JP2009059138A - Word retrieval device, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a word retrieval device which has a simple structure suitable when provided to a compact device such as an electronic dictionary, and retrieves an answer to a cryptic crossword. <P>SOLUTION: The word retrieval device includes: a character input device 20 for inputting a question sentence to a cryptic crossword and the number of characters of an answer word; a word list storage means 41 for storing a word list containing a plurality of words; a word retrieval means 12 for retrieving a word that has the number of characters of the answer word contained in a character string composing the question sentence from the word list storage unit 41; a conditional word comparison means 14 for comparing the word retrieved by the word retrieval means 12 with the character string composing the question sentence to determine whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied; and a display device 40 for displaying the word determined to satisfy the predetermined condition based on classification according to the predetermined condition. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a word search apparatus, method, and program suitable for use in assisting work in solving or creating a cryptic crossword.

  A crossword puzzle (or simply a crossword) is a lattice-like structure that uses a word that is the answer to a given question sentence to fill a space for a predetermined number of characters in the vertical or horizontal direction. Wordplay, where multiple words are arranged in a frame. In this crossword, there is a device that assists in searching for an answer word (for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2). In such an apparatus, a part of words having a predetermined number of characters is set as an indeterminate character, and a plurality of types of characters are applied to the indeterminate character, and a predetermined word list is searched to become an answer candidate. Words are to be searched.

  Another device for solving a crossword includes a function for automatically searching for a word list by automatically replacing one or more characters of a predetermined number of input words with other characters ( Patent Document 3). According to this apparatus, for example, when it is suspected that a word that is an answer input by a user is incorrect, one word or a plurality of characters in the word is replaced with another character for correction. Can be presented as answer candidates.

  Another language play is a game called SCRABBLE (registered trademark). There is also a device for searching for English words for this game. In this game, on a board with a grid-like frame, English words are created by vertically or horizontally holding pieces each representing an alphabetic character, and the type of alphabet used and the position on the board where the pieces are placed The score value can be determined according to. In Scrabble, each time you place a piece you have less space to place a new piece. Therefore, unlike a crossword, the number of characters in a word to be created is not constant but changes. Therefore, in the device for searching for words for scrabble, a list of English words that can be created by setting the types of available pieces and entering conditions on the placement and score of the pieces already placed on the board Can be presented together with the score (Patent Document 4).

  On the other hand, Cryptic Crossword, which is the word play targeted by the present invention, is a special crossword, and the question sentence (also called clue) itself is a word puzzle. There is a feature. A question sentence usually does not indicate an answer when it is read as it is (surface reading), but it is one of the problems to find out how to read the question sentence in order to derive an answer. The question sentence usually includes one or more character strings (a plurality of characters including one or more words) having a special meaning called an indicator or a code word. The indicator indicates a predetermined condition regarding word play existing between a word as an answer and a character string constituting the question sentence, and is classified into several types.

  For example, the word “mashed” is used as an indicator that indicates that the answer word and the character string constituting the question sentence have a spelling relationship. This indicator is classified into a type called Anagram. That is, the indicator classified into the anagram indicates that there is a spelling relationship between the word that is the answer and the character string that forms the question sentence. For example, if the question sentence includes the word “mashed” and the word “live”, the word “evil” having a spelling relationship between “live” and the phrase is obtained as an answer.

  In addition to the above-mentioned anagram (Anagram), the indicator type is a special anagram reversal in which the answer word and the character string that composes the question sentence are reversed. The answer word spans two or more words in the question sentence, and the answer word is an erased part of one word in the question sentence. Deletion, a special deletion, and the erased character string is another word, Burial, the answer word and the word contained in the question sentence There are homophones that have the same-phonetic synonyms with different spellings.

  As an example of reversal, there is a case where the answer is “stop” for the question sentence “… reversing pots…”. As an example of the bridge, there is a case where the answer is “tremor” for the question sentence “… shudder… great remorse…”. As an example of the deletion, there is a case where the answer is “bole” for the question sentence “… empty bottle…”. As an example of the verial, there is a case where the answer is “deed” for the question sentence “… heartlessly denoted…”. As an example of a homophone, there is a case where the answer is “isle” for the question sentence “… aisle… I hear”.

  Thus, in cryptic crosswords, it is required not only to play words by vertical and horizontal arrangements of words in general crosswords, but also to solve the wordplay when reading a problem sentence. For this reason, in the search device as described above, there is a problem that it is not possible to present only a word having a high probability of being an answer as a search result, and a sufficient support effect cannot be obtained.

