JP2012022327A - Speech output device for shortened character string - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a speech output device for a shortened character string by which, even if the output time of a character string for speech exceeds a prescribed time, the input character string is automatically converted into a shortened form so that the necessary speech output can be acquired within the prescribed time.SOLUTION: A speech output device for a shortened character string comprises: a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor 1; a wheel speed sensor 2; an angular velocity sensor 3; a map data storage unit 4; a CD-ROM 5; a display 6; a TMC (Traffic Message Channel) receiver 7; a controller 8; a speaker 9; and a remote control 20.

Description

  The present invention relates to an abbreviated character string speech output device that outputs a shortened form of a European character string.

When displaying a long character string on a display unit of a display device such as an LCD (liquid crystal), it is necessary to take some measures on the display so that the user can visually recognize the character string.
First, as a first method, it is conceivable to scroll a character string to the left and right as is normally done in Windows (registered trademark) or the like. Specifically, a scroll bar that is operated when scrolling the character string left and right on the display screen is provided, and when the character string is read to the right end of the screen by operating the scroll bar, the character string is then moved to the left. It is a method of reading the remaining character string by scrolling in the direction.

As a second method, there is also a method in which a character string of a predetermined length included in the screen display area of the display unit is prepared in advance as data, and the character string is displayed on the display unit.
This method is mainly used in post office and bank cash dispensers, navigation systems mounted on vehicles, and the like. That is, in the second method, a position for displaying an intended character string is determined in advance, and a character string having a length included in the screen display area (display width) is purposely stored and stored as character string data. Read and display when necessary.

On the other hand, in order to display character data in a table or list with a limited display area, character data compression such as replacing full-width characters with half-width characters and changing the font so as not to exceed the display-restricted character data length. A technique for displaying the image is known.
Also, a technique for replacing a partial character string in input character data with an abbreviated character string by paying attention to giving an abbreviation to a long word due to poor appearance due to mixing of font data or the like (for example, patents) Reference 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-7104

However, according to the background art described above, the character string to be displayed cannot be stored, the character string to be displayed changes dynamically, or the character string received from the outside must be displayed, etc. This becomes a problem when the length of the character string may exceed the screen display area (display width). In addition, the user needs to create input data while being aware of each character string so as to be included in the screen display area, which imposes a load for that purpose. Specifically, for example, in the case of a product shipped to the European Union, it is necessary to create a character string corresponding to the language of each member country, and the effort is enormous.
Furthermore, according to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, the above-described effort is improved only in Japanese, but this is not the case when European text is targeted. Further, according to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, since the human behavior of “abbreviating long words” is used, for a person who is not familiar with the abbreviations, There was a problem that it was difficult to understand what the character string meant.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is mainly intended for character strings for European text. When the length of the character string exceeds the screen display area (display width), the input character string By automatically converting to a shortened form, it is possible to input data without making the user aware of the screen display area, and to provide a shortened character string generation device, its display device, and voice output device that improve usability The purpose is to do.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a shortened character string generation unit that generates a shortened character string from the sound character string of the present invention, and when the output time of the sound character string exceeds a predetermined time, the sound character string And a character string speech converting unit for giving an instruction to the shortened character string generating unit so as to generate the shortened character string.

  According to the present invention, an audio output for obtaining a necessary audio output within a predetermined time by generating a shortened character string for speech from a speech character string, converting the shortened character string for speech into speech, and outputting the speech. An apparatus can be provided.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the flowchart quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortening character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is the flowchart quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortening character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is the screen transition diagram quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is the flowchart quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortening character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is the flowchart quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the shortening character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the modification of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is the figure quoted in order to demonstrate the structure at the time of applying the shortened character string production | generation apparatus concerning Embodiment 3 of this invention to a navigation system. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the shortened character string production | generation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the character string audio | voice conversion part shown in FIG. It is the figure quoted in order to demonstrate the screen structure of a navigation system. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen display by a navigation system. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen display by a navigation system. It is the flowchart quoted in order to demonstrate operation | movement of the control part in a navigation system. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen display of a navigation system. It is the flowchart quoted in order to demonstrate the basic operation | movement of the control part in a navigation system. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen display by a navigation system. It is the flowchart quoted in order to demonstrate the basic operation | movement of the control part in a navigation system. It is the flowchart quoted in order to demonstrate the basic operation | movement of the control part in a navigation system. It is the flowchart quoted in order to demonstrate the basic operation | movement of the control part in a navigation system.

Hereinafter, in order to explain the present invention in more detail, modes for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a shortened character string generating apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, an abbreviated character string generation apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention includes an input character string acquisition unit 10 that acquires an European input character string having an arbitrary number of digits, and an input character string acquisition unit 10. The abbreviated character string generation unit 11 generates a shortened character string having the same meaning as the partial character string from the partial character string (word) of the Western text input character string acquired in step S2.

The input character string acquisition unit 10 acquires a European input character string to be displayed on the display screen and a character string length of the European input character string, and specifically includes a peripheral LSI (for example, a keyboard controller). The above-described functions are realized under program control by a processor (CPU) described later.
The abbreviated character string generation unit 11 generates a shortened character string by omitting words in front of vowels. Specifically, the CPU executes a program that implements the functions of the abbreviated character string generation unit 11. A word length determination unit 11a, a word shortening processing unit 11b, a shortened word storage unit 11c, a word segment storage unit 11d, an abbreviated word storage unit 11e, a shortened word storage unit 11f, and a shortened character string display. And a control unit 11g.

The word length determination unit 11a has a function of selecting a word to be converted into a shortened character string by comparing the length length of each word with a threshold value to be described later. The word shortening processing unit 11b has a function of converting the word selected by the word length determining unit 11a into a shortened form. That is, the functions of the word length determination unit 11a and the word shortening processing unit 11b are realized by sequentially reading out and executing a program stored in a memory built in the above-described processor or externally attached. .
The abbreviated word storage unit 11c stores abbreviated words that are relatively frequently used, for example, “can not” is shortened to “can't” and “information” is shortened to “info.”. In addition, the word segment storage unit 11d stores information on the segment of each word, and the abbreviated word storage unit 11e has, for example, “a” “the” for English and “la” for French. A word such as “le” that does not change the meaning of the sentence even if it is deleted is stored. Further, the short word storage unit 11f stores and holds a word once selected by the user among the short words generated by the word shortening processing unit 11b.

  The abbreviated character string display control unit 11g serves as a control center of the abbreviated character string generation unit 11, outputs the European input character string acquired by the input character string acquisition unit 30 to the word shortening processing unit 31b, and abbreviated word storage unit An instruction is given to generate a shortened character string by referring to the word stored in 31c, the segment stored in the word segment storage unit 31d, the word stored in the abbreviated word storage unit 31e, etc., and the word shortening processing unit 31b It has a function of acquiring the generated shortened character string and outputting it to a display unit (not shown) such as an externally connected liquid crystal monitor.

  2 to 12 are screen transition diagrams quoted for explaining the operation of the abbreviated character generation apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and are each developed on the display screen as a character string shortening tool (for European text). Is displayed.

2 to 12, a field indicated by reference numeral 2a is, for example, a character string input unit assigned on the display screen for a user of a personal computer to input a character string, and reference numeral 2b indicates an input position of the character string. The field indicated by the cursor and reference numeral 2c is a shortened character string display section allocated on the display screen for displaying the shortened character string generated by the shortened character string generating section 11, and the button indicated by reference numeral 2d is displayed by the user. The “abbreviation” button assigned on the display screen for instructing execution of word shortening, buttons 2e and 2f are used for the user to select and operate the abbreviation when there are a plurality of abbreviation candidates. The assigned “Back / Next” button, the field indicated by reference numeral 2g is the selected language display section assigned to the display screen to display the selected language, and the button indicated by reference numeral 2h is The user is a "language" selection button that has been assigned on the display screen to select the language.
2 to 12, all the areas indicated by bold rectangles are buttons that can be selected and pressed with the mouse. However, an area indicated by a dotted thick rectangle indicates that the button is masked.

