JPH10198664A - Japanese language input system and medium for recorded with japanese language input program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a Japanese language input system capable of converting the spelling input of an original language corresponding to a word of foreign origin into Japanese reading expressed by KATAKANA (square form of Japanese syllabary). SOLUTION: When the spelling of an English word is inputted from an input means 1, a conversion means 20 retrieves an original/KATAKANA conversion dictionary 51 and acquires the spelling of KATAKANA corresponding to the English word as a 1st candidate. An original/KATAKANA conversion rule 61 is applied to the spelling of a word of foreign origin not included in the dictionary 51. Namely the conversion means 20 refers to the rule 61 and acquires the spelling of KATAKANA corresponding to the spelling of the inputted English word as a 2nd candidate. A selection means 21 selects the 1st or 2nd candicate. Since both the conversion dictionary 51 and conversion rule 61 are used, the size of the conversion dictionary 51 can be prevented from being excessively increased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a Japanese input technology for converting a spelling of an original language of a foreign language (for example, the spelling of an original language of a foreign language) into a Japanese reading, and more particularly to a method of inputting characters from a character input means using alphabets. A Japanese input system that converts input spelling information of a foreign language into character string information of Japanese reading by referring to the original language katakana conversion dictionary and the original language katakana conversion rules, and further applies to such a Japanese input system. The present invention relates to a technology that is effective when applied to, for example, a Japanese word processor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Foreign words in Japanese are usually represented in katakana. At this time, in a Japanese word processor or a Japanese input system of a computer, when a katakana character string is input as a foreign word, it is necessary to convert the input character string to katakana using a general kana-kanji conversion. As an input method in this case, there are a Roman character input using an alphabet key and a kana input using a Kana key.

As an example of a document describing kana-kanji conversion, see "Microcomputer Handbook" No. 10 published by Ohm Co., Ltd. on December 25, 1985.
There are 16 pages

[0004]

When a foreign word is to be read in Roman characters using an alphabet key, the spelling of Roman characters must be considered before the input.
For example. For "file" which is a reading of "file" in English, it is necessary to consider "fairu" in spelling in Roman alphabet. For this reason, it may take some time to input some words. In addition, the spelling of the romaji of the reading and the spelling of the original word of the foreign word may be confused and an erroneous input may be made. For example, the case where "fairu" is input for "file" which is the reading of English "file" is input as "file".

[0005] A foreign word may have a plurality of readings. For example, “printer” or “printer” for English “printer”, “violin” or “violin” for English “violin”, and the like are listed. In this case, even if the reading to be used is determined in advance and then input, the reading may not be unified. In such a case, it is necessary to correct the reading later to unify.

For foreign words, the spelling of the original word is often memorized. Therefore, if the original word is input instead of the Roman character input and the character string can be converted into the corresponding Japanese reading, the spelling of the Roman character and the spelling of the original word will not be confused. In addition, in many cases, the number of characters required for input is less in the spelling of the original word than in the spelling of the Roman alphabet in the reading of the foreign language.

An object of the present invention is to provide a Japanese input system capable of converting the spelling of a foreign language original into katakana Japanese reading. Further, at this time, the size of the dictionary for converting the original language into katakana is prevented from becoming too large.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a medium storing a Japanese input program capable of converting the spelling of a foreign language original into katakana Japanese reading.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0010]

The following is a brief description of an outline of a typical invention among the inventions disclosed in the present application.

That is, a Japanese input system realized by a computer and its operation program comprises: first storage means for storing an original language katakana conversion rule for converting a spelling of a predetermined foreign language original into katakana spelling; Second storage means for storing an original language katakana conversion dictionary in which the spelling of the foreign language and spelling of katakana are stored, character input means capable of inputting the spelling of the foreign language, and the character input The conversion candidates obtained by searching the original language katakana conversion dictionary by the spelling of the foreign language input from the means and the spelling of the foreign language input from the character input means are obtained according to the original language katakana conversion rules. Conversion means for obtaining a conversion candidate of the spelling of katakana, and selection means for selecting one candidate from the conversion candidates obtained by the conversion means, Third storage means that those serial selected by the selection means is stored, comprising, display means for displaying the information of the third conversion candidates stored in the storage means.

