JPH01234977A - Electronic dictionary with image scanner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the time and labor of word input and to efficiently advance reading action by providing an input part of an electronic dictionary with an image reader. CONSTITUTION:While holding a pen 32 by a right hand so that an operation face is turned upward, the operator reads out a document 33 printed by alphabetical types. When an unknown word 35 is detected, almost the center part of a reading part 34 of the pen 32 is moved from the start of the word in the end direction while pressing the center part against the describing position of the word 35 to input the image. In the pen 32, a required word is segmented from the inputted image, shaping processing such as rotational correction is applied to the word, the shaped word is translated into Japanese, and the translated word is displayed on a display 21 similarly to an original 36. Since the word input part is provided with an image reader, an unknown word itself appearing in a document can be read out, so that the key searching of a key input can be omitted and the efficiency of reading can be improved.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an electronic translation machine, and is particularly useful for searching foreign language documents, etc.
The present invention relates to an electronic dictionary with an image scanner suitable for reading activities that require frequent dictionary searches.

[Conventional technology]

In particular, when reading texts written in a language other than their native language, readers often look up unknown words in a dictionary due to their lack of language skills. An electronic version of this dictionary is a device called an electronic dictionary, and calculator-type devices have already been commercialized. For example, "Card English-Japanese DF-310J" by Seiko Electronics Industry Co., Ltd. is this type of electronic dictionary. It has an IC memory (ROM) that stores a dictionary.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The above-mentioned conventional electronic dictionaries do not take into account the effort required to input words using keys, and there is a problem in that reading activity is significantly interrupted when using the dictionary.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic dictionary that reduces the effort required to input words and assists readers in reading smoothly and efficiently.

[Means to solve the problem]

The above purpose is to install an image reading device in the input section of the electronic dictionary, read words and phrases expressed in a certain language with this device, convert them into another language, and display them.
achieved.

[Effect]

By installing an image reading device in the word input section,
Since unknown words that appear in a document can be read, the effort required to search for keys manually is eliminated, and reading efficiency is improved.

Furthermore, by consolidating the entire electronic dictionary into one independent device that can be carried and operated with one hand, it is possible to always hold it in hand while reading and use it immediately when necessary. Furthermore, since you can use your other hand without holding the electronic dictionary, you can hold the paper, turn the pages, and track and direct what you are reading even while holding the electronic dictionary. It does not interfere with the action.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9.

FIG. 2 is a three-sided view of a pen-type scanner integrated electronic dictionary using the present invention. In the figure, a roller 25 is attached to the tip of the pen, and a cap 26 is attached to the rear end. Further, a display 21 and operation buttons 22-24 and 27-29 are attached to the pen.

By adopting a rectangular pen shape as shown in the side view, consideration was given to making it easier for the user to move the scanner (scan documents) in a direction perpendicular to the long side. Furthermore, by arranging the display 21 and the operation buttons 22 to 24 and 27 to 29 on one side of the pen (operation surface), a series of operations can be performed without changing the pen. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram when using a pen. Using the guide, the user reads the document 33 printed in alphabetical letters while holding the pen 32 in his right hand with the operation surface facing up.

If an unknown word 35 is encountered on the way, the image is captured by moving the pen from the tip to the end of the word while pressing the approximate center of the reading section 34 of the pen against the place where the word 35 is written. Inside the pen 32, a desired word is cut out from the captured image.

After being subjected to formatting processing such as rotation correction, it is translated into Japanese. The translation result is displayed on the display 21 in the same way as the original form 36. The user interprets the sentence by referring to the meaning of the translation result (Japanese).

Continue reading the following sentences in the same way.

FIG. 9 is a device configuration diagram of a pen-type scanner integrated electronic dictionary. An image of English text read by an image reading section 91 provided as an input section is corrected by an image correction section 92, redundant images are removed, and only the image of the word to be examined is divided into characters, and then sent to a character recognition section. 93 and converts it into a one-character code string. The word translation unit 94 searches the word dictionary table based on the received character code string and obtains the character code string of the corresponding translated word. Translation result display section 9 which is the output section
5 is displayed and one search is completed.

This will be explained in more detail using FIG.

FIG. 1 is a processing flow when searching for an unknown word using a pen-type scanner-integrated electronic dictionary.

Each block will be explained below.

Block 1: Press the pen on the paper where the unknown word is written.

