JPH03212764A - Electronics - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application J] The present invention relates to electronic equipment, and particularly to electronic equipment that performs translation between multiple languages based on dictionary data stored in a memory.

[Prior Art] Electronic devices having functions of electronic dictionaries or electronic translations have been known. In this type of device, for example, English words or sentences are input, and the words or sentences translated into another language, such as German, are displayed.

The process of converting the first language information into the second language information is performed by searching a memory in which the first language and the second language are stored in correspondence with each other for the first language information using a microprocessor. The main form of output is display output using a liquid crystal display or the like, but output forms such as audio output or print output from a printing device are also possible.

In addition, in recent years, many devices have been proposed in which removable external storage devices, so-called IC cards, can be attached for the purpose of expanding the functions of the main body of the device.6 [Problems to be solved by the invention] For example, devices configured as an English-English dictionary electronic equipment (electronic dictionary)
If you think about it, the simplest method is to manually input English words and output multiple corresponding English translations.If you want to convert to another language, use an external storage device such as an IC card to correspond to each language. Functions are achieved by preparing multiple sheets in advance and selectively attaching them to the main body.

When an operator obtains desired information in another language, it is complicated to exchange IC cards corresponding to each language. In addition, when translating between other languages, it is necessary to store the information in the other language in advance in the main unit (or prepare multiple pieces of language information for each combination on an IC card, and use it as a means of storing information. There were problems such as requiring a large amount of ROM, increasing the cost of the device, and confusing the operator due to the large number of IC cards.

In addition, if there are multiple IC cards, each with different functions, and the operator selectively installs them, the main body and
If it is not possible to determine what is executable as a C' card system, or if you input each language from the main body keyboard, the keyboard becomes very complicated if the human characters and symbols used in each country's language are arranged on the main body keyboard. This not only made manual operation time-consuming, but also caused the keyboard to become larger and the main unit itself to be larger, significantly impairing portability.

Also, if the main unit is an English-English dictionary, for example, if a German IC card is attached and a German person operates it.

When operating the main unit, multiple error messages are displayed, but the messages are usually only in the language that corresponds to the main unit's language, that is, English, which is difficult for Germans to understand and the operating procedures are difficult to understand. Sometimes. Therefore, a method has been proposed in which messages in multiple languages are prepared in advance on the main unit and the operator selects one, but this increases the memory capacity of the main unit and has the disadvantage of increasing costs. In devices that are equipped with IC cards, only one type of dictionary can be installed at the same time, but multiple IC cards can be installed at the same time.
A structure in which a C card is installed and translation is performed by combining these dictionary data is also conceivable. However, in such a structure, the various problems described above are expected to become more complicated and difficult to solve.

An object of the present invention is to effectively solve the above-mentioned problems, particularly in an electronic device to which dictionaries configured as a plurality of IC cards can be attached.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, one aspect of the present invention is to store linguistic information in a predetermined language in an electronic device that processes linguistic information in a plurality of languages. an external storage device removably provided, means for displaying at least character information, and means for selecting desired character information from among the character information displayed on the display surface of the display means; When the device is attached to the main body of the device, character information specific to the language of the linguistic information stored in the external storage device is displayed on the display means, and the selection means selects the desired character information in the displayed character information. We adopted a configuration in which when text information is selected, that text information is input manually into the device.

[Operation] According to the above configuration, using the selection means on the display means,
It is possible to input character information specific to the language of linguistic information stored in a detachable external storage device.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an example shown in the drawings. Here, it can be used as an English-English dictionary using the dictionary data in the main body, and by installing multiple dictionary cards configured as IC cards, it can be used as a dictionary for German-French, French-German, traditional, and traditional texts, as described later. The following is an example of an electronic dictionary that can translate between multiple languages.

<Hardware Configuration> FIG. 1 shows the external appearance of an electronic dictionary employing the present invention. The main body of the device 1 has a case 1a in which an alphabet key 2 and a function key 3a for inputting headwords are provided on the -F side, and a case 1b in which a display 4 and a function key 3b are provided on the top surface, which are connected via a hinge part 5. It is configured so that it can be opened and closed.

Various IC cards 6 can be attached to two sets of card insertion lowers a and 7b provided on the side surface of the case la.

A transparent keyboard 8, which will be described later, is provided on the surface of the display 4. Reference numeral 9 is an enter key, which instructs the process of converting manually written words into a foreign language.

Configuration of Control Section> FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. In the figure, IO is a CPU that controls the entire device, and 11 is an error processing program, a key manual processing program, a display processing program, a dictionary search program (described later), an English-English dictionary, and various message data. ROM (0). In this ROM 11, reference numeral 11a is a control program area in which the various control programs described above are stored.

Reference numeral 11b is a dictionary data area that stores dictionary data. This dictionary data area stores English words to be used in an English-English dictionary and corresponding data of their meanings.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, in addition to this dictionary data area 11b, a dictionary card configured as an IC card is installed,
In addition to an English-English dictionary, it is also capable of translating between multiple languages, including German-French, French-German, and so on.

That is, numerals 12 and 13 are ROM (1) and ROM (2) provided in two IC cards as external storage devices, respectively.

The ROM 12 and ROM 13 contain a card control program area 12 for controlling the card application.
a, 13a, and dictionary data areas 12b, 13b for storing dictionary data, respectively.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a RAM, and within the RAM 14 there is a memory area 14a used as a work area for various control programs, a temporary save area 14b used as a stack, and words (described later) used as memory when converting a different language via an intermediate language. A plurality of blocks are allocated to the store area 14c.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a keyboard section equipped with the alphabet keys 2, function keys 3a, 3b, etc. shown in FIG.
is a display drive unit that controls the display screen of the display i17 based on the display control of the CPU 10.

