JP2011043627A - Character information display device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To set an appropriate display time required for reading characters for each character string being a display object. <P>SOLUTION: A character information display device includes: a reading difficulty-discriminating part 3 which discriminates whether the character string being the display object is an easy-to-read character string or a difficult-to-read character string based on an attribute of the character discriminated by a character attribute discriminating part 2; and a display time-setting part 4 which, when the reading difficulty-discriminating part 3 discriminates the character string being the display object as the easy-to-read character string, sets a display time of the character string being the display object to a reference display time, and when the reading difficulty-discriminating part 3 discriminates the character string as the difficult-to-read character string, sets a display time of the character string being the display object to a longer time than the reference display time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a character information display device that displays, for example, a character string indicating a next arrival station on a guide board in a train.

Patent Document 1 below discloses a character information display device that displays a plurality of character information while switching.
The character information display device is a device that alternately displays a first screen that displays certain character information and a second screen that displays certain character information, and displays the first screen and the second screen. The time T is set by calculating the following equation (1).

T = D × a × f (1)
Here, D is the number of characters in the screen, and a is a constant related to visibility (a constant indicating the time (minute) per character necessary for an average person to visually recognize the displayed character).
f is a factor that affects the screen display time other than the data amount and visibility, and is set by the user.
For example, as the factor f, a coefficient (for example, illuminance around the device, the number of people existing around the device) due to the surrounding environment surrounding the character information display device is set.

As a result, the screen having a larger number of characters is set to have a longer display time. However, even if the characters on the screen are difficult Kanji characters or simple hiragana characters, they are treated in the same line.
Therefore, if the number of characters in the screen is the same, the display time of a screen that includes many esoteric kanji characters and the display time of a screen that does not include esoteric kanji characters are the same.
For this reason, for example, when a display time just right for grasping the character information in the latter screen is set, a display time sufficient for accurately grasping the character information in the former screen is not secured. Become.
Conversely, when a display time that is just right for grasping the character information in the former screen is set, a display time that is too long to grasp the character information in the latter screen is set.

Such a character information display device may be applied to a device that displays character information on a guide board in a train. However, in recent years, people in various languages have a tendency to use railroads. For example, when the next arrival station is displayed on the information board, it is required to guide the next arrival station in more languages. For example, the next arrival station is displayed in the order of Japanese (Kanji) → Japanese (Hiragana) → Romaji → Korean → Chinese.
However, since the number of languages representing the next arrival station, the complexity, and the like differ between languages, the time required to grasp the next arrival station differs. For this reason, in order to guide the next arrival station in many languages during the limited time between stations, it is necessary to appropriately set the display time of the next arrival station in each language.

JP-A-4-324494 (paragraph numbers [0010] to [0011], FIG. 4)

  Since the conventional character information display device is configured as described above, if the number of characters in the screen is the same, the display time of a screen that includes many difficult Kanji characters and the display time of a screen that does not include difficult Kanji Are the same. Therefore, there is a problem that it is difficult to apply to a device that guides the next arrival station in many languages during a limited time between stations.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to obtain a character information display device capable of setting an appropriate display time required for reading for each character string to be displayed. .

  The character information display device according to the present invention specifies a character constituting a character string to be displayed from the character code input by the character code input means, and character attribute determination means for determining the attribute of the character; Taking into account the character attributes determined by the character attribute determining means, it is possible to determine whether the character string to be displayed is a character string that is easy to read or a character string that is difficult to read. If the character string that is easy to read is determined by the reading difficulty determination unit, the display time of the character string to be displayed is set as a reference display time, and the character that is difficult to read by the reading difficulty determination unit Display time setting means for setting the display time of the character string to be displayed to be longer than the reference display time when it is determined that the character string is a string, and the character string display means is set by the display time setting means. During been displayed time, in which so as to display the character string to be displayed.

  According to the present invention, the character attribute determining means for specifying the character constituting the character string to be displayed from the character code input by the character code input means and determining the attribute of the character, and the character attribute determining means Taking into account the character attributes determined by the above, reading difficulty determination means for determining whether the character string to be displayed is a character string that is easy to read or a character string that is difficult to read, and reading difficulty When it is determined that the character string is easy to read by the sex determination means, the display time of the character string to be displayed is set as a reference display time, and the character string is difficult to read by the read difficulty determination means A display time setting means for setting the display time of the character string to be displayed to a time longer than the reference display time when it is determined, and the display time set by the display time setting means. , Since it is configured to display the character string to be displayed for each character string to be displayed, there is an effect that it is possible to set an appropriate display time required for reading.

It is a block diagram which shows the character information display apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the character attribute discrimination | determination part 2 and the reading difficulty determination part 3 of the character information display apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the display time setting part 4 of the character information display apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the character string display part 5 of the character information display apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of the character attribute discrimination | determination part 2 of the character information display apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of the reading difficulty determination part 3 of the character information display apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of the display time setting part 4 and the character string display part 5 of the character information display apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the familiarity of various characters in Japanese (kanji) and Chinese. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the double phonetic character in Korean. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the Korean character string containing the hard sound. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the combined description of Japanese (kanji) and Japanese (Hiragana). It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the combined description of Korean and Chinese. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the display form of the Roman character string when the number of characters is more than the threshold value N. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the display form which displays the character string of each language in order. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the display form which writes the character string of some languages together. It is explanatory drawing which shows the experimental result of the user's recognition time with respect to the character string of each language. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the 3D display component which displays the character string of each language. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the animation display which changes gradually from the character string currently displayed to the character string of the next display.

Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a character information display device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
The character information display device according to the first embodiment will be described as an example applied to a device that displays a character string indicating the next arrival station, passing station, end station, or the like on a guide board in a train in multiple languages.
However, this character information display device is not limited to a device that displays a character string on a guide board in a train. For example, a device that displays character information at a station, airport, store, street, campus, office, etc. (digital Signage) can be applied.