On the other hand, a system for searching for cryptic crossword answers using a general-purpose personal computer has been studied. Software program called Crossword Maestro (trademark) by William Tunstall-Pedoe (see Non-Patent Document 1) and made it available online There is a web system (see Non-Patent Document 2). These systems operate using a general-purpose OS (operating system), and the authors say that these systems use artificial intelligence technology. Therefore, it is assumed that advanced processing such as search based on complicated conditions using a relatively large database is performed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-149787 JP 7-325845 A US Pat. No. 5,249,965 US Pat. No. 5,435,564 “Crossword Maestro (trademark) for Windows (registered trademark): crossword solving software, cryptic crossword solver”, [online], [August 21, 2007 Search], Internet <URL: http://www.crosswordmaestro.com/> “Clue Solver”, [online], Genius 2000 Ltd., [searched August 21, 2007], Internet <URL: http://www.crosswordtools.com/cm />

  The search system as described above is considered to be effective as a tool for obtaining an answer to a cryptic crossword. However, not all problem sentences can be solved at present. On the other hand, if there is a function that presents a plurality of candidates having a relatively high probability of being correct, it can be considered as one of realistic options as a device that supports the user's word search work. That is, for example, when a user performs a task of solving a problem sentence with a dictionary or the like, a function that presents word candidates that are relatively likely to be correct is required. If so, for example, it is considered meaningful to provide an electronic dictionary having a dictionary function with a cryptic crossword answer support function as an additional function. However, until now, there has not been provided a small device such as an electronic dictionary provided with a function for supporting cryptic crossword answer search.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and can support a work for searching for an answer to a cryptic crossword with a simple configuration suitable for provision in a small device such as an electronic dictionary. An object of the present invention is to provide a word search device, method and program.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention described in claim 1 includes an input means for inputting a cryptic crossword question sentence and the number of answer word characters, a word storage means for storing a word list composed of a plurality of words, A word search unit that searches the word storage unit for words of the number of answer word characters that can be generated from a plurality of characters included in a character string that constitutes the question sentence, a word that the word search unit searches for, and the question sentence Conditional word comparison means for comparing whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied by comparing with a character string to constitute, and a word determined to satisfy the predetermined condition by the conditional word comparison means for each condition And display means for classifying and displaying.

  The invention according to claim 2 further includes condition storage means for storing a correspondence relationship between a specific character string and the predetermined condition, and the specification corresponding to the predetermined condition determined to be satisfied by the conditional word comparison means. Is included in the question sentence, the fact is displayed by the display means.

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the predetermined condition is that the word searched by the word search means and the character string constituting the question sentence have a spelling relationship. And The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the predetermined condition is that a word searched by the word search means and a character string constituting the question sentence are mutually inverted. .

  The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the predetermined condition is that the word searched by the word search means exists over two or more words in the question sentence. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the predetermined condition is that the word searched by the word search means is an erased part of one word included in the question sentence. Features. According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the predetermined condition is that the word searched by the word search means is a deletion of some characters of one word included in the question sentence. The character string made up of the characters is a word corresponding to a word included in the word list stored in the word storage means. The invention according to claim 8 is that the predetermined condition is that the word searched by the word search means has a relationship of homonyms different in spelling from a word included in the question sentence. Features.

  The invention according to claim 9 is characterized in that the word search means rearranges a character string excluding a code indicating a break between words from a character string constituting the question sentence in a predetermined order, and then stores the character string in the word storage means. A word having the number of answer word characters is searched from the word storage means by comparing with each word included in the stored word list.

  The invention according to claim 10 comprises the question sentence by using an input process for inputting a cryptic crossword question sentence and the number of answer word characters, and word storage means for storing a word list comprising a plurality of words. A word search process for searching the word storage means for a word having the number of answer word characters that can be generated from a plurality of characters included in the character string to be performed, a word searched in the word search process, and a character string constituting the question sentence; A conditional word comparison process that determines whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied by comparing the two, and a display that classifies and displays the words determined to satisfy the predetermined condition in the conditional word comparison process And a process.

  The invention according to claim 11 comprises the question sentence using an input process for inputting a cryptic crossword question sentence and the number of answer word characters, and word storage means for storing a word list composed of a plurality of words. A word search process for searching the word storage means for a word having the number of answer word characters that can be generated from a plurality of characters included in the character string to be performed, a word searched in the word search process, and a character string constituting the question sentence; A conditional word comparison process that determines whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied by comparing the two, and a display that classifies and displays the words determined to satisfy the predetermined condition in the conditional word comparison process A word search program including a description for executing a process by a computer.

  According to the present invention, the word searched by the word search means and the character string constituting the question sentence are compared to determine whether or not the predetermined condition is satisfied, and the word determined to satisfy the predetermined condition is Since it is classified and displayed for each condition, it is not necessary to perform probability calculation, for example, and it is only necessary to determine whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied. Can be. In addition, since the words that are candidates for the retrieved correct answers are classified according to the conditions and presented in an easy-to-see form, efficient support can be provided.

  In addition, another invention further includes a condition storage unit that stores a correspondence relationship between a specific character string and a predetermined condition, and the specific character string corresponding to the predetermined condition determined to be satisfied by the conditional word comparison unit is When it is included in the question sentence, the fact is displayed by the display means, so that the user can easily know which character string of the question sentence is used to set the condition.

  In another invention, the word search means rearranges the character string excluding the code indicating the delimiter between words from the character string constituting the question sentence in a predetermined order, and then stores the word stored in the word storage means. Since each word included in the list is searched for a word with the number of answer word characters from the word storage means, the question sentence is composed of a plurality of words and a delimiter between words such as spaces. In this case, it is possible to efficiently search a word list including a plurality of words.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a word search device of the present invention. A word search device 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a function of searching a plurality of dictionaries such as English, English, Japanese, and English, for example, and a function of presenting word candidates as answers to cryptic crosswords characterized by the present invention. It is configured as a portable electronic dictionary having

  The word search device 1 includes a control unit 10, a character input device 20, a display device 30, and a storage unit 40. The control unit 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a rewritable nonvolatile memory, various interface circuits, and the like. Each part is controlled by executing a stored program. In the block diagram of FIG. 1, the control unit 10 is realized under the control of an internal CPU or the like, and includes components such as software and hardware for performing the processing characterized by the present invention. , Shown as means 11-16.

