JP2008282209A - Information input device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that it is impossible to provide any unified information input environment in a plurality of applications in a conventional information input device. <P>SOLUTION: This information input device is provided with an information input accepting part for accepting the input of information; an information output part for outputting the accepted information to a predetermined frame; a sending instruction accepting part for accepting the input of a sending instruction as an instruction to transfer the input information; and an information transferring part for, when the sending instruction is accepted by the sending instruction accepting part, transferring the information accepted by the information accepting part to a focus position as the focused position of the input object application. Thus, it is possible to provide an unified information input environment. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information input device for inputting information to an application or the like.

In a conventional information input device, there is a device that easily starts applications of a plurality of different systems on an integrated platform on one terminal device. Such an apparatus includes a portable mobile computer and includes an information processing unit, an information display unit, an information input unit, an information storage unit, a wireless communication I / F, and an application detection file storage unit. In the information processing section, a device centralized control application, a cost calculation application, a surgery history application, and a network connection application can be activated. The information processing unit includes an application detection unit that detects application software to be activated. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-80094 (first page, FIG. 1 etc.)

  However, in the conventional information input device, the information input in one input frame could not be taken into different types of applications, so that a unified information input environment cannot be provided in a plurality of applications. There was a problem.

  Specifically, the input fields of different types of applications have different sizes and designs, but the user must move the cursor to each of these different input fields and enter the information. It wasn't an environment.

  The information input device according to the first aspect of the present invention includes an information input receiving unit that receives input of information, an information output unit that outputs the received information within a predetermined frame, and an input that is an application to which information is input. A sending instruction receiving unit that receives an input of a sending instruction that is an instruction to pass the input information to the target application; and when the sending instruction receiving unit receives a sending instruction, the target application is in a focused position. The information input device includes an information delivery unit that passes information received by the information input reception unit to a certain focus position.

  With this configuration, a unified information input environment can be provided. That means you can always use your own interface.

  The information input device according to the second aspect of the present invention selects one input target candidate application from among the input target candidate applications that are two or more input target application candidates as the input target application. The information input device further includes a selection instruction receiving unit that receives a selection instruction that is an instruction to perform, and uses the input target candidate application selected by the selection instruction as the input target application.

  With this configuration, it is possible to input information from two or more active applications to the application selected by the user in a unified information input environment.

  The information input device according to the third aspect of the present invention is the information input device according to any one of the first and second aspects, wherein the information transfer unit outputs the information to the input target application and then outputs the information within the predetermined frame. The information input device further includes an information deleting unit that deletes the stored information from the frame.

  Such a configuration enables continuous information input.

  The information input device according to the fourth aspect of the present invention provides a boot application information acquisition unit that acquires two or more pieces of start application information, which is information related to a start application, and the two or more start-ups. It further comprises a selection information output unit that configures and outputs selection information of the input target application using the application information, and the selection instruction receiving unit is an instruction input using the selection information, and includes one input The information input device accepts a selection instruction that is an instruction to select a target application.

  With such a configuration, the information input device can automatically become an input interface of a running application. Further, only the activated application can be an input target application.

  Further, the information input device of the fifth aspect of the invention converts the information received by the information input receiving unit into information corresponding to the input target application, and converts the information received from the first to fourth aspects of the invention. An information conversion unit that acquires post-information is further provided, and the information transfer unit transfers post-conversion information obtained by conversion by the information conversion unit to a focus position that is a focused position of the input target application. It is an information input device.

  With this configuration, it is possible to absorb the difference between the information to be input and the information requested by the application.

  Further, in the information input device of the sixth invention, in contrast to the fifth invention, the information conversion unit pairs the input target application identifier for identifying the input target application and the conversion means identifier for identifying the conversion means. One or more conversion means selection information is stored, a conversion means identifier corresponding to the current input target application is acquired, and the information input receiving unit receives the conversion means identified by the conversion means identifier. It is an information input device that gives information and obtains post-conversion information.

  With this configuration, the user can use a common input interface in a plurality of applications without being aware of the input target application.

  Further, in the information input device of the seventh invention, the information received by the information input accepting unit is a sentence in a source language with respect to any of the fifth and sixth inventions, This is an information input device that machine-translates a source language sentence and obtains a target language sentence as post-conversion information.

  With this configuration, an application that supports one language can be made compatible with multiple languages.

  The information input device according to the eighth aspect of the invention is an information input device according to the seventh aspect, wherein the input target application is an electronic bulletin board system or a chat system.

  With this configuration, a communication tool that supports one language can be made compatible with multiple languages.

