JP4549307B2 - Electronics - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic device having a character input function.

  A cellular phone generally has a character input function in order to communicate by e-mail or leave a memo. By the way, the mobile phone has fewer keys than the keyboard of a personal computer, and multiple characters are assigned to one key, and the key push must be repeated many times until the target character is displayed. There is. In addition to this, there was a problem with Kanji conversion in Japanese sentences, and it took time to convert hiragana and kanji, which hindered speedy character input.

  In order to reduce the time and effort required for character input as described above, recent mobile phones display candidates for the words that the user is trying to input at the time of inputting some hiragana characters, and the user can select one of the candidates. If is selected, a character input completion function is provided. Candidate words / phrases are selected from words / phrases stored by default when the mobile phone is shipped from the factory, or words / phrases entered in the past. When the candidate phrase display area is too narrow to display all candidate phrases, all candidate phrases are displayed by scrolling or page turning.

Patent Document 1 also shows an example of a technique for displaying word candidates. Patent Document 1 describes an apparatus that can also use a character string in a document created by another apparatus as a shortened conversion candidate.
JP 2002-149642 A ([0027] [0028], FIG. 1-11)

  In the conventional mobile phone, when a candidate word / phrase is displayed when a character is input, a word / phrase input in the past is displayed with priority. Among them, the newer input date has higher priority. Although it is a convenient mechanism, since it is not a candidate phrase arbitrarily designated by the user, it cannot be said that the phrase displayed at the beginning is a phrase that can be used for the sentence being created. When trying to create a sentence related to the previous sentence instead of the most recently created sentence, it is often the case that the phrase to be selected is displayed later and it takes time to arrive.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to display more effective candidate phrases when inputting characters with a mobile phone.

  (1) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention sets an input area, a first candidate phrase display area, and a second candidate phrase display area on a character input screen, and the first candidate phrase display area is set in the first candidate phrase display area. Candidates displayed in the first candidate word / phrase display area in the second candidate word / phrase display area are displayed with all or part of the reference data selected by the user identified in the candidate words / phrases therein. Candidate words other than words are displayed.

  (2) Further, the present invention is characterized in that the display of candidate words / phrases in the second candidate word / phrase display area is displayed in descending order of priority.

  (3) Further, according to the present invention, the priorities are words input in the past as the first priority, and words other than the words input in the past as the second priority.

  Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile phone, FIG. 2 is an example of a character input screen, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart of candidate word search and display.

  The cellular phone 1 includes the components shown in FIG. 1 and will be described below.

  The telephone communication unit 10 transmits a signal from a baseband unit described later to the base station via the antenna 11 and receives a radio wave from the base station via the antenna 11.

  The baseband unit 12 includes a CDMA processing unit 13 and an audio codec 14. The CDMA processing unit 13 performs code division multiple access, scrambling, error control, and timing detection. The voice codec (codec) 14 performs voice compression (encoding), voice expansion (decoding), analog-to-digital conversion, and the like, and an internal amplification circuit (not shown) controls the received sound volume and microphone sensitivity. change.

  A speaker 16, a microphone 17, and a loudspeaker 18 are connected to the baseband unit 12 via a switching circuit 15. The speaker 16 is used for listening to sound ("receiving") by placing it on the ear, and converts the electric signal of the baseband unit 12 amplified by the amplifier circuit 19 into sound. The microphone 17 is used for talking close to the mouth (“sending”), converts the voice into an electric signal, amplifies it by the amplifier circuit 20, and outputs it to the baseband unit 12. The loudspeaker 18 is for loudening the received sound to be heard by surrounding people, and converts the electric signal of the baseband unit 12 amplified by the amplifier circuit 21 into voice. The loudspeaker 18 also sounds an incoming call notification.

  The speaker 16, the microphone 17, and the loudspeaker 18 are connected to the switching circuit 15 via amplifier circuits 19, 20, and 21, respectively. The switching circuit 15 turns on / off the connection between the amplifier circuits 19, 20, 21 and the baseband unit 12 under the control of the control circuit 30. Note that the gains of the amplifier circuits 19, 20, and 21 are all fixed, and the received sound volume and microphone sensitivity cannot be changed. The sound codec 14 performs sound volume adjustment of the speaker 16 and the loudspeaker 18 and sensitivity adjustment of the microphone 17 according to a command from the control unit 30.

