JPH0576659B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] "Industrial Application Field" The present invention relates to electronic dictionaries, and specifically, to freely use a plurality of dictionaries to display optimal information on a display screen, etc. Regarding electronic dictionaries that can be used.

``Prior art'' When creating sentences, dictionaries are often used. A ``dictionary'' is a dictionary that collects words, arranges them in a predetermined order, and explains their etymology, meaning, usage, examples, etc. It is something.

Japanese dictionaries are often used when creating Japanese sentences. However, when the creation of specialized texts is required, such as when creating product manuals, technical manuals, etc., various dictionaries are used. In other words, in addition to the Japanese dictionary,
In addition to several general dictionaries (dictionaries) such as Japanese-English and English-English dictionaries, there is also an "in-house terminology dictionary" that explains terms uniquely used within the company (in-house terminology).
Sometimes it is also used. In addition, electronic versions of the above-mentioned dictionaries and their search systems have also been proposed (for example, T. Ishiwata et al., Basic
Specification of Machine Reading Dictionary
Icot Technical Report TR−100, 1985, M.
Nagao et al., An Attempt to Computerize
Dictionary Dictionary Data Base，
COLING80 1980).

Furthermore, a device using a plurality of dictionaries is also known, but in this device, the dictionary is selected alternatively. Furthermore, a device capable of searching for a translated word for one original word from a plurality of language dictionaries has been reported in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62975/1983.

``Problems to be Solved by the Invention'' In this way, for example, when trying to create sentences on specialized content, it is necessary to have several dictionaries on the desk, which makes the desk space small. In addition, if the term you are looking up is very specialized, the dictionary you are looking for will also be specialized and you will have to visit the library or bookshelf frequently, which is not only complicated but also complicated. , you end up wasting a lot of time searching for terms. In addition, conventional electronic dictionaries were developed individually and for specific purposes, and the dictionary structure was fixed and lacked expandability and maintainability, making it impossible to integrate different types of electronic dictionaries through a common interface. .

Furthermore, in conventional devices that use a plurality of dictionaries, a dictionary can only be selected selectively, so it takes a lot of effort when the user wants to know more detailed information about the searched information. For example, consider a case where a Japanese-English dictionary is used and the English-English dictionary is used to search for usage examples of English words that are searched information. In this case, the user must first select an English-English dictionary, search for the English word, and then select the dictionary again to change the dictionary to a Japanese-English dictionary. It was hot. Furthermore, in this case, the search results disappear from the display screen, requiring the user to perform tasks such as moving the search results to another location. Furthermore, in the past, when performing a search on information obtained as a search result, it was necessary to input that information from a keyboard, which made electronic dictionaries inconvenient to use. In addition, in a device that can search for translations for one source word from multiple language dictionaries as shown in the conventional example, in addition to the need to register the conceptual symbol corresponding to the source word in the language dictionary used, Since the operation was limited to searching for a translation of a single original word, there was a problem in that it was not possible to use a Japanese-English dictionary and an English-English dictionary for simultaneous searching.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic dictionary that allows information to be easily searched by simultaneously using a plurality of electronically filed dictionaries.

"Means for Solving Problems" The present invention provides a plurality of electronically filed dictionaries each composed of different information sources;
Dictionary selection means for selecting one or more desired dictionaries from among these dictionaries; information display means for displaying information such as characters; a first dictionary search means for searching for information related to the object from among the dictionaries selected by the dictionary selection means; and displaying the information searched by the first dictionary search means on the screen. information specifying means for specifying information to be searched from among the information displayed by the search information display means by indicating the position on the screen where the information is displayed; and information specifying means. a second dictionary search means for searching the dictionary selected by the dictionary selection means for information related to the information specified by the user; and a display screen for displaying the information searched by the second dictionary search means. and display means for displaying information in parallel with the information displayed by the search information display means.

Here, the operation of the first dictionary search means and the second dictionary search means is usually to search attribute information such as word meanings, synonyms, antonyms, noun forms, verb forms, etc. for the specified information. However, when the information input by the rescue description information input means is character information, it may also have a function of checking whether the spelling of the character string constituting the character information is correct.