Then, as shown in FIG. 7, the two rollers 25 attached to the pen tip are drawn into the pen by a certain amount by the pressing force, and the reset switch 71 is mechanically activated.
is pushed in and drives the reset circuit 72. This is considered to be the start of a word search, the power is turned on, and the internal data is reset. However, if the last character of the word searched just before is a hyphen symbol "-", a portion of the internal data is held and can be combined with the processing results of the word to be searched from now on.

Block 2: Repeat the processes of blocks 3 and 4 until the pen leaves the paper and the reset switch 71 is returned to its original position.

Block 3: When the pen is moved while being pressed against the paper surface, the roller 25 rotates. FIG. 4 shows the reading section 34 of the pen as seen from the outside. The two rollers 25 are connected to each other by a rotating shaft 41 and are interlocked. roller 25
has two roles.

One is a guide for pen movement. It is extremely difficult for a human to move a pen accurately in a straight line, and if the pen moves in a curved line, the correction process for the captured image becomes quite complicated. is large.

Block 4: The line sensor 42 shown in FIG. 4 performs imaging. FIG. 5 shows a mechanism for sweeping out and storing data in the line sensor 42 in the frame buffer 55. Since the pen generally moves at an inconstant speed, if data is swept out at regular time intervals, the image will be distorted. Here, the amount of rotation of the roller 25, that is, the amount of movement of the pen, is measured by the rotary encoder 51 via the gears 53 and 54 to determine the timing at which the line sensor management unit 52 sweeps out the data. This is another role of the roller 25.

Block 5: Even if the pen is guided by the rollers 25, sideways burrs may still occur. The ball 43 in FIG. 4 measures the amount of lateral slip. Using the same principle as trackballs and mechanical mice, which are commonly used as pointing devices, the amount of traversal is measured, and after the pen has finished moving, the total lateral amount is calculated.

Block 6: Determine whether the total amount of sideslip exceeds a preset allowable value. If it is within the allowable value, block ゛7-1
0 is executed, and if the allowable value is exceeded, block 11 is executed.

Block 7: Image 61 in Figure 6 shows the image of the document as it is. Even if the pen is moved in a straight line, if it does not match the writing direction of the document, the character string will be tilted by θ in the figure. becomes.

Since the angle θ is generally considered to be large (for example, 10' or more), the marginal distribution method, which is often used to detect the tilt of document images, is not suitable.

Here, a two-dimensional Fourier transform of the image 62 at the center of the captured image consisting of N (=26) pixels×N pixels is used.

However, x and y are coordinates -f (X?
y) is the density distribution of the image, and u and v are the spatial frequencies in the XyV directions, respectively. If the coordinates of a point other than the origin of F (u, v) that takes the first peak are u=uB v = v R , then the rotation angle θ can be found as θ=jan−1−.

It is thought that the word that the pen user wants to look up exists near the center of the image 61, so the image 61 is moved to the center point 63.
The rotation is corrected by θ with θ as the center of rotation. This is shown in Figure 6 (
This is the corrected image 64 shown in b).

Block 8: Obtain the projection value distribution 65 of the image 64 onto the y-axis. The projection value of each point is compared with the threshold value 66 from the projection location y0 of the center point 63 on the y-axis to both sides, and if points with a projection value smaller than the threshold value 66 are consecutive for a certain number of times, , the starting point is determined to be the top (or bottom) end of the character line, and only the area between the top and bottom ends (the shaded part of image 64) is cut out as the character line, as shown in Figure 6(c). This is an extracted image 67 shown in FIG.

If a method similar to the above-mentioned character line extraction is used for the image 67, words are extracted. That is, first, X of image 67
A projection value distribution 68 onto the axis is determined.

The projection value of each point is compared with the threshold value 69 from the projection location x0 of the center point 63 on the , the starting point is determined to be the beginning (or end) of the word, and the area sandwiched between them (the dark shaded area: '
youngJ) as a word.

A character in a word that is cut out during this process is a word. If you know the height of a line of text, you can also estimate the size of the type, that is, the width of the text. It is sufficient to cut out a series of non-zero projection values less than or equal to the width as a character.

Block 9: Convert all character images making up a word into character codes. Note that character recognition technology for printed alphabetic characters has already been established, and existing algorithms or data may be used. For example, a weighted correlation method, which is also adopted in HITAC-T550/30, a character recognition device manufactured by Hitachi, Ltd., is used.