  The control unit 30 includes a microprocessor (not shown) as a main component, and controls each unit based on an operation program stored in the ROM 31. The ROM 31 is a non-volatile memory, and stores phone book information and time information in addition to the operation program. Data that needs to be temporarily held during program execution, such as stopwatch information, is stored in the RAM 32.

  The control unit 30 controls the internal display means 33 and the external display means 34. The internal display means 33 is not exposed unless the foldable casing of the cellular phone 1 is opened, and the external display means 34 is exposed even if it is not opened. Is displayed.

  In addition to the internal display means 33 and the external display means 34, the control unit 30 controls a CCD camera 35 and a white LED light 36 that serves as a flash light source of the camera 35 and also serves as a flashlight substitute.

  The internal input means 40 and the external input means 50 transmit commands to the control unit 30. The internal input means 40 is the main input means, and is provided on the surface that becomes the inner side when the casing is folded. The external input means 50 is a sub-input means provided on the surface that becomes the outside when the casing is folded.

  The internal input means 40 is composed of various keys. Keys include a numeric keypad 41 used to input numbers and characters, a call key 42 for starting a call, an end key 43 for ending a call, a cursor key 44 for moving the cursor on the display screen up / down / left / right, and a mail key for setting a mail mode. 45 and a phone book key 46 for operating the phone book.

  The external input means 50 includes a write key 51 and a memo key 52. The light key 51 is used for flashing the light 36 at the time of photographing by the camera 35, or for lighting the light 36 instead of a flashlight. The light key 51 is also used for stopwatch mode switching operation and stopwatch reset operation. The memo key 52 is used for voice memo recording operation, stopwatch mode switching operation, stopwatch start / stop operation, and the like.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a screen when characters are input by the internal display means 33. The screen is divided into three in the vertical direction, the top is an input area 33a for performing character input work, the middle is a reference data display area 33b for displaying reference data selected and displayed by the user, and the bottom is a candidate word / phrase. It is a candidate word / phrase display area 33c to be displayed. In the reference data display area 33b, previously received mail and transmitted mail can be displayed. In the example in the figure, the setting is such that mail sent in the past is displayed.

  The screen shows that the character “to” has been input to the input area 33a, and words starting with “to” or “do” are displayed as selection candidates in the candidate word display area. The priorities of the candidate phrases are the first phrase included in the reference data in the reference data display area 33b, the second phrase input in the past, and the third phrase stored at the time of factory shipment. The words that have been input in the past are displayed in a higher position with the newest input date and time. In the example of the figure, “tofu”, “tomato”, and “corn” are words included in the reference data, “Chimi” is a word that has been input in the past, and “Tokyo” is a word that is stored at the time of factory shipment. The cursor is over "Tofu".

  The flowchart of FIG. 3 shows a procedure for searching, selecting, and displaying candidate words / phrases. First, in step S101, the candidate word / phrase having the first priority is searched from the reference data displayed in the reference data display area 33b. Next, in step S102, the second candidate word / phrase of priority is searched from the past input words / phrases. Next, in step S103, the candidate word / phrase with the third priority order is searched from the data stored at the time of factory shipment. In step S104, the retrieved candidate phrases are displayed in the candidate phrase display area 33c in order of priority.

  In this configuration, candidate words are selected from the reference data displayed by the user for reference for character input, and the candidate words are displayed with the first priority. Therefore, the candidate words desired by the user are displayed as candidate words. There is a high probability that it is displayed at the top of the area 33c, that is, at a higher position. Therefore, the probability that a candidate phrase can be selected at an early stage increases, and selection of a candidate phrase, that is, character input speeds up. Further, since the reference data is displayed, it is possible to proceed with character input while placing the reference data in the field of view and using it as a reference for creating a sentence.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is an example of a character input screen, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart of candidate phrase search and display.

