JP7466326B2 - Display device and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a display device and a program.

Conventionally, electronic dictionaries for various foreign languages such as English, German, and French have become widespread. Patent documents 1 and 2 below disclose technology for searching words in such electronic dictionaries. The electronic dictionary described in Patent document 1 below performs an incremental search (an action of searching the dictionary each time a character is entered) and, if a word entered by the user is an inflected form, displays the original form of the word corresponding to the inflected form when the user presses an inflected form key. In addition, the electronic device described in Patent document 2 below displays example sentences of headwords, and when a word in the example sentence is selected by the user, searches for the original form and inflected form corresponding to the word according to a preset setting or user operation by the user.

JP 2002-358301 A JP 2008-71017 A

The electronic dictionary of Patent Document 1 and the electronic device of Patent Document 2 only display search results for the input string, even if there is an inflected form of a word that corresponds to the string entered by the user, unless there is a user operation to instruct a search for inflected forms. Therefore, a user who is unfamiliar with the language to be searched and does not know that inflections of the input word exist may not perform an operation to display inflected words. Furthermore, even if a user is familiar with the language to be searched, an operation is required to search for inflected forms of the input word. Furthermore, when inflected words of the input word are displayed as search results corresponding to the input string, in addition to words that match the input string, it is preferable for the user to recognize that these are search results for inflected words.

In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a display device and a program that reduce the user's operations when searching for words whose word forms change in a dictionary search, while allowing the user to recognize that the search results are for words whose word forms have changed.

The display device according to the present invention includes a storage unit that stores dictionary content including a plurality of entry words and a plurality of explanatory information items corresponding to the plurality of entry words, an operation receiving unit that receives a user operation to specify a search string, a display unit, and a control unit that extracts an entry word corresponding to the search string from the dictionary content. The entry word corresponding to the search string includes a first entry word including the search string among the plurality of entry words, and a second entry word including an inflected string obtained by varying at least a part of the search string. A search display screen including an entry word list area that displays an entry word list including the first entry word and the second entry word is displayed on the display unit, and the first entry word and the second entry word are displayed in a distinguishable manner in the entry word list area.

The program according to the present invention is a program for causing a computer of a display device to execute a process, the process including an extraction step of extracting an entry corresponding to a search string from dictionary content including a plurality of entry words and a plurality of explanatory information corresponding to the plurality of entry words, and a display control step of displaying the entry word extracted in the extraction step on the display device. The extracted entry words include a first entry word including the search string among the plurality of entry words, and a second entry word including an altered string resulting from at least a part of the search string being altered. The display control step causes the display device to display a search display screen including an entry word list area that displays an entry word list including the first entry word and the second entry word, and causes the first entry word and the second entry word to be displayed in a distinguishable manner in the entry word list area.

The display device and program according to the present invention reduce the user's operations when searching for words whose word forms change during dictionary searches, while allowing the user to recognize that the search results are for words whose word forms have changed.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a display device according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the data structure of dictionary data of dictionary contents. FIG. 3 shows an example of data stored in the variation table. FIG. 4 shows an example of data stored in the input substitution table. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a search display screen. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the dictionary search process of the display device. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a display example of a search display screen according to application example 1 of the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a dictionary search process according to the second application example of the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the dictionary search process according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a display device according to the third embodiment. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the search character string setting process in the third embodiment. FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing a display example of a search display screen and a browser screen in the third embodiment. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a setting screen according to the modified example (1). FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a display device according to the second modification. FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing a display example of a search display screen according to the modified example (2).

The display device according to the embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that in the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are given the same reference symbols and the description will not be repeated.

[First embodiment]
A display device according to a first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a display device according to this embodiment. The display device 1 is, for example, an electronic dictionary terminal, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a personal computer (PC), or the like. The display device functions as a so-called electronic dictionary, searching for an entry word corresponding to a character string specified by a user from dictionary content in which words in foreign languages such as English are recorded as entry words, and displaying the meaning, example sentences, and the like corresponding to the entry word. The configuration of the display device 1 will be specifically described below.

(composition)
As shown in FIG. 1 , the display device 1 includes a storage unit 10 , an operation unit 20 , a display unit 30 , and a control unit 40 .

The storage unit 10 is composed of a non-volatile memory such as a non-volatile RAM (Random Access Memory) or a flash memory, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), etc. The storage unit 10 stores dictionary content 100a and setting information 110.

Dictionary content 100a stores dictionary data necessary for dictionary searches of English-Japanese dictionary A, as well as various image data, audio data, video data (not shown), etc. Details of the dictionary data will be described later with reference to Figures 2 to 4.

The setting information 110 includes various information necessary for dictionary search. For example, the setting information 110 includes information that specifies the target language indicating the language for which dictionary search is possible on the display device 1, the display order of searched headwords, the search method indicating whether or not to perform an incremental search, etc.

The operation unit 20 accepts operations from the user. The operation unit 20 outputs operation information indicating the operations accepted from the user to the control unit 40. When the display unit 30 has a touch panel, the touch panel functions as the operation unit 20, but the operation unit 20 may be composed of hard keys such as alphabet keys, a numeric keypad, and directional keys, and a mouse. A microphone, a camera, etc. may also be used as the operation unit 20. Voice input via a microphone or an image captured by a camera may be output to the control unit 40 as operation information.

The display unit 30 may be configured with a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display. The display unit 30 may also be a display equipped with a touch panel. Under the control of the control unit 40, the display unit 30 displays various screens necessary for dictionary search.

The control unit 40 is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory (both not shown). The memory includes, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM. The control unit 40 has the functions of an extraction unit 410, a display control unit 420, and a setting unit 430. Specifically, the CPU executes a predetermined dictionary search program stored in the memory, so that the CPU functions as the extraction unit 410, the display control unit 420, and the setting unit 430 to control each unit in the display device 1. In the following, an example will be described in which the dictionary search program is compatible with only English dictionaries.

