Document processing apparatus using a synonym dictionary

• US 5,742,834 A
• Filed: 08/02/1996
• Issued: 04/21/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Nobutsune
• Primary Examiner(s): Harvey, Jack B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHUNG TRANS, XUONG MY
• Application Number:
  US08/691,433
• Time in Patent Office: 627 Days
• Field of Search: 395/792-804, 395/754-755, 395/760
• US Class Current: 704/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/247 Thesauruses; Synonyms

Abstract

A document processing apparatus uses a synonym dictionary to substitute words and phtrases in a document by other synonymous words and phrases. At this juncture, the frequency of use of the words in a document is counted, and the words which have more frequency of use are made the objects of the substitution. Also, the words having more frequency of use are removed from the substitutional candidates or its priority as the candidate is lowered. When counting the frequency of use, a word which constitutes an idiom is counted as an idiom. Also, a proper noun or other words and phrases which cannot be substituted are excluded from the object of counting.

Claims

1. A document processing apparatus comprising:

document storing means for storing documents;

a dictionary for storing synonyms of words;

designating means for designating a desired word in a document stored in said document storing means;

retrieving means for retrieving the synonyms of the word designated by said designating means from said dictionary;

substitutional candidate storing means for storing the retrieved synonyms;

counting means for counting the frequency of use of the retrieved synonyms in the document stored in said document storing means;

rearranging means for rearranging the retrieved synonyms in said substitutional candidate storing means in order of the lower values of counts by said counting means;

substitutional candidate displaying means for displaying the synonyms rearranged by said rearranging means as substitutional candidates;

selecting means for selecting one candidate from the substitutional candidates displayed by said substitutional candidate displaying means; and

substituting means for substituting the word designated by said designating means by the candidate selected by said selecting means.

2. A document processing apparatus comprising:

document storing means for storing documents;

a dictionary for storing synonyms of words;

designating means for designating a desired word in a document stored in said document storing means;

retrieving means for retrieving the synonyms of the word designated by said designating means from said dictionary;

substitutional candidate storing means for storing the retrieved synonyms;

counting means for counting the frequency of use of the retrieved synonyms in the document stored in said document storing means;

removing means for removing, the synonyms having the values of counts by said counting means greater than a predetermined value, from the retrieved synonyms in said substitutional candidate storing means;

substitutional candidate displaying means for displaying the synonyms remaining after the removal by said removing means as substitutional candidates;

selecting means for selecting one candidate from the substitutional candidates displayed by said substitutional candidate displaying means; and

substituting means for substituting the word designated by said designating means by the candidate selected by said selecting means.

3. A document processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

said removing means is provided with a second counting means for counting the frequency of use of the designated word in the document stored and the value of counting by said second counting means is defined as the predetermined value.

4. A document processing apparatus comprising:

document storing means for storing documents;

a dictionary for storing synonyms of words;

designating means for designating a desired word in a document stored in said document storing means;

retrieving means for retrieving the synonyms of the word designated by said designating means from said dictionary;

substitutional candidate displaying means for displaying the retrieved synonyms as substitutional candidates;

selecting means for selecting one candidate from the substitutional candidates displayed by said substitutional candidate displaying means;

substituting means for substituting the word designated by said designating means by the candidate selected by said selecting means;

word storing means for storing the word substituted by said substituting means;

inputting means for inputting characters one by one;

determining means for determining whether a character inputted by said inputting means is a word delimiter or not each time one character is inputted;

extraction means for extracting characters between a preceding word delimiter and the character newly inputted by said inputting means as a latest input word if the newly input character is determined to be a word delimiter by said determining means;

judging means for judging whether the latest input word extracted by said extraction means is stored in said word storing means or not; and

warning means for issuing a warning when said judging means judges the latest input word is stored.

5. A document processing apparatus comprising:

document storing means for storing documents;

a dictionary for storing synonyms of words;

designating means for designating a desired word in a document stored in said document storing means;

retrieving means for retrieving the synonyms of the word designated by said designating means from said dictionary;

substitutional candidate displaying means for displaying the retrieved synonyms as substitutional candidates;

selecting means for selecting one candidate from the substitutional candidates displayed by said substitutional candidate displaying means;

first substituting means for substituting the word designated by said designating means by the candidate selected by said selecting means;

word storing means for storing the word substituted by said first substituting means corresponding to the candidate selected by said selecting means;

inputting means for inputting characters one by one;

determining means for determining whether a character inputted by said inputting means is a word delimiter or not each time one character is inputted;

extraction means for extracting characters between a preceding word delimiter and the character newly inputted by said inputting means as a latest input word if the newly input character is determined to be a word delimiter by said determining means;

judging means for judging whether the latest input word extracted by said extraction means is the same as any one of the substituted words in said word storing means or not; and

second substituting means for substituting the latest input word by the selected candidate stored in said word storing means corresponding to the substituted word being judged the same as the latest input word.

6. A document processing apparatus comprising:

document storing means for storing documents;

a dictionary for storing words, idioms and synonyms of the words;

composition means for composing a combination of a plurality of words in a sentence in a document stored in said document storing means by combining sequential or non-sequential words in order of appearance in the sentence;

judging means for judging, by referring to said dictionary, whether each of the composed combinations of words is an idiom stored in said dictionary or not; and

counting means for counting the frequency of use of a word as not a word but an idiom when any one of the composed combinations containing the word is judged by said judging means as an idiom and counting the frequency of use of the word as a word when all of the composed combinations containing the word are judged by said judging means as not any idiom.

