JP3877977B2 - Information processing apparatus and program for realizing the apparatus on a computer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus that can be used for the purpose of temporarily storing, displaying, and searching character information for the convenience of a user, and in particular, a relatively small display screen such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). The present invention relates to a device that can be used for memorandum purposes such as temporarily storing, displaying, and retrieving character information such as data retrieved from a dictionary in a data device having a limited storage capacity.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Recently, with the spread of PDAs, there are increasing opportunities to use it for sending and receiving e-mails, browsing the WWW (World Wide Web), and for processing word processing documents. At this time, an increasing number of scenes are searched for words such as words and idioms that are searched for in a dictionary and the results are displayed or stored and reused.
[0003]
  A clipboard function has been used for such purposes. The clipboard is a location on a storage device that temporarily stores data when the data is cut or copied and pasted to another location or another application.In this specification, the predicate “clipboard” is used as a general predicate representing such a meaning.
[0004]
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 9-14695 discloses a machine translation apparatus that can handle a character string copied to a clipboard as a dictionary reference and translation learning target as an application to a machine translation apparatus.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The conventional clipboard function can store only one item by the user specifying a character string and cutting or copying it. Therefore, when other data is cut or copied, the data stored so far is overwritten and erased.
[0006]
When reading a document, the meaning of multiple words or idioms is unknown, and you may want to search each one in succession. However, with the conventional clipboard, even if the meaning of one word or phrase is searched and stored in the clipboard, the previous memory is overwritten when the meaning of the next word or phrase is searched and stored. Therefore, when it is desired to look back on the result of the previous search, it is necessary to search again, which is inconvenient.
[0007]
An object of the present invention is to provide a function of storing a plurality of contents in a clipboard and confirming them immediately. It is another object of the present invention to provide a function for efficiently utilizing a limited storage capacity by realizing a function for prompting management of a plurality of data stored in the clipboard.
[0008]
Further, since the conventional clipboard function assumes a display screen like a normal personal computer, it has not been easy to use in a data device having a relatively small display screen such as a recent PDA.
[0009]
Another object of the present invention is to provide a function of simplifying a display screen and displaying the meaning of words and phrases in a compact manner. It is another object of the present invention to realize voice output by storing search results in a text format.
[0010]
Another object of the present invention is to provide a function that can easily search dictionary data using data stored in a clipboard.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The clipboard according to the present invention makes it possible to accumulate a plurality of character strings by devising the entry method, and by using this function, a search result obtained by searching for a word or idiom using a dictionary software can be simplified. It was configured so that multiple records could be made by operation.
[0012]
In addition, in order to indicate that multiple search results such as dictionary software are registered in the clipboard, icons are displayed on the screen of the device, and these icons are operated on the clipboard during document processing. The registered character strings can be selectively called and used.
[0013]
Alternatively, for words or phrases that have been referred to in the past during document processing, the past search results registered in the clipboard are automatically extracted only by tracing the words and displayed in a compact manner. It was configured to be able to.
[0014]
The words registered in the clipboard can be output as a voice, and the dictionary data can be searched in ascending or descending order from the words registered in the clipboard.
[0015]
Furthermore, the management of the words registered in the clipboard is configured so that the user can confirm the deletion based on the number of times each word is searched and the registered time.
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Although the device shown in the drawings has a particular form, it is to be understood that this is exemplary and is not intended to limit the invention thereby.
[0017]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a PDA device 100 having a clipboard function according to the present invention.
This apparatus includes a liquid crystal display unit and an input / output unit 102 formed of a transparent tablet that can be instructed and input with a finger or a pen 101 having a size that covers the liquid crystal display unit. The liquid crystal display unit is provided with a backlight such as an EL panel as necessary. By synchronizing the display contents displayed on the liquid crystal display unit and the position information of the transparent tablet, the user can select and instruct the display contents. Is provided with a [function] key 103 for instructing a special function operation.
[0018]
The PDA device 100 is further provided with a modular jack 104, and can communicate with the outside through a device such as a modem. Further, an audio input / output jack 105 is provided, which is connected to the earphone microphone 106 with a connection plug 107 so that audio can be input / output.
[0019]
Reference numeral 108 denotes a lid, which is connected to the back surface of the apparatus 100 with a hinge, and rotates so as to cover the input / output means 102 to protect the input / output means 102 when carried.
Reference numeral 109 denotes an external media slot, which can be used by inserting a card-type external expansion medium such as an expansion memory card or an expansion software medium.
