JP2005293068A - Electronic dictionary - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic dictionary for enabling a user to reduce the number of input characters to be inputted by an input means, and to easily select his or her desired optimal words. <P>SOLUTION: This electronic dictionary is configured to enable a user to prepare a title word candidate list as the purpose of input from title word data configured of a title word group having leaning skill level information and statistical frequency information and history data and retrieval object dictionary data configured of the title word group retrieved and referred to once by using character strings successively inputted by an input means as purpose retrieval words as factors, and provided with a display means for executing list display output to a display picture. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic dictionary that searches and displays information related to translations and phrases corresponding to character strings input from a keyboard or the like from a dictionary memory, and a set of phrases represented by English-Japanese, English-English, etc. The present invention relates to an electronic dictionary having dictionary data having example sentences.

  Electronic dictionaries that make various dictionaries such as Japanese-language dictionaries, English-Japanese dictionaries, Japanese-English dictionaries, etc. into a database as electronic data and display translations corresponding to input words are widely used.

  In this electronic dictionary, when a user inputs a character string for a target phrase, a corresponding word, phrase, example sentence and its translation are extracted from a dictionary database and displayed (for example, patent documents). 1).

  In a Japanese dictionary, the headwords are generally arranged in the order of Japanese syllabary, and in a foreign language dictionary represented by English, the headwords are generally arranged in alphabetical order. Correspondingly, in the conventional electronic dictionary, as a method of searching for a word or phrase to be searched, each time a character string of a word is input character by character, it matches the input character string and forms an input character string. A word group as an element is searched from the dictionary database, a word candidate list that is continuous in alphabetical order or in alphabetical order is displayed on the display device, and if a search target word is found from the word candidate list, it is selected and the search purpose is selected. If there is no such word, there are many methods in which characters constituting the search target word are subsequently input or the word candidate list is scrolled to find and select the target word.

  FIG. 7 shows a screen transition state when a word is searched in a conventional electronic dictionary.

  FIG. 7 shows a case where a search is performed using “get” as a search object. The input characters are displayed in the upper input character column, and the input character strings are displayed in the lower search result column. A search result of a word or phrase as a constituent element is displayed in a list.

  As shown in step S71 of FIG. 7, the input character “g” is displayed in the input character display field, and a plurality of words including the input characters are displayed in a list in the lower search result field. The

Subsequently, by inputting the remaining characters “e” (step S72 in FIG. 7) and “t” (step S73 in FIG. 7), a word or phrase including the input character string “get” is displayed.
JP 2001-134565 A

  However, as shown in FIG. 7, each time a character is entered, the number of words in the word list displayed in the search result column is limited, and the plurality of words displayed in the list are in alphabetical order. If the target word does not always exist on the screen, and there is no target word, it is necessary to scroll the selection cursor 16 on the screen until the target word appears in the search result column. There is a problem that it takes a longer time to scroll as the number of characters increases, or there is a problem that a larger number of character strings constituting a word to be searched must be input.

  Although related to the above-mentioned problem, there are cases where the performance is not necessarily higher as the number of recorded words is larger due to the language proficiency of the user when searching for words and the like. For example, English beginner learners use less vocabulary and difficult (frequently used) words, so they don't expect difficult words to be displayed in the alphabetical list of candidates. Many words that are not for search purposes are displayed as candidates. As a result, the number of words that can be displayed at one time is limited on the display screen, and there is a problem that it takes time and operations such as scrolling the screen until a desired word is reached. In addition, difficult words that are very similar to the correct phrase you want to know are often displayed as candidates, which is not convenient for beginner English learners.

  To solve this problem, create a headword list with different numbers of recorded words for beginners, intermediate learners, advanced learners, etc., and limit the number of words that can be searched according to language proficiency. It can also be used. However, in this method only search, there is a case where a desired word cannot be found because the headword list is limited even though it is recorded as dictionary data, and the user touches an unknown word. The disadvantage of limiting opportunities arises.

