JPH0475162A - Japanese syllabary/chinese character conversion device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability when a document where Japanese sentence and a foreign language sentence are mixed by retrieving a foreign language dictionary where foreign language words including English character strings which do not obey the Roman character rule and converting the part of an input English character string which shows a foreign language word into the foreign language word automatically. CONSTITUTION:When the English character string is inputted in Roman character input mode from an input device 11, an English-KANA (Japanese syllabary) converting means 12 performs a process for converting the English character string into a 'KANA' character string and when the conversion to the 'KANA' character string is successful, a KANA-KANJI converting means 14 performs a process for converting this KANA character string into a KANA and 'KANJI' character string. When there is an English character string which can not be converted into a KANA character string because it does not obey to the Roman character rule in the input English character string, a Foreign language word converting means 16 performs a process for retrieving the foreign language word dictionary to perform conversion into foreign language words and when there is still the English character string left, a corresponding KANA character string is converted into a KANA and KANJI character string. Consequently, the English character string which is inputted can be converted automatically into the character string where the KANA and KANJI character string and the foreign language character string are mixed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention has a kana-kanji conversion function that converts a kana character string input using the Roman alphabet input method into a kana-kanji character string, and particularly The present invention relates to a kana-kanji conversion device suitable for creating character strings containing a mixture of kana character strings and foreign language words.

(Prior art) In conventional kana-kanji conversion devices that apply the Roman character input method, input delimiters or some other means are used to input English character strings input from a key input device, etc.
It is necessary to divide a character string into parts that require kana-kanji conversion and parts that do not, and then specify which part of the divided parts requires kana-kanji conversion by some means such as keystrokes. When this designation is made, the kana-kanji conversion device performs a process of converting the character string (English character string) of the designated portion into a kana character string according to the Roman alphabet rules. Next, the converted kana character string is converted into a character string containing a mixture of kana and kanji (kana-kanji character string) by using a dictionary (kana-kanji dictionary) for mapping kana and kanji. Processing takes place.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional kana-kanji conversion device that applies the Romaji input method, the input English character string part to be converted to kana-kanji and the target to be converted to kana-kanji I had to specify the input English string part and not. Therefore, when creating a character string that is a mixture of kana character strings and foreign language character strings made up of English character strings, the user (operator) must select the part to be converted to kana-kanji and the part of the foreign language that is not to be converted. This requires an operation to separate the character strings and instruct the kana-kanji conversion device whether or not conversion (kana-kanji conversion) is necessary for each character string, resulting in a problem that operability deteriorates.

This invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to convert English character strings input from a human-powered device, etc. in the Romaji input mode into kana-kanji character strings and foreign characters without requiring any special operations. To provide a kana-kanji conversion device capable of converting a character string containing a mixture of word and character strings.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) This invention provides a method for solving the problem in that many foreign language words composed of English character strings include sequences of English characters that cannot be described using the Roman alphabet rules, such as combinations of consonants. This system automatically extracts English character strings representing foreign language words from input English character strings. If there is a foreign language dictionary in which a foreign word containing a column is registered, and if there is an English character string in the input English string that cannot be converted to a kana character string because it does not follow the Romaji rules, this Romaji rule will be followed. A foreign language word conversion means is provided which searches a foreign language dictionary using an English character string that is combined with an input English character string that includes an English character string that does not exist, and converts it into a foreign language word. This is a characteristic feature.

(Operation) In the present invention, when an English character string is input from the input device in the Roman character input mode, the alphabetic-kana conversion means first converts the input English character string into a kana character string. If the conversion to a kana string is successful,
A process of converting this kana character string into a kana-kanji character string is performed by a kana-kanji conversion means. On the other hand, if there is an input English character string that cannot be converted to a kana character string because it does not follow the Romaji rules, then The foreign language word conversion means performs a process of searching a foreign language dictionary using the English character string combined with the input English character string that is connected to the character string, and converts the input English character string into a foreign language word. If there are any remaining input English character strings, the corresponding kana character strings are passed to the kana-kanji conversion means and converted into kana-kanji character strings. In the manner described above, it is possible to automatically convert an input English character string into a character string that is a mixture of a kana-kanji character string and a foreign language character string.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, a case will be described with reference to the drawings in which an embodiment of the present invention is implemented in a Japanese document creation device that applies a Roman alphabet input method and is capable of creating English text.

