JP2007087016A - Display device and character string database redefinition method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten a time required for processing while enjoying the advantage of the use of a character string identifier. <P>SOLUTION: For example, when the definition content of a character string identifier [Term-C], that is, ["<term id="Term-A"/>] soft system" is redefined, the definition content is rewritten with ["<term id="Term-A">stock company</term>soft system"]. That is, "stock company" is inserted after the character string identifier ["<term id="Term-A">] of a partial character string as the content of the partial character string itself so that the character string can be redefined. Thus, it is not necessary for a control part 11 to hierarchically trace the definition content of the character string when displaying the character string by such redefinition. Therefore, it is possible to more shorten a time required for processing to display a user interface screen than a conventional manner. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for enabling the contents of a character string to be displayed in multiple languages.

  When a user intends to use an application provided by a computer, a so-called user interface screen is displayed on the computer. This user interface screen is usually a GUI (Graphical User Interface), and includes various menus and messages so that the user can easily perform various operations and instructions.

  When using an application expressed in a language other than the user's native language, the user is required to have a skill for understanding the displayed content, or translation work by a translator is required. Therefore, it is desirable that application developers develop an application program that can display a user interface screen in a desired language among a plurality of languages.

  When programming such an application program that supports multiple languages, from the standpoint of saving memory capacity and ease of switching from one language to another, the program related to display processing and the contents of the character string itself The program may be separated. Specifically, in a program related to the content of the character string itself, a language-independent character string identifier is assigned to each character string, and the character string can be specified by a combination of language type and character string identifier. Keep it. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the character string identifier “Term-A” is assigned to the character string “corporation”, and the character string identifier “Term-B” is assigned to the character string “limited company”. Yes. When a character string is displayed by a program related to display processing, a character string corresponding to the type of language set by the user and the character string identifier specified by the application is specified and displayed. Here, it is assumed that Japanese is specified as the language type. In this case, when the character string identifier “Term-A” is designated by the application, the character string “Corporation” corresponding to the character string identifier is displayed.

  In FIG. 2, the definition content of the character string assigned the character string identifier “Term-C” is ““ <term id = “Term-A” /> software system ””. Here, ““ <term id = “Term-A” /> ”means that the content of the character string to which the character string identifier“ Term-A ”is assigned is referred to and quoted. That is, the character string to which “Term-C” is assigned is a character string in which the character string to which the character string identifier “Term-A” is assigned and the character string “soft system” are combined. Since the character string to which the character string identifier “Term-A” is assigned is “corporation” as described above, the character string to which the character string identifier “Term-C” is assigned is System ".

  Furthermore, the definition content of the character string to which the character string identifier “Term-D” is assigned is ““ <term id = “Term-C” /> in the general affairs department ””. "" <Term id = "Term-C" /> "means that the character string identifier" Term-C "is referenced and quoted, so the character string identifier" Term- Referring to the definition contents of the character string “C”, it is ““ <term id = ”Term-A” /> software system ”. Therefore, referring to the definition of the character string to which the character string identifier “Term-A” is assigned, it is identified as “corporation”, and this character is assigned to the character string identifier “Term-C”. Cite it in the definition contents of the column to identify the character string “Soft System Co., Ltd.” Furthermore, this is combined with the character string “General Affairs Department Gochu” included in the definition of the character string of the character string identifier “Term-D”, and finally the character string “Soft System General Affairs Department Gochu” is obtained. Will get.

  When the contents of each character string are defined by the mechanism as described above, there is an advantage that the size of the storage area of the character string database can be reduced as compared with the case where the contents of all the character strings are stored one by one. . For example, even when a common character string is included in different character strings, and this common character string is a relatively long character string, the method shown in FIG. Since it is only necessary to use a character string identifier instead of a character string, the storage area to be used can be remarkably reduced.

