JP5063306B2 - Character input device, character input method and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a character input device, a character input method, and a program for an electronic device.

  Conventionally, when inputting characters into an electronic device such as an electronic calculator or a mobile phone, the characters are basically input by using the following methods alone or in combination.

  Conventional example (1): Input a character string reading using a keyboard (including mobile phone key buttons), and perform character conversion such as kanji conversion, katakana conversion, and half-width conversion, and change the conversion range as necessary. Do. Then, when the target conversion candidate is displayed, the input is confirmed. The correspondence between readings and conversion candidates is associated with a system dictionary prepared in advance. In addition, there is a system that can update the system dictionary by downloading from the Internet or the like in order to deal with technical terms for each field such as pharmaceuticals or new words that are not registered in the dictionary.

  For example, when entering “Asahiyama Zoo”, enter “Asahiyama Dobutsuen” with Kana or Romaji and use “Asahiyama Zoo”, “Asahiyama Zoo”, “Asahiyama Dobutsu” as conversion candidates for character conversion. When “en” or “Asahiyama Dobutsuen” half-width characters are displayed and converted to the target “Asahiyama Zoo”, the input is confirmed.

  In addition, there is known an invention that uses a different system dictionary each time the location changes (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Conventional example (2): A user dictionary for each user is provided in addition to the system dictionary. In the user dictionary, a character string is registered in an arbitrary reading manner, and conversion candidates corresponding to the reading input by the keyboard are displayed by referring to the user dictionary.

<Example>
A pair of readings and conversion candidates (“Asahi”, “Asahiyama Zoo”) is pre-registered in the user dictionary, and when “Asahi” is entered through the keyboard, “Asahiyama Zoo” is displayed as a conversion candidate.

  Conventional example (3): A character string having a high linguistic appearance frequency with respect to a character string used in surrounding text is displayed at the top of conversion candidates.

  For example, if “Yuku” is input after “To the zoo”, “Go” is displayed at the top of the conversion candidates instead of “Gaku”.

  Conventional example (4): A character string that the user wants to input is predicted based on the past character conversion history at the stage when the head part of the reading is input, and the predicted conversion candidate is highly accurate. To display.

For example, if the user's character input history includes “Asahiyama Zoo”, “Morning Glory”, etc., “Asahiyama Zoo” and “Morning Glory” are displayed as conversion candidates simply by inputting “Asa” from the keyboard. In the past history, when the frequency of “Asahiyama Zoo” is higher than “Morning Glory”, “Asahiyama Zoo” is displayed higher than “Morning Glory”.
JP 2003-303186 A

  In the conventional example (1), it is necessary to update the system dictionary in order to deal with a new word. Therefore, when new words are always created, such as store names, there is a problem that character conversion cannot be performed efficiently.

  Further, when inputting characters using only the conventional example (1), there is a problem in that the reading of the entire character string to be input must always be input, which is inconvenient.

  In the above conventional example (2), there is a merit that a character string frequently input by the user can be shortened by a short reading. However, since it requires labor to register in the user dictionary, Otherwise, there is a problem that there is no meaning of dictionary registration.

  In the above conventional example (3), the linguistic appearance probability is used, so it is effective when inputting a character string with a limited vocabulary such as a verb / adjective, but a new word such as a store name is always created. In the case of proper nouns, the statistical appearance probability cannot be calculated and it is difficult to apply.

  In the above conventional example (4), it is widely used as a character input method for mobile phones. However, a character string that has been input in the past or displayed in the past is displayed as a conversion candidate. It is limited to the character strings registered in the system dictionary and the user dictionary of the conventional example (2). New word character strings that the user has not input so far, such as the name of the restaurant opened today, are not predictively converted.

  The first problem of the present invention is to improve the convenience of character input itself when dealing with new words.

  In addition, when writing texts on landmarks such as stores, stations, and amusement parks in documents such as blogs, SNSs (social network services), and emails, not only the name of the landmark, but also the address of the internet homepage of the landmark ( URL) may also need to be described. In addition, in order to convey the geographical location of the landmark to the reader, the URL of the landmark in the online map service (goo (registered trademark) map http://map.goo.ne.jp/ etc.) is described. Sometimes it is necessary to do.

  As described above, when a URL related to a landmark is described in a document, conventionally, the URL to be posted is examined by some method such as a search engine, and a procedure for transferring the URL to the document is executed. Also, when posting information related to landmarks in documents such as affiliate advertisements as well as URLs, the related information to be posted is conventionally investigated by some method, and the procedure for transcribing the information to the document is performed. Running.

  However, the work of checking and transferring the landmark URL and related information is complicated, and there is a problem that the work efficiency is low particularly in an electronic device with a poor user interface such as a mobile phone.

