JPS6036624B2 - Kanji input device using Roman characters - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a kanji input device that converts Roman characters to kanji.

Various methods have been put into practice or have been proposed for inputting kanji, but the most promising method today is to input kanji in romaji or kana characters exactly as they are pronounced, and then input appropriate characters. This method is called Romaji-Kanji conversion or Kana-Kanji conversion.

This method has the advantage that it does not necessarily require special training or skill on the part of the operator and can be handled relatively easily by any person. However, one of the drawbacks of the Romaji-Kanji conversion method or the Kana-Kanji conversion method is that the speed of pronunciation input when inputting kanji in Romaji or Kana characters according to the pronunciation was not necessarily fully satisfactory with the conventional method. The drawback was that it took time to sort out homophones.

The purpose of the present invention is to improve the former of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional method for converting Roman characters to Kanji, namely, to provide a device that greatly improves the speed of inputting Roman characters according to pronunciation compared to the conventional method. .

According to the present invention, in a Japanese input device in which a keyboard group for consonants is arranged in a position where it can be operated with either the left or right hand, and a keyboard group for vowels is arranged in a position where it can be operated with the other hand, a combination of vowels and inner sounds can be used. , a group of keys designed so that each input can be input using a single keyboard, a keyboard group configured such that each input can be input using a single keyboard, a combination of vowels and voiced sounds, a group of keys configured such that each input can be inputted using a single keyboard, a combination of vowels and other voiced sounds each configured to Equipped with at least one or more keyboard groups, each of which can be input with a single keyboard, or with diphthongs or long vowels, each of which can be input with a single keyboard, In addition, each keyboard in each keyboard group is arranged so as to correspond vertically to the input keyboard for the monophthong of the vowel included in the pronunciation, and the monophthong keyboard is arranged on the left and right. - A kanji input device using Roman characters is obtained, which is characterized in that the characters are arranged in columns.

It is obvious that the time required to input the pronunciation of a kanji can be thought of as the product of the number of keystrokes required to input that kanji and the average time required for each keystroke. In the latter case, there is a large difference in the average time required for each keystroke between a beginner and an expert, but even an expert has a certain limit due to the limit of the movement speed of the fingers, and even if you practice repeatedly, you will not be able to reach a certain value. It has the property of yielding. Therefore, in order to improve the speed of pronunciation input using a kanji input device, it is effective to reduce the number of keystrokes necessary for inputting kanji characters.

To give an example, let's use the idiom "employment."

- When inputting Roman letters, if you input Roman letters one after another using the normal method, you would need to press the key SYUUSYOKU nine times.
Recently, an attempt was announced to split consonants and vowels between the fingers of the left and right hands and improve the input speed by typing the vowels and consonants at the same time. Since the time required to type the vowel to be input can be ignored, if this is shown in parentheses, the above example becomes SY
(U)USY(0)K(U)That is, except for the part in parentheses, the pronunciation was input in the equivalent time of SYUSYK and six keystrokes. According to the present invention, this example can be completed in just two keystrokes.

The present invention will be explained in detail below.

The present invention is that the pronunciation of kanji in Japanese has been developed from mainland China, with the exception of characters created in Japan, such as "guji" and "toge", and the ``sublr'' reading, which is translated into Japanese. This study focuses on the fact that the ``on'' readings of imported characters, which are pronounced in Japanese pronunciations similar to those on the continent, can be broadly classified into the following four types. , the first type is a simple combination of consonants and short vowels, such as "summer" (KA) and "ki" (ki).
KI), "Ta" (TA), and "Ki" (KI). In this case, if you press the consonant and vowel at the same time, the keystroke will be completed in the time equivalent to the number of keystrokes, so there is no problem. do not have. The second type is the one that ends with the inner sound "n".''
There are many such as ``kan'', ``sound'', ``feeling'', ``○'', ``search'', ``hard'', ``soft'', ``kin'', and ``se...''.

In this case, by taking advantage of the fact that the keyboard surface on the side where the vowels A, 1, U, E, and 0 are input has sufficient area in addition to this keyboard group for vowels, the above-mentioned second type For inputting kanji, we use pronunciations that combine internal sounds and vowels, that is, AN, IN,
By providing a keyboard group for inputting UN, EN, and ON, the time required for inputting internal sounds can be reduced to zero.

Now, to explain the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, numeral 1 is a keyboard group for consonant input which is operated with the left hand, and numeral 2 is a keyboard group which is operated with the right hand.

In keyboard group 2, 4 is a keyboard group for normal vowel input,
Keyboards for vowels A, 1, U, E, and 0 are arranged horizontally corresponding to each finger. Note that in this embodiment, keyboard groups 1 and 2
may be arranged in the opposite manner to that of FIG. 1 or 2, so that the consonant input keyboard group 1 is operated with the right hand, and the vowel input keyboard group 2 is operated with the left hand. On the other hand, in the present invention, AN, IN, which is a combination of a vowel and an internal sound N,
, UN, EN, ON is provided, and the keyboard group 3 is arranged in a position corresponding to the position of the keyboard for inputting the vowel included in each pronunciation (i.e., A for AN). A
Arrange the N input keyboard. If arranged like this, the NA for the second type of kanji input mentioned above, for example, the kanji "soft"
When inputting N, in the conventional method, even if the consonant N is input with the left hand and the vowel A is input with the right hand at the same time, the internal sound N is input.
In contrast, according to the present invention, in response to the input of "NAN," you would have to strike the N with your left hand, which would require two keystrokes.
By inputting "N" and at the same time inputting the "AN" key in the internal tone input keyboard group 3 with the right hand, the input of "NAN" and "soft" pronunciation can be completed with a single keystroke. can.

