Control of spell checking device

• US 5,215,388 A
• Filed: 10/23/1992
• Issued: 06/01/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/1988
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Shibaoka, Hideo
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiecking, David A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): KELLEY, STEVEN SHAUN
• Application Number:
  US07/965,567
• Time in Patent Office: 221 Days
• Field of Search: 400/63, 400/74, 364/419, 364/943.41
• US Class Current: 400/63
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 5/30 Character or syllable selection controlled by recorded information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/232 Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation

Abstract

A document processing apparatus such as an electronic typewriter includes: a document memory to store character data and an edit command which are input; a dictionary to store the spellings of correct words; and a checking circuit to check whether the spelling of the word which is expressed by the input character data train is correct by referring to the dictionary. When the spelling of the word is determined to be incorrect as the result of the check by the checking circuit, the process based on the edit command is not performed. Since an opportunity to correct the incorrectly word is given to the operator before the function of the input key is executed, the operator can easily correct it and a misprint due to the erroneous operation of the operator can be prevented.

Claims

1. A document processing apparatus comprising:

means for storing character data and an edit command which are input into said apparatus;

a dictionary for storing correctly spelled words; and

checking means for checking whether the spelling of a word corresponding to the input character data is correct by referring to said dictionary; and

means for executing a process corresponding to the edit command and then controlling said checking means to execute a spelling check when the edit command is not followed by the input of a print command, and for controlling said checking means to execute a spelling check prior to executing a process corresponding to the edit command when the edit command is followed by the input of a print command.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said storing means comprises a document memory.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the edit command includes a command for making a new paragraph.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for inputting character data in response to a cursor position on a display.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for determining whether input information indicates an end of a word.

6. A document processing apparatus comprising:

input means for inputting character data, and command data to instruct the execution of document editing and to designate the end of the character data;

discriminating means for discriminating whether a word corresponding to the input character data and whose end is designated by the command data is correctly spelled in response to the inputting of the command data by said input means; and

control means for inhibiting the execution of an editing process based on the command data if it is determined that the word is incorrectly spelled on the basis of the discriminating by said discriminating means and for allowing the editing process corresponding to the command data to be executed if the command data is inputted again before further input of character data even when it is determined that the word is incorrectly spelled.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising means for storing the input character data.

8. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the command data includes a command for making a new paragraph.

9. A document processing method comprising the steps of:

storing character data and an edit command which are input into a document processing apparatus;

checking whether the spelling of a word corresponding to the stored character data is correct by referring to stored correctly spelled words in a dictionary of the document processing apparatus; and

executing a process corresponding to the edit command and then controlling said checking step to execute a spelling check operation when the edit command is not followed by the input of a print command into the document processing apparatus, controlling said checking step to execute a spelling check operation prior to executing a process corresponding to the edit command when the edit command is followed by the input of a print command into the document processing apparatus.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein said storing step stores character data and the edit command in a document memory.

11. A method according to claim 9, wherein said storing step stores an edit command for making a new paragraph.

12. A method according to claim 9, further comprising the step of inputting character data into the document processing apparatus in response to a cursor position on a display.

13. A method according to claim 9, further comprising the step of determining whether data input into the document processing apparatus indicates the end of a word.

14. A document processing method comprising the step of:

inputting character data, and command data into a document processing apparatus to instruct the execution of document editing and to designate the end of the character data;

discriminating whether a word corresponding to the input character data and whose end is designated by the command data is correctly spelled in response to the inputting of the command data in said inputting step; and

inhibiting the execution of an editing process based on the command data if it is determined that the word is incorrectly spelled on the basis of the discriminating in said discriminating step and for allowing the editing process corresponding to the command data to be executed if the command data is inputted again before further input of character data even when it is determined that the word is incorrectly spelled.

15. A method according to claim 14, further comprising the step of storing the inputted character data.

16. A method according to claim 14, wherein said inputting step comprises the step of inputting command data for making a new paragraph into the document processing apparatus.