In the main body control system configured as described above, information (English words) input from the keyboard section 15 is searched through the CPU 10 in the dictionary data area llb stored in the ROMII.

Then, along with the character information output to the display 17,
The search contents are transferred to the work area 14a in J, and after adjusting the display format, the search contents are displayed on the display 17 via the display drive section 16. The control of this device is performed by the CPU 10 based on the control program area 11a in the ROMI 1.

When searching the data in the card, the process is almost the same as above, only the dictionary search process is performed in ROM12, ROM1.
The control program area 12a and the control program area 13a in the ROMI
The CPU l is controlled by the control program area lla in l.
Do it via 0.

<Basic configuration of dictionary search> Next, the basic procedure of dictionary search will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. This procedure involves searching the dictionary data area llb in the main body, and searching the R
Used for all OM12.13 searches. These procedures are appropriately arranged on the program areas 11a, 12a, and 13a of the ROM 11 and ROMI 2.13. However, in Figure 3, English-to-English translation is taken as an example.

When outputting an English translation from an English word, first input the desired English word using the alphabet key 2 in step Sl in FIG.

Next, in step S2, it is determined whether the enter key 9 has been operated. If steps S1 and S2 are negative, the above processing is repeated.

When an English word is entered manually and the enter key 9 is further pressed, words are sequentially output from the dictionary start address A in the dictionary data area llb of the ROMII in a loop of steps S3 to S5, and a match is determined in step S4. Matches to input words are compared. If they do not match, the read address A of the dictionary data area llb is advanced to the next position in step S5, and the process returns to S3.

If the same entry word as the input word is found, step S
Proceed to step 6. In step S6, the dictionary data area l
English translation information consisting of a plurality of words in question is read from lb, this information is rearranged according to the display format, and displayed on the display 4 in S7. Step 51~
S7 is commonly used in various conversion operations described later.

Next, various functions of the present invention will be explained in detail.

<Basic structure of translation between different languages> First, the basic structure of the translation system between the first language and the second language (different languages such as German-English and English-German) in the present invention will be explained.

FIG. 4 shows an example of key operations and displays when a translation operation is performed. Here, we will consider German as the first language and French as the second language.

In FIG. 4(A), reference numeral 41 is a cursor, which is waiting for input of a German heading.

In Figure 4 (B), find the German words to be translated.
Enter enJ). In this input waiting state, the code 42
As shown in , the types of the first language and second language are always displayed. When the enter key 9 is pressed after the entry is completed, a plurality of French translation results are displayed at the position 44 at the same time as the input German heading 43, as shown in FIG. 4(C).

Details of translation between different languages In addition, in this embodiment, in order to perform the translation process between the first language and the second language in the most memory efficient manner, we will discuss several ways to use the third language as an intermediate language. This will be explained using an example.

In this method, for example, if there is an English-English dictionary in the main body memory,
If there are German-English, English-German bidirectional dictionaries, German-French bidirectional dictionaries, and English-French bidirectional dictionaries as C cards, not only can these dictionaries be used alone, but also the combination of the dictionary 1 data can be used to translate German-French and French-German. It is also intended to enable translation between the two.

Here, the first language is German, the second language is French, and the third intermediate language is English. Dictionaries, bidirectional dictionaries between second and third languages, namely German-English/English-German dictionaries, and French-English/English-French dictionaries. These two bidirectional dictionaries are configured as IC cards with built-in ROM12 and ROM13, and are attached to the main body.
Mention it in the form of

Further, it is assumed that the processing procedures described below are appropriately arranged in the control program area of ROMII, and each control program area of ROM12 and I3.

Furthermore, in the following translation process, ST1[], ST2[
], Eng []... - RAM1 in other notation methods
4 shows the various work areas set up in 4.

Note that here, X[nl corresponds to program notation such as C language, and indicates the nth component (the string itself) of the string array with the start address X.6x[
] may be an array of pointers to strings, but in the notation in the flowchart.

X [nl means the character string itself.

(First Example of Translation Processing) A first example of translation processing will be described according to the flowchart of FIG.

In FIG. 5, step 5lot is a key reading process, and is in a state of waiting for the user to input a German heading. If a key is pressed here, it is determined in step 5102 whether it is an alphabet key valid for German headings, and if it is valid, in 5103 the character code corresponding to the human key is stored in the heading buffer, and then the key is pressed again. It enters a key wait state.

In addition, if the key pressed in step 5104 is the enter key 9, a German heading corresponding to the character code group in the heading buffer stored in 5105 is searched from the German-English dictionary, and in 5106, the German heading corresponding to the character code group stored in the heading buffer is searched. Multiple English words that are translation results Eng [1] ~
Eng (nl from the first buffer ST[l] to ST[
Store in nl.

Next, in step 5107, a counter t for sequentially processing the words E n g [1] to E n g [n] stored in 3106 is set to "l". Then, in step 5108, ST1[
Contents of Eng [tl] Next, search the English-French dictionary for
[1] ~Fre [m] to second buffer ST2
Store in []. Thus, step 5110.51
Contents of all STI by 11 Eng [11~En
g [Continue loop processing until processing 8108.5109 is performed for nl. Then, in step Sl 10, when the processing is completed for t=n, that is, the last Eng [tl, the contents of ST2, that is, all the German-English translation results Eng [l] to Eng [nl
All English-French translation results for ST2 [1] ~ St [
nl is displayed on the display 17.

