JP2018032963A - Japanese input method by flick operation - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide means for enabling quick character inputting while utilizing a position image during performing Japanese inputting of Roman characters with character keys of QWERTY arrangement.SOLUTION: In Japanese inputting by an alphabetical character keyboard of QWERTY arrangement, a vowel alphabetic character is selected from a consonant alphabet key by flicking a consonant of a corresponding key due to a tap (depression) of each key operation by a consonant key and a vowel tapped after the consonant in the arrangement direction of respective characters of "A", "I", "U", "E", "O" arranged in the alphabetical character keyboard of the QWERTY arrangement, and alphabets are converted into Kana during execution from a character input waiting state on a cursor with a Kana-Kanji conversion method or Roman character inputting provided with a Kana conversion system for converting alphabets into Kana.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a Japanese input method for realizing efficient Japanese input by combining a QWERTY keyboard displayed on a touch screen and flick input.

  Traditionally, Japanese Romaji input is done by tapping (pressing) the consonant and vowel alphabetic keys in the reading order of the Roman spelling on a QWERTY keyboard. I was going. Romaji input using a Quarty keyboard is commonly used as a character input means for a personal computer, and it is possible to convert from English characters such as muddy, semi-voiced, lowercase, and stuttering to kana without having to learn a new layout.

  However, conventional Roman character input requires tapping (pressing) two or more times to select a kana other than the vowels and the six characters “n”. In addition, the software keyboard displayed at the bottom of the smartphone takes a long time to input Japanese because the input screen is smaller than the physical keyboard. For this reason, flick input has been used to make Japanese input more efficient.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-259561 attempts to improve the efficiency of Japanese input by combining flick input with a QWERTY software keyboard. However, the flick input in Romaji described in Patent Document 1 is to input a kana character “Kenkyu” as shown in FIG. Vowels (I, U, E, O) are hopped up. In order to input “ke” here, “ke” is input by flicking E displayed on the right side of the hop-up screen.

  However, the key “E” on the QWERTY keyboard is arranged in the upper left direction with respect to the key “K”. For this reason, there is a problem in that a user who has a keyboard with a quarty keyboard feels uncomfortable in the flick direction.

Hereinafter, terms used in this specification will be described.
(1) Flick input for operations on the touch panel refers to all operations performed by quickly moving or playing a finger on a touch screen such as a smartphone)
(2) “Tap” is an operation of touching and releasing a key.
(3) “Swipe” is an operation of moving to a target position (key) and releasing it while pressing the key. “Pressing” in the operation of a keyboard device such as a smartphone is an operation of pressing and releasing a key.
(4) Alphabetic characters (K, G, S, Z, T, D, N, H, B, P, M, Y, R, W) that can read alphabets of consonants including muddy and semi-voiced sounds. A key (A, I, U, E, O) key that can read the vowel alphabetic characters is a “vowel alphabet key” or “vowel key”.

JP 2014-232529 A

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to familiarize with a keyboard of Quarty layout, touch a consonant key as it is for a user who can input Roman characters by brand touch, and then flick in the direction of the desired vowel key. The purpose is to provide flick input that allows Japanese input in Roman characters.

The first of the Japanese input methods of the present invention for solving the above problems is
In Japanese input using a QWERTY keyboard, a consonant when performing from a character input waiting state on the cursor with a Kana-Kanji conversion method or a Kana conversion method that converts an alphabet into a Kana. The consonant of the corresponding key by tapping (depressing) each key operation with the key and the vowel tapped following the consonant are arranged on the alphabet keyboard of the QWERTY layout “A”, “I”, “ Japanese input by flicking characterized by selecting vowel alphabetic characters from consonant alphabetic keys by flicking in the direction of arrangement of each character of “U”, “E”, “O” and converting the alphabetic characters into kana Is the method.