  The storage unit 40 includes a ROM and the like, and stores a word list storage unit 41 that stores a word list including a plurality of words, and a correspondence relationship between a specific character string used as an indicator and the type of the indicator. The indicator storage means 42 is provided. The word list stored in the word list storage means 41 is configured by arranging a plurality of English words for each number of characters, as shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 2, a plurality of words are registered in such a manner that English words with 3 characters are arranged in alphabetical order at the beginning, and English words with 4 character numbers are arranged in alphabetical order. In addition, the last word of each number of characters is set to a predetermined code indicating the last character in each number of characters. Further, in this word list, information indicating a correspondence relationship is added to words having homophones having different spellings. In the example of FIG. 2, for example, information indicating that the word “aisle” and the word “isle” are synonyms different in spelling from each other is added to each word.

  The storage unit 40 also stores various dictionary files such as an English-English dictionary, an English-Japanese dictionary, a Japanese-English dictionary, and a national language dictionary.

  FIG. 3C shows an example of the contents stored in the indicator storage means 42. A character string composed of one or more words on the left side of the colon in each row is a specific character string used as an indicator, and the character string on the right side of the colon indicates the type of indicator to which the left indicator belongs. In this example, the indicator storage means 42 is an indicator in which the words “in” and “inside” are classified into the types “Bridge” and “Burial”, and the word “around” is classified into the types “Burial”. Indicator, the words "awkwardly", "badly" and "mashed" are classified into the type Anagram, and the words "absence", "beheaded" and "empty" are the type Deletion Is an indicator that is categorized as "Hounds" with the compound words "sound like" and "I hear", and the words "backwards", "mirror", and "reversing" are of the kind reversal It is shown that the indicator is classified as (Reversal).

  The indicator is a character string indicating a different condition relating to word play that exists between a word as an answer and a character string constituting the question sentence for each type. Therefore, the correspondence relationship between the specific character string serving as the indicator stored in the indicator storage means 42 and the type of the indicator is between the specific character string, the answer word, and the character string constituting the question sentence. It can be understood as a correspondence between the existing words and the play conditions.

  Next, the input data temporary storage unit 11 shown in FIG. 1 is composed of a RAM or the like, and stores character data input by the character input device 20, a detection result by the indicator detection unit 16, and the like. The character input device 20 includes a plurality of operators such as alphabet input keys, numeric input keys, space input keys, cursor keys, enter keys, various function keys, and power keys. The operation information of each operator is temporarily stored in the input data temporary storage means 11 and then sent to the word search means 12 and the like. For example, when a character string representing a cryptic crossword question or the number of characters of an answer word is input, it is temporarily stored in the input data temporary storage means 11 and then sent to the word search means 12 for input. A search based on the obtained information is performed.

  The word search means 12 searches all words of the number of answer word characters that can be generated from a plurality of characters included in the character string constituting the question sentence from the word list stored in the word list storage means 41 in the storage unit 40. Then, the extracted word is stored in the word list search result storage means 13.

  The conditional word comparison unit 14 compares the word searched by the word search unit 12 with the character string constituting the question sentence and determines whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied. The predetermined condition is that the word searched from the word list and the character string constituting the question sentence have a spelling change relationship (corresponding to the anagram of the indicator type), and the relationship reversed to each other. Possessed (corresponding to reversal), the searched word exists across two or more words in the question sentence (corresponding to bridge), and the searched word is one word included in the question sentence That some of the characters are erased (corresponding to deletion), the character string consisting of the erased characters is another word (corresponding to Berial), Corresponds to word play placed in the cryptic crossword problem sentence, such as having a homonym relationship that is spelled differently from the word contained in the problem sentence (corresponding to homophones). It is intended to represent a constraint. In the present embodiment, the conditional word comparison unit 14 is configured to execute the determination process for each condition in a separate subroutine.

  The display unit 15 controls the display device 30 to display the words determined by the conditional word comparison unit 14 as satisfying a predetermined condition, classified according to the corresponding condition, that is, the type of indicator.

Further, the indicator detection unit 16 refers to the indicator storage unit 42 and displays when a specific character string corresponding to a predetermined condition determined to be satisfied by the conditional word comparison unit 14 is included in the question sentence. The display device 30 displays the fact via the means 15. The display device 30 is composed of a liquid crystal display or the like and is controlled by the display means 15 to display image information such as characters and figures.

  Next, processing performed by the word search unit 12 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3A is a diagram showing an example when the input question sentence is displayed on the display device 30, FIG. 3B is a diagram showing the storage contents of the related parts in the word list storage means 41, and FIG. (C) is a figure which shows the memory content of the indicator memory | storage means 42. FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing by the word search means 12. FIGS. 5A to 5F show examples of character information processed in the main steps of FIG.