Hereinafter, the operation of the abbreviated character generation apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the screen transition diagrams of FIGS.
In FIG. 2, a cursor 2b is displayed in the character string input unit 2a, indicating that a character string can be input. When the user of the personal computer inputs “Show information about the destination.” As shown in FIG. 3, for example, the input character string acquisition unit 10 acquires the input character string and shortens the character string generation unit 11 ( Delivered to the abbreviated character string display control unit 11g). As a result, the mask of the “shortening” button 2d is removed, and an execution instruction of the word shortening process by the shortened character string generation unit 11 (word shortening processing unit 11b) becomes possible.

Subsequently, when the personal computer user presses the “abbreviation” button 2d, the abbreviated character string generation unit 11 automatically generates an abbreviated form of the input character string “Show information about the destination.”.
Specifically, the abbreviated character string display control unit 11g serving as the control center of the abbreviated character string generation unit 11 refers to the abbreviated word storage unit 1c with respect to the word abbreviation processing unit 11b, Instructs to search for words that can be converted to abbreviations. Here, the word that can be converted in “Show information about the destination.” Is “information”.
Thereby, the word shortening processing unit 11b converts “information” of the partial character string (word) of the European input character string obtained by searching the shortened word storage unit 11c to “info.”, And shortens the character string. It outputs to the display control part 11g. As a result, when the “shortening” button 2d is pressed, “Show info. About the destination” is displayed first as shown in FIG. Subsequently, the “Next” button 2 f is unmasked, and a plurality of abbreviations can be selected.

Next, when the personal computer user presses the “next” button 2 f, the word shortening processing unit 11 b refers to the shortened word storage unit 1 c and selects from among the character strings displayed on the shortened character string display unit 2 c. The word that can be converted into the abbreviated form is searched again. However, since the search is impossible, the fact is notified to the shortened character string display control unit 11g.
When the shortened character string display control unit 11g receives a notification to that effect from the word shortening processing unit 11b, the shortened character string display control unit 11g again displays the word shortening processing unit 11b on the shortened character string display unit 2c with reference to the omitted word storage unit 1e. An instruction is given to search for an optional word in the character string. Here, the word that can be omitted in the acquired Western character string “Show info. About the destination.” Is “the”. Thus, the word shortening processing unit 11b notifies the shortened character string display control unit 11g that the word “the” can be omitted. As a result, the “Next” button 2f is pressed to display “Show info. About destination.” As shown in FIG. 5, the mask of the “Back” button 2e is removed, and the original omission is performed. The shape can be selected.

Subsequently, when the personal computer user presses the “Next” button 2 f again, the word shortening processing unit 11 b refers to the abbreviated word storage unit 11 e and includes the character string displayed in the shortened character string display unit 2 c. Therefore, the omissible word is searched again, but the search becomes impossible, and the fact is notified to the shortened character string display control unit 11g.
Upon receiving the notification from the word shortening processing unit 11b, the shortened character string display control unit 11g notifies the word length determination unit 11a to that effect. The word length determination unit 11a determines the word having the longest length from the number of characters of each word. The word with the longest length is “destination” in the character string displayed in the shortened character string display portion 2c. The word length determination unit 11a notifies the shortened character string display control unit 11g to that effect.

Upon receiving the notification from the word length determination unit 11a, the shortened character string display control unit 11g refers to the word segment storage unit 11d with respect to the word shortening processing unit 11b, and outputs information related to the “destination” segment. Give instructions. Here, the segment of “destination” is “des / ti / na / tion”.
When the shortened character string display control unit 11g receives the segment information which is the reference result of the word segment storage unit 11d from the word shortening processing unit 11b, the shortened character string display control unit 11g again sends the word shortening processing unit 11b together with the segment part information of “destination”. Instruct to create the abbreviation. As a result, the word shortening processing unit 11b makes the last character from “aeiou” the character string “destina” of “des · ti · na · tion” with the last segment omitted. It is judged whether it corresponds to the following vowel.

  In this case, since it is “a”, it is determined as “applicable”, thereby deleting “a” and making “destin” a shortened form of the word “destination”. The word shortening processing unit 11b adds a period to the end of “destin” and outputs “destin.” To the shortened character string display control unit 11g as a shortened form of the word “destination”.

By the way, when “destination” is converted to “destin.”, It becomes “Show info. About destin ..”, but it is a grammatical error that two periods are displayed at the end of the character string.
For this reason, the shortened character string display control unit 11g determines that one period is unnecessary and deletes it. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, “Show info. About destin.” Is displayed.

Subsequently, when the personal computer user presses the “Next” button 2 f again, the word length determination unit 11 a determines the word having the longest length from the number of characters of each word.
Among the character strings displayed in the shortened character string display portion 2c, the word having the longest length is “destin.”. The word length determination unit 11a notifies the shortened character string display control unit 11g to that effect. When the shortened character string display control unit 11g receives a notification to that effect from the word length determination unit 11a, the shortened character string display control unit 11g instructs the word shortening processing unit 11b to generate a shortened form of “destin.”.

The word abbreviation processing unit 11b, for the character string “desti” in which “des · ti · na · tion” is omitted from the second segment from the last, the last character becomes a vowel consisting of aeiou. It is determined whether it is applicable.
In this case, since it is “i”, it is determined as “applicable”. Therefore, the word shortening processing unit 11b deletes “i”, adds a period, and sets “dest.” To “destination”. As a second abbreviation, it is output to the abbreviated character string display controller 11g. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, “Show info. About dest.” Is displayed on the screen.

On the other hand, when shortening a word, if the word becomes too short, the meaning of the word will not be understood.
For this reason, the abbreviated character string display control unit 11g excludes words having two or less segments and words having two or less segments as a result of shortening the words from the target of the abbreviated character string generation. Specifically, when each word of “Show info. About dest.” Is divided into segments, it becomes “Show”, “in · fo.”, “A · bout”, “des · t.”, And all the segments are two. It becomes the following. Therefore, the abbreviated character string display control unit 11g determines that this character string cannot be shortened any more, and displays the “Next” button 2f as a mask as shown in FIG. finish.

Note that the abbreviated character string display control unit 11g does not adopt the abbreviated form when the word is abbreviated to result in a word having a different meaning. In this case, a comparison / determination process between the shortened character string and a separately prepared regular word dictionary (not shown) is required. For example, if “cor · ne · a” (cornea) is shortened according to the above rules, it becomes “corn” (corn). In this case, the shortened character string display control unit 11g should not adopt this shortened shape. become.
In addition, when there is a word that is determined not to be abbreviated, the abbreviated character string display control unit 11g does not make the word abbreviated. For example, “MITSUBISHI” (company name), etc., where all the words are capitalized, or “Tommy” (person name), etc., where the initials of the words are capitalized, even in the middle of the sentence It is. However, in the case of German, there is a grammatical rule that all noun words are capitalized, so the above determination does not apply to such languages.

In addition to the above, another word that is not suitable for abbreviation is, for example, “deify”. If “deify” is separated by segments, it becomes “de, i, fy”. Here, since both “i” and “e” are vowels, simply applying the above rule for generating a shortened character string results in “d”. Originally, “deify” is a word in which the prefix “de” and the suffix “ify” are combined. Therefore, in such a word, the shortened character string display control unit 11g determines that it cannot be shortened. It is reasonable to do.
The abbreviated character string display control unit 11g does not instruct the word abbreviation processing unit 11b to create a word abbreviation for a word that cannot be abbreviated.

After a character string is displayed on the abbreviated character string display unit 2c, the user of the personal computer updates or inputs the character string of the character string input unit 2a, or an operation for terminating the processing by the abbreviated character string generation unit 11 , The abbreviated character string display control unit 11g determines that the personal computer user has selected the abbreviated word generated by the word abbreviation processing unit 11b displayed in the abbreviated character string display unit 2c, and the shortened character string display control unit 11g The formed word is stored in the abbreviated word storage unit 11f. In the case of “Show info. About dest.” Shown in FIG. 7, “dest.” Corresponds.
Thereafter, when a character string including “destination” is shortened, “dest.” Is preferentially adopted as the shortened form of “destination”.

Next, the operation when a language other than English is shortened will be described. When the “language” selection button 2h is operated, the selected language is switched variously.
Specifically, when French is selected, “French” is displayed in the selected language display portion 2g as shown in FIG. When the user of the computer inputs, for example, “Affichage informations sur la destination.” (Meaning of “Show information about the destination.”), As shown in FIG. 9, the “shortening” button 2d is unmasked and the shortening is executed. Can be instructed. When the personal computer user presses the “abbreviation” button 2d, the abbreviated character string generation unit 11 automatically generates an abbreviated form of “Affichage informations sur la destination.”