  The mobile phone 1 according to the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in the screen when inputting characters. That is, the screen is divided into three vertically as in the first embodiment, the top is the input area 33a, the middle is the first candidate phrase display area 33d, the bottom is the second candidate phrase display area 33e.

  In the first candidate word / phrase display area 33d, reference data is displayed after identifying candidate words / phrases in the reference data. In the figure, “tofu” and “tomato” are identified by shading. The cursor is over "Tofu". In the second candidate phrase display area 33e, candidate phrases other than the candidate phrases included in the reference data are displayed. In the example of the figure, “corn” that has the first priority but protrudes from the first candidate phrase display area 33d, “chimi” that has the second priority, and “Tokyo”, “by the way” and “where” that have the third priority. Are displayed in this order.

  The flowchart of FIG. 5 shows a procedure for searching / selecting candidate words / phrases and displaying them. First, in step S111, the first candidate word / phrase in priority order is searched from the reference data displayed in the first candidate word / phrase display area 33b. Next, in step S112, search is made for past candidate words with the second highest priority from the past input words. Next, in step S113, the candidate word / phrase with the third priority is searched from the data stored at the time of factory shipment. In step S114, it is checked whether or not there is a candidate phrase in the first candidate phrase display area 33d. If it exists, the process proceeds to step S115, and if it does not exist, the process proceeds to step S116.

  In step S115, identification processing is performed on candidate words ("tofu" and "tomato" in the example of FIG. 4) existing in the first candidate word display area 33d. Note that the identification process is not limited to the shaded display, and other methods such as highlight display or changing the color of the character may be used. Move the cursor to the beginning of the identified word. In step S116, the candidate words / phrases other than the candidate words / phrases appearing in the first candidate word / phrase display area 33d (including the candidate word / phrase “corn” not displayed in the first candidate word / phrase display area 33d) are prioritized over the second candidate word / phrase display area 33e. Display in order of priority.

  In this configuration, candidate words are selected from the reference data displayed by the user for reference for character input, and the candidate words are displayed with the first priority. Therefore, the candidate words desired by the user are displayed as candidate words. The probability of being displayed at a higher position in the area 33c increases, and selection of candidate words, that is, character input speeds up. Further, by performing identification processing on the candidate words / phrases in the reference data, the reference data itself can be used as a candidate word / phrase display location, so that more candidate words / phrases can be displayed. Furthermore, it is possible to proceed with character input while placing the displayed reference data in the field of view and using it as a reference for creating a sentence.

  Note that there may be a plurality of reference data, and even if the sentence of the selected reference data is not displayed at the time of character input, a phrase in the reference data can be made a candidate phrase. For example, before the user inputs characters, a plurality of reference data to be used as candidate words in advance are selected from received mail, outgoing mail, mail attachments, characters recognized by the camera, character data transferred from a cable, and the like. Even if characters are input without displaying the sentence of the selected reference data, it is possible to display the word / phrase in the selected reference data with the highest priority as the candidate word / phrase. Even in this case, it is possible to increase the probability that the candidate word / phrase desired by the user is displayed at a higher position.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  The present invention is widely applicable to mobile phones having a character input function.

Block diagram of mobile phone Example of character input screen Candidate phrase search and display flowchart Example of character input screen according to the second embodiment Flowchart of candidate phrase search and display according to the second embodiment

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cellular phone 30 Control part 33 Internal display means 33a Input area 33b Reference data display area 33c Candidate phrase display area 33d 1st candidate phrase display area 33e 2nd candidate phrase display area 34 External display means 40 Internal input means 50 External input means

Claims (3)

In an electronic device equipped with a function capable of performing character input by selecting one of a plurality of candidate words displayed on the character input screen,
In the character input screen, an input area, a first candidate phrase display area, a second candidate phrase display area,
And displaying all or part of the reference data selected by the user in the first candidate phrase display area after identifying the candidate words in the first candidate phrase display area, and in the second candidate phrase display area electronic device and displaying the candidate word other than the candidate words displayed on the first candidate word display area. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the candidate phrases are displayed in the second candidate phrase display area in descending order of priority . 3. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the priority order is such that a word input in the past has a first priority, and a word other than the word input in the past has a second priority .

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