JP3081622B2 - Telephone number stylization device and telephone number stylization method - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone number stabilizing apparatus for automatically converting telephone number data handled by a computer from an arbitrary format to a prescribed format.

[Prior Art] When telephone number data is taken in from outside, for example, when a telephone number of a business card is obtained by character recognition, or when telephone number data is obtained by converting data from another address book database or the like, However, the format of telephone number data is not unified. For this reason, if it is desired to unify the data into a prescribed format, such as telephone number data, the only option is to manually correct and standardize the data.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, manual stylization of telephone number data requires a great deal of labor. There was also the danger of making mistakes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a telephone number stabilizing apparatus that automatically processes all standardized telephone number data by a computer.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, according to the invention described in claim 1, the input arbitrary telephone number data is formatted into a predetermined format and stored in a storage unit. A phone number stylizing device, a character obtaining means for extracting the telephone number data as delimited character data, a character type determining means for specifying a character type of the obtained character data, and a numeral based on the determined character type. Character data representing the character data and the data representing the location of the station number between the character data, and character selecting means for discarding other data, and several types of character data representing the numerals are unified into a predetermined numeral representation. And a character conversion unit for storing the data in the storage unit while separating the station number delimiter position by a predetermined station number delimiter character.

The invention described in claim 2 is a telephone number stabilizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
The character conversion means is configured to discard a character indicating an area code division at an improper position other than after the area code and the area code, and enter only one character area code division at a predetermined position.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 3, in the telephone number stabilizing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 and 2, the number of the area code of the telephone number is stored. An area code dictionary, a delimiter position calculating means for calculating the area number delimiter position using the area code dictionary for the converted telephone number data, and the telephone number data at the area number delimiter position calculated by the delimiter position calculation means. It is configured to have station number separating means for separating.

Further, the invention described in claim 4 is a telephone number standardization method for standardizing input telephone number data in an arbitrary format into a predetermined format and storing the data in a storage unit,
The telephone number data is taken out by a predetermined number of character data at a time and its character type is specified, and character data representing a number and data representing a position where a station number is separated between the character data are specified based on the determined character type. In addition to discarding the data of the above, the character data representing the numerals are converted into a predetermined numeral notation and converted, and the division positions of the office numbers are stored in the storage unit while being separated by the predetermined office number separator. There is.

[Operation] In the invention according to claim 1 configured as described above, when the character obtaining unit extracts the character data separated from the input telephone number data in any format, the character type determining unit Specifies the character type of the acquired character data. When the character type is specified, the character selection means performs the following. That is, character data representing a number and data representing a position where a station number is separated between the character data are specified, and other data is discarded. As a result, only the character data representing the number and the data representing the location of the station number remain, and the character conversion means converts the character data representing the number into a predetermined number notation and converts the data, and sets the location of the station number as the delimiter. Character data representing the converted number is stored in the storage unit so as to be identifiable. In this way, the input telephone number data in an arbitrary format is formatted into a predetermined numerical notation format and stored in the storage unit.

Further, in the invention according to claim 2 configured as described above, when storing the character data representing the converted number in the storage unit while making the separation position of the station number identifiable, When the character type of the character data is a character indicating a division of a station number, the character conversion means converts the character data into a predetermined station number delimiter character and stores the character data together with the character data representing the converted numeral in the storage unit.

Further, in the invention according to claim 3 configured as described above, when converting a character indicating a division of an office number into a predetermined office number delimiter, the character conversion unit includes:
Discard the characters indicating the delimiter of the illegally located area code other than the area code and the area code. Then, only one station number delimiter is inserted at a predetermined position.

The character obtaining means extracts character data delimited from the input telephone number data in an arbitrary format, but may set the number of characters at an arbitrary delimiter in relation to subsequent processing. Therefore, the number of characters to be acquired may be one or more.

The character type determining means specifies the character type of the character data obtained for the telephone number data in an arbitrary format, and it is sufficient that at least the character type of the character data representing a number and the data type representing the delimiter position of a station number can be specified. The character data representing the numbers here includes full-width Arabic numerals and half-width Arabic numerals, as well as Chinese numerals and other numeral data. The data indicating the delimiter position includes not only hyphens and parentheses but also other symbols such as bullets.

