Apparatus for recognizing input character strings by inference
First Claim
1. A character recognition apparatus having recognition means for recognizing input character strings and display means for displaying recognized results, said character recognition apparatus comprising:
- a word dictionary storing word identification information and hierarchy information for layering a plurality of words into a hierarchy and for recognizing each of said words within said hierarchy;
a character transition probability table storing at least probabilities of transitions from any one character to another, and those pieces of said word identification information which correspond to combinations of characters resulting from said transitions;
optimization means for using said character transition probability table in optimizing candidate character strings obtained by said recognition means; and
retrieval means for searching through said word dictionary for words defined by those pieces of said word identification information which correspond to the optimized candidate character string, thereby retrieving the searched words which are identified by the applicable pieces of said hierarchy information and which have yet to be input.
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Abstract
A character recognition apparatus for inferring the entire character string solely from a user-input handwritten keyword and displaying the inferred result as a candidate character string. The apparatus of the invention comprises: a word dictionary storing word identification information and hierarchy information for layering a plurality of words into a hierarchy and for recognizing each of the words within the hierarchy; a character transition probability table a4 storing probabilities of transitions from any one character to another, and those pieces of the word identification information which correspond to combinations of characters resulting from the transitions; and an optimization unit for using the character transition probability table in optimizing candidate character strings obtained by a recognition unit. The word dictionary is searched for a word defined by the word identification information which corresponds to the optimized candidate character string, whereby the searched word is retrieved which applies to the hierarchy information and which has yet to be input.
48 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A character recognition apparatus having recognition means for recognizing input character strings and display means for displaying recognized results, said character recognition apparatus comprising:
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a word dictionary storing word identification information and hierarchy information for layering a plurality of words into a hierarchy and for recognizing each of said words within said hierarchy; a character transition probability table storing at least probabilities of transitions from any one character to another, and those pieces of said word identification information which correspond to combinations of characters resulting from said transitions; optimization means for using said character transition probability table in optimizing candidate character strings obtained by said recognition means; and retrieval means for searching through said word dictionary for words defined by those pieces of said word identification information which correspond to the optimized candidate character string, thereby retrieving the searched words which are identified by the applicable pieces of said hierarchy information and which have yet to be input. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6, 7)
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4. A character recognition apparatus having recognition means for recognizing input character strings and display means for displaying recognized results, said character recognition apparatus comprising:
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a dictionary having each of a plurality of character strings stored beforehand at a specific address; a character transition probability table storing at least probabilities of transitions from any one character to another, said probabilities being stored in correspondence with the addresses of those of said character strings which include combined characters involved in said transitions; and optimization means for using said character transition probability table in optimizing candidate character strings obtained by said recognition means; wherein said dictionary is accessed for the addresses of the character strings corresponding to the optimized candidate character string, and wherein the character strings at said addresses in said dictionary are displayed as recognized results.
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8. A pattern recognition apparatus having input means for inputting character patterns, recognition means for recognizing input character patterns, and display means for displaying recognized results, said pattern recognition apparatus comprising:
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a word dictionary having a plurality of words stored beforehand; a character transition probability table describing previously learned probabilities of transitions from any one character to another, and pointers to those words in said word dictionary which include said transitions; pointer determination means for optimizing recognized candidate character strings based on said probabilities of said transitions and for detecting pointers to those words in said word dictionary which include the character-to-character transitions of said recognized candidate character strings; and inference means for matching the optimized candidate character string with those words in said word dictionary which are referenced by the corresponding pointers, and for inferring information about the referenced words from within said word dictionary. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A pattern recognition method for recognizing input character patterns and displaying recognized results, said pattern recognition method comprising the steps of:
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extracting candidate character strings from an input character pattern recognized; optimizing the extracted candidate character strings by use of a character transition probability table describing previously learned probabilities of transitions from any one character to another, the probabilities being stored in correspondence with pointers to those words in a word dictionary which include said transitions; detecting pointers to those words in said word dictionary which include the character-to-character transitions of the optimized candidate character string; matching said optimized candidate character string with those words pointed to by the detected pointers from among said plurality of words stored in said word dictionary; and inferring information about the words in question from said word dictionary in order to display inferred results as the candidate character strings. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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Specification