FIG. 6 shows a summary of the translation results of the second and third translations, taking r findenJ as an example of input German.

In the figure, the left column 61 is the German heading searched based on the input data, and the middle column 62 is the German-English translation result stored in the STI in step 5106 of FIG. Further, the right column 63 shows the respective English-French translation results for the German-English translation results stored in ST2 in 5109, and all the words in the right column 63 are displayed on the display 17.

In this way, by using a plurality of wearable two-way dictionaries (in this case two), it is possible to obtain a larger number or a wider range of translated words than can be obtained with conventional translation methods.

However, while it is possible to obtain more translated words, this method also outputs too many words and may force the user to select and judge a large number of words. Therefore, in the second to third embodiments, a configuration for accurately narrowing down the words obtained in the first embodiment to appropriate translation words will be shown.

(Second Example of Translation Processing) A second example of translation processing will be described according to the flowchart of FIG. In the figure, steps 5101-81
08 is a process common to the first embodiment.

In step 5209, the French-English dictionary is further searched for the French word that is the translation result searched in 5ios, and the result is stored in ST3[1.

Next, in step 5210, the English word stored in ST3 is compared with the word of Eng[tl stored in ST[tl, and if there is a match in step 5211, the process proceeds to 5212 to compare the English word stored in ST3 with the word Eng[tl, which is the translation result of Eng[tl. Store French in buffer ST2[], and if there is no match, count up counter t until t=n at 5213 (S214), and store all Eng[1] ~
Processes 5108 to 5210 are performed for Eng [nl.

Finally, in step 5215, all the contents of ST2 stored in 8212 are displayed on the display 17.

As in the first embodiment, FIG.
Taking n as an example, the processed translation results are displayed.6 In FIG. 8, the numbers 81 to 83 are the numbers 61 to
It is similar to 63. In this embodiment, furthermore, the French in column 83 is translated from French to English as in column 84, and if the same word is found in English, which is an intermediate language, among the results, the original The French words in column 83 are the translation results.

That is, r troover J in column 83 includes the English word rfindJ, and [fin
Since it matches dJ, "trou" is written in buffer ST2 [].
ver J is stored. Also, in column 83, “esti
As for mer J, find in column 82 is not included in the English translation, so it is not stored in Sr1[]. Similarly, r de'couvrir J in column 83 is stored, and rre've'ler J is not stored.

As a result, only the underlined portion in FIG. 8 is displayed on the display 17 at step 5215 in FIG.

With this configuration, in the first embodiment of translation processing, when there are too many words to be output, only words with appropriate meanings can be output.

(Third Example of Translation Processing) A third example of translation processing will be described according to the flowchart of FIG. 9. Here, as in the second embodiment of the translation process, appropriate words are selected from all the words in the second language, French, obtained from the first language, German, through the intermediate language, English. An example of control is shown.

In FIG. 9, step 5LOL-5108 is common to the first and second embodiments.

In step 5309, the French words Fre [1] to Fre [ml, which are the translation results retrieved in step 5108, are stored in buffers ST3 [1] to ST3 [ml.

Next, in step 5310, a counter S for sequentially processing the words Fre [1] to Fre [ml stored in step 8309 is set to "l". Then, in step 5311, the contents of Sr1
Next, I searched the French-English dictionary for [s] and found 53 more
In step 12, transfer the German translation result to buffer ST4.
Store in.

Next, in step 5313, the German word group stored in Sr1 is compared with the first key-generated German heading, and if there is a match in step 5314, the process proceeds to 5315, where Fre, which is one of the translation results of Eng [tl, is found. [s
] is stored in buffer ST2[].

If there is no match in step 5314, the counter S is incremented in steps 5316 and 5317 until the same process is performed for all French translation results of Eng[1].

When all the processing is completed for one t, the counter t is counted up in steps 5318 and 5319 until the processing is completed for all the German translation results stored in 3106. When all processing is completed, that is, when t=n, all contents of Sr1[] stored in step 5320 are displayed on the display 17.

FIG. 10 takes rfindenJ as an example of German input and displays the translation results processed in the third embodiment. In the figure, numerals 101 to 104 are the same as numerals 81 to 84 in FIG.

In this case, column 104 obtained in FIG. 8 is further translated into German in column 105, and it is determined whether to adopt the translation result in column 103 by comparing the result with the original word in column 101. Ru.

For example, r troover J at 103 in Figure 10.
When r findJ, one of the English translations, is further translated into English and German, column 105 contains r findenJ, which matches the manual German heading rfindenJ, so r trouver J is stored in buffer ST2.
is stored. Also, r de 'co in column 103
For uvrir J, the English word r un in column 104
Neither the German translation result in column 105 for cover J nor the German translation result in column 105 for the English word r discover J in column 104 does not include the German input heading rfindenJ, so r
de' couvrir J is not stored.

As a result, in step 5320 of FIG.
Only the underlined words in the diagram column 103 will be displayed on the display 17.

(Fourth Example of Translation Processing) A fourth example of translation processing will be described according to the flowchart shown in FIG. Here, as in the second embodiment of the translation process, appropriate words are selected from all the words in the second language, French, obtained from the first language, German, through the intermediate language, English. An example of control is shown below.

In FIG. 11, step 5IOI-3105 is the first
This is common to the embodiment.

