JPS6316784B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Technical Field> The present invention relates to a Japanese input device using a kana-kanji conversion method, which inputs Japanese sentences while converting a character string input in kana to a sentence containing kanji and kana. .

<Prior art> In the case of the kana-kanji conversion method, unlike direct input methods such as the full key method, the kana character string before conversion,
It is necessary to display both of the converted kanji and kana mixed sentences on the same display, and especially when a one-line display is used, operability may deteriorate.

Japanese input devices using the Kana-Kanji conversion method have been using screen displays such as CRTs as display devices, but using screen displays increases the size of the entire device and increases costs. Using a one-line display makes the device smaller and lowers the cost, but compared to a screen display, only one line of the whole can be displayed at a time, making it less operable for input, editing, and correction. .

<Purpose> The present invention aims to improve operability by effectively utilizing the display and simplifying key operations even though the display device uses, for example, a one-line display. Therefore, the present invention provides a Japanese input device using a kana-kanji conversion method that is small, inexpensive, and easy to use.

<Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external view, and FIG. 3 is a detailed plan view of the keyboard section.

The keyboard 1 consists of, for example, flat keys of a flat tablet type, and as shown in FIG. 3, a group of 50 syllabary keys 1a is arranged in the center thereof.
The key group 1b below the 50-sound kana key group 1a is a numerical value,
The number and alphabet keys are arranged so that alphabetic characters can also be entered. In addition, the key group 1c, which is adjacent to the left and includes conversion keys for instructing kanji conversion, which are mainly operated during kanji conversion, is adjacent to the right.
Key groups 1d mainly used in connection with the kana key group 1a are arranged, such as the ) key, the handakuten (゜) key, the syllable (,) ^, and (.) keys. Furthermore, a group of keys 1e and 1f, which are mainly used to perform overall control, are arranged a little apart left and right.

The keyboard 1 as described above is positioned on the device as shown in FIG. 2, and any input can be made by placing the hand on the device and moving the press bar S using the wrist as a fulcrum without changing the position. It is large enough to eliminate the

In Figure 1, the kana character string input from the keyboard 1 is sent to the CPU (Central Processing Unit) 2.
is once introduced into the input sentence buffer 3 and displayed on the one-line display 4. At this time, the input kana character string is displayed together with the already converted kanji-kana exchange sentence - which is stored in the output sentence buffer 5. In this example, one line
It uses a 30-character display, with 28 characters per line.
It can fit up to the characters.

When the conversion key is pressed here, the CPU 2 searches the dictionary memory 7 for the contents of the input sentence buffer 3 according to the program of the processing program section 6. The dictionary memory 7 stores kanji notations corresponding to kana headings that can be searched by phrase. As a result of the search, if the corresponding data is found, the CPU 2 transfers it to the conversion candidate buffer 8 to the kanji notation section of the conversion dictionary, and at the same time
On the row display 4, one of the candidates is displayed in place of the input kana character string. As will be explained in detail later, the kanji to be converted can be arbitrarily selected, and the selected characters are sequentially switched and displayed on the one-line display 4. Once a specific kanji is selected, the next kana character string can be input by operating the keyboard 1, and the kanji identified above or a kanji-kana mixed sentence containing this kanji is displayed in the output text buffer 5. input and stored.

The format display 9 is provided on the left side of the keyboard 1 as shown in FIG. 2, and displays the format (outline) of the entire input text.
Display.

A more detailed explanation will be given below with reference to detailed block diagrams of main parts, flowcharts, etc.

The kana character string entered from keyboard 1 is
The text is once entered into the input sentence buffer 3 via the CPU 2 and displayed on the one-line display 4.
The kana character string input at this time is displayed differently from other character displays (black and white inversion, boxed boxes, different font) to distinguish it from the kanji-kana-mixed text stored in the output text buffer 5 and already converted. I do. An example of this display is shown in FIG. 4a. As an example, in the last line (the line including the cursor position), a case is shown in which "Japanese" is already converted and is a combination of kanji and kana, and "kansei" is input. In the figure, the mark indicates the starting position of the line, and the mark indicates the cursor position. As described above, this embodiment uses a display with 30 characters per line, and up to 28 characters can be entered per line. Although the number of characters per line can be set arbitrarily by a separate instruction from the keyboard 1, hereafter it is assumed that it is set to 28 characters per line for ease of explanation.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the main parts in detail.
The already converted sentences containing kanji and kana are stored in the output sentence buffer 5. The one-line display 4 displays the line including the cursor position among the stored sentences containing kanji and kana. "Japanese" in Figure 4a corresponds to this. Here, when the kana character string "Kansei" is input using the keyboard 1, it is stored in the input sentence buffer 3. Each character data is CG
(Character Generator) 11 is written to the refresh RAM 12 and displayed. However, when character data is supplied from the input sentence buffer 3, the CPU 2 inverts and refreshes the character pattern extracted from the CG 11.
Write to RAM12. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4a, ``Kansei'' is displayed in black and white inverted, distinguishing it from the already converted kanji and kana characters.