  A second object of the present invention is to provide a character input device, a character input method, and a program that can save the trouble of inputting a landmark URL and related information and improve the convenience of incidental information input. It is.

  A landmark may have a plurality of names. For example, as “Yokohama / Hakkeijima Sea Paradise”, names such as “Hakkeijima Sea Paradise”, “Sea Paradise”, “Sea Paradise” are used. In such a case, the user does not know what name is most widely used in the world, and selects a name to be described in the document based on his intuition.

  For this reason, there is a problem in that names that are not necessarily widely used in the world are used in documents, which hinders understanding of readers of the documents. Conversely, the same name may be assigned to different landmarks. For example, “Sea Paradise” is used not only as “Yokohama / Hakkeijima Sea Paradise” but also as “Izu / Mitsu Sea Paradise”, “Futami Sea Paradise”, etc.

  For this reason, there is a problem that even if the user expresses “Sea Para” in a document, the reader may not know which landmark is written, and miscommunication is likely to occur.

  The third problem of the present invention is to suppress the multiplicity and ambiguity of landmark names and to improve communication through documents.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a character input device that can improve the convenience of character input when inputting characters related to user behavior.

  An object of this invention is to provide the character input device which can input the landmark name contained in the action history of a user into a sentence easily and correctly.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a character input device that can suppress the multiplicity and ambiguity of landmark names and thereby improve communication through documents.

The character input device of the present invention includes user position information management means for storing user position information indicating a user position that the user has passed in a storage device in time series for each user, and a position indicating a position of a predetermined landmark Landmark position information management means for storing information in a storage device, and a landmark comprising position information corresponding to the user position information stored in the user position information management means, the landmark position information management A landmark passing history extracting means for extracting a landmark stored in the means as a passing landmark list, and a conversion candidate generating means for generating a conversion candidate corresponding to the input reading , wherein the landmark passing history extraction to generate a conversion candidates, including alias landmarks are extracted as pass landmark list by means The conversion candidate generating means for presenting alternative names to the user in a manner capable of determining the conversion confirmation frequency calculated for the entire user including other users, and the conversion candidate generated by the conversion candidate generating means Conversion confirmation history management means for storing in a storage device for each user which conversion candidate has been confirmed for conversion.

According to the present invention, it is possible to easily and accurately input a landmark name included in a user's action history into a sentence.

  The best mode for carrying out the invention is the following examples.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic principle of a character input device 100 that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  The character input device 100 includes a user position information management unit 10, a landmark position information management unit 20, a landmark passage history extraction unit 30, a landmark name management unit 40, a conversion candidate generation unit 50, and an input / output interface. Means 60.

  The character input device 100 is a device that acquires user position information using the GPS function of a mobile phone.

  As a means for acquiring user position information, a position information service using GPS (Global Positioning System) or a position information service using WiFi (registered trademark) radio waves (for example, Sony (registered trademark) PlaceEngine) (Registered trademark) http://www.placeengine.com/).

  The character input device 100 uses the user position information acquired by these means.

  The user position information management means 10 is a means for managing the user position information history for each user, and is a storage device that stores the user position information measured sequentially at a predetermined time interval in time series. is there.

  The landmark position information management means 20 is a storage device that records each position information of the landmark. Specifically, the landmark position information management means 20 is a storage that records a set of three variables of “landmark ID, latitude, and longitude”. Device.

  The landmark passage history extraction means 30 compares the position information of the user A stored in the user position information management means 10 with the position information of the landmarks stored in the landmark position information management means 20, and The landmark that A has passed is extracted as the passing landmark list L1.

  The landmark name management means 40 is a storage device that records a landmark name with three variables of “landmark ID, name, and reading”, and uses the landmark ID as a key to read the name and reading of the landmark. Search for.

  The conversion candidate generation unit 50 generates conversion candidates corresponding to the input reading and presents them through the input / output interface unit 60.

  The input / output interface unit 60 presents conversion candidates generated by the conversion candidate generation unit 50 and corresponding to the input reading.

  Next, the basic principle of acquiring user position information using the GPS function of the mobile phone will be described.

  The user position information is measured by the GPS function of the mobile phone and is expressed as a set of three variables: date / time, latitude, and longitude. The measured user position information is input to the user position information management means 10.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the location information history of the user A stored in the user location information management unit 10.

  FIG. 2 shows that, for example, on the date 20077.7.30 / 10: 09: 15, the user A was at a point of latitude N35.27.45.41 and longitude E139.3.32.11.