  The information input device according to the present invention can provide a unified information input environment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of an information input device and the like will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, since the component which attached | subjected the same code | symbol in embodiment performs the same operation | movement, description may be abbreviate | omitted again.

  (Embodiment 1)

  In the present embodiment, an input tool for one or more applications, in which information is input to a predetermined area of the application, will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an information input device according to the present embodiment.

  The information input device includes an application storage unit 101, a reception unit 102, an application activation unit 103, an application operation unit 104, and the input tool 1. The input tool 1 includes an information input receiving unit 105, an information output unit 106, a sending instruction receiving unit 107, an information delivery unit 108, a startup application information acquisition unit 109, a selection information output unit 110, a selection instruction receiving unit 111, and an information deletion unit 112. It comprises.

  The application storage unit 101 stores one or more applications. The application may be anything such as a communication system such as an electronic bulletin board system or a chat system, an editor, and DB software. The application also includes an input tool 1. The application is usually realized by software. The application storage unit 101 is preferably a nonvolatile recording medium such as a hard disk or a ROM, but can also be realized by a volatile recording medium such as a RAM.

  The accepting unit 102 accepts various instructions. The instructions include, for example, an application activation instruction, a focus movement instruction, a focus instruction, and an input tool 1 activation instruction. The instruction input means may be anything such as a numeric keypad, a keyboard, a mouse, or a menu screen. The receiving unit 102 can be realized by a device driver for input means such as a numeric keypad or a keyboard, control software for a menu screen, and the like.

  The application activation unit 103 reads and activates the application from the application storage unit 101 in accordance with the instruction received by the reception unit 102. The application activation unit 103 can be usually realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the application activation unit 103 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The application operation unit 104 operates a running application in response to an instruction received by the receiving unit 102. The application operation unit 104 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the application operation unit 104 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The information input receiving unit 105 receives input of information. Information input is input of information for a predetermined application. Information is usually a text string. However, the information may be a still image or a moving image. The information input means may be anything such as a numeric keypad, keyboard, mouse or menu screen. The information input receiving unit 105 can be realized by a device driver for input means such as a numeric keypad or a keyboard, control software for a menu screen, or the like.

  The information output unit 106 outputs the information received by the information input receiving unit 105 within a predetermined frame. A frame is a window, a field, or the like. The predetermined frame is an input area of the input tool 1. The input tool 1 is normally activated separately from the application referred to in the present embodiment. It can be said that the input tool 1 is also a so-called application. Here, the output is a display on a display. The information output unit 106 may be considered to include a display device or not. The information output unit 106 may be realized by display device driver software, or display device driver software and a display device.

  The sending instruction receiving unit 107 receives an input of a sending instruction. The sending instruction is an instruction to pass input information to an input target application that is an application for inputting information. The sending instruction input means may be anything such as a button pressed by a mouse or a menu screen. The sending instruction receiving unit 107 can be realized by a device driver for input means such as a mouse or a keyboard, control software for a menu screen, or the like.

  When the delivery instruction accepting unit 107 accepts the delivery instruction, the information delivery unit 108 passes the information accepted by the information input accepting unit 105 to the focus position that is the focused position of the input target application. The information delivery unit 108 copies, for example, so-called information input to the clipboard (information output by the information output unit 106). Then, the information delivery unit 108 pastes the copied information on the clipboard at the focus position that is the focused position of the input target application.

  For example, the information delivery unit 108 first acquires the information received by the information input reception unit 105. Next, the information delivery unit 108 copies the acquired information to the clipboard. Then, the information delivery unit 108 brings the window of the input target application to the foreground (performs window control to bring the window to the forefront). Next, the information delivery unit 108 pastes clipboard information at the focus position of the input target application. Further, the information delivery unit 108 brings the window of the input tool 1 to the foreground.

  The information delivery unit 108 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the information delivery unit 108 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The start application information acquisition unit 109 acquires two or more start application information that is information related to the application being started. The startup application information acquisition unit 109 can be realized, for example, by obtaining information related to a running application from the OS. Such processing is a known technique. The activated application information includes, for example, an application identifier that is information for identifying an application, an application ID (such as a task ID), and an icon for identifying the application. The startup application information acquisition unit 109 can be realized by, for example, the same function as the OS task manager. The startup application information acquisition unit 109 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the startup application information acquisition unit 109 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The selection information output unit 110 configures and outputs input target application selection information using two or more pieces of startup application information. The selection information includes, for example, a button for selecting an input target application from a running application, a menu for selecting the input target application, and the like. The selection information output unit 110 may output the selection information in a window of the input tool 1 or in an area different from the input tool 1 (another window or the like). Here, the output is a display on a display. The selection information output unit 110 may or may not include a display device. The selection information output unit 110 may be realized by display device driver software, or display device driver software and a display device.

