JP3042284B2 - Japanese input device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a Japanese input device capable of inputting a Japanese sentence by converting a character string read in Roman characters into Kana-Kanji characters.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a Japanese input device, when a kana character is input by inputting a Roman character, a vowel "A to O" is input immediately after "N", or "Y" and subsequent vowels are input. If the vowel "A ~ O" is input, does "N" become "n" or does it become "na line" or "nii line" with the following characters? Cannot be uniquely determined on the device side, and various methods have been considered to cope with this.

[0003] For example, there is a method in which "NN" is entered for the first time by inputting "NN" in Roman alphabet input. In this Roman alphabet input, if a vowel is input immediately after "N", it will always be "na-line", and if "Y" and subsequent vowel are input immediately after "N", "Nii line". Also, as another method, if there is a possibility that the input "N" will be "n" and another kana, at the time of inputting Roman characters, temporarily set either kana and both at the time of kana-kanji conversion. There is a method in which kana to kanji conversion is performed using kana so that the next candidate can be selected.

[0004]

However, if the Roman alphabet input method is fixed as described above, for example, "N
If you enter "NA" and enter "NA", but you mistakenly enter "NA" and get "NA", you have to delete the entered character and re-enter it. However, it becomes troublesome for the user. Also, in the method of automatically converting using multiple possible kana during kana-kanji conversion and displaying the candidates below the next candidate, extra kana-kanji conversion is performed even in unnecessary places. Presenting the next candidate that cannot be predicted to the user may impose a psychological burden on the user, making the usability worse.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem. When a kana character is converted from a Roman character input, if a plurality of conversion candidates cannot be uniquely determined, the kana character string is used. Can be two kinds of kana character strings
And the switching information indicating
Switch and display kana character string candidates only after an operation
Display of candidate strings does not increase unnecessarily.
In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a Japanese input device which can easily cope with a plurality of conversion possibilities of Roman character input and can efficiently input a document.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, a Japanese input device according to the present invention comprises, as shown in FIG. 1, an input means (a) for inputting Roman characters and the like, and an input means (a). Roman character conversion means (b) for converting an input Roman character string into a kana character string; reading of words necessary for converting a kana character string converted by the Roman character conversion means (b) into a character string mixed with kanji and kana; A conversion dictionary unit (c) storing information including notations, and a kana-kanji conversion unit (d) for converting a kana character string converted by a Roman character conversion unit (b) into a candidate character string using the conversion dictionary unit (c) when a display means for displaying the kana-kanji conversion candidate character string by kana-kanji conversion means (d) (e), when do strings or converted by Roman character conversion means (b) is one which does not uniquely determined, how the String This, which may be two types of kana string
Switching information providing means for providing switching information indicating
Switching information is added to the kana character string by the switching information adding means.
The kana character string storage unit that stores the kana character string
And two types of characters are stored in those kana character string storage units.
Duplicate kana character string storage unit that stores kana character string candidates
And two types of kana sentences stored in the kana character string storage unit.
Kana character string candidate switching means for instructing switching of character string candidates
And a kana character string candidate by the kana character string candidate switching means.
When the switching of the is instructed, the kana character string
When switching information is given to the candidate, the display means
Display off for switching kana character string candidates displayed in (e)
Replacement means (the above is f) .

[0007]

In the Japanese input device of the present invention having the above structure, Roman characters are inputted from the input means a, converted into kana character strings by the Roman character conversion means b, and converted into kana-kanji characters using the conversion dictionary c. Converts the kana character string into a candidate character string. At this time, if there is a possibility that there are a plurality of kana character strings as a result of the Roman character conversion ,
Switching information to that effect is added to the kana character string, and at the same time,
Kana character string storage
Duplicate character string storage unit and two kinds of character strings
Stores candidates. Candidate cut from kana character string candidate switching means
When the replacement is instructed, the switching information is
When the information is given, the display switching means
The kana character string candidates displayed in (e) are switched.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a Japanese input device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The Japanese input device 1 of the present embodiment includes a keyboard 2 as input means of the present invention for inputting characters and editing instructions, a display 3 as a display means of the present invention for displaying characters and figures, a character and a figure. And an electronic control unit 5 to which these are connected and which has a function of controlling input, conversion, editing, and printing of a document.

The keyboard 2 has a character key 2a for inputting characters, a kana-kanji conversion key 2b for instructing to convert an input kana character string into a sentence mixed with kanji and kana, and an instruction for re-converting a partial candidate at the time of conversion. Next conversion key 2c,
A determination execution key 2d for executing various operations such as selection of a candidate character string at the time of conversion; a cursor key 2e for designating a character input position in a document by moving a cursor displayed on the display 3; There is provided a Roman character conversion switching key 2f for instructing switching to another Roman character conversion candidate, which is a feature of the user. By operating these keys, the user can input a document input, conversion, editing, printing, etc. Is given to the electronic control unit 5.

The electronic control unit 5 includes a CPU 10 for controlling the entire apparatus, and a ROM 11 connected to the CPU 10.
And a RAM 12, and further via the input / output port 13 for converting input / output signals of an external device into signals that can be processed by the CPU 10, the display 2,
The printer 4 is connected.