The character selection means discards data other than predetermined data based on the determined character type. Since the position and the number where the delimiter character should be inserted are limited in the telephone number data, the determination may be made from the relative positional relationship with the character data representing the numeral. Considering the structure of the telephone number, the separation position of the area code is two places, after the area code and after the area code,
In general, parentheses are sometimes used for extra use. Therefore, an extra delimiter may be inserted simply by replacing the delimiter of the telephone number data before conversion with a delimiter according to a predetermined notation. In such a case, characters indicating the delimitation of the illegally located area code other than after the area code and the area code are discarded. Of course, it goes without saying that data other than the original numbers, such as the main branch name and the telephone type, which are written together with the telephone number on the business card, etc., are discarded.

The character conversion means converts several types of character data representing numbers into a predetermined number format so as to have a prescribed format. The types of character data representing numbers here include, for example, Chinese numerals, full-width numbers, and half-width numbers. Also, the predetermined numerical notation is arbitrary, and assuming the most orthodox case, all numbers are unified into half-width numerals, and a half-width hyphen is inserted after the area code and the area code. .
Of course, it is also acceptable to unify to full-width numbers or full-width kanji. Such unification is an example of a prescribed format. Furthermore, the delimiter is not limited to a hyphen, but may be a parenthesis, a bullet, or another character. It should be noted that these numerical displays may be fixed or may be changeable.

The storage unit for storing the converted character data includes various types, and may be a nonvolatile storage area such as a magnetic disk or a volatile storage area such as a RAM.
Further, the operation is exactly the same even if it is merely a data transmission path.

Regarding the above-described character acquisition means, character type determination means, character selection means, and character conversion means, a case in which character data is acquired one character at a time from one telephone number data and converted into half-width numerical notation will be described as an example. Is as follows:

First, one phone number data is extracted one character data at a time from the beginning by the character acquisition means. Subsequently, the character type of the one-character data is determined by the character type determining means. According to this character type, it is divided into the following four processes.

a) If the character type of the one-character data is a Chinese character, the character conversion means converts the Chinese character to a half-size number.

b) When the character type of the one-character data is a full-width number, it is converted to a half-width number by a character conversion unit.

c) If the character type of the one-character data is a character indicating a division of an office number, it is converted to a specific office number delimiter by a character conversion unit. In the case of an improper position and the case of overlapping in the same position, it is discarded as unnecessary characters.

d) When the character type of the one-character data is a character type other than those described above, the character selecting means leaves only half-width numerals and discards other character data.

The above processing is processing for one character data, and the above processing is repeated until the number of one telephone number is processed.

Thus, even in the case of telephone number data in any format, for example, "Tokyo Head Office (03) 123-4567 (alternative)", unnecessary characters are discarded, numbers are unified to half-width numerals, and the area code delimiter is specified. It is converted into a delimiter and is standardized in a prescribed format of "03-123-4567".

Furthermore, in the invention according to claim 3 configured as described above, since the area code number of the telephone number is stored by the area code dictionary, the delimiter position calculating means is converted. The telephone number data is used to calculate the area code division position using the area code dictionary. Then, the telephone number data is divided by the station number dividing position calculated by the dividing position calculating means.

The area code dictionary only needs to know the number of digits of the area code of the telephone number, and the storage format and the like are not particularly limited. For example, the number of digits may be stored for each area code, or the area code may be stored for each number of digits.

The delimiter position calculating means only needs to be able to retrieve the area code dictionary from the telephone number data, and various specific methods can be adopted. For example, a dictionary may be drawn from the first two digits until the dictionary cannot be drawn, or the number of digits that can be drawn from the maximum number of digits after starting the dictionary may be determined. On the other hand, the separation position of the area code is the last four digits, and can be uniquely calculated if the number of digits of the area code is known.

The station number separating means only needs to separate the telephone number data at the calculated position, and includes a case where a separating character is inserted to separate the telephone number data and a case where data indicating the separating position is added.

Thus, even in the case of telephone number data “031234567” consisting of a numeric string without a station number delimiter, the station number delimiter is inserted and the data is standardized into a prescribed format of “03-123-4567”.

Further, in the invention according to claim 4 configured as described above, a telephone number stabilizing method for standardizing input telephone number data in an arbitrary format into a predetermined format and storing the data in a storage unit. Extracting the telephone number data by a predetermined number of character data and specifying the character type thereof,
Based on the determined character type, character data representing a number and data representing the location of the station number of the character data question are specified, and other data is discarded. Unify and convert to numeric notation,
The data is stored in the storage unit while being delimited by a predetermined station number delimiter at the delimiter position of the station number.

In other words, this method is used when executed in a substantial device or the like.