The extraction unit 410 acquires from the operation unit 20 operation information indicating an operation of specifying a search string for performing a dictionary search in the dictionary content 100a. When the extraction unit 410 acquires operation information indicating an operation of specifying a search string, the extraction unit 410 compares the target language of the dictionary content 100a with a language predefined in the dictionary search program. The search string may be a string of multiple characters or may be a single character. The search string may also be a phrase that combines multiple words, such as "is belonging to."

The extraction unit 410 also refers to the setting information 110 and extracts an entry corresponding to the search string from the entry recorded in the English-Japanese dictionary A of the dictionary content 100a. More specifically, if an entry recorded in the English-Japanese dictionary A has an entry in the dictionary table 101 that matches the search string completely or partially, the extraction unit 410 first extracts that entry as the first entry. An exact match indicates that the search string and the entry string are identical. A partial match indicates that the entry string contains the search string. In an incremental search, a partial match may be defined as a match when the search string matches the entry string from the beginning (forward match). In the following description, when there is no distinction between an exact match and a partial match, the term may simply be referred to as a match.

Furthermore, when an entry containing an inflected form of the search string is recorded in English-Japanese dictionary A, the extraction unit 410 extracts the entry as a second entry. In other words, the second entry contains a character string that is at least a partial variation of the search string. The extraction unit 410 associates a flag indicating whether the entry is the first entry or the second entry with each of the extracted first and second entry.

Here, we will explain the dictionary data of dictionary content 100a. Figure 2 shows the data structure of the dictionary data of dictionary content 100a.

As shown in FIG. 2, the dictionary content 100a includes a dictionary table 101, a target language 102, a conjugation table 103, and an input replacement table 104.

Dictionary table 101 stores entry words recorded in English-Japanese dictionary A in association with explanatory information that explains the entry words. In this embodiment, the entry words include parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives, as well as derived words, idioms, and abbreviations. For nouns, the singular entry word is recorded. For some verbs, not only the original form but also each of the inflected forms such as the past tense and past participle is recorded as the entry word, and for other verbs, only the original form is recorded as the entry word. The entry words are used as search keys for the dictionary search program. The explanatory information includes the meaning indicated by the entry word and example sentences using the entry word.

The target language 102 defines the target language of the English-Japanese dictionary A. In this embodiment, English is defined as the target language 102. As described above, the target language 102 is compared by the extraction unit 410 with the language defined in the dictionary search program. Note that in this example, only English is defined in the dictionary search program, but multiple languages will be defined if the dictionary search program supports multiple languages. In this case, the extraction unit 410 determines whether the target language 102 of the dictionary content 100a matches any of the multiple languages defined in the dictionary search program.

The inflection table 103 and the input substitution table 104 are referenced when the extraction unit 410 extracts the second headword.

The conjugation table 103 stores irregular conjugations in association with the original form that corresponds to the irregular conjugation. FIG. 3 shows an example of data stored in the conjugation table 103. Irregular conjugations are words whose tenses and comparative and superlative forms do not follow the conjugation rules. In other words, irregular conjugations include irregular verbs, irregular adjectives, irregular nouns, etc.

The input replacement table 104 stores an input pattern and a replacement pattern corresponding to the input pattern in association with each other. An input pattern indicates a pattern of a string arrangement in a search string. A replacement pattern indicates a pattern for changing a string indicated by an input pattern. FIG. 4 shows an example of data stored in the input replacement table 104. As shown in FIG. 4, the input pattern and the replacement pattern are expressed as regular expressions that express strings in a predetermined format. In this embodiment, the input pattern and the replacement pattern are expressed as regular expressions, but the input pattern and the replacement pattern may be defined by a method other than regular expressions as long as the search string can be replaced based on a predetermined rule.

Returning to FIG. 1, the extraction unit 410 first refers to the inflection table 103 as a process for extracting a second entry. If there is an irregular inflection that matches the search string, the extraction unit 410 selects the original form associated with the irregular inflection that matches the search string as a second entry candidate.

Furthermore, if there is no irregular inflection that matches the search string, the extraction unit 410 replaces the search string based on the input replacement table 104, and sets the replaced string as the second entry candidate. More specifically, if there is an input pattern in the input replacement table 104 that corresponds to the character string arrangement of the search string, the extraction unit 410 replaces the search string according to the replacement pattern associated with the input pattern, and sets the replaced string as the second entry candidate.

Then, the extraction unit 410 extracts, as the second entry, an entry that matches the second entry candidate from among the entries in the dictionary table 101 of the dictionary content 100a. In other words, the second entry candidate is an inflected character string in which at least a part of the search character string is changed based on the inflected character string table 103 or the input substitution table 104, and the second entry is an entry that includes the inflected character string. In this embodiment, when an entry that completely matches the character string of the second entry candidate exists among the entries in the dictionary table 101, the second entry candidate is set as the second entry. If the character string of the second entry candidate is a character string generated using the input substitution table 104, this character string is generated according to the rules defined in the input substitution table 104, and therefore may be a word that does not actually exist. Therefore, it is desirable to set the second entry as an entry that completely matches the character string of the second entry candidate among the entries in the dictionary table 101.

When there are multiple second entry word candidates generated using the input substitution table 104, all entries that are an exact match for each of the second entry word candidates may be set as the second entry word, or an entry that is an exact match for one of the multiple second entry word candidates that satisfies a specified condition may be set as the second entry word. The specified condition may be, for example, that the entry is placed at the top when the second entry word candidates are sorted in ascending order.

The second entry word candidate is not limited to a single word, but may be a phrase consisting of multiple words. For example, if the search string is "is belonging to", "be belonging to" obtained by converting "is" in the search string to "be" may be set as the second entry word candidate. For example, if the search string is "none of your business", "none of one's business" obtained by converting "your" in the search string to "one's" may be set as the second entry word candidate. In other words, a phrase obtained by converting one word in a phrase using the inflection table 103 or the input substitution table 104 may be set as the second entry word candidate.