  On the other hand, as shown in the screen state of FIG. 8, the conventional electronic dictionary switches to a mode different from the word search that displays the history list when it is desired to refer again to a word or phrase that has been searched once. In order to select a target word from a history list, a method of scrolling the screen to the target word is used. However, since the history list is displayed in the time order in which the search is referred to, words that are not the purpose of the search are also included, and the more history information is, the more difficult it is to find the target word at high speed.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic dictionary in which the number of input characters that a user inputs as a word or phrase for search purposes is reduced and the user can easily search for and refer to an optimum word or phrase desired by the user. And

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an external input means for performing at least character data input and various control inputs, an input data storage means for sequentially storing input character string data input from the external input means, and the input character string. A display device for displaying data, a headword data memory storing a plurality of types of headword data groups, and a dictionary storing a plurality of types of dictionary data consisting of a number of translated word groups corresponding to the headword data groups Data memory, entry word candidate data extracting means for comparing and extracting entry word candidate data corresponding to the input character string data for search purposes from the entry word data memory, and history having entry word history data that has already been searched and referenced Data storage means and history candidate data corresponding to the input character string data are compared and extracted from the history data storage means. History candidate data extraction means, headword candidate list editing means for composing and editing a headword candidate list from the extracted headword candidate data and history candidate data, and displaying the headword candidate list on the display device Display control means, selection control means for selecting an entry word for search from the entry word candidate list by the external input means, a translation corresponding to the entry word selected by the selection control means, etc., in the dictionary data The electronic dictionary is provided with the display control means for converting display data from the memory to achieve the object.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the electronic dictionary of the first aspect, the headword data memory has frequency information and proficiency level information in advance for each headword, and responds to the external input means. Level control means for controlling to selectively compare and extract only headword data at the proficiency level specified for the headword candidate data extraction means.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the electronic dictionary according to the second aspect, the headword candidate data extraction means is arranged in order of frequency based on the input character string data and the frequency information from the headword data memory. Frequency candidate data extraction means for extracting candidate data in the alphabet, candidate data extraction means in alphabetical order for extracting candidate data in alphabetical order based on the input character string data and alphabetical order from the entry word data memory, and the frequency of occurrence And means for creating the headword candidate data from the candidate data in order and the candidate data in alphabetical order.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic dictionary according to the third aspect, the headword candidate list editing means includes each of the candidate data in the frequency order, the candidate data in the alphabetical order, and the history candidate data. An operation of dynamically determining and aligning the display number based on the number of characters of the input character string data is provided.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic dictionary according to the third or fourth aspect, the headword data memory further includes reference count information for each headword.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic dictionary according to the fifth aspect, the frequency order candidate data extracting means means has an operation of extracting based on the frequency level information and the reference count information. Features.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the electronic dictionary according to the fifth or sixth aspect, the headword candidate list has a reference count display means for visually displaying the reference count of each headword. It is characterized by.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the headword candidate list displayed as a list on the display device is composed of headword candidate data and history candidate data extracted based on the input character string. Thus, when the search-target headword is included in the history candidate data, it is possible to perform a high-speed search with fewer input operations for the input character string.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, based on the proficiency level designated by the user, headword candidate data for search purposes is extracted from the headword data group suitable for the proficiency level. In addition, since the candidate word list created together with the history candidate data does not include candidates other than the target word of the set proficiency level, the possibility that a desired word is displayed as a candidate list is improved. Search reference can be performed at higher speed.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the headword candidate list that is displayed as a list on the display device includes heading candidate data that includes frequency candidate data extracted based on the input character string data and alphabetical order candidate data; Since it is composed of history candidate data, if it is a word with a high frequency, it will be based on the frequency candidate data, if it is not in the frequency candidate data, it will be alphabetical order candidate data. Therefore, the possibility that a desired word is displayed as a candidate list at a high speed with fewer input character string input operations is improved, and it becomes possible to easily refer to the translation of the word.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, each of the heading candidate data and the history candidate data including the frequent appearance candidate data and the alphabetical order candidate data, which are constituent elements of the headword candidate list displayed in a list on the display device. Since the number is dynamically changed and arranged based on the number of input characters, it is possible to display a more optimal list of candidate word lists.

  According to the present invention as set forth in claims 5 to 6, further by selectively extracting only the headword data of a predetermined reference number with respect to the frequent appearance candidate data extracting means in response to the reference number information, It is possible to display a list of optimal headword candidate lists.