The second of the Japanese input methods of the present invention is
In Japanese input using a QWERTY keyboard, a consonant when performing from a character input waiting state on the cursor with a Kana-Kanji conversion method or a Kana conversion method that converts an alphabet into a Kana. Each consonant of the corresponding key by tapping (pressing) each key operation with the key and each of “A”, “I”, “U”, “E”, “O” that are vowels tapped following the consonant Swipe from the consonant to the vicinity of the character, select the vowel alphabet by flicking in the direction of the target vowel key starting from the end position corresponding to the end point of the swipe, and convert the alphabet into a kana This is a Japanese input method by flicking.

In the flick operation method according to the first aspect of the present invention, when there are a plurality of vowel keys in the direction of the flick operation from the selected consonant key, a vowel key is swept from the consonant key to a desired vowel key. Is preferably specified.

In the flick operation method according to the first aspect of the present invention, if there are a plurality of vowel keys in the direction of the flick operation from the selected consonant key, a flick guide that displays these vowel keys is May be displayed on the touch panel in the vicinity of the consonant key, and the flick operation may be performed using the flick guide.

In the flick operation of the first invention and the second invention, for example, the trajectory of the finger on the touch panel is recorded, a regression line that best approximates the trajectory at the time of the flick operation is calculated, and is on the extension of this regression line Alternatively, it is preferable to identify the vowel key by determining the vowel key at the position where the distance from the extension line of the regression line is the shortest.

  According to the present invention, muffled sound, semi-voiced sound, lowercase letters, numbers, etc. can be selected by one-time flick input without destroying the image of the Quarty arrangement, so that the user can efficiently input Japanese in Roman characters without any sense of incongruity. It became.

Romaji input using the Romaji input key is a common PC character input method, and there is no need to learn a new arrangement, etc. Conversion from English to kana such as muddy, semi-voiced, lowercase, and stuttering is more convenient than flicking. However, according to the present invention, it is possible to input Japanese more quickly by providing a flick function similar to that of the kana numeric keypad without impairing the conventional function of converting English letters to kana.

Hereinafter, although one embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to drawings, the present invention is not limited to this.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a standby screen for character input according to an embodiment of the present invention. This standby screen consists of Quarty character keys, with letters and long symbols displayed in white.

This quarty arrangement is the same as that used for personal computer keyboards and tablet terminals, and it is considered that the position image of the quarty arrangement is well within the head for users who are proficient in its operation.

The present invention is a panel on which character keys in a quarty arrangement are displayed, and when a Japanese roman character is input, after touching one consonant key without touching the two keys of the consonant key and the vowel key. Romaji input is made possible only by finger movement (flick operation, swipe operation, flick + swipe operation, etc.), and speeding up of character input is intended. It is characterized in that it is considered to be possible.

2 to 4 are diagrams showing the movement of the finger in the flick operation for inputting kana characters in the “ka” line according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is “ka (ka)” and FIG. FIG. 4 shows a “ke” flick input screen.

As seen in each of these figures, after touching the consonant key “k”, the finger is flicked in the direction of each vowel key. The vowel key on the extension line can be specified by the locus of the finger on the touch panel at this time, and a desired kana character can be input. In order to avoid such misrecognition of the vowel keys in the flick direction, it is useful to specify using an analysis method described later.

When the consonant key and the vowel key are separated from each other, erroneous recognition of the vowel key during the flick operation is likely to occur. In this case, it is preferable to use the “swipe + flick” operation described below. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the “swipe + flick” operation. FIG. 5A shows a case where “ka (ka)” is inputted, and FIG. 5B shows a case where “ke (ke)” is inputted. . In the figure, a broken arrow indicates a finger movement by a swipe operation, and a white arrow indicates a finger movement by a flick operation.

That is, while pressing the key “k”, swipe to the vicinity of the key “k” (the key “f” in FIG. 5) without releasing the hand, and flick to “a” from there to “ka”. Fig. 5 (a) or flicking to "e" and entering "ke" (Fig. 5 (b)) is a diagram showing a vowel key by such swipe flick input. Misrecognition can be reduced.

