JPH01205267A - Word dictionary retrieving device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To compose the title device of a small number of character string retrieving means by allowing a word dictionary to have the area of a fixed length to the notation of each word, adopting a form to pack a wild card character in a part to be left after the notation is housed in the area of the fixed length, and registering not the word dictionary but a sentence to the character string retrieving means. CONSTITUTION:A word dictionary 1 has the area of the fixed length to the notation of each word, and the form to pack the wile card character in the part to be left after the notation is housed in the area of the fixed length is adopted. Namely, instead of developing a unit character string to partial character strings different in lengths, the wild card character is added to the notation of the word in the word dictionary 1. By utilizing a function to check the wild card character of a character string retrieving means 4, plural words different in lengths are detected from the unit character string. Thus, the title device can be composed of a small number of the character string retrieving means 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a word dictionary search device that is used in a text processing device such as a word processor and searches a word dictionary for all words that match a partial character string of a sentence. .

(Prior Art) In recent years, text processing devices such as word processors have become rapidly popular. In such text processing devices, one of the most frequently performed processes is character string search processing. For example, string search processing is performed when searching for a certain string in order to find a desired position in a sentence, or when replacing all strings in a sentence with other strings. This is the first type of string search process). In addition, text inspection (detection of errors and inappropriate parts in text),
Automatic Extraction of Keywords9 The first step in performing more advanced text processing such as converting sentences into audio and automatically translating them into other languages is to compare the text with a word dictionary and extract partial strings of the text from the word dictionary. Character string search processing is also performed when searching for all words that match (this is referred to as the second type of character string search processing). Comparing sentences with a word dictionary is
This is a character string search process in which the character strings of multiple words registered in the word dictionary are compared with the character strings of the text. The first type of character string search process and the second type of character string search process are the same in that they search for a searched character string from a text, but the searched character string in the first type of character string search process is Usually, it is one, or at most several, and the string to be searched in the second type of string search process is usually several tens of words (= number of words stored in the word dictionary) from the Makiba side. The big difference is that they are huge in number.

Therefore, conventionally, there is a registration mode and a search mode exclusively for character string search processing, and in the registration mode, multiple character strings that can be input are stored internally, and in the search mode,
A character string search means has been realized that detects all partial character strings that match a plurality of character strings stored in registration mode from a character string that can be inputted (including wildcard characters). Such a string search method is described in the following document (
As shown in 1), it is implemented as an LSI. In addition,
A wildcard character is a special character predetermined to match any character.

r String Search LSIJ (Yamada, Hirata, Mizuben, Takahashi, Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers Technical Research Report CA S 87-25.
May 29, 1987) ...References (1)
) The above-described character string search means can be easily applied to the first type of character string search processing. That is, by first registering the character string to be searched in the character string search means in the registration mode and then inputting the text into the character string search means in the search mode, it is possible to search for a desired character string from the text.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, there are problems in applying the above character string search means to the second type of character string search processing. This is because, as described above, the number of character strings to be searched is usually a huge number, ranging from several tens of blades to several tens. Therefore, if you try to realize the second type of character string search process in the same form as the first type of character string search process (a method in which each word in a word dictionary is registered in registration mode and a sentence is input in search mode), ), it is necessary that the string search means be able to register a very large number of strings, or that a large number of string search means be prepared. For example, the character string search means implemented as an LSI in the above-mentioned document (1) has a capacity of 6 character strings that can be registered.
4, and it takes 1 to register a word dictionary of 64,000 words.
A thousand pieces are needed.

Therefore, a method may be considered in which sentences are registered in the character string search means instead of a word dictionary. That is, first, a sentence is registered in the character string search means in registration mode, and a word dictionary is input in search mode. Since the length of a sentence, which is the basic unit of a sentence, is generally several tens of characters, this method requires fewer character string search means than the method of registering a word dictionary. However, it is necessary to register in the character string search means all possible patterns formed by changing the starting character position and character string length for a sentence.

For example, for the 8-character sentence ``Yo to learn Japanese,'' you need to register the following variations (36 variations).There are 36 variations for a sentence of about 8 characters, so
For a sentence of several tens of characters, there are hundreds to thousands of ways to search, and a large number of character string search methods are required.