In step 5406, the English words Eng [1] to Eng [kl] which are the translation results for the input German heading are
is stored in buffers ST4[1] to ST4[kl.

Next, in step 5407, the counter U for sequentially processing the words E n g [l] to E n g [k] stored in 5406 is set to "1".
, and a counter n for sequentially storing English words selected by the process is set to "1".

Then, in step 5409, the English word Eng[ul stored in 3406 is searched for in the English-German dictionary, and further, in 5410, the German word that is the translation result is compared with the German word input as the heading, and in 5411, a matching word is found. If so, proceed to 5412 and select the Eng at that point.
[ul is stored in the buffer STI [nl, and the counter n is counted up in step 5413.

If there is no match in step 5411, then in steps 5414 and 5415, the counter U is incremented and looped until U=k, that is, the same translation/comparison process is performed for all Eng[ul.

The subsequent processing is performed at the node [ in FIG. 5 in the first embodiment.
A], or the node [B in FIG. 7 in the second embodiment
], or the node [C
It is possible to move to 7.

The processing up to moving to nodes [A], [B], and [C] in the first to third embodiments is performed in columns 121, 122, 1 in FIG.
As shown in 23, this is a process of obtaining an English word from a German word, further translating it into German, and determining the English word from which the original German word was obtained. In other words, the procedure shown in FIG. 11 is nothing but a process for determining a second language to be used as an intermediate language when translating from a first language to a third language.

By processing the second language obtained in this way at nodes [A], [B], and [C] in the first to third embodiments, a more appropriate translation can be easily and quickly selected. can. In the first to third embodiments, the number of words obtained as a result of translation becomes enormous in two or more stages of translation processing in an intermediate language or later. By narrowing down the candidates in stages, more efficient searches become possible.

Here, FIG. 12 illustrates a combination result of the fourth example and the first example.

FIG. 12 takes r' findenJ as an example of German input and displays the translation results for the combination of this embodiment and the first embodiment. 121-12 in the figure
3 is the same as numerals 61 to 63 in FIG.

In FIG. 12, reference numeral 6 is the result of performing English-German translation again on the English translation of the input German.

Since the German translation for r findJ in column 122 already includes the input German heading r findenJ, further processing is performed and rf is stored in buffer ST1[].
indJ is stored.

Also, in column 122 [discoverJ, r thin
As for k J and rconsiderJ, rfindenJ is not included in the German translation, so these are S
Not stored in TI. Therefore, French in column 123, which is the translation result for English r findJ in column 122, is finally displayed as the German-French translation result.

(Other Examples of Translation Processing) As explained above, by executing the processes shown in the second, third, and fourth embodiments, translation via the intermediate language shown in the first embodiment can be performed. Processing accuracy can be increased. Therefore, by combining a plurality of the second to fourth embodiments, it is possible to further improve translation accuracy.

FIG. 13 shows an example of the combination. Examples 5 to 1 in the left column of the figure
1 is an example in which each of the above-mentioned Examples 1 to 4 is combined. Here, the seventh embodiment is a combination of the fourth and first embodiments described at the end of the fourth embodiment above.

Also, for each combination, the AND condition of each element,
By using the OR condition, the number of combinations increases further, and by changing the combinations according to various translation conditions, it is possible to obtain a translation result that is most suitable for the conditions.

Furthermore, in the first to eleventh embodiments, the first language is German, the second language is French, and the third language is English, but any language such as Spanish or Italian can be applied. Needless to say, containers 1 and 3
It is sufficient to have a bidirectional dictionary between languages and between second and third languages. Further, in the first to fourth embodiments, translation from German to French was illustrated, but it goes without saying that translation in the opposite direction is possible using the same procedure.

Of course, the two-way dictionaries stored in the ROM 12 and 13 of the IC card can also be used independently. In each of the embodiments described above, it goes without saying that the German-English, English-German bidirectional dictionaries, and the English-French and French-English bidirectional dictionaries can be used independently.

The various translation modes in each embodiment 1-ti in FIG. 13 may be selected in response to input from the keyboard. It is also conceivable to display the translation results in a plurality of translation modes corresponding to each embodiment on the display 17 in a time-sharing manner, or to spatially divide the display area of the display 17 into a plurality of regions and display each one. .

<Configuration of user interface: Part 1> Next, when an IC card storing multiple different language information is installed in the main body, input/output control of the entire system that can be considered useful in such a configuration, that is, user The interface method will be described in detail.

(Twelfth Embodiment) Here, in a state where the main body of the device shown in FIG. - An example of the configuration when an English-French dictionary is attached is shown.

In the above-mentioned system, in addition to the English-English dictionary configured by the ROMI l inside the main body, there are three dictionaries (English, German, and French) configured as IC cards, and each can be combined, so there are 3P2 = 6 different dictionaries. There are possible combinations (German-French and French-German translations are performed by the above-mentioned 1st to 11th embodiments), and if the English-English function of the main body is added to this, there are a total of seven combinations.

FIG. 14 shows an example of a display on the display 17 in this embodiment. For example, an alphabet display as a menu item, for example, "E" and a translation from one language to another such as "ENG-FREJ" are displayed. Showing how.

Here, the operator can select any dictionary function. For example, when using the dictionary as a French-German dictionary, when the main unit's power switch is turned on, the display as shown in Figure 14 will be automatically displayed, and then the alphabet key When "G" is pressed, the corresponding item in the menu is selected. Thereafter, a French language input waiting screen (not shown) as a French-German dictionary is displayed on the display 17, and the process then proceeds to conversion control processing via the above-mentioned intermediate language.