In such a swipe flick input, the key “f” at the end point of the swipe is recognized as the same as the key “k” at the start point, and processed. As a result, an effect equivalent to that obtained by bringing the “k” key closer to the vowel key can be obtained.
The key to be selected as the end point key of the swipe is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to select the key in the same row (same level) as the start point key. This is to shorten the time required for swiping and further speed up character input.

One problem with the character input method of the present invention is how to specify a desired key when there are a plurality of vowel keys in the direction of the flick operation.
For example, there is a problem when there are a plurality of vowel keys in the same row (same stage) as the selected consonant key. Specifically, keys u, i, o, and p are arranged on the right side from the center of the second row of the keyboard of the quarty arrangement. Therefore, a problem arises when the characters on the “P” line are input by a flick operation.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the flick operation when inputting the characters of the “P” line. Since the vowel keys “u”, “i”, and [o] are arranged in the same column on the left side of the “p” key, whichever flick operation direction (indicated by the white arrow in the drawing) Whether to specify a vowel key cannot be determined, and kana input cannot be performed.

The present invention provides two means for solving the above problems.
The first solution is a method of inputting kana characters only by a swipe operation starting from a consonant key and ending with a desired vowel key. That is, it may be set so that “when the end point of the swipe operation is a vowel key, it is immediately input as a kana character in combination with the consonant key of the starting point”. On the other hand, when the end point of the swipe operation is a consonant key, a setting is made so that the kana character is not determined unless the swipe flick operation is performed.

According to this method, since the start point and the end point of the swipe operation are on the same line, the operation can be performed quickly and easily. Therefore, the effect of speeding up the character input is greater than the method of touching the key twice or the method of swiping / flicking.

The second solution is a method using a flick guide.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method for performing a flick operation using a flick guide. In this example, when inputting “pi”, “pu”, “po”, when “p” is pressed, each vowel “u”, “i”, “o” is popped up in accordance with the quarty arrangement. Is set. The user only needs to perform a flick operation using the flick guide, thereby enabling Roman character input utilizing the position image of the quarty arrangement.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a flick operation for kana-kanji conversion of “kakaku” to “kakaku (price)” by flick input according to the present invention. FIG. 8A shows an embodiment of the present invention, and “k” is pushed down in the “a” direction by the flick operation shown in FIG. 4 to input “ka”, and FIG. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5A, swipe and flick operations shown in FIG. 5A, "k" is pushed down, swipes to "f", and flicks in the direction [a] starting from "f". 8 (c), “k” shown in FIG. 4 is pushed down and flicked in the direction of [u], and “ku” is input, and the characters “kakaku (price)” are input as kana-kanji conversion. It was what you did.

Hereinafter, a method for specifying a vowel key in the flick direction in the flick operation method of the present invention will be described. A touch panel type keyboard has a large number of touch sensors arranged in the XY coordinate axis area of the keyboard. With this touch sensor, XY coordinate data pressed as several tens of points per second can be continuously obtained. The data is used to determine which vowel key the user flicked for.

Three methods can be considered for the above determination. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the first determination method. When a consonant key is pressed and flicked from the consonant key toward the vowel key, a locus as shown in FIG. 9A is obtained. Input determination is made using the speed (dp / dt), acceleration (dp2 / dt2) of these minute sections (P1-P2, P2-P3, P3-Pe), or a combination of these, and linear approximation is performed. The data to be used is specified, and the trajectory at the time of flicking is approximated by a regression line (FIG. 9B). It is determined that the vowel key on or near the extension line is the target vowel key (FIG. 9C).

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the second determination method. That is, the figure shows a case where it is determined whether the consonant key “K” is pressed and the vowel key “A, E, U, I, O” is pressed by flicking. Touch sensor area 1 arranged in the direction from consonant key “K” to “A”, similarly, “E” direction area is area 2, “U” direction area is area 3, and “I” direction. The area is area 4, and the direction area "O" is area 5.

