JPH0226255B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to Japanese language input devices, and particularly to Japanese language input devices such as Japanese word processors and Japanese electronic typewriters.

In the case of English typing, even ordinary typists as well as specially skilled typists can input quickly by using so-called "blind touch," whereas when typing Japanese, there are problems with kanji, which makes it difficult to input. The disadvantage is that it is extremely slow.

The present invention provides means for significantly improving the input speed of Japanese compared to the conventional method.

A popular method for easily inputting Japanese sentences containing kanji without special training is to input the pronunciation and then convert the kanji parts into kanji. In this case, there is a method of inputting the pronunciation using "kana" characters, and a method of inputting the pronunciation using alphanumeric characters, but the latter method is easier to remember because it has fewer characters and is suitable for blind touch.

In particular, the consonant-vowel separation method, in which the consonant keyboard is placed in one hand and the vowel keyboard is placed in the other hand, is useful for improving input speed because the left and right hands alternately move up and down when inputting keys. Extremely advantageous.

The human hand originally moves only one hand up and down,
Alternating up and down movements of both hands improves balance and rhythm, and it has been proven that typing speed increases even when only one hand is considered.
Therefore, experiments have shown that when considering both hands as a whole, the input speed is more than twice the input speed when inputting with only one hand. This means that when the left and right hands are pressed alternately as a pair, the left and right hands are pressed in the time required for inputting one key with only one hand.

Now, in consideration of the above-mentioned facts, in order to evaluate the effective keystroke speed, we will introduce the concept of the equivalent number of keystrokes as follows.

In other words, if the current input target is necessarily entered by moving the left and right hands up and down alternately, the equivalent number of keystrokes = total number of keystrokes x 50%, and in contrast, input with only one hand. In this case, the equivalent number of keystrokes = total number of keystrokes x 100%. In this way, the effective time required to input a certain object can be evaluated more accurately by the total number of equivalent keystrokes than by the total number of keystrokes required for that input.

For example, in the above-mentioned consonant-vowel separation type Roman alphabet keyboard, many of the characters to be input are consonant-vowel pairs, so the equivalent number of keystrokes/total number of keystrokes is approximately 50%, and all characters Compared to inputting with only one hand, this amount of time can be expected to be reduced.

The above has been described as preliminary knowledge for explaining the purpose and effects of the present invention.

Now, the inventor of the present invention has proposed a method for greatly improving the input speed of kanji in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-149631.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the keyboard device. This keyboard device includes a keyboard group K1' for consonant input, a keyboard group K2' for single vowel input, and a keyboard group K for compound vowel input.
3', Keyboard group K4' for inputting vowels with internal sounds, Keyboard group K5' for inputting vowels with internal sounds, Keyboard K for specifying kanji input
6', a keyboard K7' for specifying kana input, and a keyboard K8' for inputting persistent sounds.

Now, as an example, we will consider a case where the sentence "It's sunny today" is input. If you type in Japanese-style Roman letters using normal English type, the result will be as shown in Figure 2A.For the total number of input characters of 19 characters, the equivalent number of keystrokes mentioned above considering the left and right alternation rate is clear in Figure 2A. becomes 14.

Now, if the same sentence is input using the method illustrated in Figure 1, it will be as shown in Figure 2B, and the total number of input characters (total number of input keystrokes) is 14, whereas the equivalent number of keystrokes is 2. 7 as shown in Figure B.

However, in the case of a sentence containing kanji, it is actually necessary to specify the character type to specify whether it is ``kanji'' or ``kana''. To specify this, there are two methods: specifying "conversion" or "no conversion" for kanji after inputting characters, and specifying whether they are kanji or "kana" before inputting characters. The result is the same.

Now, if we decide to use the method of specifying in front of the character using the kanji specified keyboard or kana specified keyboard provided on the right hand side, as a result of this character type specification, when using normal English type, Figure 3 It becomes like A, and the equivalent number of keystrokes is 17.

On the other hand, if the method shown in FIG. 1 is used, the result will be as shown in FIG. 3B, and the equivalent number of keystrokes will be 11.