It is also convenient when updating the contents of a character string. For example, when changing the notation “corporation” to “(stock)”, the contents of the character string assigned the character string identifier “Term-A” at the top of FIG. 2 are changed from “stock” to “(stock)”. Just change to. Because the character string to be referred (quoted) is specified by the character string identifier, such as "<term id =" Term-A "/> Soft system"", the character string of the reference destination must be updated. This is because all the reference source character strings are also updated. A method for defining this type of character string is also disclosed in Patent Document 1.
JP 2004-38650 A

  As shown in the example of FIG. 2, when displaying a character string assigned with the character string identifier “Term-D”, the character string assigned with the character string identifier “Term-C” is first quoted, and then The character string to be displayed can be obtained only after quoting the character string assigned the character string identifier “Term-A”. Therefore, there is a problem that a certain amount of time is required for the display processing. This is because the character string database is hierarchically referenced as “Term-D” character string → “Term-C” character string → “Term-A” character string. It is. In the example of FIG. 2, the maximum number of layers is three. However, in reality, the number of layers may be several tens, and an increase in processing time may be a bottleneck. In particular, a computer with a slow CPU processing speed or a low access speed to the storage unit may take a considerable amount of time to display the user interface screen.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described background, and its purpose is to reduce the time required for display processing compared with the conventional technique while enjoying the advantages of configuring a character string database using character string identifiers. It is to provide a technique that can be shortened.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention stores a character string database in which the contents of a character string are defined using a partial character string included in the character string or a character string identifier assigned to the partial character string. The storage means and the content of the character string corresponding to the designated character string identifier are specified by searching the character string database, and the user interface screen presented to the user is displayed on the display means using the specified character string. A display control means for displaying and a character string identifier assigned to the partial character string from a definition content of the character string satisfying a predetermined condition in the character string database, and a partial character string corresponding to the detected character string identifier The content of is identified by searching the character string database, and the identified partial character string is associated with the detected character string identifier. Redefinition means for redefining the content of the character string by describing it in the definition content of the character string database, and when the content of the partial character string is updated, the character string identifier assigned to the partial character string Rewriting means for rewriting a partial character string described in association with the extracted character string identifier to updated contents, and the display control means is designated. A display device characterized in that the content of a character string redefined with respect to the character string identifier is specified by searching the character string database, and the user interface screen is displayed on display means using the specified character string. I will provide a.

  According to the present invention, by redefining the definition content of the character string, the time required for the process of displaying the user interface screen can be shortened compared to the conventional case. That is, for character strings that satisfy a predetermined condition, the character string identifiers of the partial character strings are associated with the contents of the partial character strings without hierarchizing the character string definitions as in the past. When displaying, it is not necessary to follow the definition of the character string hierarchically. Therefore, the time required for the process of displaying the user interface screen can be shortened compared to the conventional method. Further, even when the content of the character string is updated, it is possible to cope with it by rewriting the character string in the character string database with the updated content. And since the above-mentioned redefinition is performed for the character string satisfying a predetermined condition among all the character strings registered in the character string database, the size of the storage area of the character string database can be increased. It can be suppressed as long as possible.

  In the present invention, the character string database is hierarchically configured so that the definition content of a certain character string can be referred to in the definition content of another character string, and the redefinition means has a predetermined number of layers. It is desirable to determine that the above character string is a character string that satisfies the predetermined condition, and perform the redefinition for the definition content of the character string. The character string database is hierarchically configured so that the definition content of a certain character string can be referred to in the definition content of another character string. In the redefinition means, the definition content of another character string It is desirable to determine that the character string of the definition content that is referred to by the reference number and the reference count is equal to or greater than the predetermined number is a character string that satisfies the predetermined condition, and redefine the definition content of the character string. . Further, in the redefinition means, it is determined that a character string in which the specified number of times specified for the display control means is a predetermined number or more is a character string satisfying the predetermined condition, and the definition content of the character string It is desirable to redefine the above.

  In addition, the present invention relates to a character executed by a display device that stores a character string database in which the content of a character string is defined using a partial character string included in the character string or a character string identifier assigned to the partial character string. A method of redefining a column database, the step of detecting a character string identifier assigned to the partial character string from definition contents of a character string satisfying a predetermined condition in the character string database, and corresponding to the detected character string identifier Identifying the content of the partial character string to be searched by searching the character string database, and describing the identified partial character string in the definition content of the character string database in association with the detected character string identifier. And a step of redefining the content of the character string.

Next, the best mode for carrying out the invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a display device 10 according to the present embodiment. The display device 10 is a device in which a database management program 12a, a character string database 12b, and an application program 12c are installed on a general-purpose computer, for example. These database management program 12a, character string database 12b, and application program 12c are stored in the storage unit 12 such as a hard disk. The control unit 11 is, for example, a CPU, and executes a program stored in the storage unit 12. The display unit 13 is, for example, a liquid crystal display or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube). The control unit 11 generates user interface screen data presented to the user while referring to the contents of the character string database 12b according to the procedure described in the application program 12c, and causes the display unit 13 to display the user interface screen. The control unit 11 executes the database management program 12a to manage the contents of the character string database 12b (details will be described later). In this embodiment, an address book management program that manages various types of contacts is assumed as the application program 12c. Therefore, the character string meaning various contacts as shown in FIG. 2 is defined by the character string database 12b.

