WO2005098672A1

WO2005098672A1 - Electronic dictionary

Info

Publication number: WO2005098672A1
Application number: PCT/JP2005/005080
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hiroshi Tamura
Original assignee: Seiko Instruments Inc.
Priority date: 2004-03-31
Filing date: 2005-03-22
Publication date: 2005-10-20
Also published as: JP2005293069A

Abstract

An electronic dictionary includes: character input means for inputting character data; display means for displaying character data; a dictionary body having interpretations corresponding headwords; dictionary storage means having phrase data corresponding to the headwords and syntax search data having their interpretations; and extraction means for extracting phrase data corresponding to the headword inputted by the character input means, from the dictionary storage means. Among the phrase data extracted by the extraction means, the phrase data including the word selected is list-displayed and the phrase data is selected from the list. Thus, a phrase can be searched without input of a phrase by a user.

Description

Specification

Electronic dictionary

Technical field

The present invention relates to an electronic dictionary that displays a translation corresponding to an input phrase and information related to the phrase, has a set of phrases represented by English-Japanese, English-English, etc., and has an example sentence. The present invention relates to an electronic dictionary having dictionary data.

Background art

[0002] Electronic dictionaries that convert the contents of various dictionaries, such as English-Japanese dictionaries, Japanese-English dictionaries, and Japanese dictionaries, into a database as electronic data and display translations corresponding to input phrases have become widespread.

[0003] In this electronic dictionary, when a user inputs a target phrase, corresponding words, phrases, example sentences and their translations are extracted from a dictionary database and displayed. (For example, see Patent Document 1)

Patent Document 1: JP 2001-134565 A

Disclosure of the invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

[0004] In a foreign language represented by English, for a specific word, it is necessary to grasp what kind of part of speech ゃ word is frequently used in the sentence before and after the syntactic element (conjunction) such as \ Is one of the most important factors in reading, writing, and listening to sentences.

[0005] In a conventional electronic dictionary, when knowing a sequence or a series of specific words, a user inputs a specific word that he / she wants to know, searches for phrases and example sentences containing the word, and refers to the displayed phrases and example sentences. I have to.

FIG. 5 illustrates a screen transition state when an example sentence search is performed using a conventional electronic dictionary.

[0007] FIG. 5 shows a case where an example sentence search using (face to face) as a specific word is performed. The selected character is displayed in the upper input character field, and the lower search result field is displayed in the lower search result field. Then, the search result cast display of the example sentences including the selected word is displayed (Fig. 5 (b)).

[0008] As shown in Fig. 5, the selected character face is displayed in the input character display field, Five example sentences including the selected characters are listed in the lower search result column.

[0009] However, the conventional electronic dictionary has a problem that words must be input.

[0010] It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic dictionary capable of displaying collocations with selected words, not just words entered by a user.

Means for solving the problem

[0011] As a first aspect of the present invention, a character input means for inputting character data, a display means for displaying character data, a plurality of dictionary bodies each having a translation corresponding to a headword, A dictionary storage means having collocation data corresponding to the headword and syntactic search data composed of the translation, and a dictionary storage means for extracting collocation data corresponding to the headword selected by the character input means. An electronic dictionary is provided with display control means for displaying a list of collocation data including at least a selected headword among the extracted collocation data, thereby achieving the object. Further, the collocation data is example sentence data and phrase data. Further, the collocation data is composed of words obtained by decomposing example sentences and phrases, each word is stored together with restoration information for restoring the example sentences and phrases before decomposition, and each word is sorted.

[0012] As a second aspect of the present invention, in the electronic dictionary of the first aspect, the collocation data stores the restored example sentence and the order of appearance in a phrase corresponding to each word. The means extracts the example sentence and the phrase that match the magnitude relation of the input order with respect to the input word and the magnitude relation of the order of appearance of the words constituting the example sentence and the phrase that correspond to the input word. Achieve the goal.

The invention's effect

According to the present invention, the collocation data corresponding to the input headword is extracted from the dictionary storage unit, and the extracted collocation data is extracted from the extracted collocation data according to the selected word, so that characters can be extracted. No more typing.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic dictionary according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the appearance of the electronic dictionary.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing the contents of syntax search data 15b. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method of constructing an original example sentence from decomposed words based on syntax search data 15b.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram conceptually showing how a liquid crystal display screen 29 is divided by 1 lb of display control means.