  In the landmark position information management means 20, each position information of landmarks such as restaurants, amusement facilities, department stores, supermarkets, stations, etc. is recorded in a set of three variables “landmark ID, latitude, longitude”. In other words, the landmark is at least one of restaurants, amusement facilities, department stores, supermarkets, stores, factories, hospitals, buildings, stations, amusement parks, historic sites, government offices, educational facilities, sports facilities, entertainment facilities, and roads. One.

  The landmark ID is uniquely assigned to each landmark, and the same landmark ID is not assigned to different landmarks.

  FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating an example of landmark position information recorded in the landmark position information management unit 20.

  In the example illustrated in FIG. 3A, for example, the landmark with the landmark ID “01234550” exists at latitude N35.16.31.56 and longitude E139.40.23.7.

  The landmark passage history extraction means 30 compares the position information of the user A stored in the user position information management means 10 with the position information of the landmarks stored in the landmark position information management means 20, and Based on the landmark that A has passed, the passing landmark list L1 is output. Specifically, for the position information record recorded in the user position information management means 10, a record of landmark position information having the same latitude / longitude is extracted, and the landmark ID of the extracted landmark position information record is extracted. Is output.

  For example, among the latitude and longitude of the position information record shown in FIG. 2, the latitude and longitude of the two position information records indicated by arrows match the latitude and longitude of the position information record indicated by arrows in FIG. The landmark passage history extraction means 30 outputs the landmark ID “01234553” corresponding to the latitude / longitude of the matching position information record to the passage landmark list L1.

  At this time, the actual site of the landmark usually has a slight spread with respect to the latitude and longitude recorded in the landmark position information management means 20. For example, when the landmark ID is “01234550”, the point designated by latitude N35.16.31.56 and longitude E139.40.23.7 is the site of the landmark specified by “01234550”. Only one point.

  Therefore, when the latitude / longitude stored in the user position information management means 10 and the latitude / longitude stored in the landmark position information management means 20 are compared, if the difference is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold, It is determined that the user A has passed the landmark.

  In this case, in view of the fact that the size of the site differs for each landmark, a different threshold value may be set for each landmark in order to improve the determination accuracy. A different threshold may be set for each landmark, or a different threshold may not be set.

  Also, depending on the landmark, there may be a plurality of landmarks with the same latitude and longitude. For example, different landmarks may exist on different floors of the same building. In this case, since only the latitude / longitude cannot determine which landmark the user A has passed, all the possible landmarks are extracted.

  Note that the position information service using GPS cannot acquire height information, but can also acquire height information using WiFi (registered trademark) radio waves. Therefore, user position information management means 10 and landmark position information management means If 20 is managed including height information, landmarks existing on different floors of the same building can be individually identified.

  Further, since the location information of the user A is recorded in the user location information management means 10 at a predetermined time interval, when staying at the same landmark for a while, such as eating at a restaurant, the latitude / longitude There may be a plurality of records that are determined to substantially match (the difference is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold). In this case, the landmark passage history extraction means 30 prevents the same landmark from being extracted twice.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a passing landmark list L1 in which the landmark IDs extracted by the landmark passing history extracting means 30 are described.

  The landmark passage history extraction means 30 outputs the landmark ID extracted in this way as a passage landmark list L1 shown in FIG. When the landmark passage history extraction means 30 extracts landmarks, the following can be considered.

  The landmark passage history extraction means 30 may extract only landmarks that have passed within a predetermined period (for example, within the past 24 hours). Alternatively, the travel speed of the user is calculated based on the time change of latitude / longitude recorded in the user position information management unit 10, and the landmark passing history extraction unit 30 extracts a landmark that has just passed and did not stop. You may make it not. Furthermore, the landmark position information management means 20 is configured so that landmark classification attributes (for example, “restaurant”, “station”, etc.) can be stored, and are included in the landmark classification attributes designated by the user. Only the landmarks that are present may be extracted.

  FIG. 3B is a diagram of an example of the landmark position information management unit 20 to which the landmark classification attribute is added so that the landmark classification attribute can be stored.

  Further, the order of the passing landmark list L1 output by the landmark passing history extracting unit 30 may be processed as follows.

  Sort in reverse order of time when user A passed. That is, they are arranged in order from the landmark that has passed most recently. Alternatively, the user A is sorted in descending order of time of stay. That is, it arranges in order from the landmark which stayed for a long time.

  In the landmark name management means 40, the landmark name is recorded as a landmark ID, a name, and a reading, and the landmark name and reading can be searched using the landmark ID as a key. . For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the landmark name of the landmark ID “01234550” recorded to exist at latitude N35.16.31.56 and longitude E139.40.23.7 is as shown in FIG. It can be seen that the name is “Yokosuka Department Store” and the reading is “Yokosuka Part” based on the three-variable list L2 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a three-variable list L2 in which three variables of a landmark ID, a name, and a reading of the name are described.