  In this case, the character input device 20 designates the question sentence of the cryptic crossword “Shudder in great remorse.” Shown in FIG. 5A and the word as the answer given to the question sentence. It is assumed that the number of characters “6” has been input, the input information is stored in the input data temporary storage means 11, and a question sentence is displayed on the display device 30 as shown in FIG. Assuming that a predetermined operator for instructing an answer search process of the character input device 20 is operated, the word search means 12 accesses the input data temporary storage means 11 and a character string (hereinafter, referred to as a question sentence) constituting the inputted question sentence. A character string in which the input words are concatenated is created by removing a code (“space” in the present embodiment) indicating a break between words from the input character string (step S11 in FIG. 4). An example of the created character string is shown in FIG.

  Next, the word search means 12 rearranges the created character strings in alphabetical order (step S12). An example of the rearranged character string is shown in FIG. Next, the word search means 12 determines the jump destination of the word list stored in the word list storage means 41 based on the designated number of characters of the answer word (step S13). In this case, since the designated number of characters is “6”, the leading word “abacus” of the number of characters 6 shown in FIG. 2 is determined as the jump destination of the word list, that is, the first word to be searched.

  The word search means 12 reads the word “abacus” at the set jump destination in the word list storage means 41 (step S14). In step S14, after a word is read, a process for setting the next read word to a word arranged one after in the word list is performed.

  Next, the word search means 12 determines whether or not the read word is the last word having the same length (in this case, the number of characters “6”) (step S15). In this case, since the read word “abacus” is not the last word (“No” in step S15), the read word character string “abacus” is sorted in alphabetical order (step S16). In this case, the word “abacus” is rearranged as “aabcsu”.

  Next, the word search means 12 determines whether the input character string rearranged in step S12 (FIG. 5C) includes the word character string rearranged in step S16 (in this case, “aabcsu”). (Step S17). In this case, since it is not included (“No” in step S17), the process returns to step S14, and the next word (in this case, the word “abanet” shown in FIG. 2) is read from the word list in the word list storage means 41. . Thereafter, the processes of steps S15 to S17 are repeatedly executed.

  Now, in step S14, it is assumed that the underlined word “tremor” is read among the 6-character words shown in FIG. FIG. 5D shows the read word. Next, in step S15, since it is not the last word of 6 characters (judgment result is “No”), the process proceeds to step S16, and the read word character strings are rearranged in alphabetical order. The rearranged character string is shown in FIG. Next, it is determined whether the rearranged word character string is included in the input character string (step S17). In this case, since the character string shown in FIG. 5E is included in the character string in which the character strings of the question sentences are rearranged in alphabetical order as shown as white characters in FIG. In step S17, the process proceeds to step S18, where the word ("tremor") that is the number of answer word characters that can be generated from a plurality of characters included in the character string constituting the question sentence is the word list search result in FIG. It is stored in the storage means 13.

  Next, the process returns to step S14, and the process from step S14 to S17 or the process including step S18 is repeated until the last word having 6 characters in the word list. If the last word has been read, it is determined as the last word in step S15 (“Yes” in step S15), and the process ends. At the end of the process, the word list search result storage means 13 stores a predetermined code indicating the last character at the end of the stored word string.

  Through the above processing, the word list search result storage unit 13 extracts all the words included in the word list that can be generated by extracting the characters for the set number of characters from the plurality of characters constituting the character string of the question sentence. Will be remembered.

  Next, referring to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, the conditional word comparison unit 14 determines whether the word searched by the word search unit 12 exists across two or more words in the question sentence. That is, the case where the condition determination process corresponding to the indicator type bridge is performed will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when a condition determination process corresponding to a bridge is performed, and FIG. 7 is for explaining the processing contents of the main steps in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the relationship between the character string of the inputted problem sentence used as object, and the word character string searched from the word list.

  In this example, as described above, the word search unit 12 has already searched the word list in the word list storage unit 41 using the question sentence shown in FIG. 5A and the designated number of characters 6 as input data. The word list search result storage means 13 stores the word “tremor” and a code indicating the end of the word (assumed to be stored as one word like other words). To do.

  The conditional word comparison unit 14 first obtains one word stored in the word list search result storage unit 13 (step S101). In this case, the word “tremor” is acquired.

  Next, it is determined whether the acquired word is the last word (step S102). In this case, since the word “tremor” is not the last word (“No” in step S102), the variable N is initialized to “0” in step S103.

  Next, the pointer is set to the Nth character from the beginning of the original input character string of the question sentence stored in the input data temporary storage means 11, and the word (acquired word) acquired from the word list search result storage means 13 is set. A process of setting a pointer to the first character of is performed (step S104). In this case, the problem sentence is “Shudder in great remorse.”, And the original input character string is a 24 character string including a space shown as input data in FIG. The space is used as a code indicating a break between words, and the period “.” At the end of the question sentence is deleted. In this process, the 0th character of the input character string is defined as “S” as the first character, the first character as the next “h”,..., The 15th character as “t”, the 16th character as a space,. Suppose that

  Next, the character for which the input character string pointer is set and the character for which the acquired word pointer is set are compared to determine whether or not they match (step S105). In this case, since the pointer of the input character string is “0” and the pointer of the acquired word is the first character, the character “S” and the character “t” are compared as shown in FIG. In step S105, “No”), the variable N is increased by 1 (step S106). In this case, the variable N is “1”.