FIG. 6 is a screen transition state diagram when searching for an example sentence including “as much as”.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation of a syntax search in an electronic dictionary. Explanation of symbols

[0015] 1 Electronic dictionary

11 Control unit

11a Extraction means

l ib display control means

12 Input means

13 Function selection method

14 Display means

15 Dictionary data storage means

15a Dictionary data

15b Syntax Search Data

16 RAM

16a Character data time storage means

16b Input order temporary storage

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the electronic dictionary 1 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of electronic dictionary 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the appearance of the electronic dictionary 1. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic dictionary 1 includes a control unit 11 that controls each unit and performs various controls such as a collocation search in the present embodiment including a dictionary search.

The control unit 11 includes an input unit 12, a used function selection unit 13, a display unit 14, a ROM The dictionary data storage means 15 and the RAMI 6 are connected.

[0020] The input means 12 and the function selection means 13 are used when performing various inputs when the electronic dictionary 1 is referred to.

As shown in FIG. 2, the input unit 12 performs a power key 20 for turning on / off the power, a character key 21 for inputting characters (hereinafter referred to as a keyboard 21), and moves a cursor and a selected portion. Cursor keys 22 (Cross key), translation screen display key 23 for confirming input characters and indicating display of search results for input, left and right scroll keys 24 to scroll screen display left and right, select dictionary type A dictionary selection key 25 is provided. The left and right scroll keys ₂₄ scroll the screen left and right by one word each time the key is pressed once.

As shown in FIG. 2, the function selection means 13 includes a syntax search key 26 for searching collocations including example sentences and phrases, and a word addition key 27 for delimiting words and words (hereinafter, & key 2). 7), and a wild 'card key 28 (hereinafter,? Key 28) that represents an arbitrary word.

Although not shown, the input unit 12 and the used function selecting unit 13 include, for example, numeric keys indicating numbers and other various keys.

The display means 14 uses a liquid crystal display device, and corresponds to the liquid crystal display screen 29 in FIG. The display means 14 displays characters and words input from the keyboard 22, and retrieved translations, example sentences, phrases, and the like.

[0025] In the syntax search in the present embodiment, the position of the input word included in the example sentence or the like is displayed on the same line on the display means 14 when the search result is displayed as a list. Therefore, the display screen of the display means 14 is divided into a plurality.

[0026] The dictionary data storage means 15 stores a dictionary for searching for a translation, word meaning, or the like as the electronic dictionary 1, and includes dictionary main data 15a and syntax search data 15b. Although a RAM is used as the dictionary data storage means 15 in the present embodiment, a part or all of the data is stored in a storage medium that can be detached from the electronic dictionary 1 such as a compact flash memory. You can add dictionary data. In the present embodiment, the dictionary body data 15a specifies headings in each dictionary such as English-Japanese, Japanese-English, English-English and thesaurus, and a Japanese dictionary, and their translations, meanings, and, if there is an example sentence, an example sentence. The word number is stored. The contents of the example sentence are stored in the syntax search data 15b, and the example sentence is constructed from the word numbers.

FIG. 3 conceptually shows the contents of the syntax search data 15b.

[0029] The syntax search data 15 does not directly store phrases and example sentences, and as shown in FIG. 3, decomposes data such as example sentences for each word, and assigns a word number (word # ), And are sorted and stored for each word. Each word stores, in addition to the word #, the word number of the word following the word.

Further, the first word of an example sentence or the like stores a start flag, and the last word stores an end flag and a translation number (translation #) for the example sentence or the like.

In each of the divided words, an appearance order number indicating the number of the word in the example sentence before decomposition is stored. With this appearance order number, it is possible to perform a search reflecting the order and the number of words input. In other words, when two words are input in the order of XI and X2, and an example sentence containing X2 is searched from among already searched example sentences containing XI, it is smaller than the appearance order of XI (appears first) The word order can be reflected by searching only words that appear in a large order (appear later) without using words as search targets. Also, since only X2 whose appearance order is larger than the appearance order of XI is to be searched, the search speed can be increased.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a method of constructing an original example sentence from decomposed words based on the syntax search data 15b.

[0033] As shown in Fig. 4, when the word "much" is selected, "much" of word # 6 is searched, and from the next word # 3 stored in "much", "much" is searched. The word "as" of word # 3 following the word is read.

Similarly, the next word “you” is read from the next word # 9 stored in “as” of word # 3. Then, the next word "want." Is read from the next word # 10 of "you", the end flag is recognized as the last word of the sentence, and the translation # 2 is stored.