In the above-mentioned Japanese input system, for example, when a spelling of an English word is input from the input means, the conversion means searches the original language katakana conversion dictionary using the spelling information as a search key, and corresponds to the spelling of the English word. If there is a Japanese reading to be performed, this is obtained as a first candidate. The original katakana conversion dictionary holds, as dictionary entries, a plurality of types of Japanese readings that take into account the presence or absence of long sounds for the spelling of some frequently used foreign words. Foreign language words which the original language katakana conversion dictionary does not have are handled by the original language katakana conversion rules. That is, the conversion unit generates a Japanese reading corresponding to the spelling of the input English word with reference to the original language katakana conversion rule, and acquires this as a second candidate. As described above, candidates for Japanese reading can be obtained directly from the spelling of a foreign language word such as an English word, so that there is no need to consider spelling of a Roman character in reading a foreign word. Furthermore, since the original language katakana conversion dictionary has information on the katakana reading only for some foreign words that are frequently used, and the other words are handled by the original language katakana conversion rules, The capacity of the original katakana conversion dictionary does not become enormous.

The Japanese input system is applied to, for example, kana-kanji conversion. In the kana-kanji conversion, an input character string is divided into kana-kanji characters in units of words or phrases. For example, when a character string is input for each phrase and the input character string is being converted, the character string is searched from a kana-kanji conversion dictionary and is set as a candidate. The input character string may be in Japanese, or may be the spelling of the original word of the foreign language. Therefore, when applied to kana-kanji conversion, it is possible to search the original language katakana conversion dictionary together with the normal kana-kanji conversion dictionary search for kana-kanji conversion. Is appropriate.

Here, it is expected that the original language katakana conversion rules often do not correspond to the spelling of the original words of the foreign words held by the original language katakana conversion dictionary. Therefore, when an appropriate katakana notation can be obtained from the source language katakana conversion dictionary based on the kana-kanji conversion rule, the conversion result based on the source language katakana conversion rule may be a meaningless conversion result. Conversely, the kana-kanji conversion result for the spelling of the original word of a foreign word that has no entry in the original-word katakana conversion dictionary is expected to be a conversion result with unknown meaning in which the spelling of the original word is partially mixed or the spelling of the kana and the original word is partially mixed. You. Therefore, the conversion based on the kana-kanji conversion rule and the conversion based on the original language katakana conversion rule may be performed in parallel. In this case, one of the conversion candidates may have a meaningless content. In addition, it is expected that the input frequency of a foreign word differs depending on the type of a sentence to be created using a Japanese input system. For this reason, it is desirable that the conversion according to the original language katakana conversion rules and the reference to the original language katakana conversion dictionary can be selectively prohibited. A flag for that purpose can be included in the conversion means.

A medium in which a Japanese input program applied to the above-mentioned Japanese input system is recorded is input from a character input means in accordance with an original language katakana conversion rule for converting a spelling of a predetermined foreign language into a katakana spelling. The spelling of the foreign language is converted into katakana to obtain conversion candidates, and the spelling of the foreign language and the spelling of the katakana by the spelling of the foreign language input from the character input means. With reference to the corresponding original language katakana conversion dictionary, the spelling of the foreign language is converted into Japanese to obtain conversion candidates, and one candidate is selected from the obtained conversion candidates, and the selected candidate is selected. Is stored in the storage means, and the stored conversion candidate information is displayed on the display means.

[0016]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a Japanese input system according to the present invention. This Japanese input system has a function of converting the spelling of the original language of a foreign language into Japanese in katakana notation in addition to the known kana-kanji conversion. The function of converting the spelling of the original language into a foreign language into Japanese in katakana notation is enabled in the Roman alphabet input mode.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a keyboard, 2 is an arithmetic processing unit, 3 is a sentence storage unit, 4 is a display unit, 5 is a dictionary unit, and 6 is a conversion rule unit.

The keyboard 1 is a so-called Japanese keyboard capable of inputting Japanese characters in Roman characters or Japanese syllabary. Although not shown, a conversion instruction key for instructing Japanese conversion of an input character string, and a conversion candidate are selected. Candidate selection keys for
Function keys such as a correction position indicating key for specifying a correction position of the input character string are provided. The keyboard can be replaced with an electronic character input device using a pen.

The display section 4 has a CRT (Cathode Ray Tu).
be) A display device such as a display device or a liquid crystal display panel, a frame buffer memory for storing display data, a drawing control for the frame buffer memory, and a display device for synchronizing display data drawn in the frame buffer memory with display timing of the display device. It has a display controller that performs display control and the like supplied to the device. A display controller (not shown) acquires data to be drawn in the frame buffer from the text storage unit 3.

