JPH011061A - information retrieval device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a device for retrieving information stored mechanically, optically, etc. The present invention relates to a means for easily inputting a search key for information search using the / symbol as a key.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional devices search for information using codes specified for each device or pre-coded character symbols9.Usually, a search engine is used to search for data using a keyboard. Enter data. Alternatively, even if keyboard input is not used, for example,
As described in Japanese Patent No. 770, methods such as using paper on which search data is written in specific areas have been adopted.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In the above-mentioned conventional technology, it is difficult to input the search key when the code is unknown for some reason, for example, when the pronunciation is unknown and it is not possible to input kanji through kana-kanji conversion.

An object of the present invention is to provide a means for easily inputting keys whose pronunciation and corresponding codes (JIS codes, etc.) are unknown and which have been difficult to input using conventional methods. The above purpose is to input characters/symbols written or printed on paper etc. as a two-dimensional image, and to extract characters/symbols from the image.
This is achieved by providing a device/means that recognizes and encodes the symbol and uses the code as a search key.

[Effect]

The present invention will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. 1 is a two-dimensional image input section, 2 is a character/symbol image recognition section, 3 is an information storage section, 4 is an information search section, and 5 is an information output section. A user of the information retrieval device of the present invention inputs characters/symbols written/printed on paper etc. using the two-dimensional image input device 1, and the five-character symbol recognition unit 2 recognizes the characters/symbols from the input image. , converts the characters/symbols into codes using a predetermined method (for example, JIS code) and transfers the converted codes to the information retrieval unit 4. The emotion search unit 4 uses the given code as a search key and searches for 0! .

The data in the bone information storage section 3 is searched, and the search results are outputted by the information output section 5.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 2 is 1
This is an example of a personal electronic Japanese dictionary, in which a scanner 11 is used as the two-dimensional image input section, and a home television monitor 12 is used as the information output section 5. The scanner 11 is connected to the basic information retrieval device (device body) 15 by a connection cord 16, and its position can be changed independently of the basic information retrieval device 15. When the user moves the scanner 11 over the character string 14 located at an arbitrary position on the paper surface 13, a two-dimensional image (character string) is input, and the basic information retrieval device 1
Character symbol image recognition section 2. Information storage unit 3. A search is performed by the information search unit 4, and the search results (information recorded in the information storage unit 3 regarding the input character string 14) are displayed on the television monitor 12.
will be displayed. In this embodiment, a technology for recognizing images (characters/symbols) manually input from the scanner 11 by the character/symbol image recognition section 2, and an information storage section 3. Since the technique for obtaining search results via the information search unit 4 is well known, the details thereof will be omitted. According to this embodiment, there is an effect that even if one does not know the pronunciation of kanji, the meaning of a word can be easily investigated.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a general-purpose Japanese/foreign language dictionary in which a speech synthesis section 17 is added as part of the information output section to the apparatus shown in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, by determining the language type (Japanese, English, etc.) of the input character string by the character symbol image recognition unit 2, the user can use the dictionary without being aware of the language type.
The speech synthesis section 17 allows confirmation of pronunciation.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an electronic encyclopedia, in which the scanner 11 and character/symbol image recognition section 2 of the device shown in FIG. It consists of a book 20 with a code 19 printed thereon. In this embodiment, in addition to its function as an encyclopedia exhibition book, by inputting a barcode, it is possible to obtain information that is not possible with print media, such as enlarging illustrations, animation, audio, etc. This is an example in which the present invention is applied to a communication terminal 22 of an information search system 21. Normally, in such a system, the code corresponding to the search key is found from a code table and inputted, or the search key is inputted in English/kana characters, but in this embodiment, the scanner 11 inputs the English/Kanji/kana/kana character string 14. By simply inputting
will be forwarded to. According to this embodiment, there is an effect of reducing the communication cost per communication time.

FIG. 6 is an example of a reading printer that integrates the information output section and the two-dimensional image input section shown in FIG. 1.

In this embodiment, the user places the printer-equipped scanner 23 on the character string 14 on the paper surface 13, thereby printing the pronunciation 24 directly above the character string 14 on the paper surface. According to this embodiment, when the user searches for the pronunciation of a kanji on the paper 13, the user can know the result by simply scanning the printer scanner 23 without moving his/her line of sight from the paper. Also, since it is printed directly on the paper,
This has the effect that there is no need to rescan the same page 13 when an opportunity arises to read it on another occasion.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the encoding of search keys (characters, symbols) is automated, so it is difficult to specify characters whose pronunciations or corresponding codes are unknown, which was difficult to specify in the past.

It becomes possible to search for information using symbols as search keys.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 6 are device configuration diagrams of other embodiments of the present invention. 1... Two-dimensional image input section, 2... Character symbol image recognition section, 3... Information storage section, 4... Information retrieval section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A basic information retrieval device consisting of an information storage unit, an information retrieval unit related to the information stored in the information storage unit, and an information output unit that outputs the search results, is equipped with a two-dimensional image input unit and character/symbol image recognition. an information retrieval device, characterized in that the character and symbol images inputted by the two-dimensional image input section are connected to each other, the character and symbol images inputted by the two-dimensional image input section are coded by the character and symbol image recognition section, and the code is used as a search code for information retrieval. .