  According to the present invention described in claim 7, it is possible to know the learning achievement level from the reference count of the headword displayed by the reference count display means.

  Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the electronic dictionary of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic dictionary 20 in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the external appearance of the electronic dictionary 20.

  The configuration of FIG. 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the key input device 1 as an external input means has a function control key in addition to the alphabet input key as shown by the character key 1b. The function control keys include a power key 1a for turning on / off the power, a cursor key 1c (cross key) for moving a cursor and a selected portion, searching dictionary data from input characters, and switching display contents. A translation / decision key 1d for determining various settings, a dictionary selection key 1e for selecting a dictionary from a plurality of dictionaries, and a level selection key 1f for setting a proficiency level. Although not shown, the external input means includes, for example, a numeric keypad representing numbers and other various keys.

  A liquid crystal display device is used as the display device 2, and the display device 2 in FIG. The display device displays characters and words input from the character key 1b, a searched headword list, translations, example sentences, phrases, and the like.

  The input buffer 3 serving as input data storage means stores character string data input from the character key 1b. A headword candidate data search circuit 9 serving as a headword candidate data extraction unit extracts a headword candidate data group corresponding to the character string data stored in the input buffer 3 from the headword data memory 7 and extracts a headword candidate data buffer 11. Write to. The level control circuit 4 as level control means operates on the headword candidate data search circuit 9 so as to select a candidate from a headword data group having a proficiency level selected by the level selection key 1f. A history candidate data search circuit 10 serving as history candidate data extraction means extracts a history candidate data group corresponding to the character string data stored in the input buffer 3 from the history data memory 8 and writes it to the history candidate data buffer 12. A headword candidate list editing circuit 13 serving as a headword candidate list editing means edits data inputted from the headword candidate data buffer 11 and the history candidate data buffer 12 and writes the data to the headword candidate list buffer 14. The display control circuit 15 as display control means converts the data inputted from the headword candidate list buffer 14 into display data and outputs it to the display device 2 as display means.

  Next, the configuration of the headword data memory 7 and the history data memory 8 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The headword data stored in the headword data memory 7 of FIG. 3 are addressed in alphabetical order, and proficiency level data, frequency data, and reference count data corresponding to each headword are stored together. . The translation data corresponding to each headword in the headword data memory 7 is stored in the dictionary data memory 6 so as to correspond one-to-one.

  The history data stored in the history data memory 8 of FIG. 4 are numbered in the order of reference, and the headword data address of each headword is stored together.

  FIG. 5 shows display state transitions based on an example of an operation in which a proficiency level is set by the level selection key 1f. First, the level selection key 1f is pressed to change the proficiency level setting (state S51 in FIG. 5). Here, the level at which the cursor (characters are highlighted) is the current set level (level III in the state of S51 in FIG. 5), but in order to change to level I, the ↑ key of the cursor key 1c is pressed twice. When the key is pressed (state S52 in FIG. 5) and the translation / execution key 1d is pressed, the level is changed to level I (state S53 in FIG. 5). Level I is a level in which only words of proficiency level data “A” shown in the headword data memory of FIG. 3 are searched. Level II is a level in which only the words of the proficiency level data “A” and “B” in FIG. 3 are searched, and level II is the proficiency level data “A” in FIG. In this level, all words “B” and “C” are searched.

  FIG. 6 shows display state transitions based on an example of the operation of the present invention. In this example, it is assumed that the English word “development” is a word for search purposes, and the proficiency level is set to level I. First, the electronic dictionary 20 enters an operation waiting state by the on / off key 1a. When an English-Japanese dictionary is selected by the dictionary selection key 1e in this state, English-Japanese dictionary data to be used is set by the selection control circuit, and thereafter, an English-Japanese dictionary for executing word search processing corresponding to the character string input from the character key 1b. The process proceeds to step S1 for initial display. Here, although not shown, the dictionary to be used can be selected from a plurality of dictionaries recorded each time the dictionary selection key 1e is pressed, and the contents of the input buffer 3 are also cleared by this operation. In this state, the input screen of the English-Japanese dictionary and the contents of the input buffer 3 are output as display data from the display control circuit 15, so that the display shown in step S1 is performed on the display device 2.