  Since the example of FIG. 2 has already been described, redundant description is avoided. Note that the record “character string identifier” and the record “definition contents” in FIG. 2 are included in the character string database 12b, but the record “character string to be displayed” is actually included in the character string database 12b. Absent. The control unit 11 specifies the content of the character string corresponding to the character string identifier specified by the application program 12c by searching the character string database 12b, and the user presented to the user using the specified character string. The interface screen is displayed on the display unit 13. That is, the “character string to be displayed” in FIG. 2 is a character string specified by the control unit 11 by referring to the “character string identifier” and the “definition contents” in the character string database 12b. It is displayed on the display unit 13.

  For example, the definition content of a character string to which the character string identifier “Term-C” is assigned is ““ <term id = “Term-A” /> software system ””. As described above, this means a combination of the character string assigned the character string identifier “Term-A” and the character string “soft system”. In the present embodiment, in order to make the explanation easy to understand, “another character string described in the definition content of a certain character string” is referred to as a “partial character string”. For example, in the case of a character string to which the character string identifier “Term-C” is assigned, the partial character strings are a character string to which the character string identifier “Term-A” is assigned and a character string “soft system”. Therefore, it can be said that the character string database 12b defines the contents of the character string using the partial character string included in the character string or the character string identifier assigned to the partial character string. FIG. 2 is an example in which the character string database 12b is described in XML (eXtensible Markup Language).

The control unit 11 redefines the contents of the character string database 12b as necessary.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which the contents of FIG. 2 are redefined. For example, if you redefine the definition content ""<term id = "Term-A"/> software system "" for the string identifier "Term-C", the definition content will be ""<term id = "Term-A"> Inc. </ Term> Soft system "". In other words, the character string is redefined by inserting the character string identifier ""<term id = "Term-A">"after the character string identifier of the partial character string, and then" corporation "as the content of the partial character string itself. That is why. Also, if you redefine the definition of the character string identifier "Term-D"""<term id = "Term-C"/> General Affairs Department "", the definition will be ""<term id = "Term-C It will be rewritten as "> Soft System Co., Ltd. </ Term> General Affairs Department Onaka"". In other words, redefinition is made by inserting “Short System Co., Ltd.” which is the content of the partial character string after the character string identifier “"<term id = "Term-C"> ”of the partial character string. . The same applies to the definition contents of the character string identifier “Term-E” and the character string identifier “Term-F”. However, the definition contents of the character string identifier “Term-A” and the character string identifier “Term-B” that do not quote other character strings are not redefined.

  In order to perform such redefinition, the control unit 11 firstly determines a character string identifier (for example, "" <term id = "Term" assigned to the partial character string from the definition contents of each character string in the character string database 12b. -A "/>" "Term-A"). Next, the control unit 11 specifies the content of the partial character string corresponding to the detected character string identifier “Term-A” (here “corporation”) by searching the character string database 12b. Then, the control unit 11 inserts the specified partial character string “corporation” after the already detected character string identifier “Term-A” and associates them with the definition contents of the character string database. As a result, the redefined content becomes "" <term id = "Term-A"> corporation </ term> software system "".

  By performing such redefinition, the time required for the process of displaying the user interface screen can be shortened compared to the conventional case. That is, conventionally, the content of a character string is represented by a character string identifier of a partial character string, and the content of the partial character string is represented by a character string identifier of another partial character string, and so on. Since the definition of was hierarchical, it took time to trace the hierarchy and identify the contents of the substring. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, since the definition of the character string is not hierarchized, in addition to the character string identifier of the partial character string, the content itself of the partial character string is also written. When displaying a character string, it is not necessary to follow the definition of the character string hierarchically. That is, the control unit 11 can immediately specify the contents of the character string redefined for the designated character string identifier by searching the character string database 12b. Therefore, the time required for the process of displaying the user interface screen can be shortened compared to the conventional method.