In FIG. 1, a character code input unit 1 is an interface for inputting character codes (for example, JIS code, shift JIS code, EUC code, Unicode, etc.) of characters constituting a character string to be displayed.
For example, when the character information display device is connected to a network such as a LAN or the Internet, the character code input unit 1 is configured by a network interface device and inputs a character code via the network.
When the character code input unit 1 is composed of a man-machine interface such as a keyboard or a mouse, the user operates the character code input unit 1 to input a character code.
The character code input unit 1 constitutes a character code input means.

The character attribute discriminating unit 2 is composed of, for example, a semiconductor integrated circuit mounted with a CPU, a one-chip microcomputer, or the like, and displays a character string (for example, the next arrival) from the character code input by the character code input unit 1. The character which comprises the character string which shows a station) is specified, and the process which discriminate | determines the attribute of the character is implemented. The character attribute determining unit 2 constitutes a character attribute determining unit.
The reading difficulty determination unit 3 is composed of, for example, a semiconductor integrated circuit on which a CPU is mounted, a one-chip microcomputer, and the like, and takes into account the character attributes determined by the character attribute determination unit 2 and displays a character string to be displayed. However, a process of determining whether the character string is easy to read or difficult to read is performed. The reading difficulty determining unit 3 constitutes reading difficulty determining means.

The display time setting unit 4 is composed of, for example, a semiconductor integrated circuit mounted with a CPU, a one-chip microcomputer, or the like. When the read difficulty determination unit 3 determines that the character string is easy to read, a display target When the character string display time is set to the reference display time T1, and the read difficulty determination unit 3 determines that the character string is difficult to read, the display time of the character string to be displayed is the reference display time. A process of setting the longer time T2 is performed. The display time setting unit 4 constitutes display time setting means.
The character string display unit 5 is composed of, for example, a semiconductor integrated circuit on which a CPU is mounted, a one-chip microcomputer, and the like. Perform the process.
The display 6 is, for example, a bulletin board installed near the upper part of the opening / closing door of a train, and a character string is displayed by the character string display unit 5.
The character string display unit 5 and the display 6 constitute character string display means.

  In FIG. 1, the character code input unit 1, the character attribute determination unit 2, the reading difficulty determination unit 3, the display time setting unit 4, the character string display unit 5 and the display 6 which are components of the character information display device are dedicated. However, when the character information display device is configured by a computer, the character code input unit 1, the character attribute determination unit 2, the reading difficulty determination unit 3, the display time setting A program describing the processing contents of the unit 4 and the character string display unit 5 may be stored in a memory of a computer, and the CPU of the computer may execute the program stored in the memory.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the character attribute determination unit 2 and the read difficulty determination unit 3 of the character information display device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
In FIG. 2, the language type determination unit 11 refers to the character code input by the character code input unit 1 and performs a process of determining the language of characters constituting the character string to be displayed.
For example, if the character code is in the range of ○○ to △△, it is determined that the language of the character is Japanese (Kanji), and if it is in the range of ▽▽ to □□, the language of the character is Japanese (Hiragana) In the range of ☆☆ to ◇◇, it is determined that the language of the character is Romaji or English. However, in the first embodiment, for convenience of explanation, it is determined that the language of the character is Roman characters within the range of ☆☆ to ◇◇.
If it is in the range of ◎◎ to ■■, it is determined that the language of the character is Korean, and if it is in the range of ★★ to ●●, it is determined that the language of the character is Chinese.

The character stroke number storage unit 12 is a database that records the number of strokes of various characters.
When the language of the character determined by the language type determination unit 11 is Japanese (Kanji) or Chinese (character is an ideogram), the character stroke number specifying unit 13 refers to the character stroke number storage unit 12 and determines the character A process for specifying the number of strokes (character attributes) is performed.
When the language of the character determined by the language type determination unit 11 is Japanese (Kanji) or Chinese, the total stroke number specifying unit 14 configures a character string to be displayed with reference to the character stroke number storage unit 12. A process for specifying the total number of strokes (character attributes) of all the characters is executed.

The character familiarity storage unit 15 is a database that records the familiarity (an index indicating the degree of familiarity with characters) of various characters (Japanese (Kanji) and Chinese characters).
When the language of the character determined by the language type determination unit 11 is Japanese (Kanji) or Chinese, the character closeness specifying unit 16 specifies the closeness of the character with reference to the character closeness storage unit 15 Perform the process.

The character number specifying unit 17 specifies the number of characters constituting the character string to be displayed when the language of the character determined by the language type determining unit 11 is Japanese (Hiragana) (character is a phonetic character). Perform the process.
The character string familiarity storage unit 18 is a database that records the familiarity of various character strings (character strings composed of Japanese (Hiragana)).
If the language of the character determined by the language type determination unit 11 is Japanese (Hiragana), the character string closeness specifying unit 19 refers to the character string closeness storage unit 18 and refers to the closeness of the character string to be displayed. Implement the process to identify.

When the language of the character determined by the language type determination unit 11 is English or Korean, the character complexity specifying unit 20 performs processing for specifying the visual complexity for the character string to be displayed as the character attribute. To do.
When the language of the character determined by the language type determination unit 11 is Korean, the pronunciation difficulty level specifying unit 21 determines the difficulty level of pronunciation of the character string to be displayed (the difficulty of pronunciation with respect to the character string). The process of specifying the index) is performed.

The first reading difficulty determining unit 31 includes characters that have a stroke number specified by the character stroke number specifying unit 13 exceeding a threshold value P (for example, P = 15) among the characters constituting the character string to be displayed. If the character string is not included, it is determined that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, and the number of strokes specified by the character stroke number specifying unit 13 is included in the characters constituting the character string to be displayed. Is included, it is determined that the character string to be displayed is a character string that is difficult to read.
If the total number of strokes specified by the total number of strokes specifying unit 14 does not exceed a threshold value M (for example, M = 35), the second read difficulty determination unit 32 is a character string that is easy to read. If the total stroke number specified by the total stroke number specifying unit 14 exceeds the threshold M, it is determined that the character string to be displayed is a character string that is difficult to read.