The dictionary section 5 has a kana-kanji conversion dictionary 50 and an original katakana conversion dictionary 51. The kana-kanji conversion dictionary 50 holds information such as readings and parts of speech for each kanji. The original language katakana conversion dictionary 51 is used for spelling the original words of some foreign words that are frequently used.
A plurality of types of Japanese katakana spelling considering the presence or absence of long sounds are stored as dictionary entries. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, information such as “date” for “date” and “printer” and “printer” for “printer” is held.

The conversion rule section 6 has a kana-kanji conversion rule 60 and an original language katakana conversion rule 61. The Kana-Kanji conversion rule 60 is not particularly limited, but is a rule for converting a character string input in units of phrases into Kana-mixed Kanji. As for the kana-kanji conversion rule 60, a number of algorithms are currently in practical use and are already well-known, so that detailed description thereof will be omitted here. The original language katakana conversion rule 61 is a rule for converting an original language character string of a foreign language input in the Roman character input mode into Japanese in katakana notation. The details of the original language katakana conversion rule 61 itself will be described later. The conversion rule 61 is a universal rule for converting all foreign words or English words into Japanese katakana notation. It is not a meaning but a rule applicable to some foreign words or English words. For an original language of a foreign language that is not supported by the original language katakana conversion rules 61, the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51 holds information on correspondence between the original language and katakana notation.

The arithmetic processing unit 2 is a function block as a function realizing unit realized by a computer (hardware) and its operation program (software), and has a character converting unit 20 and a selecting unit 21. .

Although not particularly limited, the character conversion means 20 converts a character string input from the keyboard 1 in Roman characters into kana mixed with kanji or katakana in units of phrases.
Here, for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that a conversion key is pressed for each phrase when inputting Roman characters from the keyboard 1. The character conversion means 20 determines the character string input until the conversion key is pressed down as one phrase, and converts the input character string into kana and kanji or katakana. That is, the character conversion unit 20 analyzes the syntax from the punctuation marks and particles included in the conversion target phrase according to the known kana-kanji conversion rule 60, divides the phrase into words according to the analysis result, and, for each character string of the separated words, With reference to the kana-kanji conversion dictionary 50 and the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51, corresponding kanji, katakana, and hiragana are acquired as candidates. At this time, if the spelling of the original word of the foreign word is included in the phrase, the spelling part of the foreign word is recognized as one word by the syntactic analysis, and the katakana reading corresponding to the spelling is recognized as a candidate (No. 1 candidate).

Further, the character conversion means 20 applies the original language katakana conversion rule 61 to each character string of the word delimited by the kana-kanji conversion rule 60, and acquires katakana reading for each word as a candidate (second candidate). . The conversion target according to the original language katakana conversion rule 61 is not particularly limited, but is limited to a part of speech, and is limited to, for example, a noun, an adjective, an adverb, and a verb. If all are to be converted,
Particles and auxiliary verbs are also converted, and the number of meaningless candidates increases. Especially when the purpose is to convert the spelling of the original word of a foreign word into katakana Japanese notation, particle and auxiliary verbs do not fit in the foreign word, so there is no practical problem even if those parts of speech are excluded from the conversion target. .

The converted candidates are provided to the selection means 21. The selection unit 21 displays the given candidate in the candidate column of the display unit 4, and the candidate selected here replaces the input character string. The candidates selected in this way are sequentially accumulated in the text storage unit 3.

The software in the character conversion means 20 and the selection means 21 constituted by hardware and software, and the kana-kanji conversion rules 60 and the original katakana conversion rules 61 constitute a Japanese input program.