Block 10: Converts English words input in code into Japanese (code string) and displays the result on display 21.

For this purpose, an English to Japanese word dictionary table that uses the basic forms of all parts of speech as headwords may be used.

However, when words are expressed in sentences, there is a problem in that they cause various changes as described below.

(1) For nouns, plural forms (2) For verbs, conjugated tenses, ing forms, case declensions (3) Other examples include: - Typographical errors (spelling mistakes) - Compound words - Splits due to line breaks Among these, irregular changes As with the basic form, this can be dealt with by registering it as a headword in the word dictionary table in advance. You can also use the rule dictionary table (
(See Japanese Patent Application No. 138586/1986 ``Automatic translation method between natural languages'').

others, ・Typo (spelling mistake) ・Split due to line break As a countermeasure, prepare the following.

- Measures against typographical errors (spelling mistakes) Use the operation buttons 22 to 24 in Figure 2. Figure 8 shows a partial change in spelling (rsAIENsEJ→rSCIENC
It is a diagram showing how EJ) is performed. Operation button 24
or 27, the cursor 81 ``mu'' moves before or after the word and between letters or letters. (The operation button 24 moves the cursor 81 to the right, and the operation button 27 moves it to the left.) Next, by pressing the operation button 22 or 29, one character in the character group 82 is selected. Operation button 29
changes the selected characters in alphabetical order, and the operation button 22 changes the selected characters in the reverse order.

(a) When the cursor 81 indicates a character, the selected character is replaced. If a space "-" is selected, it means deletion.

(b) When the cursor 81 does not indicate a character, insert the selected character. Note that this spelling error countermeasure is a compound word countermeasure, that is, words that cannot be searched in a dictionary due to the presence of attached words such as prefixes and suffixes (for example, unconn).
It is also used to remove adjuncts from ected).

- Countermeasures for splitting due to line breaks If the input word ends with a hyphen symbol, the processing result is held until the next input word is processed, and the translation result is output after the words are combined. To translate, press operation button 2 when the image of the cut word is displayed.
Started by pressing 3 or 28.

First, its basic form is displayed. For example, the basic form 1ie36 of 1ies35 in FIG. 3 is displayed.

If the word is a polysemous (n) word, each time the operation button 28 is pressed, the display 21 changes from 1st meaning → 2nd meaning →...
The display changes over time. After the n-meaning, the display returns to the basic form of the word, and the display progresses again in the order of 1st-meaning → 2nd-meaning →... If the operation button 23 is pressed, the process will proceed in the opposite direction to that described above.

Block 11: If the movement of the pen is defective, an error message is displayed on the display 21 to request re-input of the image.

After the power is turned on once in block 1.

Fixed time 1 For example, 3 minutes Operation button 22 ~ 24 ° 27 ~
29, or rollers 25, the power is automatically turned off.

According to the above embodiment, there are the following two unique effects in addition to the above.

(1) It is pen-shaped so it is easy for anyone to use.

(2) The image reading unit is designed to be sufficiently larger than ordinary printed characters, and the desired word images to be translated are cut out inside the electronic dictionary, making rough reading possible.

In other words, you don't have to pay close attention to the details, so you can read them faster.

In addition to the embodiments described above, it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to an electronic dictionary system with a separate input section as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 10, 1o01 is a personal computer body with a CRT display, and 1002 is a keyboard attached to the personal computer. A user scans words in a document 1004 with a handy image scanner 10o3.

If the image data is transmitted to the personal computer 1001,
The character recognition results and meanings of the word images processed by the internal program are displayed on the display. Note that the keyboard 1002 is used for spelling correction and the like.

According to this embodiment, the handy image scanner 100
3 and a processing program including an interface, the present electronic dictionary system can be easily constructed by connecting it to personal computers that are already in widespread use nationwide.