If the third reading difficulty determining unit 33 does not include a character whose familiarity specified by the character familiarity specifying unit 16 is lower than the threshold S1 in the characters constituting the character string to be displayed, It is determined that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, and the familiarity specified by the character familiarity specifying unit 16 is lower than the threshold value S1 among the characters constituting the character string to be displayed. If a character is included, it is determined that the character string to be displayed is a character string that is difficult to read.
The number of characters specified by the character number specifying unit 17 is a threshold N (for example, N = 8 for Hiragana, N = 15 for Roman characters, N = 8 for Korean). If the number is less than), it is determined that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, and if the number specified by the character number specifying unit 17 is equal to or greater than the threshold value N, it is difficult to read the character string to be displayed. It is determined that the character string is correct.

If the familiarity specified by the character string familiarity specifying unit 19 is greater than or equal to the threshold value S2, the fifth reading difficulty determining unit 35 determines that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, and If the familiarity specified by the column familiarity specifying unit 19 is lower than the threshold value S2, it is determined that the character string to be displayed is a character string that is difficult to read.
If the visual complexity specified by the character complexity specifying unit 20 is lower than the threshold value C, the sixth difficulty reading determination unit 36 determines that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, If the visual complexity specified by the character complexity specifying unit 20 is equal to or greater than the threshold value C, it is determined that the character string to be displayed is a character string that is difficult to read.

If the difficulty of pronunciation specified by the pronunciation difficulty specifying unit 21 is lower than the threshold value D, the seventh reading difficulty determination unit 37 determines that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, and If the difficulty level of pronunciation specified by the difficulty level specifying unit 21 is equal to or greater than the threshold value D, it is determined that the character string to be displayed is a character string that is difficult to read.
However, the first to seventh reading difficulty determination sections 31 to 37 perform the determination process only when the character code of the language of the language to which the first to seventh difficulty is input, and the character of the language of the non-applicable language. If a code is entered, the judgment process is not performed.
For example, if the language of the character determined by the language type determination unit 11 is Japanese (Chinese characters) or Chinese, the first reading difficulty determination unit 31 performs the determination process. If it is a word (Hiragana), Romaji or Korean, the determination process is not performed.

  The overall determination unit 38 can easily read the character string to be displayed from all the determination results of the reading difficulty determination unit that has been subjected to the determination process among the first to seventh reading difficulty determination units 31 to 37. If it indicates that it is a character string, it is finally determined that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string. On the other hand, if the determination result of the at least one reading difficulty determination unit indicates that the character string to be displayed is a character string that is difficult to read, finally, the character string to be displayed is difficult to read. Judged to be a character string.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the display time setting unit 4 of the character information display device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
In FIG. 3, the determination result input unit 41 performs a process of inputting the final determination result of the comprehensive determination unit 38 in the reading difficulty determination unit 3.
If the determination result input by the determination result input unit 41 indicates that the character string is easy to read, the display time setting processing unit 42 uses the display time of the character string to be displayed as a reference display time T1 ( For example, if the determination result input by the determination result input unit 41 indicates that the character string is difficult to read, the display time of the character string to be displayed is the reference display time. A process of setting the display time T2 twice as long as T1 is performed.
Here, an example is shown in which the display time T2 is set to twice the reference display time T1, but the display time T2 is not necessarily limited to the display time T2 that is longer than the reference display time T1. .

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a character string display portion 5 of the character information display device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
In FIG. 4, the display time input unit 51 performs a process of inputting the display time T <b> 1 or T <b> 2 set by the display time setting processing unit 42 of the display time setting unit 4.
If the display time of the character strings in all languages is T1, the display form setting unit 52 adopts a display form in which the character strings in each language are displayed in order, and the display time of the character strings in some languages is T2. In some cases, a display form in which character strings of some languages are written together is adopted.

When the display form setting unit 52 adopts a display form in which the character strings in each language are displayed in order, for example, Japanese (Kanji) → Japanese (Hiragana) → Romaji → Korean → Chinese In this order, a process of displaying a character string in each language on the display 6 for each display time T1 is performed.
On the other hand, when a display form in which character strings of some languages are written together by the display form setting unit 52, for example, if the display time of Japanese (Kanji) is T2, Japanese (Kanji) and Japanese (Hiragana) is also written, and if the display time of Korean is T2, Korean and Chinese are written together, (Japanese (Kanji) + Japanese (Hiragana)) → Roman characters → (Korea A process of displaying the character strings of the respective languages on the display 6 in the order of (word + Chinese).
In this case, the display time for (Japanese (Kanji) + Japanese (Hiragana)) and (Korean + Chinese) is T2, and the display time for Roman characters is T1.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the character attribute determination unit 2 of the character information display device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the reading difficulty determining unit 3 of the character information display device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the display time setting unit 4 and the character string display unit 5 of the character information display device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Next, the operation will be described.
For example, when a character string indicating the next arrival station is input as the character string to be displayed, the character code input unit 1 is a character code (for example, JIS) constituting the character string indicating the next arrival station. Code, shift JIS code, EUC code, Unicode, etc.).
For example, if the next arrival station is Tokyo Station and the next arrival station is displayed in multiple languages (eg, Japanese (Kanji), Japanese (Hiragana), Roman, Korean, Chinese) Enter the character codes of the characters that make up the string in order.
For example, if the language is Japanese (Kanji), enter the character code of “East” and “Kyo”, and if the language is Japanese (Hiragana), “to”, “u”, “ki”, If the language code is “Roman”, the character codes “t”, “o”, “k”, “y”, “o” are input.

When a character code is input by the character code input unit 1, the character attribute determination unit 2 specifies a character constituting a character string indicating the next arrival station from the character code, and the character attribute (for example, Character stroke count, total stroke count of all characters, character familiarity, number of characters, character string familiarity, character complexity, pronunciation difficulty).
Hereinafter, the processing content of the character attribute discrimination | determination part 2 is demonstrated concretely.

