JP2022138879A - Information retrieval apparatus, information retrieval method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To obtain descriptive information about a desired headword by effectively utilizing dictionary contents stored in other devices existing in the surrounding area.SOLUTION: An information retrieval apparatus comprises: a communication unit 25 for transmitting tag information specifying a field of a dictionary and information of a headword to an external device and receiving dictionary name information and descriptive information corresponding to the information of the headword transmitted from the external device in response to the transmitted content; and a control unit 21 for causing a touch panel type display unit 17 to display the received dictionary name information and the descriptive information corresponding to the headword.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to an information retrieval device, an information retrieval method, and a program suitable for electronic dictionaries and the like.

A method and apparatus have been proposed to realize content sharing between mobile terminals. (For example, Patent Document 1)

Japanese translation of PCT publication No. 2004-509416

In general, electronic dictionaries differ in the number and contents of stored dictionary contents for each individual electronic dictionary depending on the model and the addition of optional dictionary contents. Therefore, even if a headword is not stored in any of the dictionary contents of the electronic dictionary used by the user, it may exist in some dictionary contents of electronic dictionaries possessed by others.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its object is to effectively utilize dictionary contents stored in other devices existing in the surroundings to provide explanatory information about a desired headword. It is to provide an information retrieval device, an information retrieval method, and a program that can be obtained.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a transmission unit transmits tag information specifying a field of a dictionary and entry word information to an external device; a receiving unit for receiving dictionary name information and descriptive information corresponding to the headword information; and a display control unit for displaying the received dictionary name information and descriptive information corresponding to the headword on a display. , provided.

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain descriptive information about a desired headword by effectively utilizing dictionary contents stored in other devices existing in the surrounding area.

1 is a diagram showing the external configuration of an electronic dictionary according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of an electronic circuit of the electronic dictionary according to the same embodiment; 4 is a flow chart showing the processing contents of both the terminal that transmits a dictionary search request and the terminal that responds, according to the embodiment. FIG. 10 is a view showing transition of display screens of dictionary search processing in the shared mode according to the embodiment; FIG. 10 is a view showing transition of display screens of dictionary search processing in the shared mode according to the embodiment;

An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an electronic dictionary will be described below with reference to the drawings.
[Constitution]
FIG. 1 is a front view showing the external configuration of an electronic dictionary 10 according to the embodiment. Note that this embodiment is configured not only as an electronic dictionary 10 described below, but also as a tablet-type PC (Personal Computer) equipped with a dictionary function, a smartphone, an electronic book, a portable game machine, a server on a communication network. and so on.

The electronic dictionary 10 comprises a foldable case in which a body case 11 and a lid case 12 can be opened/closed via a hinge portion 13 . [Home] key 14a, function designation key 14b, character input key 14c, [decision] key 14d, [return] key 14e, [BOX] key 14f, cursor movement A key input section 14 (hardware keys) including a key 14g, a [shift] key 14h, etc., an audio output section (including a speaker) 15, an audio input section (including a microphone) 16, and the like are provided.

A touch panel type display unit 17 is provided on the surface of the lid case 12 . The touch panel type display unit 17 has a structure in which a touch position detection device for detecting a position touched by the user of the electronic dictionary 10 with a pen or fingers and a display device are integrated, and a transparent touch panel is provided on a backlit liquid crystal screen. are laminated.

A [Home] key 14a of the key input unit 14 is a key for causing the key input unit 14 to display a home screen. Although not shown, a plurality of icons registered according to initial settings of the electronic dictionary 10 or user operations are displayed. Each icon is a drawing or symbol for realizing a function corresponding to the notation of the icon. For example, it includes an application icon that directly activates a function (application) that uses dictionary content or learning content, and a group icon that displays a list screen of icons of a plurality of functions belonging to one category.

The function designation key 14b of the key input unit 14 is a key for directly designating dictionary contents written on each key. Function designation keys 14b include a [multiple dictionaries] key that dares not specify the category of dictionary content, and keys that specify the same category ([National] key, [Old Japanese] key, [Kanwa] key, [English-English] key, etc.). , a [content list] key for displaying a list of dictionary contents, and a [learning notebook] key, which is one category of tools.

