WO1997046951A1 - Dispositif de traitement de texte - Google Patents

Dispositif de traitement de texte Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1997046951A1
WO1997046951A1 PCT/SE1997/000984 SE9700984W WO9746951A1 WO 1997046951 A1 WO1997046951 A1 WO 1997046951A1 SE 9700984 W SE9700984 W SE 9700984W WO 9746951 A1 WO9746951 A1 WO 9746951A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
data items
memory unit
unit
group
groups
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/SE1997/000984
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Håkan LENNERSTAD
Original Assignee
Lennerstad Idé
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from SE9602215A external-priority patent/SE506906C2/sv
Priority claimed from SE9602990A external-priority patent/SE9602990D0/xx
Application filed by Lennerstad Idé filed Critical Lennerstad Idé
Publication of WO1997046951A1 publication Critical patent/WO1997046951A1/fr

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F40/00—Handling natural language data
    • G06F40/20—Natural language analysis
    • G06F40/274—Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a device and a com ⁇ puter program for word processing.
  • Background Art Normal word-processing apparatus have an input unit with a keyboard, a data-processing unit, a memory unit and a display unit with a screen. When the user presses a key on the keyboard, an electric signal is generated which is forwarded to the data processing unit, in which the signal is processed. Then the signal is stored in the memory unit and presented on the screen of the display unit in the form of a character. For each character which is to be shown on the screen, at least one keystroke thus is required.
  • Such electronic word-processing apparatus often have many other functions which are intended to facilitate the user's writing work and increase the speed of writing.
  • cut- and-paste function which makes it possible for the user to select a text portion shown on the screen and activate the device to copy the corresponding characters in the memory unit to a second memory unit, whereupon the user on a later occasion can select to again copy this text portion in an arbitrary position in the text presented on the screen.
  • an electro ⁇ nic dictionary which is a bank of words stored in a second memory unit.
  • the user may select to perform a spellcheck in which a word written on the screen is com- pared with the words included in the dictionary.
  • the dictionary may also be adapted to the user by his adding desired words to the word bank.
  • Some word-processing apparatus also permit automa ⁇ tic correction of the written text, which implies that the user, in a second memory unit, may store a word or a text portion to which a combination of letters is as ⁇ signed. When the user writes the combination of letters, the associated text portion is automatically copied into the written text. This function may be used to reduce both the number of spelling mistakes and the number of required keystrokes. It requires, however, that the user himself create a bank of words or text portions with the assigned combinations of letters.
  • EP-A-0 643 357 discloses a method for input of text, in which a word which the typed combination of characters can form in continued typing is suggested to the user in real time, i.e. when a character has been input.
  • the sug ⁇ gested word is selected from an assigned dictionary.
  • the user may either accept the suggested word, for instance by pressing a special key on the keyboard, or continue to type a character, whereupon a new word is suggested etc.
  • the number of keystrokes that is required to type the commonest words is reduced.
  • a drawback of this known method resides in the man- ner in which the search and the selection take place in the assigned dictionary before a word is suggested to the user.
  • the search a so-called binary search, in fact pro ⁇ ceeds such that the input combination of characters is first compared with the central word in the dictionary, which is sorted in alphabetical order. Depending on the outcome, half of the words can be excluded. Then a new comparison is effected, and the procedure is repeated until only one word remains.
  • This is a simple method of searching which, however, is relatively slow, restricting the possibilities of using the text input process in a word-processing apparatus, above all when using large dictionaries, to suggest, in real time, to the user con ⁇ tinuations of the input combination of characters. If the search method is so slow that the user must wait for the suggestions, the advantage of the text input process dis ⁇ appears completely. An effective search therefore is of vital importance.
  • An object of the present invention is to obviate, wholly or partly, the above-described drawbacks, in par ⁇ ticular to provide a device and a computer program which reduce the number of keystrokes required to write a given text, and which reduces the number of spelling mistakes in the written text, by automatically suggesting words that can be formed of the input combination of charac ⁇ ters.
  • each word in the second memory unit has been given a priority value permits a quick and ef ⁇ fective search in the second memory unit for words that can be formed in the continued input of characters.
  • the priority value of each word in the second memory unit is calculated on the basis of the number of pre ⁇ sences of this word in a reference unit.
  • the reference unit may be the first memory unit, i.e. the text that is being prepared, or another memory unit having a similar text content. Since the priority values are based on the presence of the words in the reference unit, the inven ⁇ tive device will suggest to the user the word that the input combination of characters, based on the user's actually employed vocabulary, has the greatest probabi ⁇ lity or at least a great probability of forming in the continued input of characters. If a non-desired sugges ⁇ tion is obtained, the user may obtain new suggestions by further typing the word. For each new character that is typed, a new suggestion is obtained. With this device, the number of keystrokes that is required to type the commonest words is reduced to a considerable extent.
  • one more advantage of the invention resides in the fact that the user need not care about creating a special dictionary in the second memory unit, but the word bank in the second memory unit can be created by command or automatically based on the text which is presently being prepared or based on some other data file having a similar content of words.
  • Tech ⁇ nical terms that are frequent in the text and names of people and places will thus also be automatically sug ⁇ gested to the user. It would be time-consuming and, besides, difficult to manually compile a dictionary which has an efficient priority of words for the purpose of minimising the typing work.