When the language type determination unit 11 of the character attribute determination unit 2 receives the character code from the character code input unit 1 (step ST1 in FIG. 5), it refers to the character code and constructs a character string indicating the next arrival station. The language of the character is determined (step ST2).
For example, if the character code is in the range of ○○ to △△, it is determined that the language of the character is Japanese (Kanji), and if it is in the range of ▽▽ to □□, the language of the character is Japanese (Hiragana) If it is in the range of ☆☆ to ◇◇, it is determined that the language of the character is Roman.
If it is in the range of ◎◎ to ■■, it is determined that the language of the character is Korean, and if it is in the range of ★★ to ●●, it is determined that the language of the character is Chinese.
Here, an example is shown in which the character language is determined by referring to the character code. However, this is merely an example. For example, the character code input unit 1 can change the character language in addition to the character code. When the language identification information to be identified is input, the language of the character may be determined with reference to the language identification information.

When the language type determination unit 11 determines the language of the characters constituting the character string, the character stroke number specifying unit 13 determines that the language of the characters is Japanese (Kanji) or Chinese (characters are ideograms) ( Step ST3) Referring to the character stroke number storage unit 12, the stroke number (character attribute) of the character is specified (step ST4).
That is, since the number of strokes of various characters in Japanese (Kanji) and Chinese is recorded in the character stroke number storage unit 12 (the number of character strokes corresponding to each character code is recorded), the character stroke number specification The unit 13 searches the character stroke number storage unit 12 for the number of character strokes using the character code input by the character code input unit 1 as a key.
For example, if the character is “East”, 8 strokes are searched, and if the character is “Kyo”, 8 strokes are searched.

When the character language is Japanese (kanji) or Chinese (step ST3), the total stroke number specifying unit 14 refers to the character stroke number storage unit 12 and refers to the total stroke number of all characters constituting the character string. (Character attributes) are specified (step ST5).
For example, when the character string is “Tokyo”, as described above, since the stroke number of the character “East” is 8 strokes and the stroke number of the character “Kyo” is 8 strokes, the total number of strokes of each character is calculated. To obtain the total number of strokes (16 strokes = 8 strokes + 8 strokes).

When the character language is Japanese (Kanji) or Chinese (step ST3), the character closeness specifying unit 16 refers to the character closeness storage unit 15 to determine the character closeness (character attribute) of the character. Specify (step ST6).
In other words, as shown in FIG. 8, the character familiarity storage unit 15 stores the familiarity of various characters in Japanese (Kanji) and Chinese (an index indicating the degree of familiarity with characters). Therefore (character familiarity corresponding to each character code is recorded), the character familiarity specifying unit 16 uses the character code input by the character code input unit 1 as a key from the character familiarity storage unit 15. Search for character intimacy.

In the example of FIG. 8, a higher numerical familiarity is assigned to a character with a higher familiarity, and 7.00 is set to a character with the highest familiarity.
A database in which the familiarity of characters corresponding to each character code is recorded is disclosed in, for example, the following non-patent documents.
Supervised by NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Database Series "Vocabulary Characteristics of Japanese" Phase 1

  Here, when the character familiarity specifying unit 16 specifies the character familiarity when the language of the character is Japanese (Kanji) or Chinese, for example, the next arrival station is “Ochanomizu”. When Japanese (Hiragana) is included as in “,” the familiarity of “No” that is Hiragana is also specified. Therefore, it is assumed that the familiarity of hiragana is also included in the character familiarity storage unit 15 of FIG.

When the language of the character determined by the language type determination unit 11 is Japanese (Hiragana), Roman or Korean (the character is a phonetic character) (step ST3), the character number specifying unit 17 forms a character string. The number of characters (character attributes) is specified (step ST7).
In other words, the character number specifying unit 17 specifies the number of characters constituting the character string by counting the number of character codes input by the character code input unit 1.
For example, when the character string is “Tokyo”, since five character codes are input, it is specified that the number of characters is five.

When the character language is Japanese (Hiragana) (step ST8), the character string closeness specifying unit 19 refers to the character string closeness storage unit 18 and refers to the character string closeness indicating the next arrival station ( Character attributes) are specified (step ST9).
That is, since the familiarity of various character strings in Japanese (Hiragana) is recorded in the character string familiarity storage unit 18 (for example, new densities of “Tokyo” and “Ochamizu”) are recorded. The character string closeness specifying unit 19 specifies the closeness of a character string composed of characters corresponding to the character code input by the character code input unit 1.
When the familiarity of the character string indicating the next arrival station is not registered in the character string familiarity storage unit 18, the familiarity of the characters constituting the character string is specified, for example, the parent of each character The average value of the density and the minimum value of the closeness of each character are used as the closeness of the character string.

When the language of the character determined by the language type determination unit 11 is Roman or Korean (step ST8), the character complexity specifying unit 20 determines the visual complexity (character of the character) indicating the next arrival station. (Attribute) is specified (step ST10).
For example, when a double string is included in a character string, it is determined that the visual complexity of the character string is high, and a visual complexity threshold C described later is used as the complexity of the character string. Give a larger value.
On the other hand, if the character string does not contain double letters, it is determined that the visual complexity of the character string is low, and a value smaller than the threshold C is given as the complexity of the character string.

Here, the double diacritics in Romaji correspond to those that indicate new sounds that each character did not have by combining two alphabets, for example, ch, ts, gh, ph, sh, ai, eu, ow, etc. are double letters.
In addition, the diphone in Korean corresponds to a combination of two consonants as shown in FIG.

When the language of the character determined by the language type determination unit 11 is Korean (step ST11), the pronunciation difficulty level identifying unit 21 determines the difficulty level of pronunciation of the character string indicating the next arrival station (the pronunciation difficulty of the character string). An index indicating the degree of difficulty is specified (step ST12).
For example, if a hard string character is included in the character string (see FIG. 10B), it is determined that the difficulty of pronunciation of the character string is high, and as the difficulty of pronunciation of the character string, A value larger than a threshold D of the difficulty level of pronunciation, which will be described later, is given.
On the other hand, when a hard character is not included in the character string (see FIG. 10A), it is determined that the difficulty of pronunciation of the character string is low, and the difficulty of pronunciation of the character string is determined as , A value smaller than the threshold value D is given.