Further, when the keys of the key input unit 14 are operated continuously after the [Shift] key 14h is operated, they are not written without a frame on the key top, but are written with a frame. functions as a key. For example, when the [Delete] key is operated after the [Shift] key 14h is operated, it functions as a [Set] key instead of the [Delete] key.

In FIG. 1, [multiple dictionaries] is selected, and in the entry word input section 41 located in the upper part of the touch panel type display section 17, the category indicating the field of the dictionary is specified by blank display in the category display section 41A on the left side. and that the character string [Einstein] has been input as an entry word in the entry word display section 41B on the right side.

Furthermore, at the top of the touch panel display unit 17, searching from multiple dictionaries stored in the electronic dictionary 10 and communication for sharing dictionary content with peripheral terminals are not permitted. waiting].

If at least one of the plurality of dictionary contents stored in the electronic dictionary 10 has explanatory information corresponding to the input headword [Einstein], a part of the leading side of the explanatory information , a display for selecting dictionary contents from the search results is performed on the lower side of the entry word input section 41 . On the other hand, if there is no dictionary content having explanatory information corresponding to the input entry word [Einstein], as shown in the touch panel display section 17 in FIG. It is displayed that no dictionary content corresponding to the headword can be found without displaying.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the electronic circuit of the electronic dictionary 10. As shown in FIG.
The electronic circuit of the electronic dictionary 10 includes a control section (CPU: Central Processing Unit) 21 which is a computer. The control section 21 controls the operation of each section of the circuit according to a control program pre-stored in the storage section 22 such as a flash ROM. The number of processors such as CPUs may be one or two or more.

Note that at least one of the control program and later-described dictionary data may be read from an external recording medium 23 such as a memory card by the recording medium reading unit 24 and stored in the storage unit 22 , or may be stored in the storage unit 22 via the communication unit 25 . It is also possible to store in the storage unit 22 those downloaded from a web server or the like on a network (not shown).

The control unit 21 is connected to a storage unit 22, a recording medium reading unit 24, and a communication unit 25 via a data bus and a control bus. Connect the display unit 17 .

The storage unit 22 stores a system program that controls the overall operation of the electronic dictionary 10, a communication program that communicates with an external device via the communication unit 25, a search processing program storage area 22a, and a dictionary data storage area 22b. , a search history storage area 22c, a work data storage area 22d, etc., are secured for storing programs and data for executing various functions of the electronic dictionary 10. FIG.

The search processing program storage area 22a is based on various dictionary contents (English-English dictionary/English-Japanese dictionary/Japanese-English dictionary/English-English dictionary/Japanese dictionary/encyclopedia/...) stored as dictionary data in the dictionary data storage area 22b. , a control program for retrieving and displaying descriptive information such as a user-desired headword and translations, meanings, usage examples, and explanations corresponding to the headword; This is an area for storing an interlocking mode program 22a1 for acquiring explanation information corresponding to .
Regarding the plurality of dictionary contents stored in the dictionary data storage area 22b, for each dictionary content, a category indicating the field of the dictionary, such as [English-Japanese], [Japanese-English], [English-English], [other languages], etc., is assigned. It is assumed that one of them is preset and fixed.

In the search history storage area 22c, when the headwords and their description information are displayed as the search results according to the search according to the user's operation, the headwords to be searched are stored as the search history together with the information of the number of searches. be done.

In the work data storage area 22d, various data acquired or generated by the control unit 21 and data input according to user operations are stored in accordance with the control of the operation of each circuit unit according to the control program by the control unit 21. Data is temporarily stored (held) as needed.

The communication unit 25 wirelessly connects to similar external devices such as electronic dictionaries that exist in the vicinity based on, for example, the BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy) standard, which is one of wireless PAN (Personal Area Network) technologies. In addition, it wirelessly connects to a web server or the like on an external network (not shown) via a wireless router or the like to download a control program or the like.

[motion]
Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
In this operation, it is assumed that the user who uses the electronic dictionary 10 shares the dictionary contents with his/her classmates in one classroom in the school.

In this embodiment, when performing a dictionary search with the electronic dictionary 10, it is possible to select a mode as to whether or not to share dictionary contents stored in external devices possessed by other people around the user. In the touch panel type display unit 17 of FIG. 1, as indicated by "communication with peripheral terminal/waiting for permission" on the upper right side of the screen, the operation is shown in a mode in which the dictionary content is not shared with others around. there is

When the user touches the character string "Waiting for permission" on the touch panel display unit 17, the display of the character string is switched to "Allowing", and the dictionary content is shared with surrounding external devices. and migrate.

