JP2002304410A - Natural language processing system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a natural language processing system to more accurately analyze place names in consideration of a present position of a user. SOLUTION: This system previously having a latitude/longitude and place name corresponding database 104 and a place name dictionary 102 having place name information detects latitude and longitude of the present position by a present place name detecting section 105 and detects a place name, as present place name, corresponding to the latitude and longitude detected from the corresponding data. By a language analyzing section 106, relation of the present place name detected referring to the dictionary 102 with an input place name is analyzed and place name information relating to the input place name is detected from the dictionary 102 on the basis of the analyzed results, and then the place name information is processed for natural language and output.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a natural language processing system and method, and more particularly, to a natural language processing system and method operating on a computer environment movable with a user, such as a car navigation system or a mobile terminal, and a program. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the importance of computing, such as a car navigation system and a mobile terminal, which can be moved together with a user instead of a desktop environment has increased. These systems are not limited to simple navigation functions, but also provide document processing functions based on natural language processing technologies, such as diversification of interfaces using voice synthesis and recognition functions, and voice reading of e-mail and other information. And more and more.

[0003] Car navigation systems and mobile terminals are used in conjunction with location information detection techniques such as GPS and PHS to provide a context of the user's current location.
ext) It is characterized by navigation based on information and other various information providing functions. On the other hand, a car navigation system or a natural language processing system that operates on a mobile terminal is functionally almost the same as a system that operates in a conventional desktop environment, although its size is reduced.

[0004] For example, the place name "Nihonbashi" can be read both as "Nihonbashi" and "Nipponbashi". The former is a place name in Tokyo, and the latter is a place name in Osaka Prefecture. In the desktop environment, to distinguish between the two,
The main method was to make one of them as a priority reading or to make some estimation from the surrounding language information.

[0005]

In the above-described natural language processing system, natural language sentences are not analyzed in consideration of the current position information of the user. For this reason, the prior art has a problem to be solved in that it is not possible to accurately analyze a place name in consideration of the current position information of the user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a more accurate analysis of a place name in consideration of a current position of a user.
It is to provide a natural language processing system and method.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention is a natural language processing system capable of performing natural language processing on an input place name and outputting the natural name. A positioning means for detecting the latitude and longitude of the current position, a data storage means for storing data in which the latitude and longitude are associated with a place name designated by the latitude and longitude, and a data storage means for storing the data. Current place name detection means for detecting a place name corresponding to the latitude and longitude detected by the positioning means from the data as a current place name; place name dictionary storage means for storing place name dictionary data having place name information; The relationship between the current place name detected by the current place name detection means and the input place name is analyzed with reference to the place name dictionary data stored in the storage means, and Language analysis means for detecting place name information related to the input place name from the place name dictionary data based on the result of the place name, and outputting an output place name obtained by performing natural language processing on the detected place name information. Features.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the natural language processing system according to the first aspect, the place name dictionary data holds information on each place in a hierarchical tree structure, and the language analyzing means includes: Determining the shortest path in the hierarchical tree of the information on the place name regarding the current place name and the information on the place name regarding the input place name, and detecting the information on the place name regarding the input place name that gives the obtained shortest path. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, correspondence data in which latitudes and longitudes are associated with place names designated by the latitudes and longitudes, and place name dictionary data having place name information are provided in advance and input. A natural language processing method for a natural language processing system capable of performing natural language processing on an input place name and outputting the same, wherein the positioning step detects a latitude and a longitude of a current position; and A place name corresponding to the latitude and longitude detected in the step, a current place name detection step of detecting the place name as a current place name, and by referring to the place name dictionary data, the current place name and the input place name detected in the current place name detection step Analysis of the relationship, and based on the result of the analysis performed, information on the place name related to the input place name is detected from the place name dictionary data. Characterized in that a language analysis step of outputting an output place name which has been subjected to processing of natural language name information.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the natural language processing method according to the third aspect, the place name dictionary data holds information of each place in a hierarchical tree structure, and the language analyzing step includes: Determining the shortest path in the hierarchical tree of the information on the place name regarding the current place name and the information on the place name regarding the input place name, and detecting the information on the place name regarding the input place name that gives the obtained shortest path. .