[0020]
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the PDA device 100 shown in FIG.
Reference numeral 200 denotes a liquid crystal display unit, and 201 denotes a transparent tablet unit, which constitutes the input / output means 102 of FIG.
[0021]
Reference numeral 203 denotes a tablet control unit that drives the transparent tablet unit 201 and extracts coordinate information.
Reference numeral 204 denotes a liquid crystal display circuit unit which includes devices necessary for driving the liquid crystal element.
[0022]
Reference numeral 205 denotes a central control unit which controls the operation of each unit including input / output of information by various instructions by a program.
A ROM 206 is a font information area that stores fonts of characters to be displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 200, a program area that stores a program instructing the operation of the central control unit 205, and a dictionary that stores a dictionary for character conversion. Area, coordinate information area that stores the meaning of a word or phrase, an area that records voice data for the word, or conversion information for converting coordinates detected by the tablet control unit 203 into coordinates corresponding to a display position Etc.
[0023]
Reference numeral 207 denotes a RAM which stores a data storage unit for storing various data such as characters and graphics input by the user from the input / output means 102, and an expansion program from the external program media 208 via the external media slot 109 in FIG. Includes a program storage unit for reading and holding. The clipboard according to the present invention is set in the RAM 207.
[0024]
The program medium 208 is an information recording medium configured to be separable from the main body. For example, a DVD, MO, CD-ROM, floppy (R) disk, IC card, or the like can be considered. In the program medium 208, an executable program that is read and executed by the RAM 207 of the main body, a source program that can construct the executable program, an intermediate program, and the like are recorded.
[0025]
Reference numeral 209 denotes a modular unit, which is connected to a communication line and performs transmission / reception of electronic mail and input / output of data with the Internet via the modular control unit 210.
Reference numeral 211 denotes an audio reproduction unit, which is a part for outputting audio via the audio reproduction control unit in accordance with a command from the central control unit.
[0026]
【Example】
Next, an embodiment of the clipboard function according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
[0027]
FIGS. 3 to 5 are diagrams illustrating a series of screens of operations for referring to the result of searching for English-Japanese dictionary software using the clipboard function according to the present invention.
FIG. 3A is a display example of a reception list screen of the electronic mail function in the PDA 100. As shown in the figure, a list of received e-mails is displayed on the input / output means 102.
[0028]
When a mail line to be read in the list, for example, 300 is selected, a detailed screen as shown in FIG. 3B is displayed. If there is a word or phrase that you do not know the meaning or pronunciation of, such as “proposal” 301 or “beyond” 302 on the screen, you can search the meaning, usage, and explanation by starting the English-Japanese dictionary software. The result can be displayed on the screen or output by voice.
[0029]
FIG. 3C shows an example of the result of searching for English-Japanese dictionary software by selecting “proposal”, and FIG. 4A shows an example of the result of searching for English-Japanese dictionary software by selecting “beyond”.
[0030]
In FIG. 3C and FIG. 4A, if the clip button 303 is operated as necessary, the dictionary search result can be stored in the clipboard. Here, the search result of “proposal” is stored in the clipboard in FIG. 3B, and the search result of “beyond” is stored in FIG. 4A.
[0031]
Here, in the conventional clipboard, when the search result of “beyond” later is stored, the search result of “proposal” stored before is overwritten and disappears. In the present invention, in order to be able to store both, the clipboard is stored in a data structure as shown in FIG. 6 so that addition and retrieval can be performed.
[0032]
Referring to FIG. 6, the retrieved data is stored separately for each item, that is, “number”, “headline”, “meaning”, and “voice data”. In FIG. 6, each item name is clearly shown in a tabular form for easy understanding. However, in the actual data, the order of each item is determined, and a tab symbol or the like is inserted between them to classify them. The item name is not necessary. Each data is divided by inserting a line feed symbol or the like.
[0033]
FIG. 4B shows a screen when document data such as the original mail is displayed again after confirming the search result. Once the dictionary is searched, the searched headline word and the like are displayed as a predetermined number of icons 400, 401, 402 so that the result of the previous search can be referred to at any time.
[0034]
  In the figure, 400, 401, and 402 are extracted from the clipboard registration information shown in FIG. In the figure, six icons are displayed.400, 401, 402The other three are displayed as “not set”, but these are still because the number of searches is limited to three words, and are sequentially filled as the number of searches increases.