  Now, when creating a document with an electronic device such as an electronic computer or a mobile phone, the user first inputs a character string to be input or a part thereof by an input / output interface means such as a keyboard. Conversion candidate generation means 50 generates conversion candidates corresponding to the input reading and presents them through the input / output interface means. The user selects a character string he / she wishes to input from the presented conversion candidates, and confirms the conversion corresponding to the input reading.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing of the conversion candidate generation unit 50.

  The flowchart shown in FIG. 6 is a processing example when inputting “Yokohama jewelry store”.

  In S3, the conversion candidate generated by the conventional technique for the reading “Yo” and the conversion candidate extracted using the passing landmark list 3 are merged and presented to the user through the input / output interface means. The change candidate list L3 shown in FIG. 11 is presented to the user.

  S4 selects the character string “Yokohama Jewelery Store” that the user wants to input from the presented conversion candidate list L3, and confirms the conversion.

  When the conversion candidate generation unit 50 generates a conversion candidate, the conversion candidate is generated not only based on the conversion candidate generated by the conventional technique but also based on the passing landmark list L1 output by the landmark passage history extraction unit 30.

  That is, the above embodiment is an embodiment in which the passing landmark list L1 is used as a dictionary for character conversion. For example, when the user A inputs “Yo” with the keyboard, the landmark ID is included in the passing landmark list L1 shown in FIG. 4 and the first part of the reading corresponds to the landmark with “Y”. The landmark ID to be extracted is extracted from the passing landmark list L1 shown in FIG. 5, and the name of the landmark corresponding to the extracted landmark ID is presented as a conversion candidate.

  In the case shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, “Yokosuka Jewelery Store” and “Yokosuka Chuo Station” are presented as conversion candidates because the landmark readings begin with “Y”. Note that various settings can be made as to which of the conversion candidates generated by the prior art and the conversion candidates generated by the passing landmark list L1 is to be presented to the user with high priority.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a situation example of conversion candidates presented to the user when the conversion candidates generated by the passing landmark list L1 are preferentially presented.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a configuration of a character input device 200 that is Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

  The second embodiment is an embodiment in which not only the name of the landmark but also accompanying information (such as a URL) related to the landmark is automatically input at the time of character conversion.

  The character input device 200 includes a user position information management unit 10, a landmark position information management unit 20, a landmark passage history extraction unit 30, a landmark name management unit 40, a conversion candidate generation unit 50, and an input / output interface. Means 60 and landmark-accompanying information management means 70.

  The operations of the user position information management means 10, the landmark position information management means 20, the landmark passage history extraction means 30, and the landmark name management means 40 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  The landmark incidental information management means 70 is a means for storing landmark incidental information, such as the URL of a home page that the landmark is open to the Internet, and the URL of a landmark in an online map service.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of landmark incidental information recorded in the landmark incidental information management means 70. As shown in FIG.

  The landmark incidental information is a set of three variables: a landmark ID, a homepage URL, and a URL for an online map service. Some landmarks, such as the landmark ID “01234670”, do not have a home page. In this case, the home page URL and the URL in the online map service are left blank.

  The conversion candidate generation unit 50 presents conversion candidates for the reading input by the user, as in the first embodiment. If the conversion candidate determined by the user to be converted is a landmark output by the landmark passage history extraction means 30, not only the landmark name stored in the landmark name management means 40 but also the landmark associated information management The URL of the home page stored in the means 70 and the URL of the online map service are also output as characters in the document.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the process of the conversion candidate generation unit 50 according to the second embodiment.

  The flowchart shown in FIG. 10 is a flowchart in which S6 is added to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of conversion candidates presented when the user A inputs “Y” from the keyboard.

  For example, when the user A inputs “Yo” with the keyboard, the conversion candidate list L3 is presented as shown in FIG. 11. When the user A selects “Yokohama Jewelery Store” as the conversion result, A record corresponding to the landmark ID “01234553” of “Store” is extracted from FIG. 9, and the URL portion is added to “Yokohama Jewelry Store”. That is, “Yokohama Jewelry Store http: //www.○○.co.jp http: //map.○○○.ne.jp/map.php? MAP = E139.37.32. 11N35.27.45.41 & ZM = 10 "is embedded in the document being edited.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a landmark name and a URL are embedded in the document being edited.

  In this example, the landmark name, homepage URL, and online map service URL are output separated by spaces, but a fixed character string such as an HTML tag is automatically inserted as appropriate. May be. In addition, the URL is not always automatically added to the landmark name. Normally, only the landmark name is inserted, and the URL is added only when a URL insertion command is issued from the user. Also good.