  The selection instruction receiving unit 111 receives a selection instruction. The selection instruction is an instruction to select one input target candidate application among the input target candidate applications that are two or more input target application candidates as the input target application. The selection instruction is preferably an instruction for the selection information output by the selection information output unit 110. The selection instruction may be an instruction to select a window in which the input target candidate application is displayed. The selection instruction input means may be anything such as a numeric keypad, a keyboard, a mouse, or a menu screen. The selection instruction receiving unit 111 can be realized by a device driver for input means such as a numeric keypad or a keyboard, control software for a menu screen, or the like.

  The information deletion unit 112 deletes information output within a predetermined frame after the information transfer unit 108 has passed the information to the input target application. The information deletion unit 112 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the information deleting unit 112 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The input tool 1 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the information deleting unit 112 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  Next, the operation of the information input device will be described using the flowchart of FIG. It is assumed that the receiving unit 102 receives start instructions for some applications, and the application starting unit 103 is starting some applications. Here, a process in which information input from the input tool 1 is passed to the input target application will be described. Some applications are input target candidate applications.

  (Step S <b> 201) The receiving unit 102 determines whether an activation instruction for the input tool 1 has been received. If the activation instruction for the input tool 1 is accepted, the process proceeds to step S202. If the activation instruction for the input tool 1 is not accepted, the process proceeds to step S205.

  (Step S202) The start application information acquisition unit 109 acquires one or more start application information that is information related to the application being started.

  (Step S203) The selection information output unit 110 configures and outputs selection information of the input target candidate application using the one or more startup application information acquired in Step S202.

  (Step S204) The application activation unit 103 activates the input tool 1. As a result, a window including a field having an input / output text area is displayed. In this window, for example, selection information (for example, a set of buttons for selecting one or more applications) is also displayed.

  (Step S205) The selection instruction receiving unit 111 determines whether an application selection instruction has been received. If a selection instruction is accepted, the process proceeds to step S206, and if a selection instruction is not accepted, the process returns to step S201.

  (Step S206) One application indicated by the selection instruction is selected by means not shown. The application selection is, for example, a window control process in which the window of the selected application is placed next to the foreground. This window control process is, for example, a process of rewriting information in a management table for performing window management so that the window of the application is placed next to the front. The application selection is, for example, a process of rewriting the value of the buffer that manages the selected application.

  (Step S207) The information input receiving unit 105 determines whether information has been received. If the information is accepted, the process goes to step S208. If the information is not accepted, the process returns to step S207.

  (Step S208) The information input receiving unit 105 adds the received information to the buffer. This buffer is a buffer that holds input information. The information output unit 106 outputs the information in the buffer to a predetermined area (field) of the input information. An example of the predetermined area is appropriately referred to as an input text area.

  (Step S209) The sending instruction receiving unit 107 determines whether or not an input of a sending instruction has been received (whether or not information to be input has been confirmed). If the input of the sending instruction is accepted, the process goes to step S210, and if the sending instruction is not accepted, the process returns to step S207.

  (Step S210) The information delivery unit 108 receives the information input reception unit 105 and acquires information existing in the buffer.

  (Step S211) The information delivery unit 108 brings the input target application window to the forefront. The process of bringing a certain window to the foreground is a window control technique and is a known technique.

  (Step S212) The information delivery unit 108 copies the information acquired in step S210 to the clipboard.

  (Step S213) The information delivery unit 108 pastes information on the clipboard at the focus position of the input target application.

  (Step S214) The information delivery unit 108 brings the window of the input tool 1 to the forefront.

  (Step S215) The information deleting unit 112 deletes information (information in the buffer) output in the frame from the frame. The process returns to step S201.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 2, the process is terminated by powering off or a process termination interrupt.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 2, information is passed to the focus position of the input target application via the clipboard. However, this processing is an example, and information may be passed directly to the focus position of the input target application. Needless to say.

  Furthermore, although the selection information is configured and output in the flowchart of FIG. 2, such processing is not essential. The user may select the input target application by another method (for example, instructing a window of the input target application).

  Hereinafter, a specific operation of the information input device in the present embodiment will be described.

  Now, assume that the application storage unit 101 stores a large number of application software. Then, it is assumed that the user has activated two applications “DB input” and “questionnaire”. That is, it is assumed that the reception unit 102 has received an activation instruction for the application “DB input” and the application “questionnaire”. Then, the application activation unit 103 activates “DB input” and “questionnaire”. FIG. 3 shows a screen after the activation of the two applications.