To summarize the above, the advantage shown in Figure 1 for ordinary English type is that when no character type is specified, the reduction in the equivalent number of keystrokes is 7/14 = 50%, but when there is a character type specification, Deterioration is 11/17=65%. In terms of the equivalent number of keystrokes itself,
From 7 to 11, it becomes about 1.6 times (about 1/0.64). Since the input speed is considered to be inversely proportional to the equivalent number of key strokes as described above, the input speed in FIG. 1 is reduced to about 65% due to character type specification.

JP-A-56-149631 as a prior art has the above-mentioned drawbacks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an input device that utilizes the features of the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-149631 as is, and further minimizes the increase in the number of keystrokes due to character type specification.

The device of the present invention divides the vowel keyboard group into a kana character input vowel keyboard group for inputting kana character vowels and a kanji input vowel keyboard group for inputting kanji vowels, and Kanji vowel keyboard groups are arranged in multiple stages corresponding to multiple types of Kanji vowels, and furthermore, different types of Kanji vowels are assigned to the same keyboard, and different types of Kanji vowels assigned to the same keyboard can be selected. This is done by operating the shift keyboard.

The device of the present invention also includes a vowel keyboard group for inputting kana characters and a vowel keyboard group for inputting kanji characters, and determines whether a character input in response to an operation of the vowel keyboard group for inputting kanji characters is a kanji character. sequentially memorize information indicating
The apparatus includes means for detecting that a kanji character is input next to a character other than a kanji character based on the stored information.

Next, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the keyboard configuration used in the Japanese language input device of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a keyboard group K1 for consonant input, a first keyboard group L1 for vowel input, a second keyboard group L2 for vowel input,
Third keyboard group L3 for vowel input, keyboard K for thumb shift
2. It includes a keyboard K3 for separating Kanji words and a keyboard K4 for inputting syllables.

The functions of the first vowel input keyboard group L1, second keyboard group L2, and third keyboard group L3 described above can be switched in two ways by the thumb shift keyboard K2, as will be described later.

Furthermore, as is clear from FIG. 4, in this embodiment, the keyboard group is divided into a keyboard group K1 side for consonant input (right hand side in this case) and a keyboard group L1 to L3 side for vowel input (left hand side in this case). It has a thumb shift keyboard K.
2 is arranged at a position where it is easy to input with the thumb on the side of the vowel input keyboard group L1 to L3, and has a particularly large surface area compared to the other keyboards.

Now, this keyboard configuration includes the following functions.

When inputting a consonant, the operator inputs it using the keyboards in the common consonant input keyboard group K1, regardless of whether it is a kanji character or a kana character.

On the other hand, when inputting vowels, a distinction is made between inputting kana and inputting kanji. That is, in this embodiment, the second keyboard group L2 is prepared as a short vowel keyboard group for ephemeral input. The second keyboard group L2 is used for inputting the vowels A, I, U, E, and O when there is no shift by the thumb shift keyboard K2, and at the same time has the function of specifying the character type of "kana". be.

Now, in order to make full use of the effects of JP-A-56-149631, it is necessary to use short vowels, compound vowels, vowels with an internal sound, vowels with a voiced sound (K), and vowels with a voiced sound (t) as vowels for kanji input. It is desirable that five types of input keyboard groups for vowels are provided. On the other hand, in order to enable blind touch input, it is better to limit finger input to three levels above and below the home position.

Generally, a solution when the number of keyboards is insufficient is to shift the left and right keys of the keyboard to be input using the fingers or thumbs on the opposite side. However, in this embodiment, as described above, by maintaining the rhythm of alternating left and right keystrokes, the equivalent number of keystrokes can be reduced.
Shifts for various vowel input keyboard groups for kanji are performed using the thumb of the same hand.

That is, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the vowel input keyboard groups are a first keyboard group L1, a second keyboard group L2, and a third keyboard group L3, and the thumb shift keyboard K2 is pressed. If not (if no shift is performed), these keyboard groups will play the Kanji short vowels A, I, U, E, O, respectively.
Keyboard group for inputting kanji short vowels, the above-mentioned kana short vowels A, I, U, which also has the function of specifying the kana character type.
It is used as a short vowel input keyboard group for inputting E and O, and as a keyboard group for inputting Kanji compound vowels to input Kanji compound vowels Ai, Ii, Uu, i, Ei, and Ou.

