JP2014099106A - Information processor, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information processor capable of suitably translating text even when a character string having a plurality of meanings is included in the text, an information processing method, and a program.SOLUTION: The information processor includes an input part 101 for receiving inputs of Japanese text and a classification showing a use area in which the Japanese text is used, a special notation discrimination part 103 for discriminating whether to translate the character string included in the Japanese text as a general noun or a proper noun on the basis of the classification, and a general noun translation part 109 and a proper noun translation part 107 for translating the character string on the basis of the meaning of the character string in the case of the general noun and on the basis of vocal sound of the character string in the case of the proper name.

Description

  Some embodiments according to the present invention relate to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program.

  In recent years, apparatuses for machine translation are gradually spreading. Here, it is known that in machine translation, it is important to determine whether or not a proper noun is used. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a machine translation method capable of translating proper nouns without preparing a dictionary for proper nouns in advance.

Japanese National Patent Publication No. 2005/091166

  However, in practice, it is often difficult to determine whether or not the name is a proper noun. For example, considering the translation of the Chinese character “line” into English, if it is “highway 3”, the “line” should be translated as “Line” in consideration of the meaning, but “shinkansen” If so, it should be translated as “Shinkansen” based on the phoneme. Patent Document 1 does not consider how to deal with such a character string that should be translated differently depending on the meaning.

  Some aspects of the present invention have been made in view of the above-described problems. An information processing apparatus and information that can be suitably translated even when a text includes a character string having a plurality of meanings. It is an object to provide a processing method and a program.

  An information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes: an input unit that receives input of Japanese text and a classification indicating a use region in which the Japanese text is used; and a character string included in the Japanese text. A discriminating means for discriminating whether to translate as a general noun or as a proper noun based on the classification, based on the meaning of the character string in the case of a general noun, and in the case of a proper noun Translating means for translating a character string based on phonemes.

  An information processing method according to the present invention includes a step of receiving input of Japanese text and a classification indicating a use area where the Japanese text is used, and a general noun for a character string included in the Japanese text. Determining whether to translate as a proper noun or as a proper noun based on the classification, based on the meaning of the character string in the case of a general noun, and on the phoneme of the character string in the case of a proper noun The information processing apparatus performs the step of translating the character string.

  A program according to the present invention includes a step of receiving input of Japanese text and a classification indicating a use area in which the Japanese text is used, and translation as a general noun for a character string included in the Japanese text Determining whether to translate as a proper noun based on the classification, and in the case of a general noun based on the meaning of the character string, and in the case of a proper noun, based on the phoneme of the character string Is a program for causing a computer to execute the step of translating.

  In the present invention, “part”, “means”, “apparatus”, and “system” do not simply mean physical means, but “part”, “means”, “apparatus”, “system”. This includes the case where the functions possessed by "are realized by software. Further, even if the functions of one “unit”, “means”, “apparatus”, and “system” are realized by two or more physical means or devices, two or more “parts” or “means”, The functions of “device” and “system” may be realized by a single physical means or device.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program that can be suitably translated even when a text includes character strings having a plurality of meanings.

It is a figure for demonstrating a vector map. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of the process of the information processing apparatus in embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the special description character string database shown in FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a flow of processing of the information processing apparatus illustrated in FIG. 3. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the hardware which can mount the information processing apparatus shown in FIG.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In the following description and the description of the drawings to be referred to, the same or similar components are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals.

(Embodiment)
1 to 6 are diagrams for explaining the embodiment. Hereinafter, embodiments will be described along the following flow with reference to these drawings. First, an outline of processing performed by the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment is described as “1”. Then, “2” describes the system configuration of the information processing apparatus, and “3” describes the processing flow. “4” indicates a specific example of a hardware configuration capable of mounting the system. Finally, the effects and the like according to the present embodiment will be described after “5”.

(1 Overview)
(1.1 Vector map)
The information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is an apparatus that receives input of Japanese text and converts (translates) the Japanese text into a notation of another language. Here, various Japanese texts to be processed by the information processing apparatus can be considered, but in the following, description will be made assuming that the text is related to a map, particularly a vector map.

  Here, the vector map is a technology that has been widely used in recent years in a map providing service that provides a map electronically, for example, via the Internet. Map information provided by such services includes place names (including names of roads, mountains, rivers, seas, municipalities, districts, etc.) and facility names (including store names, performance names, station names, etc.) In many cases, text information such as a note, an address, a telephone number, and the like is included. Furthermore, with the recent expansion of globalization, when presenting a map, there is an increasing need for such text information to be compatible with multilingual display. Therefore, the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is It has a function to translate text information to meet the needs.