By the way, telephone numbers are standardized in this way in order to make telephone number data taken in from outside available to the device on the side that took in the data. This avoids the problem that processing cannot be performed. Therefore, processing can be executed in accordance with the resource form on the processing side.

Embodiment FIG. 1A is an example of a configuration block diagram of a first telephone number stylizing apparatus. Reference numeral 1 denotes one-character acquisition means for extracting the telephone number data in the new data buffer one character at a time from the beginning. Reference numeral 2 denotes a character type determination unit that determines the character type of the one-character data. Numeral 3 is a numeral conversion means for converting a Chinese character into a half-size number when the character type of the one-character data is a Chinese character. Numeral 4 denotes a half-width conversion means for converting the one-character data into a half-width number when the character type is a full-width number. Reference numeral 5 denotes a station number delimiter converting means for converting the character data of the one-character data to a prescribed station number delimiter when the character type indicates a station number delimiter. Numeral 6 is a half-width numeral selection means for leaving only half-width numerals and discarding other character data when the character type of the one-character data is a character other than the above.

In the present embodiment, the character acquiring means is constituted by one character acquiring means for processing one character at a time, and a character selecting means for selecting and converting character data based on the determined character type, and a character conversion. The means is constituted by numeral conversion means, half-width conversion means, delimiter conversion means, and half-width number selection means.

FIG. 1B is an example of a configuration block diagram of a second telephone number stabilizing apparatus. Reference numeral 7 denotes an area code dictionary for checking the number of digits of the area code of a telephone number. Numeral 8 denotes a delimiter position calculating means for calculating a delimiter position using the area code dictionary. Numeral 9 is a station number dividing means for dividing the telephone number data at the station number dividing position calculated by the dividing position calculating means.

FIG. 2A is a flowchart example of the first telephone number stabilizing apparatus of the present invention, wherein F1 to F7 are step numbers. One telephone number data is already stored in a buffer on the computer memory in an arbitrary format, for example, as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) to (d). The following description is based on the premise that the data is read out to the work and sequentially formatted, and the new telephone number data to be formatted is sequentially stored in another buffer.

In F1, one phone number data is extracted one character data at a time from the beginning.

In F2, the character type of the one-character data obtained in F1 is determined.
The character types include Chinese numerals such as "123", full-width numbers such as "123", half-width numbers such as "123", characters that delimit a local number such as "()-. ()-." Determine unnecessary characters. Processing is divided into four steps F3 to F6 according to the character type.

In F3, the character type of the one-character data obtained in F1 is as shown in FIG.
In the case of Kanji numbers as shown in (1), they are converted into single-byte numbers and stored in a buffer.

In F4, the character type of the one-character data obtained in F1 is as shown in FIG. 3 (b).
In the case of full-width numbers as shown in (1), they are converted to half-width numbers and stored in a buffer.

In F5, if the character type of the one-character data obtained in F1 is a character representing a station number separator, the character code is converted into a station number separator, in this embodiment, a half-size hyphen "-" and stored in a buffer. However, if the position is incorrect as in the parentheses at the beginning of FIG. 3A, it is removed as an unnecessary character.

On the other hand, between the area code and the area code in FIG.
When parentheses are duplicated as in the above, but delimiters are duplicated at the same position, one delimiter is left and then removed as unnecessary characters.

In F6, it is checked whether or not the one-character data obtained in F1 is a half-size number, and if it is a half-size number, it is stored in a buffer. On the other hand, if the character is an unnecessary character such as one of "Tokyo Office" in FIG. 3 (c), it is discarded.

In F7, it is determined whether the sequential processing of one telephone number ends or not by the end of the telephone number. The end of the telephone number is the case of the end of data as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (c) or the case where the number of digits of the telephone number is satisfied without the end of data as in FIG. 3 (d). It is. To continue, return to F1 and repeat the above steps. When the sequential processing of one telephone number data is completed, the telephone number data is standardized into a prescribed format with a half-width numeral and a prescribed delimiter "-" as shown in FIG. 3 (e).

FIG. 2 (b) is a flowchart example of the second telephone number stabilizing apparatus of the present invention, wherein F8 to F9 are step numbers.

For example, in the buffer on the computer memory
Description will be made on the assumption that one telephone number data is stored in a numeric string as shown in FIG. 11F and that new telephone number data to be standardized is stored in another buffer.

In F8, the station number break position is calculated. Look up the area code dictionary that stores the area code and number of digits in advance,
For example, if it starts with "03", it is 2 digits; if it starts with "0263", it is 4
Find the area code delimiter, such as digits. The division position of the station number is uniquely obtained from the last four digits of the telephone number.