Specifically, in the abbreviated character string generation unit 11, the abbreviated character string display control unit 11g first searches the word abbreviation processing unit 11b for the abbreviated word storage unit 11c, and can convert it into an abbreviated form from the European input character string. Instruct them to search for a unique word. Here, the word that can be converted in “Affichage informations sur la destination” is “informations”.
As a result, the word shortening processing unit 11b searches the shortened word storage unit 11c to convert “informations” into “infos” and outputs it to the shortened character string display control unit 11g. As a result, when the personal computer user presses the “shortening” button 2d, the first display is “Affichage infos sur la destination.” As shown in FIG. Then, the mask of the “Next” button 2 f is removed, and a plurality of abbreviations can be selected.

Next, when the personal computer user presses the “next” button 2 f, the word shortening processing unit 11 b searches the shortened word storage unit 11 c and searches among the character strings displayed on the shortened character string display unit 2 c. The word that can be converted into the abbreviated form is searched again, but the search is impossible, so that the fact is output to the abbreviated character string display control unit 11g.
When the shortened character string display control unit 11g receives a notification to that effect from the word shortening processing unit 11b, the shortened character string display control unit 11g again, from among the character strings displayed on the shortened character string display unit 2c to the word shortening processing unit 11b, Instruct to search for optional words. Here, the word which can be omitted in “Affichage infos sur la destination.” Is “la”. The word abbreviation processing unit 11b refers to the abbreviated word storage unit 1e and notifies the abbreviated character string display control unit 11g that the word “la” can be omitted. As a result, the “Next” button 2f is pressed to display “Affichage infos sur destination.” As shown in FIG. Then, the mask of the “return” button 2e is removed, and the original abbreviation can be selected.

When the personal computer user presses the “next” button 2f again, the word shortening processing unit 11b refers to the abbreviated word storage unit 11e, and omits it from the character strings displayed in the shortened character string display unit 2c. The possible words are searched again, but the search is impossible, and the fact is notified to the shortened character string display control unit 11g.
When the shortened character string display control unit 11g receives a notification to that effect from the word shortening processing unit 11b, the shortened character string display control unit 11g further notifies the word length determination unit 11a. Here, the word length determination unit 11a determines the word having the longest length from the number of characters of each word. Among the character strings displayed in the shortened character string display portion 2c, the word having the longest length is “destination”. The word length determination unit 11a notifies the shortened character string display control unit 11g to that effect.

When the shortened character string display control unit 11g receives a notification to that effect from the word length determination unit 11a, the shortened character string display control unit 11g refers to the word segment storage unit 11d and acquires information related to the “destination” segment. Give instructions to do so.
Here, the segment of “destination” is “des / ti / na / tion”. When the shortened character string display control unit 11g receives the segment information acquired by referring to the word segment storage unit 11d from the word shortening processing unit 11b, the segment unit of “destination” is again transmitted to the word shortening processing unit 11b. Along with the information, it gives instructions to generate the abbreviation. The word abbreviation processing unit 11b determines whether the last character corresponds to aeiouy (French vowel) with respect to the character string “destina” of “des · ti · na · tion” with the last segment omitted. Determine whether or not. In this case, since it is “a”, it is determined as “applicable”. Therefore, “a” is deleted, and “destin” is shortened to “destination”. The word shortening processing unit 11b further adds a period to the end of “destin” and outputs “destin.” As a shortened form of “destination” to the shortened character string display control unit 11g.

By the way, “destin” means “fate, fate” in French. The abbreviated character string display control unit 11g determines that “destin” is not suitable as a shortened form of “destination” because “destin” has a different meaning from “destination”, and a word shortening processing unit 11b is instructed to regenerate the shortened form of “destination”.
The word shortening processing unit 11b determines that the last character of “desti”, “desti”, and “desti”, which is omitted from the last segment, is aeiouy (French vowels). ) Is determined. In this case, since it is “i”, it is determined as “applicable”, and the word shortening processing unit 11b deletes “i” and adds a period, and “dest.” Becomes the second “destination”. As a shortened form, it is transmitted to the shortened character string display control unit 11g.

When “destination” is converted to “dest.”, It becomes “Affichage infos sur dest ..”, but it is a grammatical error that two periods are displayed at the end of the character string.
For this reason, the shortened character string display control unit 11g determines that one period is unnecessary and deletes it. As a result, the finally displayed content is “Affichage infos sur dest.” As shown in FIG.

FIGS. 13 and 14 are flowcharts cited for explaining the basic operation of the shortened character string generation apparatus according to the first embodiment described above. The operation explanation using the screen transition diagrams shown in FIGS. This is a supplementary meaning.
The operation of the shortened character string conversion apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

When the personal computer user inputs a character string into the character string input unit 2a shown in FIGS. 2 to 12 (step ST101 “Yes” in FIG. 13), the input character string acquisition unit 10 acquires the character string and shortens the character string. Delivered to the display control unit 11g. In response to this, the abbreviated text string display control unit 11g controls a display unit (not shown) so as to remove the mask of the “abbreviation” button 2d assigned to the display screen (step ST102).
Subsequently, when the personal computer user presses the “abbreviation” button 2d (step ST103 “Yes”), the word shortening processing unit 11b searches the shortened word storage unit 11c for a shortenable word (step ST104). If a hit is found (step ST104 “Yes”), the word contained in the input character string is shortened according to the stored contents and delivered to the shortened character string display control unit 11g (step ST105).
Thereby, the shortened character string display control unit 11g controls a display unit (not shown) to cancel the mask of the “next” button 2f (step ST106).

Next, the word abbreviation processing unit 11b searches the abbreviated word storage unit 11e for a word that can be omitted (step ST107 in FIG. 14), omits the corresponding word (step ST108), and abbreviated character string display control. Delivered to part 11g. Thereby, the shortened character string display control unit 11g controls a display unit (not shown) to cancel the mask of the “return” button 2e (step ST109).
Further, the word shortening processing unit 11b refers to the word segment storage unit 11d to search for a word having three or more segments (step ST110). If there is (step ST110 “Yes”), the corresponding word is shortened. A shortened character string is generated for this purpose (step ST111). Here, the word shortening processing unit 11b generates a shortened character string in segment units, and sequentially passes the result to the shortened character string display control unit 11g (when the word having three or more segments disappears (step ST110 “No” "), The abbreviated character string display control unit 11g sets a mask for the" next "button 2f (step ST112), and ends the series of operations.

According to Embodiment 1 described above, the abbreviated character string generation unit 11 generates an abbreviated character string having the same meaning as the partial character string from the partial character string of the European input character string acquired by the input character string acquisition unit 10. By doing this, when the length of the input text string exceeds the screen display area (display width), the input character string can be automatically converted to the abbreviated form. This makes it possible to input data without being conscious of the problem and improve usability.
Therefore, the abbreviated character string generation unit 11 includes the abbreviated word storage unit 11c in which words and abbreviated words corresponding to proper names are registered, and the word abbreviated processing unit 11b searches the abbreviated word storage unit 11c. Generate a shortened string from a substring. The abbreviated character string generation unit 11 includes a word segment storage unit 11d in which word segments are registered, and the word abbreviation processing unit 11b omits a segment obtained by searching the word segment storage unit 11d. An abbreviated character string may be generated.

The shortened character string generation unit 11 (word shortening processing unit 11b) omits the last segment constituting the word, determines whether the last character of the remaining character string is a vowel, and is a vowel. When it is determined, the shortened character string may be generated by omitting the vowel.
At this time, the abbreviated character string generation unit 11 (word shortening processing unit 11b) may perform control so that a word composed of a predetermined number of segments or less is not a target for abbreviated character string generation. Also, the shortened character string generation unit 11 (word shortening processing unit 11b) may invalidate the generated shortened character string when the generated shortened character string has a different meaning from the input character string. Good. The shortened character string generation unit 11 (word shortening processing unit 11b) generates a shortened character string from the input character string, and as a result, when the number of characters of the generated word is equal to or less than a predetermined number, You may control not to make it the object of shortened character string generation. Further, the abbreviated character string generation unit 11 may perform control so that when the initial character of the word constituting the input character string is uppercase, the word is not a target for the abbreviated character string generation.