In the case of using square boxes, different fonts, etc., the generation of character patterns in the CG 11 may be similarly controlled in accordance with the supply of character data from the input sentence buffer 3.

When the conversion key is pressed, the dictionary memory 7 is searched and if the corresponding data is found, the CPU 2 transfers the kanji notation part of the conversion dictionary to the conversion candidate buffer 8. and
The CPU 2 extracts the first candidate from the conversion candidate buffer 8 and displays it in place of the input kana character string displayed earlier on the one-line display 4.

An example of the display at this time is shown in FIG. 4b. As is clear from Figure 4b, the number of homophones (conversion candidate buffer 8
(number of candidates retrieved) is added and displayed after the converted character. The kanji notation of the conversion result is in normal letters, and the number of homophones is highlighted or boxed to distinguish it from the numbers included in other normal sentences, or to indicate that the following homophones can be selected. etc. will be done.

The number of homophones is stored in P and Q of the conversion candidate buffer 8. P is the total number of homophones, and Q is the remaining number of homophones. When the conversion key is pressed, the corresponding character pattern is extracted from the CG 11 according to the first candidate data in the conversion candidate buffer 8 and stored in the refresh RAM 12.
is memorized. The character pattern extracted at this time is not inverted like the output sentence buffer 5 and is displayed normally. However, when displaying the number of homophones (remaining number of homophones Q), CPU2 uses CG
The character pattern taken out from 11 is written as an inversion into the refresh RAM 12 and displayed in reverse.

In the display example in Figure 4b, "Complete" is the first option.
is selected and displayed.
When the next candidate key is pressed on keyboard 1,
In accordance with the program of the processing program device 6, the CPU 2 takes out the next candidate from the conversion candidate buffer 8 and replaces it with the first candidate "Complete" already displayed on the one-line display 4. At this time, the number of homophones is subtracted by 1 so that the remaining number of homophones can be displayed. For example, "Completion" becomes "Quiet", and the number of homophones is displayed as 9. If you press the next candidate key further, the next candidates will be displayed one after another. If the next candidate key is further pressed when the number of homophones is displayed as 1, the screen returns to the beginning and becomes as shown in Figure 4b. The previous candidate key is a key that selects candidates in the opposite direction to the next candidate key.If the number of homophones is large and the next candidate key is pressed too many times,
Alternatively, it is particularly effective when selecting homophones with low candidate rankings.

The operation flow associated with the pressing operation of the next candidate key and the previous candidate key is shown in Figure 6, and the total number of homophones P is provided for transfer and comparison for the cycle operation of each key, and one line On the display 4, the number Q of remaining homophones is displayed.

When the selection of the homophone is completed and the next kana character is input, the CPU 2 moves the last displayed candidate from the conversion candidate buffer 8 to the output sentence buffer 5, and also updates the input kana character string to the input sentence buffer 3. At the same time, the number of homophones on the one-line display 4 is displayed in reverse order. If the CPU 2 searches the dictionary memory 7 according to the instruction of the conversion key and the corresponding data is not found, the input sentence buffer 3
The content of is transferred as is to the conversion candidate buffer 8, the kana character string to be converted is normally displayed, and the number of homophones becomes 0.

Next, a case where the number of displayed characters exceeds the number of characters on the one-line display 4 will be explained. As an example,
It is already displayed that ``Japanese input device with kana-kanji conversion method is very convenient,'' and ``it is a machine.''
The relationship between key input and display when inputting ``and'' is shown below. Note that the highlighted text is shown in gothic font, and the blank space is marked with a circle.