FIG. 1 shows a block configuration of the above-mentioned document creation device. In the figure, reference numeral 11 indicates a key-powered device capable of inputting at least alphabetic characters; and 12, when an English character string (data representing) is input from the key-powered device 11 in the Roman alphabet input mode, this input English character string is converted into Roman characters. This is an alphabetic/kana converter that converts characters into kana strings according to rules. 13 is a kana character (
A kana-kanji dictionary created by the correspondence between readings) and kanji and used to convert kana character strings into kana-kanji character strings, 1
4 is a kana character string converted by the alphabet-kana conversion unit 12 (or the key human-powered device 1 in the flat name human-powered mode).
(Kana character string directly input from 1) to Kana-Kanji Dictionary 13
This is a kana-kanji conversion unit that converts the referenced kana-kanji character string. 15 is an English dictionary in which English words including English character strings that do not follow the Roman alphabet rules are registered; 1B is an English-letter-kana conversion unit 12
If there is an English character or English character string that cannot be converted because it does not follow the Roman alphabet rules in the input English character string to be converted by 17 is a kana-kanji character string converted and outputted by the kana-kanji converter 14 and the English word converter 1B. This is a display device used to display English words, etc. Note that in FIG. 1, a storage device for storing documents, etc., a printer device for printing out documents, etc. are omitted because they are not directly related to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of an input English character string in the Romaji input mode and the results of kana-kanji conversion including English word conversion for this input English character string. The figure (b) shows the conversion result.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the processing procedure of the alphabet-kana conversion section 12 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the processing procedure of the English word converter 16 shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

It is now assumed that the document creation device shown in FIG. 1 is set to Roman character input mode. In this state, for example, if the user (operator) wants to create the sentence "In English, a book is called a book" (a character string containing a mixture of kana-kanji character strings and English words), the user (operator) operates the key human power device 11. Well, second
The English character string “e i godeha” as shown in figure (a)
Honw.

Input the data representing booktoyobuJ.

The input alphabetic character string shown in FIG. The alphabet-kana conversion unit 12 converts this input English character string into a corresponding kana character string according to the Roman alphabet rules (step S2 in FIG. 3).
. As a result, the alphabet-kana conversion unit 12 converts r e i g o d e h a h in the input English character string shown in FIG.
Convert the characters up to o n w o b o o J into the kana character string ``Eigote wa Hon wo Boo''.

However, the input English character string rktoyobuJ following re i godehahonwobooJ (the underlined part is
(indicates a character string that does not follow the romaji rules) cannot be converted to a kana string because the first character string "ksJ does not follow the romaji rules. In this case, the converted kana string "eigotehahon Only ``wobo'' is passed to the kana-kanji converter 14 (step S2 in FIG. 3).

The kana-kanji conversion unit 14 converts the kana character string “Eigo de hon wo boo” passed from the alphabet-kana conversion unit 12 into a kana-kanji character string for each clause while performing grammatical analysis using the kana-kanji dictionary 13. Performs the Kana-Kanji conversion operation and obtains the Kana-Kanji string "7 in English/" (the "/" is inserted to indicate the break between clauses and does not necessarily exist in the Kana-Kanji string) . This kana-kanji character string "hon in English" is output to the display device 17 and displayed on the screen. on the other hand,
The last part of the kana character string "boo" that does not constitute a clause is returned from the kana-kanji conversion unit 14 to the alphabetic-kana conversion unit [2. Note that if all the kana character strings passed from the alphabet-kana conversion unit 12 can be converted for each phrase, the kana-kanji conversion unit 1
4 notifies the alphabetic/kana conversion unit 12 that there is no kana character string to be returned.

When the kana character string “boo” is returned from the kana-kanji converter 14, the alphabet-kana conversion unit 12 converts the English character string rbooJ corresponding to the kana character string and the first character rkJ of the following character string that does not follow the Roman alphabet rules. The English character string rb that combines
ookJ is the first human-powered English character string, and the subsequent input English character string "toyobuJ" is passed to the English word conversion unit I6 as the second human-powered English character string (step S3 in FIG. 3). If there is no kana character string that can be converted, the first character of the character string that does not follow the Romaji rules (an English character string that cannot be converted to kana) becomes the first human English character string (the third
Figure step S4).