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, correspondence data in which latitudes and longitudes are associated with place names designated by the latitudes and longitudes, and place name dictionary data having place name information are provided in advance and input. A natural language processing system capable of performing natural language processing on the input place name and outputting the natural language processing, a program for causing a computer to execute natural language processing, and a positioning step of detecting the latitude and longitude of the current position; From the correspondence data, a place name corresponding to the latitude and longitude detected in the positioning step, a current place name detection step of detecting the place name as a current place name, and referring to the place name dictionary data, detected by the current place name detection step. An analysis of the relationship between the current place name and the input place name is performed, and the input place name is analyzed from the place name dictionary data based on the result of the analysis performed. That detects information of place names, characterized in that a language analysis step of outputting an output place name which has been subjected to processing of natural language to the detected place name information.

According to the present invention, when a car navigation system or a mobile terminal is premised on a function of detecting position information by GPS or PHS, this position information is used for, for example, the location name "Nihonbashi" in Tokyo. In the case of Tokyo, "Nihonbashi" can be given priority, and in Japan, "Nihonbashi" can be given priority.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, parts having the same function are denoted by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of the device according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a general dictionary having information of general terms, 102 denotes a place name dictionary having information (notation, reading, etc.) of place names, 103
Is a positioning sensor for positioning the current position of the user, 104 is a latitude / longitude-place name correspondence database having data in which latitude / longitude is associated with the place name of the position, 105 is position information of the position sensor 103 and latitude / longitude-place name correspondence Database 10
A current location name detection unit for detecting the current location name of the user from 4;
Reference numeral 06 denotes a language analysis unit that analyzes an input sentence.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing the system configuration of the apparatus according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes a CPU that operates according to a program that implements a procedure described below. Reference numeral 22 denotes a RAM that provides a storage area necessary for the operation of the program. Reference numeral 23 denotes a ROM that holds a program that implements a procedure described below. Reference numeral 24 denotes a disk device that holds a general dictionary / place name dictionary and a latitude / longitude-place name correspondence database. Reference numeral 25 denotes a bus through which each element of hardware constituting the device exchanges programs and data.

The natural language processing of the apparatus according to the present embodiment is performed according to the processing procedure shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 shows the contents of processing executed by the CPU 21, and is performed by the CPU 21 reading and executing a program stored in the ROM 23.

In the present embodiment, a received electronic mail is read out on a car navigation system or a mobile terminal. First, the CPU 21 determines whether the end of the sentence of the e-mail has been reached (step S301). If the end of the sentence has been reached, the reading of the e-mail ends. If it is not the end of the sentence, the next sentence is cut out (step S302).

It is checked whether or not there is any ambiguity of the place name in the extracted sentence (step S303). this is,
This is performed by referring to the place name dictionary 102. The ambiguous place names are “Nihonbashi” and “Nihonbashi”, “Nipponbashi”, “Kyoto” (Kyoto) and “Kyoto” (Miyako), Aichi (Aichi) and Aichi (Echi). Is a place name whose actual notation is different from the same notation. If there is no such ambiguity, the process proceeds to step S306, and normal language analysis is performed.

If there is ambiguity in the place name, the following processing is performed. First, the current location name is detected (step S30).
4). This is performed as follows. First, the current position (latitude / longitude) is detected by a positioning sensor 103 such as a GPS. Next, the current location name is calculated from the current position (latitude / longitude) with reference to the latitude / longitude-location name correspondence database 104. A place name analysis for eliminating the ambiguity of the place name is performed using the current place name thus determined as a clue (step S30).
5). Here, steps S303 to S304 correspond to the function of the current place name detection unit 105.