In the ROM 11, in addition to a kana-kanji conversion program memory area 11a for storing a kana-kanji conversion program, a dictionary area 11b for storing dictionary data used in the kana-kanji conversion processing, A Roman character conversion program memory area 11c for storing programs, a switching control program memory area 11d for storing programs for controlling doubling and switching of Roman character conversion and Kana-Kanji conversion candidates, and other areas for storing various control programs are provided. Can be

Further, in the RAM 12, a document area 12a for storing created documents, a work area 12b used for various program processing, a Roman character buffer 12c for storing inputted Roman characters, There are provided a first kana buffer 12d for storing kana, a second kana buffer 12e, a first candidate buffer 12f for storing kana-kanji converted kanji of both kana buffers 12d and 12e, and a second candidate buffer 12g. The work area 12b also stores a switch enable flag.
This switch valid flag can be converted into two types of kana characters in the characters input in Romaji.
It is turned on when "N + or line" is input.
This indicates that Roman character-converted kana character strings exist in both the first kana buffer 12d and the second kana buffer 12e, and that display switching is effective.

Next, the processing of Japanese input in the Japanese input device thus configured will be described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. First, when the power is turned on, the process is started, and the RAM 12 is initialized as an initial setting.
The switching valid flag set in the work area 12b of
Set to FF (S1). Next, the key input from the keyboard 2 is read (S2), the type of the input key is determined (S3, S4, S5), and each processing is performed. Perform processing (S
6) Return to S2 and repeat key input. If the input key is a Roman key, (S3 · YE
S), the data corresponding to the input Roman character key is
M12 is sequentially stored in the Roman buffer 12c (S
7).

Thereafter, the newly input Roman characters are converted into Roman characters using the Roman character conversion program in the Roman character conversion program memory area 11c of the ROM 11 (S8), and the converted kana characters are stored in the first kana buffer 12d of the RAM 12. It is stored (S9). Next, the switching valid flag is determined (S10). Switching valid flag is O
In the case of N (S10, YES), the RAM has already been set in S9.
The kana characters stored in the first kana buffer 12d are also stored in the second kana buffer 12e (S11).

Subsequently, a determination is made for setting the switching enable flag (S12). That is, it is determined whether or not the end of the buffer is “N + a line” or “N + or line” according to the input Roman characters.
12. YES), and turns on the switching valid flag (S1)
3) The contents of the Roman character buffer 12c are copied so that the two processing results of the Roman character conversion are stored in the first kana buffer 12d and the second kana buffer 12e (S14).
“N + a row” and “N + ya row” become “na row” and “ni」 row ”in the first kana buffer 12d, and the second kana buffer 1
In the case of 2e, “n + a line” and “n + ya line” are stored. For the subsequent Roman character input, as described above, the kana of the Roman character conversion result is stored in both the first kana buffer 12d and the second kana buffer 12e.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show specific examples of the situation of the buffer duplication in S14. FIG. 5 shows the storage state of the Roman character buffer 12c when "KONYAHA" is input, and FIG. 6 shows the storage state of the first kana buffer 12d and the second buffer 12e at that time. The operation in this case is shown in FIG.
If "K" is input, the answer is YES in S3, and "K" is stored in the Roman character buffer 12c in S7. In the determinations of S10 and S12, NO returns to S2. Next, when "O" is input, "O" is stored in the buffer 12c in the same manner as described above, and "KO" stored in the buffer 12c is changed to "".
(S8), which is stored in the first kana buffer 12d (S9).

Thereafter, when "N" and "Y" are input,
The determination in S12 is YES, the switching flag is turned on (S13), and the buffer is duplicated. Next, "A"
Is input, "NYA" is converted into Roman characters "Ni“ "and" Niya "(S8), the former" Ni ゃ "is stored in the buffer 12c (S9), and the switching flag is ON. Therefore, the second "nya" is stored in the second buffer 12e.
Is stored (S11). Then, when "H" and "A" are input, they are converted to "ha" in Roman characters (S
8) "ha" is stored in both buffers 12d and 12e (S9, S11). Thus, the first kana buffer 12d
Is stored in the second buffer 12e, and is stored in the second buffer 12e.

When the input from the keyboard 2 is not a Roman key (S3: NO), the Roman character conversion switch key 2
It is determined whether f has been depressed (S4). If the switching key 2f has been pressed down (S4 · YE
S) Further, it is determined whether or not the switching valid flag is ON (S15). If the flag is ON (S15 / YES), it is determined whether the display is on the display 3 by the first kana buffer. If it is stored in 12d, it is switched to the second kana buffer 12e, and if it is stored in the second buffer 12e, it is switched to the first kana buffer 12d and displayed (S16). The above switch enable flag setting, double kana buffer and switch key 2f
The switching processing of the kana buffer display by the ROM 11
This is performed by a program stored in the control program memory area 11d.