If an Italian-English/English-Italian dictionary is installed instead of the French-English-English dictionary as the second IC card, rFREJ in the display example in Fig. 14 will be changed to rITAJ, and the seven different dictionaries will also be displayed. All you have to do is display a menu so that you can use it.

Next, control when performing the above-mentioned interface will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 15. The illustrated control procedure is stored in the control program area lla in the ROMII.

First, in step S501 of FIG. 15, it is confirmed whether or not the on key among the function keys 3a that commands power-on of the main body is pressed, and if the on key is pressed, 550
In step 2, the presence or absence of an IC card in the first IC card mounting section is confirmed. One possible way to confirm this is to wire the circuit so that a closed loop circuit is formed when an IC card is inserted, and then send a predetermined signal to the circuit, and if there is a return signal, it is determined that the IC card is present. It will be done.

Next, in step 5503, the IC card type code stored in advance in the first IC card is read, and in 5504, it is determined whether the type code A is a bidirectional translation function for English, which is an intermediate language. If t=11 is determined to be a different type of code, a separate process is performed, for example, a control system that operates solely on the IC card.

If it is determined in step 5504 that it has a bidirectional translation function, in 5505 the type code A is stored in the main body RAM 1.
．． 4 is stored in the work area 14a.

Next, in step 5506, it is confirmed whether or not there is an IC card in the second IC card mounting section. If step 5506 is affirmed, card type code B is read in 8507 and 8
In step 508, it is determined whether or not the translation function is used, and if this step is negative, the process moves to separate processing similarly to step 5504.

If it is determined that the translation function is present, the above-mentioned type code A and this type code B are merged in step 5509,
The pattern M is stored again in the work area 14a.

Next, in step 5510, the combination information for the above-mentioned pattern M is searched and compared with the table stored in the ROMI l in advance, and if there is, the combination information is read out together with the display character information in 5511, and in 5512 the combination information is stored in the RAM 14.
and after information is synthesized in the display drive unit 16 5513
At step 5514, seven combination patterns are displayed on the display 17 as shown in FIG. 14, and at step 5514, selection input of each combination using the alphabet keys is awaited.

Here, if it is not confirmed in step 5506 that the IC card is installed in the second IC card installation section,
At 515, the aforementioned type code A is restored as pattern M, and from 5510 onwards, the same processing is executed to display the combination pattern of "rA", "BJ, and "C" on the display 17 as shown in FIG. .

Further, if it is not confirmed in step 5502 that the IC card is installed in the first IC card installation section, 55
At step 16, it is confirmed whether or not an IC card is installed in the second IC card installation section. If step 5516 is negative, it means that there is only the English-English dictionary function stored in the main body, and the process moves to another process, such as waiting for input of an English word as an English-English dictionary.

If you confirm that the IC card is installed in step 551.6, 5
At step 517, the type code B stored in advance in the IC card is read, and at step 8518, the presence or absence of the translation function is confirmed. If the translation function is provided, step 551
At step 9, the type code B is stored in the RAM 14, and at the same time, at 3520, the combination pattern M is stored again, and the process moves to steps 551O and subsequent steps. Finally, as shown in Figure 14, the result is "A",
Display 17 by arbitrarily rearranging the combination of “E” and rFJ.
The screen is displayed at 5514, and the screen waits for selection.

In this way, the first
Possible translation modes are displayed as shown in Figure 4, and the user can select the desired translation mode.

(Thirteenth Embodiment) In the twelfth embodiment, the on key only had a power-on function, but this on key has a menu display function that displays possible states of the entire system when pressed after power-on. By adding , if the first and second IC cards are replaced with cards in other languages due to certain settings, the on key can be pressed even when one of the combinations is being executed to execute the control shown in Figure 15. By doing so, you can always check and execute functions based on the latest system status. Of course, it goes without saying that keys other than the on key may be assigned as keys for executing commands for these functions.

(Fourteenth Embodiment) In the twelfth embodiment, a case has been described in which the first and second IC cards each have a translation function, but the first IC card has a built-in translation function (dictionary and search program). It is also conceivable that the second IC card stores an application that functions independently, and executes the functions of the second card along with translation.

In such a structure, the following display control may be performed by adding the procedure shown in FIG. 16 to the procedure shown in FIG. 15.

That is, if the translation function of the type code B of the second IC card is denied in step 5508 in FIG.
Shift to the control shown in Figure 6.

In step S521, type codes A and B are restored into combination pattern M and function pattern N, in steps 5522 and 5523 each pattern M and N are compared and searched, and in step 5524 the menu screen display character function stored in ROMII is The information is read out, display information is synthesized based on the screen layout in step 5525, and displayed on the display 17 in step 8526.

Figure 17 shows an example of this display;
This figure shows a case where an IC card storing a travel phrasebook is installed in the IC card installation part of the figure. In this case, as shown,
Menu items rAJ to "C" contain a combination of translation functions for the first IC card, and rDJ contains the title of a conversation collection as an application.rTRAVEL C0NVE
R5ATIONJ is displayed.

Moreover, if the application card is installed in both the first and second IC card installation parts, that is, the 15th
In the figure, if steps 5504 and 5508 are negative, the menu item rAJ and two application titles in FIG. 17 are displayed, and three functions can be selected.