  In the second embodiment, the URL related to the landmark is automatically input. However, instead of the URL, various landmark-accompanying information such as the address of the landmark and an advertisement message regarding the landmark may be automatically input. . The landmark accompanying information is a text, an image, a URL, or the like.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example in which an advertisement message of a selected landmark is configured to be automatically input.

  The advertisement message is stored and managed in the landmark accompanying information management means 70. In addition to the address and the advertisement message, the accompanying information associated with the landmark has various applications such as the URL of another user who created a document regarding the landmark.

If the URLs of other users who have created documents regarding the landmark are automatically input, the reader can efficiently surf the documents of various users who are writing about the same landmark.

  FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a character input device 300 that is Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

  In the third embodiment, when a conversion candidate is presented, not only a landmark name that matches the reading input by the user but also an alternative name for the landmark is presented as a conversion candidate. In addition, the number of users is counted for the name of which the user has performed a confirmation operation in the conversion work, and the count value is presented to the user as auxiliary information when selecting a conversion candidate. In the third embodiment, this count value is presented to the user, but the conversion candidates may be arranged in order from the largest count value without presenting the count value.

  The character input device 300 includes a user position information management unit 10, a landmark position information management unit 20, a landmark passage history extraction unit 30, a landmark name management unit 40, a conversion candidate generation unit 50, and an input / output interface. Means 60 and conversion confirmation history management means 80.

  The conversion confirmation history management means 80 manages for each user which landmark name the user has confirmed conversion.

  In the character input device 300, the operations of the user position information management unit 10, the landmark position information management unit 20, and the landmark passage history extraction unit 30 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of information recorded in the landmark name management unit 40.

  In the landmark name management means 40, the landmark name is recorded as a set of five variables (landmark ID, name, reading, number of users, primary flag). Since the landmark ID is an ID for individually identifying the landmark, when the landmark has a plurality of names, a plurality of names are recorded with the same landmark ID.

  For example, in the case shown in FIG. 15, the landmark having the landmark ID “01234567” has four names of “Yokohama / Hakkeijima Sea Paradise”, “Hakkeijima Sea Paradise”, “Sea Paradise”, and “Sea Paradise”. It is recorded. The number of users represents the number of users who have used the name as the name of the landmark as a result of the conversion work.

  For example, as for the landmark whose landmark ID is “01234567”, as a result of the conversion work, 28 people select “Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise”, 255 people choose “Hakkeijima Sea Paradise”, and 128 people “ “Sea Paradise” is selected, indicating that 56 people have selected “Sea Paradise”.

  The primary flag is a flag representing a main call name when there are a plurality of call names of landmarks. When the landmark ID is “01234567”, among the four names, “Hakkeijima Sea Paradise” is the main name. In addition, when setting a flag, there may be a policy depending on the application, such as setting a flag for the name with the largest number of users, or setting a flag for the name selected by the service provider regardless of the number of users. .

  Next, the operation of the conversion candidate generation unit 50 will be described by taking as an example the case where the user A tries to input “Sea Para”.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing processing in the conversion candidate generation means 50.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a state of document editing observed by the user A via the input / output interface means.

  When the user A inputs “Shi” from the keyboard (S1), it is included in the user A passing landmark list L1 output by the landmark passing history extracting means 30 and the head portion of the reading matches “Shi”. Landmarks to be extracted are extracted (S2).

  For example, when the passing landmark list L1 of the user A is “01234567”, “01234590”, “01234589”, “01234588”, refer to the information shown in FIG. 15 managed by the landmark name management unit 40. As a result, “Sea Para”, “Sea Paradise”, “Purchase Shopping Center”, and “Sirius” are extracted. “Sea Para” and “Sea Paradise” are extracted from the landmark ID “01234567”, “Ishigo Shopping Center” is extracted from the landmark ID “01234589”, and “Sirius” is extracted from the landmark ID “01234588”. Is done. “01234590” is not extracted because reading does not start with “shi”.

  Next, in S3, the landmarks extracted in S2 are presented to the user as conversion candidates including alternative names. In this example, in addition to “Sea Paradise” and “Sea Paradise” extracted in S2, two other names “Hakkeijima Sea Paradise” and “Yokohama / Hakkeijima Sea Paradise” are also presented to the user as conversion candidates. .

  Further, when there are a plurality of different names, the number of users together with the names is acquired from the landmark name management means 40 and presented to the user.

  FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of contents presented to the user as a result of S3.

  The user recognizes that "Hakkeijima Sea Paradise" and "Sea Paradise" are more general expressions in the world than "Sea Para" by looking at the conversion candidates presented in this way and the number of users. can do. At this stage, “Sea Para” originally intended to be input may be selected, or input may be confirmed by another name.

