JP2897743B2 - English word search apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an English word search apparatus, and more particularly to an English word search using a substitution rule having a priority.
Apparatus and method .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional English word search apparatus using a substitution rule is known. This conventional English word search device searches for a similar spelling from a spelling input by a user and displays the spelling as a candidate. For a character string input by the user, for example, a predetermined character string such as "r" and "l" is exchanged. Is changed according to the replacement rule, and a search is made as to whether the changed spelling exists in the dictionary, thereby searching for word candidates similar to the input spelling.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional English word search apparatus. Referring to FIG. 7, a conventional English word search device includes an input device 11, a dictionary storage unit 12, a replacement rule storage unit 13, a search unit 14, a word candidate storage unit 15,
And an output device 16.

The search means 14 receives a character string input from the input device 11 by the user, and the search means 14 uses the combination of the replacement rules in the replacement rule storage unit 13 to
For each set of character strings that can be generated from the input character string, it is checked whether or not each is registered in the dictionary storage unit 12. If registered, it is added to the word candidate storage unit 15.

After the search is completed, the contents of the word candidate storage section 15 are sent to the output device 16 and displayed.

As a prior art of an apparatus for searching for an English word with such a configuration, for example, the description of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-334302 is referred to. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 5-334302 discloses a document processing method which provides an opportunity to replace a correct spelling word to be originally input and supports an accurate spelling character input operation based on an input inspection target word. Generating a possible replacement character string candidate, searching the dictionary memory for a regular replacement word candidate based on the generated replacement character string candidate, and selecting a desired word candidate from the searched regular replacement word candidates;
Such a document processing method has been proposed.

[0007]

However, the above-described conventional English word retrieval system based on the substitution rule has the following problems.

(1) The first problem is that, when the number of registered replacement rules is small, the number of character strings that can be generated from the input character string is small, so that it is difficult to find a target word. Increases, the number of character strings that can be generated by the combination of the replacement rules becomes enormous, so that it takes a long time to search all of them, and there are too many candidates.

For this reason, it is necessary to adjust the number of replacement rules to be registered. As a result, it is impossible to perform a satisfactory search.

(2) As a second problem, as described in the first problem, even when the replacement rule to be registered is adjusted, the number of candidates to be searched differs depending on the input character string. After all, you can't get a satisfactory search.

(3) As a third problem, there is no learning function for spelling mistakes that the user tends to make mistakes.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to search for an English word similar to an input English word using a replacement rule.
An English word search apparatus and method that enables a user to learn spelling mistakes that are likely to be mistaken for a user by performing a search in different stages according to priority and displaying the candidates in order of priority, thereby significantly improving search accuracy and operability. Is to provide.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for searching for a similar English word using a replacement rule for a spelling entered by a user .
Set priorities for each group, a high-priority group
Search for word candidates by combining substitution rules in order from the
Means , means for calculating a priority based on the replacement rule used for the searched word candidate, means for displaying the searched word candidates in descending order of priority, and a word candidate selected by the user and means for changing so as to raise the priority of substitution rules that are used for to comprising the.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the preferred embodiment, means for setting priorities to replacement rules and grouping the groups are provided. Means for terminating the search repetition when a candidate is found; means for calculating the priority of the found candidate as a candidate from the number of replacement rules used and their priorities; If requested or if the specified number of candidates have not been found, the next step is to add a replacement rule for the group with the highest priority and search again. Means for raising the priority of the replacement rule.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, substitution rules are grouped by priority, and when an English word is input from the input device, a dictionary search is first performed using only the group of priority 1 as an application rule. . If the number of candidates found is less than the specified number, the group having the next highest priority is added to the application rule and the search is performed again. If the number reaches the specified number, the search is terminated.

After the search is completed, the priority is calculated based on the replacement rule used for each candidate, and displayed in order of priority. When one of the candidates is selected by the user, the priority of the replacement rule used for the candidate is improved.

In the embodiment of the present invention, in the English word search using the substitution rules, the substitution rules are grouped, and the retrieval is performed by using the substitution rules in descending order of priority. Even if the search is performed, the search can be performed early in the initial stage.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the priority is calculated for each searched candidate and displayed in the order of the priority, so that the candidates can be displayed in order from the one closest to the original input word. Become.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention,
By raising the priority of the replacement rule used when generating the word candidate selected by the user from the placement candidates, the priority of the spelling mistake that is likely to be mistaken by the user is raised, thereby increasing the user's priority. This makes it easy to search for misspellings that are easy to make mistakes.

[0020]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, one embodiment of the present invention is applied to an input device 1 for receiving spelling input from a user, a dictionary storage unit 2 in which information on English words is registered, and an input character string. An application rule storage unit 3 storing replacement rules, a search unit 4 for performing a dictionary search based on an input character string input from the input device 1 and the contents of the application rule storage unit 3, and a word candidate storing a searched word candidate A storage unit 5, a replacement rule storage unit 6 in which replacement rules are registered, a rule application unit 7 for setting application rules, a priority calculation unit 8 for calculating a priority for each candidate, and a priority order of replacement rules , And an output device 10 for displaying the searched word candidates.