Here, hard sounds are sounds accompanied by muscle tension (tense) in articulatory organs in phonetics, and hard sounds are sounds that are difficult to pronounce. A relaxed (luxurious) sound with respect to a hard sound is called a soft sound.
In Japanese, the sound is equivalent to a hard sound. However, since the consonant is the same as the consonant before the prompting sound, the sounding rhythm sounds as if the one-tempo is given to the prompting sound itself.

When the character stroke number specifying unit 13 specifies the number of strokes of characters constituting the character string, the first reading difficulty determining unit 31 compares the number of strokes of each character with the threshold value P (step ST21 in FIG. 6).
The first readable difficulty determining unit 31 includes a character whose character number indicating the next arrival station includes a character whose number of strokes specified by the character stroke number specifying unit 13 exceeds the threshold value P. If not, it is determined that the character string is a character string that is easy to read (step ST22).
On the other hand, if the character constituting the character string indicating the next arrival station includes a character whose number of strokes specified by the character number specifying unit 13 exceeds the threshold value P, the character string is read. Is a difficult character string (step ST23).

When the total number of strokes specifying unit 14 specifies the total number of strokes of all characters constituting the character string, the second reading difficulty determining unit 32 compares the total number of strokes with a threshold value M (step ST24).
If the total number of strokes does not exceed the threshold value M, the second reading difficulty determination unit 32 determines that the character string indicating the next arrival station is an easily readable character string (step ST25).
On the other hand, if the total number of strokes exceeds the threshold M, it is determined that the character string indicating the next arrival station is a character string that is difficult to read (step ST26).

When the character intimacy specifying unit 16 specifies the intimacy of the characters making up the character string, the third reading difficulty determining unit 33 compares the intimacy of each character with the threshold value S1 (step ST27).
The third reading difficulty determining unit 33 includes characters having a closeness specified by the character closeness specifying unit 16 lower than the threshold value S1 in the characters constituting the character string indicating the next arrival station. If not, it is determined that the character string is an easily readable character string (step ST28).
On the other hand, if the character constituting the character string indicating the next arrival station includes a character whose familiarity specified by the character familiarity specifying unit 16 is lower than the threshold S1, the character string is read. Is a difficult character string (step ST29).

When the number-of-characters identifying unit 17 identifies the number of characters constituting the character string, the fourth difficulty reading determining unit 34 compares the number with a threshold value N (step ST30).
If the number of characters is less than the threshold value N, the fourth readable difficulty determining unit 34 determines that the character string indicating the next arrival station is an easily readable character string (step ST31).
On the other hand, if the number of characters is equal to or greater than the threshold value N, it is determined that the character string indicating the next arrival station is a character string that is difficult to read (step ST32).

When the character string closeness specifying unit 19 specifies the closeness of the character string, the fifth reading difficulty determining unit 35 compares the closeness with the threshold value S2 (step ST33).
If the familiarity of the character string is equal to or greater than the threshold value S2, the fifth difficulty reading unit 35 determines that the character string is an easily readable character string (step ST34).
On the other hand, if the familiarity of the character string is lower than the threshold value S2, it is determined that the character string is a character string that is difficult to read (step ST35).

When the character complexity specifying unit 20 specifies the visual complexity of the character string, the sixth reading difficulty determining unit 36 compares the visual complexity with the threshold value C (step ST36).
If the visual complexity of the character string is lower than the threshold value C, the sixth readable difficulty determining unit 36 determines that the character string is an easily readable character string (step ST37).
On the other hand, if the visual complexity of the character string is greater than or equal to the threshold value C, it is determined that the character string is a character string that is difficult to read (step ST38).

When the pronunciation difficulty level specifying unit 21 specifies the pronunciation difficulty level of the character string, the seventh difficulty reading determination unit 37 compares the pronunciation difficulty level with the threshold value D (step ST39).
If the difficulty level of pronunciation is lower than the threshold value D, the seventh difficulty reading unit 37 determines that the character string is an easily readable character string (step ST40).
On the other hand, if the difficulty level of pronunciation is equal to or greater than the threshold value D, it is determined that the character string is a character string that is difficult to read (step ST41).

The comprehensive determination unit 38 has a character string indicating the next arrival station as a result of all the determination results of the read difficulty determination unit having been subjected to the determination process among the first to seventh read difficulty determination units 31 to 37. If it is indicated that the character string is easy to read (step ST42), it is finally determined that the character string indicating the next arrival station is an easy-to-read character string (step ST43).
If the language of the character is Japanese (Kanji) or Chinese, only the first to third reading difficulty determination units 31, 32, and 33 perform the determination process, so the first to third readings are performed. If the determination results of the difficulty determination units 31, 32, and 33 indicate that the character string is easy to read, finally, the character string indicating the next arrival station is a character string that is easy to read. Is determined.

In addition, when the language of the character is Japanese (Hiragana), only the fourth and fifth reading difficulty determination units 34 and 35 perform the determination process, and thus the fourth and fifth reading difficulty determination units 34. , 35 indicates that the character string is easy to read, it is finally determined that the character string indicating the next arrival station is an easy-to-read character string.
In addition, when the language of the character is Roman, only the fourth and sixth reading difficulty determination units 34 and 36 perform the determination process, so the determination of the fourth and sixth reading difficulty determination units 34 and 36 is performed. If the result indicates that the character string is easy to read, it is finally determined that the character string indicating the next arrival station is an easy-to-read character string.
When the language of the character is Korean, only the fourth, sixth, and seventh reading difficulty determination units 34, 36, and 37 perform the determination process, so that the fourth, sixth, and seventh readings are performed. If the determination result of the difficulty determination unit 34, 36, 37 indicates that the character string is easy to read, finally, the character string indicating the next arrival station is a character string that is easy to read. Is determined.

