JP2000122795A - Symbol to character converter and symbol to character converting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To convert symbol information to character information by simple operation. SOLUTION: A numeral-Kana correspondence table 9 stores correspondence relation between a numeral string consisting of at least a numeral and a Kana character string consisting of at least a Kana character. A conversion means 4 converts numeral information inputted from an input means 1 into at least a Kana character string candidate based on the correspondence relation stored in the table 9. A display part control means 7 outputs the Kana character string candidate converted by the means 4 to a display part 13. A connection character table 11 stores information based on the appearance probability of each Kana character string and an ordering means 5 orders the Kana character string candidates to be outputted to the display part 13 based on the information stored in the table 11 and the means 7 outputs respective Kana character string candidates to the display part 13 based on the order determined by the means 5.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a symbol / character conversion apparatus and a symbol / character conversion method for converting symbol information into character information, and more particularly to a symbol / character conversion apparatus and a symbol / character conversion method for converting numeric information into kana character information. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a cellular phone or the like,
Conversion of numeric information input using a dial numeric key into kana character information is performed. Hereinafter, two typical examples of such a conversion method will be described. [Conversion Method] First, in order to enable the above-described conversion, it is necessary to associate numbers with kana characters. That is, FIG. 16 is a schematic external view of a main part (numeral input unit) of a conversion device adopting the conversion method. In such a conversion device, each numeral key is associated with each row of the Japanese syllabary, One kana character included in each line is specified by the number of times of pressing. For example, "2
The numeric key marked "(ka)" corresponds to "ka line", and when this numeric key is pressed once, "ka" is pressed twice, "ki" is pressed twice, and when it is pressed three times, "ku" is pressed. Is pressed four times to output "ke" and five times to output "ko" to the display unit. Therefore, using the numeric keys, for example, “6666”
0002000 ", a kana character string" Henkan "can be obtained. When confirming the input of the kana character, press the right key (not shown) to move the cursor. (For example, to confirm the input of the character “he”, press “6666” and then press the right key. Press). [Conversion Method] In the conversion method, numbers and kana characters are associated with each other based on a correspondence table as shown in FIG. That is, in the conversion method, one kana character is specified by a combination of a number corresponding to “consonant” and a number corresponding to “vowel”. For example, the kana character "ku" can be obtained by pressing the numeric key "3" after pressing the numeric key "2" shown in FIG. Therefore, using the numeric keys, for example, “6403210
By pressing "3", a kana character string "Hankan" can be obtained.

According to the above-described conversion method, an input numeric string can be converted into a predetermined kana character string. Therefore, a device having only numeric keys, such as a mobile phone, that is, a kana character key is provided. It is possible to handle kana characters even in devices that do not have them.

[0004] Although the conversion to a clear tone has been described here, the conversion to a consonant sound, a consonant sound, a voiced sound, and a semi-voiced sound is also possible.
The description is omitted here because it is described in Japanese Patent No. 8166).

[0005]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional conversion method, there are the following inconveniences in the input operation.

That is, first, in the above “conversion method”,
The number of times the number key is pressed increases. For example,
To obtain the kana character string "Okokoko", use "11111
444442222255555522222 "must be keyed in.

According to the above-mentioned "conversion method", the number of key inputs is smaller than that of the "conversion method" (in the conversion method, one kana character can be specified by two numbers). The user needs to recognize the correspondence between numbers and kana characters when performing key input. That is, according to the “conversion method”, when performing key input, a correspondence table (a table indicating the contents of the correspondence table) is referred to or the contents of the correspondence table (semantically unrelated numbers and kana characters Must be stored.

The present invention has been proposed based on the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and a symbol-to-character conversion apparatus and a symbol-to-character conversion apparatus capable of converting symbol information (numerical information and the like) into character information (kana character information and the like) by a simple operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a character conversion method.

[0009]

The present invention employs the following means to achieve the above object. That is, the present invention presupposes a symbol / character conversion device that converts the symbol information input from the input unit 1 into character information and outputs the character information to the display unit 13 as shown in FIG.

The symbol / character correspondence table 9 has at least one
The correspondence relationship between a symbol string composed of one symbol and a character string composed of at least one character is stored. The conversion means 4
The symbol information input from the input unit 1 is converted into at least one candidate character string based on the correspondence stored in the symbol / character correspondence table 9. Display control means 7
Outputs the candidate character string converted by the conversion means 4 to the display unit 13.