<User interface configuration: Part 2> and above,
Although the configuration related to menu display and its selection has been shown, below, we will explain the structure of an IC that stores a plurality of different language information.
The configuration for controlling the various message languages output on the main body display in accordance with the selected language when each card is installed in the main body will be described in detail below.

(15th Embodiment) Figure 18 (A, ) shows an input waiting state when menu item "A" (English-English dictionary mode) is selected while the menu screen in Figure 14 is being displayed. The message prompting is written in English because the heading input language is English.

However, when the item rFJ is selected in FIG. 14, that is, the process moves to the French dictionary search process, it is preferable to automatically switch the notation of the message to French as shown in FIG. 18(B).

In this case, all other messages such as errors are written in French, and this mode continues until the menu screen is returned and another language dictionary is selected.

In many cases, many users who have set a dictionary language are likely to have that language as their native language, so displaying all messages in their native language when selecting a dictionary significantly improves operability.

Next, means for realizing the above operation will be explained.

FIG. 19 shows in more detail the internal structure of the ROM 13 stored in the IC card in FIG. 2, and is configured in the order described below.

First, the first area stores a program that executes system control specific to the card itself, and is located in the ROM13.
When control is transferred from ROMII by chip select controlled by CPU10, various pre-assigned processes are executed.

What is stored in the next area is card type code B, which is a control code for determining the type of card mentioned above.

Next, message data 13f consisting of a plurality of sets configured in the language handled by the card (French in this case) and a message surface water control program 13 that controls the message data 13f.
g is stored. The type of message data is ROMI
It is provided in a form that completely corresponds to the message data (English) stored in I.

Next, codes for characters unique to French (for example, "n", "mu", etc.) other than the usual 26 letters of the alphabet, and corresponding display font data and control programs are stored. This will be detailed later.

Finally, French-English and English-French bidirectional data and a table for searching the data are stored as dictionary data areas to form one ROM.

While the English-to-English conversion shown in FIG. 18(A) is being executed, various messages are outputted by the control program in which the message data stored in ROMII is also stored, but here, as shown in FIG. 18(B) As shown in , when the French dictionary mode is selected, the message control program is stored in RAM1.
At the same time, confirm the card type code B stored in the work area 14a of No. 4, and also turn the message display control to RO.
Transfer to M13.

At this time, by setting a flag in the work area 14a to indicate that the language has been switched to French, it is possible to back up the memory contents of the RAM 14 even after returning to the menu screen or when the power is turned off. Work area 14 is also displayed when you turn on and display the menu screen.
Since the message display process is transferred to the IC card after confirming the flag in a, the French notation can always be maintained.

Furthermore, by selecting the other language dictionary and switching to a flag in the work area and 14a or a new flag indicating another language, it is possible to switch the notation of the message to another language. Here, of course, the RO in the other language IC card is used.
It is also necessary to keep the M configuration similar to that of the French dictionary card shown in FIG.

In this way, by adopting the same Memo J structure for any language, by inserting an IC card for each language and selecting the language dictionary, messages can be sent in that language, and it is also possible to select another language. Otherwise, a certain message will always be displayed even if the main unit is turned off and on, which is very convenient for operators who use the relevant language as their native language.

(16th Embodiment) In the 15th embodiment described above, the message language was switched by switching the dictionary language selection, but the configuration is such that the desired message language can always be set regardless of which dictionary language is being executed. can also be considered.

In other words, a switch key (not shown) is provided in the keyboard in advance during operation of the main unit, and by pressing this key, the display screen changes to a message language other than the one currently in use, as shown in Figure 18 (C). Possible languages are identified by the type code stored in the work area, and a menu is displayed so that the operator can freely select the language.

In the fifteenth embodiment, the message language identification flag was switched by the dictionary that was switched to the dictionary language, but in this embodiment, this can be easily realized by switching when selecting the language after pressing the switch.

This display message switching control will be explained based on the flowchart of FIG. 20. During execution of a search routine as an electronic dictionary function, it is determined in step 5601 in interrupt processing whether or not the switching key is pressed at all times. When the depression of the switching key is detected, the current flag indicating the current message language is checked in step 5602. Here, it is assumed that English is specified. So step 5
In step 603, the type code stored in the work area 14a is checked, an unused language is recognized, and step 56
04, the selection screen for languages other than English (German, French) (first
8 (C)) and waits for manual input of the selection key in step 5605. If either one is selected, a flag corresponding to the new language is set in the RAM 14 in step 5606, and at the same time, message display control is transferred to the ROM in which the set language is stored in step 5607, and the search routine is executed. When exiting from the message display screen, the message is displayed in a new language in step 5608, and the process proceeds to the next step of the search routine.

Assuming that the RAM 14 is backed up even when the power is turned off, messages can always be displayed in the same language, and the display will not change unless the operator performs a switching operation. Therefore, no matter which language is selected, messages are always displayed in the same language, which is more convenient for operators whose native language is that language.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that the fifteenth and sixteenth embodiments may be combined. In other words, when switching the dictionary language, you do not just switch to the language concerned (but after switching, you can change the dictionary at any time while using the language).

Furthermore, by allowing the operator to set the display message control for either one of the fifteenth and sixteenth embodiments, it is possible to provide a very convenient message display function for a plurality of operators.

<Configuration of user interface: Part 3> Next, depending on the language of the installed IC card or any language selected from multiple languages, the function of the header person key can be changed to the human characters used in that language. This section describes automatic switching control.

(Seventeenth Embodiment) For example, in German, characters such as ``voice'' and ``i'' are used, and below, a technique for adding input means for these characters as necessary will be described.