Further, “Take” is read from the next word # 8 of “want.”, And “as” is read from the next word # 2 of “Take”. Is read, and the next word # 6 after "as" is the first word "much" entered, and the search is completed.

[0036] Then, the example sentence "Take as much as you want." Is constructed with the word "Take" at the beginning of the sentence, and the translation # 2, "Take as much as you want." It is.

By adopting such a data structure, there is an advantage that the speed of keyword search is significantly increased. In addition, since the original example sentence is constructed from the data that has been decomposed for each word and sorted, there is a significant saving in memory without having duplicate data.

[0038] In addition, in the translation of the searched word like a normal word search, a mark corresponding to each example sentence is put together with a leading word # constituting the example sentence, and the contents of the example sentence are displayed. In this case, an example sentence is constructed and displayed from the first word # indicating the example sentence from a table as shown in FIG.

[0039] The specific structure of the data described above is not particularly limited. For example, both the first word and the last word include information to that effect (in this embodiment, the start flag, end flag,

) Need not be provided.

[0040] Further, both the start flag and the end flag are unnecessary, and the translation # is stored in the first or last word so that the word with the translation number can be recognized as the first or last word. May be used.

Further, the method of comparing with example sentence # and the method of associating each example sentence with the translation are not particularly limited.

Further, in the present embodiment, the phrase data 32 and the example sentence data 33 are obtained by combining data extracted from a plurality of dictionaries, for example, both English and Japanese and English, so that the multiple dictionaries can be easily skewed and searched. There is an advantage that a plurality of dictionaries can be searched. In this case, each phrase and example sentence can have a structure similar to the data structure described above, except that an index indicating which dictionary data is assigned.

In FIG. 1, the RAM 16 functions as a work area when the control unit 11 performs various processes.

The RAM 16 stores character data time storage means 16 a for storing translations, example sentences, and the like extracted from the dictionary data storage means according to input characters and words, and word and word input from the input means 12. The input order temporary storage means 16b in which the order and the order are stored, and others are secured as a work area.

The control unit 11 includes a CPU, and executes various programs such as a search program, an extraction program, and a display control program stored in a ROM (not shown) to control each unit and perform a dictionary search. Various controls such as collocation search in the present embodiment are performed.

The CPU, the RAM 16, and the ROM (including the dictionary data storage means 15) in the control unit 11 will be described as having independent configurations. However, they are integrated into one chip without being separated. A one-chip CPU may be used.

[0047] The control unit 11 includes extraction means l la and 1 lb of display control means. The extraction means 11a extracts a translation or an example sentence corresponding to the input character or word from the dictionary data storage means 15 in a dictionary search or a syntax search (conjunctive search), and stores the contents in the character data temporary storage means in the RAM 16. 16a. The extraction means 11a extracts the word # of the word corresponding to the input word and the next word # following the word in the syntax search, constructs an example sentence and a translation as shown in FIG. The time is stored in the time storage means 16a.

[0048] The display control unit lib divides the translation or example sentence extracted by the extraction unit 11a into a horizontal direction (a direction in which one example sentence is displayed) on the screen of the display unit 14, and divides the input word on the same axis. The display is controlled so that at least one word before and after the input word is displayed.

An operation of a syntax search in the electronic dictionary 1 configured as described above will be described.

[0050] The on / off key 20 causes the electronic dictionary 1 to enter an operation waiting state. When the syntax search key 26 is selected (pressed) by the user in this state, the control unit 11 detects that the syntax search key 26 has been selected, and thereafter executes a syntax search process corresponding to a word selected from the keyboard 21. Execute

FIG. 6 shows a screen transition state when searching for an example sentence including “as much as”.

When the user selects the word “as” on the translation screen or the like, the control unit 11 The selected word “as” is searched from the syntax search data 15, and the word # power is used to construct an example sentence including the input word “as” by the method described in FIG.

Then, the control unit 11 displays the first selected word “as” in the input display area 51 of the liquid crystal display screen 29 by the display control unit l ib and stores it in the character data time storage unit 16a. The selected word “as” and one word before and after the selected word are read out from each example sentence, and are displayed in a list in the search result display area 52.

Next, the details of the syntax search operation in electronic dictionary 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0055] When the user selects (presses) the syntax search key 26 with the on / off key 20 input,

(Step S1) The control unit 11 detects that the syntax search key 26 has been selected, and selects syntax search data from the dictionary data storage unit 15 as a search target (Step S2).