  Next, returning to step S104, the pointer is set to the “1” character “h” of the input character string, and the pointer is set to the first character “t” of the acquired word. In step S105, it is determined whether the characters “h” and “t” of both pointers match (FIG. 7B). Since they do not match, the variable N is incremented by 1 in step S106. N = 2.

  Thereafter, similarly, steps S104 to S106 are repeatedly executed, and the variable N is set to “15” in step S106. In step S104, a pointer is set to the “15” character “t” of the input character string, and a pointer is set to the first character “t” of the acquired word. Next, in step S105, it is determined whether the characters “t” and “t” of both pointers match (FIG. 7 (c)). Since they match (“Yes” in step S105), the process proceeds to step S107. Then, both the pointer of the original input character string and the acquired word in the input data temporary storage means 11 are advanced by one character. In this case, the pointer is advanced to the space after “t” of the input character string and the position of “r” after “t” of the acquired character.

  Next, in step S108, it is determined whether the character indicated by the acquired character pointer is the last character. In this case, since it is not the last character (“No” in step S108), it is determined in step S110 whether the pointer character of the input character string is a space. In this case, since the character at the position indicated by the pointer of the input character string is a space (“Yes” in step S110), the pointer of the input character string is advanced by one character (step S111). In this case, the pointer is advanced to the position “r” after the space.

  Next, it is determined whether the input character string is the last character (step S112). In this case, since it is not the last character (“No” in step S112), the process returns to step S110 to determine whether or not the pointer character of the input character string is a space. In this case, since it is not a space, both pointers are determined in step S105. It is determined whether the characters match. In this case, since the characters of both pointers are both “r” (“Yes” in step S105), both pointers are advanced by one character in step S107. Here, the characters of both pointers are both “m”.

  Thereafter, it is assumed that the processes of steps S108, S110, S105, and S107 are repeatedly executed, and both pointers are set at the position of the character “r” in step S107. In this case, since the pointer character is the last character “r” of the acquired word, the determination result in step S108 is “Yes”, and the acquired word “tremor” is registered in a predetermined storage area as a word corresponding to the bridge. (Step S109).

  Next, returning to step S101, the next word is acquired from the word list search result storage means 13, and it is determined whether or not the word acquired in step S102 is the last word. In this case, since the code indicating the last word is acquired as a word in step S101, the determination result in step S102 is “Yes”, and the process ends.

  Here, the conditional word comparison unit 14 instructs the display unit 15 to display the comparison result. Under the control of the display means 15, the display device 30 has a box 31 for displaying a question sentence and a character string (“Bridge”, “Deletion”, etc.) indicating the type of each indicator as shown in FIG. A sheet 32 composed of a plurality of identified pages is displayed. Then, on each page, the words searched from the word list are displayed classified for each type of indicator. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the question sentence “Shudder in great remorse.” Is displayed in the box 31, and the word “tremor” that satisfies the condition corresponding to the bridge is displayed on the page identified by the “Bridge” tag. ing. In addition, for the character string of the question sentence in box 31, the word “in” registered as an indicator is highlighted with an underline, and the character string corresponding to the word “tremor” searched for as an answer candidate “T remor” is highlighted as an outline character.

  In addition, the process which specifies the character string of an indicator from a problem sentence is performed by the indicator detection means 16 of FIG. The indicator detection means 16 includes an input character string input as a problem sentence stored in the input data temporary storage means 11 and a character string registered as an indicator in the indicator storage means 42 as shown in FIG. (If "in", "inside", etc.) are compared, if the input string contains a character string registered as an indicator, that character string is identified and highlighted Perform the process.

  As described above, the character string corresponding to the indicator included in the question sentence is highlighted and has a predetermined correspondence with the character string constituting the question sentence and is included in the predetermined word list. Are displayed for each type of correspondence. Therefore, it is possible to present a word as an answer candidate to the user together with information indicating the extraction cause. At this time, in the configuration of the present embodiment, the above answer is obtained by searching a word list composed of a plurality of words and determining the correspondence between the words obtained as a result of the search and the character strings constituting the question sentence. Candidate words are determined. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform complicated search processing, for example, processing that analyzes the meaning of words or compound words, the meaning of question sentences, and the like. In addition, since the obtained results are classified and displayed for each type of indicator, there is an advantage that it is easier for the user to consider whether or not the answer is correct compared to a case where the result is not classified.

  The display method in the display device 30 is not limited to the above, and methods such as changing the display color of characters, blinking a cursor or characters, changing the order of indicator types, or the like alone or in combination. Can be used.

  Next, referring to FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the conditional word comparison unit 14 determines whether the word searched by the word search unit 12 has a spelling relationship between the character string and the phrase constituting the question sentence. A description will be given of a process for determining whether or not a condition determination process corresponding to an anagram of an indicator type is performed. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when a condition determination process corresponding to an anagram is performed, and FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of data processed in the main steps of FIG. It is assumed that the word list search result storage means 13 stores words obtained as a result of searching the word list by the word search means 12 based on the inputted question sentence and the number of characters.