Further, the abbreviated character string generation unit 11 (word shortening processing unit 11b) controls the word not to be a target for the generation of the abbreviated character string when all the words constituting the input character string are capitalized. Also good.
Further, the abbreviated character string generation unit 11 includes an abbreviated word storage unit 11e in which words that do not change in meaning even if they are deleted. The word registered in the abbreviation word storage unit 11e may be omitted to generate a shortened character string.

  In addition, according to Embodiment 1 described above, only English and French are illustrated, but in the case of European languages, it is possible to generate a shortened character string based on substantially the same rules for other languages.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
Hereinafter, an example in which the shortened character string generation device described in the first embodiment is applied to a display device will be described below as a second embodiment. FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the abbreviated character string generation device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
The difference from the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is that the shortened character string is generated directly from the input character string in the first embodiment, but the character width limit of the character string is input and included in the range. The short character string is generated. The details will be described below.

  As shown in FIG. 15, an abbreviated character string generation device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention includes an input character string acquisition unit 30 that acquires an arbitrary European input character string, and a character that acquires an arbitrary character string width. Within the range of the character string width acquired by the column width acquisition unit 33 and the character string width acquisition unit 33, the partial character string of the European input character string acquired by the input character string acquisition unit 30 has the same meaning as the partial character string. It is comprised by the shortened character string production | generation part 31 which produces | generates a shortened character string.

Specifically, the input character string acquisition unit 30 and the character string width acquisition unit 33 are configured by a peripheral LSI (for example, a keyboard controller), and realize the above-described functions under program control by a processor (CPU) described later. .
Further, the abbreviated character string generation unit 31 is specifically configured by a processor (CPU) that executes a program that realizes the function of the abbreviated character string generation unit 11, and includes a word length determination unit 31a and a word shortening processing unit. 31b, an abbreviated word storage unit 31c, a word segment storage unit 31d, an abbreviated word storage unit 31e, an abbreviated word storage unit 31f, an abbreviated character string display control unit 31g, and a character string width calculation unit 31h. The

The word length determination unit 31a has a function of selecting a word to be converted into a shortened character string by comparing the length length of each word with a threshold value described later. Moreover, the word shortening process part 31b has a function which converts the word selected by the word length determination part 31a into a shortened form. That is, the functions of the word length determination unit 31a and the word shortening processing unit 31b are realized by sequentially reading out and executing a program stored in the above-described CPU or in an external memory. .
The abbreviated word storage unit 31c stores abbreviated words that are relatively frequently used, for example, "can not" is shortened to "can't" and "information" is shortened to "info." In addition, the word segment storage unit 31d stores the segment of each word, and the abbreviated word storage unit 31e includes, for example, “a” “the” for English and “la” “le” for French. ", Which stores a word whose meaning does not change even if it is deleted. Further, the abbreviated word storage unit 31f stores and holds a word once selected by the user among the abbreviated words generated by the word abbreviation processing unit 31b.

The abbreviated character string display control unit 31g serves as a control center of the abbreviated character string generation unit 31 and manages the input character string length (width) acquired by the character string width acquisition unit 33, and for the word shortening processing unit 31b, The European input character string acquired by the input character string acquisition unit 30 is output, the word stored in the abbreviated word storage unit 31c, the segment stored in the word segment storage unit 31d, the word stored in the abbreviated word storage unit 31e, etc. The function of instructing to generate a shortened character string with reference to the above, acquiring the shortened character string generated by the word shortening processing unit 31b, and outputting it to a display unit (not shown) such as an externally connected liquid crystal monitor Have.
The character string width calculation unit 31h has a function of calculating the character string length of the European input character string displayed on the display screen (display unit), and stores the individual character width of each character in the built-in memory. These are added according to the input character string, and the input character string length (width) is calculated and output to the shortened character string display control unit 31g.

FIGS. 16 and 17 are screen transition diagrams quoted for explaining the operation of the abbreviated character generation apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.
16 and 17, the field indicated by reference numeral 4a is a character string input unit assigned on the display screen for the user to input a character string, and reference numeral 4b is a cursor indicating the input position of the character string. The field indicated by 4c is a shortened character string display section allocated on the display screen for displaying the shortened character string generated by the shortened character string generating section 11, and the field indicated by reference numeral 4d is the width of the character string. The character string width input section assigned on the display screen for inputting the limit number of dots, the field indicated by reference numeral 4g is the selected language display assigned on the display screen for displaying the selected language. The button indicated by the symbol 4h is a “language” selection button assigned to select a language. In the figure, areas indicated by bold rectangles are all buttons that can be selected and pressed with a mouse or the like.

  The operation of the abbreviated character generation apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 15 will be described below with reference to the screen transition diagrams of FIGS.

In FIG. 16, a cursor 4b is displayed in the character string input unit 4a, indicating that a character string can be input in this area.
For example, when the personal computer user inputs “Show information about the destination” in the character string input unit 4a, the character is acquired via the input character string acquisition unit 30 and output to the shortened character string display control unit 31g. Thus, the shortened character string display control unit 31g outputs the acquired character string to the character string width calculation unit 31h and instructs the calculation of the character string width.

Unlike Japanese characters, European characters are called proportional fonts, and each character has a different width. The character string width calculation unit 31h has character widths of individual characters such as, for example, character A: 14 dots wide, character B: 12 dots wide, character C: 14 dots wide, character D: 13 dots wide, and so on. Built-in stored character width table (memory).
When the character string width calculation unit 31h receives the character string from the shortened character string display control unit 31g, the character string width calculation unit 31h adds the widths of the individual characters constituting the character string and calculates the character string width of the entire character string. For example, the character string width of “Show information about the destination.” Is 342 dots, and the character string width calculation unit 31h outputs the calculation result to the shortened character string display control unit 3g.

For example, when the personal computer user inputs “250” to the character string width input unit 4d, the abbreviated character string display control unit 31g creates a shortened form of a sentence including a display width of 250 dots.
The operation in which the word shortening processing unit 31b performs the word shortening processing with reference to each of the shortened word storing unit 31c, the word segment storing unit 31d, and the omitted word storing unit 31e is the same as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. Therefore, the description here is omitted.

The first character string generated by shortening “Show information about the destination.” Is “Show info. About the destination.” On the other hand, according to the calculation result of the character string width calculation unit 31h, the above-described character string is displayed. The width of the character string is 280 dots.
As described above, since the width of the character string exceeds the numerical value “250” input to the character string width input unit 4d, the abbreviated character string display control unit 31g sends the character string again to the word shortening processing unit 31b. Instruct to abbreviate. The word shortening processing unit 31b executes the word shortening processing again according to the first embodiment, and the character string generated as a result is “Show info. About destination.”, And the calculation result of the character string width calculating unit 31h According to this, the width of this character string is 248 dots. Therefore, since it is included in the numerical value “250” input to the character string width input unit 4d, the abbreviated character string display control unit 31g determines that the word shortening process is completed, and as shown in FIG. “Show info. About destination.” Is displayed in part 4c.

18 and 19 are flowcharts cited for explaining the basic operation of the abbreviated character string generation apparatus according to the second embodiment described above, and the operation explanation using the screen transition diagrams shown in FIGS. This is a supplementary meaning.
The operation of the shortened character string conversion device 31g will be mainly described below with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

First, when a personal computer user inputs a character string into the character string input unit 4a shown in FIGS. 16 and 17 and a character width into the character string width input unit 4d (step ST201 “Yes” in FIG. 18), the former is The input character string acquisition unit 30, the latter, is acquired by the character string width acquisition unit 33 and is taken into the shortened character string generation unit 31.
In the abbreviated character string generation unit 31, the abbreviated character string display control unit 31 g serving as the control center is acquired via the character string width acquired via the character string width acquisition unit 33 and the input character string acquisition unit 30. The character width calculated by the character string width calculation unit 3h corresponding to the Western character input character string is compared (step ST202). Here, when it is determined that the width of the acquired character string is longer than the input character string width (step ST202 “Yes”), the shortened character string display control unit 31g performs the word shortening processing unit 31b. Instructs generation of a shortened form of a character string.