The display control unit 420 displays a search display screen on the display unit 30, which displays the search string and the extraction result of the extraction unit 410. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the search display screen 300. As shown in FIG. 5, the search display screen 300 has a first display area 301, a second display area 302, and a third display area 303.

The first display area 301 is an area where the search string is displayed. The second display area 302 is an example of an entry list area where a list of entry words extracted by the extraction unit 410 (hereinafter, the entry word list) is displayed. The third display area 303 is an example of an explanatory information area where explanatory information corresponding to one entry word in the entry word list is displayed.

Note that FIG. 5 shows a state in which the search results corresponding to the search string are displayed, but when an operation is performed to start the dictionary search program, the display control unit 420 causes the display unit 30 to display an initial screen. The initial screen is a screen in which the first display area 301, the second display area 302, and the third display area 303 on the search display screen 300 are all blank.

As described above, the setting information 110 stored in the storage unit 10 specifies the display order of the extracted headings. In the example shown in FIG. 5, it is preset to display the first heading higher than the second heading. When the headings extracted by the extraction unit 410 include the second heading, the display control unit 420 generates a heading list in which the first heading is placed higher than the second heading and identification information indicating that the second heading is being displayed is placed before the first second heading. The display control unit 420 then displays the heading list in the second display area 302. A specific explanation will be given below using the example of FIG. 5.

In FIG. 5, a search result when "taps" is specified as the search string is illustrated. In the second display area 302, a headword list is displayed in which the first headword 321 (321a, 321b) including "taps" is arranged higher than the second headword 322. When multiple first headwords 321 are extracted, they are arranged in order from the first headword 321 with the highest degree of match with the search string. In addition, in the second display area 302, "(search result for tap)" is displayed as identification information 310a before the first second headword 322. In other words, the identification information 310a indicates that the second headword 322 is a search result of a variant string based on the search string. In the third display area 303, the explanatory information 330 corresponding to the first headword 321a arranged at the top of the headword list is displayed by default. After the explanatory information for the first heading 321a at the top of the heading list is displayed in the third display area 303, explanatory information corresponding to the heading selected by the user from the heading list is displayed in the third display area 303.

The display control unit 420 also displays a setting screen on the display unit 30 that accepts changes to the settings defined in the setting information 110 based on a user operation. The setting screen is, for example, a screen that accepts an operation to enable or disable searches using incremental search.

The setting unit 430 updates the setting information 110 based on an operation performed by the user on the setting screen. For example, when an operation is performed on the setting screen to change incremental search from disabled to enabled, each time one character is entered in the first display area 301, one or more characters displayed in the first display area 301 are regarded as a search string, and a headword list for the search string is displayed in the second display area 302.

(motion)
Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the dictionary search process of the display device 1. The operation of the dictionary search process by the display device 1 will be described below with reference to Figs. 1 to 6. The flowchart shown in Fig. 6 starts when an operation is performed to start up the dictionary search program. Then, as an initial screen, a search display screen 300 in which the first display area 301, the second display area 302, and the third display area 303 are blank is displayed on the display unit 30.

The display device 1 waits until a search string is input via the operation unit 20 (step S1: NO). When a search string is input via the operation unit 20 (step S1: YES), the display device 1 causes the extraction unit 410 to extract a first entry word corresponding to the search string from the dictionary content 100a (step S2).

Specifically, when a search string is input, the extraction unit 410 reads the dictionary content 100a from the storage unit 10. The extraction unit 410 then extracts a first heading that matches the search string from among the headings stored in the dictionary table 101 of the dictionary content 100a, and associates a flag indicating the first heading with the extracted first heading.

Then, the display device 1 uses the extraction unit 410 to determine whether the second entry exists in the dictionary table 101 (step S3).

Specifically, the extraction unit 410 determines whether the target language 102 in the dictionary content 100a is included in the languages defined in the dictionary search program, and whether the search string exists in the irregular forms in the inflection table 103. If the target language 102 is included in the languages defined in the dictionary search program and the search string exists in the irregular forms in the inflection table 103, the original form of the string corresponding to the irregular form is read out, and the read string is set as the second entry candidate.

On the other hand, if the target language 102 is not included in the languages defined in the dictionary search program, or if the search string does not exist in the irregular inflections in the inflectional form table 103, the extraction unit 410 refers to the input substitution table 104 to determine whether or not there is an input pattern that matches the search string. If there is an input pattern in the input substitution table 104 that matches the character string sequence of the search string, the search string that has been replaced according to the replacement pattern that corresponds to that input pattern is set as the second entry candidate.

Then, the extraction unit 410 determines whether or not there is an entry in the dictionary table 101 that matches the second entry candidate. If there is an entry in the dictionary table 101 that matches the second entry candidate, the extraction unit 410 determines that the second entry exists in the dictionary table 101 (step S3: YES), extracts the entry as the second entry, and associates a flag indicating the second entry with the extracted second entry.

Next, the display control unit 420 refers to the setting information 110 and generates an entry list including the first and second entry words extracted by the extraction unit 410 and the identification information. The display control unit 420 then places the entry list in the second display area 302 on the search display screen 300. The display control unit 420 also reads out from the dictionary table 101 explanatory information corresponding to the first entry word placed at the top of the entry list, and places it in the third display area 303 (step S4).

If there is no heading in the dictionary table 101 that matches the second heading candidate, the extraction unit 410 determines that the second heading does not exist in the dictionary table 101 (step S3: NO). Then, the display control unit 420 displays on the search display screen 300 a heading list including the first heading and explanatory information corresponding to the first heading placed at the top of the heading list (step S5).

An example of the operation of the display device 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 5. When the search string "taps" is input in the first display area 301 of the search display screen 300 (step S1: YES), the display device 1 extracts "taps", which is a perfect match with the search string, as the first entry 321a, and extracts "tap・star", which is a partial match with the search string, as the first entry 321b (step S2).

Next, the display device 1 sets "tap", which is a replacement for "taps", as a second headword candidate based on the input replacement table 104, and extracts "tap ¹ " and "tap ² ", which match the second headword candidate, from the dictionary table 101 as the second headword 322 (step S3: YES).