Here, the concatenated character table 11 stores information based on the probability of occurrence of a character string, and the ranking means 5 outputs the information to the display unit 13 based on the information stored in the concatenated character table 11. After ranking the candidate character strings, the display unit control means 7 displays the candidate character strings on the display unit 1 based on the order determined by the ranking means 5.
3, it is possible to output the candidate character strings to the display unit 13 in order from the candidate character string having the highest appearance probability.

Further, the word dictionary 15 shown in FIG. 2 stores a plurality of character strings having a meaning, and the collating means 14 collates the character strings stored in the word dictionary 15 with candidate character strings. If the display unit control means 7 outputs the candidate character string to the display unit 13 based on the collation result from the collation means 14, only the predetermined candidate character string is displayed on the display unit 13.
Can be output.

Further, in the present symbol / character conversion apparatus, it is possible to change the correspondence stored in the symbol / character correspondence table 9. That is, the change content table 12
Stores a correspondence between a symbol string composed of at least one symbol and a character string composed of at least one character and matters relating to a change in the correspondence, and stores a table change means 6
Reflects the correspondence stored in the change content table 12 in the symbol / character correspondence table 9 based on the items related to the change.

The above-mentioned symbols are, for example, numbers and the like.
The characters are, for example, kana characters.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) In this embodiment, a schematic function block diagram showing a configuration of a symbol / character conversion device (hereinafter referred to as a "numeric / kana conversion device") for converting numeric information into kana character information is shown in FIG. It will be described according to.

[Numeric Kana Correspondence Table] First, the structure of the numeric kana correspondence table 9 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

The numeric kana correspondence table 9 has at least one
Take a configuration in which a number string consisting of one or more numbers is associated with a kana character string consisting of at least one kana character,
According to the present invention, the association is not made to have a semantically unrelated association as shown in the above-described conventional example, but is made to be as easily associated with the user as possible. For example, "1" can be read as "ichi", so the number "1"
Is associated with the kana character "i". Also,
Since "1" can be read as "one", the numeral "1" is also associated with the kana character "hi".

[0018] By making the associations that are semantically related in this way, a plurality of kana characters are associated with one number, rather than a one-to-one correspondence between numbers and kana characters. However, a plurality of kana characters are not always associated with one number.
That is, in FIG. 4A, the numeral “0” is replaced by the kana character “ma”.
Although "me", "mo", "re", "wa", "wo" and "n" are associated, only the kana character "ma" is associated with the number "0", and the remaining kana characters "me""Also"
“Re”, “Wa”, “O”, and “N” may be associated with numbers other than “0”.

It is also possible to associate one kana character with two or more numbers (numerical strings). For example, since "10" can be read as "ten", the numeral string "10" is associated with the kana character "te".

Although FIG. 4 (a) omits the description of the murmur, the prompting sound, the voiced sound, and the semi-voiced sound, in the following description, the numbers corresponding to these voiced sound, the prompting sound, the voiced sound, and the voiced sound are indicated by the numerals. It is the same as the number associated with Kiyoon. That is, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), for example, the voiced sound “gu” is associated with the number “9”. This is because the clear sound “ku” of “gu” is associated with the number “9”.

[Operation Example] Next, the configuration of the numerical / kana conversion device according to the present embodiment will be described together with the operation. First, the operation until the kana character string "Hankan" is output to the display unit 13 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the user key-inputs a numeric string "8090" corresponding to the kana character string "Henkan" using the numeric keys 1a (see FIG. 14) constituting the input means 1 based on the above-described correspondence, The information inputted by the keys is sequentially passed to the determination means 3. After determining whether the passed information is numeric information (in this case, it is determined that the information is numeric information), the determining means 3 temporarily stores the information sequentially in the numeric information temporary storage means 8. And outputs it to the display unit 13 via the display unit control means 7 (FIG. 3, step S1 → S
2 → S3).