  The conditional word comparison unit 14 first reads the input character string of the question sentence from the input data temporary storage unit 11 and concatenates the words except for spaces (step S201). For example, if the input character string is “Mashed pears may be used offensively.” Shown in FIG. 10A, the connected result is “mashedpearsmaybeusedoffensively” shown in FIG. It is assumed that the number of instruction characters for the answer in this example is “5”.

  Next, the character string connected with the input word is rearranged in alphabetical order, and processing for storing the original position information of each character at this time is performed (step S202). In the above example, the result of sorting in alphabetical order is “aabdffeeeeeehilmmoprssssuvy” shown in FIG. Note that when storing the original position information of each character, the position information of a space that is a delimiter between words is also stored.

  Next, one word is acquired from the word list search result storage means 13 (step S203), and it is determined whether or not it is the last word (step S204). Here, it is assumed that the word “spear” shown in FIG.

  Next, the acquired character strings are sorted in alphabetical order (step S205). The result of rearranging the word “spear” is “aeprs” shown in FIG.

  Next, whether or not the acquired word is included in the input character string is determined by comparing the character strings rearranged in alphabetical order (step S206). In this case, as shown in FIG. 10 (f), since the acquired word is included in the input character string, all of the characters are next based on the original position information of each character for the characters matched in both character strings. It is confirmed whether the word units match (step S207). That is, it is confirmed whether or not the type of characters constituting the acquired word and the number of characters of each type match the type of character constituting one of the words included in the input character string and the number of characters of each type. The In this example, as shown in FIG. 10G, the acquired word “spear” is the word “pears” in the input character string, and the types of characters that are configured are “a”, “e”, “p”, Since there are five types, “r” and “s”, and the number of characters of each type is all one, it is confirmed that they match in units of words.

  Next, it is determined whether or not all words match (step S208). If they match, the acquired word is registered as an anagram (step S209). In this example, since it is determined that the words match each other, the acquired word “spear” is registered as an anagram.

  Next, the process returns to step S203, and part or all of the processes in steps S203 to S209 are repeatedly executed until it is determined in step S204 that the word is the last word.

  The words registered by the conditional word comparison means 14 as described above are displayed as shown in FIG. 11, for example. In this example, the question sentence “Mashed pears may be used offensively.” Is displayed in the box 31, and the word “spear” is displayed on the page identified by the tab of the anagram. The indicator “Mashed” detected as the type of anagram by the indicator detection means 15 is displayed with an underline.

  Next, referring to FIG. 12 to FIG. 14, the conditional word comparison unit 14 is such that the word searched by the word search unit 12 erases some characters of one word included in the question sentence. And whether or not the searched word is a part of one word included in the question sentence is deleted, and a character string including the deleted character is included in the word list. A process for determining whether or not a word corresponds to a word, that is, a case of performing a condition determination process corresponding to a deletion and a verial of an indicator type will be described.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the case of performing condition determination processing corresponding to deletion and burial, and FIGS. 13 and 14 explain the processing contents of the main steps of FIG. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a character string of an inputted question sentence to be compared and a word character string searched from a word list.

  FIG. 13 shows the relationship between the character strings when processing is performed to determine whether the acquired word “tremor” satisfies the condition for the question sentence “Shudder in great remorse.”. FIG. 13A shows a state in which the acquired word is compared with the character string starting from the 0th character of the question sentence, and FIGS. 13B, 13C, and 13D show the question sentence 8, A state in which the acquired word and the character string starting from the 11th and 17th characters are compared is shown. In this example, the conditions of Deletion and Burial are not satisfied.

  FIG. 14A shows the relationship between the character strings when processing is performed to determine whether the acquired word “bole” satisfies the condition for the question sentence “Tree grows from empty bottle.”. . FIG. 14A shows a state where the acquired word is compared with the character string starting from the 22nd character of the question sentence. In this example, the word “bottle” in the question sentence includes the acquired word “bole”, and the condition corresponding to the deletion is satisfied.

  FIG. 14B shows the relationship between the character strings when processing is performed to determine whether the acquired word “deed” satisfies the condition for the question sentence “Heartlessly denoted an act.”. FIG. 14B shows a state in which the acquired word is compared with the character string starting from the 12th character of the question sentence. In this example, the word “denoted” in the question sentence includes the acquired word “deed”, and the character string “not” obtained by removing “deed” from “denoted” is a word registered in the word list. The condition corresponding to (Burial) is satisfied.

  Hereinafter, the flowchart of FIG. 12 will be described. The conditional word comparison unit 14 first acquires one word from the word list search result storage unit 13 (step S301), determines whether or not the acquired word is the last word (step S302), and determines whether the word is the last word. If it is (“Yes” in step S302), the process is terminated. On the other hand, if it is not the last word (“No” in step S302), the variable N is initialized to “0” (step S303), and N from the beginning of the original input character string in the input data temporary storage means 11 is initialized. A pointer is set to the character, and a pointer is set to the first character of the acquired word (step S304).