FIG. 21 shows a display example employing this embodiment, and FIG. 21(A) shows the state of a manual headline screen when a German language card is inserted as an IC card.

As shown in the figure, "A", "ENG", "b", and "h" are displayed as German-specific input characters at the bottom of the display surface of the display 17, and characters provided on the upper surface of the display 17, which will be described later, are displayed as input characters unique to German. By pressing the vicinity of the displayed characters on the transparent keyboard 8, the displayed characters are taken in as key manual information.

According to this configuration, when inputting German, it is possible to use a combination of 26 letters of the alphabet keys provided in advance on the main body and 4 letters of the special keys set in the display.

FIG. 21(B) similarly shows a French input screen, in which a plurality of French-specific input characters are displayed at the bottom of the display 17, and the transparent keyboard 8 above each can be pressed. ing.

Next, the structure of the transparent keyboard 8 on the display 17 will be described with reference to FIGS. 22 and 23.

Fig. 23 is an exploded perspective view of the same structure, and Fig. 22 is an exploded perspective view of the same structure.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the assembled state shown in the figure.

22 and 23, the display 17 of FIG.
A lower flexible printed circuit board 20 on which a plurality of transparent electrodes 19 formed by vapor deposition on a transparent sheet such as a polyester film is provided on the liquid crystal display 18 constituting the lower flexible printed circuit board 20. A lower flexible printed circuit board 2 is attached to the printed circuit board 20 via a spacer member 21 for forming a predetermined gap.
Similarly to No. 0, an upper flexible printed circuit board 23 on which a plurality of transparent electrodes 22 are formed is laminated by adhesive or the like on the lower surface of a transparent sheet.

Transparent electrode 22 on the upper flexible printed substrate 23
(4 electrodes) and the transparent electrodes 19 (8 electrodes) on the lower flexible printed circuit board 20 are wired perpendicularly to each other, and at the same time, a predetermined gap is formed by the spacer member 21. 23
By pressing a predetermined part with a finger or the like, the transparent electrode 22 of the upper flexible printed circuit board 23 and the transparent electrode 19 of the lower flexible printed circuit board 20 come into contact, a predetermined key signal is generated, and the key is manually operated inside the main body. It is done.

Next, control in this embodiment will be explained using the flowchart of FIG. 24. Step 570 in FIG.
1, the card is selected while the main unit is operating, or step 57
If the main unit is powered on in step 02 and there is a card, control is transferred to the card in step 57.
At step 03, it is checked whether the card is installed. If the attachment of the card is not confirmed, the main body function will continue, or it will be treated as an error and the process will proceed to another process.

When the card attachment is confirmed, the card type code A is incorporated in step 5704, and step 5705
The data is stored in the work area 14a of the RAM 14.

Next, in step 5706, the key character display font data K stored in the card internal ROM shown in FIG. Alternatively, it is read from the ROMI I in the card, and in step 5708 the font and display information I are synthesized as display information, and in step 5709 it is displayed on the display.

In this state, when the alphabet key or the transparent keyboard 8 on the special character displayed on the display 517 is pressed in step 5710, manual processing of the entry word (special character) is sequentially executed.

In this way, key manual means can be added to input special characters required for specific language processing depending on the function of the IC card installed, so the user does not have to perform cumbersome operations such as shift key sequences. Also, there is no need to add any unnecessary key manual hardware.

(18th Embodiment) In the 17th embodiment, the case where only one type of IC card is installed in the main body has been described, but if two types of IC cards storing different languages are installed, the 14th After the display illustrated in the figure is executed by the above-mentioned control, the special characters used in each language are displayed on the input screen corresponding to the human input language of each option and can be pressed. A compatible keyboard can be created.

That is, when the selection key is pressed in step 5514 of FIG. 15, step 570 is performed based on the type code of the card storing the language selected in FIG.
Character font data K stored in the card in 6
, and thereafter execute the above-mentioned flow to proceed to step 57.
At step 10, the header enters a state of waiting for manual input.

According to the 17th and 18th embodiments described above, it is possible to prevent the main body from having keys dedicated to special characters on the main body keyboard or adding multiple functions to one key, resulting in an increase in the size of the main body and complication of key manpower. By switching and displaying only the characters used in each language, speedy and accurate character input can be achieved.

<Effects of each embodiment> As explained above, first linguistic information is input and second linguistic information corresponding to the first linguistic information is output, and
The main effects obtained by adopting the configurations of the various embodiments described above in an electronic device configured to be able to attach and detach a plurality of IC cards as external storage devices are as follows.
It is summarized below.

(1) The translation method described in the sections ``Basic configuration of translation between different languages'' and ``Details of translation between different languages'' has the following effects.

In other words, when storing multiple different languages in memory, a common language corresponding to each of the languages is combined, and when converting between different languages, an intermediate language is used as the common language to interpose the multiple languages. It is possible to prevent the increase in memory size and cost caused by configuring data for each combination of conversions between different languages, and to simplify design work by providing various dictionaries for each combination. This eliminates the complexity and confusion of increasing the number of dictionaries and replacing the necessary dictionaries.

In addition, even when adding a new language, it is possible to convert all existing languages by simply making them compatible with a common intermediate language, which has the advantage of increasing functionality extensibility and system flexibility. There are also some advantages.

Further, when translating between different languages, there is an advantage in that highly accurate translation is possible by performing further conversion matching processing in each conversion process.