The general determination unit 38 determines that at least one of the first to seventh reading difficulty determination units 31 to 37 has a determination result of at least one reading difficulty determination unit, and the character string indicating the next arrival station is difficult to read. If it indicates that it is a string (step ST42), it is finally determined that the character string to be displayed is a character string that is difficult to read (step ST44).
If the language of the character is Japanese (Kanji) or Chinese, only the first to third reading difficulty determination units 31, 32, and 33 perform the determination process, so the first to third readings are performed. If any of the determination results of the difficulty determination units 31, 32, and 33 indicates that the character string is difficult to read, finally, the character string indicating the next arrival station is a character that is difficult to read. Judged to be a column.

In addition, when the language of the character is Japanese (Hiragana), only the fourth and fifth reading difficulty determination units 34 and 35 perform the determination process, and thus the fourth and fifth reading difficulty determination units 34. , 35 indicates that the character string that is difficult to read is finally determined that the character string indicating the next arrival station is a character string that is difficult to read.
In addition, when the language of the character is Roman, only the fourth and sixth reading difficulty determination units 34 and 36 perform the determination process, so the determination of the fourth and sixth reading difficulty determination units 34 and 36 is performed. If any of the results indicates that the character string is difficult to read, it is finally determined that the character string indicating the next arrival station is a character string that is difficult to read.
When the language of the character is Korean, only the fourth, sixth, and seventh reading difficulty determination units 34, 36, and 37 perform the determination process, so that the fourth, sixth, and seventh readings are performed. If any of the determination results of the difficulty determination units 34, 36, and 37 indicates that the character string is difficult to read, finally, the character string indicating the next arrival station is a character that is difficult to read. Judged to be a column.

When the comprehensive determination unit 38 of the reading difficulty determination unit 3 determines that the character string is easy to read, the display time setting unit 4 sets the display time of the character string to the reference display time T1, and the reading is performed. If it is determined that the character string is difficult, the display time of the character string is set to a time T2 longer than the reference display time.
That is, the determination result input unit 41 of the display time setting unit 4 inputs the final determination result of the comprehensive determination unit 38 in the reading difficulty determination unit 3 (step ST51).
If the determination result input by the determination result input unit 41 indicates that the display time setting processing unit 42 of the display time setting unit 4 is a character string that is easy to read (step ST52), the next arrival station Is set to a reference display time T1 (for example, 2 seconds) (step ST53).
On the other hand, if the determination result input by the determination result input unit 41 indicates that the character string is difficult to read (step ST52), the display time of the character string indicating the next arrival station is used as the reference display time. A display time T2 that is twice T1 is set (step ST54).

When the display time setting unit 4 sets the display time of the character string, the character string display unit 5 displays a character string indicating the next arrival station on the display 6 during the set display time.
Hereinafter, the processing content of the character string display part 5 is demonstrated concretely.
The display time input unit 51 of the character string display unit 5 inputs the display time T1 or T2 set by the display time setting processing unit 42 of the display time setting unit 4 (step ST55).

If the display time of the character strings in all languages (Japanese (Kanji), Japanese (Hiragana), Roman characters, Korean, Chinese) is T1 (Step ST56), the display form setting unit 52 A display form in which character strings are displayed in order is adopted (step ST57).
For example, a display form in which character strings in each language are displayed in the order of Japanese (Kanji) → Japanese (Hiragana) → Romaji → Korean → Chinese for each display time T1.
When the display time of the character strings in some languages is T2, the display form setting unit 52 adopts a display form in which the character strings in some languages are written together (step ST58).
That is, if the display time of at least one of Japanese (Kanji) or Japanese (Hiragana) is T2, as shown in FIG. 11, Japanese (Kanji) and Japanese (Hiragana) are written together at the display time T2. The display form to be adopted is adopted.
If the display time of at least one of Korean or Chinese is T2, as shown in FIG. 12, a display form in which both Korean and Chinese are written at the display time T2 is adopted.

  The display form setting unit 52 employs a form in which a Roman character string is displayed in one line if the number of characters specified by the character number specifying unit 17 is less than the threshold value N when the language of the character is Roman. However, when the number of characters is equal to or greater than the threshold value N, the character string is divided into a plurality of characters (for example, for each word constituting the character string, as shown in FIG. The first character of the separator is displayed larger than other characters. At this time, the character string may be displayed divided into two lines, or the separator may be connected with a hyphen.

When the display form setting unit 52 employs a display form in which the character string of each language is displayed in order, the display processing unit 53, for example, Japanese (Kanji) → Japanese (Hiragana) → Romaji as shown in FIG. The character strings of each language are displayed on the display 6 in the order of → Korean → Chinese for each display time T1 (step ST59).
When the display form setting unit 52 adopts a display form in which character strings of some languages are written together, the display processing unit 53 sequentially displays the character strings of each language in a form in which character strings of some languages are written together. 6 (step ST60).
For example, when Japanese (Kanji) and Japanese (Hiragana) are written together, and Korean and Chinese are written together, as shown in FIG. 15, (Japanese (Kanji) + Japanese (Hiragana)) → Romaji → Character strings in each language are displayed on the display 6 in the order of (Korean + Chinese).
In this case, the display time for (Japanese (Kanji) + Japanese (Hiragana)) and (Korean + Chinese) is T2, and the display time for Roman characters is T1.

  As is apparent from the above, according to the first embodiment, the character constituting the character string to be displayed is identified from the character code input by the character code input unit 1, and the attribute of the character is determined. In consideration of the character attribute discriminating unit 2 and the character attributes discriminated by the character attribute discriminating unit 2, the character string to be displayed is a character string that is easy to read or a character string that is difficult to read When it is determined that the character string is easy to read by the reading difficulty determination unit 3 and the reading difficulty determination unit 3, the display time of the character string to be displayed is set as a reference display time, A display time setting unit 4 is provided for setting the display time of the character string to be displayed to a longer time than the reference display time when it is determined by the reading difficulty determination unit 3 that the character string is difficult to read. The column display unit 5 displays the display time. Since the display target character string is displayed on the display 6 during the display time set by the unit 4, an appropriate display time required for reading can be set for each display target character string. As a result, there is an effect that the next arrival station can be guided in many languages during the limited time between stations.

