Dictionary apparatus for preparing and displaying form with keyword entries from entered word string

• US 7,096,425 B1
• Filed: 12/02/1999
• Issued: 08/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Takahashi, Kunikazu
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): LUDWIG, MATTHEW J
• Application Number:
  US09/452,925
• Time in Patent Office: 2,455 Days
• Field of Search: 715/532, 715/500.1, 715/530, 715/506, 715/507, 715/508, 715/501.1, 707/3, 707/5, 707/6
• US Class Current: 715/222
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

An information entry apparatus and an information entry system provided with that apparatus which enable the efficient entry of required information in real time in a plurality of corresponding fields of a screen by an information entry operation of a level of simplicity equal to that of writing a memo about a case, the information entry apparatus provided with an alphanumeric entry unit for entering alphanumeric string information, a display unit for displaying keywords comprised of predetermined alphanumeric strings in a plurality of corresponding fields on a display screen, a word dictionary for storing a plurality of keywords corresponding to the plurality of fields and a plurality of similar words for deducing those keywords linked with each of those keywords, and an alphanumeric information processing unit for cutting out predetermined word strings from the entered alphanumeric string, searching through the word dictionary by the cut out words, extracting corresponding group of keywords from a dictionary column for which matches are obtained by comparison with keywords of the dictionary or similar words, and displaying these all at once in the plurality of corresponding fields of the display unit.

Claims

1. An information entry apparatus comprising:

an alphanumeric entry unit for entering alphanumeric string information,

a display unit for displaying keywords comprised of predetermined alphanumeric strings in a plurality of corresponding fields on a display screen,

a word dictionary for storing a plurality of keywords, each keyword being identified in said word dictionary as corresponding to only one of the plurality of fields corresponding to keywords and to a plurality of similar words for deducing the keyword,

an alphanumeric information processing unit for cutting out predetermined word strings from the entered alphanumeric string, searching through the word dictionary by the cut out words, extracting a corresponding group of keywords from the dictionary for which matches are obtained by comparison of the cut out words with ones of the group of keywords of the dictionary and the pluralities of similar words, and displaying each extracted keyword in its corresponding field on the display unit, and

a conjugated alphanumeric string information dictionary for storing conjugated alphanumeric string information comprised of a plurality of sets of alphanumeric string information elements, wherein

the alphanumeric information processing unit searches through the conjugated alphanumeric string information dictionary by predetermined words cut out from the entered alphanumeric string and extracts the overall conjugated alphanumeric string information for which matches are obtained by comparison of the predetermined words cut out from the entered alphanumeric string with part or all of the conjugated alphanumeric string information in the dictionary and displays the same in the corresponding fields of the display unit.

2. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the alphanumeric information processing unit searches through the word dictionary by the entered alphanumeric string and successively cuts out from the entered alphanumeric string as predetermined words the words of portions for which matches are obtained by comparison with the keywords of the dictionary or similar words.

3. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a form dictionary for storing a plurality of form information corresponding to a plurality of types of display formats and one or more keywords corresponding to the form information linked with each of the form information, wherein

the alphanumeric information processing unit refers to the form dictionary by a keyword displayed in a predetermined display field of a first screen, extracts the corresponding form information from the dictionary column for which a match is obtained by comparison with the keywords of the dictionary, and displays the screen of the display format corresponding to the form information on a second screen.

4. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the alphanumeric information processing unit is provided with a first entry mode for designating keywords displayed all at once in corresponding fields of the display unit as provisional primary entries and for displaying the keywords of the primary entries by a first alphanumeric color.

5. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein the alphanumeric information processing unit is provided with a second entry A mode where one of a plurality of keywords extracted for one display field of the display unit is displayed in the corresponding display field, the remaining keywords are displayed in a list in a display area near the display field, and a keyword displayed in a corresponding display field is replaced by a keyword selected in accordance with a predetermined manual selection operation on the list of keywords.

6. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein the alphanumeric information processing unit is provided with a secondary entry B mode where the keyword of the primary entry is directly changed or replace by alphanumeric information entered from the alphanumeric entry unit.

7. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 4, further comprising an individual confirmation instruction unit for individually manually confirming the information of a display field in the primary entry state, wherein

the alphanumeric information processing unit designates the information of the display field as being confirmed in accordance with an instruction operation of the individual confirmation instruction unit on the selected display field.

8. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 7, wherein further provision is made of a display field selection control unit for sequentially selecting display fields in the primary entry state by a priority order determined corresponding to the display fields in advance.

9. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 4, further comprising a full confirmation instruction unit for enabling manual colon of all of the display fields of the primary entry state all at once, wherein

the alphanumeric information processing unit designates the information of all of the display fields in the primary entry state as confirmed all at once in accordance with an instruction operation of the full confirmation instruction unit.

10. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 7, wherein the alphanumeric information processing unit has the information of the display fields in the confirmed state displayed by a second alphanumeric color different from the first alphanumeric color.

11. An emergency call system for processing information provided by a subscriber to an operator upon said subscriber'"'"'s making of an emergency call comprising the information entry apparatus of claim 1.

12. An information entry apparatus comprising;

an alphanumeric entry unit for entering alphanumeric string information,

a display unit for displaying keywords comprised of predetermined alphanumeric strings in a plurality of corresponding fields on a display screen,

a word dictionary for storing a plurality of keywords, each keyword being identified in said word dictionary as corresponding to only one of the plurality of fields corresponding to keywords and to a plurality of similar words for deducing the keyword,

an alphanumeric information processing unit for cutting out predetermined word strings from the entered alphanumeric string, searching through the word dictionary by the cut out words, extracting a corresponding group of keywords from the dictionary for which matches are obtained by comparison of the cut out words with ones of the group of keywords of the dictionary and the pluralities of similar words, and displaying each extracted keyword in its corresponding field on the display unit, and

a keyword dictionary for storing a plurality of first keywords corresponding to predetermined display fields of the display unit and a plurality of second keywords in a predetermined relation with the first keywords linked with each of the first keywords, wherein

the alphanumeric information processing unit searches trough the keyword dictionary by a second keyword displayed in another predetermined display field of the display unit, extracts a corresponding first keyword from the dictionary column for which a match is obtained by comparison with the second keyword of the dictionary, and displays the same in a predetermined display field;

wherein the first keyword corresponds to only the predetermined display field.

13. An information entry apparatus comprising:

an alphanumeric entry unit for entering alphanumeric string information,

a display unit for displaying keywords comprised of predetermined alphanumeric strings in a plurality of corresponding fields on a display screen,

a word dictionary for storing a plurality of keywords, each keyword being identified in said word dictionary as corresponding to only one of the plurality of fields corresponding to keywords and to a plurality of similar words for deducing the keyword, and

an alphanumeric information processing unit for cutting out predetermined word strings from the entered alphanumeric string, searching through the word dictionary by the cut out words, extracting a corresponding group of keywords from the dictionary for which matches are obtained by comparison of the cut out words with ones of the group of keywords of the dictionary and the pluralities of similar words, and displaying each extracted keyword in its corresponding field on the display unit, wherein

the alphanumeric entry unit is provided with a keyboard, a digitizer and a handwritten alphanumeric recognition unit for recognizing a handwritten alphanumeric string for entry into the digitizer, and/or a microphone and a speech recognition unit for recognizing the speech entered into the microphone.

14. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 13, wherein

the digitizer is provided with a handwritten free entry space of a handwritten entry free format, and

the alphanumeric processing unit cuts out predetermined word strings from the alphanumeric string handwritten in the handwritten free entry space and recognized by the alphanumeric recognition unit in the order of the handwritten alphanumerics.

15. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 14, wherein the digitizer is provided with field-specific handwritten entry spaces enabling handwritten alphanumeric strings to be directly entered into corresponding designated fields of the display screen and the sizes of the handwritten free entry space and/or field-specific handwritten entry spaces can be changed independently of each other or linked with each other in accordance with a predetermined manual operation.

16. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 13, wherein the alphanumeric information processing unit executes the primary entry mode of the sixth aspect, the secondary entry A mode of the seventh aspect, and the secondary entry B mode of the eighth aspect in a predetermined sequence and executes the secondary entry A mode after the end of the primary entry mode when a display field is selected for which a plurality of keywords have been extracted and executes the secondary entry B mode in other cases.

17. The information entry apparatus as set forth in claim 16, wherein the alphanumeric information processing unit processes the keyed in alphanumeric string from the keyboard at the time of start of execution of the secondary entry B mode or during the execution of the same when a alphanumeric entry operation is performed on the keyboard processes the recognized alphanumeric string from the handwritten alphanumeric recognition unit in the secondary entry A mode when a handwritten alphanumeric entry operation is performed on the digitizer, and processes the recognized alphanumeric string from the speech recognition unit in the secondary entry B mode when speech is entered into the microphone.