  Here, it is assumed that the user selects “Sea Paradise” among the conversion candidates shown in FIG. 18 (S4). At this time, the conversion candidate generation unit 50 according to the third embodiment ticks the record information of the landmark name management unit 40 to determine whether there is any other landmark that uses “Sea Paradise” as a call name (S5). ). Thus, when checking the presence or absence of the same name, the name is checked including landmarks that are not included in the passing landmark list L1 (that is, landmarks that are not included in the user's action history).

  In the case illustrated in FIG. 15, it is detected that the landmark with the landmark ID “87654321” also has the name “Sea Paradise”. Therefore, the conversion candidate generation means 50 presents the name (in this case, “Futami Sea Paradise”) for which the primary flag is set for the landmark ID “87654321” extracted in this way to the user, Since the name is not unique, the reader is warned that it may be misunderstood (S6). The user who has received the warning confirms the input with “Sea Paradise” as it is (S 7) or returns to S 4 and performs the selection operation from the conversion candidates again. In S7, the confirmed name “Sea Paradise” and its landmark ID [01234567] are paired and notified to the conversion confirmation history management means 80.

  The conversion confirmation history management means 80 manages for each user which landmark name the user has confirmed conversion.

  FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of the conversion confirmation history of the user A managed by the conversion confirmation history management unit 80.

  In FIG. 19, landmark names that have been input to the document by the user A are recorded. When the conversion candidate generation means 50 notifies the name and landmark ID determined by the user, the conversion confirmation history management means 80 checks whether or not the pair is recorded in the conversion confirmation history. If it is not recorded, it indicates that the user A has used this name for the first time, so this pair is added to the conversion confirmation history and 1 is added to the number of corresponding users in the landmark name management means 40. Note that the number of users of the landmark name management unit 40 is not different for each user, but is shared by all users. That is, the landmark name management means 40 is shared by all users.

  If it has been recorded in the conversion confirmation history, it indicates that user A has used the same name in the past, so the number of users of the landmark name management means 40 is not changed.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment, the user can recognize another name conversion candidate that is used more frequently in the world than the landmark name that the user intended to input. Further, the user can recognize that the landmark name that the user is trying to select is also used in another completely different landmark. Therefore, the user can express the landmark with a name that many readers are accustomed to, and can prevent the reader from misidentifying it as another landmark.

  In the above embodiment, first, the name of the landmark passed from the user is extracted by utilizing the history of the user position information (that is, the action history) obtained by the position information acquisition means such as GPS. And the name of the landmark which the user passed is presented as a conversion candidate when the user inputs characters. Therefore, it is easy to write the landmark names included in the user's action history, such as the name of the restaurant where the user ate, the name of the store where the user shopped, the name of the play facility where the user played, the name of the station where the user got on the train, etc. And it can input correctly.

  The landmark included in the user's action history is a character string that has a high probability of being frequently input by a user in sentences such as blogs, SNSs, and mails. Can be

  Further, according to the second embodiment, not only the landmark name but also the URL of the internet homepage of the landmark and the URL of the landmark in the online map service are automatically entered. Labor saving can be achieved, and input errors due to manual input by the user can be prevented.

  Moreover, it can be applied not only to URL but also to automatic input of affiliate advertisement (text, image, URL).

  Further, according to the third embodiment, when a landmark has a plurality of names, the name of the landmark is selected while quantitatively understanding which name is used and how much is used in the world. Can do. Further, since it is possible to grasp that the landmark name to be input is also used for another landmark, it is possible to suppress the ambiguity of the name.

  When users write sentences such as blogs, SNSs, and emails, they often write sentences related to their own behavioral experience, and the name of the landmark that the user has actually passed has a probability or frequency of input. High string. For example, when a user eats at a restaurant, he / she often writes opinions and criticisms about the restaurant.

  According to the above implementation, when inputting characters on an electronic computer / mobile phone, etc., the name of the landmark (restaurant, department store, amusement facility, station, etc.) that the user has passed is converted when hiragana is input. Since it appears as a candidate, the character input operation can be performed efficiently. In addition, some landmarks have names that are very long, names are katakana, etc., which are difficult for the user to memorize. Since the system side automatically presents them as conversion candidates in accordance with the action history, even if the name of the landmark is not accurately remembered, it can be input accurately.

  Furthermore, according to the above embodiment, unlike the prior art, dictionary maintenance such as a user registering character conversion in the user dictionary or updating a system dictionary to add a new word of a landmark name such as a store name, etc. Is unnecessary.