As a result, the display unit 13 displays the numeral string “80”.
90 "will be displayed. Here, when the user presses the conversion key 1b (see FIG. 14) constituting the input means 1, a conversion request is notified from the input means 1 to the determination means 3, and
The discriminating unit 3 that has received the notification instructs the converting unit 4 to start the numeric kana conversion process. Conversion means 4 receiving instructions
Reads out the numeric string "8090" temporarily stored in the numeric information temporary storage means 8 and refers to the numeric kana correspondence table 9 to store the kana character corresponding to the numeric string "8090" in the pseudonym information temporary storage means 10. And temporarily instructs the ranking means 5 to start the subsequent processing. That is, as shown in FIG. 4B, the kana characters “e”, “ha”, “he”, “ya”, “ぇ”, “ba”, and “ぱ” are added to the numeral “8”.
The numbers "0" correspond to the kana characters "ma", "me", "mo", "re", "wa", "wo", "n", and the number "9" Contains the kana characters "ka""ki""ku""ke"
"Ga", "Gi", "Gu", "Ge" correspond. Therefore, the kana characters shown in FIG. 5 are temporarily stored in the kana information temporary storage unit 10 by the conversion unit 4. Each of the kana characters temporarily stored in the kana information temporary storage means 10 is a kana character that can be output to the display unit 13, and is described as a “candidate kana character” in the following description. Further, the solid line shown in FIG. 5 indicates the connection relationship (consecutive relationship) between candidate kana characters (FIG. 3, steps S 1 → S 2 → S 4 → S 5 → S
6).

The ranking means 5 instructed to start the processing by the conversion means 4 firstly receives the pseudonym information temporary storage means 1
The candidate kana characters temporarily stored in 0 are combined in accordance with the above-described connection relationship, and subsequently, the kana character or the kana character string (hereinafter referred to as “candidate kana character string”) obtained by this combination is “ranked”. .

The above-mentioned ranking is a process for ranking all candidate kana character strings for output to the display unit 13.
The ranking result is stored in the ranking table 5a shown in FIG. That is, FIG.
In the numerical kana correspondence table 9 shown in (b), since a plurality of kana characters are associated with one number, a plurality of the candidate kana character strings exist. Therefore, in order to enable the candidate kana character strings having the highest probability of being requested by the user among these candidate kana character strings to be output to the display unit 13 in this order, the above-described ranking is performed (priority ranking). The method will be described later). In the ranking, link information (temporary storage location in the numeric information temporary storage means 10) for each candidate kana character constituting the candidate kana character string is set in the "link to candidate kana character" field of the ranking table 5a. (FIG. 3, step S7).

When the above ranking is completed, the ranking means 5
Notifies the display unit control unit 7 of the fact, and the display unit control unit 7 that has received the notification outputs the candidate kana character string “Henkan” having the highest rank to the display unit 13. That is, the display unit control means 7 refers to the “rank” field of the rank table 5a to form the candidate kana characters “he”, “n”, “ka” constituting the “first” candidate kana character string “henkan”. "
The link information to “n” is acquired, and the candidate kana character string “henkan” extracted from the kana information temporary storage means 10 is output to the display unit 13 based on the acquired link information. Here, the user can determine the kana character string “Henkan” by pressing a confirmation key (not shown) such as a return key (FIG. 3, step S8 → S1).

As described above, the kana character string "Henkan" can be obtained from the numeral string "8090". In addition,
If the conversion key 1b is pressed thereafter, the input means 1
Then, the next candidate request is passed to the determination means 3, and the display section control means 7 sequentially outputs the candidate kana character strings “Hakan”, “Hengen”, “Hagen”. (FIG. 3, steps S1 → S2 → S4 → S5 → S9 → S1
0 → S1).

<Ranking> The above ranking method will be described below.

In the present invention, in order to reduce the number of times the conversion key 1b is pressed, a higher ranking is given in order from a more probable candidate kana character string, that is, a candidate kana character string having a higher probability of being requested by the user. Like that. In the present embodiment, this “more certainty” is determined based on the appearance probability of the candidate kana character string, and a candidate kana character string having a higher appearance probability is a more likely candidate kana character string.

Here, the appearance probability is a probability that the candidate kana character string appears in a predetermined sentence (hereinafter, referred to as an "example sentence"). Hereinafter, n kana characters (C1, C2,. .., C
A method for calculating the appearance probability P (S) of the candidate kana character string S (S = C1, C2,..., Cn) consisting of n) will be described.

First, the appearance probability P (S) is calculated from the chain character string relating to the k + 1 preceding kana character (Ci = C1) to the chain character string relating to the trailing kana character (Ci = Cn) as shown in the following equation. Probability P _c of each chained character string up to
(Ci | Ci-k, ..., Ci-2, Ci-1).