  Next, the user inputs an activation instruction for the input tool 1. Then, the accepting unit 102 accepts an activation instruction for the input tool 1.

  Next, the start application information acquisition unit 109 acquires start application information that is information related to the active application shown in FIG. Here, the activated application information includes an application icon and an activated application identifier (activated application identifier).

  Next, the selection information output unit 110 configures selection information of the input target application using the acquired activation application information of FIG. The selection information is a button for selecting an application shown in FIG. The selection information is a button group (switch group) in which character strings “DB input” and “questionnaire” on the right side of the input tool in FIG. 5 are displayed. Assume that one button group (switch group) is selected.

  Next, the application activation unit 103 activates the input tool 1 as shown in FIG. The window in which the input tool 1 is activated has selection information (a button for selection).

  Next, the user inputs a selection instruction for selecting the “DB input” application. Then, the selection instruction receiving unit 111 receives a selection instruction for the application “DB input”.

  Next, a means (not shown) stores information specifying the application “DB input” indicated by the selection instruction in a predetermined buffer. Here, the input target application is determined to be “DB input”. Here, in the input target application “DB input”, it is assumed that the focus position exists at the head position of the field “name”.

  Next, it is assumed that the user inputs his / her name “Taro Yamada” in the input text area of the input tool 1.

  Next, the information input receiving unit 105 receives information “Taro Yamada”. Then, the information input receiving unit 105 adds “Taro Yamada” to the buffer as the received information. Here, information “Taro Yamada” exists in the buffer.

  Next, it is assumed that the user presses the “confirm” button of the input tool 1 (see FIG. 6). Then, the sending instruction receiving unit 107 receives an input of a sending instruction. Information to be passed to the application “DB input” is confirmed.

  Next, the information delivery unit 108 receives the information “Taro Yamada” received by the information input receiving unit 105 and existing in the buffer.

  Next, the information delivery unit 108 brings the input target application “DB input” window to the forefront.

  Next, the information delivery unit 108 copies the acquired information “Taro Yamada” to the clipboard.

  Then, the information delivery unit 108 pastes the clipboard information “Taro Yamada” at the focus position of the input target application “DB input” (the top position of the field “name”).

  Next, the information delivery unit 108 brings the window of the input tool 1 to the forefront. Then, the information deletion unit 112 deletes the information (information in the buffer) output in the frame from the frame (see FIG. 7).

  In addition, the user can input information by inputting a selection instruction for selecting the application “questionnaire” and similarly inputting information using the input tool 1.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a unified information input environment can be provided. That means you can always use your own interface.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, information input can be performed in a unified information input environment with respect to an application selected by the user from two or more active applications.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, after the information is passed to the input target application, the information output in the predetermined frame is deleted from the frame, so that continuous information input is possible.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the startup application information related to the active application is acquired, and the selection information of the input target application is configured using the startup application information, so that only the active application is the input target Application.

  In the present embodiment, the user can input information using a unified information input environment (input tool) while appropriately switching the input target application. The input target application can be switched by switching selection of selection information.

  Furthermore, the processing in the present embodiment may be realized by software. Then, this software may be distributed by software download or the like. Further, this software may be recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM and distributed. This also applies to other embodiments in this specification. Note that the software that implements the information input device according to the present embodiment is the following program. That is, this program includes an information input receiving step for receiving information input to a computer, an information output step for outputting the received information within a predetermined frame, and an input target application that is an application for inputting information. A sending instruction receiving step for receiving an input of a sending instruction that is an instruction to pass the inputted information, and a focus that is a focused position of the input target application when the sending instruction is received in the sending instruction receiving step. A program for executing an information delivery step of passing information received in the information input reception step to a position.

  In addition, the program receives a selection instruction reception step for receiving a selection instruction that is an instruction to select one input target candidate application among the input target candidate applications that are two or more input target application candidates as an input target application. Is a program for causing the input target candidate application selected by the selection instruction to be the input target application.

  In addition, the program further executes an information deletion step of deleting the information output in the predetermined frame from the frame after passing the information to the computer in the transfer step to the computer. It is a program to make it.

  Further, the program uses a startup application information acquisition step for acquiring two or more startup application information, which is information related to an application being started, on the computer, and input target application selection information using the two or more startup application information. Is a program for further executing a selection information configuration step that configures the selection information, wherein the selection instruction receiving step is an instruction that is input using the selection information, and is an instruction that selects one input target application A program that accepts instructions.