[0035]
In this example, an icon is used. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a menu display or the like may be used. Needless to say, the number of displays can be appropriately selected according to the size of the screen. Furthermore, when the number of searches exceeds the display number, it is desirable to display the latest search results with priority, but even in such cases, operations such as scrolling can be used to redisplay previous search results that have disappeared from the display. It goes without saying that you may be allowed to.
[0036]
Now, after the icon as shown in FIG. 4B is displayed, when it is desired to refer to the previously searched dictionary data again, for example, when the icon 400 in FIG. The device searches the clipboard. In this case, “heading” and “meaning” information among the items corresponding to number 1 in FIG. 6 is extracted and displayed using a pop-up window 500 as illustrated in FIG. To find and play the file specified in “Audio Data”. This is the same when the icons 401 and 402 are selected.
[0037]
FIG. 5B shows another example of a screen when document data such as the original mail is displayed again after confirming the search result. In this case, the icon as shown in FIG. 4B is not displayed. For example, when the word or phrase is selected by pressing the [Function] key (103 in FIG. 1), the traced word or phrase is displayed. If there is a match from the item “Heading” in FIG. 6, the item “Meaning” shown in FIG. 6 is displayed as shown in FIG. 5C. In the example, only the necessary part of the “meaning” item for “proposal” is extracted and displayed in a small pop-up window 501 to efficiently use the screen. The method of extracting the “meaning” item may vary depending on the configuration of the information in the dictionary software. In the example illustrated in FIG. 6, the special symbol immediately before the “example” is moved backward from the beginning of the “meaning” item. Search and further search forward from the symbol to extract the portion up to “>> symbol”, for example, display the “application, proposal, proposal” (⇒suggestion) portion.
[0038]
The combination of the icon and the pop-up window shown in FIG. 5A and the combination of the [function] key operation and the small pop-up window shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C are for illustrative purposes. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that each combination may be exchanged and various other combinations are possible.
[0039]
Next, the above-described clipboard processing will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an embodiment of the processing of the above-described dictionary software search and the re-reference function by the clipboard of the search result.
[0040]
In the figure, it is assumed that an application such as an email or a word processor has already been started and a sentence is displayed on the screen.
If there is an unknown word or idiom in the sentence (700), the unknown word or idiom is selected (701).
[0041]
When the selection is completed, the dictionary software is activated to search for the selected word or phrase (702) and display the search result (703).
When the search result is registered in the clipboard for later reference, the clipboard icon (303 in FIG. 3) is operated 704. If no registration is required, the screen returns to the text display screen.
[0042]
When registering, if data is already registered in the clipboard (705), a value one more than the last registered data is recorded in the “number” item (706).
[0043]
If no data is registered in the clipboard, “1” is registered in the “number” item (707).
In order to distinguish between items, a tab symbol is input after the “number” item (708).
[0044]
Next, a headword is extracted from the dictionary data and registered in the item “headline” (709), and a tab symbol is input to distinguish the items (710).
Next, in the “meaning” item, the meaning is extracted from the dictionary data and registered (711), and a tab symbol is input in order to separate the items (712).
[0045]
Next, in the “voice data” item, the voice data information is extracted from the dictionary data and registered (713), and a line feed symbol is input to separate the data (714).
[0046]
This completes the registration to the clipboard and selects whether to end the dictionary software (715). If not finished, the process returns to 703 and the search result display is continued.
[0047]
When the process ends, a text display screen with an icon (FIG. 4b) is displayed (716).
Here, the first eight characters of the entry word of the dictionary search result data added to the clipboard are cut out and displayed on the “unset” icon (717).
[0048]
If you want to re-display the result of previous search, operate the icon (718) to confirm the specified icon number (719), and display the search result that matches the icon number from the clipboard and display it on the screen. (720).
[0049]
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of processing in the case of another embodiment shown in FIG. Since the first half of the processing in this case, that is, the processing for registering the search result is the same as steps 700 to 715 in FIG. 7, only the processing corresponding to the second half of the processing, that is, the processing after terminal A in FIG. Show.
[0050]
A text display screen without icons (FIG. 5b) is displayed (800).
A word or phrase is selected (801). If the function key is selected (802), the process proceeds to step 803. If the function key is not selected, the process returns to step 800.
[0051]
In step 803, it is checked whether there is a match with the word or phrase selected in step 803 and the entry word of the data registered in the clipboard. If there is, the process proceeds to step 804, and if not, the process returns to step 800.
[0052]
In step 804, the search result is read from the clipboard.
Next, a portion necessary for display is cut out as described above (805), a small pop-up window is opened, and the result is displayed therein (806).