In F9, the telephone number data is separated at the station number separation position calculated in F8 and stored in the buffer. Even in the case of telephone number data with consecutive numbers, the specified delimiter "-"
Is inserted and is standardized in a prescribed format as shown in FIG. 3 (e).

FIG. 4 is an example of a hardware configuration diagram common to the first and second telephone number stabilizing devices. The inside surrounded by a dotted line is, for example, the inside of a personal computer, and H1 is a CPU. H2
Is a RAM that stores programs and is used as a buffer or work for postal code data. H3 is ROM, BIOS
And other system programs. H4 is a display such as a CRT for displaying data and the like. H5 is a keyboard, and the user performs key input as necessary. H6 is a recording device such as a magnetic disk for reading and writing files.

[Effect of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, telephone number data having an arbitrary notation format and composed of several types of characters is standardized into a uniform predetermined number notation. It is effective for Therefore, numbers / kanji, full-width / half-width,
This is suitable for a case where a telephone number in an arbitrary format in which different station number separators, unnecessary characters, and the like are mixed is standardized to a half-width number and a prescribed separator character format. Of course, the format of this stylization does not have to be particularly limited.

In addition, by separating the telephone number data using the station number delimiter, the area code part and the station number part can be easily separated and used. Furthermore, even when the conversion cannot be performed simply by simply converting the delimiter, the notation can be unified by preventing the delimiter from being inserted at an improper position. In addition, by providing the area code dictionary, even when the delimiter is lost or erroneous, the delimiter can be correctly determined.

By realizing a telephone number stabilizing apparatus according to the present invention in which a computer system automatically formats telephone number data of an arbitrary format into a prescribed format, standardization of telephone number data is facilitated. Until now, the standardization of telephone number data has relied on manual labor. However, according to the present apparatus, no manual labor is required, and time and labor are greatly reduced.

Especially in a database system, unifying the format of item data is the most important issue in terms of data storage, data management such as search and sorting, data display, etc.When data is imported from other places, for example, character recognition from business cards etc. In most cases, the format of telephone numbers is not uniform when raw data is converted or data is converted from other databases. However, if this apparatus is used, the data can be automatically standardized at the time of registering the data in the database, so that it is possible to eliminate the obstacle of the consistency between the database and external data.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a configuration block diagram of a first telephone number stabilizing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 1B is a configuration block diagram of a second telephone number stabilizing apparatus. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are flowcharts showing the operation procedure of the device, FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (f) are diagrams showing examples of telephone number data, and FIG. 4 is a hardware structural diagram of the device. . 1: 1 character acquisition means 2: character type determination means 3: numeric conversion means 4: half-width conversion means 5: area code separator character conversion means 6: half-width number selection means 7: area code dictionary 8: break position calculation means 9: area number break means

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-2-72752 (JP, A) JP-A-55-156462 (JP, A) JP-A-1-2844051 (JP, A)

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A telephone number stabilizing apparatus for standardizing input telephone number data of an arbitrary format into a predetermined format and storing the data in a storage unit, wherein the telephone number data is extracted as delimited character data. Obtaining means, character type determining means for specifying the character type of the obtained character data, character data representing a number based on the determined character type,
Identifying the data indicating the position where the station number is separated between the character data, character selecting means for discarding other data, and converting several types of character data representing the numbers into a predetermined number notation, Character conversion means for storing in the storage unit the section numbers separated by a predetermined area number delimiter while separating the section numbers with a predetermined area number delimiter. 2. A telephone number stabilizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said character converting means discards a character indicating a boundary between an area code and an illegal position other than after the area code. A telephone number stabilizing device, wherein only one character of a station number delimiter is inserted in a predetermined position. 3. The telephone number stabilizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an area code dictionary for storing the area code digits of the telephone number, and a converted telephone number. It is characterized in that it has a delimiter position calculating means for calculating an area number break position using the area code dictionary for number data, and an area number break means for separating the telephone number data at the area number break position calculated by the break position calculating means. Phone number stylization device. 4. A telephone number stabilizing method for standardizing input telephone number data of an arbitrary format into a predetermined format and storing the telephone number data in a storage unit, wherein the telephone number data is extracted by a predetermined number of character data at a time. Identify the character type, identify character data representing a number based on the determined character type, and data indicating the position where the station number is separated between the character data, discard the other data, and set several types representing the number. And converting the character data into a predetermined numerical notation and storing the same in the storage unit while separating the station number delimiter positions with a predetermined station number delimiter character.