  (Embodiment 2)

  In the present embodiment, an input tool for one or more applications, in which information is input to a predetermined area of the application, will be described. The input tool automatically performs information conversion according to the application. The information conversion is, for example, machine translation or code conversion. Code conversion is, for example, processing for converting text data into HTML, XML, or the like.

  FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the information input device in this embodiment.

  The information input device includes an application storage unit 101, a reception unit 102, an application activation unit 103, an application operation unit 104, and the input tool 2. The input tool 2 includes an information input reception unit 105, an information conversion unit 801, an information output unit 806, a delivery instruction reception unit 107, an information delivery unit 108, a startup application information acquisition unit 109, a selection information output unit 110, and a selection instruction reception unit 111. The information deletion unit 112 is provided.

  The information conversion unit 801 converts the information received by the information input reception unit 105 into information corresponding to the input target application. For example, the information conversion unit 801 machine-translates a source language sentence and obtains a target language sentence as post-conversion information. Here, the input target application is an application to which information is input. The input target application is, for example, an electronic bulletin board system or a chat system. For example, the information conversion unit 801 holds conversion means for converting information for each application, and obtains post-conversion information by switching the conversion means according to the type of input target application. In such a case, the information conversion unit 801 stores one or more pieces of conversion means selection information having a pair of an application identifier and a conversion means identifier. Then, the information conversion unit 801 acquires a conversion unit identifier corresponding to the current input target application, gives the information received by the information input reception unit 105 to the conversion unit identified by the conversion unit identifier, and converts the conversion unit identifier. Get back information. The conversion means is, for example, a means for performing Japanese-English machine translation, a means for converting a character code, or the like. The means for converting the character code includes, for example, a means for converting an EUC code to an SJIS code, a means for converting text into tagged data such as XML, and the like. The information conversion unit 801 can be usually realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the information conversion unit 801 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The information output unit 806 outputs the received information within a predetermined frame (for example, an input text area). Further, the information output unit 806 outputs post-conversion information obtained by converting information by the information conversion unit 801 within a predetermined frame (for example, an output text area). The received information and the converted information are preferably output to different areas, but may be output to the same area. Here, the output is a display on a display. The information output unit 806 may or may not include a display device. The information output unit 806 can be realized by display device driver software or display device driver software and a display device.

  Next, the operation of the information input device will be described using the flowchart of FIG. In the flowchart of FIG. 9, the description of the same processing as that of the flowchart of FIG. 2 is omitted.

  (Step S901) The information conversion unit 801 converts the information received by the information input reception unit 105 into information corresponding to the input target application. For example, the information conversion unit 801 obtains information for identifying the input target application, gives information to the conversion unit corresponding to the identification information, executes the conversion unit, and obtains post-conversion information. .

  (Step S902) The information output unit 806 outputs the post-conversion information obtained in step S901 within a predetermined frame (for example, an output text area).

  (Step S903) The sending instruction receiving unit 107 determines whether or not a sending instruction has been received. If the input of the sending instruction is accepted, the process goes to step S210, and if the sending instruction is not accepted, the process returns to step S207. Here, the information to be passed to the input target application is determined by accepting the sending instruction.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 9, the process is terminated by power-off or a process termination interrupt.

  Hereinafter, a specific operation of the information input device in the present embodiment will be described.

  Now, the chat system “Chat” and the BBS system “BBS” are activated when the user activates the applications “Chat” and “BBS” by the same operation as described in the specific example of the first embodiment. Suppose that Further, it is assumed that the input tool 2 is activated by activating the input tool 2. A screen example in such a case is shown in FIG. Here, the input tool 2 is an input tool having a function of performing Japanese-English translation. In other words, the information conversion unit 801 of the information input device machine translates the Japanese information (usually Japanese text) received by the information input receiving unit 105 into English (usually English text). It is assumed that the applications “Chat” and “BBS” are not compatible with Japanese and are applications for English.

  In FIG. 10, the application identifier of the input tool is “translation input system”. 10 has an input text area (input field) for inputting a Japanese sentence and an output text area (output field) for outputting an English sentence. When the user inputs a Japanese sentence in the input text area, the information conversion unit 801 translates the Japanese sentence into an English sentence by the machine translation function, and displays the translation result in the output text area. When the user sees the display result and thinks that the display result (translation) is acceptable, the user presses the “confirm” button. Here, it is assumed that the translation result can be corrected by the user. In addition, the timing which starts a machine translation function is not ask | required. The machine translation function may be activated by automatically detecting the completion of sentence input, or the machine translation function may be activated by a user instruction. Hereinafter, this operation will be described in detail.