In the first embodiment, if the output unit is equipped with a speech synthesis device or a transmission output device, the processing results obtained in the code string can be conveyed by voice, or the captured image can be transferred directly to another processing device, such as a workstation. You can also use it as an image memo by transferring it to your computer and storing it on the included optical disc. FIG. 13 is a three-view diagram thereof. A button 1301 is a switch that determines whether or not to output the translation result from the speaker 1302, and when pressed, audio is output. Further, a convex terminal 1304 is attached to the cap 13o3, and as shown in FIG.
By connecting the scanner 14o1 and the workstation 1402 via the scanner 403, the attached optical disc 14
Images imported to o4 can also be stored. FIG. 12 shows the above in a device configuration diagram. An image read by an image reading unit 1201, which is an input unit, is corrected by an image correction unit 1202, redundant images are removed, and only the image of the word to be examined is stored once in the memory. The images in this memory are later combined into one image transmission output section 120.
7 to the external device. Furthermore, this word image is divided into character units and sent to the character recognition unit 1203.
Converted to a character code string. The word translation unit 1204 searches the word dictionary table based on the received character code string and obtains the corresponding Japanese character code string. The translation result display unit 120S displays it, and if necessary, the translation result audio output unit 1206 outputs it as a voice, completing one search. According to this embodiment, the user is less likely to look into the display in search of processing results, thereby making dictionary search operations smoother and faster.

Additionally, it can be easily carried around as an image memo, and advanced processing can be left to an external processing device, which has the effect of increasing the expandability of the system.

Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the character recognition section 93 shown in FIG. By storing the program controlling the word translation section 94 or the dictionary data used by the program in the cartridge type memory 1102 shown in FIG. 11, you can easily create electronic dictionaries for French-Japanese, German-Japanese, etc. can be easily obtained. In FIG. 11, 11o1 is a pen body, and 26 is a cap on the top of the pen. The cap 26 and the memory 1102 are integrated, and the pen body 1101
By providing the electrical contact point 1103 with the cap 26 on the side of the cap 26, the structure is designed to prevent contact failure due to looseness, flaking, dirt, etc., and to facilitate countermeasures (cleaning, etc.).

Furthermore, if the scanned images are stored as they are inside the pen-type device, they can be used as image memos.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the effort required to search a dictionary for unknown words in a document written in a foreign language, and to reduce interruptions in reading, thereby significantly increasing reading efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a process flow diagram when searching for one unknown word using the pen-type scanner integrated electronic dictionary of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a three-sided view of an electronic dictionary integrated with a pen-type scanner, which is an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram when using a pen.
Figure 4 is a view of the image reading section of the pen-type scanner-integrated electronic dictionary viewed from the outside, and Figure 5 is the mechanism that takes the timing for sweeping image data captured by the line sensor into the frame buffer and storing it. Figure 6 is an explanatory diagram of the process of correcting an image with rotational distortion and cutting out only the words to be examined. Figure 7 is a diagram showing the mechanism for checking the state of roller pressing. Figure 8. Figure 9 is an explanatory diagram of the mechanism for correcting the spelling of misspelled words, Figure 9 is a hardware configuration diagram of an electronic dictionary integrated with a pen-type scanner, and Figure 1.
The figure is a block configuration diagram of an electronic dictionary equipped with an electronic dictionary output device with a separate input section, FIG. 13 is an external view of an electronic dictionary showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the structure of a scanner and a workstation. FIG. ￥ / Group 3rd 4th stem 5 round closed l round '$7 fat z th? Fan/lσdo Figure 74

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An input part for a word, phrase, or sentence expressed in a certain language, and a word, phrase, or sentence expressed in the same or different language as the language; An electronic dictionary comprising a central processing unit that electronically converts words, phrases, or sentences to a user, and an output unit that conveys the converted word, phrase, or sentence to a user, characterized in that the input unit is provided with an image reading device. An electronic dictionary with an image scanner. 2. From the entire image read by the above image reading device,
2. The electronic dictionary with an image scanner according to claim 1, wherein images of words, phrases, or sentences located near the center of the image are cut out preferentially and are subjected to the conversion. 3. The electronic dictionary with an image scanner according to claim 1, wherein the output section is provided with a video output device, an audio output device, or a transmission output device. 4. The electronic dictionary with an image scanner according to claim 1, wherein the input section, the central processing section, and the output section are integrated into one independent device that can be carried and operated with one hand. 5. The electronic dictionary with an image scanner according to claim 4, characterized by a pen-shaped shape. 6. The dictionary data and program used for the conversion in the central processing unit, or the image read by the input unit, are stored in a cartridge-type memory, and the memory is inserted into and removed from the end of the pen, or replaced. 6. An electronic dictionary with an image scanner according to claim 4 or claim 5.