  When the contents of the character string are updated, the procedure is as follows. For example, when the notation “corporation” in FIG. 3 is changed to “(stock)”, the control unit 11 first displays the contents of the character string to which the character string identifier “Term-A” at the top of FIG. Change from “Co., Ltd.” to “Co., Ltd.” Next, the control unit 11 extracts all the character string identifiers “Term-A” assigned to the character string “(stock)” from the character string definition contents (redefinition contents) of the character string database 12b. Then, the control unit 11 rewrites all of the partial character string “corporation” described in association with the extracted character string identifier to the updated content “(stock)”. Such a character string update process is not often required to be as immediate as the interface screen display process described above, so even if it takes a little more time than before, there is no problem.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the display process of the user interface screen can be executed quickly, and the update process of the character string can also be executed smoothly. However, if the contents of the character string are redefined, the character string itself must be described in the “definition contents” record of the character string database 12b. For example, the character string to which the character string identifier “Term-C” in FIG. 3 is assigned is “Soft System Co., Ltd.”, but its definition content (redefinition content) is “" <term id = "Term-A" > Inc. </ Term> Soft system "". That is, the redefinition contents include all the contents of the character string “SOFT SYSTEM Co., Ltd.”. Conventionally, by defining a character string using a character string identifier, the size of the storage area to be used can be reduced as compared with the case where the contents of all the character strings are stored one by one. It was an advantage. On the other hand, if the contents of the character string are all described in the “definition contents” record as in the present embodiment, it is impossible to reduce the size of the storage area as in the prior art.

  Therefore, the control unit 11 performs the redefinition as described above only for a character string that satisfies a predetermined condition. The character string satisfying the predetermined condition is, in short, a character string that needs to be redefined, for example, a character string such as (1) to (3) described below. The control unit 11 does not need to redefine the character strings that do not correspond to (1) to (3), but even if they correspond to (1) to (3), the character string that corresponds to (4). Should not be redefined. The reason will be described later. Note that, as described above, the definition contents of character strings that do not quote other character strings are not redefined even if they correspond to the following (1) to (3). This is because it is meaningless to redefine a character string that does not quote another character string (for example, a character string identifier “Term-A” or a character string identifier “Term-B” in FIG. 3).

Hereinafter, the character string to be redefined will be specifically described.
(1) The definition content of the character string is hierarchical, and a character string whose number of hierarchies is a predetermined number or more is redefined.
For example, if the predetermined number is “3”, the character string with the character string identifier “Term-D” and the character string with the character string identifier “Term-E” shown in FIG. The part 11 redefines these character strings. Since it takes time to trace the definition of the character string hierarchically, if the character string with a relatively large number of layers is not re-defined by redefining it, the time required for display processing will be reduced. It can be shortened.

(2) A character string that is referenced (quoted) by definition of another character string and whose number of references (quoted number) is a predetermined number or more is redefined.
For example, the predetermined number is “2”. The character string of the character string identifier “Term-C” shown in FIG. 5 is referenced from the definition contents of the character string of the character string identifier “Term-D” and the character string of the character string identifier “Term-E”. The number is “2”. Therefore, the control unit 11 redefines this character string. By redefining a character string with a large number of references, if the content of the character string itself is described in a “definition content” record, the control unit 11 traces the definition content of the character string hierarchically. This saves time and contributes to shortening the display process.

(3) A character string in which the number of times specified as a display target by the application program is a predetermined number or more is redefined.
For example, the predetermined number is “5”. The character string of the character string identifier “Term-D” shown in FIG. 6 has the designated number of times “5”, so the control unit 11 redefines this character string. A character string with a large number of times of designation as a display target means that the number of times of display is large. Therefore, if such a character string having a large number of display times is redefined, the control unit 11 can save time and labor to trace the definition contents of the character string hierarchically, which contributes to shortening of display processing. .

(4) A character string that references (quotes) the definition of another character string, and if the number of times the definition content of the reference destination character string has been updated is a predetermined number or more, the character being referred to Cancels column redefinition. The predetermined number here may be the number of updates during a certain period (frequency per unit period) or may be the total number of updates that does not depend on the period.
For example, the predetermined number of update times is “10”. The character string “corporation” of the character string identifier “Term-A” shown in FIG. Such a character string “corporation” is often updated to “(share)”, “(cube)”, or “(f)” as necessary. . That is, this type of character string is frequently updated. In this case, the character string that references (quotes) the definition of this character string is the character string identifier “Term-C”, the character string identifier “Term-D”, and the character string identifier “Term-E”. is there. When these character strings are redefined, the control unit 11 stops the redefinition and returns to the original definition content. This is because every time the character string of the character string identifier “Term-A” is updated, the control unit 11 searches the character string database 12b to extract partial character strings, and all of them are updated to the updated contents all at once. This is because rewriting is necessary. In such a case, if the redefinition is stopped, the control unit 11 does not need to spend time on the update process of the character string.