FIG. 3 shows the contents of processing for requesting a dictionary search by the control unit 21 of the electronic dictionary 10 as processing on the [terminal A] side and processing from the electronic dictionary 10 under the mode setting for sharing dictionary contents with surrounding external devices. 4 is a flow chart showing processing contents executed by surrounding external devices in response to a request as processing on the [terminal B] side.

Incidentally, in a processing situation in which a peripheral external device requests a dictionary search and the electronic dictionary 10 responds to it, the peripheral external device is on the [terminal A] side, and the electronic dictionary 10 is on the [terminal B] side. Each process is executed.

First, in the electronic dictionary 10 on the [terminal A] side, a headword to be searched is entered (step S101). At this time, a category of dictionary content to be searched may also be specified.

FIG. 4A shows a state in which the key input unit 14 of the electronic dictionary 10 is used to enter the headword [Einstein] into the headword display section 41B of the headword input section 41 of the touch panel display section 17. FIG.
FIG. 4B shows a state in which [Science] is selected and designated from various dictionary categories in the category display section 41A of the entry word input section 41 from the state shown in FIG. 4A.

By operating the [determination] key 14d of the key input unit 14 in this state, a dictionary search request is executed to the surrounding external devices.

In the control unit 21 of the electronic dictionary 10, in accordance with the operation of the [Enter] key 14d, the communication unit 25 switches to the broadcaster operation on the data transmission side in BLE (registered trademark) broadcast communication (step S102).

Then, it is determined whether or not to additionally set tag information specifying a category for the headword (step S103).

When there is an operation to designate a category as shown in FIG. 4B, the control unit 21 determines that tag information is additionally set (YES in step S103), and searches including the tag information and headwords. to the outside (step S104).

On the other hand, if the [Enter] key 14d is operated only after entering the headword shown in FIG. 4A without the category specifying operation shown in FIG. In step S103, it is determined that tag information is not to be added (NO in step S103), and a beacon signal requesting a search including a headword is transmitted outside without tag information (step S105).

After the transmission process in step S104 or step S105, the control unit 21 switches to observer operation on the data receiving side in broadcast communication (step S106).

After that, the control unit 21 repeatedly determines whether or not a beacon signal has been received from a surrounding external device (step S107), and waits for reception of a beacon signal from a surrounding external device that responds to the dictionary search request. do.

FIG. 4(C) is a diagram illustrating a display screen on the touch panel type display unit 17 of the electronic dictionary 10 which is in a standby state after the category of the dictionary is specified in FIG. 4(B). In the lower part of the headword input section 41, a guide message [Searching dictionaries around] is included, and a dashed circular symbol indicating waiting is displayed in a cyclical blinking manner. , to indicate that it is waiting.

A surrounding external device that receives a request from the electronic dictionary 10 determines whether or not a beacon signal requesting a search including a headword is received during the operation of an observer on the data receiving side, which is a criterion in broadcast communication. By repeatedly determining (step S201), the reception of the beacon signal is awaited.

When it is determined that a beacon signal requesting a search including a headword from the electronic dictionary 10 has been received (YES in step S201), the external device performs a headword-based search for all dictionary contents stored inside the device. is executed (step S202).

As a result of the search, it is determined whether or not a search result corresponding to the category of the dictionary specified by the tag information also included in the beacon signal is obtained (step S203).

If a search result corresponding to the category of the dictionary specified by the tag information is obtained (YES in step S203), the external device temporarily switches to the broadcaster operation as the data sender in broadcast communication (step S204). .

Then, a beacon signal including the dictionary name of the dictionary content for which the search result is obtained and the content of the search result is generated and transmitted (step S205), and after transmission, the observer operation is switched to the data receiving side again after transmission. (step S206), the series of processes is temporarily terminated to prepare for the next reception.

Also, in step S203, if no search result corresponding to the category of the dictionary specified by the tag information is obtained (NO in step S203), the external device assumes that there is no search result content responding to the request. Without executing the processing of steps S204 to S206, the series of processing is temporarily terminated to prepare for the next reception.