  Further, according to the above embodiment, since the character string that the system presents as a conversion candidate is a character string of a landmark that the user has actually passed through, the movement speed threshold value and the position determination threshold value can be appropriately set. For example, it is possible to prevent a landmark that has never been visited from being presented as a conversion candidate.

  In recent years, when writing a sentence regarding a landmark, the address (URL) of a homepage established by the landmark on the Internet is often described in the sentence as a text or a hyperlink. In this case, conventionally, the user manually transcribes the URL into his / her text by a method such as checking the URL with a search engine or transcribing the URL from another home page. In addition, in order to inform the reader of the location of the landmark, it is common to write hyperlinks to online map services such as a google map in the text. Then, after inputting the landmark name, address, etc., and obtaining the URL of the landmark, the URL is manually transcribed in his / her own text. However, according to the second embodiment, when inputting the name of the landmark, the URL of the homepage of the landmark and the URL of the landmark on the online map service are automatically input from the system side. It is possible to save the user from inputting the URL with the keyboard, and to eliminate errors in manual input.

  Furthermore, in the second embodiment, it is possible to develop not only the URL but also various information accompanying the landmark such as an advertisement message.

  In addition, when a landmark name is described in a document, it may be unknown to the reader which landmark the writer is pointing to. Aside from the case where the reader does not know the landmark at all, for the landmark that the reader knows, the reader may not know which landmark the writer is referring to.

  The first cause is that the name described in the document is different from the name recognized by the reader. The second cause is that the name described in the document is used for a plurality of landmarks, so that the reader is unclear as to which landmark is written. However, according to the third embodiment, when inputting the name of a landmark, a name widely used in the world can be selected, and it can be recognized that different landmarks are called with the same name. Can write easy-to-understand sentences.

  As described above, according to the above embodiment, the case where Japanese is input has been described. However, even when a foreign language is input, the user's action history can be utilized to improve the efficiency of character input.

  In other words, in the above embodiment, the user position information management means for storing the user position information indicating the user position that the user has passed in the storage device in time series for each user, and the position information indicating the position of the predetermined landmark The landmark position information management means for storing the information in the storage device, and the landmark position information management means, comprising the position information corresponding to the user position information stored in the user position information management means. The landmark passing history extracting means for extracting the landmarks stored in the list as a passing landmark list, the landmark ID, the name of the landmark, and the landmark reading are stored, and the landmark for identifying the landmark is stored. Landmark name management means for searching for landmark names and readings using the mark ID as a key, and input And a character input device and a conversion candidate generating means for generating a conversion candidate corresponding to the reading.

  In this case, input / output interface means for presenting conversion candidates generated by the conversion candidate generation means and corresponding to the input reading is provided. The landmark position information management means is means for storing each position information of the landmark as a set of three variables of landmark ID, latitude, and longitude. Further, the user position information management means is means for determining the landmark that the user has passed based on the user position information by GPS. Moreover, the landmark is at least one of restaurants, amusement facilities, department stores, supermarkets, stores, factories, hospitals, buildings, stations, amusement parks, historic sites, government offices, educational facilities, sports facilities, entertainment facilities, and roads. One.

  When comparing the latitude / longitude stored in the user position information management means and the latitude / longitude stored in the landmark position information management means, if the difference is not more than a predetermined threshold, It is determined that the user has passed the landmark. Further, when comparing the latitude / longitude stored in the user position information management means and the latitude / longitude stored in the landmark position information management means, if the difference is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold, It is determined that the user has passed the landmark, and a different threshold is set for each landmark.

  Further, the user position information management means and the landmark position information management means are managed including height information, and landmarks existing on different floors of the same building are individually specified. Further, the landmark passage history extracting means is means for preventing the same landmark from being repeatedly extracted when the user stays at the same landmark for a predetermined period. Moreover, the landmark passage history extracting means is a means for extracting only the landmarks that have passed within the second predetermined period. The landmark passage history extraction means is a means for the user to sort in order from the landmark that has passed most recently, or in order from the longest time the user stayed. In addition, the character input device automatically inputs landmark accompanying information. The landmark-accompanying information is an advertisement message related to text, an image, a URL, a landmark address, and a landmark. The conversion candidate generation means is means for generating conversion candidates including alternative names for landmarks. Furthermore, the conversion candidate generation means is a means for generating a warning to the user when the conversion candidate that the user has attempted to confirm conversion is used as the names of a plurality of landmarks.

  Moreover, the said Example can be grasped | ascertained as invention of a method. That is, in the above embodiment, the user position information indicating the user position that the user has passed is stored in the storage device in time series for each user, and the position information indicating the position of the predetermined landmark A landmark location information management step for storing the information in the storage device, and a landmark having location information corresponding to the user location information stored in the user location information management step, the landmark location information management step This is a character input method having a landmark passage history extraction step of extracting stored landmarks as a passage landmark list and a conversion candidate generation step of generating conversion candidates corresponding to the input reading.