Display 1 Kana-Kanji conversion method...Very convenient 〓〇〇〇 Key input: KAIKAI Display 2 Kana-Kanji conversion method...Very convenient KAI〓 Key input: Display 3 Kana-Kanji conversion method...Very convenient text 〓 Key input: Display 4 The day of Kanji conversion method...It's a convenient message〓 Key input: Conversion display 5 The day of Kanji conversion method...It's a convenient opportunity〓〇 Key input: Next candidate display 6 Kanji conversion method... It's a convenient machine〓〇 Key input: Display 7 If there is 〓〇〇〇...〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇 Key input: No conversion display 8 If there is 〓 〇〇〇……〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇〇 Key input: ↑ Display 9 Kana-Kan〓 Character conversion...It is a very convenient machine.Display 1 is the initial state, display 2 is 1 line When display 4 is full In the relaxed state, display 3 is a state in which one more character is input and the whole thing is shifted one character to the left,
Display 4 shows the state in which the input of the kana characters to be converted has been completed, Display 5 shows the state in which the conversion key has been pressed (at this time, note that the first character of the conversion result is at the beginning position of the kana characters to be converted), Display 6 is the state selected by the next candidate key, Display 7 is the state that the next kana character has been input, and at this time one of the homophones is assumed to have been determined and is not shifted (the next ). Display 8 shows the state in which the conversion target "to" is left unconverted by pressing the "no conversion" key (the display of "to" is replaced with a normal character), and display 9 shows the state in which the cursor is moved up and the previous line is displayed. This is the displayed state.

In FIG. 5, A of the output sentence buffer 5 stores the number of characters that can be displayed on the one-line display 4 (which can be set using the keyboard 1), and B stores the character position from the beginning of the line. Also, C of input sentence buffer 3
stores the number of kana characters input. In the display example of FIG. 4, A=28, B=5, and C=4.

As shown in the flowchart of Figure 7,
When the flag F of the CPU 2 is 0, the kana data is taken into the input sentence buffer 3 every time there is a kana input. Then, the sizes of A and (B+C) are compared. If A is larger, the characters are not shifted and the input kana characters are displayed one after the other. When (B+C) becomes larger, the character position B is -1 and the entire one-line display 4 is shifted to the left by one character and displayed. In other words, when inputting a kana character string, even if the number of characters in one line exceeds the number of characters displayed on the display 4,
All input kana character strings can be displayed along the right edge of the row display 4. If you press the conversion key and then the next candidate key or previous candidate key, the results will be displayed based on B, so the first character of the conversion result will be at the first position of the kana character to be converted, and all conversion results will be displayed. Ru.

If you press the conversion key, the flag F=2, so when entering a new kana character string, clear input buffer 3 and import the input data,
The conversion result is transferred to the output sentence buffer 5, and accordingly, the contents of character position B are rewritten and returned to normal display.

In this manner, in this example, the conversion target and the conversion result can all be displayed at once until the homophone is determined. If you move to the next line without shifting to the left when you exceed the number of characters in one line, only the second half will be displayed, resulting in very poor operability. Furthermore, in this example, when a homophone is determined, the display automatically returns to the normal, unshifted display, allowing the operator to continue inputting using natural operations. A homophone is considered determined when a key other than conversion, no conversion, cancellation, onkun, previous candidate, and next candidate is pressed.

As explained above, in order to reduce the burden on the operator during input, mode settings and key input prohibitions are avoided as much as possible, and when the device is in input mode, conversion, no conversion, and cancellation can be done by shifting the cursor left or right. The functions of function keys such as , erase key, etc. are always enabled. The example sentence input operation and display method will be explained below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

Example 1 "Thank you" Combination of conversion, cancellation, and left/right shift Indication of incorrect conversion unit 〓 Key input: Please display Onegai, I will do it too〓 Key input: Display of conversion, Please do it too〓 Key input: Display of cancellation, Please do it too 〓 Key input: ←←←←←←← Display Please 〓 I will do it again Key input: Conversion display Please 〓 I will do it again Key input: → Display Please, I will do it〓 Key input: Conversion display Thank you 〓 Example 1 is incorrectly written as 2 This is the case when a clause is input,
When the conversion key is operated for the first time, there is no corresponding data in the dictionary memory 7 and the data is displayed without conversion. When the cancel key is operated, the operation of the conversion key is canceled and the display returns to that of the previous input sentence buffer 3, which is displayed in reverse video. Here, the flag becomes F=0, and when the left cursor movement (←) key is pressed, the cursor moves by the number of times it was pressed. This moves the cursor to the position corresponding to one clause. When you press the conversion key, the highlighted character in front of the cursor is converted, the corresponding part becomes normal display, and the number of homophones is displayed. In addition, at this time, the kana character string after the cursor is input sentence buffer 3.
, so this is also displayed inverted. Flag F by pressing the conversion key
= 2 years have passed. Therefore, when the right cursor movement (→) key is pressed next, the previously converted portion of the input sentence buffer 3 is cleared and the cursor is skipped to the end at one time and returned to the normal position. After that, press the normal conversion key to convert the remaining input kana string.