When the control unit 21 determines that the beacon signal has been received (YES in step S107), the electronic dictionary 10 waiting to receive the search result in response to the request reads the tag information based on the received beacon signal. and dictionary name information are displayed in a list on the touch panel display unit 17 (step S108), and the process of FIG.

FIG. 5A is a diagram exemplifying the screen of the touch panel display unit 17 displaying a list of the received search results. In addition to the display of the headword input section 41, a searchable dictionary display section 42 is displayed along with a guide message [The following search results were found] on the lower side.

In the searchable dictionary display section 42, search results are obtained for three dictionary contents of [Physical Dictionary], [Physical Dictionary], and [Chemical Dictionary] corresponding to the dictionary category [Science]. The fact that the dictionary contents of [Physics and Chemistry Dictionary] is temporarily selected as a default is expressed by a distinctive display of inversion and an additional display of a cursor C with a left-pointing triangular symbol.

In this state, the cursor movement key 14g of the key input unit 14 is operated to indicate either up or down direction, thereby moving the dictionary to be temporarily selected. Further, by operating the [determine] key 14d for the dictionary temporarily selected at that time, it is possible to display the search results for the content at that time.

FIG. 5B is a diagram illustrating a result displayed when the [Enter] key 14d is operated in the display state of FIG. 5A. Leaving the left side of the searchable dictionary display area 42 where the list of dictionary names is displayed, the center and right areas are newly displayed as the search result display area 43 .

The search result display section 43 displays search results corresponding to the headword "Einstein" in the selected "physical and chemical encyclopedia". In FIG. 5(B), instead of providing a detailed explanation based on the actual dictionary contents, the contents of the display in the search result display section 43 are largely omitted in order to avoid complicating the drawing. ([*Description about Einstein]).

Each time the [Enter] key 14d is operated after moving the selected dictionary name in the searchable dictionary display section 42 from the display state shown in FIG. It will be displayed on the result display section 43 .

In this way, even if there is an entry word that does not exist in the dictionary contents stored in the electronic dictionary 10, the dictionary contents stored in other external devices that exist in the surroundings can be effectively used, and the external device can be used. It is possible to obtain descriptive information about a desired headword and a category of a dictionary without troubling other users.

Note that the data contained in the beacon signal received by the electronic dictionary 10 from the peripheral external device is stored in the storage unit 22 after a predetermined time, for example, one hour has passed from the reception timing. By adopting a specification that automatically erases data from the work data storage area 22d, it is possible to avoid an unreasonable increase in the capacity used in the storage section.

In addition, as described above, in a processing situation in which a surrounding external device requests a dictionary search for an entry word and the electronic dictionary 10 responds to it, the surrounding external device is on the [terminal A] side, and the electronic dictionary 10 is on the [terminal A] side. B] side executes the processing in FIG. Therefore, even if the entry word does not exist in the dictionary contents stored in the surrounding external device, the dictionary contents stored in the electronic dictionary 10 are effectively used, and the user of the electronic dictionary 10 is troubled. It can provide appropriate descriptive information about the requested headword and dictionary category without having to do anything.

[Effects of Embodiment]
As described in detail above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to effectively utilize dictionary contents stored in other external devices in the surroundings to obtain explanatory information about a desired headword.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the electronic dictionary 10 is connected to the surrounding external devices using the wireless PAN technology, so that settings related to connections between devices used in closed spaces such as school classrooms are omitted. It is possible to operate with low power consumption.

Furthermore, in the present embodiment, as a result of responding to a dictionary search request, a beacon signal including dictionary name information is returned. to obtain the desired descriptive information.

In this embodiment, the electronic dictionary 10 transmits a beacon signal requesting a dictionary search containing category information and entry word information. information is also included in the beacon signal, and the surrounding external devices that have received the request are included in the received beacon signal and do not correspond to the received content stored in the electronic dictionary 10 Other It is also conceivable to perform processing such as performing a dictionary search for the requested content based on the dictionary content of the client. By doing so, it is possible to further reduce the processing load on the peripheral external device that receives the request.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be variously modified in the implementation stage without departing from the gist of the invention. Moreover, each embodiment may be implemented in combination as much as possible, and in that case, the combined effect can be obtained. Furthermore, the above-described embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements. For example, even if some constituent elements are deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiments, the problems described in the column of problems to be solved by the invention can be solved, and the effects described in the column of effects of the invention is obtained, the configuration from which this constituent element is deleted can be extracted as an invention.