The word abbreviation processing unit 31b refers to the abbreviated word storage unit 31c to search for a shortenable word, and when there is a corresponding word (step ST203 “Yes”), the word abbreviated word is shortened to generate a shortened character string. Then, when handing over to the shortened character string display control unit 31g (step ST204), the shortened character string display control unit 31g further compares the width of the shortened character string with the input character string width (step ST205). .
If it is determined that the width of the character string is longer than the input character string width (step ST205 “Yes”), the shortened character string display control unit 31g shortens the character string with respect to the word shortening processing unit 31b. Directs the generation of shapes. Thereby, the word shortening processing unit 31b searches the abbreviation word storage unit 3e for a word that can be omitted, and when there is a corresponding word (step ST206 "Yes" in FIG. 19), the word is omitted. Then, a shortened character string is generated and delivered to the shortened character string display control unit 31g (step ST207). Subsequently, the shortened character string display control unit 31g compares again the width of the character string shortened as a result and the input width (step ST208).

Here, when it is determined that the width of the character string is longer than the input width (step ST208 “Yes”), the shortened character string display control unit 31g sets the word segment storage unit 31d to the word shortening processing unit 31b. Refer to it to instruct further word shortening processing. The word shortening processing unit 31b searches the word having three or more segments by referring to the word segment storage unit 31d, and when there is a corresponding word (step ST209 “Yes”), shortens the word to shorten the character. A column is generated and delivered to the shortened character string display control unit 31g (step ST210).
Here, again, the width of the display character string is compared with the acquired character string width, and when the width of the display character string becomes shorter than the acquired character string width (step ST211 “No”), the shortened character string is displayed. The display control unit 31g displays the generated character string on the shortened character string display unit 4c, and ends the series of operations described above.

  According to the second embodiment described above, when the shortened character string generation unit 31 has a character string width acquired via the character string width acquisition unit 33 that exceeds the display width of the display screen, the length included in the display width. If the length of the input text string exceeds the screen display area (display width), the input text string can be automatically converted to the abbreviated form. Data entry is possible without making the PC user aware of the screen display area, improving usability.

That is, a long character string can be automatically converted into a shortened form mainly for a European character string. For this reason, when a user displays a long character string on a display unit such as a liquid crystal display, a user thinks and creates each character string so that it fits in the screen display capacity (display width) of the display unit. This eliminates the conventional troublesome work.
Therefore, in an application that cannot store the character string to be displayed, an application that dynamically changes the displayed character string, or an application that displays a character string received from the outside, the character string exceeds the displayable screen width. It is possible to solve problems such as making the user feel uncomfortable.

In Embodiment 2 described above, the character string width calculation unit 30 calculates the character string length of the European input character string displayed on the display screen, and the shortened character string generation unit 31 calculates the character string width calculation unit 31h. When the displayed character string length exceeds the display width of the display screen, a shortened character string of the length included in the display width is generated, which is effective when displaying an indeterminate character string whose display content changes each time. is there.
On the other hand, when displaying a standard Western character input character string, as shown in FIG. 20, the character string storage unit 40 can be used as an alternative to the character string width calculation unit 30. In the character string storage unit 40, in addition to the European input character string acquired by the input character string acquisition unit 30, display width information for each character constituting the input character string is stored as a set. Therefore, the shortened character string display control unit 31g displays the character string width acquired via the character string width acquisition unit 33 and the character input acquired from the display character string storage unit 40 when displaying the character input character string. The character width of the character information is compared, and if it is determined that the width of the acquired character string is longer than the input character string width, the shortened form of the character string is generated for the word shortening processing unit 31b. It is an instruction. Other configurations and operations are the same as those of the second embodiment shown in FIG.

In Embodiment 2 described above, the character string to be shortened is assumed to be a one-line character string. However, for example, in the case of a display screen area that displays a long character string of two or more lines, the character string width restriction Is the maximum width of one line × the maximum number of lines that can be displayed. In this case, whether or not the character width of the character string exceeds the display screen area is obtained by the procedure described below.
That is, from the beginning of the sentence, the character string width when there is one word, the character string width when there are two words,... When the maximum width of is exceeded, a new line is inserted at the previous word. Next, the character string width is obtained again from the following word, such as the character string width when there is one word, the character string width when there are two words, and so on, and the length of the character string is the maximum width of one line. When it exceeds, the line breaks again at the word before it.

The above procedure is repeated to find the line feed position until the end of the sentence, and the number of lines in the entire sentence is obtained. The shortened character string generation unit 31 determines that the character string exceeds the display screen area when the number of lines exceeds the number of lines that can be displayed in the display screen area.
In addition, when generating the above-described abbreviated form of the sentence, instead of obtaining for each line, searching for the abbreviated word and the abbreviated word from the whole sentence, shortening or omitting them, It shortens the length of the whole sentence.

Embodiment 3 FIG.
Next, an example in which the shortened character string generation device described in the first embodiment and the second embodiment is applied to a navigation system will be described as a third embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a navigation system including a shortened character string generation device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.
The navigation system shown in FIG. 21 includes a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor 1, a wheel speed sensor 2, an angular velocity sensor 3, a map data storage device 4, a CD-ROM 5, a display 6, and a TMC (Traffic Message Channel). : Traffic message channel) It is composed of a receiving device 7, a control device 8, a speaker 9, and a remote controller 20.

Each of the GPS sensor 1, the wheel speed sensor 2, and the angular velocity sensor 3 outputs information indicating the latitude and longitude, a signal indicating the vehicle speed, and an angular velocity necessary for detecting the current position. The map data storage device 4 stores map data. Here, the map data is acquired via the CD-ROM 5 which is a storage medium. On the display (display unit) 6, the current position measured via each sensor described above and the map data read from the map data storage device 4 are displayed.
The TMC receiver 7 receives TMC information broadcast from an FM broadcast station. The control device 8 serves as a control center for navigation processing, and includes a current position detection unit 81, a route search unit 82, a route storage unit 83, a route guidance unit 84, and a character string speech conversion unit 85 (hereinafter referred to as TTS: Text To Speech), a character string storage unit 86, a shortened character string generation unit 87, and a display control unit 88.

The current position detection unit 81 detects the current position based on sensor signals from the GPS sensor 1, the wheel speed sensor 2, and the angular speed sensor 3. The route search unit 81 searches for a route from the current position to the destination based on the destination set by the user. The route storage unit 83 is a memory that stores the route searched by the route search unit 82.
The route guidance unit 84 generates a character string and an image related to route guidance in order to inform the navigation user of the route stored in the route storage unit 83. The route guidance unit 84 stores, for example, the length of time when the character string is output by voice with respect to a character string that does not include a distance or place name, such as “Turn right”.

The TTS 85 has a function of converting a shortened character string for speech into speech and outputting it within a predetermined time, and synthesizes speech data from character string data related to route guidance generated by the route guidance unit 84. TTS is a well-known technique. For example, since the details of the technique are described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-153998, the description thereof is omitted here.
The character string storage unit 86 stores a fixed character string to be displayed on the display 6 such as “Set destination” and “Please wait ...”, and also stores the character width of the character string. For example, information regarding a character string and a character width is stored as a set, such as 130 dots for "Set destination", 96 dots for "Please wait ...". The character string storage unit 86 further stores standard character strings corresponding to nine European languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Spanish, and Portuguese. ing. These languages can be switched by operating the navigation system.

The abbreviated character string generation unit 87 performs a character string (word) shortening process when the character string displayed on the display 6 exceeds the display screen area. Details of the internal configuration and the like are shown in FIG. Has been. The display control unit 88 reads map data from the CD-ROM 5 and displays the current position detected by the current position detection unit 81 and the route from the current position stored in the route storage unit 83 to the destination on the display 6. .
The speaker 9 outputs voice data related to route guidance synthesized by the TTS 85, and the remote controller 20 is used by the user to operate the navigation system.

  FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the shortened character string generation unit 87 shown in FIG. The abbreviated character string generation unit 87 includes a word length determination unit 871, a word abbreviation processing unit 872, an abbreviated word storage unit 873, a word segment storage unit 874, an abbreviated word storage unit 875, and a character string width calculation unit 876. Consists of.