  Assume that American William and Japanese Ichiro Tanaka have a chat system. First, as illustrated in FIG. 10, it is assumed that William has input “Hello! This is William....” To the application “Chat” from his / her own information processing apparatus in the United States. Then, the English text “Hello! This is William....” Input by William is displayed on the application “Chat” of the information input device of Ichiro Tanaka in Japan.

  Then, in English, "Hello! This is William. ···" Ichiro Tanaka, who saw it, to input text area of the input tool 2, the reply "Hello. I am Ichiro Tanaka. ..." the input. The input text area of the input tool 2 is a field immediately below the character string “Japanese sentence”. The output input text area is a field immediately below the character string “English”.

  Next, the information input receiving unit 105, information "Hello. I am Ichiro Tanaka. ..." accepts a.

  Next, the information input receiving unit 105, the received information "Hello. I am Ichiro Tanaka. ..." and, to append to the buffer. Then, the information output unit 106, the information "Hello. I am Ichiro Tanaka. ..." within the buffer, and outputs to the input text area.

  Next, the information conversion unit 801, information "Hello. I am Ichiro Tanaka. ..." the information input receiving unit 105 has accepted the, and machine translation in English, information "Hello. I am Ichiro Tanaka. "..." Then, the information output unit 806 outputs the obtained post-conversion information “Hello. I am Ichiro Tanaka....” To the output text area. This state is shown in FIG.

  Next, the user looks at the English text displayed in the output text area, determines that it is acceptable, and presses the “OK” button.

  Then, the sending instruction receiving unit 107 receives an input of a sending instruction. Next, the information delivery unit 108 acquires post-conversion information “Hello. I am Ichiro Tanaka.

  Next, the information delivery unit 108 brings the window of the input target application (application “Chat”) to the forefront.

  The information delivery unit 108 copies the acquired information “Hello. I am Ichiro Tanaka....” To the clipboard.

  Next, the information delivery unit 108 sets the clipboard information “Hello. I am Ichiro Tanaka.... Paste.

  Next, the information delivery unit 108 brings the window of the input tool 2 (application “translation input system”) to the forefront.

  Next, the information deletion unit 112 deletes the information (input text area information and output text area information) output in the frame from the frame (see FIG. 12).

  The information input to the input text area, the translation result display in the output text area, and the translation result delivery to the input target application (application “Chat”) can be performed continuously and repeatedly. .

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to absorb the difference between input information and information requested by an application. For example, when the information conversion unit performs machine translation, even if a sentence in the source language (for example, Japanese) is input, a sentence in the target language (for example, English) can be given to the application. Various applications can be used in a unified information input environment that has been absorbed. In other words, the information conversion unit performs machine translation, whereby an application compatible with one language can be made compatible with multiple languages. In addition, when the target application is a communication tool such as a chat system, SNS, or BBS, the communication tool for one language can be made compatible with multiple languages, the number of communication partners of the user is wide, and the user is familiar Since communication is possible in an input environment (input tool), it is possible to provide an infrastructure in which communication is extremely active.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, information input can be performed in a unified information input environment with respect to an application selected by the user from two or more active applications.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, after the information is passed to the input target application, the information output in the predetermined frame is deleted from the frame, so that continuous information input is possible.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the startup application information related to the active application is acquired, and the selection information of the input target application is configured using the startup application information, so that only the active application is the input target Application.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, information is passed to the input target application by pressing the confirm button. However, information may be automatically passed to the input target application without a user instruction. The same applies to other embodiments.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the information conversion unit 801 holds a conversion means management table as shown in FIG. 13, and automatically selects and uses conversion means using the conversion means management table. You may make it do.

  Here, the conversion means management table holds one or more records having attributes of “application identifier”, “conversion means identifier”, and “function”. The “application identifier” is information for identifying an application, and may be an identifier unique to the application or information for identifying the type of application. The “conversion means identifier” is information for identifying the conversion means, and includes, for example, an execution module name, a function name, a method name, and a message name. The “function” is an attribute that describes the function performed by the conversion unit identified by the conversion unit identifier. The first and second records of the conversion means management table indicate that the conversion means for performing Japanese-English machine translation “JtoE” is applied to the applications “Chat” and “BBS”. The third record of the conversion means management table indicates that the conversion means for converting to Compact HTML called “ToCompacttml” is applied to the application “mobile e-mail”. Further, the fourth and fifth records of the conversion means management table indicate that the conversion means is not applied to the applications “DB input” and “questionnaire”. When the conversion unit is not applied, the processing described in the first embodiment is performed.