Learn JapaneseLearn JapaneseLearn JapaneseLearn JapaneseLearn JapaneseJapaneseJapaneseLearn VocabularyLearn VocabularyLearn VocabularyLearn VocabularyAlso here Although there is a method to implement the second type of string search processing without using the string search means described in , it is better to use the string search means for the second type of string search processing as well. This is desirable as a text processing device in that the first type of string search processing and the second type of string search processing can share one string search means (an efficient configuration can be achieved as a text processing device). .

An object of the present invention is to provide a word dictionary search device using the above-mentioned character string search means, and which can be configured with a smaller number of character string search means than conventional ones. It is.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a means for searching a word dictionary for all words that match a partial character string of a sentence from a word dictionary. A device,
The word dictionary has a fixed-length area for the notation of each word, stores the notation in the fixed-length area, and fills the remaining part with wildcard characters. unit character string extracting means for extracting unit character strings of the same length as the length region; a registration mode and a search mode; in the registration mode, a plurality of input character strings are stored internally; includes a character string search means for detecting all substrings that match the plurality of character strings stored in the registration mode from an input character string including a wildcard character; and a registration mode for the character string search means. unit character string registration means for setting a plurality of unit character strings extracted by the unit character string extraction means into the character string search means; and a word dictionary input means for inputting a dictionary into the character string search means.

(effect) The present invention will be described in detail.

The unit character string extraction means in the present invention extracts n types of unit character strings from a sentence with a length of n characters. The length U of the unit character string at this time is the same as the length of the area that stores the notation in the word dictionary (even when matching with a partial string of a sentence that is longer than the maximum length notation in the i-word dictionary, It's a waste).

In the conventional method of registering a sentence such as the one shown in the section of the problem to be solved by the invention in a character string search means, n unit character strings with different starting positions extracted from a sentence of length n are further searched. , is expanded into substrings of different lengths, so the total number of substrings (the number of strings registered in the string search means) is as follows.

When n≦U □n(n+1) When n>u (nu-u)u+-u(u+1)=-u(
2n-u+1) For example, when u=8, the value of the above equation is 36 when n=8, 100 when n=16, and 228 when n=32. In the present invention, the number of unit strings registered in the string search means is 8 when n=8, 1G when n=16, and 32 when n=32, which is much smaller than in the conventional method. (Therefore, the number of string search methods is also reduced).

In addition, in the present invention, instead of expanding unit strings into substrings of different lengths, wildcard characters are added to the notation of words in the word dictionary, and the function of matching the wildcard characters of the string search means is provided. By using , multiple words of different lengths are detected from a unit string. Figure 2 shows an example of the contents of a conventional word dictionary.
Figure 3 shows an example of the contents of the word dictionary according to the present invention. For example, when extracting the word group ``Japanese YO'', ``Japanese YO'', ``日'' from the beginning of the sentence ``Learn Japanese'', the conventional In this method, the following eight partial character strings are compared with the word dictionary 10 as shown in FIG.

Learn JapaneseLearn JapaneseLearn JapaneseLearn JapaneseLearn JapaneseLearn JapaneseJapaneseJapaneseHowever, in the present invention, wildcard characters are embedded in the word dictionary. All that is required is to match one unit character string ``.'' with the word dictionary 1 as shown in FIG.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the word dictionary search device of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a word dictionary 1 is a dictionary in which words are registered. It can be realized by a magnetic disk device, a magnetic tape device, an IC memory, an optical disk device, etc. However, the word dictionary 1 according to the present invention has an area of fixed length (hereinafter, this length is expressed as U) for each word notation,
After the notation is stored in this fixed-length area, the remaining part is filled with wildcard characters. FIG. 3 shows an example of the contents of the word dictionary 1. In the word dictionary 1 shown in FIG. 3, the wildcard character is represented by "$".

In addition, in the word dictionary 1 in FIG. 3, u=8 (hereinafter, when showing an example of operation, the case of uw8 will be explained)
.

The text input means 2 is a means for inputting text. It may take a form in which sentences are input while being created on the spot, or it may take a form in which sentences created in advance on another device are read all at once. The text input means 2 is a keyboard,
It can be realized by a character recognition device, a voice recognition device, a kana-kanji conversion device, a magnetic disk reader, a magnetic tape reader, etc. The text inputted from the text input means 2 is sent to the unit character string extraction means 3.