Then, the display device 1 generates a headword list based on the setting information 110 and displays it in the second display area 302. In the headword list, the first headword 321 (321a, 321b) is placed higher than the second headword 322, and "(tap search result)" is placed before the first second headword 322 as identification information 310a. Furthermore, the display device 1 reads explanatory information corresponding to the first headword 321a from the dictionary table 101 and displays it in the third display area 303 (step S4).

Note that, with reference to FIG. 6, the operation of the display device 1 in the case where an entry containing the search string exists in the dictionary table 101, that is, when the first entry is extracted, has been described. However, there are cases where the first entry is not extracted. For example, when a word not included in the dictionary content 100a is specified as the search string, such as when the search string is input incorrectly or when the input language is different from the target language, the first entry is not extracted. In this case, the extraction unit 410 performs the process of step S3 and attempts to extract the second entry. In this case, the display control unit 420 generates an entry list including only the second entry and displays it in the second display area 302 of the search display screen 300. On the other hand, when the second entry is not extracted, the display control unit 420 may display information indicating that the entry corresponding to the search string was not extracted in the second display area 302. In addition, when the first entry does not exist in the dictionary table 101 and the second entry candidate is not detected based on the inflection table 103 or the input replacement table 104, the extraction unit 410 may extract the entry in the dictionary table 101 that has the highest degree of match with the search string as the second entry. For example, when the search string contains characters or character strings that are likely to be input incorrectly, such as "r" and "l" or "f" and "ph", a character string in which the characters or character strings in the search string that are likely to be input incorrectly are replaced with a predetermined replacement character may be set as the second entry candidate. In this case, if there is an entry that matches the second entry candidate, that entry may be extracted as the second entry. In addition, the inflection table 103 may be used to further search for an inflection corresponding to that entry, and the entry extracted by the search may be extracted as the second entry.

In the first embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6, when a search string entered by a user is an inflected word, not only the first headword that matches the search string but also the second headword containing the original form of the word are displayed in the headword list. Therefore, the user can check the inflected words corresponding to the search string without being aware of whether the word containing the string to be searched is in the original form or in the inflected form. Also, in the first embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6, when the second headword is displayed in the headword list, the identification information 310a is displayed before the first second headword. Therefore, the user can check whether each headword displayed in the headword list is the result of a search using an inflected form, and can distinguish between the first headword and the second headword.

(Application Example 1)
In the first embodiment described with reference to Figures 1 to 6, when a second heading corresponding to a search character string is extracted, the first heading is arranged higher than the second heading in the heading list, but the display order of the first and second headings is not limited to this. The second heading may be displayed higher than the first heading. In this case, the display order setting of the headings is predefined in the setting information 110 (see Figure 1) to display the second heading higher than the first heading.

The display control unit 420 generates an entry list in which the second entry is placed higher than the first entry, based on the setting information 110. Furthermore, the display control unit 420 places identification information indicating that the second entry is displayed before the first entry in the entry list, and places identification information indicating that the first entry is displayed before the first entry. Hereinafter, the identification information indicating that the first entry is displayed is referred to as the first identification information, and the identification information indicating that the second entry is displayed is referred to as the second identification information. Furthermore, the display control unit 420 displays explanatory information corresponding to the second entry placed at the top of the entry list in the third display area 303 by default.

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing a display example of a search display screen according to application example 1 of the first embodiment. In Figure 7, the display mode in the second display area 302 is different from that in Figure 5, but the other configuration and display mode are the same as those in Figure 5.

7, the second display area 302 displays an entry list in which the second entry 322 is placed higher than the first entry 321. In addition, in the second display area 302, "(tap search result)" is displayed as the second identification information 310a before the second entry 322a. And, "(taps search result)" is displayed as the first identification information 310b before the first entry 321a. In addition, in the third display area 303, the explanation information 330 corresponding to the second entry 322a "(tap ¹ )" is displayed by default.

In the above application example 1, the second entry word, which is at least a part of the search string, is displayed higher than the first entry word that matches the search string. Therefore, when the user inputs a word in an inflected form such as the plural or past tense as the search string, the user can immediately recognize that the search string is in an inflected form. In this case, explanatory information corresponding to the first second entry word is displayed in the third display area 303, so the user can confirm at a glance the original meaning, etc., corresponding to the search string. Furthermore, identification information for each of the second entry word and the first entry word is displayed in the entry word list, so the user can recognize what kind of search was used to extract each entry word displayed in the entry word list.

For example, suppose that "taken" is recorded as a headword in English-Japanese dictionary A and "taken" is specified as a search string, then "taken" is extracted as the first headword and "take" is extracted as the second headword. If the first headword is displayed higher than the second headword, explanatory information for "taken" is displayed in the third display area 303 immediately after the search. If the explanatory information for "taken" is simply displayed as "past participle form of take," the user cannot immediately confirm the meaning of the original form "take." In this case, the user must take the time to select "take" extracted as the second headword and have an explanation of "take" displayed in the third display area 303. Therefore, when the inflected character string "taken" is specified as the search character string, by displaying the second entry "take" higher than the first entry "taken", an explanation of "take" is displayed in the third display area 303 immediately after the search, and the user can immediately confirm the meaning of "take".

(Application Example 2)
The second entry word is an entry word that matches a second entry word candidate obtained by changing a part or all of the search string, and therefore may be a word that is not directly related to the search string. Therefore, when the second entry word is displayed higher than the first entry word as in the above Application Example 1, search results that the user does not intend may be displayed higher. Therefore, it is preferable that the user can set whether the first entry word or the second entry word is displayed higher.

In this application example 2, an example will be described in which the user can change the display order of the entry words defined in the setting information 110. In this case, the display control unit 420 causes the display unit 30 to display a setting screen for accepting an operation to change the display order of the entry words. The setting screen may display, for example, a check box indicating that the first entry word is to be displayed higher than the second entry word, and a check box indicating that the second entry word is to be displayed higher than the first entry word. When either check box is selected, the setting unit 430 updates the display order defined in the setting information 110 to the display order associated with the selected check box.