  • the priority value of each word in the second memory unit is calcu ⁇ lated on the basis of the presence of the word as an ini ⁇ tial partial amount of the words in the reference unit. This has been found to increase the probability of the most frequent word which the input combination of charac ⁇ ters can form in continued typing being suggested to the user.
  • the words in the second memory unit are organised in a tree structure. This results in extremely short search times for finding the next suggestion for the continuation of the input combination of characters. Furthermore, this structure permits a fast update of the second memory unit, and therefore the words that the user himself uses most frequently can be continuously suggested to the user.
  • Fig. 1 illustrates very schematically the basic structure of the device in the form of interconnected units.
  • Fig. 2 shows an example of part of a preferred tree structure in the second memory unit of the device.
  • Figs 3 and 4 show flow diagrams for illustrating the function of an inventive computer program. Description of Preferred Embodiments
  • Fig. 1 illustrates the basic structure of an embodi- ment of a device according to the invention.
  • the device has an input unit ( I ) which comprises a keyboard and which communicates with a data processing unit (DP).
  • the data processing unit (DP) is connected to a first memory unit (Ml), a comparator unit (C) and a display unit (D) which comprises a screen.
  • the device also has a second memory unit (M2), which via the comparator unit (C) com ⁇ municates with the first memory unit (Ml).
  • the units are monitored and controlled by means of a central controller (not shown) .
  • the second memory unit (M2) contains a set of diffe ⁇ rent words, to each of which a priority value is assign ⁇ ed.
  • this set is formed on the basis of the text which is stored in a reference unit, which can be the first memory unit (Ml) or some other data file which preferably has a content of words corre ⁇ sponding to the text that is to be typed.
  • a reference unit which can be the first memory unit (Ml) or some other data file which preferably has a content of words corre ⁇ sponding to the text that is to be typed.
  • the priority value of a certain word in the second memory unit (M2) is calculated, according to a preferred embodiment, as the number of times this word appears as an initial partial amount of the words in the reference unit.
  • the pri ⁇ ority value of the word "common” is summed up. Each word appears only once in the word bank.
  • the comparator unit (C) is designed to compare, when a character is input via the keyboard, the combination of characters formed in the first memory unit (Ml) with the words stored in the second memory unit (M2). The compara ⁇ tor unit (C) then selects a suggestion word among the words in the second memory unit (M2) .
  • the suggestion word is the word that has the greatest priority value and that begins with the combination of characters formed in the first memory unit (Ml).
  • This suggestion word is presented on the screen, suitably as a continuation of the recent ⁇ ly typed combination of characters, for instance in a deviating colour or in italics, and the user may select to accept the suggestion word by inputting a special character, such as a tabulator character ("TAB"), thereby activating the comparator unit (C) to replace the combi ⁇ nation of characters in the first memory unit (Ml) with the suggestion word.
  • TAB tabulator character
  • the comparator unit (C) selects a new suggestion word from the words in the second memory unit (M2) and presents this to the user.
  • the words in the second memory unit (M2 ) are organised in a tree structure, which is illustrated for the above example in Fig. 2.
  • the tree structure has a root which branches off in main nodes, the number of which corresponds to the number of conceivable characters, and therefore an Eng ⁇ lish device generally has at least 26 branches (the let- ters "a"-"z” and the hyphen "-").
  • the alphabet may be different.
  • the letters of the lan ⁇ guage and the hyphen should always be included. For instance, when typing a mathematical text in the program LATEX ® , the alphabet should be increased by the six char- acters ⁇ $_ " .
  • Each of the main nodes branches off in an equally large number of subnodes, which also branch off in the same number of subnodes etc. However, there are no branches if words are missing, and therefore the number of nodes is equal to the number of different words in the word bank.
  • each node an initial sequence is assigned, which for each main node is a character and which for each sub- node is the initial sequence of the superordinated node increased by a character. All nodes in a branch support different initial sequences.
  • the words are sorted in the tree such that the words having the greatest priority values are connected to the nodes closest to the root.
  • the words are also arranged such that their initial character conforms with the ini ⁇ tial sequence of the respective nodes.
  • the comparator unit (C) When the user inputs a character, the comparator unit (C) reads the word that is connected to the node which is assigned to this initial sequence. This word is suggested to the user. If the user inputs one more char ⁇ acter and thus forms a combination of characters in the first memory unit (Ml), the comparator unit (C) reads the word that is connected to the subnode, whose initial sequence is identical with said combination of charac ⁇ ters, and then this word is suggested to the user. The comparator unit (C) thus proceeds a step downwards in the tree, along the branch indicated by the input character, and collects the word that is positioned in this place in the tree, if available.
  • This sorting of the word bank in the second memory unit (M2 ) results in extremely short search times for the comparator unit (C).
  • the comparator unit (C) suitably reads the word that is con ⁇ nected to the subnode, whose initial sequence is iden ⁇ tical with the accepted word, whereupon this read word is suggested to the user.
  • this pro- cedure is used and further reduces the number of neces ⁇ sary keystrokes since the user can accept parts of the words that are to be typed.
  • inventive device can be used in exactly the same manner as usual electro- nic word-processing apparatus, apart from the fact the user must press a special key to accept a word suggested by the device.
  • the user may select to update the word bank on the basis of the text stored in the first memory unit (Ml).