In the first embodiment, the standard display time of each language (Japanese (Kanji), Japanese (Hiragana), Roman, Korean, Chinese) is uniformly T1. However, the reference display time may be different for each language character string.
Specifically, for example, Japanese (Kanji) reference display time is 3 seconds, Japanese (Hiragana) reference display time is 2 seconds, Roman reference display time is 2 seconds, Korean reference display time The display time may be set to 2 seconds and the standard display time in Chinese is 3 seconds.

In the first embodiment, first to third reading difficulty determining sections 31, 32, and 33 that perform determination processing when the language of a character is Japanese (Kanji) or Chinese are mounted. However, if at least one of the first to third reading difficulty determining units 31, 32, and 33 is mounted, the determination accuracy is somewhat deteriorated, but the character language is Japanese with a small hardware scale. It is possible to deal with the case of a word (kanji) or Chinese.
In the first embodiment, the fourth to fifth reading difficulty determination units 34 and 35 that perform the determination process when the language of the character is Japanese (Hiragana) are shown. If at least one of the fourth to fifth reading difficulty determination units 34 and 35 is installed, the determination accuracy is somewhat deteriorated, but the character language is Japanese (Hiragana) with a small hardware scale. Can deal with.

In the first embodiment, the fourth and sixth reading difficulty determination units 34 and 36 that perform the determination process when the language of the character is Roman characters are shown. 4. If at least one of the sixth and sixth reading difficulty determination units 34 and 36 is mounted, the determination accuracy is somewhat deteriorated, but it is possible to cope with a case where the language of the character is Roman characters with a small hardware scale. it can.
In the first embodiment, the fourth, sixth, and seventh reading difficulty determination units 34, 36, and 37 that perform the determination process when the language of the character is Korean are shown. However, if at least one of the fourth, sixth, and seventh reading difficulty determination units 34, 36, and 37 is mounted, the determination accuracy is somewhat deteriorated, but the character language is Korean with a small hardware scale. If it is a word, it can be dealt with.

Here, FIG. 16 is explanatory drawing which shows the experimental result of the user's recognition time with respect to the character string of each language.
As is apparent from FIG. 16, character attributes (for example, the number of strokes of characters, the total number of strokes of all characters, the familiarity of characters, the number of characters, the familiarity of character strings, the complexity of characters, the difficulty of pronunciation) Is different, the recognition time of the user's character string changes, and as described above, if the display time of the character string is appropriately set according to the character attribute, during the limited time between stations, The next arrival station etc. can be guided in many languages.

In the first embodiment, the threshold values P, M, S1, N, S2, C, and D are appropriately set in consideration of the user's recognition time and the travel time between stations in FIG. The threshold S1 related to the closeness of the character string and the threshold S2 related to the closeness of the character string may be set in consideration of the region where the character information display device is used.
That is, for example, the station name “Makomanai” in Hokkaido is considered to be close to users residing in Hokkaido, but is considered to be intimate to users residing outside Hokkaido. When the character information display device is used outside Hokkaido, the threshold values S1 and S2 are set to low values.

Embodiment 2. FIG.
In the first embodiment, when the display processing unit 53 of the display time setting unit 4 displays the character strings in each language in order, the character string in each language is handled as a still image and the still image is switched in order. Although shown, an animation display method may be used in which the character string currently displayed is gradually changed to the next character string.

In this case, the display processing unit 53 of the display time setting unit 4 constructs a 3D display component that displays a character string in each language as shown in FIG. 17 (because the construction method of the 3D display component is a known technique). Detailed description is omitted).
When the display processing unit 53 constructs the 3D display component, the display processing unit 53 rotates the 3D display component in the direction of the arrow in the figure (the 3D display component rotation method is also a known technique, and thus detailed description is omitted). As shown in FIG. 18, the character string of each language can be displayed in order.

  As apparent from the above, according to the second embodiment, when the display of the character string is switched, the animation display that gradually changes from the currently displayed character string to the next displayed character string is used. There is an effect that a smooth display transition can be realized.

  1 character code input unit (character code input unit), 2 character attribute determination unit (character attribute determination unit), 3 reading difficulty determination unit (reading difficulty determination unit), 4 display time setting unit (display time setting unit), 5 character string display unit (character string display unit), 6 display (character string display unit), 11 language type determination unit, 12 character stroke number storage unit, 13 character stroke number specifying unit, 14 total stroke number specifying unit, 15 character closeness storage Part, 16 character closeness specifying part, 17 character number specifying part, 18 character string closeness storing part, 19 character string closeness specifying part, 20 character complexity specifying part, 21 pronunciation difficulty specifying part, 31 first reading Difficulty determining unit, 32 2nd reading difficulty determining unit, 33 3rd reading difficulty determining unit, 34 4th reading difficulty determining unit, 35 5th reading difficulty determining unit, 36 6th reading Difficulty determination unit, 37 Difficulty determining unit reading 7, 38 total determination unit, 41 determination result input unit, 42 display time setting processing unit, 51 display time input unit, 52 display mode setting unit, 53 display processing unit.