In the place name analysis in step S305, a place name dictionary 102 as shown in FIG. 4 is used. The place name dictionary 102 holds information on each place in a hierarchical tree structure as shown in FIG. The analysis method is as follows. Now, in the e-mail as shown in Fig. 5, the "store" indicated by reference numeral 501 is a izakaya "Minami no Kazoku", a 5-minute walk from Nihonbashi station. "Is a processing target. This sentence includes an ambiguous place name of" Nihonbashi ". In the place name dictionary 102 shown in FIG. 4, they correspond to the nodes 411 and 412. Here, it is assumed that the current location name of the user detected by the current location name detection in step S304 is “Tennoji-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka”. This is the 40
1 node. Therefore, the distances of the nodes 401 and 411 and the nodes 401 and 412 on the hierarchical tree are calculated. The distance on the hierarchical tree is defined by the number of branches on the path from node to node. The distance between node 401 and node 411 is “Tennoji” → “Osaka” → “Osaka” → “Japan” →
The number of branches is “Tokyo” → “Chuo Ward” → “Nihonbashi”, which is 6. On the other hand, node 401 and node 4
The distance of 12 is 3, which is the number of branches of “Tennoji” → “Osaka City” → “Naniwa Ward” → “Nihonbashi”. The node 412 having a small distance calculated in this way can be determined to be closer to the current location name (step S305), and this is given priority.

After the place name analysis is completed, the result is reflected in the normal language analysis (step S306), and the result of the language analysis is output. Here, steps S305 to S306 correspond to the function of the language analysis unit 106. Based on the result, acoustic processing (step S307) is performed, and a synthesized voice is output (step S308).

In this way, a user located in Tennoji-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka, hears a synthesized voice of Misehanipponbashinoekikara-alitegofunnoizakaya-minaminokazokudesu. If the user is located in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, it goes without saying that the synthesized sound will be “Misehanihonbashiinoekikaraalitegofunnoizakayaminaminokazokudesu”.

(Other Embodiments) In addition to the embodiments described above, the following embodiments can be implemented. 1) In the above embodiment, the natural language processing system for Japanese was taken as an example. However, since the structure of the position detection and the place name dictionary does not depend on the language or the region, it is intended for English or any other language. It can be applied to natural language processing systems. 2) In the above embodiment, an example in which the natural language processing system is used as a part of speech synthesis has been described. However, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to any application that processes a document, such as information retrieval and machine translation. 3) In the above embodiment, the case where each unit is configured on the same device has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and each unit may be configured by being divided into computers and processing devices distributed on a network. Good. 4) In the above embodiment, the case where the program is stored in the ROM has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be realized using an arbitrary storage medium. Further, it may be realized by a circuit that performs the same operation. 5) The present invention may be applied to a system including a plurality of devices or to an apparatus including a single device. A recording medium storing the software program code for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or the apparatus reads out the program code stored in the recording medium. By running,
Needless to say, this is achieved. In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium realizes the function of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium on which the program code is recorded constitutes the present invention. 6) As a recording medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-RO
M, CD-R, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card,
A ROM or the like can be used. 7) Further, the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the computer executing the readout program code, and the OS or the like running on the computer is actually executed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where some or all of the processing is performed and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing is also included. 8) Further, after the program code read from the recording medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the program code is written based on the instruction of the program code. C provided on the function expansion board or function expansion unit
It goes without saying that the PU or the like performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, a natural language processing in which correspondence data in which latitude and longitude are associated with a place name designated thereby and place name dictionary data having place name information in advance are provided. The system detects the latitude and longitude of the current position, and detects the place name corresponding to the detected latitude and longitude as the current place name from the correspondence data. Then, referring to the place name dictionary data, an analysis of the relationship between the detected current place name and the input place name is performed, and information on the place name regarding the input place name is detected from the place name dictionary data based on a result of the analysis. Outputs an output place name obtained by performing natural language processing on the place name information.