  Then, when the input target application is “Chat”, the information conversion unit 801 uses the conversion unit “JtoE” to display the information input in the input text area in the output text area. The screen of the input tool 2 in this case is common regardless of the input target application, and is, for example, as shown in FIG. If the input tool 2 is a screen as shown in FIG. 14, if the input target application is “Chat”, the information conversion unit 801 of the input tool 2 displays English in the output text area, and the input target application is In the case of “portable electronic mail”, a Japanese sentence converted to CompactHTML (assuming that the input information is a Japanese sentence) is displayed in the output text area.

  As described above, the information conversion unit 801 automatically uses the conversion unit corresponding to the input target application, so that the user can use a common input interface without being aware of the input target application.

  Furthermore, the software that implements the information input device according to the present embodiment is the following program. That is, the program includes an information input receiving step for receiving information input to a computer, an information output step for outputting the received information within a predetermined frame, and the information received in the information input receiving step. An information conversion step for converting into information corresponding to the input target application; a sending instruction receiving step for receiving an input of a sending instruction that is an instruction to pass the input information to the input target application that is an application target for inputting information; When the sending instruction is accepted in the sending instruction accepting step, an information delivery step is performed in which the converted information obtained by the conversion in the information converting step is transferred to a focus position that is a focused position of the input target application. Program to let you.

  In the above program, the program further causes the computer to execute an information conversion step of converting the information received in the information input reception step into information corresponding to the input target application, and the information delivery step includes It is preferable to pass the post-conversion information obtained by the conversion in the information conversion step to a focus position that is a focused position of the input target application.

  In the above program, at least one conversion means selection information having a pair of an input target application identifier for identifying an input target application and a conversion means identifier for identifying a conversion means is stored. It is preferable that the conversion means identifier corresponding to the input target application is acquired, the information received by the information input reception unit is given to the conversion means identified by the conversion means identifier, and the converted information is acquired. is there.

  In the above program, the information received in the information input receiving step is a source language sentence, and the information conversion step performs machine translation of the source language sentence and obtains a target language sentence as post-conversion information. That is preferred.

  In each of the above embodiments, each process (each function) may be realized by centralized processing by a single device (system), or by distributed processing by a plurality of devices. May be.

  Further, the computer that executes the program may be singular or plural. That is, centralized processing may be performed, or distributed processing may be performed.

  FIG. 15 shows the external appearance of a computer that executes the programs described in this specification and realizes the information input devices of the various embodiments described above. The above-described embodiments can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed thereon. FIG. 15 is an overview diagram of the computer system 340, and FIG. 16 is a block diagram of the computer system 340.

  In FIG. 15, the computer system 340 includes a computer 341 including an FD (Flexible Disk) drive and a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive, a keyboard 342, a mouse 343, and a monitor 344.

  In FIG. 16, in addition to the FD drive 3411 and the CD-ROM drive 3412, the computer 341 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 3413, a bus 3414 connected to the CD-ROM drive 3412 and the FD drive 3411, and a boot-up program. ROM (Read-Only Memory) 3415 for storing programs such as, and RAM (Random Access Memory) 3416 connected to CPU 3413 for temporarily storing instructions of application programs and providing temporary storage space , An application program, a system program, and a hard disk 3417 for storing data. Although not shown here, the computer 341 may further include a network card that provides connection to the LAN.

  A program that causes the computer system 340 to execute the function of the information input device of the above-described embodiment is stored in the CD-ROM 3501 or FD 3502, inserted into the CD-ROM drive 3412 or FD drive 3411, and further stored in the hard disk 3417. May be forwarded. Alternatively, the program may be transmitted to the computer 341 via a network (not shown) and stored in the hard disk 3417. The program is loaded into the RAM 3416 at the time of execution. The program may be loaded directly from the CD-ROM 3501, the FD 3502, or the network.

  The program does not necessarily include an operating system (OS) or a third-party program that causes the computer 341 to execute the functions of the information input device according to the above-described embodiment. The program only needs to include an instruction portion that calls an appropriate function (module) in a controlled manner and obtains a desired result. How the computer system 340 operates is well known and will not be described in detail.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible, and it goes without saying that these are also included in the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, the information input device according to the present invention has an effect of providing a unified information input environment, and is useful as an information input device or the like.