The information specifying means is a means for specifying information such as a character string displayed on the display screen as a search target, and here, this specification is performed using a mouse.
This makes it possible to specify search information without inputting the search information from the keyboard.

As described above, in the electronic dictionary of the present invention, since a plurality of dictionaries can be electronically filed and necessary information can be displayed from among them, it is possible to easily search for word meanings, synonyms, antonyms, etc.

"Example" The present invention will be explained in detail with reference to Examples below.

FIG. 1 shows an overview of the system configuration of an electronic dictionary according to the present invention. This electronic dictionary consists of a personal device provided at each user's desk and a shared device shared by each user as a system. The personal device includes a display 11, a disk device 12, and a keyboard 13 or a virtual keyboard and mouse 14 on the display for operating these devices. These are prepared for each user's desk. This first
Although not shown in the figure, a printer or image input device may be added to the personal device if desired.

In this embodiment, a dictionary information server 15 is provided as a shared device. The dictionary information server 15 stores dictionaries that are commonly used in the system. The dictionaries stored in the dictionary server 15 include, for example, Iwanami Shoten's "Kojien" and Kyoritsu Shuppan Co., Ltd.'s "Mathematics Dictionary", which are electronically filed as they are. These were purchased as electronic files from each publishing company.

On the other hand, the disk device 12 described above stores dictionaries for personal use by each individual and modified versions of dictionaries stored in the dictionary information server 15 for personal use. Of course, one dictionary will be revised one after another within the office, and this will be revised on the dictionary server 1.
It is also effective to store it as a dictionary of common words.

A cable 16 such as an optical cable is connected between the personal device and the shared device, so that each personal device can freely access the shared device.

FIG. 2 shows the circuit configuration of the personal device side of this electronic dictionary. There is a CUP (Central Processing Unit) 2 in the display 11 (Figure 1) of the electronic dictionary.
1 is incorporated, and each part is connected through a bus line 22. Of these, for dictionary search
The ROM 23 is a read containing instructions for searching a dictionary for necessary information entered from the keyboard (Fig. 1) 13 or other information obtained based on this information.・
Only memory. RAM 24 is a random access memory for temporarily storing various processing data. The display device 25 is a portion that occupies the front side of the display 11, and here, in addition to input information, search results are displayed as a multi-window. Screen GC26 is display 11
This is a controller for controlling the display.

FIG. 3 shows the main parts of the keyboard layout of this electronic dictionary. keyboard 1
3, several function keys used as a dictionary are arranged on the left side of the board. Among these, the "word meaning" key 31 is a key for searching the meaning of a specified term. The "synonym" key 32 is a key for searching for terms similar to the specified term. “Antonym”
The key 33 is a key for searching for a term with the opposite meaning to the specified term. “Noun form” key 3
4 is a key for searching for the pronoun form of a specified term in English or the like. The "verb form" key 35 is a key for searching the verb form of a specified term in English or the like. The "spell check" key 36 is a key for determining whether the spelling of a designated term is correct, depending on whether the spelling is in the dictionary.

In order to facilitate understanding of the contents of the electronic dictionary with the above configuration, the "how to look up" information will be explained using the following two or three examples.

FIG. 4 shows the most common usage mode when creating English text. When the electronic dictionary is powered on, a first window 41 for inputting descriptive information is set on the display screen 25A of the display device.
In a display section 42 further above this first window 41, the types of dictionaries stored in the disk device 12 and dictionary server 15 shown in FIG. 1 are displayed. The operator operates the mouse 14 to move the cursor to a location where the type of dictionary desired to use is displayed, and selects a dictionary by, for example, pressing a button to the left of the cursor. In this electronic dictionary,
Multiple selections are possible. FIG. 4 shows a state in which an English-Japanese dictionary and a Japanese-English dictionary are selected. In this state, the operator inputs, for example, English text into the first window 41. The keyboard 13 is used for this input.