The replacement rules registered in the replacement rule storage unit 6 are, in order of priority, a replacement rule group 61 of priority 1, a replacement rule group 62 of priority 2,..., A replacement rule group 63 of priority n. So, they are grouped.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are flow charts for explaining the processing flow of one embodiment of the present invention. In addition,
FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are separated for convenience of drawing. The operation of one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

Before executing a search, it is assumed that the number of word candidates to be displayed at one time is set in advance by the user. Hereinafter, the number will be described as X. Before execution, it is assumed that the contents of the word candidate storage unit 5 and the application rule storage unit 3 are set to an empty state.

The input character string given from the input device 1 is
It is passed to the search means 4 (step S1).

The search means 4 checks whether or not the input character string is registered in the dictionary storage unit 2. If the input character string is registered in the dictionary storage unit 2, the search unit 4 deletes the input character string and its Japanese translation information. Is added to the word candidate storage unit 5 (step S2).

Next, the rule applying means 7 registers the contents of the replacement rule group 61 of priority 1 which is the replacement rule of the group having the highest priority in the application rule storage section 3 (step S3).

The search unit 4 receives the input character string and the application rule storage unit 3 and performs a search (step S4). At that time, as a search method, it is sequentially checked whether or not a character string that can be generated using a combination of application rules stored in the application rule storage unit 3 is stored in the dictionary storage unit 2 and stored. In this case, the character string, the replacement rule used for generating the character string, and the information of the Japanese translation are added to the word candidate storage unit 5.

The character string generated at this time is at least one of the rules newly given to the applicable rule storage unit 3 this time.
Must be used (others must have been searched previously).

When the search is completed, first, the number of word candidates in the word candidate storage unit 5 is checked (step S5).

If it is determined in step S5 that the number of word candidates is equal to or more than the predetermined value X, the priority calculation means 8 calculates the priority of each word candidate and designates the word candidates in descending order of priority. The word candidates and their Japanese translation information are displayed on the output device 10 by the number (step S6 in FIG. 3). This priority is calculated by the priority calculation means 8 based on the number of replacement rules used in generating each candidate and the priority.

After the display is completed, the system waits for an instruction from the user, and when the user requests to search for the next candidate (Yes in step S7), the word candidate storage unit 5
The X word candidates displayed this time are deleted, and the process proceeds to a process of displaying the next candidate (step S8).

On the other hand, in step S5 of FIG. 2, if the number of words in the word candidate storage unit 5 is smaller than X after the search is completed, first, the replacement rule that has not yet been applied is stored in the replacement rule storage unit 6. It is checked whether there is a group (step S9).

If there is an unapplied group (Yes in step S9), the rule applying unit 7 adds the group having the highest priority among them to the applied rule storage unit 3 (step S10). Move to search again (step S
4).

If there is no unapplied group (No in step S9), the priority calculating means 8 calculates the priority of the word candidate in the word candidate storage unit 5 and calculates the word candidate and its Japanese translation. The information is displayed on the output device in descending order of priority (step S11 in FIG. 3).

When the user selects one of the displayed word candidates (Yes in step S12), first, the replacement rule used in generating the word candidate is checked, and the priority changing means is changed. 9 raises the priority of each of the replacement rules (step S13).

Next, the processing based on the present embodiment will be specifically described with specific examples.

Now, it is assumed that the replacement rule is set as shown in FIG. In the group 61 having the first priority, each of the replacement rules in FIG. For example, the replacement rule 64 of “s” and “se” has a higher rank than the replacement rule 65 of “r” and “l”.

Here, a case where the user inputs "rais" in an attempt to find out the word "rice" (rice) will be described as an example. It is assumed that the number searched at a time by the user is set to three in advance.

First, the search means 4 checks whether "rais" itself exists (is registered). In this case, since “rais” does not exist in the dictionary storage unit 2, it is not added to the candidates.

Next, a search is performed using the replacement rule group having the first priority.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, four candidates, “rise”, “race”, “race”,
"Lase" is searched. Referring to FIG. 5, "ra
i se ", the original""those that have been applied to substitution rules to," rai s race ", the original" an application of the substitution rules ,, to rais "(rais → rai se → r
ai ce → r a ce), also "lace", the original "r
ais ”to which the substitution rule,.
ais → rai se → l aise → lai ce → l a c
e), and "lase" is an application of the substitution rules ,, to the original of the "rais" (rais → rai se
→ is a l aise → l a se).

Next, the priority calculating means 8 calculates the priority of each candidate. The result of this operation is the priority value shown in FIG. 5, and three of the higher priorities, “rise” (priority 1), “race” (priority 3), and “lase” (priority 3) , Along with the part of speech and Japanese translation.

Here, it is assumed that the user instructed a re-search because the target word was not found.