7. A document processing apparatus comprising:

document storing means for storing documents;

a dictionary for storing synonyms of words;

counting means for counting the frequency of use of a word in a document stored in said document storing means;

result storing means for storing a result of counting by said counting means;

determining means for determining whether said result storing means has an available storage capacity for a new entry or not when a given word first appears in the document during the counting by said counting means;

judging means for judging, with respect to each of the words in dependence on the result therefor stored in said result storing means, whether synonyms of the word are stored in said dictionary or not when said determining means determines that said result storing means does not have an available capacity; and

controlling means for removing from said result storing means the result of counting for any word judged by said judging means as not having synonyms stored to make storage capacity available.

8. A document processing apparatus comprising:

document storing means for storing documents;

a dictionary for storing synonyms of words;

a user'"'"'s dictionary for storing words registered by a user;

counting means for counting the frequency of use of a word in a document stored in said document storing means;

result storing means for storing a result of counting by said counting means;

determining means for determining whether said result storing means has an available storage capacity for a new entry or not when a given word first appears in the document during the counting by said counting means;

judging means for judging, with respect to each of the words in dependence on the results therefore stored in said result storing means, whether the word is stored in said user'"'"'s dictionary or not when said determining means determines that said result storing means does not have an available capacity; and

controlling means for removing from said result storing means the result of counting for any word judged by said judging means as not having synonyms stored to make storage capacity available.

9. A document processing method comprising the steps of:

designating a desired word in a document stored in a document memory;

retrieving synonyms of the designated word from a dictionary for storing synonyms of words;

storing the retrieved synonyms in a substitutional candidate memory;

counting the frequency of use of the retrieved synonyms in the document stored in the document memory;

rearranging the retrieved synonyms in the substitutional candidate memory in order of the lower values of counts counted in said counting step;

displaying the rearranged synonyms as substitutional candidates;

selecting one candidate from the displayed substitutional candidates; and

substituting the designated word by the selected candidate.

10. A document processing method comprising the steps of:

designating a desired word in a document stored in a document memory;

retrieving synonyms of the designated word from a dictionary for storing synonyms of words;

storing the retrieved synonyms in a substitutional candidate memory;

counting the frequency of use of the retrieved synonyms in the document stored in the document memory;

removing the synonyms having the values of counts counted by said counting step greater than a predetermined value, from the retrieved synonyms in the substitutional candidate memory;

displaying the synonyms remaining after the removal by said removing step as substitutional candidates;

selecting one candidate from the displayed substitutional candidates; and

substituting the designated word by the selected candidate.

11. A document processing method according to claim 10, wherein

said removing step including second counting step for counting the frequency of use of the designated word in the document stored and the value of counting by said second counting step is defined as the predetermined value.

12. A document processing method comprising the steps of:

designating a desired word in a document stored in a document memory;

retrieving synonyms of the designated word from a dictionary for storing synonyms of words;

displaying the retrieved synonyms as substitutional candidates;

selecting one candidate from the displayed substitutional candidates;

substituting the designated word by the selected candidate;

storing the substituted word in a word memory;

inputting characters one at a time;

determining whether a character inputted by said inputting step is a word delimiter or not each time one character is inputted;

extracting characters between a preceding word delimiter and the character newly inputted by said inputting step as a latest input word if the newly input character is determined to be a word delimiter by said determining step;

judging whether the latest input word is stored in the word memory or not; and

issuing a warning when it is judged the latest input word is stored.

13. A document processing method comprising the steps of:

designating a desired word in a document stored in a document memory;

retrieving synonyms of the designated word from a dictionary for storing synonyms of words;

displaying the retrieved synonyms as substitutional candidates;

selecting one candidate from the displayed substitutional candidates;

substituting the designated word by the selected candidate;

storing the substituted word corresponding to the selected candidate in a word memory;

inputting characters one at a time;

determining whether a character inputted by said inputting step is a word delimiter or not each time one character is inputted;

extracting characters between a preceding word delimiter and the character newly inputted by said inputting step as a latest input word if the newly input character is determined to be a word delimiter by said determining step;

judging whether the latest input word is same as any one of the substituted words stored in the word memory or not; and

substituting the latest input word by the selected candidate stored in the word memory corresponding to the substituted word being judged the same as the latest input word.

14. A document processing method comprising the steps of:

composing a combination of a plurality of words in a sentence in a document stored in a document memory by combining sequential or non-sequential words in order of appearance in the sentence;

judging, by referring to a dictionary for storing words, idioms and synonyms of the words, whether each of the composed combinations of words is an idiom stored in the dictionary or not; and

counting the frequency of use of a word as not a word but an idiom when any one of the composed combinations containing the word is judged in said judging step as an idiom and counting the frequency of use of the word as a word when all of the composed combinations containing the word are judged in said judging step as not any idiom.

15. A document processing method comprising the steps of:

counting the frequency of use of a word in a document stored in a document memory;

storing a result of the counting in a result memory;

determining whether the result memory has an available storage capacity for a new entry or not when a given word first appears in the document during the counting in said counting step;

judging, with respect to each of the words in dependence on the results therefore stored in the result memory, whether synonyms of the word are stored or not in a dictionary for storing synonyms of words when said determining step determines that the result memory does not have an available capacity; and

removing from the result memory the result of counting for any word judged in said judging step as not having synonyms stored in the user'"'"'s dictionary to make storage capacity available.

16. A document processing method comprising the steps of:

counting the frequency of use of a word in a document stored in a document memory;

storing a result of the counting in a result memory;

determining whether the result memory has an available storage capacity for a new entry or not when a given word first appears in the document during the counting in said counting step;

judging, with respect to each of the words in dependence on the counting result therefor stored in the result memory, whether the word is stored or not in a user'"'"'s dictionary for storing words registered by a user when said determining step determines that the result memory does not have an available capacity; and

removing from the result memory the result of counting for any word judged in said judging step the word as stored in the user'"'"'s dictionary to make storage capacity available.