In this application example, the display order of the entries defined in the setting information 110 can be changed in response to a user operation. Therefore, the operation of displaying the search display screen in the display control unit 420 differs from that in FIG. 6. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the dictionary search process in application example 2 of the first embodiment. In FIG. 8, the process before step S2 is the same as in FIG. 6, and therefore the process before step S2 is not shown.

In step S3, when the extraction unit 410 extracts the second heading and assigns a flag indicating the second heading to the extracted second heading (step S3: YES), the display control unit 420 refers to the display order setting of the first heading and the second heading defined in the setting information 110 (step S50). If the setting information 110 specifies that the second heading is to be displayed higher than the first heading (step S51: NO), the display control unit 420 generates an heading list in which the second heading is placed higher than the first heading (step S52). On the other hand, if the setting information 110 specifies that the first heading is to be displayed higher than the second heading (step S51: YES), the display control unit 420 generates an heading list in which the first heading is placed higher than the second heading (step S53). The display control unit 420 then displays the generated headword list and explanatory information corresponding to the first or second headword placed at the top of the headword list on the search display screen 300 (step S4).

In the above application example 2, the display order of the first and second entries in the entry list is changed in response to a user operation, so that the user can display the first and second entries in a desired display order.

[Second embodiment]
1 to 6, the number of entries that can be displayed at one time in the second display area 302 of the search display screen 300 is limited. Therefore, in this embodiment, the extraction of second entries is limited according to the number of first entries that correspond to the search character string.

Figure 9 is a flowchart showing the dictionary search process according to the second embodiment. Note that in Figure 9, the same processes as in Figure 6 are assigned the same step numbers as in Figure 6. Below, we will mainly explain the processes that differ from Figure 6.

When a search string is input to the first display area 301 of the search display screen 300 via the operation unit 20 (step S1: YES), the extraction unit 410 extracts the first entry corresponding to the search string from the dictionary content 100a (step S2). Next, if the number of extracted first entry words is N or less (step S21: YES), the extraction unit 410 determines whether or not the second entry word exists in the dictionary table 101 (step S3). On the other hand, if the number of extracted first entry words is not N or less (step S21: NO), that is, if the number of extracted first entry words is more than N, the display control unit 420 generates an entry word list in which only the first entry words are arranged, and arranges it in the second display area 302 of the search display screen 300 (step S5).

In the second embodiment, if the number of extracted first entries is more than N, the second entry is not extracted even if the second entry exists in the dictionary table 101. In other words, only the first entry is displayed on the search display screen 300. For example, if "ta" is entered as a search string, there is a possibility that there will be several hundred or more first entries that match the search string. In this case, even if the second entry is extracted and arranged in the entry list, a user who only sees the first entry displayed at one time in the second display area 302 may not notice the second entry. Therefore, in such a case, the processing time can be shortened by not extracting the second entry. Also, the user can preferentially check search results that match the string to be searched.

In the second embodiment, the second heading may be displayed higher than the first heading. In this case, the first heading may be displayed in the second display area 302 together with the second heading, regardless of the number of second headings extracted. Since the second heading is an heading that completely matches the second heading candidate, the number of second headings extracted is often smaller than that of the first heading. Therefore, when the second heading is displayed higher than the first heading, the user can confirm the second heading and the first heading by displaying the second heading and the first heading in the second display area 302 regardless of the number of second headings.

Note that, although an example has been described with reference to FIG. 9 in which the second heading is not extracted when the number of extracted first headings is greater than N, the extraction unit 410 may extract the second heading. In this case, however, if the number of extracted first headings is greater than N, the display control unit 420 generates a heading list excluding the extracted second heading and displays it in the second display area 302.

[Third embodiment]
In the above-described first and second embodiments, an example has been described in which the user directly inputs a search string on the search display screen 300, but the method of specifying a search string is not limited to this. For example, if the display device is connectable to the Internet, when the user performs a predetermined operation to select a string on a web page, the selected string may be set as the search string.

Figure 10 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a display device 1A according to the third embodiment. In Figure 10, the same components as those in Figure 1 of the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals as in Figure 1. Below, the configurations that differ from the first embodiment will mainly be described.

As shown in FIG. 10, the display device 1A according to this embodiment includes a communication unit 50 and a control unit 40A. Although not shown in FIG. 10, the memory of the control unit 40A stores a web browser program in addition to a dictionary search program similar to that of the first embodiment.

The communication unit 50 is a wired or wireless communication interface for connecting the display device 1A to the Internet 90. The communication unit 50 connects to the Internet 90 in response to a user operation to start a web browser program (hereinafter, a browser start-up operation), and downloads a web page specified by the user operation.

The control unit 40A functions as an extraction unit 410A, a display control unit 420A, and a setting unit 430. The display control unit 420A causes the display unit 30 to display a predetermined browser screen (web screen) in response to a browser startup operation via the operation unit 20, and causes a web page downloaded via the communication unit 50 to be displayed on the predetermined browser screen. The display control unit 420A also displays the character string temporarily stored in memory by the extraction unit 410A in the first display area 301 of the search display screen 300.

When a copy operation is performed to copy a character string on a web page via the operation unit 20, the extraction unit 410A temporarily stores the copied character string in memory as a search character string, and extracts an entry word corresponding to the temporarily stored character string from the dictionary table 101. Hereinafter, the extraction of an entry word corresponding to a character string copied on a web page is referred to as a "copy word search."

Figure 11 is a flowchart showing the search string setting process in the third embodiment. Note that before the process shown in Figure 11 starts, the search display screen 300 is displayed in advance on the display unit 30 by a user operation.

When a browser startup operation is performed via the operation unit 20 (step S71: YES), the display device 1 connects to the Internet 90 via the communication unit 50, and the display control unit 420A displays the web page specified by the user operation on the browser screen (step S72).