Further, the above embodiment can be grasped as a program invention. The said Example is an example of the program which makes a computer function as each means which comprises the character input device of the said Example.

It is a block diagram which shows the basic principle of the character input device 100 which is Example 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the positional information history of the user A memorize | stored in the user positional information management means. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of landmark position information recorded in a landmark position information management unit 20. It is a figure which shows the example of the landmark position information management means 20 which added the landmark classification attribute so that the landmark classification attribute could be memorize | stored. It is a figure which shows the passage landmark list L1 in which the landmark ID extracted by the landmark passage history extraction means 30 is described. It is a figure which shows 3 variable list L2 in which 3 variables of landmark ID, a name, and the reading of the name are described. 4 is a flowchart showing processing of conversion candidate generation means 50. It is a figure which shows the example of a situation of the conversion candidate shown to a user, when presenting the conversion candidate which the passage landmark list L1 produced | generated preferentially. It is a figure which shows the structure of the character input device 200 which is Example 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the landmark accompanying information recorded on the landmark accompanying information management means. 10 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a conversion candidate generation unit 50 according to the second embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the conversion candidate shown when the user A inputs "yo" with a keyboard. It is a figure which illustrates a mode that the landmark name and URL are embedded in the document under edit. It is a figure which shows the example at the time of comprising so that the advertisement message of the selected landmark may be input automatically. It is a block diagram which shows the character input device 300 which is Example 3 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the information currently recorded on the landmark name management means. 5 is a flowchart showing processing in conversion candidate generation means 50. It is a figure which shows the mode of the document edit which the user A observes via an input / output interface means. It is a figure which shows the example of the content shown to a user as a result of S3. It is a figure which shows an example of the conversion confirmation log | history of the user A managed by the conversion confirmation log | history management means.

Explanation of symbols

100 ... character input device,
10: User location information management means,
20: Landmark position information management means,
30. Landmark passage history extracting means,
40. Landmark name management means,
50 ... Conversion candidate generation means,
60 ... Input / output interface means,
L1 ... Passing landmark list,
L2 ... 3 variable list,
200 ... character input device,
70: Landmark accompanying information management means,
300 ... character input device,
80: Conversion confirmation history management means.

Claims (5)

User position information management means for storing user position information indicating a user position that the user has passed in a storage device in time series for each user;
Landmark position information management means for storing position information indicating the position of a predetermined landmark in a storage device;
A landmark having position information corresponding to the user position information stored in the user position information management means, and the landmark stored in the landmark position information management means is extracted as a passing landmark list. A landmark passing history extracting means for performing;
A conversion candidate generation unit that generates conversion candidates corresponding to the input reading, and is configured to generate conversion candidates including alternative names of landmarks extracted as a passing landmark list by the landmark passage history extraction unit. Conversion candidate generation means for presenting alternative names to the user in such a manner that the conversion confirmation frequency calculated for the entire user including other users can be determined;
Conversion confirmation history management means for storing in the storage device for each user which conversion candidate among the conversion candidates generated by the conversion candidate generation means is confirmed;
A character input device comprising: In claim 1,
The character input device according to claim 1, wherein the conversion candidate generation means is means for generating a warning to the user when a conversion candidate that the user is to confirm conversion is used as a plurality of landmark names. A user position information management step in which user position information indicating the user position that the user has passed is stored in the storage device by the user position information management means in chronological order for each user;
A landmark position information management step in which the position information indicating the position of the predetermined landmark is stored in the storage device by the landmark position information management means;
A landmark having position information corresponding to the user position information stored in the user position information management means, wherein the landmark stored in the landmark position information management means is used as a landmark passage history extraction means. A landmark passing history extracting step for extracting as a passing landmark list;
A conversion candidate generation unit that generates conversion candidates corresponding to the input reading, and is configured to generate conversion candidates including alternative names of landmarks extracted as a passing landmark list by the landmark passage history extraction unit. A conversion candidate generation step in which conversion candidate generation means presents alternative names to the user in such a manner that the conversion confirmation frequency calculated for the entire user including other users can be determined;
A conversion confirmation history management step in which the conversion confirmation history management means stores in a storage device for each user which conversion candidate among the conversion candidates generated by the conversion candidate generation means is confirmed;
The character input method characterized by having . In claim 3,
The character input method according to claim 1, wherein the conversion candidate generation step is a step of generating a warning to the user when the conversion candidate that the user is to confirm the conversion is used as names of a plurality of landmarks . The program for functioning a computer as each means which comprises the character input device of Claim 1 or Claim 2 .

Images