Example 2 "Japanese" Combination of Convert, Cancel, Left/Right Shift, and Erase keys Correct input error Display Key input: Hango display Hango〓 Key input: Conversion display Hango〓 Key input: Cancel display 日本語〓 Key input: ←← Display 〓 Apple key input: 〓 Display 〓 Apple key input: Display Japanese 〓 Key input: →→ Display Japanese〓 Key input: Conversion display Japanese: Cancel and move the cursor to the left as in Example 1. When the user presses the 〓 button, the character on the left side is erased, and the input kana character ``ho'' is taken into the corresponding position of the input buffer 3. Since the flag F=0 for moving the cursor in the right direction, the cursor moves one step for each press in the usual way.

Example 3 “I can tell you” Combination display with no conversion Can be told Key input: Can be displayed Can be told Key input: Conversion display Can be told Key input: No conversion display Can be told Key input: Conversion display Can be communicated〓 Key input: No conversion display Can be communicated Key input: Cancellation display Can be communicated The no conversion key is used when the conversion key is pressed and there is no corresponding data. Similarly, the contents of the input sentence buffer 3 are transferred as they are to the conversion candidate buffer 8 and displayed.
Switching between the conversion key and the non-conversion key is simply the selection of data from the conversion candidate buffer 8, and the non-conversion key or the conversion key can be directly pressed as desired. Also,
The ability to press the cancel key without conversion is the same as in the case of the conversion key.

Example 4 "You can input Japanese quickly" Combination display of insertion and conversion Japanese can be input 〓 Key input: ←←←←← Display Japanese can be input 〓 Key input can be input: quickly Display Japanese can be input quickly 〓 Key input can be input Input: Conversion display Key input that allows you to enter Japanese faster: Display next candidate You can enter Japanese faster Kana character input is possible at any time, and when you move the cursor and press the Kana key, the conversion will be performed first. The resulting character data is transferred to the output sentence buffer 5. on the other hand,
The kana character string is taken into the cleared input buffer 3 and displayed in reverse. The insertion position is controlled by the cursor position, and Kanji conversion can be done in the same way within the text.

Example 5 "Easy to input Japanese" Combination display of insertion and deletion conversion Key input that can quickly input Japanese: 〓 Display Key input that can input Japanese quickly: 〓 Display 〓 Input Japanese Key input that can be easily displayed: Key input that can be input easily: Conversion display Japanese can be input easily. Characters in both the left and right directions can be erased using the 〓 and 〓 keys, and the text can be changed as shown in example 4. Indicates that it can be inserted.

Next, punctuation mark conversion will be explained. FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of punctuation mark conversion. When the period (.) key is pressed, the period (.) is input into the input sentence buffer 3 and is automatically converted without pressing the conversion key. Of course, in this state, a specific item can be selected by pressing the next candidate key or the previous candidate key.

By using punctuation conversion in this way, whereas normally you would have to enter kana input, conversion, next candidate (or previous candidate), and period (.), kana input, period (.), and next period (.) are input. (or previous candidate), and the number of input operations can be reduced by one step. If you want to input kana as is, you can enter kana, do no conversion, and use the normal period (.). The same goes for commas (,).

As explained above, the operability of kana-kanji conversion input is greatly improved even though it is a one-line display, but since the format of the entire input sentence cannot be grasped on a one-line display, the CPU 2 further increases the output sentence buffer 5. Using the format display 9, which displays the format of one page by associating one character with one dot (dots are lit where there are characters, and dots are turned off where there are no characters, such as spaces and tabs). ) and by flashing the dot on the format display corresponding to the cursor position on the one-line display 4, the one-line display 4 and the format display 9 are made to correspond, and although it is small, it has the same operability as a CRT screen display. It is made to have. FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a display example of the format display 9. As shown in FIG.

In the above embodiments, the display device is limited to a one-line display, but the present invention is particularly useful for a one-line display, and is applicable to a two-by-three-line partial page display or a screen display. It can also be applied to a kana-kanji conversion input device. In addition, the present invention performs kana-kanji conversion by word-by-word conversion and kanji-by-kanji conversion,
It can be applied to any method, such as one for converting phrases.