[0032]

(Equation 1) Here, the above-mentioned chain character string is a kana character string linked in the candidate kana character string S, and the appearance probability P _c (Ci | Ci-k, ..., Ci-2, Ci of the k + 1 character chain character string -1) is a kana character string "Ci-k ... Ci-2Ci-1" consisting of k kana characters.
Means the probability that one kana character "Ci" appears in the example sentence.

Hereinafter, assuming that “k = 1”, the appearance probability P (S) of the candidate kana character string “Henkan” composed of four kana characters
The case of calculating is described as an example.

First, the following equation can be obtained by applying "k = 1" and "n = 4" to (Equation 1).

[0035]

(Equation 2) Here, C1 corresponds to the kana character “he”, C2 corresponds to the kana character “n”, C3 corresponds to the kana character “ka”,
4 corresponds to the kana character "n". That is, the above equation is "P
(Hankan) = P (he, n, k, n) = P _c (he | C0)
× P _c (n | he) × P _c (ka | n) × P _c (n | ka) ×
_Pc (C5 | n) ". Here, C0 indicates a kana character before the beginning of the chain character string, in other words," _Pc (he | C
0) "is the probability that the kana character" he "appears at the beginning of the word.
C5 indicates the kana character after the end of the chain character string,
In other words, “P _c (C5 | n)” ends with the kana character “n” at the end.
Is the probability of appearing.

As a result, C0 is the abbreviation "T" for the beginning (TOP) and C5 is the abbreviation "E" for the ending (END).
Can be replaced by “P _c (he | T)” / “P _c (n |
To) ”,“ P _c (n | n) ”,“ P _c (n | n) ”
If “P _c (E | n)” is known, it is possible to calculate the appearance probability P (S) of the candidate kana character string “henkan” in the case of “k = 1”. That is, “P _c (he | T)”, which is the probability that the kana character “he” appears at the beginning of the word, and “k” character “he”.
Is the probability that the kana character “n” appears in tandem with “P _c
(N | he) ", the probability of the kana character" ka "appearing in tandem with the kana character" n ", and" _Pc (ka | n) " The above appearance is obtained by multiplying “P _c (n | ka)”, which is the probability of appearance of “n”, and “P _c (E | n)”, which is the probability that the kana character “n” appears at the end of the word. The probability P (S) can be calculated.

Here, the following equation is an equation for estimating (calculating) the appearance probability P _c (Ci | Ci-k,..., Ci-2, Ci-1) of the chained character string of k + 1 characters. That is, the numerator on the right side of (Equation 3) is
A kana character string “Ci-k ... Ci-2” consisting of k kana characters
Ci-1 "is the number of times one kana character" Ci "appears in the example sentence, and the denominator is a kana character string" Ci-k ... Ci-2Ci "consisting of k kana characters. "-1" is the number of occurrences in the example sentence ("Cj" means an arbitrary kana character).

[0038]

(Equation 3) By applying "k = 1" to this equation, "P
_c (to | T) ”,“ P _c (n | to) ”,“ P _c (or |
ん) ・ “P _c (ん | か)” ・ “P _c (E | ん)”, that is, for example, “P _c (へ |
T) "is, kana characters" to ". Can be calculated by dividing the number of times that appears to prefix in the sentence in all prefix number in the sentence (ie, the number of sentences) In addition," P _c (I |
"))" Is the number of times that the kana character "n" appears in the example sentence in tandem with the kana character "he", that is, the number of times the kana character string "hen" appears in the example sentence. It can be calculated by dividing by the number of occurrences within.

It is preferable that the example sentences are prepared according to the use of the numeric / kana conversion device (symbol / character conversion device). For example, when only a person's name is handled, it is created based on a name dictionary or a telephone directory.

Here, if W (S) as shown in the following equation (showing the case of “k = 1”) is used instead of the above-mentioned appearance probability P (S), the integration can be added. Becomes easier.

[0041]

(Equation 4) Also in the present embodiment, the above “more certainty” is represented by this W (S). That is,
A candidate kana character string having a smaller value of W (S) is a more likely candidate kana character string. This is shown in FIG.
This is because the value of W (S) decreases as the value of the appearance probability P (S) approaches 1. Note that, in FIG. 15, a portion indicated by a thick line indicates a range of values that can be taken by each of P (S), logP (S), and W (S) (because P (S) is a probability, P (S) )) Is 0 or more and 1 or less).