For this reason, since processing is performed in consideration of the current position information of the user, more accurate analysis of the place name becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram showing a system configuration of an apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a natural language process of the device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a place name dictionary according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an e-mail according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 General dictionary 102 Place name dictionary 103 Positioning sensor 104 Latitude / longitude-place name correspondence database 105 Current place name detection unit 106 Language analysis unit 21 CPU 22 RAM 23 ROM 24 Disk device 25 Bus

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A natural language processing system capable of performing natural language processing on an input place name and outputting the same, comprising: a positioning means for detecting the latitude and longitude of a current position; A data storage unit storing data associated with a place name designated by the following, and from the data stored in the data storage unit, a place name corresponding to the latitude and longitude detected by the positioning unit is detected as a current place name. Current place name detecting means, a place name dictionary storage means storing place name dictionary data having place name information, and the current place name detected by the current place name detecting means with reference to the place name dictionary data stored in the place name dictionary storage means. The relationship between the current place name and the input place name is analyzed, and information on the place name relating to the input place name is obtained from the place name dictionary data based on the result of the analysis performed. Natural language processing system characterized by comprising a language analysis means for detecting and outputting an output place name which has been subjected to processing of natural language to the detected place name information. 2. The natural language processing system according to claim 1, wherein said place name dictionary data holds information on each place in a hierarchical tree structure, and said language analyzing means includes information on place names related to said current place name. A natural language processing system, wherein a shortest path in the hierarchical tree of information on the place name and the place name information on the input place name is obtained, and information on the place name on the input place name that gives the obtained shortest path is detected. 3. Preliminarily correspondence data in which a latitude and a longitude are associated with a place name designated by the latitude and the longitude, and place name dictionary data having place name information, wherein the input place name is naturally associated with the input place name. A natural language processing method for a natural language processing system capable of performing language processing and outputting, comprising: a positioning step of detecting a latitude and a longitude of a current position; and, from the correspondence data, a latitude and a latitude detected by the positioning step. A place name corresponding to longitude, a current place name detection step of detecting as a current place name, and with reference to the place name dictionary data, perform an analysis of a relationship between the current place name detected by the current place name detection step and the input place name, Based on the result of the analysis performed, information on the place name related to the input place name is detected from the place name dictionary data, and the information on the detected place name is described in natural language. A language analyzing step of outputting a processed output place name. 4. The natural language processing method according to claim 3, wherein the place name dictionary data holds information on each place in a hierarchical tree structure, and the language analysis step includes information on place names related to the current place name. A natural language processing method comprising: obtaining a shortest path in the hierarchical tree between information of a place name relating to the input place name and information of a place name relating to the input place name which gives the determined shortest path. 5. Preliminarily correspondence data in which a latitude and a longitude are associated with a place name designated by the latitude and the longitude, and place name dictionary data having place name information, wherein the input place name is naturally associated with the input place name. A program for causing a computer to execute natural language processing of a natural language processing system capable of performing language processing and outputting, comprising: a positioning step of detecting a latitude and a longitude of a current position; and the positioning from the correspondence data. A place name corresponding to the latitude and longitude detected by the step, a current place name detection step of detecting as a current place name, and referring to the place name dictionary data, the current place name and the input place name detected by the current place name detection step Analysis of the relationship, and detecting place name information related to the input place name from the place name dictionary data based on the result of the performed analysis. A language analysis step of outputting an output place name obtained by subjecting the information of the detected place name to natural language processing. 6. The program according to claim 5, wherein
The place name dictionary data holds information on each place in a hierarchical tree structure, and the language analysis step includes a step of obtaining a shortest path in the hierarchical tree between the place name information on the current place name and the place name information on the input place name. And a program for causing a computer to execute the program, wherein information on a place name related to the input place name that gives the obtained shortest path is detected.