When a copy operation is performed on a character string on a web page displayed on the browser screen (step S73: YES), the copied character string is temporarily stored in memory as a search character string by the extraction unit 410A. The search character string temporarily stored in memory is then read out by the display control unit 420A and displayed in the first display area 301 of the search display screen 300 (step S74).

If no copy operation is performed on the character string on the web page displayed on the browser screen (step S73: NO) and no operation is performed to close the browser screen (step S75: NO), the display device 1 waits with the web page displayed. If no copy operation is performed on the character string on the web page displayed on the browser screen (step S73: NO) and no operation is performed to close the browser screen (step S75: YES), the display device 1 proceeds to the process of step S1. If no operation to start the browser is performed in step S71 (step S71: NO), the display device 1 proceeds to the process of step S2.

Figure 12 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the display of a search display screen and a browser screen in the third embodiment. The example in Figure 12 shows an example in which the search display screen and the browser screen are displayed side-by-side at the same time, and shows a state in which character string 351 ("Talking") on a web page displayed on browser screen 350 has been copied.

When the character string 351 is copied on the browser screen 350 (step S73: YES in FIG. 11), the character string 351 converted to lowercase, "talking", is displayed in the first display area 301 of the search display screen 300, and "talking" is temporarily stored in memory as a search character string (step S74 in FIG. 11). Then, the second display area 302 of the search display screen 300 displays the entries 321 and 322 corresponding to the search character string "talking", the second identification information 310a, and the first identification information 310b (steps S2 to S4 in FIG. 6).

In this example, for the search character string "talking", "talk ¹ " and "talk ² " are extracted as the second entry 322, and "talking", "talking book", and "talking-to" are extracted as the first entry 321. In this example, the second entry 322 is displayed higher than the first entry 321.

12, an example was described in which the character string displayed on the browser screen 350 by the web browser program is the target of the search character string, but the target of the search character string is not limited to this. In other words, the character string displayed by another program other than the dictionary search program may be the target of the search character string. The other program may be a program capable of displaying document data on the display unit 30, such as a Portable Document Format (PDF) viewer, Word Processor Software, a mailer, and an editor. When a character string of document data displayed on the display unit 30 by another program is selected by a copy operation, the copied character string is temporarily stored in memory by the extraction unit 410A as a search character string, as in the example of FIG. 12. Then, the display control unit 420A reads out the search character string from the memory and displays it in the first display area 301 of the search display screen 300. The document data may be stored in the storage unit 10, or may be obtained from outside the display device 1 by the control unit 40A.

In the example of FIG. 12, the control unit 40A performs the process of step S74 and subsequent steps when a character string is copied on the browser screen 350 in step S73. However, the control unit 40A may perform the process of step S74 as follows. In other words, the control unit 40A may perform the process of step S74 if a character string temporarily stored in memory exists, without determining whether a character string is copied on the browser screen 350.

In the third embodiment, the user simply copies a character string on a web page, and the copied character string is designated as a search character string, eliminating the need for the user to directly input a search character string. In addition, by performing a copy word search, the user can read the web page while checking each word inflected with a corresponding word that contains the character string on the web page and its meaning, allowing the user to efficiently read through the web page and learn words.

12, the second entry 322 is displayed higher than the first entry 321, but the first entry 321 may be displayed higher than the second entry 322. However, as in the example of FIG. 12, if the copied character string is an inflection, it is easier for the user to confirm the original meaning of "talking" if the original form "talk", which is an inflection of "talking", is displayed higher as the second entry 322 than the first entry 321 including the search character string "talking". In other words, if "talking" is displayed higher than "talk", the user needs to select the second entry 322 "talk" to confirm the original meaning of "talking". Therefore, if the copied character string is an inflection, the user's operational burden is reduced by displaying the second entry 322 higher than the first entry 321.

Above, the display device and the program according to the present invention have been described with reference to the drawings (Figs. 1 to 12). However, the display device and the program are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit of the invention. The drawings are mainly schematic illustrations of the respective components for ease of understanding, and the thickness, length, number, etc. of each component shown in the drawings differ from the actual ones due to the convenience of drawing. Furthermore, the shape, dimensions, etc. of each component shown in the above-mentioned embodiment are merely examples, and are not particularly limited, and various modifications are possible without substantially departing from the effects of the present invention. Below, modified examples of the above-mentioned embodiment are described.

[Modification]
(1) In the first embodiment described above, it has been described that the user can select whether to enable or disable the incremental search, but in the first to third embodiments, the user may be able to select on the setting screen whether to enable or disable not only the incremental search, but also the extraction of second headwords and the copy word search. In this case, the setting information 110 includes information indicating whether the incremental search, the extraction of second headwords, and the copy word search are each enabled or disabled.

Figure 13 is a schematic diagram showing a setting screen relating to modified example (1). As shown in Figure 13, setting items 361 to 363 and toggle buttons 361a to 363a corresponding to the setting items 361 to 363 are displayed on setting screen 360. Setting item 361 and toggle button 361a correspond to the setting of copy word search. Setting item 362 and toggle button 362a correspond to the setting of second headword extraction. Setting item 363 and toggle button 363a correspond to the setting of incremental search.

In response to a user operation, the display control unit 420 reads the setting information 110 and displays the current settings of copy word search, second headword extraction, and incremental search on the setting screen 360. The example shown in FIG. 13 shows a state in which copy word search, second headword extraction, and incremental search are all enabled.

For example, if the user does not need to search for the second heading, the user performs an operation to disable the toggle button 362a for the setting item 362 via the operation unit 20. When the toggle button 362a is changed from enabled to disabled, the setting unit 430 updates the setting for extracting the second heading in the setting information 110 from enabled to disabled. In this case, the display device 1 specifies a search string by the user, extracts a first heading corresponding to the search string from the dictionary content 100a, and then generates an heading list including only the extracted first heading based on the setting information 110 and displays the search display screen 300. In other words, in this case, after the first heading is extracted, no process of extracting the second heading is performed, and only the first heading is displayed on the search display screen 300.