  Next, when “d” is input from the character key 1 b, the character data “d” is input to the input buffer 3, and the contents of the input buffer 3 are stored in the entry word candidate data search circuit 9 and the history candidate data search circuit 10. Is input. The headword candidate data search circuit 9 extracts the candidate data from the headword data memory 7 that has “d” as the first character and satisfies the proficiency level I in the descending order of frequency, and the headword data memory 7. From the candidate data having “d” as the first character in alphabetical order are written in the entry word candidate data buffer 11. Further, the history candidate data search circuit 10 writes the history candidate data extracted from the history data memory 8 in the descending order of the reference order number, with candidate data having “d” as the first character in the history candidate data buffer 12. Then, when the contents of the headword candidate data buffer 11 and the history candidate data buffer 12 are input to the heading candidate list editing circuit 13, the heading candidate list editing circuit 13 places the frequency-of-frequency candidate data in the frequency-of-frequency candidate area T1. The history candidate data is arranged in the history candidate area T2, the alphabetical candidate data is arranged in the alphabetical candidate area T3, and if there are duplicate candidates, they are combined into a single entry word candidate list to be displayed as a list. The data is input to the list buffer 14 and the list display data is output from the display control circuit 15, and the display shown in step S2 is performed on the display device 2.

  Next, when “e” is input from the character key 1b, the character data “e” is additionally input to the input buffer 3, and the content “de” of the input buffer 3 is further input to the candidate word candidate data search circuit 9 and the history candidate. The data is input to the data search circuit 10. The headword candidate data search circuit 9 includes frequent word candidate data obtained by extracting candidate data satisfying the proficiency level I from the headword data memory 7 with “de” as the first character string, and the headword data memory. The alphabetical candidate data obtained by extracting the candidate data having “de” in the first character string from 7 in alphabetical order is written to the headword candidate data buffer 11. Further, the history candidate data search circuit 10 writes the history candidate data extracted from the history data memory 8 in the descending order of the reference order number, with candidate data having “de” as the first character string, and writes the history candidate data into the history candidate data buffer 12. Then, when the contents of the headword candidate data buffer 11 and the history candidate data buffer 12 are input to the heading candidate list editing circuit 13, the heading candidate list editing circuit 13 places the frequency-of-frequency candidate data in the frequency-of-frequency candidate area T1. In this example, since there is only one candidate for the history candidate data to be arranged in the history candidate area T2, the T2 area is reduced to enlarge the T1 area, and the alphabetical candidate data is arranged in the alphabetical candidate area T3. Further, if there are further overlapping candidates, they are combined into one, and are input to the headword candidate list buffer 14 as a headword candidate list to be displayed as a list, and the list display data is output from the display control circuit 15, and the display device 2 at step S3. Is displayed.

  Next, when “v” is input from the character key 1 b, the character data “v” is additionally input to the input buffer 3, and the content “dev” in the input buffer 3 is further input to the entry word candidate data search circuit 9 and the history candidate. The data is input to the data search circuit 10. The headword candidate data search circuit 9 includes frequent word candidate data obtained by extracting candidate data satisfying the proficiency level I from the headword data memory 7 with “dev” as the first character string, and the headword data memory. The candidate data with alphabetical order extracted from the candidate data having “dev” as the first character string from 7 is written in the candidate word candidate data buffer 11. Further, the history candidate data search circuit 10 tries to perform a process of writing the history candidate data obtained by extracting the candidate data having “dev” in the first character string from the history data memory 8 in descending order of the reference order number to the history candidate data buffer 12. However, in this example, since there is no entry word having “dev” as the first character string in the history data memory, empty candidate data is written to the history candidate data buffer 12. Then, when the contents of the headword candidate data buffer 11 and the history candidate data buffer 12 are input to the heading candidate list editing circuit 13, the heading candidate list editing circuit 13 places the frequency-of-frequency candidate data in the frequency-of-frequency candidate area T1. Since the history candidate data is empty, the history candidate area T2 is removed, the alphabetical order candidate data is arranged in the alphabetical order candidate area T3, and if there are duplicate candidates, they are combined into one and headed as a headword candidate list to be displayed as a list Input to the word candidate list buffer 14, list display data is output from the display control circuit 15, and the display shown in step S 4 is performed on the display device 2.