The unit character string extraction means 3 is a means for extracting a unit character string of fixed length U from all character positions of the sentence inputted by the sentence input means 2. For example, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a word dictionary search device of the present invention. ,
From the sentence, the following unit character string (when u=8) is extracted. The unit character string extraction means 3 sends the extracted unit character strings to the unit character string registration means 5.

Figure 1 shows the present invention. Figure 1 shows the unit of the present invention. The figure is the word of the invention is the word world of the present invention Word dictionary of the present invention This is a block diagram. is a block diagram It is a lock diagram.

This is a diagram.

This is a diagram.

It is a diagram.

It is.

be.

Ru.

The character string search means 4 has a registration mode and a search mode. In the registration mode, it internally stores a plurality of input character strings, and in the search mode, it stores input character strings (including wildcard characters). The six character string search means 4, which is a means for detecting all partial character strings that match a plurality of character strings stored in registration mode, is a known means, for example, as described in the above-mentioned document. This can be achieved as in (1). String search means 4 as in document (1)
When this is realized, switching between registration mode and search mode is performed by receiving and receiving signals from the outside. In the registration mode, first, the registration address (the position stored inside the character/string search means 4) is set from the outside,
Subsequently, when a character string to be registered is input from the outside, the character string search means 4 internally stores one character string.

If this is repeated, a plurality of character strings will be stored inside the character string search means 4. In the search mode, each time a character string that matches a character string stored in the registration mode is input, the character string search means 4 outputs the registered address of the matched character string. In addition, at that time, the matching position in the input character string (the matching address is obtained by counting how far the character string has been input into the character string search means 4 when the registered address is output, At the same time as the registered address is output, the character string search means 4 outputs it.

The unit character string registration means 5 is a means for setting a registration mode for the character string search means 4 and inputting a plurality of unit character strings sent from the unit character string extraction means 3 to the character string search means 4. be. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the unit character string registration means 5 when the character string search means 4 is implemented as in document (1). The unit character string registration means 5 first sends a signal to the character string search means 4 to set the registration mode (the signal causes the character string search means 4 to enter the registration mode). Then, the unit character string registration means 5
The unit character string extraction means 3 also receives unit character strings one by one, and repeats the process of registering the retrieved unit character strings in the character string search means 4. The registration of a unit character string in the character string search means 4 is a process of setting a registration address and then inputting the unit character string to be registered into the character string search means 4. When there are no more unit character strings sent from the unit character string extraction means 3, the unit character string registration means 5 sends a signal to the character string search means 4 to cancel the registration mode, and ends the process. The signal for canceling the mode may be omitted and replaced by the search mode setting signal issued by the word dictionary input means 6).

The word dictionary input means 6 is means for setting a search mode for the character string search means 4 and inputting the word dictionary 1 to the character string search means 4. The processing procedure is almost the same as that of the unit character string registration means 5. First, a signal is sent to the character string search means 4 to set the search mode, and then the word dictionary 1 is input to the character string search means 4, and the input Once completed, string search method 4
sends a signal to cancel search mode. Note that the word dictionary input means 6 needs to be activated after the unit character string registration means 5 completes the registration process of the unit character strings to the character string search means 4.

The search result storage means 7 is a means for storing the search results by the character string search means 4. It can be realized by a magnetic disk device, a magnetic tape device, an IC memory, etc. The search result is where and what kind of word appears in the sentence (where the word in the word dictionary matches the sentence)
This is the information. Information about which part of the text is
When a match occurs in the character string search means 4, the character string search means 4 can output (of the matched unit character string)
Corresponds to the registered address. Information on what kind of word it is is obtained when a match occurs in the character string search means 4.
This corresponds to the matching address in the word dictionary 1, which can also be output by the character string search means 4. Therefore, the search result storage means 7 stores a set of the registered address of the unit character string and the matching address of the word dictionary 1 when a match occurs. These two addresses are information that is output from the character string search means 4 when a match occurs, so they can be stored as they are.