On the other hand, when the thumb shift keyboard K2 is pressed (when a shift is performed), these first to third keyboard groups L1 to L3 are used to select the vowels Ak and Ik of the kanji, respectively. , Uk, Ek, Ok, Kanji vowel input keyboard group with internal sound (K), Kanji internal vowel keyboard group to input Kanji internal sound vowels An, In, Un, En, On, and Kanji internal sound vowel input keyboard group. Vowel At,
It has come to be used as a vowel keyboard group with a kanji input sound (t) for inputting It, Ut, Et, and Ot.

In this way, by operating the thumb shift keyboard K2, the first to third keyboard groups L1 to L3 can be used as two types of vowel input keyboard groups, but in this case, the operator's main attention is focused on the finger keys. This thumb shift keyboard K2 has a particularly large surface area to facilitate stamping so that you can concentrate on making the correct selection.

To summarize the main points of this embodiment as described above, (A) it includes all the features of JP-A-149631, and (B) by providing separate vowel input keyboard groups for kanji and kana. , to reduce the number of keystrokes by eliminating the need to operate the keyboard to specify character types, and (C) to achieve both (A) and (B) above.
The necessary shift keys are pressed at the same time as the vowel input keys using the same thumb of the same hand, so that the rhythm of alternating left and right keys is not disturbed.
This is due to the reduction in the number of equivalent keystrokes mentioned above.

When the sentence "It's sunny today" is input using this embodiment, the total number of keystrokes is 14, as shown in FIG. 5, whereas the equivalent number of keystrokes is 7.

In this way, the equivalent number of key strokes of 17 (Figure 3 A) in the ordinary English type can be changed to 11 if the character type is specified separately using the method shown in Figure 1.
(FIG. 3B), whereas according to this embodiment, the equivalent number of keystrokes is 7 (FIG. 5). Therefore, in this case, if we take the reciprocal of each number above and compare the input speeds, we can see that with normal English type as the standard,
While the method of FIG. 1 is approximately 1.5 times faster, this embodiment allows an input speed that is actually 2.4 times faster.

The above is an example of the sentence "It's sunny today." General sentences vary widely, and it is difficult to quantitatively and accurately indicate the input speed for them, but the effects of this embodiment can be fully understood from the above example.

As will be detailed later, even in the case of this embodiment, during actual text input, some inputs from the separation keyboard K3 are added, which causes the rhythm of alternating left and right keystrokes to be disrupted; is used much less frequently than the conventional method, which required character types to be specified for each change in kana and kanji.

Furthermore, since the keyboard K4 for inputting persistent sounds is used less frequently, the effect on the equivalent number of key strokes is small.

Furthermore, in addition to sentences that use kanji and kana, Japanese sentences may also include katakana, English letters, numbers, symbols, etc., so it goes without saying that the input device must be compatible with these types of characters. is necessary. but,
Since the main part of general Japanese sentences are sentences containing kanji and kana, improving the input speed for sentences containing kanji and kana, as in this example,
In the end, it is clear that this is the most effective way to improve input speed for Japanese input.

In this embodiment, when entering other character types such as Katakana, alphabets, numbers, etc., use a dedicated shift key (not shown) to switch to the corresponding character type mode before inputting. do.

Next, in order to clarify the function of the Kanji word separation keyboard K3 of this embodiment, we will consider, as an example, the case where the sentence "We will produce a certain household appliance..." is input.

Hypothetically, these are the keyboard group K1 for consonant input and the first to third keyboard group L1 for vowel input in this embodiment described above.
Assume that input is performed using only the ``L3'' and thumb shift keyboard K2, without using the Kanji word separation keyboard K3. From the information input in this way, it is easy to identify that the input pronunciation information corresponding to "household appliances" corresponds to kanji, but in order to convert this into actual kanji, it is necessary to It is necessary to use the input pronunciation information to search a file containing a Kanji word dictionary provided inside the input device to find the Kanji word corresponding to the input pronunciation information.