  Next, in step S4, the word “development” that is the search target is displayed in the T1 area, so the selection cursor on “development” is pushed once with the ↑ key of the cursor key 1c, and the selection cursor is placed on “development”. When moved, the display as shown in step S5 is performed on the display device 2.

  Next, when the translation / decision key 1d is pressed, the selection control circuit 5 extracts the translation data corresponding to the entry word “development” from the dictionary data memory 6 and outputs it to the display control circuit 15 for display by the display control circuit 15. It is converted into data and displayed on the display device 2. This is indicated by step S6 in FIG.

  The above is the description of the embodiment of the present invention based on FIG. In the embodiment described above, the case of input and word search for English has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to English, and may be another foreign language or Japanese. In the case of Japanese, the alphabetical order is in the order of 50 notes.

It is a functional block diagram of the electronic dictionary of the present invention. It is an external view of the main body of the electronic dictionary of the present invention. It is a block diagram of headword data memory. It is a figure which shows the structure of a history data memory. It is a step figure of the proficiency level setting function in the Example of this invention. It is a step figure of the word search function in the Example of this invention. It is a step figure of the word search function in the conventional electronic dictionary. It is a figure which shows the log | history display in the conventional electronic dictionary.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Key input device 2 Display device 3 Input buffer 4 Level control circuit 5 Selection control circuit 6 Display control circuit dictionary data memory 7 Headword data memory 8 History data memory 9 Headword candidate data search circuit 10 History candidate data search circuit 11 Headword Candidate data buffer 12 History candidate data buffer 13 Headword candidate list editing circuit 14 Headword candidate list buffer 15 Display control circuit

Claims (7)

An external input means for performing at least character data input and various control inputs;
Input data storage means for sequentially storing input character string data input from the external input means;
A display device for displaying the input character string data;
A headword data memory in which a plurality of headword data groups are stored;
A dictionary data memory storing a plurality of types of dictionary data consisting of a large number of translated word data groups corresponding to the headword data groups;
Headword candidate data extraction means for comparing and extracting headword candidate data corresponding to the input character string data for search purposes from the headword data memory;
History data storage means having headword history data that has already been searched and referenced once;
History candidate data extracting means for comparing and extracting history candidate data corresponding to the input character string data from the history data storage means;
A headword candidate list editing means for composing and editing a headword candidate list from the extracted headword candidate data and the history candidate data;
Display control means for displaying the headword candidate list on the display device;
Selection control means for selecting a search-target headword from the headword candidate list by the external input means;
An electronic dictionary comprising the display control means for converting a translation corresponding to the entry word selected by the selection control means into display data from the dictionary data memory.   The headword data memory has frequency information and proficiency level information in advance for each headword, and the heading of the proficiency level designated for the headword candidate data extraction means in response to the external input means 2. The electronic dictionary according to claim 1, further comprising level control means for controlling to selectively compare and extract only word data. The headword candidate data extraction means extracts frequent candidate data in the order of frequent occurrences based on the input character string data and the frequency information from the headword data memory, and the headword data Alphabetical candidate data extraction means for extracting candidate data in alphabetical order based on the input character string data and alphabetical order from the memory; and creating the entry word candidate data from the candidate data in frequent occurrence order and the candidate data in alphabetical order The electronic dictionary according to claim 2, further comprising:   The headword candidate list editing means dynamically determines the display numbers of the candidate data in the frequency order, the candidate data in the alphabetical order, and the history candidate data based on the number of characters of the input character string data. The electronic dictionary according to claim 3, further comprising an operation of aligning.   5. The electronic dictionary according to claim 3, wherein the headword data memory further includes reference count information for each headword.   6. The electronic dictionary according to claim 5, wherein said frequent occurrence order candidate data extracting means has an operation of extracting based on said frequent occurrence level information and said reference count information.   7. The electronic dictionary according to claim 5, further comprising a reference count display means for visually displaying the reference count of each headword in the headword candidate list.

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