By the way, when converting from Japanese to English, "recently"
Suppose that it becomes necessary to check the English of the characters (descriptive information). In this case, the operator sets the keyboard 13 to the Japanese text input mode, inputs the characters "recently", and presses the "word meaning" key 31 in this state. Then, in this case, the Japanese-English dictionary is selected, and the contents of the dictionary regarding the word "recently" are displayed in the second window 43. The second window 43 is assigned to the upper right side of the first window 41. The operator can look at the contents of the second window to find the most suitable term and use the examples to help create sentences.

FIG. 5 is for explaining a search method for information displayed in the second window 43. For example, suppose that in the process of looking up the term "recently", the user wants to look up the English version of the word "movie" in the second window 43. In this case, operate the mouse 14 to open the second window 43.
Place the cursor on the first character of the corresponding term "movie" in , and press the left button of the mouse 14 to specify the first position of the search target. Next, move the cursor to the last character and press the right button of the mouse 14. In this way, when you specify the term ``movie'' to be searched and press the ``word meaning'' key 31, the contents of the dictionary for the term ``movie'' are displayed in the third column.
is displayed in the window 44 of. The third window 44 is set in the display area below the second window 43.

In the example shown in FIG. 5, Japanese in the second window 43 is specified as the search target, but if English is specified, the Japanese word meaning etc. for this will be searched and displayed in the third window 44. It will be displayed.

Finally, FIG. 7 shows a case where a search for specialized terms is performed. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the operator who translates the term "control panel" into English does not know its meaning, so he seeks help from a "dictionary of modern terms" and a "dictionary of system-related technical terms." When the operator enters "control panel" in the first window 41 and presses the "Word Meaning" key, only the "System Related Terminology Dictionary" succeeds in this search for "control panel," which is an abbreviation for "control panel." This is displayed on the window 43 of No. 2. The operator will look at this content and translate it into English into appropriate terms. For special terms used only within your company, by preparing a dictionary of in-house terms, even people outside your field of expertise can accurately translate them into English.

A part of the manner in which the electronic dictionary is used has been explained above.

Next, the operation of this electronic dictionary will be explained with reference to FIG.

When any of the search keys 31 to 36 such as the "word meaning" key on the keyboard 13 is pressed (step; Y), the CPU 21 shown in FIG. is written to the subkey information registration area (step).
Thereafter, the CPU 21 reads the search target character storage area of the RAM 24 and determines whether a character string to be searched is specified (step). If no character string has been specified (N), an error display operation (step) such as flashing the display screen 25A is performed, and then the process returns. On the other hand, if a character string to be searched for has been specified (Y), the specified character string is moved to the key information registration area of the RAM 24 (step).

In this state, the CPU 21 checks the consistency of the data registered in both the key information registration area and the subkey information registration area (step). Here, the consistency check refers to checking whether the search method for subkey information is valid for the character string as key information. For example, it is meaningless to require a ``noun form'' for the Japanese word ``recently,'' and it cannot be said to be consistent. It is meaningless to ask for the noun or verb form of most terms (including English) that are only used within the company. If there is no consistency, the same operation as in the previous error is performed (step).

If consistency is found, the search operation starts. At this time, since the dictionary to be used is determined based on the relationship between the key information and the subkey information, a combination of "key information, subkey information, and dictionary" is generated (step). Next, the key information representing the character string is converted into unique key information (step).
Here, the unique key information is used to unify information in various expression formats input as character strings into one expression format.

For example, when an operator wants to search for the fruit "tomato," he may enter "tomato" or "tomato" in English. Some terms may be entered in kanji. In order to unify the expression format of such key information, the dictionary search ROM 23 is provided with a key map table, and conversion into unique key information is performed.

Once the unique key information is obtained, the specified dictionary is searched and the content corresponding to the key information is retrieved.
Written to RAM 24 (step).