  The timing at which the control unit 11 executes the redefinition processing as described above is when the display device 10 has enough processing (when the processing load on the control unit 11 is low) or when necessary (from the application program) Preferably when a column identifier is specified.

  According to the embodiment described above, by redefining the definition content of the character string, the time required for the process of displaying the user interface screen can be shortened compared to the conventional case. That is, since the definition of the character string is not hierarchized as in the prior art, in addition to the character string identifier of the partial character string, the contents of the partial character string itself are written together. Since it is not necessary to follow the definition of the character string hierarchically when displaying, the time required for the process of displaying the user interface screen can be shortened compared to the conventional case. Even when the content of the character string is updated, the control unit 11 can cope with the problem by rewriting the character string in the character string database 12b with the updated content. Furthermore, since the control unit 11 performs the redefinition as described above only for a necessary character string, an increase in the storage area of the character string database 12b can be suppressed as much as possible.

  The character string database 12b and the application program 12c shown in FIG. 3 are intended for address book management, but are not limited to this. The above-described embodiment can be applied to any computer that can display a user interface screen. For example, it may be a multi-function machine equipped with a printer, a scanner, or the like.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the display apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the content of a character string database. It is a figure which shows an example of redefinition in a character string database. It is a figure which shows an example of redefinition in a character string database. It is a figure which shows an example of redefinition in a character string database. It is a figure which shows an example of redefinition in a character string database. It is a figure which shows the example which cancels redefinition in a character string database.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Display apparatus, 11 ... Control part, 12 ... Memory | storage part, 12b ... Character string database, 13 ... Display part, 14 ... Operation part.

Claims (5)

Storage means for storing a character string database in which the content of a character string is defined using a partial character string included in the character string or a character string identifier assigned to the partial character string;
Display control for specifying the content of the character string corresponding to the specified character string identifier by searching the character string database and displaying the user interface screen presented to the user on the display means using the specified character string Means,
A character string identifier assigned to the partial character string is detected from the definition content of the character string satisfying a predetermined condition in the character string database, and the content of the partial character string corresponding to the detected character string identifier is detected in the character string database. Redefinition means for redefining the content of the character string by describing the specified partial character string in association with the detected character string identifier and describing it in the definition content of the character string database When,
When the content of the partial character string is updated, the character string identifier assigned to the partial character string is extracted from the redefined character string database, and the portion described in association with the extracted character string identifier Rewriting means for rewriting the character string with the updated content,
The display control means specifies the contents of the character string redefined for the specified character string identifier by searching the character string database, and displays the user interface screen on the display means using the specified character string. And a display device. The character string database is hierarchically configured so that the definition content of a certain character string can be referred to in the definition content of another character string,
The redefinition means determines that a character string having a number of hierarchies equal to or greater than a predetermined number is a character string satisfying the predetermined condition, and performs the redefinition for the definition content of the character string. Item 4. The display device according to Item 1. The character string database is hierarchically configured so that the definition content of a certain character string can be referred to in the definition content of another character string,
In the redefinition means, it is determined that the character string of the definition content that is referred to by the definition content of another character string and the number of times of reference is a predetermined number or more is a character string that satisfies the predetermined condition, The display device according to claim 1, wherein the redefinition is performed on the definition content of the character string.   In the redefinition means, it is determined that a character string having a specified number of times specified to the display control means is a predetermined number or more is a character string satisfying the predetermined condition, and the definition content of the character string is described above. The display device according to claim 1, wherein redefinition is performed. A character string database redefinition method executed by a display device that stores a character string database defined by using a partial character string included in the character string or a character string identifier assigned to the partial character string. There,
Detecting the character string identifier assigned to the partial character string from the definition content of the character string satisfying a predetermined condition in the character string database;
Identifying the content of the partial string corresponding to the detected string identifier by searching the string database;
Redefining the content of the character string by associating the identified partial character string with the detected character string identifier and describing it in the definition content of the character string database. Database redefinition method.

Images