  Next, it is determined whether or not the Nth character of the input character string is a space (step S305). If the Nth character is a space (“Yes” in step S305), the variable N is increased to the first character of the next word in the input character string (step S308), and the input character string is the last character when the pointer is increased. If it does not exceed the character (“No” in step S309), the process returns to step S304, and a pointer is set for the next word in the input character string.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S305 that it is not a space (“No” in step S305), it is determined whether the characters of both pointers match (step S306). If they do not match (“No” in step S306), the pointer of the input character string is advanced by one character (step S307), the process returns to step S305, and the subsequent processing is performed. On the other hand, if they match ("Yes" in step S306), both the original input character string in the input data temporary storage means 11 and the pointer of the acquired word are advanced by one character (step S310).

  Next, in step S311, it is determined whether or not the acquired character is the last character. If it is not the last character (“No” in step S311), it is determined whether or not the character indicated by the pointer of the input character string is a space. If it is a space, the process returns to step S308. If not, the process returns to step S306.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S311 that it is the last character of the acquired word (“Yes” in step S311), the acquired word is included in any of the words in the input character string. Registration as corresponding to the deletion (step S313).

  Next, the remaining character strings of the words of the matched input character string are connected and searched in the word list (step S314), and if found (“Yes” in step S315), the acquired word corresponds to the verial. It registers as what to do (step S316).

  Also, when it is determined in step S309 that the input character string is the last word (“Yes” in step S309), or when it is determined that it was not found in step S315 (“No” in step S315), acquisition is performed. When a word is registered as a verial (step S316), the process returns to step S301, one word is acquired from the word list search result storage means 13, and the processes after step S302 are executed.

  Next, referring to FIG. 15 and FIG. 16, whether the conditional word comparison unit 14 has a relationship in which the word searched by the word search unit 12 is inverted with respect to the character string constituting the question sentence. That is, the case where the condition determination process corresponding to the reversal of the indicator type is performed will be described.

  The conditional word comparison unit 14 first acquires one word of the word list search result storage unit 13, and reverses the acquired character string in the front-back direction to obtain a new acquired word (step S401). Next, it is determined whether or not the acquired word is the last word. If the acquired word is the last word (“Yes” in step S402), the process ends. On the other hand, if it is not the last word (“No” in step S402), the variable N is initialized to “0” (step S403), and the Nth character from the beginning of the original input character string in the input data temporary storage means 11 is initialized. A pointer is set to the first character of the acquired word (inverted word) (step S404).

  Then, the word starting from the Nth character of the input character string is compared with the acquired word to determine whether or not they match (step S405). If they match ("Yes" in step S405), the acquired word is registered as a reversal (step S406). If they do not match ("No" in step S405), the variable N is advanced by the initial of the next word in the input character string (step S407), and then it is determined whether or not the input character string is the last word. (Step S408).

  If it is the last word (“Yes” in step S408), the process returns to step S401, a new word is acquired, and the processes in and after step S402 are executed. If it is not the last word (“No” in step S408), the process returns to step S404, and the processing after step S404 is executed on the next word in the input character string and the same acquired word as before.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining processing for comparing the acquired word “stop” obtained by inverting the word “pots” stored in the word list search result storage unit 13 against the question sentence “Halt reversing pots.”. The comparison relationship when the variable N is 15 is shown. In this example, the word “pots” and the acquired word “stop” in the question sentence have a relationship corresponding to reversal.

  Next, referring to FIG. 17 and FIG. 18, the conditional word comparison unit 14 has a homonym relationship in which the word searched by the word search unit 12 is spelled differently from the word contained in the question sentence. A process for determining whether or not a condition determination process corresponding to a homophone of the indicator type will be described.

  First, the conditional word comparison unit 14 acquires one word from the word list search result storage unit 13 (step S501). Next, it is determined whether or not the acquired word is the last word. If the acquired word is the last word (“Yes” in step S502), the process ends. On the other hand, if it is not the last word (“No” in step S502), the variable N is initialized to “0” (step S503), and the Nth character from the beginning of the original input character string in the input data temporary storage means 11 is initialized. A pointer is set to the first character of the acquired word (step S504).

  Then, it is determined whether the word starting from the Nth character of the input character string has a homonym with different spelling (step S505).

  If there is no homonym with different spelling (“No” in step S505), the variable N is advanced to the first letter of the next word in the input string (step S509), and the input string is the last word. Is determined (step S510). If it is the last word (“Yes” in step S510), the process returns to step S501 to newly acquire the word and execute the processing from step S502 onward. If it is not the last word (“No” in step S510), the process returns to step S504, and the processing after step S504 is executed for the next word in the input character string and the same acquired word as before.

  On the other hand, if there is a homonym with different spelling (“Yes” in step S505), one or a plurality of homonyms with different spelling starting from the Nth character in the input character string is acquired in the work buffer. (Step S506), the word acquired in the work buffer and the acquired word are compared to determine whether or not they match (Step S507). If they match ("Yes" in step S507), the acquired word is registered as a homophone (step S508). If they do not match (“No” in step S507), the process proceeds to step S509, and the processes after step S509 described above are executed.

  FIG. 18 shows a comparison of the word “isle” stored in the word list search result storage means 13 for the homonyms with different spellings of the words included in the question sentence “Aisle which is surrounded by water I hear.” It is a figure for demonstrating the process to perform. In this example, the homonym “isle” having a different spelling of “Aisle” in the input character string matches the acquired word “isle”.