  • new priority values are calculated for the words included in this text, which are placed in their intended place in the tree structure.
  • the word bank can also be updated automatically and in real time, i.e. while the text is being typed. This update suitably is effected in such manner that a word which is accepted by the user and which is already avail ⁇ able in the tree is advanced a step closer to the root. If the word was not previously available in the tree, it is placed in its natural position in the tree, i.e. closest outside the word which has the longest beginning in common with the accepted word. Before the user begins to input his text into the device, he conveniently creates a word bank in the second memory unit (M2) on the basis of some other data file having a similar content of words. In this fashion, words will be suggested to the user even from the beginning.
  • M2 second memory unit
  • the use may select to begin typing his text without first creating such a word bank, and there ⁇ fore the second memory unit (M2) is in this case empty when starting.
  • the word bank is suitably updated in real time, i.e. words are stored in the second memory unit (M2) as the user inputs his text.
  • the user should also be possible for the user to shut off the update of the tree for words close to the root.
  • the user may learn to rely on one-letter and two- letter abbreviations of common words and learn them by heart. This may be of great importance to the typing speed.
  • the user may have the possibility of selecting how many levels from the root that are to be locked.
  • the device should also provide the user with a pos ⁇ sibility of setting a limit to the number of characters that must distinguish a suggestion word from an input combination of characters. If this limit is set at, for instance, 3 characters, words that only differ by two characters from the input combination of characters will thus not be suggested to the user. This increases the search speed in the second memory unit (M2) since the words thus, to be stored at all in a node in this unit, must have a length exceeding the initial sequence of the node by more than two characters.
  • M2 second memory unit
  • the described method of calculating the priority value of a word can be modi ⁇ fied within the scope of the invention.
  • the priority value need not reflect the presence of the word as a partial amount of other words in the reference unit, but can instead reflect the presence of merely the word itself in the reference unit. It is also possible to let a word move closer to the root quicker than one step when using the word. Besides, if the user completes a word that is not available in the search tree, this word can be placed closer to the root than farthest away. Thus, the words appearing in the last typed passages, or on the last typed page, will be suggested more often to the user.
  • this priority may be preferred in order to minimise the typing work. It is also conceivable that the priority value is in some manner weighted with the length of the word. The important thing is that the device is so com ⁇ posed that the word that minimises the total amount of work in typing a text is suggested to the user. From the practical point of view, the most important thing is to minimise the number of keystrokes when typing the text. The most frequent word should therefore be suggested to the user, except for such words as form too short a con ⁇ tinuation of the already typed part of the word.
  • the inventive device is generally suited for users who type so slowly that they have time to read the words suggested on the screen. These users can thus work at a slower speed without their typing speed decreasing. The number of spelling mistakes in the text will also de- crease since the user often need not type each word in its entirety.
  • the device is also to a high extent suited for users who type fast and use much time with word processing.
  • the word proposals will sometimes succeed each other so quickly on the screen that they cannot be read.
  • these users can learn the commonest suggestions by heart and can then accept the suggested word even before they have had time to per ⁇ ceive the text on the screen.
  • Long words which are typi- cal of the document can then, without any preparatory work at all, be typed regularly with two or three key ⁇ strokes.
  • very common words such as "and”, "that", "but” can be regularly typed as "a”, "t", “b” .
  • the device according to the invention can be accomplished by means of a software-controlled computer, the comparator unit (C) being accom ⁇ plished as a program module, which performs the above- described functions of the comparator unit (C), is stored in a memory of the computer and works against a conven- tional word-processing program.
  • Figs 3 and 4 show a block diagram of such a comparator module included in an inven ⁇ tive computer program.
  • M2 can either be two physically sepa- rated units or two parts of an overall memory, such as a ROM or RAM memory.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Artificial Intelligence (AREA)
  • Audiology, Speech & Language Pathology (AREA)
  • Computational Linguistics (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Document Processing Apparatus (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un dispositif de traitement de texte conçu pour, lors de l'entrée de caractères, suggérer automatiquement et en temps réel à un utilisateur une suite probable de la combinaison de caractères. Le dispositif de traitement de texte comporte une unité d'entrée (I), une première mémoire (M1) pour stocker les caractères entrés, et un affichage (D), une seconde mémoire (M2) et un comparateur (C). Lors de l'entrée d'un caractère dans la première mémoire (M1), le comparateur (C) compare la combinaison de caractères créée dans la première mémoire à une banque de mots mémorisée dans la seconde mémoire (M2). Le comparateur (C) sélectionne le mot dans la banque de mots qui est suggéré par l'intermédiaire de l'affichage (D). Le comparateur (C) est activé pour créer ou mettre à jour, dans le seconde mémoire (M2), la banque de mots en fonction des mots dans la première mémoire (M1), ou dans une autre mémoire, après quoi les mots dans la seconde mémoire (M2) sont triés en fonction de leur valeur de priorité. La valeur de priorité d'un mot dans la seconde mémoire (M2) est calculée en fonction du nombre d'apparition de celui-ci dans la première mémoire (M1) ou dans un autre mémoire.
PCT/SE1997/000984 1996-06-04 1997-06-04 Dispositif de traitement de texte WO1997046951A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
SE9602215-7 1996-06-04
SE9602215A SE506906C2 (sv) 1996-06-04 1996-06-04 Anordning för ordbehandling
SE9602990-5 1996-08-16
SE9602990A SE9602990D0 (sv) 1996-08-16 1996-08-16 Extended word processing