In this case, if the word "household appliance" is previously stored in the Kanji word dictionary stored in the file, it is possible to search using the aforementioned pronunciation information as is. However, if you try to accommodate words made up of five kanji, this kanji word dictionary becomes enormous.

In order to avoid this, in this embodiment, only Kanji compound words consisting of two characters and one-character Kanji are stored in the Kanji word dictionary, thereby streamlining the file implementation and speeding up the file search.

Therefore, even if a file is searched using the input pronunciation information corresponding to the above-mentioned "household appliance" as it is, the corresponding Kanji word cannot be found.

In this embodiment, in order to cope with this problem, the aforementioned Kanji word separation keyboard K3 is provided.
To input the aforementioned "household appliances" using this, proceed as follows.

First, input the kanji specified pronunciation information corresponding to "home" as described above, and then use the separator key K.
Input the information from 3, then input the kanji specified pronunciation information corresponding to the cursive kanji ``用'', then input the information from the separation keyboard K3 again, and finally input the information corresponding to ``instrument''. Enter the kanji specified pronunciation information.

By doing this, the input information is divided into the kanji specified pronunciation information corresponding to the first kanji word ``home'' and the kanji specified pronunciation information corresponding to the next affixed kanji ``yo''.
Furthermore, it can be separated into Kanji specified pronunciation information corresponding to the last Kanji word "apparatus". Therefore,
By using this separated Kanji designated pronunciation information to successively search the files containing the Kanji word dictionary, a set of these Kanji words can be correctly determined.

In this embodiment, by omitting the dedicated keyboard for instructing the start of a kanji word, the input speed can be improved as described above, and by introducing the kanji separation keyboard K3, as described above, This method streamlines the implementation of files that accommodate kanji word dictionaries and speeds up file searches.
The following configuration is used to extract information instructing the start of a kanji word, which is essential for file search, from various types of keyboard information in this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of this embodiment including a Kanji word start information extraction means for extracting information indicating the start of a Kanji word.

FIG. 6 shows the first keyboard group L1 for vowel input, the second keyboard group L2 for vowel input, the third keyboard group L3 for vowel input, the thumb shift keyboard K2, the kanji word separation keyboard K3, and the third keyboard group L3 for vowel input. 1 OR circuit R1, first
AND circuit A1, second OR circuit R2, second AND circuit A2, shift register SR, inverter V,
Shift clock generation circuit CLK and control section
Contains PRC.

Further, an output obtained by calculating the logical sum of the keystroke outputs of each keyboard included in the keyboard group L1 is output on the output line 100.
is supplied to the circuit R1 via
An output obtained by ORing the keystroke outputs of each keyboard included in the keyboard group L2 is supplied to the circuit A1 via an output line 200, and similarly, the logical sum of the keystroke outputs of each keyboard included in the keyboard group L3 is supplied to the circuit A1. The summed output is supplied to the circuit R1 via an output line 300. Further, the output of the keyboard K2 is supplied to the circuit A1 via the output line 400, and the output of the keyboard K2 is supplied to the circuit A1 via the output line 400.
1 with the signal from output line 200 and output to circuit R1 via output line 500.
supplied to

As a result, when a kanji is input, at least one key from keyboard group L1 to L3 or one key from keyboard group L2 and keyboard K2 are pressed at the same time, so the output line Any one of 100, 300 and 500 will be "1", so the output line 600 will necessarily be "1".

Now, the clock generation circuit CLK is connected to the keyboard group L1,
Each time one of the keys L2 or L3 is pressed and the input of one phonetic character is completed, one shift clock 700 is generated and supplied to the shift clock terminal of the shift register SR. When the shift register SR receives this shift clock 700, it shifts the contents previously stored in the first stage register SR1 to the second stage register SR2, and then shifts the contents stored in the first stage register SR1 to the second stage register SR2.
The information of "1" or "0" supplied through 0 is stored in the first stage register SR1.

As a result, if a character other than a kanji was input before and a kanji is currently input, the contents of register SR2 in the second stage of shift register SR will be "0".
The content of the first stage register SR1 is “1”.
become. The contents of register SR2 are supplied to AND circuit A2 via inverter V, and the contents of register SR2 are
Since the content of 1 is directly supplied to circuit A2 and the logical product of both is taken there, the output line 800 of circuit A2 becomes "1" only when this condition occurs. Output line 800 thus provides information indicating the start of the first kanji from a non-kanji character.