[0053]
Next, a method for managing word information registered in the clipboard will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the management process when the registration of the dictionary information searched for on the clipboard is completed as described above and the word is searched again on the clipboard.
[0054]
When searching for a word on the clipboard (900), information about the searched word is registered in the clipboard storage information section shown in FIG. First, information on the searched date and time is registered in the item “history” (901). Then, the count of the “number of times” representing the number of times searched is incremented by 1 (902). Referring to FIG. 10, “proposal” is registered, and since there are two “history” information, the “count” count is two. When registration in the clipboard storage information section is completed in this way, word information registered in the clipboard is displayed (903).
[0055]
Further, a message is displayed based on the contents (described later) set in the clipboard (904), and when there is an instruction to delete a word registered in the clipboard (905), the deletion is performed (906). Examples of message display are shown in FIGS. 11 (a) and 11 (b). These screens have a button for instructing deletion of the corresponding word registered in the clipboard, as shown.
[0056]
12 and 13 are diagrams for explaining a clipboard management setting method.
First, in FIG. 12, a setting selection screen (FIG. 13a) is displayed (1200). The setting selection screen shows how many times you search for a word, how many times you search for it, and how many times you ’ve used it since you first searched for the word. Selection items are displayed for performing settings when both the “search period” for displaying a deletion message according to the period, and the words “search count” and “search period” are both applicable. Based on the selection on this screen (1201), each input setting screen (FIGS. 13b and 13c) can be displayed and set subsequently.
[0057]
FIG. 13B is a “search count setting” screen. In the figure, the search frequency options can be set to 50 times, 30 times, 15 times, or any number of times. The number of times set here is compared with the “number of times” item of each word stored in the clipboard storage information section shown in FIG. 10, and when the value of the “number of times” item exceeds the value set here, FIG. The screen shown in a) is displayed and prompts the user to organize the corresponding word.
[0058]
FIG. 13C shows a “search period setting” screen. In the figure, the search period options can be set to 180 days, 90 days, 30 days, or an arbitrary period. The period set here is compared with the “history” item of each word stored in the clipboard storage information section shown in FIG. 10, and the period from the first value of the “history” item to the present is set here. If the value is exceeded, the screen shown in FIG. 11 (b) is displayed to prompt the organization of the corresponding word.
[0059]
The detailed contents of the message display (904 in FIG. 9) will be described with reference to FIG.
When the word on the clipboard is displayed, the setting contents of the clipboard are confirmed (1400). If there is a setting content, if it is a setting content related to the period (1401), it is confirmed whether it is a setting content related to the number of times (1402). If there is a setting related to the number of times, a message displaying both setting contents is displayed (1403) . If not, a message regarding the number of times is displayed (1404).
[0060]
There is no period setting (1405), and when there is a number setting, a message regarding the number is displayed (1406). If the number of times is not set for the period, the process ends as it is, and the next process is on standby.
[0061]
Referring to FIG. 9 again, when the message is displayed and the registration of the word on the clipboard is to be deleted, it is deleted from the word list on the clipboard (906). Then, it is confirmed whether or not to delete the word information registered in the clipboard on the display screen (907). When the screen is to be erased, the screen is erased and it is confirmed whether there are any other words registered in the clipboard (908).
[0062]
Also, if you do not delete the screen that displays the information of the word registered in the clipboard on the display screen, the previous and next words are retrieved from the word dictionary table synchronized with the word registered in the clipboard. It is confirmed whether to search (909). If it is desired to search the preceding and following word dictionaries, it is selected whether to search the table in ascending order or descending order (910), and the word information is displayed in the selected order (911, 912). The process is repeated until there is word information that the user wants to see (913). If there is no search from the word dictionary table (909), it is checked whether there is any other word information registered in the clipboard (908).
[0063]
  Here, the selection of ascending order or descending order is the A button (ascending order) shown in FIG.502And B button (descending order)503It is possible to instruct using. This instruction button may be used in combination with other buttons or at any position on the display screen.
[0064]
For example, if the A button in ascending order is pressed, the information of “propositionately” that is the next word of “proposal” is displayed, and if the B button in descending order is pressed, the information of the previous word “propose” is displayed. These processes are determined by the pointer of each word shown in FIG. This pointer is an address in alphabetical order on the dictionary of each word, and the above processing can be performed by checking before and after this address.
[0065]
With the above configuration, it is possible to prompt the user to delete unnecessary words from the clipboard registration list based on the number of times the word registered in the clipboard is searched and the period of use. A memory having a relatively small capacity such as a PDA or a portable terminal can be used efficiently and effectively.