  In the following example, Japanese text information is translated into English as an example. However, the translation target language is not limited to English, and it is translated into other languages such as Chinese and Korean. You may do it.

  First, the vector map information will be briefly described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of the configuration of a vector map. The vector map information has information about a plurality of layers. When displaying a map based on the vector map information, the coordinates of the layers are combined and one image is superimposed on each other. Map information will be created. For example, the example of FIG. 1 shows that a number of layers including a road note layer L1a, a road image layer L1b, a facility note layer L2a, and a facility image layer L2b are overlapped to generate one map image.

  In the example of FIG. 1, a road map is constituted by the road note layer L1a and the road image layer L1b, and a map related to the facility is constituted by the facility note layer L2a and the facility image layer L2b. Among these, the road image layer L1b and the facility image layer L2b (hereinafter also collectively referred to as an image layer Lb) are layers for displaying the positions and shapes of roads and facilities as images.

The road note layer L1a and the facility note layer L2a (hereinafter collectively referred to as the note layer La) are for displaying text information related to the note. In the example of FIG. 1, text information “High Speed Line 3” indicating a road related note is displayed on the road note layer L1a, and text information “Kuregicho Post Office” indicating a facility related note is displayed on the facility note layer L2a. Are arranged respectively. As described above, the information for configuring the annotation layer La includes text information indicating each annotation, and information on the coordinates and size of an area where the annotation is arranged. Furthermore, road notes are included in the road note layer L1a and facilities notes are included in the facility note layer L2a. Therefore, if the text information related to each note belongs to which layer, the notes are It is possible to know the use area (classification) of text information such as whether it is related to a road or a facility.
In addition, the vector map information may include various information such as an address and a telephone number in addition to information directly described on the map.

(1.2 Specific examples of translation)
The information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment has a function of translating various text information included in the vector map information as described above, and according to the region (classification) in which the text information is used during the translation, Translation is preferably performed. Hereinafter, this method will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an outline of the translation technique performed by the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a translation method of “Shinkansen”, “High Speed Line 3”, and “Niigata Shinkansen”, which are text information including the character string “line”.

  Here, it is assumed that “Shinjuku Line”, “High Speed Line 3”, and “Niigata Shinkansen” are included in the layers of “Route”, “Road”, and “High Speed Rail”, respectively. That is, the classifications of the text information “Shinjuku Line”, “High Speed Line 3”, and “Niigata Shinkansen” are “Route”, “Road”, and “High Speed Railway”, respectively.

  At this time, the “Line” of “Shinjuku Line” is a railway line, and the “Line” of “High Speed Line 3” indicates the route of the road. It is. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 2A, when “line” is used for the classification “route” or “road”, it is translated as “Line”.

  On the other hand, in the case of “Niigata Shinkansen”, since it is used as a proper noun rather than a route or road, it is preferable to translate based on phoneme. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 2A, “Niigata Shinkansen” linked to a classification other than the classification “route” or “road” is translated as “NiigaShinkansen” based on phoneme.

Similarly, FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating a translation method of “Nihonya Kimono Store” and “Kuretsucho Post Office”, which are text information including the character string “Kofuku”.
Here, it is assumed that “Nihonya kimono store” and “Kuregicho post office” are associated with the classifications of “store name” and “post office”, respectively. At this time, “Kyufu” in “Nihonya kimono store” indicates a store of Japanese clothes, so it should be translated as a general noun based on the meaning. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 2B, “clothes store” associated with the classification “store name” is translated as “KimonoShop”.

  On the other hand, “Kuregi” included in “Kuretsucho Post Office” is considered to be a proper noun that constitutes a part of the place name “Kuretsucho”, and should be translated based on phoneme. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 2B, “Kofukucho” associated with the classification “post office” is translated as “Gofukucho”.

  As described above, the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment makes the meaning of the character string included in the text as a general noun depending on in which region (classification) each Japanese text is used. Whether to translate based on phonology as a proper noun is switched.

(2 System overview)
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the information processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. As described above, the information processing apparatus 100 is an apparatus having a function of converting Japanese text into another language, and can be realized as, for example, a personal computer or a server. Further, as the data that the information processing apparatus 100 converts from Japanese to another language, as described above, information such as a place name, an address, a store name, a station name, a road name, and a facility name included in the vector map information can be considered. .

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the information processing apparatus 100 includes an input unit 101, a special notation determination unit 103, a special notation character string database (DB) 105, a proper noun translation unit 107, a general noun translation unit 109, and an output unit 111. Including.