According to this instruction, the three candidates displayed earlier are deleted from the word candidate storage unit 5.

Since there is only one candidate remaining, the rule applying unit 7 adds the group 62 of the priority order 2 (the replacement rule 68 of “ai” and “i”) to the application rule storage unit 3 and
The search means 4 performs a search again.

This time, two new candidates are searched, and a total of three candidates are obtained. The priority calculating means 8 calculates a priority for each candidate.

The result is as shown in FIG. 6, and the search results include “rise”, “race”, “ric”
e "is displayed in this order together with the part of speech and the Japanese translation.

Since the target word "rice" has been found, the user selects this word candidate.

When the word candidate is searched, the priority changing means 9 raises the priority of the three replacement rules 64, 66 and 68 used in deriving the candidate.

In this case, the replacement rules 64, 66, and 68 move up in this order within the group 61 of the priority 1, and as a result, the replacement rule 65 moves to the end of the group 61 of the priority 1, Further, the replacement rule 67 moves to the group 62 of the priority order 2.

When the user selects a word candidate, the replacement rule used in generating the candidate is updated so as to increase the priority, so that the miss spells frequently generated by the user have a higher search priority. And as a result,
You can immediately find the correct word candidate for misspellings.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) A first effect of the present invention is that it is possible to always search an appropriate number of word candidates in descending order of priority, regardless of the input English word.

The reason is that, in the present invention, the number of words searched at the end of each stage of the search is checked, and the search is repeated until a specified number of candidates are found. Is calculated and displayed in ascending order.
This is due to such a configuration.

(2) A second effect of the present invention is that a simple search can quickly find and display a candidate even when many replacement rules are registered.

The reason is that, in the present invention, the replacement rules are partially applied in descending order of priority.

(3) A third effect of the present invention is that, for a spelling mistake frequently made by a user, the search priority becomes higher, and this can be found earlier.

The reason is that, in the present invention, when the user selects one of the word candidates, the priority of the replacement rule used in generating the candidate is increased. Depending on.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing flow according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a replacement rule storage unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search result when “rais” is used as an input character string in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second search result when “rais” is used as an input character string in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a conventional English word search device using a replacement rule.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 input device 2 dictionary storage unit 3 application rule storage unit 4 search means 5 word candidate storage unit 6 replacement rule storage unit 7 rule application means 8 priority calculation means 9 priority change means 10 output device

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-245354 (JP, A) JP-A-8-147300 (JP, A) JP-A-7-28810 (JP, A) JP-A-7-168824 (JP) JP-A-2-61768 (JP, A) JP-A-3-152668 (JP, A) JP-A-6-52367 (JP, A) JP-A-1-237724 (JP, A) 5-334302 (JP, A) JP-A-8-95977 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06F 17/30 G06F 17/27

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] When 1. A user searches English words that are similar with the substitution rule for entered spelling, prioritize each group of replacement rules, the replacement rules from a higher priority group in order combination
Means for retrieving a word candidate Te, retrieved and means for computing a priority based on substitution rules used for the word candidate, means for displaying the word candidates retrieved in order of priority
If, English word retrieval apparatus characterized by comprising: means for changing so as to raise the priority of substitution rules that are used for the word candidate selected by the user. 2. A substitution rule for retrieving an English word similar to an inputted spell using a substitution rule is divided into groups, and priorities are assigned to the respective groups. If the number of word candidates has reached a predetermined value, a search is performed by combining replacement rules in order from the group having the highest priority. A priority is calculated based on the replacement rule used for each candidate, the predetermined number of the word candidates are displayed on the screen in the descending order of the calculated priority, and when the user selects a word, the user to update the priority of the selected replacement rules used in word English word search how, characterized in that. 3. If the result of the search is that the word candidate is less than a predetermined value, the search is performed again by applying the replacement rule of the next highest priority group. English word search how described. 4. An input means for receiving an input of a spell, a dictionary storage unit in which information on English words is registered, and an application rule storing a substitution rule to be applied to the input or a character string inputted from the input means. A search unit for performing a dictionary search from the input character string input from the input unit and the contents of the application rule storage unit; a word candidate storage unit for storing the searched word candidates; A registration replacement rule storage unit that is registered and assigned with a priority order for each group, a rule application unit that sets an application rule, a priority calculation unit that calculates a priority for each candidate, and the replacement rule A priority changing means for changing the priority of the replacement rule in the storage unit; and an output means for displaying a searched word candidate, wherein the spelling input from the input means is the dictionary entry. If not registered in section, the searching means searches the highest group priority by applying the substitution rules and the combinations in the order, the result of the search, the number of word candidates is a predetermined specified value If the priority has been reached, the priority calculation means calculates a priority based on the replacement rule used for each candidate, and outputs the predetermined number of the predetermined numbers via the output means in descending order of the calculated priority. Displaying a word candidate on a screen, and when the user selects a word, updating the priority of the replacement rule used for the word selected by the user in the replacement rule storage unit by the priority changing means. Characteristic English word search device.