JPH0475552B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a character input device equipped with a character recognition device and an alternative character input means such as a kana-kanji conversion device.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

2. Description of the Related Art Online handwritten character recognition devices and the like have been developed as one type of character information input device for information processing devices. In this type of online handwritten character recognition device, when an input character pattern is misrecognized or the input character pattern is unrecognizable, an alternative character input device such as a kana-kanji conversion device is used in place of the character recognition device. Character information is input using the . For example, reading information of the input character pattern is input to a kana-kanji conversion device, and kanji corresponding to this reading information are displayed as input candidate characters. Then, a desired character is selected from among a plurality of candidate characters and character information is input.

However, although it is possible to input character information that the character recognition device cannot recognize using an alternative character input device, the candidate characters obtained by the alternative character input device (kana-kanji conversion device) according to the reading information Selecting and specifying the desired characters from among the characters required complicated operations. For example, when attempting to input the character ``haya'', if the character recognition device fails in recognition processing, the reading information ``sou'' is input to the kana-kanji conversion device. in this case,
Candidate characters for “sou” are “sou, so, so, sweep,
There are over 100 crosses such as ``Somo, Run'', etc. In order to find the desired character "haya" from among these many candidate characters and select and designate it, it is necessary to repeat the visual selection operation, which places a considerable burden on the operator.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a character input device that can easily input substitute characters using the substitute character input device. It's about doing.

That is, an object of the present invention is to effectively utilize the characteristic information of the input character pattern extracted by the character recognition device to simplify the input of substitute characters for the input character pattern using the substitute character input device. .

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention makes it possible to limit input candidate characters selected by an alternative character input means by effectively utilizing stroke count information of an input character pattern extracted from character information input by hand by an online handwritten character recognition device. It is characterized by In other words, it is known that an online handwritten character recognition device extracts the characteristics of an input character pattern from the stroke information of characters input by hand and performs recognition processing. Focusing on the fact that the number of strokes can be easily determined as a feature of I'm trying to make it possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Thus, according to the present invention, the number of strokes of a character, which is a characteristic of an input character pattern, can be extracted from handwritten character information by the online handwritten character recognition device. By using it as a selection element when selecting an alternative character input method in case of failure, it is possible to select an alternative character without having to enter specific information each time to limit input candidate characters. The input candidate characters selected by the input means can be limited to the minimum within an effective range, and the desired character can be quickly found.
It becomes possible to significantly improve the work efficiency for character input.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment device. Reference numeral 1 denotes a handwritten character input device, and a handwritten input character pattern inputted from this handwritten character input device 1 is sent to a handwritten character recognition device 2.

The handwritten character recognition device 2 is a so-called online handwritten character recognition device that extracts and recognizes the characteristics of an input character pattern from the stroke information of characters input by hand from the handwritten character input device 1. The above input character pattern is extracted by extracting feature information such as the number of strokes, the connection of character lines, and the degree of partial complexity, and comparing the feature information with the feature information of each character category stored in the dictionary in advance. It performs recognition processing.
Note that this handwritten character recognition process may be performed by appropriately using various handwritten character recognition methods that have been proposed in the past.

The recognition result for the input character pattern obtained by the handwritten character recognition device 2 is then given to the character input control device 3. The character input control device 3 presents the character recognition result to the operator,
We encourage them to confirm the recognition results. Further, when the input character pattern is unrecognizable, this fact is given to the character input control device 3.

When the recognition result given to the character input control device 3 in this way is erroneously recognized, or when the input character pattern is unrecognizable, the character input control device 3 uses an alternative character input means. A certain kana-kanji conversion device 4 is activated, and at the same time, characteristic information of the input character pattern extracted by the handwritten character recognition device 2, such as information on the number of strokes of the input character pattern, is sent to the kana-kanji conversion device 4. giving.