The word length determination unit 871 selects a word to be converted into a shortened character string by comparing the length length of each word with a threshold value described later, and the word shortening processing unit 872 is selected by the word length determination unit 871 Has the ability to convert words to abbreviations. The character string width calculation unit 876 has a function of storing individual character widths of each character and adding them to calculate the width of the character string.
The abbreviated word storage unit 873 stores abbreviated words that are relatively frequently used, such as “can not” for “can not” and “info” for “information”. In addition, the word segment storage unit 874 stores the segment of each word, and the abbreviated word storage unit 875 stores, for example, “a” “the” for English and “la” “le” for French. ", Which stores a word whose meaning does not change even if it is deleted.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of TTS85 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 23, the TTS 85 includes a character string analysis unit 851, a word dictionary 852, a prosody information setting unit 853, a speech unit selection unit 854, a speech waveform dictionary 855, and a speech output time calculation unit 856. And a voice synthesizer 857.
The character string analysis unit 851 analyzes the character string that is the basis of the speech with reference to the word dictionary 852, and outputs it to the prosody information setting unit 853. The word dictionary 852 stores word readings, word accent types, and word parts of speech.

The prosody information setting unit 853 has a function of setting a voice format indicating a certain arrangement method, such as long / short, accent, vowel / consonant, etc., for a voice, and includes a fundamental frequency setting unit 501, a voice power setting unit 502, a duration length And a setting unit 503.
The fundamental frequency setting unit 501 determines the fundamental frequency based on the word accent type and the word length output by the character string analysis unit 851. The voice power setting unit 502 sets the power of voice to be synthesized for each phoneme. The duration setting unit 503 sets the duration of phonemes.

Based on the reading of each word output from the character string analysis unit 851, the speech segment selection unit 854 converts the phoneme sequence that constitutes the reading of the word, and the waveform corresponding to each phoneme and the information associated therewith. Extracted from the speech waveform dictionary 855.
The voice output time calculation unit 856 has a function of adding the duration of each phoneme set by the duration time setting unit 503 and calculating the voice output time when the entire character string is output as voice. The voice synthesizer 857 performs a basic frequency setting unit 501, a voice power setting unit 502, and a duration length setting unit 503 for phoneme waveforms corresponding to a series of phonemes selected from the voice waveform dictionary 855 by the voice unit selection unit 854. It has a function to synthesize and output voice according to the fundamental frequency, power, and duration set in each.

FIG. 24 is a diagram cited for explaining the display screen configuration of the display 6. As shown in FIG. 24, the display 6 used here uses 400 pixels in the horizontal direction (400 dots) and 240 pixels in the vertical direction (240 dots) as the effective screen display area.
The display control unit 88 of the navigation system displays the map data read from the CD-ROM 5 via the map data storage device 4 in the effective screen display area, the current position detected by the current position detection unit 81, and The TMC information received by the TMC receiver 7 is displayed on the route searched by the route search unit 83. Note that the remote control 20 is used for navigation system operations such as map display and route search. At this time, the display 6 stores various information necessary for the operation in the character string storage unit 86. Displayed with a string.

FIG. 25 is a facility list of the facility name “Tourist information” displayed on the display 6. In FIG. 25, a field indicated by reference numeral 7a indicates a facility title display section, and an area indicated by reference numeral 7b indicates an area where a facility list is displayed.
Here, since the character string width of the character string “Tourist information” is 165 dots and the horizontal width of the display 6 is 400 dots as shown in FIG. 24, the character string “Tourist information” is displayed in the facility title display portion 7 a. Can be displayed. In FIG. 25, when “Name • C • A •” is selected from the facility list 7b and a map is displayed, a facility map is displayed as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 26, the field indicated by reference numeral 7c is a facility name display section. The facility title display unit 7c displays the facility title on the left and the facility name on the right.
The display width of the facility title must be 120 dots, and the facility name must be the length of the range included in this display width. However, since the character string width of the character string “Tourist information” is 165 dots, the character string “Tourist information” protrudes from the display width range described above. Therefore, the display control unit 88 determines that the character string “Tourist information” cannot be displayed in the display width, and the shortened character string generation unit 87 determines that the character string “Tourist information” is within a character string width of 120 dots. Give instructions to shorten.

Since the process of shortening the character string by the shortened character string generation unit 87 is the same as that in the second embodiment, it will be briefly described here.
In the abbreviated character string generation unit 87, the word abbreviation processing unit 872 refers to the abbreviated word storage unit 873 and searches the “Tourist information” for a word that can be converted into an abbreviated form. The word that can be converted in “Tourist information” is “information”. For this reason, the word shortening processing unit 872 converts “information” into “info.” Based on the shortened word storage unit 873, and at this time, the character string width calculation unit 876 performs the character string width of “Tourist info.” Is calculated.

According to the calculation result of the character string width calculation unit 876, the width of the character string “Tourist info.” Is 103 dots. Therefore, since the facility title is included within the display width of 120 dots, the abbreviated character string generation unit 15 determines that the abbreviated shape generation processing is completed, and displays “Tourist info.” For display to the display control unit 88. Is output as a shortened form of “Tourist information”.
As a result, as shown in FIG. 25, the display control unit 88 sets “Tourist info.” As the facility title and displays it on the left side of the facility name display unit 7c.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing the basic operation of the control device 8 when the character string stored in the display control unit 88 and the character string storage unit 86 is displayed in a shortened manner.
Hereinafter, the operation of the control device 8 (mainly the display control unit 88) of the navigation system shown in FIG. 21 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When a character string display processing request is generated based on the operation of the navigation system by the user (step ST301 “Yes”), the display control unit 88 compares the width of the character string to be displayed with the width of the screen display area ( In step ST302), when it is determined that the width of the character string is longer than the width of the screen display area (step ST302 "Yes"), the shortened character string generation unit 87 is instructed to perform a shortened character string generation process.
The shortened character string generation unit 87 shortens the character string (word) based on an instruction from the display control unit 88 (step ST303). When acquiring the abbreviated form of the character string, the display control unit 88 displays the acquired abbreviated character string in the screen display area of the character string (step ST304), and ends the series of operations.

  Next, an operation when the character string of the TMC information received by the TMC receiving device 7 is converted into a shortened character string by the shortened character string generating unit 87 will be described.

When the TMC receiving device 7 receives the TMC information, the display control unit 88 displays the TMC information on the display 6. At this time, if the character string of the TMC information is too long and protrudes from the display 6, processing for converting the character string of the TMC information into a shortened form is performed. For example, it is assumed that the TMC receiver 7 receives the following TMC information.
Name A-> Name B
Exit Name C
Exit Name D
closed. Rescue and recovery work in progress
Heavy lorries are recommended to avoid the area
The display control unit 88 instructs the abbreviated character string generation unit 87 to calculate the display width that constitutes each line and to generate a shortened form of the character string for a line that exceeds 400 dots.

The character string width calculation unit 876 shown in FIG. 22 calculates the width of the character string of each line, and as a result, the following data is output for each line.
The first line “Name A-> Name B” is 162 dots.
The second line “Exit Name C” is 104 dots,
The third line “Exit Name D” is 103 dots,
The fourth line “closed. Rescue and recovery work in progress” is 395 dots,
The fifth line "Heavy lorries are recommended to avoid the area" is 422 dots

Since “Heavy lorries are recommended to avoid the area” in the fifth line is 422 dots and exceeds the display width of 400 dots in one line of the display 6, the shortened character string generation unit 87 Generate an abbreviation.
That is, the word abbreviation processing unit 872 refers to the abbreviated word storage unit 873 and searches for a word that can be converted into an abbreviated form from the above-described character string. Here, since it is not found, the word abbreviation processing unit 872 further refers to the abbreviated word storage unit 875 and searches for an abbreviated word from the character string described above.