In this embodiment, "k = 1" is set. That is, a two-character chain character string “Ci
-1 Ci ”is calculated as“ W (Ci-1, Ci) ”, and“ Ci−1
"Ci" and "W (Ci-1, Ci)" are stored in advance in the concatenated character table 11 as shown in Fig. 7. The value of "W (Ci-1, Ci)" shown in Fig. 7 Is normalized to an integer value.

The ranking operation performed by the ranking means 5 based on the concatenated character table 11 storing "Ci-1 Ci" and "W (Ci-1, Ci)" as described above will be described below. .

First, the ranking means 5 calculates the value of W (S) for the candidate kana character strings “hekan” and “hekan” based on the concatenated character table 11. here,
The value of W (S) for the candidate kana character string “henkan” is “W (henkan) = W (to) + W (hen) + W (kanka) + W (kan) + W (kanE) = 481 + 59 + 345 +197
+ 83 = 1165 ", and the candidate kana character string" Hakan "
The value of W (S) for "W (spring) = W (T
) + W (han) + W (hanka) + W (kan) + W (han E) = 346 + 197 + 345 + 197 + 83 = 1168 ".

When the calculation of the value of W (S) is completed, the ranking means 5 compares these values of W (S), and the candidate kana character string having a smaller value of W (S) is a more likely candidate. It is a kana character string. In this case, since “1168> 1165”, the candidate kana character string “hankan” is ranked higher than the candidate kana character string “hankan” as shown in FIG.

[Operation Example] In the above operation example, the target kana character string is obtained by outputting all the candidate kana character strings to the display unit 13 in the descending order.
According to the present numerical kana conversion device, it is also possible to obtain a target kana character string by correcting a part of the candidate kana character string output to the display unit 13. The operation will be described below.

When the user presses the conversion key 1b after inputting the numeral string "70109" to obtain the kana character string "Sentaku", the candidate kana character string "Sendoku (FIG. 8) 9) is the same as that described in the above operation example, and FIG. 9A shows the state of the display unit 13 at this time. However, in this case, as shown in FIG.
“10” included in the number string “70109” is replaced with the number “1”.
It will be handled by both "0" and the numbers "1" and "0".

Subsequently, the user moves the cursor to the correction position by pressing the left key 1c or the right key 1d (see FIG. 14) constituting the input means 1. That is, as shown in FIG. 9B, by pressing the left key 1c twice, the cursor is moved to the position of the "th" of the third character.

When the user presses the conversion key 1b, the determination means 3 instructs the display control means 7 to output another candidate kana character corresponding to the current cursor position to the display 13. Upon receiving the instruction, the display unit control means 7 refers to the kana information temporary storage means 10 to display other candidate kana characters “ta” “te” corresponding to the current cursor position.
One of “to” “da” “de” “a” “i” “chi” is replaced with the kana character “do” indicated at the current cursor position and output to the display unit 13.

Here, it is not particularly limited which of the other candidate kana characters is selected, but it is preferable to make a selection based on the result of the above-mentioned "ranking". That is, the display unit control means 7 sequentially outputs the characters at the cursor position of the candidate kana character string having the highest rank to the display unit 13 by referring to the rank table 5a.

Alternatively, the user may be asked which of the other candidate kana characters is to be selected. That is, the display control means 7 determines that all other candidate kana characters "ta""te"
When “to”, “da”, “de”, “a”, “i”, “chi”,... Are output to the display unit 13, the user can input the left key 1c and the right key 1d.
Is used to move the cursor to the position of another candidate kana character to be selected, and then press the conversion key 1b. Then, the determination unit 3 may instruct the display unit control unit 7 to output another candidate kana character at the current cursor position to the display unit 13.

Here, “do” corresponds to two numbers “10”, while “a”, “i”, “chi”... Correspond to one number “1”. Therefore, instead of "do", "a"
If “i” or “chi” is selected, a kana character corresponding to the number “0” is output to the display unit 13.

As described above, the kana character string "Sentaku" can be obtained from the candidate kana character string "Sendoku" output to the display unit 13 (FIG. 9C). In this way, even if there are many candidate kana character strings, a target kana character string can be easily obtained.

In order to enable the above-described operation, various components (not shown) such as a cursor position management unit are required. Description is omitted.

[Operation Example] In the above operation example, the user inputs a numerical string based on the correspondence between a predetermined number and a kana character. Can be customized (changed to make it easier for the user to use). Hereinafter, the operation in the case of customizing the correspondence will be described with reference to FIG.