  The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above, and for example, it is possible to appropriately change, for example, to integrate or distribute the means in the control unit 10 or to integrate with the storage means in the storage unit 40. is there. In addition, it is possible to update the contents of the file in the storage unit 40 using a communication line or a predetermined recording medium, or to distribute the files in the storage unit 40 via the communication line. is there. Further, the word search device of the present invention is not limited to being configured as an electronic dictionary, but may be configured from a general-purpose computer and a software program executed thereby. The word search device of the present invention can be composed of a computer and peripheral devices and a program executed by them. The program can be distributed via a communication line or a computer-readable recording medium. It is. Further, the present invention can be configured as a system realized by using a plurality of computers connected via a communication line, such as a web system in the Internet or the like. The language provided with the present invention is not limited to English, but may be another language that uses an alphabet such as German, French, Spanish, or a language such as Japanese that does not use an alphabet.

It is a block diagram which shows embodiment of the word search device of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the memory content of the word list memory | storage means 41 of FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the display device 30 of FIG. 1, an example of storage contents of a word list storage unit 41, and an example of storage contents of an indicator storage unit 42. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of the word search means 12 of FIG. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement of the word search means 12 of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of a bridge | bridging) of the conditional word comparison means 14 of FIG. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of a bridge | bridging) of the conditional word comparison means 14 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the display apparatus 30 of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of an anagram) of the conditional word comparison means 14 of FIG. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of an anagram) of the conditional word comparison means 14 of FIG. It is a figure which shows the other example of a display of the display apparatus 30 of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of a deletion and a verial) of the conditional word comparison means 14 of FIG. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of a deletion and a verial) of the conditional word comparison means 14 of FIG. It is another explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of a deletion and a verial) of the conditional word comparison means 14 of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of reversal) of the conditional word comparison means 14 of FIG. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of reversal) of the conditional word comparison means 14 of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of a homophone) of the conditional word comparison means 14 of FIG. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of a homophone) of the conditional word comparison means 14 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Word search device 10 Control part 11 Input data temporary storage means 12 Word search means 13 Word list search result storage means 14 Conditional word detection means 15 Display means 16 Indicator detection means 20 Character input device (input means)
30 Display device (display means)
40 storage unit 41 word list storage means (word storage means)
42 Indicator storage means (condition storage means)

Claims (11)

An input means for inputting a cryptic crossword question sentence and the number of answer word characters;
Word storage means for storing a word list comprising a plurality of words;
Word search means for searching the word storage means for a word of the number of answer word characters that can be generated from a plurality of characters included in a character string constituting the question sentence;
Conditional word comparison means for comparing the word searched by the word search means and a character string constituting the question sentence to determine whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied;
A word search apparatus comprising: a display unit configured to classify and display words determined to satisfy the predetermined condition by the conditional word comparison unit for each condition. Further comprising condition storage means for storing the correspondence between the specific character string and the predetermined condition;
The display means displays the fact when a specific character string corresponding to the predetermined condition determined to be satisfied by the conditional word comparison means is included in the question sentence. The word search device according to 1. 3. The predetermined condition is that the word searched by the word search means and the character string constituting the question sentence have a spelling relationship. Word search device. The word according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the predetermined condition is that the word searched by the word search means and the character string constituting the question sentence are inverted to each other. Search device. The word search apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the predetermined condition is that a word searched by the word search means exists across two or more words in the question sentence. 3. The predetermined condition is that the word searched by the word search means is one in which a part of one word included in the question sentence is erased. The word search device described. The predetermined condition is that a word searched by the word search unit is a part of one word included in the question sentence is erased, and a character string composed of the erased characters is The word search device according to claim 1, wherein the word storage unit corresponds to a word included in the word list stored in the word storage unit. 3. The predetermined condition is that the word searched by the word search means has a homonym relationship in which the word contained in the question sentence is spelled differently. The word search device described. The word search means rearranges a character string excluding a code indicating a delimiter between words from a character string constituting the question sentence in a predetermined order, and then includes the word list stored in the word storage means The word search device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein a word having the number of answer word characters is searched from the word storage means by comparing with each word. An input process for inputting a question sentence and the number of answer word characters of the cryptic crossword,
A word search that uses a word storage unit that stores a word list including a plurality of words to search the word storage unit for a word having the number of answer word characters that can be generated from a plurality of characters included in a character string that constitutes the question sentence. Process,
A conditional word comparison process for determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied by comparing the word searched in the word search process and a character string constituting the question sentence;
A word search method comprising: a display step of classifying and displaying words determined to satisfy the predetermined condition in the conditional word comparison step for each condition. An input process for inputting a question sentence and the number of answer word characters of the cryptic crossword,
A word search that uses a word storage unit that stores a word list including a plurality of words to search the word storage unit for a word having the number of answer word characters that can be generated from a plurality of characters included in a character string that constitutes the question sentence. Process,
A conditional word comparison process for determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied by comparing the word searched in the word search process and a character string constituting the question sentence;
A word search program comprising: a description for executing, by a computer, a display process of classifying and displaying words determined to satisfy the predetermined condition in the conditional word comparison process for each condition.

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