Since the word that can be omitted in the character string “Heavy lorries are recommended to avoid the area” is “the”, the abbreviated word storage unit 873 omits “the”, while the character string width calculation unit. In 876, the character string width of the character string “Heavy lorries are recommended to avoid the area” obtained by deleting “the” from “Heavy lorries are recommended to avoid the area” is calculated.
Here, since the character string width of “Heavy lorries are recommended to avoid area” is 390 dots and can be displayed on the display 6, the abbreviated character string generation unit 87 selects “Heavy lorries are recommended to avoid area” "Heavy lorries are recommended to avoid the area"
Is output to the display control unit 88. As a result, the character string shown in FIG. 28 is displayed on the display 6.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing the basic operation of the control device 8 when the display control unit 88 displays the above-described character string of the TMC information in abbreviated manner.
The operation of the control device 8 (mainly the display control unit 88) of the navigation system shown in FIG. 20 will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When receiving the TMC information (step ST401), the shortened character string generation unit 87 calculates the width of the character string of the TMC information, and compares the width of the character string with the width of the display screen area (step ST402). If the width of the character string is longer than the width of the display area (step ST402 “Yes”), the shortened character string generation unit 87 generates a shortened form of the character string (step ST403).
When the display controller 88 receives the shortened form of the character string from the shortened character string generator 87, the display controller 88 displays the shortened character string in the character string display screen area (step ST404), and ends the series of operations.

Next, an operation in which the shortened character string generation unit 87 shortens the character string that is the basis of the guidance voice for guiding the route will be described.
The route guiding unit 84 stores a plurality of types of character string patterns necessary for generating a route guidance character string. The pattern is illustrated below.
Voice string 1: Turn right
Voice string 2: Turn left
Voice string 3: Make a slight right turn
Speech string 4: Make a slight left turn
Text string 5: Distance ahead turn right
Voice string 6: Distance ahead turn left
Speech string 7: Distance ahead make a slight right turn
Voice string 8: distance ahead make a slight left turn
Character string for speech 9: toward city name Depending on the shape of the road, a combination of these character strings may be used, or a place name may be used in combination.

  The route storage unit 83 stores information related to the road traveled to the destination, the travel distance, and the travel direction. The route guiding unit 84 extracts a branch point where the vehicle should turn based on these pieces of information, and notifies the navigation user of guidance when the vehicle approaches that point.

FIG. 30 is an example of a route guide map image generated by the route guidance unit 84 based on the route information stored in the route storage unit 83. In FIG. 30, reference numeral 8a is a current position mark indicating the position of the vehicle, and reference numeral 8b is a path mark indicating a route.
The control device 8 (current position detection unit 81) of the navigation system detects the current position of the vehicle based on the sensor signals from the GPS sensor 1, the wheel speed sensor 2, and the angular speed sensor 3. When the route guidance unit 84 determines that the vehicle is approaching the branch point of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, the route guidance unit 84 is to provide guidance based on the angle between the road on which the vehicle is traveling and the branched road. The voice character string 3 is selected.
Voice string 3: Make a slight right turn

At this time, the route guiding unit 84 calculates the traveling speed of the vehicle from the signal of the wheel speed sensor 2, and when the traveling speed of the vehicle is fast, the shortened character string generation unit 87 has a shortened form of the voice character string. Directs generation.
For example, when the speed of the vehicle is less than 60 km / h, the route guidance unit 84 determines that the navigation user listens to the voice notification and has sufficient time to travel promptly to the branch point of the route road. Then, the character string “Make a slight right turn” is output to the TTS 85 as it is. On the other hand, when the speed of the vehicle is 60 km / h or more, the route guidance unit 84 may lose time to travel to the branch point of the road after the navigation user listens to the voice notification. The shortened character string generation unit 87 is instructed to generate a shortened form of the “Make a slight right turn” character string.

When the shortened character string generation unit 87 receives an instruction from the route guiding unit 84, the shortened character string generation unit 87 instructs the word shortening processing unit 872 to search for a shortenable word by referring to the shortened word storage unit 873. Here, since it is not found, the word shortening processing unit 872 further searches the abbreviated word storage unit 875 for a word that can be omitted.
The word that can be omitted in the above-mentioned voice character string 3 “Make a slight right turn” is “a”. As a result, “Make slight right turn” is first generated as a shortened form of “Make a slight right turn”.

When the word shortening processing unit 872 further refers to the word segment storage unit 874 and examines the segment of each word in the character string described above, it becomes “make”, “slight”, “right”, and “turn”, and the three are separated by segments. You can see that there is no place.
For this reason, the shortened character string generation unit 87 (word shortening processing unit 872) determines that the speech character string 3 cannot be shortened any more, and “Make slight right turn” is changed to “Make a slight right turn”. Is output to the route guiding unit 84. The route guiding unit 84 outputs the received character string “Make slight right turn” to the TTS 85. In response to this, the TTS 85 synthesizes the character string received from the route guidance unit 84 and outputs the synthesized speech via the speaker 9.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing the basic operation of the control device 8 when the route guiding unit 84 transmits the guidance voice character string to the TTS 85.
Hereinafter, the basic operation of the control device 8 (mainly the route guiding unit 84) of the navigation system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the vehicle travels to reach a point where a guidance voice is output (step ST501 “Yes”), the route guiding unit 84 calculates the vehicle traveling speed from the signal of the wheel speed sensor 2 (step ST502), and 60 km / h. In the above case (step ST502 “Yes”), the shortened character string generation unit 87 is instructed to generate a shortened form of the character string.
In response to this, in the abbreviated character string generation unit 87, the word abbreviation processing unit 872 refers to each of the abbreviated word storage unit 873, the word segment storage unit 874, and the abbreviated word storage unit 875, and generates a shortened form of the character string. To the route guidance unit 84. When the route guiding unit 84 receives the shortened form of the character string from the shortened character string generating unit 87 (step ST503), the route guiding unit 84 transmits the shortened character string to the TTS 85 (step ST504) and ends the series of operations.

When the voice character string used for guidance by the route guidance unit 84 includes an irregular character string such as a distance or a city name, the TTS 85 calculates an output time length when the character string is voice-output. To do.
For example, if the character string to be output is Nine hundred meters ahead turn right to join the motorway, this audio guidance must be output while traveling between 1000m and 900m from the branch point. . This is because, when such voice guidance is notified, the navigation user usually recognizes that he / she is at a position 900 m from the branch point when he / she has finished listening to the voice. . When the traveling speed of the vehicle is 60 km / h, the vehicle travels 100 m in 6 seconds. Therefore, it is necessary to perform voice notification within 6 seconds.

Based on the sensor signals from the current position detector 81, the GPS sensor 1, the wheel speed sensor 2, and the angular speed sensor 3, the current position of the vehicle is detected. When the route guiding unit 84 determines that the vehicle has reached a point 1000 m from the branch point of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, the route guiding unit 84 calculates the traveling speed of the vehicle from the signal from the wheel speed sensor 2.
When the vehicle speed is 60 km / h, 100 m travels in 6 seconds, so the route guidance unit 84 outputs a voice guidance character string Nine hundred meters ahead turn right to join the motorway to the TTS85 and Notify that guidance needs to be output in 6 seconds.

When the TTS 85 receives the above notification from the route guidance unit 84, the output time when the “Nine hundred meters ahead turn right to join the motorway” is output to the audio output time calculation unit 856 shown in FIG. Instruct the operation. Here, it is assumed that the output time of “Nine hundred meters ahead turn right to join the motorway” is 7 seconds.
Therefore, the TTS 85 determines that the voice cannot be output within 6 seconds when “Nine hundred meters ahead turn right to join the motorway” is output as it is, and the shortened character string generation unit 87 is informed with “Nine hundred meters ahead”. Instruct to create a shortened form of "turn right to join the motorway".

When the shortened character string generation unit 87 receives the above instruction from the TTS 85, the shortened character string generation unit 87 instructs the word shortening processing unit 872 to search for a shortenable word by referring to the shortened word storage unit 873.
Here, since it is not found, the word shortening processing unit 872 further searches the abbreviated word storage unit 875 for a word that can be omitted. The word that can be omitted in “Nine hundred meters ahead turn right to join the motorway” is “the”. The shortened character string generation unit 87 outputs the character string “Nine hundred meters ahead turn right to join the motorway” to the TTS 85 as a shortened form of “Nine hundred meters ahead turn right to join the motorway”.