In the modified example (1), a display device 1 was described in which the user can set whether to enable or disable the incremental search, the extraction of the second headword, and the copy word search. However, it is sufficient if the user can set at least one of these processes.

In addition, when copy word search is enabled on the settings screen 360, the user may be able to specify on the settings screen 360 whether or not to display the second entry higher than the first entry.

When the incremental search setting is disabled, the display control unit 420 causes an operation button for instructing the user to start a search to be displayed on the search display screen 300. The control unit 40 may then determine in step S1 of FIG. 6 that a search string has been specified when the operation button is pressed.

(2) In the above-described first to third embodiments, an example has been described in which one dictionary content 100a is stored in the storage unit 10, but multiple dictionary contents may be stored. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a display device 1B in modification (2). As shown in FIG. 14, the display device 1B has dictionary content A 100a and dictionary content B 100b stored in the storage unit 10. Dictionary content A 100a stores a dictionary table 101 and a target language 102 corresponding to English-Japanese dictionary A, and dictionary content B 100b stores a dictionary table 101 and a target language 102 corresponding to English-Japanese dictionary B.

The inflection table 103 and the input replacement table 104 may be used in common for dictionary searches of the dictionary contents A and B. In this case, the inflection table 103 and the input replacement table 104 may be stored separately from the dictionary contents.

When a search string is specified, the extraction unit 410 extracts a first headword and a second headword that correspond to the search string for each dictionary content. The display control unit 420 generates a headword list including the first headword and the second headword extracted for each dictionary content, and displays the headword list for each dictionary content in the second display area 302.

Fig. 15 is a schematic diagram showing a display example of a search display screen 300 relating to variant example (2). As shown in Fig. 15, in the second display area 302, headword lists 400A and 400B including first headwords 321 and second headwords 322 extracted from the dictionary tables 101 of the dictionary content A 100a and the dictionary content B 100b are displayed for each dictionary content.

(3) In the first to third embodiments described above, identification information indicating that at least the second entry is displayed is placed in the entry list, but the display mode is not limited to this as long as the user can distinguish between the first entry and the second entry. For example, the part of the first entry that matches the search string may be displayed in red, and the other parts may be displayed in black. Also, the part of the second entry that matches the inflected string may be displayed in blue, and the other parts may be displayed in black. In other words, the parts of the first entry and the second entry in the entry list that match the search string or the inflected string are shown in different colors. Even in this configuration, the user can distinguish between the first entry and the second entry, and can recognize what kind of search was performed to extract the first entry and the second entry.

In addition to the above, at least one of the font, style (italics, bold, etc.), and font size of the part of the string that matches the search string or the inflected string may be different for the first and second entries in the entry list. Also, the background colors of the areas in which the first and second entries are placed in the entry list may be different.

(4) In the first to third embodiments described above, examples have been described in which the inflection table 103 and the input replacement table 104 are stored in the dictionary content 100a, but the information defined in each of these tables may also be described in the dictionary search program.

(5) In the above-described first to third embodiments, the dictionary search program corresponds to an English dictionary. However, the dictionary search program may correspond to a dictionary of another language that involves inflection.

(6) In the above-described first to third embodiments, an example has been described in which the dictionary content 100a is stored in the display device. However, the display device may obtain the dictionary content 100a from an external device that stores the dictionary content 100a. For example, if the dictionary content 100a is stored in a server device connected to the Internet, the display device may access the server device via the Internet and download the dictionary content 100a from the server device.

(7) In the first to third embodiments described above, one target language is defined for one dictionary content, but multiple target languages may be defined. In this case, the dictionary table 101, the inflection table 103, and the input replacement table 104 are stored in the storage unit 10 for each target language, and a dictionary search is performed using each table according to the target language.

(8) In the above-described first to third embodiments, an example has been described in which the inflection table 103 corresponding to the dictionary content 100a and the input replacement table 104 are stored separately in the storage unit 10 in order to generate an inflection string corresponding to a search string, but only one of the tables may be stored. In other words, in this case, the string to be searched and a string obtained by converting at least a part of the string are stored in association with each other in either the inflection table 103 or the input replacement table 104.

(9) In the first to third embodiments described above, the display control unit 420 generates the heading list based on the flags assigned to the first and second headings and the display order settings defined in the setting information 110, but the heading list may be generated without using flags. For example, when the second heading is to be displayed higher than the first heading, the extraction unit 410 performs a second heading extraction process, and then a first heading extraction process, and stores the second heading and the first heading in memory in the order in which they were extracted. The display control unit 420 may generate the heading list according to the order of the second heading and the first heading stored in memory.

(10) In the above-described first to third embodiments, when extracting a second entry, if the part of speech of the entry that completely matches the second entry candidate satisfies a predetermined condition, the entry that completely matches the second entry candidate may be set as the second entry. The predetermined condition is when the part of speech is the same as the part of speech of the first entry that completely matches the search string, and/or when the second entry candidate is generated according to a replacement pattern defined in the input replacement table 104, the part of speech is the same as the part of speech previously associated with the replacement pattern. In other words, even if an entry that completely matches the second entry candidate exists in the dictionary table 101, an entry that has a part of speech different from at least one of the part of speech of the first entry that completely matches the search string and the part of speech corresponding to the replacement pattern used when generating the second entry candidate may not be set as the second entry. In this case, the parts of speech are stored in association with each replacement pattern of the input replacement table 104 and each word in the dictionary table 101.

Specifically, for example, if the search string is "ended," which is the past tense and past participle form of "end," and a replacement pattern is applied by the input replacement table 104 that deletes the "d" at the end of the search string, the replaced "ende" becomes one of the second entry word candidates. If the name (noun) "Ende" is stored in the dictionary table 101, it is not desirable for "Ende" to be extracted as the second entry word.