Claims (15)

  A character code input means for inputting a character code of a character constituting the character string to be displayed, and a character constituting the character string to be displayed is specified from the character code input by the character code input means. Taking into account the character attribute determined by the character attribute determining unit and the character attribute determined by the character attribute determining unit, whether the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string or not A reading difficulty determination unit that determines whether the character string is difficult, and a display time based on the display time of the character string to be displayed when the reading difficulty determination unit determines that the character string is easy to read. When the display time is set, and the display time of the character string to be displayed is set to be longer than the reference display time when it is determined that the character string is difficult to read by the reading difficulty determination unit. Setting means and, during the display time set by the display time setting means, the character information display apparatus and a character string display means for displaying the character string to be displayed. When the character constituting the character string to be displayed is an ideographic character, the character attribute determining means specifies the number of strokes of the character constituting the character string as the character attribute,
If the character constituting the character string to be displayed does not include a character whose number of strokes specified by the character attribute determination unit exceeds the predetermined number of strokes, It is determined that the character string of is a character string that is easy to read, and among the characters constituting the character string to be displayed, the number of strokes specified by the character attribute determination means exceeds the predetermined number of strokes The character information display device according to claim 1, wherein the character string to be displayed is determined to be a character string that is difficult to read. When the character constituting the character string to be displayed is an ideographic character, the character attribute determining means specifies the total number of strokes of all the characters constituting the character string as the character attribute,
If the total number of strokes specified by the character attribute determination unit does not exceed a predetermined total number of strokes, the reading difficulty determination unit determines that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, and the character attribute 2. The character information display device according to claim 1, wherein if the total number of strokes specified by the determination means exceeds a predetermined total number of strokes, the character string to be displayed is determined to be a character string that is difficult to read. . When the character constituting the character string to be displayed is an ideographic character, the character attribute determining unit specifies the number of strokes of the character constituting the character string as the character attribute, and Specify the total number of strokes for all the characters
The reading difficulty determination means does not include a character whose number of strokes specified by the character attribute determination means exceeds a predetermined number of strokes in the characters constituting the character string to be displayed, and If the total number of strokes specified by the character attribute determination means does not exceed the predetermined total number of strokes, it is determined that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, and constitutes the character string to be displayed. If the character includes characters whose number of strokes specified by the character attribute determination unit exceeds a predetermined number of strokes, or the total number of strokes specified by the character attribute determination unit is equal to the predetermined total number of strokes. The character information display device according to claim 1, wherein if it exceeds, the character string to be displayed is determined to be a character string that is difficult to read. When the character constituting the character string to be displayed is an ideographic character, the character attribute discriminating means sets a familiarity indicating the degree of familiarity with the character constituting the character string as the character attribute. Identify,
If the character constituting the character string to be displayed does not include a character whose closeness specified by the character attribute determining means is lower than a predetermined closeness, the display difficulty is determined. Is determined to be an easily readable character string, and among the characters constituting the character string to be displayed, the character with a closeness specified by the character attribute determination means is lower than a predetermined closeness The character information display device according to claim 1, wherein the character string to be displayed is determined to be a character string that is difficult to read. The character attribute determination means specifies the number of characters constituting the character string as the character attribute when the character constituting the character string to be displayed is a phonetic character,
If the number specified by the character attribute determination unit is less than a predetermined number, the read difficulty determination unit determines that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, and specifies the character attribute determination unit. 2. The character information display device according to claim 1, wherein if the number of characters to be displayed is greater than a predetermined number, the character string to be displayed is determined to be a character string that is difficult to read. When the character constituting the character string to be displayed is a phonetic character, the character attribute determining means specifies the familiarity indicating the degree of familiarity with the character string as the character attribute,
If the familiarity specified by the character attribute determining means is higher than a predetermined familiarity, the read difficulty determining means determines that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, and the character attribute determining means 2. The character information display device according to claim 1, wherein the character string to be displayed is determined to be a character string that is difficult to read if the familiarity specified by the step is lower than a predetermined familiarity. When the character constituting the character string to be displayed is a phonetic character, the character attribute determining means specifies the number of characters constituting the character string as the character attribute, and Identify intimacy to indicate the degree of familiarity with
If the number specified by the character attribute determining means is less than the predetermined number and the closeness specified by the character attribute determining means is higher than the predetermined closeness, the reading difficulty determining means The column is determined to be an easily readable character string, and when the number specified by the character attribute determination unit is greater than a predetermined number, or the closeness specified by the character attribute determination unit is a predetermined closeness The character information display device according to claim 1, wherein if lower, the character string to be displayed is determined to be a character string that is difficult to read. The character attribute determination means specifies the visual complexity for the character string as the character attribute when the character constituting the character string to be displayed is a phonetic character,
If the complexity specified by the character attribute determination means is lower than a predetermined complexity, the read difficulty determination means determines that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, and the character attribute determination means 2. The character information display device according to claim 1, wherein the character string to be displayed is determined to be a character string that is difficult to read if the complexity specified in step 1 is higher than a predetermined complexity. When the character constituting the character string to be displayed is a phonetic character, the character attribute determining means specifies the number of characters constituting the character string as the character attribute, and Identify the visual complexity for
If the number specified by the character attribute determining means is less than the predetermined number and the complexity specified by the character attribute determining means is lower than the predetermined complexity, the reading difficulty determining means The column is determined to be an easily readable character string, and when the number specified by the character attribute determination unit is greater than a predetermined number, or the complexity specified by the character attribute determination unit is a predetermined complexity The character information display device according to claim 1, wherein if it is higher, the character string to be displayed is determined to be a character string that is difficult to read. When the character constituting the character string to be displayed is a phonetic character, the character attribute determining means specifies a difficulty level indicating the degree of difficulty of pronunciation for the character string as the character attribute,
If the difficulty specified by the character attribute determination means is lower than a predetermined difficulty, the read difficulty determination means determines that the character string to be displayed is an easily readable character string, and the character attribute determination means 2. The character information display device according to claim 1, wherein the character string to be displayed is determined to be a character string that is difficult to read if the degree of difficulty specified by is higher than a predetermined difficulty level. When displaying the character string to be displayed in multiple languages, the character code input means inputs the character code of the characters that make up the character string of each language,
The character information display device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the character string display means sequentially displays the character strings of each language.   13. The character information display device according to claim 12, wherein the character string display means switches a character string display form in accordance with a determination result of the reading difficulty determination means.   14. The character information display device according to claim 13, wherein when the character string display means determines that the character string is difficult to read, the character string display means displays the character strings in two languages. .   13. The character information display device according to claim 12, wherein the character string display means uses an animation display that gradually changes from the currently displayed character string to the next displayed character string when switching the character string display.

Images