First, when the user instructs the change of the correspondence using the change instructing means 2 described later, a screen request is notified to the display control means 7 via the determination means 3 and the display control means receiving the notification is requested. 7 outputs a screen as shown in FIG. Here, the user selects “Add” shown in FIG. 10A to add a new correspondence, and FIG. 10 to delete an existing correspondence.
Select "delete" shown in (a).

First, the operation for newly associating the numeral "0" with the kana character "o" will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 (a) to 10 (c). At this point, as shown in FIG. 4, it is assumed that the numeral “5” is associated with the kana character “O”.

When the user selects "add" shown in FIG. 10A, a screen request is notified to the display control means 7 through the determination means 3, and the display control means 7 which has received the notification requests the display control of FIG. A kana character string input screen as shown in FIG.
Output to 3.

Here, when the user presses a confirmation key (not shown) such as a return key included in the change instruction means 2 after displaying the kana character “O” on the display unit 13, for example.
The character information “O” is notified to the determination unit 3, and the determination unit 3 that has received the notification notifies the display unit control unit 7 of the screen request and passes the character information “O” to the table change unit 6. Upon receiving the screen request, the display control means 7 sets the state shown in FIG.
Is output to the display unit 13 and the table change unit 6 receiving the character information "O" displays the character information "O" in the "Kana character" field of the change content table 12.
Is stored as additional information.

Subsequently, when the user presses the enter key after inputting the number "0", the discriminating means 3 is notified of the numerical information "0", and the discriminating means 3 receiving the notification displays a screen request. Notifying the section control means 7 and passing the numerical information “0” to the table changing means 6. Upon receiving the screen request, the display controller 7 displays an initial screen (not shown) on the display 13.
Table changing means 6 which outputs to the table and receives the numerical information "0"
Stores the numerical information “0” in the “numeric” field of the change content table 12 in association with the character information “O”.

As a result, the kana character “O” is replaced by the number “0”.
Is the change content table 12
Will be remembered.

Next, the operation for deleting the association between the kana character "mo" and the number "0" will be described with reference to FIGS. In this case, the operation is
This is the same as the above-described addition except that the numeric information “0” is stored in the change content table 12 as deletion information. That is, when the user selects “delete” shown in FIG. 10D, a screen request is notified to the display unit control unit 7 via the determination unit 3, and the display unit control unit 7 having received the notification requests the display unit control unit 7 of FIG. The kana character string input screen as shown in e) is output to the display unit 13.

When the user displays the kana character "MO" on the display section 13 and presses the enter key, the character information "MO" is notified to the discriminating means 3, and the discriminating means 3 which has received the notification transmits the character information "MO". Then, the screen request is notified to the display control means 7 and the character information "mo" is passed to the table change means 6.
The display control means 7 having received the screen request outputs a numeric string input screen as shown in FIG. 10 (f) to the display 13, and the table changing means 6 having received the character information "mo" displays the change content table 12. Character information "mo" is stored as deletion information in the "kana character" field.

Subsequently, when the user presses the enter key after inputting the number "0", the discriminating means 3 is notified of the numerical information "0", and the discriminating means 3 receiving the notification displays a screen request. Notifying the section control means 7 and passing the numerical information “0” to the table changing means 6. Upon receiving the screen request, the display control means 7 outputs the initial screen to the display 13, and upon receiving the numerical information "0", the table changing means 6 displays the numerical information "0" in the "numeric" field of the change content table 12. Is associated with the character information “mo” and stored.

As a result, the kana character “mo” and the numeral “0”
The information for deleting the association with is stored in the change content table 12.

The above is an explanation of the operation up to storing the change information (additional information and deletion information) of the correspondence in the change content table 12. Hereinafter, after the change of the correspondence is performed, The operation when the numeric string “8200” is key-input to obtain the character string “Hatsuon” will be described.