The control means 8 includes the text input means 2. Unit character string extraction means 3
9 Character string search means 4. Unit character string registration means 5. This is a means for controlling the operation of the word dictionary input means 6 and causing the processing as shown in FIG. 5 to be performed. A computer CPU or the like is used. The control means 8 first activates the text input means 2 and inputs a text. Next, the control means 8 activates the unit character string extraction means 3 to extract a unit character string from the sentence. Subsequently, the control means 8 activates the unit character string registration means 5 and registers the unit character string in the character string search means 4 (at this time, the character string search means 4 is fully set to the registration mode, and the unit character string registration means 5 is activated. The unit character string input from means 5 is stored internally)
. Subsequently, the control means 8 activates the word dictionary input means 6 and inputs the word dictionary 1 into the character string search means 4 (at this time,
The character string search means 4 is set to a search mode and outputs the result of searching the word dictionary 1 for the internally stored unit character strings to the search result storage means 7).

Note that if one character string search means 4 cannot register all the character strings, you can repeat the registration and search for each number that can be registered, or use multiple character string search means 4. good. When using a plurality of character string search means 4, in the registration mode, the control means 8 monitors the number of character strings registered in the character string search means 4, and determines the number of character strings that can be registered in one character string search means 4. When the number is reached, a command is sent to the unit character string registration means 5 to switch the character string search means 4 to be registered. In the search mode, the word dictionary input means 6 inputs the word dictionary 1 to a plurality of character string search means 4 in parallel, and writes all search results that can be outputted from the character string search means 4 to the search result storage means 7. do.

In the embodiment of the first type of character string search processing described in the prior art section, a sentence is input into a character string search means in a search mode. At this time, matching is performed from any character position in the text. However, when inputting a word dictionary to the character string search means in the search mode as in the present invention, it is not necessary to perform matching from any position of the character string in the word dictionary. It is sufficient to start matching from the first position of the notation of each word. There are the following two methods for restricting the matching start position in this way. Normally, each word in a word dictionary is separated by a delimiter. Therefore,
The first method is to control the string search means to perform matching immediately after the delimiter (this is a matching method generally called anchor match). The character string search means shown in Document (1) is capable of realizing such an anchor match. The second method is to register a delimiter at the beginning of the unit character string to be registered without using an anchor match. As a result, even if the character string search means does not have an anchor match machine, matching can be performed from the delimiter position in the word dictionary.

In addition, the first type of character string search processing can be applied to a text creation device such as the one that uses the character string search means described above.
If the word dictionary search device of the present invention is incorporated, the character string search means can be shared by the first type of character string search process and the second type of character string search process.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the present invention, there is provided a word dictionary search device using a character string search means, and a word dictionary that can be configured with a smaller number of character string search means than conventional ones. A search device is obtained.

Since this is a word dictionary search device using a character string search means, by combining the first type character string search process with a sentence creation device that uses the character string search means, the first type It is possible to realize a text creation device with an efficient configuration, which is shared by the character string search process of the first type and the second type of character string search process. By incorporating a word dictionary search device, the text creation device can use not only character string information but also word information for text inspection, speech conversion, etc. This allows for more advanced text processing.

In addition, in the word dictionary search device of the present invention, the words registered in the word dictionary do not necessarily have to be arranged in the order of their written character codes. Conventionally, for word dictionaries, managing the sequence of words registered in the dictionary was
Adding and deleting words was a huge burden. The word dictionary used in the present invention can eliminate the burden of such addition/deletion work.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a conventional word dictionary, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the word dictionary 1 of the present invention. , FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the unit character string registration means 5 in the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the embodiment of FIG. 1. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Word dictionary, 2... Sentence input means, 3... Unit character string extraction means, 4... Character string search means, 5...
unit character string registration means, 6... word dictionary input means, 7.
...Search result storage means, 8...Control means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a word dictionary search device that searches a word dictionary for all words that match a substring of a sentence, the word dictionary has a fixed-length area for each word notation, and the notation is stored in the fixed-length area. A unit character string extracting means takes the form of filling the remaining part with wildcard characters and extracts a unit character string having the same length as the fixed length area from all character positions of the sentence, and a registration mode and a search mode. In the registration mode, a plurality of input character strings are stored internally, and in the search mode, all input character strings containing wildcard characters that match the plurality of character strings stored in the registration mode are searched. a character string search means for detecting a partial character string of the character string, and a registration mode is set for the character string search means, and a plurality of unit character strings extracted by the unit character string extraction means are input into the character string search means. A word dictionary search device comprising a unit character string registration means and a word dictionary input means for setting a search mode for the character string search means and inputting the word dictionary to the character string search means.