Here, the original language katakana conversion rule 61 does not basically correspond to the spelling of the original word of the foreign language held by the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51. Therefore,
When an appropriate Japanese katakana notation is obtained from the source language katakana conversion dictionary 51 based on the kana-kanji conversion rule 60, the conversion result based on the source language katakana conversion rule 61 is almost always a meaningless conversion result. On the other hand, the kana-kanji conversion result for the spelling of the original word of a foreign word having no entry in the original-word katakana conversion dictionary 51 is expected to be a conversion result with an unknown meaning in which the original word is spelled or partially mixed with the spelling of the original word. You. Therefore, the Kana-Kanji conversion rule 6
The conversion based on 0 and the conversion based on the original language katakana conversion rule 61 may be performed in parallel. In this case, one of the conversion candidates has a meaningless content. Therefore, when all the conversion candidates obtained by the kana-kanji conversion rule 60 are rejected, the original language katakana conversion rule 61
It is preferable to perform the conversion operation according to, or to display the candidates obtained by the original language katakana conversion rules 61 in the candidate display column of the display unit 4. Further, since the input frequency of a foreign language is expected to differ depending on the type of a sentence to be created using a Japanese input system, the conversion by the original language katakana conversion rule 61 and the reference of the original language katakana conversion dictionary are selected. It is possible to prohibit it. Such an optional switch (software switch) can be included in the character conversion means 20. That is, when the katakana conversion flag FLG of the foreign language original language spelling included in the kana-kanji conversion rule 60 is reset, the conversion by the original language katakana conversion rule 61 and the reference to the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51 are not performed. Are performed only when the flag FLG is set.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the conversion control operation by the character conversion means 20. Character conversion means 2
0 acquires a character string sequentially input from the keyboard 1 (S1). Then, when the conversion operation is instructed, the conversion operation is performed on the character string acquired so far in accordance with the Kana-Kanji conversion rule 60 (S3 or S4). As described above, the contents of the conversion operation are word recognition by syntax analysis and kana-kanji conversion for each word. As described above, in the kana-kanji conversion, the foreign language original language spelling conversion flag FLG is set (Yes in S2).
In the case of, the kana-kanji conversion is performed with reference to the kana-kanji dictionary 50 and the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51, and the katakana conversion flag FLG of the foreign language original language spelling is reset (S2).
In the case of No), the kana-kanji conversion is performed with reference to only the kana-kanji dictionary 50. Then, after step S3, katakana conversion is performed on some part of speech words separated by the kana-kanji conversion rule 60 according to the original language katakana conversion rule 61 (S5). The conversion candidates obtained in steps S3 and S5 or S4 are displayed in the candidate column of the display unit 4 (S6). Although not particularly limited, the displayed candidates are selectable by a selection cursor. The selection cursor is located at the beginning of the displayed candidate. If the enter key is pressed as it is, the leading candidate is selected. In step 7, candidates are selected, and in step S
At 8, it is determined whether the selection of the candidate has been confirmed. When the selection of the candidate is determined, the input character string in the input line is replaced with the selected candidate, and the selected candidate is stored in the text storage unit 3 (S9), and the conversion operation for the input character string is performed. Is terminated.

Here, an example of the original language katakana conversion rule 61 will be described. This conversion rule is a rule for directly converting the spelling of the alphabet into katakana reading of English words. The first basic rule is that the sound of a consonant is a sound obtained by adding "u" to the consonant (a sound of 50 steps). For example, "s" is "s", "l" is "le", "v" is "v (or bu)", "t" is "to (or tsu, to)",
“M” is “m (or n)”. When the last character of the word is “e” and the preceding character is a consonant, if the preceding character is a vowel (a, i, u, e, o), the vowel is
The pronunciation of the alphabet itself (A, I, U, E, O) is used, and the last "e" is not pronounced. For example, when the above rule is applied to “file”, consonants “f” and “l” are “fu”,
Although the pronunciation is "ru", the last vowel "e" is preceded by a consonant "l", so the preceding "i" is pronounced "eye" and the pronunciation of "fi" is "fi". Phi ".
Since the last "e" is not pronounced, the pronunciation of "l" is "ru". Thus, a candidate “file” for “file” can be obtained.

As a second rule, “er” is “ar”, “high” is “eye”, “sion” is “(to make the immediately preceding vowel the sound of the alphabet itself)”, “tion” To "(so that the immediately preceding vowel is the sound of the alphabet itself)."

As a third rule, the vowel (a, i, u, e, o) at the head of a word uses the pronunciation (A, I, U, E, O) of the alphabet itself.

From the above, for example, for “fight”, candidates for “fight, fight, fight” are obtained.
For “education”, a candidate “education” is obtained. For “printer”, candidates for “printer” are obtained.

In FIG. 4, the character conversion means 20 converts the character string "pr
An example of a candidate selection operation flow when “inter” is acquired is shown. FIG. 5 shows the input lines and candidate display fields at that time.