This kana-kanji conversion device 4 selectively selects the kanji indicated by the reading information as an input character candidate according to the reading information of the input character pattern inputted through the kana input device 5 consisting of a kana keyboard or the like. This is what we are looking for. Normally, this type of kana-kanji conversion device 4 seeks all the kanji that correspond to the above-mentioned reading information as input character candidates, but the kana-kanji conversion device 4 used here has a function to limit input candidate characters. It is equipped with That is, the kana-kanji conversion device 4 includes, for example, dictionaries connected by pointers as shown in FIG.
Kanji characters to be input candidate characters are selected according to reading information and information on the number of strokes extracted as feature information of the input character pattern. In other words, from among the kanji found in accordance with the reading information, only kanji with the number of strokes equal to the number of strokes of the input character pattern extracted as a feature of the input character pattern are preferentially limited as input candidate characters. It has become a matter of choice.

Specifically, the reading part 4a of the dictionary of the kana-kanji conversion device 4 is searched according to the reading information input from the kana input device 5. The first pointer attached to the reading part 4a specifies the stroke number part 4b in which the kanji corresponding to the reading is present. Information on the number of strokes of the input character pattern determined by the handwritten character recognition device 2 is input to the stroke number section 4b, and the number of strokes of a Chinese character as an input candidate character is limited by this stroke number information. A kanji character corresponding to the reading information and corresponding to the above-mentioned number of strokes is selected as an input candidate character by a second pointer attached to the corresponding number of strokes.

In this example, the number of strokes of the corresponding kanji that exists for the reading information ``sou'' ranges from ``3 strokes; 巳'' to ``19 strokes; '', then the corresponding kanji of ``6 strokes'' are ``fast, war, so...''
is selected as an input candidate character. in this case,
The corresponding kanji characters ``sou...'' with ``four strokes'' and the corresponding kanji characters ``shu, sung...'' with ``seven strokes'' are excluded from input candidate characters because they have different numbers of strokes. In this way, the kanji characters that can be input candidate characters are limited.

The input candidate characters obtained in this manner are displayed all at once or in sequence for the operator to specify input characters. Then, in response to the operator's selection designation, an input character is specified from among the input candidate characters, and the character information is input to the character input control device 3. Incidentally, if the desired input character does not exist among the above-mentioned "6-stroke" Kanji characters, the "5-stroke" and "7-stroke" Kanji characters may be selected and displayed as the next input candidate characters.

The character input control device 3 inputs input character information correctly recognized by the handwritten character recognition device 2 as described above, or character information alternatively inputted via the kana-kanji conversion device 4, to a predetermined information processing device. is controlled by input.

According to the device configured in this way,
When inputting character information by recognizing an input character pattern and inputting the character information indicated by the character pattern from the reading information of the input character pattern that is input when the character recognition process fails, the above Since the input candidate characters are limited from among the corresponding kanji characters indicated by the reading information according to the information on the number of strokes, which is the characteristic information of the input character pattern, the number of input candidate characters can be significantly reduced. Therefore, the burden of selecting a desired character from input candidate characters is significantly reduced. Furthermore, since characters (kanji) that are significantly different from the input character pattern do not become input candidate characters, it is possible to reduce the waste of alternative character input operations. Therefore, great practical effects can be achieved, such as reducing the burden on the operator and making it possible to input character information efficiently.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. For example, input character candidates may be limited using recognition results such as locally recognized radicals of the input character pattern as characteristic information of the input character pattern. Further, characters may be input in units of words via an alternative character input means. Further, in the embodiment, kana-kanji conversion was exemplified as an alternative input means, but other character information input means may be used. In summary, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the gist thereof.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the dictionary configuration of the kana-kanji conversion device in the embodiment device. 1... Handwritten character input device, 2... Handwritten character recognition device, 3... Character input control device, 4... Kana-kanji conversion device, 5... Kana input device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An online handwritten character recognition device that extracts the number of strokes of an input character pattern from handwritten character information and performs recognition processing on the input character pattern, and when the online handwritten character recognition device fails in recognition processing. an alternative character input means for obtaining an input candidate character for the input character pattern using reading information of the input character pattern input to the input character pattern; and 1. A character input device comprising means for limiting input candidate characters selected by the alternative character input means.