Then, when the user inputs a character from the keyboard 21 (step S3), the control unit 11 receives the character input signal by the extracting means 11a, and outputs the syntax search data 15b using the input character (word) as a keyword. Search (step S4).

Then, the control unit 11 determines that there is no example sentence data corresponding to the input character (step S

5; N), the display control means l ib informs the user by displaying that there is no corresponding data on the liquid crystal display screen 29 (step S6), and returns to step S3.

On the other hand, when the example sentence data corresponding to the input character exists in the syntax search data 15b (step S5; Y), the control unit 11 causes the extraction unit 11a to output the corresponding example sentence data (word number, word, next word). #, The example sentence start / end flag, the end translation #, and the order in which the words appear in the example sentence) are extracted from the syntax search data 15b, and the example sentence is constructed and stored in the RAM 16 as described in FIG. 4 (step S7). ).

[0059] Then, the control unit 11 sets the portion corresponding to the input character in the example sentence data on the same vertical axis of the search result display area 52 by the display control unit lib (step S8).

Then, as described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, the display control unit lib displays a list on the display unit 16 (the search result display area 52 of the liquid crystal display screen 29) (step S9).

Next, the control unit 11 monitors whether the user presses (inputs) the additional key (& key) 27 or the translation screen display key 23 (steps S10 and S11). [0062] When the additional key 27 is input (step S10; Y), the control unit 11 temporarily stores the input characters and the order of appearance of the words in the example sentence in the input order temporary storage means 16b of the RAM 16 (step S12). ). Then, the control unit 11 compares the order of appearance of the words in the example sentence data (step S13), and searches only words whose order of appearance of the word in the example sentence is later than the order of appearance of the word in the example sentence of the previous input character. Set (Step S14). Thereafter, the control unit 11 returns to step S3 and performs processing for the next input character.

On the other hand, when the translation screen display key 23 is input (step Sl; Y), the control unit 11 displays the translation screen by the display control unit l ib. That is, the control unit 11 displays the entire example sentence and its translation on the liquid crystal display screen 29 (step S15).

After that, the control unit 11 determines whether or not the user performs another search until the user selects (presses) the syntax search key 26 again or until the user performs an operation of inputting a character from the keyboard 21. Is monitored (step S16).

When the user has performed another search, that is, when the syntax search key 26 or the keyboard 21 has been pressed (step S16; Y), the control unit 11 temporarily stores The data is deleted (step S17), and then the process returns to step S3 to perform a syntax search for the newly input character.

[0066] On the other hand, the control unit 11 determines that the user has not performed another search, that is, the on / off key 20 or the dictionary selection key 25 has been pressed, or that the user performs an input for a certain period of time. If not (step S16; N), the syntax search process ends.

As described above, according to the electronic dictionary 1 of the present embodiment, since the search is performed using the selected word (headword), there is no need to input a word.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, the word appearance order in the example sentence is stored corresponding to each word stored in the syntax search data 15b, and the word appearance order in each example sentence corresponding to each input word is stored. Since the example sentences whose order is larger in the input word order are extracted, the example sentences in which the input words are different from the input order can be excluded from the extraction target and the list display target.

[0069] Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case of input and syntax search for English has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to English, and may be another foreign language or Japanese. Industrial applicability

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to an electronic dictionary capable of displaying collocations not only with words input by a user but also with selected words.

Claims

The scope of the claims

[1] character input means for inputting character data,

Display means for displaying character data;

A plurality of dictionary bodies consisting of translations corresponding to the headwords,

Dictionary storage means having collocation data corresponding to the headword and syntax search data composed of the translation thereof;

Extraction means for extracting the collocation data corresponding to the headword inputted by the character input means, the dictionary storage means strength;

An electronic dictionary, comprising: display control means for displaying, on the display means, a list of collocation data including a selected word among the extracted collocation data.

[2] The electronic dictionary according to claim 1, wherein the collocation data is example sentence data and phrase data.

[3] The collocation data is composed of words obtained by decomposing an example sentence and a phrase, each word is stored together with restoration information for restoring the example sentence and the phrase before decomposition, and each word is sorted. The electronic dictionary according to claim 1.

[4] In the collocation data, the order of appearance in the restored example sentence and the phrase is stored in correspondence with each word, and the extracting means corresponds to the magnitude relationship of the input order with respect to the input word and the input word. 4. The electronic dictionary according to claim 3, wherein an example sentence and a phrase that match the magnitude relation of the order of appearance of the words constituting the example sentence and the phrase are extracted.