If "verb" is previously associated as the part of speech of the replacement pattern that deletes the "d" at the end of the search string, the part of speech (noun) of the second entry word candidate "Ende" does not match the part of speech (verb) of the replacement pattern, so "Ende" is not extracted as the second entry word. Alternatively, if the first entry word "ended" that perfectly matches the search string exists in the dictionary table 101, the part of speech (noun) of the second entry word candidate "Ende" does not match the part of speech (verb) of the first entry word "ended", so "Ende" is not extracted as the second entry word. This makes it possible to display search results that are more useful to the user.

The present invention can be used in electronic dictionary terminals, smartphones, tablet terminals, PCs, etc.

Reference Signs List 1, 1A, 1B Display device 10 Storage unit 20 Operation unit 30 Display unit 40, 40A Control unit 50 Communication unit 90 Internet 100a, 100b Dictionary content 101 Dictionary table 102 Target language 103 Inflection table 104 Input replacement table 110 Setting information 300 Search display screen 301 First display area 302 Second display area (heading list area)
303 Third display area (explanation information area)
330 Explanation information 350 Browser screen 410, 410A Extraction unit 420, 420A Display control unit 430 Setting unit

Claims (12)

a storage unit for storing dictionary content including a plurality of entries and a plurality of explanatory information corresponding to the plurality of entries;
an operation receiving unit that receives a user operation for specifying a search string;
A display unit;
a control unit for extracting an entry corresponding to the search character string from the dictionary content,
the entry corresponding to the search character string includes a first entry including the search character string among the plurality of entry words, and a second entry including an altered character string obtained by altering at least a part of the search character string;
displaying, on the display unit, a search display screen including an entry list area displaying an entry list including the first entry and the second entry, and displaying the first entry and the second entry in a distinguishable manner in the entry list area;
The storage unit is
a dictionary table in which the headwords recorded in the dictionary are associated with explanatory information indicating explanations of the headwords;
a conjugation table in which irregular conjugations are associated with original forms corresponding to the irregular conjugations ;
storing an input substitution table in which an input pattern of the search string and a substitution pattern corresponding to the input pattern are associated with each other;
The control unit is
If the entry word that at least partially matches the search character string is present in the dictionary table, the search character string is extracted as a first entry word;
If the irregular inflection matching the search character string is present in the inflection table, the original character string associated with the irregular inflection matching the search character string is set as a candidate for the second entry , regardless of whether the first entry is extracted or not.
a display device which, when the irregular conjugation matching the search string does not exist in the conjugation table, and when the input pattern corresponding to the character string arrangement of the search string exists in the input substitution table, replaces the search string according to the substitution pattern associated with the input pattern, regardless of whether the first entry is extracted, and sets the replaced character string as a candidate for the second entry . The display device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit displays information for identifying the second entry in the entry list area, and the information for identifying the second entry indicates that the inflected character string is a result of extraction of the inflected character string from the entry in the dictionary content. The display device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control unit displays information for identifying the first entry in the entry list area, and the information for identifying the first entry indicates that the search string is a result of extraction from an entry in the dictionary content. The display device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control unit causes the first heading to be displayed higher than the second heading in the heading list area. The display device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control unit causes the second heading to be displayed higher than the first heading in the heading list area. the storage unit stores a plurality of the dictionary contents that are different from each other;
6. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit extracts the first headword and the second headword corresponding to the search string from each of the plurality of dictionary contents, and displays the headword list for each of the dictionary contents in the headword list area of the search display screen. the operation receiving unit receives a command to display document data and a predetermined operation to select a character string in the document data;
7. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit causes a document screen including the document data to be displayed on the display unit based on the instruction operation, and sets a character string selected by the predetermined operation as the search character string. The display device according to claim 7, wherein the control unit causes the document screen and the search display screen to be displayed side by side on the display unit. The display device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the control unit, when the number of the extracted first entries is equal to or greater than a predetermined number, causes the entry list excluding the second entries to be displayed in the entry list area. The storage unit stores setting information,
the setting information includes at least one of first setting information indicating whether or not the second entry is to be extracted and second setting information indicating a display order of the first entry and the second entry in the entry list,
The control unit causes the display unit to display a setting screen that accepts a change to the at least one of the setting information,
the operation reception unit receives a change operation for the at least one of the setting information displayed on the setting screen,
10. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit updates the setting information stored in the storage unit based on the change operation, and causes the headword list to be displayed in the headword list area in accordance with the setting information. The display device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the control unit arranges, on the search display screen, explanatory information areas that display the explanatory information corresponding to one of the first entries in the entry list area, side by side with the entry list area. A program for causing a computer of a display device to execute processing,
The process comprises:
a storage step of storing an inflection table in which irregular inflection forms and original forms corresponding to the irregular inflection forms are associated with each other;
an extraction step of extracting an entry corresponding to the search string from a dictionary content including a plurality of entry words and a plurality of explanatory information corresponding to the plurality of entry words;
a display control step of displaying the entry words extracted in the extraction step on the display device,
the extracted entry words include a first entry word including the search character string among the plurality of entry words, and a second entry word including an inflected character string obtained by inflecting at least a part of the search character string,
The storing step further includes:
a dictionary table in which the headwords recorded in the dictionary are associated with explanatory information indicating explanations of the headwords;
an input substitution table in which an input pattern of the search string and a substitution pattern corresponding to the input pattern are associated with each other;
In the extracting step, the computer
If the entry word that at least partially matches the search character string is present in the dictionary table, the search character string is extracted as a first entry word;
If the irregular inflection matching the search character string is present in the inflection table, the original character string associated with the irregular inflection matching the search character string is set as a candidate for the second entry, regardless of whether the first entry is extracted or not;
if the irregular inflection table does not contain a matching irregular inflection with the search string, and the input pattern corresponding to the sequence of characters in the search string is present in the input substitution table, the search string is replaced according to the substitution pattern associated with the input pattern, regardless of whether the first entry is extracted or not, and the replaced character string is made a candidate for the second entry;
In the display control step, the computer causes the display device to display a search display screen including an entry list area that displays an entry list including the first entry and the second entry, and causes the first entry and the second entry to be displayed in an identifiable manner in the entry list area.

Images