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO1997046951A1 true WO1997046951A1 (fr) 1997-12-11

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Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1998059302A1 (fr) * 1997-06-23 1998-12-30 Frank Karl Procede et dispositif de traitement de donnees destine a la saisie d'une sequence de donnes, ainsi que procede d'acces a une memoire et memoire associee
EP1054329A2 (fr) * 1999-05-19 2000-11-22 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Procédés et dispositif de traitement de documents
EP2228717A1 (fr) * 2009-03-13 2010-09-15 Omron Corporation Procédé de support d'entrée de nom variable dans la programmation d'un PLC

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4330845A (en) * 1979-12-31 1982-05-18 International Business Machines Corporation Guess-ahead feature for a keyboard-display terminal data input system
US4954956A (en) * 1986-12-13 1990-09-04 Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Data processing apparatus having function of providing helpful information after excessive time lapse from last input operation
EP0643357A2 (fr) * 1993-08-31 1995-03-15 Mitsuhiro Aida Méthode d'entrée de texte

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4330845A (en) * 1979-12-31 1982-05-18 International Business Machines Corporation Guess-ahead feature for a keyboard-display terminal data input system
US4954956A (en) * 1986-12-13 1990-09-04 Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Data processing apparatus having function of providing helpful information after excessive time lapse from last input operation
EP0643357A2 (fr) * 1993-08-31 1995-03-15 Mitsuhiro Aida Méthode d'entrée de texte

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1998059302A1 (fr) * 1997-06-23 1998-12-30 Frank Karl Procede et dispositif de traitement de donnees destine a la saisie d'une sequence de donnes, ainsi que procede d'acces a une memoire et memoire associee
EP1054329A2 (fr) * 1999-05-19 2000-11-22 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Procédés et dispositif de traitement de documents
EP1054329A3 (fr) * 1999-05-19 2002-04-24 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Procédés et dispositif de traitement de documents
EP2228717A1 (fr) * 2009-03-13 2010-09-15 Omron Corporation Procédé de support d'entrée de nom variable dans la programmation d'un PLC
US8612935B2 (en) 2009-03-13 2013-12-17 Omron Corporation Input supporting method of variable name in programming of PLC

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