When the English word conversion unit 16 receives the first and second human-powered English character strings from the alphabet-kana conversion unit 12, the English word conversion unit 16 converts the first and second human-powered English character strings into an English character string (here, “booktoyo”).
buJ, the first human-powered English character string (rbo
okJ ) to each character string of different length (here r b o o k to y o b u J
, --- "BOOK TO J.

rbooktJ, rbookJ) are used to search the English dictionary 15 (step 511 in FIG. 4). Then, the English word conversion unit 16 converts the English word (
If a plurality of words are found, the longest English word is used as the English word conversion result (step 512 in FIG. 4). Here, the first
rbookJ, which is a human-powered English character string, is obtained as the result of English word conversion. The English word conversion unit 16 converts the English word conversion result (rb
ookJ) is obtained, the result is output to the display device 17 (step 813 in FIG. 4). As a result, the English word rbookJ is displayed at the subsequent position of the already displayed kana-kanji character string "Book in English." When the English word conversion unit 16 outputs the conversion result to the display device 17, the remaining English character string (
Here, rtoyobuJ) is returned to the alphabetic/kana conversion unit 12 (step 514 in FIG. 4). Note that the above step S
13. The order of S14 may be reversed.

When the English character string “toyobuJ” is returned from the English word conversion unit 16, the alphabet-kana conversion unit 12 converts the same English character string “rtoyo” into the English character string “toyobuJ”.
Convert buJ to a kana character string (Step S5 in Figure 3)
. Here, there are no character strings that do not follow the Roman alphabet rules in the English character string rtoyobuJ to be converted, and "toyobu"
The entire text is converted to a kana string, as in . This kana character string “toyobu” is all passed to the kana-kanji conversion unit 14 (third
Figure step S5).

The kana-kanji conversion unit 14 converts the kana character string “toyobu” passed from the alphabetic-kana conversion unit 12 into the kana-kanji character string “toyobu”. This kana-kanji character string "to call" is displayed on display device 1.
English words output to 7 and already displayed rbookJ
displayed on the screen at the subsequent position.

In this way, in this embodiment, the input English character string "e i godehahonwobooktoy" shown in FIG.
obuJ is automatically converted to the character string shown in Figure 2 (b), which is a mixture of kana character strings and English words [a book is called a book in English], without any special operations, and displayed on the screen. .

In addition, if a plurality of English words are obtained by searching the English dictionary 15 by the English word conversion unit L6, and the longest English word displayed on the screen as the English word conversion result is not the English word desired by the user, In this case, the user operates the key manual device 11 to instruct display of the next candidate. In this case, the English word conversion unit IB selects an English word of the following length from among the obtained English words, outputs it to the display device 17 as an English word conversion result, and displays it on the display device 17. It is returned to the alphabetic/kana conversion unit 12.

The following operations are similar to those described above.

The above describes the case where a character string (document) is created in which a kana-kanji character string and an English word (English sentence) are mixed. It can also be applied to document creation.

C. Effects of the Invention As detailed above, according to the present invention, it has been focused on the fact that many foreign language words composed of English character strings include sequences of English letters that cannot be described using the Roman alphabet rules. Extract candidates for English character strings representing foreign language words from English character strings input using the input method, and use these candidates to search foreign language dictionaries that have registered foreign language words that include English character strings that do not follow Romanization rules. By doing this, the part of the input English string that represents a foreign word is automatically converted into a foreign word without any special operation, and the input English string is converted into a kana-kanji string (kana-kanji sentence) and a foreign word. It can be easily converted into a string (document) containing a mixture of (foreign language sentences). As a result, the operability when creating a document containing a mixture of Japanese text and foreign language text is greatly improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a document creation device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an example of an input English character string in Roman alphabet input mode, and kana-kanji including English word conversion for this input English character string. A diagram showing the conversion results in comparison, Figure 3 is the first
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the processing procedure of the alphabet-kana conversion section shown in the figure, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the processing procedure of the English word conversion section. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... Key human power device, 12... English character/kana conversion unit, 13... Kana/kanji dictionary, 14... Kana/kanji conversion unit, 15... English dictionary, 16... English word conversion unit, 17...Display device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An input device capable of inputting at least English characters, an alphabetic-kana conversion means for converting an English character string input from the input device into a kana character string according to Roman alphabet rules, and an alphabetic-kana conversion means. A kana-kanji conversion means that converts the converted kana character string into a kana-kanji character string, a foreign language dictionary in which foreign language words containing English character strings that do not follow the Roman alphabet rules are registered, and the conversion by the above-mentioned English-kana character conversion means. A foreign language that searches the above foreign language dictionary using English character strings that are combined with input English character strings that include input English character strings that do not follow the Roman alphabet rules, which have become impossible, and converts them into foreign language words. 1. A kana-kanji conversion device comprising: word conversion means.