Keyboard 1 in Japanese Roman alphabet input mode
When the character "printer" is input from (S1)
0), the input character is displayed on the screen of the display unit (S1).
1). Here, it is assumed that the foreign language original language spelling conversion flag FLG is in a set state, and when a conversion operation is instructed, as described in step S3 in FIG. 3, the kana-kanji conversion dictionary 50 and the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51 , The conversion candidates are displayed in the candidate display field of the display screen according to the kana-kanji conversion rules 60. The display state at this time is shown in FIG. 5, where 7A is the input character displayed on the input line, 7B is the first candidate displayed in the candidate display column, and 7C is the second candidate. In this example, "printer"
Are included in the entry of the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51 as shown in FIG. The original katakana conversion rule 6
1, the same conversion result as the entry in the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51 is obtained as described in the specific example of the conversion rule. Therefore, the conversion candidate does not include a candidate whose meaning is unknown. When the conversion is performed in FIG. 4, the selection cursor points to the first candidate “printer” (S12), and when the function key (candidate selection key) is pressed, the next candidate “printer” is pointed by the selection cursor ( S13). When the function key (candidate selection key) is further pressed, the input character string "print
er ”is pointed by the selection cursor. When another key is operated in a state where the conversion candidate or the input character string is pointed by the selection cursor, the conversion candidate or the input character string which the selection cursor is pointing at that time is determined. The determined conversion result replaces the input character string on the input line.

FIG. 6 shows a case where the character conversion means uses the character string "fil".
An example of a candidate selection operation flow when “e” is acquired is shown. FIG. 7 shows the state of the input lines and candidate display fields at that time.

Keyboard 1 in Japanese Roman alphabet input mode
Is input (S20), the input character is displayed on the screen of the display unit (S21). Here, it is assumed that the foreign language original word spelling conversion flag FLG is in a set state, and when a conversion operation is instructed, FIG.
As described in step S3, the kana-kanji conversion dictionary 5
Conversion candidates are displayed in the candidate display field of the display screen according to the kana-kanji conversion rule 60 using the 0 and the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51. The display state at this time is shown in FIG. 5, where 8A is the input character displayed on the input line, 8B is the first candidate displayed in the candidate display column, and 8C is the second candidate. In the example in this case, since “file” is not included in the entry of the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51, the conversion according to the kana-kanji conversion rule 60 yields a conversion candidate called “filet” that is simply romanized. On the other hand, in the conversion according to the original language katakana conversion rule 61, a conversion candidate "file" can be obtained as described in the specific example of the conversion rule. When the conversion is performed in FIG. 6, the selection cursor points to the first candidate “fillet” (S2
2) When the function key (candidate selection key) is pressed, the next candidate "file" is pointed by the selection cursor (S2).
3). When the function key (candidate selection key) is further pressed, the input character string "file" is pointed by the selection cursor. When another key is operated in a state where the conversion candidate or the input character string is pointed by the selection cursor, the conversion candidate or the input character string which the selection cursor is pointing at that time is determined. In this case, the second conversion candidate “file” will be selected. The determined conversion result replaces the input character string on the input line as described above.

The Japanese input program used for the Japanese input and stem system has an operation program for implementing the conversion procedure described with reference to FIG. 3 together with the Kana-Kanji conversion rule 60 and the original language Katakana conversion rule. Such Japanese input programs are available on floppy disks and CD-Rs.
It is provided by being recorded in an OM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory) or the like.

As is clear from the above description, when the spelling of an English word is input from the keyboard 1 in the Japanese input system, the character conversion means 20 uses the spelling information as a search key to convert the original katakana conversion dictionary 51. Search for
If there is a Japanese reading corresponding to the spelling of the English word,
This is obtained as a first candidate. The original language katakana conversion dictionary 51 holds, as dictionary entries, a plurality of types of Japanese readings that take into account the presence or absence of long sounds for the spelling of some frequently used original words. Foreign language words that the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51 does not have are dealt with by the original language katakana conversion rule 61. That is, the character conversion means 20 generates a Japanese reading corresponding to the spelling of the input English word with reference to the original language katakana conversion rule 61 and acquires this as a second candidate. As described above, candidates for Japanese reading can be obtained directly from the spelling of a foreign language word such as an English word, so that there is no need to consider spelling of a Roman character in reading a foreign word. Therefore, it is possible to reduce input errors caused by confusing the input of Roman characters with the original language. Further, the original language katakana conversion dictionary 5
No. 1 has information on katakana reading only for some foreign words that are frequently used, and the other words are dealt with by the original language katakana conversion rule 61. There is no enormous capacity.