When the TTS 85 receives the above-described character string from the shortened character string generation unit 87, the TTS 85 calculates the output time when “Nine hundred meters ahead turn right to join motorway” is output to the audio output time calculation unit 856. Instruct.
The output time of “Nine hundred meters ahead turn right to join motorway” is 6 seconds. Therefore, the TTS 85 determines that the character string for speech can be output within 6 seconds, and the speech synthesizer 857 synthesizes the character string “Nine hundred meters ahead turn right to join motorway”. The synthesized voice is output from the speaker 9.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart showing the basic operation of the control device 8 when the TTS 85 synthesizes a speech character string.
Hereinafter, the basic operation of the control device 8 (mainly TTS85) of the navigation system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the vehicle reaches the point where the guidance voice is output, the voice guidance character string and the traveling time per 100 m are output from the route guidance unit 84 to the TTS 85 (step ST601).
In TTS85, voice output time calculation section 856 calculates the voice output time from the voice guidance character string (step ST602) and compares it with the travel time per 100 m (step ST603). If the voice output time is longer than the travel time per 100 m (step ST603 “Yes”), the TTS 85 instructs the shortened character string generation unit 87 to create a shortened form of the voice guidance character string.

In response to this, in the abbreviated character string generation unit 87, the word abbreviation processing unit 872 refers to each of the abbreviated word storage unit 873, the word segment storage unit 874, and the abbreviated word storage unit 875, and generates a shortened form of the character string. And output to TTS85.
Upon receiving the shortened form of the character string from the shortened character string generation unit 87 (step ST604), the TTS 85 instructs the sound output time calculation unit 856 to calculate the sound output time again (step ST602). When the voice output time output by the voice output time calculation unit 856 is equal to or shorter than the travel time per 100 m (step ST603 “Yes”), the TTS 85 activates the voice synthesis unit 857. The voice synthesizer 857 synthesizes the output of the voice waveform dictionary 855 selected by the voice segment selector 854 to synthesize a voice guidance character string (step ST605), and ends the series of operations.

When the voice character string used for guidance is a fixed character string such as, for example, the voice character string 10: You have reached the destination, the route guiding unit 84 uses the output time when the character string is output as a voice as the character string. Stored with the column.
The voice output time of the character string “You have reached the destination” is 6 seconds. In the case of this voice guidance, if the vehicle has passed the destination when the voice output is completed, the navigation user will feel uncomfortable, so it is necessary to complete the voice output before the vehicle actually arrives at the destination. There is.

For this reason, the route guidance unit 84 issues a voice guidance instruction of this character string 100 m before the destination, and determines the voice guidance output time based on the vehicle traveling speed at that time. Specifically, when the vehicle traveling speed is 60 km / h, the vehicle travels 100 m in 6 seconds. Therefore, it is necessary to perform voice notification within 6 seconds.
Since the voice output time of the character string “You have reached the destination” is 6 seconds, the route guidance unit 84 determines that voice guidance can be output before arriving at the destination, and the vehicle is 100 m from the destination. When the previous point is reached, the character string “You have reached the destination” is output to TTS85.

When the navigation user operates the navigation system and selects Italian as the language used, the character string display on the display 6 and the sound output from the speaker 9 are performed in Italian.
The Italian of the character string “You have reached the destination” is the audio character string 10: Avete raggiunto la destinazione. The voice output time of the character string “Avete raggiunto la destinazione” stored in the route guiding unit 84 is 7 seconds.

When the vehicle traveling speed is 60 km / h, since the vehicle travels 100 m in 6 seconds, the route guidance unit 84 determines that the voice string “Avete raggiunto la destinazione” cannot be output at this speed, and The voice guidance character string Avete raggiunto la destinazione is output, and it is notified that the voice guidance needs to be output in 6 seconds.
Upon receiving the above notification from the route guidance unit 84, the TTS 85 instructs the abbreviated character string generation unit 87 to generate the abbreviated form “Avete raggiunto la destinazione”.

In response to this, in the abbreviated character string generation unit 87, the word abbreviation processing unit 872 refers to each of the abbreviated word storage unit 873, the word segment storage unit 874, and the abbreviated word storage unit 875, and generates a shortened form of the character string. And output to TTS85.
Here, since the word that can be omitted in “Avete raggiunto la destinazione” is “la”, the abbreviated character string generation unit 87 converts the character string “Avete raggiunto destinazione” as an abbreviation of “Avete raggiunto la destinazione”. , Output to TTS85.

When the TTS 85 receives the above character string from the abbreviated character string generation unit 87, the TTS 85 instructs the audio output time calculation unit 856 to calculate the output time when “Avete raggiunto destinazione” is output as a sound.
The output time of “Avete raggiunto destinazione” is 6 seconds. The TTS 85 determines that the character string for speech can be output within 6 seconds, and synthesizes the character string “Avete raggiunto destinazione”. The voice synthesized by the voice synthesis unit 857 is output from the speaker 9.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart showing the basic operation of the control device 8 when the TTS 85 synthesizes a speech character string.
Hereinafter, a basic operation of the control device 8 (mainly TTS85) of the navigation system will be described with reference to FIG.

When the vehicle reaches the point where the guidance voice is output and the guidance voice output time is longer than the driving time per 100 m, the route guidance unit 84 sends the data related to the driving time per 100 m together with the voice guidance character string. Is output (step ST701).
In response to this, the TTS 85 instructs the abbreviated character string generation unit 87 to create an abbreviated form of the voice guidance character string, and receives the abbreviated form of the character string from the abbreviated character string generation unit 87 (step ST702 " Yes "), the voice output time calculation unit 856 is activated to calculate the guidance voice output time (step ST703). Here, when the voice output time is equal to or shorter than the traveling time per 100 m (step ST704 “No”), the TTS 85 performs voice synthesis of the voice guidance character string (step ST705) and ends the series of operations.

  According to the third embodiment described above, the shortened character string generation unit 87 generates a shortened character string for speech from the European character string, and the character string speech conversion unit (TTS85) converts the shortened character string for speech into speech. By converting and outputting, necessary audio output can be acquired within a predetermined time. This makes it possible to view the voice guidance before arriving at the destination by shortening the long voice output by route guidance or the like.

In addition, although Embodiment 3 mentioned above illustrated only about the navigation system used in Europe, it is not restrict | limited to this.
For example, in North America, there are many abbreviations for place names, such as LA for the abbreviation of Los Angeles. In the navigation system used in such a region, the abbreviation LA for Los Angeles (Los Angeles), the abbreviation for New York (New York), in addition to the abbreviations related to normal words, are stored in the abbreviation word storage 875 of the abbreviated character string generator 87 Store abbreviations for place names such as NY. For example, if you want to shorten the phonetic character string Ten kilometers ahead turn right toward Los Angeles, you may convert Los Angeles to LA to make Ten kilometers ahead turn right toward LA. .

Claims (11)

An abbreviated character string generation unit that generates an abbreviated character string from the voice character string;
A character string speech conversion unit for instructing the shortened character string generation unit to generate the shortened character string from the speech character string when an output time of the speech character string exceeds a predetermined time; An audio output device characterized by the above.   2. The voice output device according to claim 1, wherein the character string voice conversion unit includes a voice output time calculation unit that calculates an output time of the voice character string.   The voice output device according to claim 1, wherein the shortened character string generation unit generates a shortened character string from the voice character string stored for route guidance.   The voice output device according to claim 1, wherein the character string voice conversion unit generates a shortened character string from the voice character string based on the traveling speed of the vehicle. The abbreviated character string generation unit includes an abbreviated word storage unit that stores an optional word,
The voice output device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the omissible word is deleted from the European input character string with reference to the abbreviation word storage unit. The abbreviated character string generation unit includes a word segment storage unit in which information about a word segment is stored,
5. The abbreviation of the word is generated by deleting the segment from a word included in a European input character string in units of segments stored in the word segment storage unit. The audio output device according to any one of the above.   5. The speech according to claim 1, wherein the abbreviated character string generation unit generates an abbreviated form of a word included in the European input character string by deleting from the vowel. Output device.   The voice output device according to claim 6, wherein the shortened character string generation unit generates a shortened form of a word composed of a predetermined number or more of segments.   8. The abbreviated character string generation unit does not adopt the abbreviated form of the word in the abbreviated character string when the abbreviated word generated has a different meaning. Voice output device.   8. The voice output device according to claim 6, wherein the abbreviated character string generation unit does not generate an abbreviated form of the word when the first letter or all of the word is capitalized. An abbreviated character string generation unit that generates an abbreviated character string from the voice character string;
A character string speech conversion unit for instructing the shortened character string generation unit to generate the shortened character string from the speech character string when an output time of the speech character string exceeds a predetermined time; A navigation system characterized by

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