Leetcode37-Sudoku Solver

Problem 

Write a program to solve a Sudoku puzzle by filling the empty cells.

Empty cells are indicated by the character '.'.

You may assume that there will be only one unique solution.

I try to use a smaller time complexity algorithm but failed. The answer is for each blank position, we try all the 9 numbers, if it's valid we try next blank position, otherwise, we try another number in this position. To see if it's valid, we check this row, this column and the small square.  

Code for this problem

class Solution {
    public void solveSudoku(char[][] board) {
       helper(board,0,0);
    }
    private boolean helper(char[][] board, int i, int j){
        if(i == 9)  {j++;i=0;}	//if we reach the end of a line, then change to next line
        if(j == 9)  return true;	//if we solve all the lines, then it is valid
        if(board[i][j] != '.'){	
          return  helper(board,i+1,j);	//if it's not blank, we go to next one.
        }
              
        for(char k = '1'; k <= '9'; k++){
            
            if(check(board, i, j, k)){
                board[i][j] = k; 
                if(helper(board,i+1,j)) 
                    return true;	//just find one solution then return 
                board[i][j] = '.';
            }
        }
        return false;
    }
    private boolean check(char[][] board, int i, int j, int num){
        int row = i/3*3; int col = j/3*3;
        for(int k = 0; k < 9; k++){
            if(board[i][k] == num || board[k][j] == num ||board[row+k/3][col+k%3] == num)
                return false;
        }
        return true;
            
            
        
    }
}