When the user presses the conversion key 1b after keying in the numeric string "8200", the numeric string "820" is pressed.
The candidate kana character corresponding to “0” is a kana information temporary storage unit 1
The operation up to the temporary storage of 0 is as described in the above operation example. Here, the table change means 6 reflects the contents of the change content table 12 in the pseudonym information temporary storage means 10. In other words, in the numeric kana correspondence table 9 shown in FIG. 4B, the kana characters “e”, “ha”, “he”, “ya”, “ぇ”, “ba”, “ぱ” are added to the number “8”.
The numbers "2" correspond to the kana characters "tsu", "ni", "fu", "tsu", "zu" and "bu", and the number "0" corresponds to the kana Characters "ma""me""mo""re""wa"
Although "wo" and "n" correspond to each other, additional information of the numeral "0" and the kana character "O" and deletion information of the numeral "0" and the kana character "mo" are stored in the change content table 12. Therefore, the kana information temporary storage means 10 temporarily stores the candidate kana characters shown in FIG. 12 (the kana characters "ma", "me", "re", and "wa" are used for the numeral "0"). ""
"N" and "o" are associated). Note that the subsequent operation is the same as that described in the above operation example, and the description is omitted here.

As a result, the kana character string "Hatsuon" can be obtained by keying in the numeral string "8200". That is, conversion based on the correspondence after customization can be performed.

Here, when the conversion key 1b is pressed after the numeric string "8200" has been keyed in the state where the correspondence has been changed, the contents of the change content table 12 are temporarily stored in the pseudonym information storage means. 10, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the same effect as described above can be obtained even if the table changing means 6 immediately reflects the contents of the change content table 12 in the numeric kana correspondence table 9 when the correspondence is changed.

Further, here, it is assumed that the operation of setting the change content in the change content table 12 is performed by the numerical kana conversion device, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the same effect as described above can be obtained even if the change instructing means 2 is not provided in the numerical kana conversion device. For example, the change content of the correspondence may be created on a personal computer or the like, and the created change content may be copied to the change content table 12. (Second Embodiment) In the above-described first embodiment, a form in which candidate kana character strings having higher ranks are sequentially output to the display unit 13 has been described. However, in this form, meaningless kana character strings (for example, However, there is a problem that “Sendoku” in the operation example is also treated as a candidate kana character string. Therefore, in the second embodiment, the above problem is solved by adopting a configuration (FIG. 2) in which the word dictionary 15 and the matching unit 14 are added to the configuration shown in the first embodiment (FIG. 1). I am trying to do it. The addition of the word dictionary 15 and the matching means 14 makes it possible to handle not only kana characters but also kanji characters. explain.

[Operation Example] The user inputs a numeral string “70109” in order to obtain a kana character string “Sentaku”, and then presses the conversion key 1b. The operation until the column is temporarily stored is the same as that in the first embodiment (operation example).

Here, in the first embodiment, ranking is performed. In this embodiment, a meaningless kana character string is output to the display unit 13 by performing the following collation processing. I try not to. That is, for example, as shown in FIG.
Words such as "Henkan", "Moji", "Sentaku" (this word is a meaningful kana character string, for example, "Sendoku"
It does not include meaningless kana character strings such as. ) Is registered in the word dictionary 15 in advance, and the matching means 14 matches the kana character string registered in the word dictionary 15 with the candidate kana character string (determines whether or not they match). ing. Then, the display control means 7 displays only the candidate kana character strings determined to match by the matching means 14 on the display 13.
Output to

As a result, a meaningless kana character string such as "sendoku" is not output to the display unit 13, and the user can obtain the kana character string "senkaku" with a small number of conversion key presses. be able to.

Here, the order of the candidate kana character strings to be subjected to the collation processing is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to determine the order by the “ranking” described in the first embodiment. . That is, the matching unit 14 first performs a matching process on the candidate kana character string having the highest rank, and when the matching result is “match”, notifies the display unit control unit 7 of the matching result. In some cases, the matching process may be performed on a candidate kana character string having the next highest rank after the candidate kana character string.

In the above description, only the mode of displaying a kana character string has been exemplified. However, as shown in FIG. 13B, a configuration in which a kana character string and a kanji are registered in the word dictionary 15 in association with each other. If so, it goes without saying that not only the kana character string but also the kanji can be output to the display unit 13.

Further, the numeric / kana conversion device to which the present invention is applied is not limited to a device having no kana character key, such as a mobile phone. That is, for example, in a personal computer, the present invention may be applied only to numeric information among various input information.

Furthermore, here, the description has been given of the numeric / kana conversion device for converting numeric information into kana character information.
The present invention is not limited to this. That is, the present invention can be applied to a symbol character conversion device that converts symbol information such as numeric information into character information such as kana character information, European character information, and Korean character information. The information may be in a predetermined correspondence relationship, and these pieces of information may be determined according to the use and use form of the symbol / character conversion device.) Therefore, it goes without saying that the symbols engraved on the numeric keys 1a shown in FIG. 14 are not limited to numbers.