When the input from the keyboard 2 is not the switching key 2f (S4: NO), it is determined whether the kana-kanji conversion key 2b is depressed (S5). If the conversion key 2b is not depressed (S5 · N
O) Since it is not any key, other key processing (S
Move to 6). If the kana-kanji conversion key 2b has been depressed (S5: YES), the process proceeds to S17 in FIG.
The kana-kanji conversion program stored in the memory area 11a of the M11 and the dictionary data stored in the dictionary area 11b are used to perform the kana-kanji conversion processing of the input kana character string. In this kana-kanji conversion process, if the switching valid flag is OFF, the contents of the first kana buffer 12d are converted to kana-kanji characters and the candidate character string is converted to the first kana-kanji character.
When the switch valid flag is ON, the contents of the second buffer 12e are subjected to Kana-Kanji conversion, and the candidate character string is stored in the second candidate buffer 12g. Then, the contents of the candidate buffer corresponding to the kana buffer displayed on the display 3 are displayed as kana-kanji conversion candidates.

Next, the key input from the keyboard is read (S18), and each processing is performed according to the type of the input key (S19, S20). In the case of other keys, other candidate character string change processing and the like are performed. (S2
1) Return to S18 and repeat key input. It is determined whether or not the input from the keyboard 2 is the Roman character conversion switching key 2f (S19). If the input is from the keyboard 2f (S19 / YES), it is determined whether or not the switching valid key flag is ON. (S22) If the flag is ON (S22: YES), if the candidate displayed on the display 3 is a candidate stored in the first candidate buffer 12f, the candidate is stored in the second candidate buffer 12g. If the candidate is stored in the second candidate buffer 12g, it is switched to the first candidate buffer 12f to display the candidate (S2).
3). The process of switching the candidate buffer display by the switching key 2f is also performed by the program stored in the switching control program memory area 11d of the ROM 11 described above. In the examples of FIGS. 5 and 6, by switching to “Konyaha” in the second buffer 12e, the kana-kanji conversion to “Tonight is possible” can be performed.

If the input from the keyboard is not the Roman character conversion switching key 2f in S19 (NO in S19),
It is determined whether the key is the confirmation execution key 2d (S20). If it is the same key 2d (YES in S20), the kana-kanji conversion determination process is performed on the candidate character string displayed on the display 3 (S24), and the determined character string is stored in the document area 12a of the RAM 12. Store in the specified location.

As described above, in the present embodiment, when a Roman character that can be converted into two types of kana is input during the Roman character input, both the kana buffer and the candidate buffer are doubled and the Roman character is provided. Perform conversion and Kana-Kanji conversion,
The display of each buffer can be switched by using the Roman character conversion switching key 2f. In this way, even after the Kana-Kanji conversion, before the determination, the desired conversion result can be changed without the trouble of re-inputting.

[0023]

According From what has been described above in Japanese input device obvious to the present invention, when the kana-kanji conversion from Roman character input, when the conversion candidate can not be determined uniquely by a plurality, that Add switching information to kana character string
And then the first time the switch key is operated
Switch kana character string candidates and then perform kana-kanji conversion
When the Roman alphabet input includes multiple conversion candidates , the number of candidate character strings increases unnecessarily as in the past.
Without Rutoitta, based on the user's instruction to the candidate selection can be easily performed, will not take the trouble to reselect input for redoing the kana conversion a Roman letter, perform efficient document input be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a Japanese input device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a Japanese input device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a Japanese input process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of a Japanese input process according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a data storage state of a Roman character buffer according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data storage state of a first kana buffer and a second kana buffer in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Japanese input device 2f Roman character conversion switching key (character string candidate switching means) 3 Display (display means) 4 Printer 10 CPU 11 ROM 11a Kana-Kanji character conversion program memory area 11b Dictionary area 11c Roman character conversion program memory area 11d Switching control program memory area (Character string storage
Duplexing means) 12 RAM 12a Document area 12b Work area 12c Roman character buffer 12d First kana buffer 12e Second kana buffer 12f First candidate buffer 12g Second candidate buffer

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An input unit for inputting a Roman character or the like; a Roman character conversion unit for converting a Roman character string input by the input unit into a Kana character string; and a Kana character kana converted from the Kana character string converted by the Roman character conversion unit. A conversion dictionary unit storing information including readings and notations of words necessary for conversion to a character string; and converting a kana character string converted by the Roman character conversion unit into a candidate character string using the conversion dictionary unit. a kana-kanji conversion means, display means for displaying the kana-kanji conversion candidate character string by the kana-kanji conversion unit, when the do string or converted by Roman character conversion means is one that is not uniquely decided, 2 to the kana character string
Adds switching information indicating that it can be a type of kana character string
Switching information providing means, and the switching information providing means adds the switching information to the kana character string.
Kana character string storage unit that stores a kana character string when given
And two types in their kana character string storage
Duplicate kana character string storage for storing similar kana character string candidates
Means and two kinds of kana character strings stored in the kana character string storage unit
Kana character string candidate switching means for instructing candidate switching, and kana character string candidate switching by the kana character string candidate switching means.
When the replacement is instructed, the kana character string candidate
Is displayed on the display means when switching information is given to the
A display device for switching a kana character string candidate to be indicated .