  The input unit 101 receives input of Japanese text and classification information indicating a use area where the Japanese text is used. Various input methods can be considered. For example, it is possible to read related information from vector map information stored in a storage medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive Memory) or a flash memory.

  The special notation determining unit 103 refers to the special notation character string DB 105 to determine whether or not the character string input by the input unit 101 includes a special notation character string. Note that the special notation character string here refers to a case where it should be translated as a general noun (that is, a case where it should be translated based on the meaning of the character string) and a case where it should be translated as a proper noun (ie, based on the phoneme of the character string). And should be translated).

  The special notation character string DB 105 is a dictionary indicating the relationship between the special notation character string and the classification used. FIG. 4 shows a specific example of the special notation character string DB 105. In the special notation character string DB 105 of FIG. 4, the notation of a character string that can be a general noun is associated with the classification when the character string is a general noun. For example, in the case of the character string “line”, it can be considered as a general noun when it is used in the classification “road” or “route name”, and it is a proper noun when it is used in other classifications. Can be considered as used. Similarly, the character string “clothes” can be considered as a general noun when used in the category “store name”, and is considered as a proper noun when used in other categories. be able to.

  The proper noun translation unit 107 converts (translates) the notation mainly based on phonemes using a dictionary or the like (not shown). The proper noun translation unit 107 translates all character strings that are determined not to be general nouns by the special notation determination unit 103. For example, when it can be determined that the character strings “line” and “clothes” are used as proper nouns and converted to English (alphabetic notation), the special notation determination unit 103 sets each character string to “ “Sen” and “Gofuku”. When translating various text information included in vector map information, since many character strings included in the text to be translated become proper nouns, they are all translated by the proper noun translation unit 107 based on phonemes. The

  The general noun translation unit 109 converts (translates) the notation mainly based on the meaning of the character string using a dictionary or the like (not shown). A character string determined as a general noun by the special notation determination unit 103 is translated by a general noun translation unit 109. As mentioned above, when the character string “line” is used for the classification “road”, or when the character string “clothes” is used for the classification “store name”, it is considered that each is used as a general noun. Therefore, it can be translated as “Line” or “Kimono”.

  The output unit 111 generates a translation result text by combining the results of translation of the character strings included in the Japanese text input from the input unit 101 by the proper noun translation unit 107 and the general noun translation unit 109, respectively. Is output. This output result can be used as data when a vector map created from the vector map information is made to correspond to a language other than Japanese such as English or Chinese.

(3 Process flow)
Hereinafter, the processing flow of the information processing apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the flow of translation processing in the information processing apparatus 100.

  Here, each processing step, which will be described later, can be executed in any order or in parallel as long as there is no contradiction in processing contents, and other steps are added between the processing steps. Also good. Further, a step described as a single step for convenience can be executed by being divided into a plurality of steps, and a step described as being divided into a plurality of steps for convenience can be executed as one step.

  First, the input unit 101 receives input of Japanese text with classification used (S501). The special notation determining unit 103 determines whether or not the character string included in the input Japanese text is a special notation character string (S505). As this determination method, for example, it is determined whether or not the character string to be determined is included in the special notation character string DB 105, and if it is included, it is determined that the character string is a special notation character string. It is possible.

  If the target character string is a special notation character string (Yes in S505), the special notation determination unit 103 determines a classification in which the character string (text) is used (S507). If the classification matches that set as a classification in which the character string is used as a general noun on the special notation character string DB 105 (Yes in S507), the special notation determination unit 103 sets the character string as a general character. It is determined that it is used as a noun.

  For the character string determined as the special notation character string by the special notation determination unit 103, the general noun translation unit 109 converts (translates) the notation mainly based on the meaning of the character string (S509). On the other hand, for a character string that is determined not to be a special notation character string by the special notation determination unit 103 (No in S505 and No in S507), the proper noun translation unit 107 mainly uses the phoneme (reading) of this character string. The notation is converted (translated) based on the kana (S511).

  When the translation for all the character strings included in the Japanese text is completed, the output unit 111 outputs the translated character string together with the translation results by the proper noun translation unit 107 and the general noun translation unit 109 (S513). ).

(4 hardware configuration)
Hereinafter, an example of a hardware configuration when the information processing apparatus 100 described above is realized by a computer will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the functions of the information processing apparatus 100 can be realized by being divided into a plurality of apparatuses via a network.