When two or more Kanji words are consecutive, as in the case of "household appliances" mentioned above, the information on the beginning of the Kanji word is the beginning of the pronunciation information input for "household", and
It is required at the beginning of pronunciation information input for "yo" and also at the beginning of pronunciation information input for "appliance". The information on the beginning of the kanji character for the first one of these, "Katei", is obtained from the output line 800 as described above. Information on the start of the Kanji word for "Yo" and "Utsuki" is obtained as the output of the Kanji word separation keyboard K3 as described above.

Therefore, the output line 800 and the output line 900 of the keyboard K3 are led to the second OR circuit R2,
By calculating the logical sum of the two, information indicating the start of each desired Kanji word can be obtained on the output line 1000 of the circuit R2.

This output line 1000 is led to a control unit PRC, which generates an interrupt for the start of a Kanji word.

Upon receiving this interruption, the control unit PRC sequentially stores the input pronunciation information inputted from that point into a predetermined specific Kanji word register (not shown). This input pronunciation information is stored in the Kanji word register until the next pronunciation information corresponding to a non-Kanji is input or an interrupt occurs to start the next Kanji word, and during that period, this Kanji word register The input pronunciation information stored in is used as one word as a unit of search information when searching a file containing a Kanji word dictionary.

As described above, the Japanese input device of this embodiment can improve the input speed of Japanese sentences containing kanji, rationalize the file containing the kanji word dictionary, and speed up the file search.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the keyboard group for inputting consonants, the keyboard for separating Kanji words, and the keyboard for inputting persistent consonants are arranged on the right hand side, and the keyboard group for inputting various vowels and the keyboard for thumb shift are arranged on the right hand side. Although it is placed on the left hand side, it can also be placed in the opposite direction.

Further, the pronunciation information specified for each keyboard in each keyboard group shown in FIG. 4 is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this.

In addition, in this embodiment, the shift keyboard for selecting different vowels for kanji was provided at a position that can be shifted with the thumb of the hand operating the keyboard group for inputting vowels for kanji. shift keyboard,
It may be provided at a position where the keyboard group for inputting vowels for kanji characters is operated with the thumb of the hand opposite to the one operating the keyboard group. Even in this case, the fingers of the fingers other than the thumb are pressed alternately between the left and right keys, so that the smoothness of the keying rhythm is still maintained.

Further, in this embodiment, it is assumed that the Kanji word dictionary contains up to two Kanji words, but of course this number can be freely selected as necessary.

Furthermore, the configuration shown in FIG. 6 is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

As described above, by using the present invention, it is possible to improve the input speed of Japanese sentences containing kanji.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional keyboard device.
Figure 2A, Figure 2B, Figure 3A, and Figure 3B
is a diagram for explaining the equivalent number of keystrokes of a conventional device, FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the equivalent number of keystrokes of this embodiment, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a kanji word start information extraction circuit used for this purpose. In the figure, K1...keyboard group for consonant input, K2
...keyboard for thumb shift, K3...keyboard for separating kanji words, K4...keyboard for inputting persistent sounds, L1...first keyboard group for vowel input, L2...second keyboard group for vowel input, L3...vowel Third keyboard group for input, R1...first OR circuit, R2...second OR circuit, A1...
...First AND circuit, SR...Shift register, SR
1...First stage register of shift register SR,
SR2...Second stage register of shift register SR, CLK...Shift clock generation circuit, PRC
...control section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A keyboard group for consonants arranged in a position that can be operated with either the left or right hand, and a kana character set arranged in a position that can be operated with the other hand for inputting vowels for kana characters. A vowel keyboard group having an input vowel keyboard group and a Kanji input vowel keyboard group for inputting Kanji vowels, and whether or not a character input in response to an operation of the Kanji input vowel keyboard group is a Kanji character. What is claimed is: 1. A Japanese language input device comprising: means for sequentially storing information indicating a character; and means for detecting, based on the stored information, that a kanji is input next to a character other than a kanji.