The contents written in the RAM 24 are then correlated with subkey information, and only necessary information is extracted (step). For example, the “synonym” key 32
If has been pressed, only synonyms need to be extracted, so only the portion displayed as "synonym" from the contents written in the RAM 24 is extracted as information to be displayed. This type of extraction function will be referred to as a "relationship interpretation function" in this specification. Part that performs the relational interpretation function (relational interpreter)
is CPU21, dictionary search ROM23, RAM2
It can be configured by a combination of 4.
Since different dictionaries have different expression formats such as "synonyms", the relational interpreter has functions adapted to these.

The information extracted by the relational interpreter is stored in RAM2.
4 and displayed in a predetermined window of the display device 25 under the control of the screen GC 26 (step).

Although normal search work has been described above, the character string as key information does not necessarily have to have each character clearly specified. For example, in the case of the term "tomato" mentioned above, a character string that is missing part of the word (for example, the character string "to*to")
can be used as key information. Here, "*" represents a wild card as a code indicating an undefined part of a character.

FIG. 9 shows a searchable expression format in this example. In either case, a dictionary search is performed, and if a matching item is found, it will be displayed in the window.

As described above, according to this embodiment, since the search for the corresponding term is performed by converting the information into unique key information, the operator does not have to worry about the expression format of the input term.

In the embodiment, the personal device and the shared device are connected by the cable 16, but in the case of a small-scale electronic dictionary, it is also possible to store all the dictionaries in the disk device 12 and omit the shared device. be. Further, in the embodiment, the search results are displayed in a maximum of two windows, but it is of course possible to set up more windows. Furthermore, in addition to the above embodiments, it is also possible to simultaneously search and display a plurality of pieces of attribute information about a specified term, or to simultaneously display, for example, the meaning of a word in all dictionaries in which the term is registered. be.

"Effects of the Invention" The electronic dictionary of the present invention described above has the following effects.

(1) The present invention has a layered structure of various dictionaries and search means that can commonly use them, so users can freely use them without knowing the location of the dictionaries. . In addition, the search method can be replaced with another search method or ported to another electronic dictionary, and the electronic dictionary can be improved or changed between computers using different languages without changing the constituent dictionary itself within the system. It becomes possible to do this.

(2) Also, in the present invention, existing information sources can be used as dictionaries. Therefore, it is easy to create an electronic dictionary. In addition, by using a self-made dictionary, the contents of the dictionary can be adapted to each work environment.

(3) Furthermore, in the present invention, it is possible to specify information to be searched from among information such as character strings displayed on the display screen. Therefore, information can be searched without inputting the information to be searched from the keyboard, and tasks such as translation tasks using multiple dictionaries can be performed more easily.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings are for explaining one embodiment of the present invention. Among them, Fig. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a part of the electronic dictionary system, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the electronic dictionary, and Fig. 3 is a system configuration diagram showing a part of the electronic dictionary system. The figure is a plan view showing the main parts of the keyboard, Figs. 4 to 7 are plan views showing various display modes of the display screen, Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing the electronic dictionary search operation, and Fig. 9 is a plan view showing the search target. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the expression format of the term . 11...Display, 12...Disk device, 13...Keyboard, 14...Mouse, 15
...Dictionary information server, 21...CPU, 23...
ROM for dictionary search, 24...RAM, 25...display device, 25A...display screen, 31-36...search keys, 41, 43, 44...window.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of dictionaries each composed of different information sources, a dictionary selection means for selecting one or more desired dictionaries from among these dictionaries, and displaying information such as characters. a first dictionary search for searching for information related to a specified piece of information displayed on the information display means from among the dictionaries selected by the dictionary selection means; search information display means for displaying the information searched by the first dictionary search means on a screen; and search information display means for displaying information to be searched from among the information displayed by the search information display means. information specifying means for specifying information by specifying a position on the screen where the information is specified; and a second information specifying means for searching for information related to the information specified by the information specifying means from among the dictionaries selected by the dictionary selection means. an electronic dictionary comprising: a dictionary search means; and a display means for displaying the information searched by the second dictionary search means on a display screen in parallel with the information displayed by the search information display means. .