[0078]

As described above, according to the present invention, the key input is performed based on the correspondence between the semantically related numbers and the kana characters, so that the input operation can be easily learned. Further, such a correspondence can be freely customized.

Further, since the ranking and collation processing are performed on the candidate kana character strings, the desired kana character strings can be obtained efficiently.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic functional block diagram of a symbol / character conversion device (numeric / kana conversion device) according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic functional block diagram of a symbol / character conversion device (numeric / kana conversion device) according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the first embodiment (an operation example).

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a numeric kana correspondence table of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of candidate kana characters temporarily stored in a kana information temporary storage unit.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of ranking.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a connected character table.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of ranking in an operation example.

FIG. 9 is a state diagram of a display unit when a part of a candidate kana character string is corrected.

FIG. 10 is a state diagram of the display unit during customization.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a change content table.

FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram of a pseudonym information temporary storage unit at the time of customization.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a word dictionary.

FIG. 14 is a schematic external view of a main part of the numeral kana conversion device of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a relationship among P (S) · logP (S) · W (S).

FIG. 16 is a schematic external view of a main part of a conventional numeric / kana conversion device.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional numeric kana correspondence table.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input means 3 Judgment means 4 Conversion means 5 Ranking means 6 Table change means 8 Numeric information temporary storage means (symbol information temporary storage means) 9 Numeric kana correspondence table (symbol character correspondence table) 10 Kana information temporary storage means (character information Temporary storage unit) 11 Concatenated character table 13 Display unit 14 Matching unit 15 Word dictionary

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A symbol / character conversion apparatus for converting symbol information input from an input means into character information and outputting the character information to a display unit, comprising: a symbol string comprising at least one symbol; and at least one symbol string which can be associated with the symbol string. A symbol / character correspondence table storing a correspondence relationship with a character string composed of characters; and converting the symbol information input from the input means into at least one candidate character string based on the correspondence relationship stored in the symbol / character correspondence table. And a display control means for outputting the candidate character string converted by the conversion means to a display unit. 2. A concatenated character table storing information based on the appearance probability of a character string, and a ranking means for ranking a candidate character string to be output to a display unit based on the information stored in the concatenated character table. 2. The symbol / character conversion apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit control means outputs the candidate character string to the display unit based on the order determined by the ordering means. 3. A word dictionary for storing a plurality of character strings having a meaning, and matching means for matching a character string stored in the word dictionary with a candidate character string. The symbol character conversion device according to claim 1, wherein the candidate character string is output to a display unit based on a result of the comparison. 4. A change content table storing a correspondence relationship between a symbol string made up of at least one symbol and a character string made up of at least one character that can be associated with the symbol string, and a matter relating to a change in the correspondence relationship. The symbol / character conversion apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a table changing unit configured to reflect the correspondence stored in the change content table in the symbol / character correspondence table based on the matters related to the change. 5. The symbol / character conversion apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the symbol is a numeral, and the character is a kana character. 6. The symbol / character conversion apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the symbol is a numeral, and the character is a European character. 7. A symbol / character conversion method for converting symbol information input from an input means into character information based on a predetermined correspondence relation and outputting the converted character information to a display unit, comprising: converting a symbol string comprising at least one symbol into the symbol string; A symbol / character conversion method, wherein the symbol information is converted into at least one candidate character string by associating the symbol information with a character string composed of at least one character which can be associated more. 8. Information based on the appearance probability of a character string is stored in advance, and the order in which at least one candidate character string obtained by converting the symbol information is output to the display unit is determined according to the information based on the appearance probability. The symbol / character conversion method according to claim 7, which is determined. 9. A method in which a plurality of kana character strings having a meaning are stored in advance, and a candidate that matches one of the plurality of kana character strings among at least one candidate kana character string obtained by converting numerical information. 9. The symbol / character conversion method according to claim 7, wherein only the kana character string is output to the display unit. 10. A correspondence relation between a symbol string composed of at least one symbol and a character string composed of at least one character which can be associated with the symbol string, and a matter relating to a change in the correspondence relation, and the correspondence relation is stored. 10. The symbol / character conversion method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the conversion is performed with reference to the matters relating to the change. 11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the symbol is a numeral, and the character is a kana character. 12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the symbol is a numeral, and the character is a European character.