JPS5831479A - Character input system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily input a character, by converting an information which has optically detected a character pattern, to an electric signal corresponding to a pattern of a dot matrix following the character pattern. CONSTITUTION:When an image guide 11 formed by focusing optical fibers is made to face a character 10 to be inputted, optical information as per its pattern is transmitted to a picture converter 12. The picture converter 12 converts an optical signal to an electric signal corresponding to a dot matrix, and consists of a photoelectric converting part which has arranged photoelectric converting elements in the form of a matrix by making 1 piece correspond to 1 or plural optical fibers each, a binary-coding circuit for binary-coding the electric signal to an input optical level, etc. A parallel data of the binary-coding circuit is transferred to a central processor 13 as it is, or after it has been converted to a serial data, and on the other hand, is sent out to a CRT display 14 for monitoring. The display contents are confirmed, and are stored in a prescribed memory by giving a prescribed input command to the central processor 13. After that, by the same processing, plural characters are inputted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a character input method that facilitates the input of characters, particularly special kanji, in a computer system that can use kanji or a Japanese word processor.

Generally speaking, this type of input method can be broadly classified into two types: a tablet method (full character arrangement method) and a kana-kanji conversion method. In the former method, inputting a kanji that is used infrequently requires time to search for the kanji, and since the kanji HC is not available, kana input may have to be used instead. In addition, even if there is a kanji character that is not commonly used in tablets with a general specification, if it is a kanji character that is often used by consumers, the memory can be expanded and special characters can be registered and used. Although it is possible to do so, it requires special specifications and is expensive. Even in the case of the latter Kana-Kanji conversion method, characters that are used less often have lower priority when it comes to processing homophones or homophones, it takes time to search, and some characters are not available in the dictionary. Sometimes we have no choice but to substitute kana. This situation is particularly noticeable when inputting characters such as people's names and addresses, and a solution has been awaited.

The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a character input method that can eliminate the above-mentioned inconveniences by directly utilizing handwritten or printed character pattern information manually. purpose.

The present invention will be described in detail below based on drawings showing embodiments thereof.

In the figure, numeral 10 is an ordinary business card with kanji characters printed on it. Reference numeral 11 denotes a character reader comprising an image guide formed by converging optical fibers and an optical system for forming a character pattern image on the objective side end surface of the image guide, and the objective lens of the optical system, etc. When a desired character is encountered, optical information according to the pattern is transmitted to the image conversion device [12] through the image guide.

This image conversion device converts the optical signal input through the 12ti image guide into an electrical signal corresponding to a dot matrix, and one photoelectric conversion element is connected to one or more optical 7 eyers in a matrix pattern. It consists of a photoelectric conversion unit arranged in It is designed to obtain a signal with a pattern of a dot matrix to be imitated. The parallel data of the binarization circuit corresponding to each photoelectric conversion element is transferred as is or converted to serial data and transferred to the central processing unit 13, while being sent to the CRT display 14 for monitoring.
The detected characters are enlarged and displayed as shown in the figure.

After confirming the content displayed on the CRT display, the operator issues a predetermined input command to the central processing unit f13, and the central processing unit 13 also receives the transferred data from the image conversion device 12, or decodes the data as required. and stored in a predetermined memory. Thereafter, a plurality of characters are input by repeating the same process.

As detailed above, the character input method according to the present invention optically detects a character pattern, converts the detected information into an electrical signal corresponding to a dot matrix pattern that follows the character pattern, and transmits the converted signal to an information processing device. Therefore, when using the method of the present invention, it is only necessary to indicate the desired input character using a character reader and then manually confirm the pattern displayed on the CRT display, which greatly simplifies the kanji input operation. In particular, it is effective for inputting or registering kanji that are not used on the keyboard of tablet-type devices because they are rarely used, and that are not provided in the dictionary section of kana-kanji conversion type devices. It is extremely useful as an auxiliary input method.

Note that the configurations of the character reader, m-image converter, etc. are not limited to those described above; for example, as a character reader, an imaging means in which a large number of photoelectric conversion elements are arranged two-dimensionally is used, and photoelectric conversion is performed in this part. It may be configured so that it is performed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawing is a block diagram showing an implementation state of the system of the present invention. 11...Character reader 12...Image conversion device 13.
...Central processing bag 'Ia 14...CRT display patent applicant Noboru Kono, patent attorney and agent for Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A character input method characterized by optically detecting a character pattern, converting the detected information into an electrical signal corresponding to a dot matrix pattern that imitates the character pattern, and inputting the converted signal to an information processing device.