Character input apparatus and storage medium in which character input program is stored

• US 7,055,099 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2003
• Issued: 05/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Nakagawa, Katsuya
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, CONG LAC T
• Application Number:
  US10/457,550
• Publication Number:
  US 20030212674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,085 Days
• Field of Search: 715/530, 715/531, 715/500, 704 7- 9
• US Class Current: 715/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/232 Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/53 Processing of non-Latin text kana-to-kanji conversion G06F40/129; vowelisation G06F40/232

Abstract

An operation such as changing the coordinates of a specified position is performed on a two-dimensional display screen 103 of a display unit 5 by using an input pen 102, a touch-panel, etc., as an operation input unit 103 to shift the list of candidate character strings which is displayed on the display screen at the initial screen. The contents of the list of the candidate character strings which are displayed on the display screen 103 are continuously changed until a desired candidate character string appears on the screen 103.

Claims

1. A character input apparatus, comprising:

a character string dictionary which stores a number of character strings each including at least one character and having a predetermined meaning, in a predetermined storage order; and

an operation input unit which generates various instructing signals in accordance with an operation of an operator, the apparatus selecting a character string from the character string dictionary based on the instructing signal and inputting the character string, the apparatus comprising;

display means having a display screen for displaying the selected character string and listing candidate character strings from which the character string is selected;

the character string dictionary being constituted to store each character string at least together with speech information based on the grammar of a language of the character strings to be input, and

a grammar dictionary which stores grammar information including a conjunction relationship between character strings disposed adjacent to each other, determined by the part of speech of the character strings in language of the character strings to be input, and

wherein the candidate character string extracting portion, regarding a latest character string among the character strings selected by the selecting means, extracts character strings, which may come next to the latest selected character string, as candidate character strings from the character string dictionary, based on the read part of speech information and the grammar information stored in the grammar dictionary; and

wherein the character string dictionary, the candidate character string extracting portion, the display means, and the display control means are provided in an information equipment body for displaying and processing communication information, the operation input unit is provided in a remote control device separated from the information equipment body, for remotely controlling the information equipment body,

a position specifying signal generated by an operation of the position specifying member in the operation input unit and the selection instructing signal generated by an operation in the operation input unit are transmitted from a transmitting portion of the remote control device to the information equipment body, a position is specified on the display screen of the display means provided in the information equipment body, based on the transmitted position specifying signal, and the candidate character strings are selected by the selecting means, based on the transmitted selection specifying signal.

2. A character input apparatus, comprising:

a character string dictionary which stores a number of character strings each including at least one character and having a predetermined meaning, and

an operation input unit which generates various instruction signals in accordance with an operation of an operator,

the apparatus adopting to select a character string from the character string dictionary based on the instruction signals and to input the character string, and further comprising a display output means for providing an output to display the selected character string and to display a candidate character string which becomes an object of selecting the character string,

wherein the operation input unit has a function for specifying a category of a sentence to be inputted and a function for specifying a role of Who, When, Where, Why, What, and How (5W1H) which are operated by the character string to be inputted within the sentence, and

wherein the string character having been stored in the character string dictionary is given appearance frequencies at each of every category and information of whether it is used for every role of 5W1H, and

the string character to be used for the specified role is extracted on the employment of appearance frequencies corresponding to the specified category to display as the candidate character string.

3. A character input apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the categories are classified in view of living scene.

4. A character input apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the categories are classified in view of kinds of preparation documents.

5. A character input apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the candidate character string extracting portion, regarding a latest character string among the character strings selected by selecting means, extracts character strings, which may come next to the latest selected character string, as candidate character strings from the character string dictionary, based on the read part of speech information and the grammar information stored in the grammar dictionary.

6. A character input apparatus, comprising:

a character string dictionary which stores a number of character strings each including at least one character and having a predetermined meaning, and an operation input unit which generates various instruction signals in accordance with an operation of an operator, the apparatus adopting to select a character string from the character string dictionary based on the instruction signals and to input the character string, the operation input unit providing with an function for specifying a category of a sentence to be inputted, and the apparatus further comprising a display output means for providing an output to display the selected character string and to display a candidate character string which becomes an object of selecting the character string, and a grammar dictionary which stores grammar information including a conjunction relationship to be determined by a part of speech of the character string disposed before and/or after the character string between the character strings, in language of the character strings to be input, wherein a string character which is possible to come to the next of the latest selected string character is extracted as a candidate character string from the character string dictionary based on appearance frequencies of the character string in the specified category and grammar information including a conjunction relationship stored in the grammar dictionary together with a part of speech of the character string with respect to the latest selected one among the selected character strings based on the instruction signals of the operation input unit.

7. A character input apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the categories are classified in view of living scene.

8. A character input apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the categories are classified in view of kinds of preparation documents.

9. A character input apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the candidate character string extracting portion, regarding a latest character string among the character strings selected by selecting means, extracts character strings, which may come next to the latest selected character string, as candidate character strings from the character string dictionary, based on the read part of speech information and the grammar information stored in the grammar dictionary.

10. A character input apparatus, comprising:

a character string dictionary which stores character strings each including at least one character and having a predetermined meaning, in a predetermined storage order;

a conjunction relationship dictionary which stores a conjunction relationship between character strings disposed adjacent to each other in a language used for the character strings to be input;

a candidate character string extracting portion including extracting means for extracting character strings from all the character strings stored in the character string dictionary as candidate character strings, based on a latest inputted character string and the conjunction relationship dictionary;

display control means for controlling a display means in such a manner that the candidate character strings extracted by the candidate character string extracting portion are listed on a display screen, and the latest inputted character strings are discriminatively displayed on the display screen; and

selection means for selecting a predetermined character string as a character string to be input from the plurality of candidate character strings listed on the display screen in accordance with instruction signals from an operation input unit.

11. The character input apparatus of claim 10, wherein the conjunction relationship dictionary is based on the conjunction relationship between character strings determined by a part of speech information of the character strings.