  As illustrated in FIG. 6, the information processing apparatus 100 includes a processor 601, a memory 603, a storage device 605, an input interface (I / F) 607, a data I / F 609, a communication I / F 611, and a display device 613.

  The processor 601 controls various processes in the information processing apparatus 100 by executing a program stored in the memory 603. For example, the input unit 101, special notation discriminating unit 103, proper noun translation unit 107, general noun translation unit 109, and output unit 111 described in FIG. 3 are temporarily stored in the memory 603 and mainly on the processor 601. It can be realized as an operating program.

  The memory 603 is a storage medium such as a RAM (Random Access Memory). The memory 603 temporarily stores a program code of a program executed by the processor 601 and data necessary for executing the program. For example, in the storage area of the memory 603, a stack area necessary for program execution is secured.

  The storage device 605 is a non-volatile storage medium such as a hard disk or a flash memory. The storage device 605 includes various programs for realizing the operating system, the input unit 101, the special notation determination unit 103, the proper noun translation unit 107, the general noun translation unit 109, and the output unit 111, and the specialized notation character string database 105. In addition, various data such as dictionary data used by the proper noun translation unit 107 and the general noun translation unit 109 during translation are stored. In addition, the vector map information to be input and the data to be output as the translation result can be stored at least temporarily in the storage device 605. Programs and data stored in the storage device 605 are referred to by the processor 601 by being loaded into the memory 603 as necessary.

  The input I / F 607 is a device for receiving input from the user. Specific examples of the input I / F 607 include a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, and various sensors. The input I / F 607 may be connected to the information processing apparatus 100 via an interface such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus).

  The data I / F 609 is a device for inputting data from outside the information processing apparatus 100. Specific examples of the data I / F 609 include a drive device for reading data stored in various storage media. The data I / F 609 may be provided outside the information processing apparatus 100. In that case, the data I / F 609 is connected to the information processing apparatus 100 via an interface such as a USB.

  The communication I / F 611 is a device for performing data communication with an external device of the information processing apparatus 100 by wire or wireless. In addition, it is conceivable that vector map information to be input and data to be output as a translation result are input / output from / to other information processing apparatuses via the data I / F 609 and the communication I / F 611 described above. The communication I / F 611 may be provided outside the information processing apparatus 100. In that case, the communication I / F 611 is connected to the information processing apparatus 100 via an interface such as a USB.

  The display device 613 is a device for displaying various information. Specific examples of the display device 613 include a liquid crystal display and an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display. The display device 613 may be provided outside the information processing apparatus 100. In that case, the display device 613 is connected to the information processing apparatus 100 via, for example, a display cable.

(5 Effects of this embodiment)
As described above, even when the information processing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment includes a character string having a meaning to be translated as a general noun and a meaning to be translated as a proper noun in the text, By examining what classification the character string is used for, it can be suitably translated.

(6 Appendix)
Note that the configurations of the above-described embodiments may be combined or some components may be replaced. The configuration of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Information processing apparatus, 101 ... Input part, 103 ... Special notation discrimination | determination part, 105 ... Specialized description character string database, 107 ... Proper noun translation part, 109 ... General noun Translation unit, 111 ... output unit, 601 ... processor, 603 ... memory, 605 ... storage device, 607 ... input interface, 609 ... data interface, 611 ... communication interface, 613: Display device, L1a: Road note layer, L1b: Road image layer, L2a: Facility note layer, L2b: Facility image layer

Claims (4)

An input means for receiving input of Japanese text and a classification indicating a use area in which the Japanese text is used;
A discriminating means for discriminating, based on the classification, whether to translate as a general noun or a proper noun for a character string included in the Japanese text,
An information processing apparatus comprising translation means for translating a character string based on the meaning of the character string in the case of a general noun and based on the phoneme of the character string in the case of a proper noun. The Japanese text includes information of a note displayed on a vector map,
The classification includes information indicating which layer of which the note relating to the Japanese text relates to the vector map,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. Receiving input of Japanese text and a classification indicating a use area in which the Japanese text is used;
Determining, based on the classification, whether to translate as a general noun or a proper noun for a character string included in the Japanese text;
An information processing method in which the information processing apparatus performs a step of translating a character string based on the meaning of the character string in the case of a general noun, and in the case of a proper noun based on the phoneme of the character string. Receiving input of Japanese text and a classification indicating a use area in which the Japanese text is used;
Determining, based on the classification, whether to translate as a general noun or a proper noun for a character string included in the Japanese text;
A program for causing a computer to execute the step of translating a character string based on the meaning of the character string in the case of a general noun, and in the case of a proper noun based on the phoneme of the character string.