In the kana-kanji conversion to which the above-mentioned Japanese input system is applied, an input character string is converted into kana-mixed kanji by separating words into words in units of phrases. That is, when a character string is input for each phrase and the input character string is being converted, the character string is searched from the kana-kanji conversion dictionary 50 and the original language katakana conversion dictionary 51 and is set as a candidate. The input character string may be in Japanese, or may be the spelling of the original word of the foreign language. Therefore, the method of converting the original word of a foreign word into katakana spelling can be easily applied to ordinary kana-kanji conversion.

Furthermore, since the original katakana conversion rules are adopted, it is possible to deal with foreign words that will be used in the future or unusual specialized foreign words without adding a new dictionary entry. .

The frequency of inputting foreign words is expected to differ depending on the type of sentence to be created using the Japanese input system. From this, the conversion according to the original language katakana conversion rule 61 and the original language katakana conversion dictionary 5
The use of the Japanese input system can be improved by selectively prohibiting the reference to 1 with the flag FLG.

Although the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiment, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof. No.

For example, the contents of the original language katakana conversion rules are not limited to the above specific examples, and can be changed as appropriate. If the content converted by the conversion rule is incomplete, the content of the conversion candidate may be corrected using the keyboard. Further, the Japanese input system can be applied not only to a word processor but also to a character input system in a computer. Further, the Japanese input program may be a so-called front-end processor that is installed in a personal computer and used for general purposes.

[0044]

The effects obtained by typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described as follows.

That is, the input of the spelling of the original word of the foreign language can be converted into katakana Japanese reading. At this time, since the original language katakana conversion dictionary and the original language katakana conversion rule are used together, the size of the original language katakana conversion dictionary can be prevented from becoming too large. Further, since the original language katakana conversion rule is adopted, it is possible to deal with a foreign word that will be used in the future or an unusual specialized foreign word without adding a new dictionary entry.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a Japanese input system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a format explanatory view showing an example of the structure of an original language katakana conversion dictionary.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a conversion control operation performed by a character conversion unit;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a candidate selecting operation when the character conversion unit acquires a character string “printer”;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of an input line and a candidate display field in the selection operation of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation of selecting a candidate when the character conversion unit acquires a character string “file”.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the states of input lines and candidate display columns in the selection operation of FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 keyboard 2 arithmetic processing unit 3 sentence storage unit 4 display unit 5 dictionary unit 50 kana-kanji dictionary 51 original katakana conversion dictionary 6 conversion rule unit 60 kana-kanji conversion rule 61 original katakana conversion rule 7A, 8A input line 7B, 8B First candidate 7C, 8C Second candidate FLG Foreign language original word spelling conversion flag

Claims (3)

[Claims] An original language katakana conversion rule for converting a spelling of a predetermined foreign language into katakana spelling is stored in a first language.
Storage means for storing an original language katakana conversion dictionary in which spelling of the foreign language and spelling of katakana are stored; and character input means capable of inputting the spelling of the foreign language. A conversion candidate obtained by searching the original language katakana conversion dictionary by spelling the foreign language input from the character input means, and spelling the foreign language input from the character input means. A conversion unit that obtains a conversion candidate of katakana spelling obtained according to a katakana conversion rule; a selection unit that selects one candidate from the conversion candidates obtained by the conversion unit; and a selection unit that is selected by the selection unit. And a display means for displaying information on conversion candidates stored in the third storage means. Beam. 2. A process for searching the original language katakana conversion dictionary to obtain a spelling of a corresponding katakana,
2. The Japanese input system according to claim 1, further comprising an original language spelling conversion flag for selectively validating or invalidating the process of converting to the katakana spelling according to the original language katakana conversion rules. 3. A medium in which a program for performing Japanese input by a computer is recorded, wherein the Japanese input program complies with an original language katakana conversion rule for converting a spelling of a predetermined foreign language original into katakana spelling. Therefore, the spelling of the foreign language word input from the character input means is converted to katakana to obtain conversion candidates, and the spelling of the foreign language original word input from the character input means allows the foreign language original word to be spelled. Referring to the original language katakana conversion dictionary that associates the spelling and its katakana spelling, converts the spelling of the foreign language original language into Japanese to obtain conversion candidates, and obtains one candidate from the obtained conversion candidates. And a storage unit for storing the selected candidates, and displaying the information of the stored conversion candidates on a display unit. Medium on which is recorded.