The invention described in the original claims of the present application is appended below.
[Claim 1]
a transmitting unit that transmits tag information specifying the field of the dictionary and headword information to an external device;
a receiving unit for receiving dictionary name information and explanation information corresponding to the headword information, which are transmitted from the external device in response to the content transmitted by the transmitting unit;
a display control unit for displaying the received dictionary name information and explanatory information corresponding to the headword on a display;
An information retrieval device comprising:
[Claim 2]
2. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transmitting section and said receiving section directly transmit and receive information to and from said external device using a wireless PAN (Personal Area Network) technology.
[Claim 3]
3. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a time limit holding unit for holding the information of the dictionary name and the explanation information corresponding to the headword received by the receiving unit for a certain period of time after reception.
[Claim 4]
The transmitting unit adds information of a dictionary name stored in the device to the tag information and transmits the tag information to an external device;
The receiving unit receives dictionary name information other than dictionary names stored in the device and explanation information corresponding to the entry word information transmitted from the external device.
4. The information retrieval device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
[Claim 5]
a transmission step of transmitting tag information specifying a field of the dictionary and headword information to an external device;
a receiving step of receiving dictionary name information and explanatory information corresponding to the headword information, which are transmitted from the external device in response to the content transmitted in the transmitting step;
a display control step of displaying on a display the received information of the dictionary name and the explanation information corresponding to the headword;
An information retrieval method having
[Claim 6]
A program executed by a computer incorporated in a device, the computer comprising:
a transmitting unit that transmits tag information specifying the field of the dictionary and headword information to an external device;
a receiving unit for receiving dictionary name information and explanation information corresponding to the headword information, which are transmitted from the external device in response to the content transmitted by the transmitting unit;
a display control unit for displaying the received dictionary name information and explanatory information corresponding to the headword on a display;
A program that acts as a

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Electronic dictionary 11... Main body case 12... Lid case 13... Hinge part 14... Key input part 14a... [Home] key 14b... Function designation key 14c... Character input key 14d... [Enter] key 14e... [Return] key 14f --- [BOX] key 14g --- Cursor movement key 14h --- [Shift] key 15 --- Voice output unit 16 --- Voice input unit 17 --- Touch panel type display unit 21 --- Control unit (CPU)
22 Storage section 22a Search processing program storage area 22a1 Linked mode program 22b Dictionary data storage area 22c Search history storage area 22d Work data storage area 23 External recording medium 24 Recording medium reading section 25 Communication section 41 Headword input section 41A Category display section 41B Headword display section 42 Searchable dictionary display section 43 Search result display section C Cursor

Claims (6)

a transmitting unit that transmits tag information specifying the field of the dictionary and headword information to an external device;
a receiving unit for receiving dictionary name information and explanation information corresponding to the headword information, which are transmitted from the external device in response to the content transmitted by the transmitting unit;
a display control unit for displaying the received dictionary name information and explanatory information corresponding to the headword on a display;
An information retrieval device comprising: 2. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transmitting section and said receiving section directly transmit and receive information to and from said external device using a wireless PAN (Personal Area Network) technology. 3. The information retrieval apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a time limit holding unit for holding the information of the dictionary name and the explanation information corresponding to the headword received by the receiving unit for a certain period of time after reception. The transmitting unit adds information of a dictionary name stored in the device to the tag information and transmits the tag information to an external device;
The receiving unit receives dictionary name information other than dictionary names stored in the device and explanation information corresponding to the entry word information transmitted from the external device.
4. The information retrieval device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. a transmission step of transmitting tag information specifying a field of the dictionary and headword information to an external device;
a receiving step of receiving dictionary name information and explanatory information corresponding to the headword information, which are transmitted from the external device in response to the content transmitted in the transmitting step;
a display control step of displaying on a display the received information of the dictionary name and the explanation information corresponding to the headword;
An information retrieval method having A program executed by a computer incorporated in a device, the computer comprising:
a transmitting unit that transmits tag information specifying the field of the dictionary and headword information to an external device;
a receiving unit for receiving dictionary name information and explanation information corresponding to the headword information, which are transmitted from the external device in response to the content transmitted by the transmitting unit;
a display control unit for displaying the received dictionary name information and explanatory information corresponding to the headword on a display;
A program that acts as a

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