[0066]
Also, when you want to use the information registered in the clipboard and check the information that is close to the word, you can use the clipboard to display it immediately without searching for words from the dictionary.
[0067]
【The invention's effect】
When reading document data having a plurality of unknown words / phrases, the result of searching from the dictionary is registered in the clipboard of the present invention, so that the contents can be easily confirmed at any time, thereby improving the efficiency of reading the document.
[0068]
When the clipboard data is reused, only a necessary part can be cut out and displayed, so that a narrow screen such as a PDA can be used efficiently.
When you want to use the information registered in the clipboard and check information close to that phrase, you can easily check the meaning of the phrase because it can be displayed immediately without searching for words from the dictionary.
[0069]
Since the system automatically prompts the user to organize words and phrases registered on the clipboard, a relatively small storage capacity such as a PDA can be used efficiently.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a PDA device having a clipboard function according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the PDA apparatus shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example screen for application of the clipboard function of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example screen for application of the clipboard function of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a view showing an example screen of application of the clipboard function of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram exemplifying a clipboard storage data structure according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing of a dictionary software search and a re-reference function using a clipboard of search results according to the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing of another embodiment of processing of the dictionary software search and the re-reference function by the clipboard of the search result according to the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating management processing when a word is searched for on the clipboard of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a diagram of a clipboard storage information unit of the present invention.
FIG. 11 is a view showing a display example of a clipboard registered word management message according to the present invention.
FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a clipboard management setting method according to the present invention.
FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a clipboard management setting method according to the present invention;
FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing the detailed contents of the message display (904) in FIG. 9;
[Explanation of symbols]
1: Main body cabinet, 1-1: Pen holder
2: input / output unit, 3: lid, 4: modular jack, 5: input pen,
6: Tablet control unit, 7: Liquid crystal display circuit unit, 8: Common circuit,
9: Segment circuit, 10: Central control unit, 11: RTC, 12: ROM,
13: RAM, 14: modular part, 15: modular control part,
16: Main unit power switch, 17: Program media,
18: Character input unit, 19: Audio reproduction control unit, 20: Audio reproduction unit

Claims (2)

Input means;
Display means;
Dictionary data storage means in which dictionary information corresponding to entry words and entry words is stored;
First search means for searching for a match between the phrase input by the input means and a headword stored in the dictionary data storage means;
First display control means for causing the display means to display the searched headword and dictionary information corresponding to the headword;
Registration instruction means for instructing to register a search result by the first search means;
A search result dictionary data storage means for storing a search result headword and dictionary information corresponding to the headword in accordance with a registration instruction;
In addition,
A first extraction means for indicating an icon displaying the registered search result headword and extracting all dictionary information in the search result dictionary data storage means corresponding to the headword indicated by the icon;
Second search means for searching for a match between a phrase selected from an arbitrary character string from the text displayed on the display means and a headword stored in the search result dictionary data storage means;
If there is a matching entry word as a result of the search by the second search means, a part of the dictionary information selected in advance is extracted from the dictionary information in the search result dictionary data storage means corresponding to the matched entry word. Second extracting means for
Second display control means for displaying the dictionary information extracted by either the first extraction means or the second extraction means on a display screen on which text is displayed on the display means;
A portable information processing apparatus comprising: A program for operating a computer having input means and display means,
Dictionary data storage means in which dictionary information corresponding to entry words and entry words is stored;
First search means for searching for a match between the phrase input by the input means and a headword stored in the dictionary data storage means;
First display control means for causing the display means to display the searched headword and dictionary information corresponding to the headword;
Registration instruction means for instructing to register a search result by the first search means;
A search result dictionary data storage means for storing a search result headword and dictionary information corresponding to the headword in accordance with a registration instruction;
In addition,
A first extraction means for indicating an icon displaying the registered search result headword and extracting all dictionary information in the search result dictionary data storage means corresponding to the headword indicated by the icon;
Second search means for searching for a match between a phrase selected from an arbitrary character string from the text displayed on the display means and a headword stored in the search result dictionary data storage means;
If there is a matching entry word as a result of the search by the second search means, a part of the dictionary information selected in advance is extracted from the dictionary information in the search result dictionary data storage means corresponding to the matched entry word. Second extracting means for
Second display control means for displaying the dictionary information extracted by either the first extraction means or the second extraction means on a display screen on which text is displayed on the display means;
A program for causing an information processing apparatus to operate.

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