Of course, according to the above configuration, the translation results between the predetermined language and the intermediate language can also be used, so it is possible to translate between various languages with a limited dictionary configuration.

(2) The interface method described in the section <User interface configuration: Part 1> has the following effects.

In other words, by attaching any combination of IC cards containing multiple languages to the main body of the device,
Combinations that can be converted between a plurality of languages in the above state can be automatically checked and selected on the main display of the device, and each language conversion function with the latest combination can be easily selected and checked.

[3] According to the interface method described in the section <User interface configuration: Part 2>, the following effects are achieved.

In other words, by attaching any combination of IC cards containing multiple languages to the main body of the device and selecting any language from among the multiple languages, various messages such as errors in that language can be displayed automatically or By enabling manual selection by the operator, it becomes easier for operators whose native language is to understand various messages during operation, and it is possible to significantly improve operational efficiency and prevent operational errors.

(4) According to the interface method described in the section <User interface configuration: Part 3>, the following effects are achieved.

In other words, when an arbitrary combination of IC cards containing multiple languages is installed in the device, and a language is selected from among the multiple languages, the special characters used in that language will be displayed on the display. In addition, by configuring the keyboard so that the special characters can be selectively entered as character information using the keyboard provided on the display, only the characters necessary for the relevant language are always displayed on the keyboard, making it possible to accurately input the keys manually. Moreover, it can be performed quickly, there is no need to provide unnecessary keys on the keyboard in advance, and the device main body can be made smaller and lower in cost, making it possible to provide a very advantageous device.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, in an electronic device that processes linguistic information in a plurality of languages, linguistic information in a predetermined language can be stored and the device can be detachably attached to the main body of the device. an external storage device provided in the device, a means for displaying at least character information, and a means for selecting desired character information from among the character information displayed on the display surface of the display means; When attached to the main body, character information specific to the language of the linguistic information stored in the external storage device is displayed on the display means, and desired character information among the character information being displayed is displayed by the selection means. When a selection is made, the character information is manually entered into the device, so the character information specific to the language of the linguistic information stored in the detachable external storage device can be entered using the selection means above the display f. This eliminates the need to provide fixed input means for characters specific to each language.
This has the excellent effect of providing electronic equipment that is small, lightweight, simple, inexpensive, and highly expandable.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of an electronic device adopting the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the control system of the device shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 shows the basic flow of translation processing. 4(A) to 4(C) are explanatory diagrams showing basic display changes in translation processing. FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram showing details of the first embodiment of translation processing. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing search results obtained by the translation process shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of the second embodiment of the translation process. Figure 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the search results by the translation process in Figure 7, Figure 9 is a flowchart diagram showing details of the third embodiment of the translation process, and Figure 1O is the search result by the translation process in Figure 9. An explanatory diagram showing the results. Figure 11 is a flowchart diagram showing details of the fourth embodiment of the translation process. Figure 12 is an explanatory diagram showing the search results of the translation process in Figure 11. Figure 13 is a translation diagram. An explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the fifth to eleventh embodiments based on the respective combinations of the first to fourth processing embodiments; FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example in the first user interface method according to the present invention. , FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing control in the first user interface method, FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing different controls in the first user interface method,
FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing different display examples in the first user interface method according to the present invention. 18(A) to (C) are explanatory diagrams showing display examples in the second user interface method; FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a ROM necessary for the configuration of FIG. 18; The figure is a flowchart showing control in the second user interface method, and FIGS. 21(A) and 21(B)
) is an explanatory diagram showing a display example in the third user interface method, FIG. 22 is a sectional view showing the structure of the transparent keyboard in the third user interface method, and FIG. 23 is an exploded view showing the structure of the transparent keyboard. The perspective view of FIG. 24 is a flowchart showing control in the third user interface method. l...Device body 2...-Alphabet key 4
．． 17...Display unit 5...Hinge part 6...-IC
Card 8...Transparent keyboard 9--Enter key lO...-CPU11~13-ROM 1.1a-13a...Control program area 11b~
13b...Dictionary data area 14...RAM l5...Keyboard section 16...Display drive section 18...
...Liquid crystal display 19...Transparent electrode 20.23...
・Flexible printed circuit board 21...Spacer member
22...Transparent electrode to the flow of the shrine translation -4 Figure 3 - λn 〉 (A) Enter n〚5〈Key 80〉 (B) 1nden〈1000-person n〉 M scale σfVte 1' Kumu Show><J.1cho,><P,<original> 1u & jY, Ikuri name, -ru r (Shi no e between rtsu 4th picture activity 1fh Hi 伜 1の山'1 misery pto・1selfE agency rg )〇－
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eEAe Fig. 14

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) An electronic device that processes linguistic information in multiple languages, comprising: an external storage device that stores linguistic information in a predetermined language and is detachably attached to the device body; and at least character information. and means for selecting desired character information from among the character information displayed on the display surface of the display means, and when the external storage device is attached to the device main body,
Character information specific to the language of the linguistic information stored in the external storage device is displayed on the display means, and when desired character information among the character information being displayed is selected by the selection means, the character information is displayed. An electronic device characterized by inputting information into the device. 2) A plurality of the external storage devices are removably provided, and a means is provided for specifying a desired language among the languages of language information stored in the plurality of external storage devices being installed, and a language specified by the specifying means is provided. Character information specific to a language is displayed on the display means, and when desired character information among the character information being displayed is selected by the selection means, the character information is input into the device. The electronic device according to item 1.