Block diagram of an information input device according to Embodiment 1 Flow chart for explaining the operation of the information input device The figure which shows the example of the same screen display The figure which shows the same start application information The figure which shows the example of the same screen display The figure which shows the example of the same screen display The figure which shows the example of the same screen display Block diagram of an information input device according to the second embodiment Flow chart for explaining the operation of the information input device The figure which shows the example of the same screen display The figure which shows the example of the same screen display The figure which shows the example of the same screen display Figure showing the conversion means management table Figure showing a screen example of the same input tool External view of a computer realizing the information input device Block diagram of the computer system of the information input device

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Application storage part 102 Reception part 103 Application start-up part 104 Application operation part 105 Information input reception part 106,806 Information output part 107 Sending instruction | indication reception part 108 Information delivery part 109 Startup application information acquisition part 110 Selection information output part 111 Selection instruction | indication reception Part 112 Information deletion part 801 Information conversion part

Claims (14)

An information input receiving unit for receiving information input;
An information output unit for outputting the received information within a predetermined frame;
A sending instruction receiving unit that receives an input of a sending instruction that is an instruction to pass the input information to an input target application that is an application for inputting information;
An information input device comprising: an information delivery unit that delivers information received by the information input receiving unit to a focus position that is a focused position of the input target application when the sending instruction receiving unit receives a sending instruction. A selection instruction receiving unit that receives a selection instruction that is an instruction to select one input target candidate application among two or more input target candidate applications as input target applications;
The information input device according to claim 1, wherein the input target candidate application selected by the selection instruction is the input target application. 3. The information deletion unit further comprising: an information deletion unit that deletes information output within the predetermined frame after the information transfer unit has passed the information to the input target application. Information input device. A startup application information acquisition unit that acquires two or more startup application information, which is information related to a running application;
Further comprising a selection information output unit that configures and outputs selection information of an input target application using the two or more startup application information,
The selection instruction receiving unit
The information input device according to claim 2, wherein the information input device accepts a selection instruction that is an instruction input using the selection information and is an instruction to select one input target application. Further comprising an information conversion unit for converting the information received by the information input receiving unit into information corresponding to the input target application and obtaining post-conversion information;
The information delivery unit
5. The information input device according to claim 1, wherein post-conversion information obtained by conversion by the information conversion unit is passed to a focus position that is a focused position of the input target application. The information converter is
Storing one or more conversion means selection information having a pair of an input target application identifier for identifying an input target application and a conversion means identifier for identifying a conversion means;
6. The conversion means identifier corresponding to the current input target application is acquired, the information received by the information input receiving unit is given to the conversion means identified by the conversion means identifier, and the converted information is acquired. The information input device described. The information received by the information input receiving unit is a source language sentence,
The information converter is
The information input device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the source language sentence is machine-translated to obtain a target language sentence as post-conversion information. Computer
An information input receiving unit for receiving information input;
An information output unit for outputting the received information within a predetermined frame;
A sending instruction receiving unit that receives an input of a sending instruction that is an instruction to pass the input information to an input target application that is an application for inputting information;
A program for functioning as an information delivery unit that passes information received by the information input reception unit to a focus position that is a focused position of the input target application when the transmission instruction reception unit receives a transmission instruction. Computer
A program that further functions as a selection instruction receiving unit that receives a selection instruction that is an instruction to select one input target candidate application as an input target application among input target candidate applications that are two or more input target application candidates.
The program according to claim 8, wherein the input target candidate application selected by the selection instruction is the input target application. Computer
The information delivery unit further functions as an information deletion unit that deletes information output in the predetermined frame after the information delivery unit has passed the information to the input target application. Program. Computer
A startup application information acquisition unit that acquires two or more startup application information, which is information related to a running application;
A program that uses the two or more startup application information to configure selection information of an input target application and further function as a selection information output unit that outputs the selection information.
The selection instruction receiving unit
The program according to claim 9, wherein the selection instruction is an instruction input using the selection information and is an instruction to select one input target application. Computer
A program that further functions as an information conversion unit that converts information received by the information input reception unit into information corresponding to the input target application,
The information delivery unit
The program according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein post-conversion information obtained by conversion by the information conversion unit is passed to a focus position that is a focused position of the input target application. Storing one or more conversion means selection information having a pair of an input target application identifier for identifying an input target application and a conversion means identifier for identifying a conversion means;
The information conversion unit;
A function of acquiring a conversion means identifier corresponding to the current input target application, giving the information received by the information input receiving unit to the conversion means identified by the conversion means identifier, and acquiring post-conversion information The program according to claim 12. The information received by the information input receiving unit is a source language sentence,
The information conversion unit;
14. The program according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the source language sentence is machine-translated and functions to obtain a target language sentence as post-conversion information.