In this way, the kana-kanji conversion Japanese input device of the present invention sequentially shifts and displays the characters displayed on the display to the left when the input kana character string exceeds the display display area. When the conversion is completed, the display automatically returns to the normal unshifted display, so the conversion process can be performed effectively even on a 1-line display, allowing the operator to continue inputting in a natural manner, making the operation easier. It has very good properties.

Embodiments of the invention are as follows.

A keyboard including at least 50 syllabary keys and several function keys for inputting kana, a one-line display capable of displaying kana, kanji, alphanumeric characters, etc., a conversion dictionary for converting kana to kanji, and the above-mentioned A CPU that controls the keyboard and display as well as performs kana-kanji conversion processing, a processing program device that operates the CPU in a fixed procedure, and an input text buffer that stores kana character strings input from the keyboard. It is equipped with a conversion candidate buffer that temporarily stores the candidates that should be used, and an output sentence buffer that stores the selected candidate as a sentence, and converts the kana character string input from the keyboard into a sentence containing kanji and kana to input Japanese. (i) When displaying a kana character string input from the keyboard on the one-line display, the input kana character string is displayed on the one-line display to distinguish it from the display of the already converted kanji-kana text. Display the columns with their white and black colors reversed, or display them surrounded by a frame. or a Japanese input device characterized by displaying characters in different fonts (ii) When a homophone is found in the conversion result corresponding to the input kana character string, the number of homophones is added to the conversion result and displayed, and a Japanese input device characterized by displaying the number of homophones by inverting black and white or changing the character pattern so that it can be distinguished from numbers included in other sentences (iii) Converted as above In a Japanese input device that adds and displays the number of homophones to the result, the next candidate call key for selecting a homophone sequentially displays the next homophone, and the number of additionally displayed homophones is subtracted by 1. A Japanese input device characterized by displaying the number of remaining homophones, and when the remaining number of homophones reaches 0, returning to the beginning and displaying the first homophone candidate and the number of homophones, and repeating the same operation thereafter (iv ) A Japanese input device in which a previous candidate call key is provided in addition to the next candidate call key, and the next candidate call key can be operated in the opposite direction.(v) Conversion key, no conversion key, cancel key, When using the cursor left/right shift key, as long as the device is in input mode, no matter what state it is in,
Japanese input device with improved operability by enabling the functions of the above function keys (vi) When the input kana character string exceeds the display area of the one-line display during input operation, all displayed characters are The conversion results obtained by sequentially shifting to the left and pressing the conversion key, and the conversion results obtained by pressing the next candidate and previous candidate calling keys, are the same as the input kana character string until they are finalized. Kana-kanji conversion that positions the first character of the conversion result at the first character position and returns it to the normal display position only when the conversion selection is confirmed by inputting the next kana character or pressing a key such as cursor shift or backspace. Processing device (vii) In addition to the one-line display for displaying the text, a format display is provided for displaying one character of the text stored in the output text buffer in one segment and for displaying the document format of the entire page; A Japanese input device that makes the one-line display correspond to the format display by blinking the segment of the format display that corresponds to the cursor position on the one-line display. (.)
A kana-kanji conversion processing device characterized by being able to give instructions using commas (,).As described above, the present invention is a device that can improve operability by effectively utilizing the display and simplifying key operations. The present invention also provides a Japanese input device using a kana-kanji conversion method that is small, low-cost, and easy to use.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is an external perspective view, Fig. 3 is a detailed plan view of the keyboard section, Fig. 4 a and b are views each showing an example of display on a one-line display section, and Fig. 5 shows the main part in detail. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation, FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining another operation, FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining another operation, and FIG. 9 is a format display section. It is a figure which shows the example of a display. 1: Keyboard, 2: CPU, 3: Input sentence buffer, 4: One line display, 5: Output sentence buffer, 8: Conversion candidate buffer, 9: Format display.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a kana-kanji conversion Japanese input device that displays on a display a kana character string before conversion and a kanji or kanji-kana mixed sentence after conversion, a state determining means for detecting whether or not the kana character string exceeds the display area of the display; Shift control means for sequentially shifting the characters displayed on the display each time the kana characters are input in order to display them on the display, and converting the unconverted kana character string into kanji or a sentence containing kanji and kana and displaying the converted character string. a control means for controlling the display position of the first character of the pre-converted kana character string to display the converted kanji or kanji-kana mixed sentences sequentially when the conversion is performed. Japanese input device.