	O
or	O
the	O
actual	O
editing	O
area	O
that	O
allows	O
the	O
user	O
to	O
do	O
the	O
input	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
might	O
also	O
interpret	O
IME	O
to	O
refer	O
to	O
the	O
editor	O
used	O
for	O
creating	O
or	O
modifying	O
the	O
data	O
files	O
upon	O
which	O
an	O
input	B-General_Concept
method	I-General_Concept
relies	O
.	O
</s>