Here, when the consonant key “k” is pressed and flicked, the touch sensor is touched in the form of dots, but the angle from the consonant key “K” to each vowel key is set to “A”, for example. The direction is assigned 15 degrees and the “E” direction is assigned 30 degrees. When flicking, the area touched with the flick is detected as an XY coordinate value.

In FIG. 10B, when the flick is performed from the consonant key “K” toward the vowel key “E”, the touch sensor that is pressed more frequently is displayed in black. In FIG. 10B, the touch sensor arranged in the area 2 is pressed most frequently. Therefore, it is determined that the vowel key “E” arranged in the area 2 that is most frequently pressed is pressed.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the third determination method. This figure shows a method of determining which one of the vowel keys “a, e, u, i, o” has been selected after the consonant key “n” has been stamped. A straight line from the consonant key “n” to each vowel key is stored in the program in advance. Each straight line and the user presses the consonant key “n”, and the locus of the finger flicked toward the target vowel key is detected. It is determined that the locus or the straight line closest to the end point of the locus is the target vowel key.

It is a figure which shows the standby screen for character input in one Example of this invention. In this invention, it is a figure which shows the motion of the finger | toe of flick operation at the time of inputting kana character "ka". In this invention, it is a figure which shows the motion of the finger | toe of a flick operation at the time of inputting the kana character "ku". In this invention, it is a figure which shows the motion of the finger | toe of flick operation at the time of inputting the kana character "ke". It is explanatory drawing of "swipe flick" operation in this invention. In this invention, it is explanatory drawing of the flick operation at the time of inputting the kana character of a "pa" line. In the present invention, it is a diagram showing an example of a method of performing a flick operation using a flick guide. It is a figure explaining the example which performs kana-kanji conversion of the character "kakaku" to "Kakaku (price)" by the flick operation of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the 1st method which determines the vowel key of the flick destination in the flick operation of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the 2nd method of determining the vowel key of the flick destination in the flick operation of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the 3rd method of determining the vowel key of the flick destination in the flick operation of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the flick operation method which is a prior art.

Claims (5)

  In Japanese input using a QWERTY keyboard, a consonant when performing from a character input waiting state on the cursor with a Kana-Kanji conversion method or a Kana conversion method that converts an alphabet into a Kana. The consonant of the corresponding key by tapping (depressing) each key operation with the key and the vowel tapped following the consonant are arranged on the alphabet keyboard of the QWERTY layout “A”, “I”, “ Japanese input by flicking characterized by selecting vowel alphabetic characters from consonant alphabetic keys by flicking in the direction of arrangement of each character of “U”, “E”, “O” and converting the alphabetic characters into kana Method.   In Japanese input using a QWERTY keyboard, a consonant when performing from a character input waiting state on the cursor with a Kana-Kanji conversion method or a Kana conversion method that converts an alphabet into a Kana. Each consonant of the corresponding key by tapping (pressing) each key operation with the key and each of “A”, “I”, “U”, “E”, “O” that are vowels tapped following the consonant Swipe from the consonant to the vicinity of the character, select the vowel alphabet by flicking in the direction of the target vowel key starting from the end position corresponding to the end point of the swipe, and convert the alphabet into a kana Japanese input method by flick operation.   2. The flick operation method according to claim 1, wherein when there are a plurality of vowel keys in the direction of the flick operation from the selected consonant key, the vowel key is changed by swiping from the consonant key to a desired vowel key. Japanese input method by flick operation characterized by specifying.   2. The flick operation method according to claim 1, wherein when there are a plurality of vowel keys in the direction of the flick operation from the selected consonant key, a flick guide for displaying these vowel keys is displayed in the original quarty arrangement. A Japanese input method by flicking, which is displayed on a touch panel in the vicinity of the consonant key and flicked using the flick guide. The program which described the Japanese input method by flick operation in any one of Claims 1-4.