JPH0785060A - Language converting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically decide a language used for an area shown by position information only by inputting the position information and to set the class of first and second languages based on this decided result. CONSTITUTION:Based on the position information expressed by a latitude and a longitude inputted to a position information input part 1, a language class decision part 3 retrieves a position language class information recording part 2 and sends the class of the language obtained by the result of retrieval to a language class setting part 4 and based on this result, the language class setting part 4 sets the first and second languages at a language conversion part 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a language conversion device capable of unidirectional or bidirectional conversion between a first language and a second language.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, along with the development of computer utilization technology, various language conversion devices applying natural language processing technology have been developed. As a language conversion device for converting a word unit, a device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 01-015869 is known. As a language conversion device for converting a sentence unit, a "machine translation summit" (Ohm Company publishing,
Many devices are introduced in Nagao Shin, 1989).

[0003]

However, in the language conversion device as described above, the type of the first and second languages must be selected by the user in advance. In particular, in a portable or in-vehicle language conversion device, the first language is almost always the user's native language, and the second language is almost always the language used in the area where one is currently located. Nevertheless, there was a problem that the user himself had to check the type of the first language and the type of the second language and select it.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention automatically determines the language used in the area indicated by the position information only by inputting the position information, and based on this, the first language or the second language. An object of the present invention is to provide a language conversion device capable of setting a language type.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is a language conversion unit for performing unidirectional or bidirectional conversion between a first language and a second language, and a latitude and a longitude. The location information input section that can input location information represented by, and the location language type information recording section that records the correspondence between the location information and the type of language used in the area indicated by the location information. A language type determination unit that determines the language type by searching the position / language type information recording unit using the position information from the information input unit, and a first language or a second language in the language conversion unit from the output of the language type determination unit And a language type setting unit for setting the type.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that a GPS receiving device is provided as a component of the position information input section. Further, the invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that it has means for outputting the position information by designating a position on the map as a component of the position information input unit.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the position information is input by preliminarily pairing and storing the position information of each language and the area in which it is used in the position language type information recording section. It is possible to automatically determine the language used in the area indicated by the position information and set the type of the first language or the second language based on this.

According to the invention described in claim 2, the GSP receiver (GLOB) can be operated without manually inputting the position information.
AL POSITIONING SYSTEM, Global Aviation Positioning System, a device that measures the position using radio waves for positioning that covers the entire earth or a wide area from artificial satellites. ) Can be entered automatically. or,
According to the invention described in claim 3, the position information can be input only by indicating the position on the map.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A language conversion device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a language conversion device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a position information input unit, 2 is a position language type information recording unit, 3 is a language type determination unit, and information of the position information input unit 1 and the position language type information recording unit 2 is a language type determination unit 3 Entered in. Reference numeral 4 denotes a language type setting unit, which is a language type determining unit 3
The first language and the second language are set based on the language type determined in. Reference numeral 5 is a language conversion unit that performs language conversion between the first language and the second language set by the language type setting unit 4.

In the language conversion device configured as described above, when the position information is input, the language used in the area indicated by the position information is automatically determined, and based on this, the first and second languages are used. The operation of setting the language type will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a language type setting operation of the language conversion device shown in FIG. First, the position information input unit 1 inputs position information represented by a combination of latitude and longitude by means such as key input (step # 1).
Next, the language type determination unit 3 searches the position language type information recording unit 2 based on the position information sent from the position information input unit 1 (steps # 2 to # 5). More specifically, the position language type information recording unit 2 records in advance the type of language used in the area indicated by each position information. For example,
As shown in FIG. 3, in the position language type information recording unit 2, the position information indicating that the type of language corresponding to the position information of 35 degrees north latitude and 135 degrees east longitude is Japanese and the language used therein. The data for each type is collected. Then, first, the position information recorded in the position language type information recording unit 2 is read (step # 2), and it is compared whether the input position information and the read position information match (step # 3). In this case, the operations of steps # 2 and # 3 are repeated for all the position information recorded in the position language type information recording unit 2 (step # 4), and the input position information and the read position information are When they match, the type of the language paired with the matched position information is read in the position / language type information recording unit 2 (step # 5). On the other hand, if there is no position information matching the position information input by the above search in the position language type information recording unit 2, the process proceeds to step # 6 and the user is directly inquired about the language type. There is. In this way, the language type obtained in step # 5 or # 6 is sent to the language type setting unit 4, and the user specifies the first or second language in the language type setting unit 4 (step # 7). In this way, the types of the first language and the second language in the language conversion unit 5 are set.

By the above processing, when the position information is input in the language conversion device, the language used in the area indicated by the position information is automatically determined, and based on this, the first language and the second language are selected. It is possible to set the type. In the above embodiment, an example in which the position information is input by the position information input unit 1 has been shown. It is possible to use a GPS receiving device that can be used. By using the GPS receiver in this way,
It is possible to automatically input the latitude and longitude indicating the current position of the language conversion device.

Further, if a map drawn on a tablet capable of knowing the coordinates of a point designated by a pointing rod is used as the input means of the position information input section 1, the point can be designated by pointing a point on the map. It is possible to automatically enter the latitude and longitude of the point where you made the decision. Although the present invention has been described above based on the embodiments, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the following is also included in the present invention.

In the correspondence relationship between the position information and the type of language shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that the position information is widespread in vast countries such as the United States, Russia, and China, and in countries where no foreign country exists near Japan, As a result, the correct correspondence can be maintained even if there is some input error. The first and second languages are Mandarin Chinese in Chinese,
Cantonese and other dialects.

In addition, the language conversion device includes not only a complicated device such as an automatic translation device, but also a word conversion device such as an electronic dictionary, and outputs or displays a notice specific to each country separately for travelers. The function to do is added.

[0015]

As described above, according to the invention as set forth in claim 1, a linguistic conversion unit for performing unidirectional or bidirectional conversion between the first language and the second language, and position information represented by latitude and longitude. The position information input section that can input the position information, the position language type information recording section that records the correspondence relationship between the position information and the type of language used in the area indicated by the position information, and the position from the position information input section. A language type determination unit that searches the position language type information recording unit using the information and determines the language type,
Since a language type setting unit that sets the language type in the language conversion unit from the output of the language type determination unit is provided, the position language type information record is made by pairing the position information of each language and the area in which it is used in advance. By storing it in the section, the language used in the area indicated by the position information is automatically determined simply by inputting the position information. Based on this, the type of the first language or the second language Can be easily set.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the position information can be automatically input by the GPS receiving device without manually inputting the position information. For this reason, the effect is particularly great in regions where languages such as Europe are complicated. Further, according to the invention described in claim 3, the position information can be input only by indicating the position on the map.
For this reason, the effect is particularly great in regions where languages such as Europe are complicated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a language conversion device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a language type setting operation in the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a position language type information recording unit in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Position information input unit 2 Position language type information recording unit 3 Language type determination unit 4 Language type setting unit 5 Language conversion unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A language conversion unit for performing unidirectional or bidirectional conversion between a first language and a second language, a position information input unit for inputting position information represented by latitude and longitude, and position information. And the position language type information recording unit that records the correspondence between the types of languages used in the region indicated by the position information and the position information from the position information input unit, and searches the position language type information recording unit, A language conversion device comprising: a language type determination unit that determines a language type; and a language type setting unit that sets the type of the first language or the second language in the language conversion unit from the output of the language type determination unit. . 2. GPS as a component of the position information input unit
The language conversion device according to claim 1, further comprising a reception device. 3. The language conversion device according to claim 1, further comprising means for outputting position information by designating a position on a map as a component of the position information input unit.