Moreover, the burden placed on the operator during the operation is extremely light. This is because the arrangement of the input keys for the vowel AmEO is well known to the operator, and the position of the internal sound keyboard group 3 (the lowest row in FIG. 1) is also a place that the operator can easily memorize. If the keyboard for inputting "AN" is placed at the position corresponding to "A" from The present invention can reduce the pronunciation input time by half for kanji with pronunciations including .

Next, I will discuss the third type of kanji on-yomi pronunciation. There are many kanji belonging to the third type, as shown in the examples below, which end with a consonant sound such as "7" (or "ki" in the younger version) or "tsu". ATSU (ATU) Pressure, live, observation, Ren ITSU (ITU) It, Blue, Muro ETSU (ETU) Koshi, Ketsu, Bushi, Tetsu UTSU (UTU) Ku OTSU (OTU) Otsu, bone, rate, Tsu AKU Ren, Painting, creation, home IKU (IKI) education, storage, (knowledge, power) EKI
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, keyboard groups 5 and 6 are provided in keyboard group 2, which must be operated with the right hand, for inputting these voice input sounds. be.

That is, in keyboard group 5, ATU (AT), ITU (IT), and UTU (UT
), ETU (ET), OTU (OT),
By inputting these keys at the same time as the consonant K, it is possible to input the respective pronunciations of ``live'', ``kichi'', ``bending'', ``ketsu'', and ``bone''.

In the conventional system, KA and TU would naturally be input twice, so it is clear that the present invention reduces the time required for inputting pronunciation by half.

It is exactly the same for the other input sounds "KU" or "KI", and by having keyboard group 6, you can input the pronunciation of kanji such as "ga", "samu", "product", "koku" etc. with a single operation. is possible. Next, I will discuss the fourth type of kanji on-yomi pronunciation.

The fourth type is that the vowel or single vowel following the consonant is not a short vowel but a diphthong such as 山, U1, E1, OU, or UU.
This is the case when the vowel is a long vowel.

For this type, as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, a keyboard group 7 for diphthongs is provided, and M,
Input keyboards U1, UU, E1, and OU are arranged, respectively.
Examples of kanji that succumb to this pattern are 山...ai, times, times, body, 内m...滚, 蓑E1...ei, kei, world, bottom, ning, flat. UU... empty, through, number OU... compliant, high, relevant, and appropriate.

Even in this case, the pronunciation input can be completed with a single input operation according to the present invention, whereas the conventional device requires two operations to input a vowel.

As described above, in any of the second to fourth types, the time required to input the pronunciation of kanji characters can be halved, and the effect is extremely large.

Of course, in an actual device, it is possible to implement all the keyboard groups already described, but for convenience of finger operation, even if the number of keyboard groups is limited to four steps above and below. As shown in FIG. 1 or 2, most of the various keyboard groups already described can be accommodated.

Next, a specific circuit for realizing the operation of the above embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, 1 is a keyboard group for inputting consonants, 3 is a keyboard group for internal sound input, 5 is a keyboard group for inputting voiced sounds, and 7 is a keyboard group for inputting other voiced sounds.

As shown in the figure, the input of each consonant and the input of each keyboard in each keyboard group of 3, 5, and 7 intersect like a crossbar system.
At each intersection, there is an output of an "AND" circuit 10 with a box input.

For example, if "K" in keyboard group 1 is input as a consonant and "ATU" in keyboard group 5 is input at the same time, both "AN"
D” and generates an output at the “KATU” terminal.

This output is as shown on the right side of Fig.
, “wari”, “brown”, “damage”, etc. code generation circuit 3
2, 33, 34, 35, and 36 are respectively guided through the priority ranking determination circuit 31, and are "activated" according to the specified priority order.
A code for any kanji such as ``baku'', ``wari'', ``1 brown'', etc. is generated, and this is input to a character generator, which generates a dot pattern corresponding to each kanji.

A kanji character is displayed on the display device 38 by the output of the character generator, and if it is confirmed that the kanji character should be input, it is input into the printing device 40 or the storage device 39. Also, if the kanji to be printed does not include a consonant at the beginning, such as "pressure", "hot", "atsu", etc., there is no consonant input in keyboard group 1, so KATU, SATU, TATU
, NATU, etc. are not generated, but as shown in Figure 3,
By the NOR circuit 45 of consonants such as K, S, T, N, H, etc.
The absence of these consonants and the presence of input from the ATU produce kanji such as "pressure", "hot", "atsu", etc. as the output of the AND circuit 46 and the code generators 42 and 4 through the priority determination circuit 41.
Generated at 3.44.

According to the present invention, when the kanji to be input includes internal consonants, interphonic consonants, diphthongs, or long vowels, the number of keystrokes necessary for inputting the pronunciation can be completely halved.

Therefore, it can be expected that the input speed will be significantly improved even when inputting actual Japanese sentences.

In addition, the input operation of the apparatus of the present invention is extremely easy and requires no training and can be operated immediately by any person, which is a great feature. Furthermore, in the device of the present invention, the number of actual keystroke operations is significantly reduced, so the effect of reducing operator fatigue is also significant.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram for explaining another embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is an example of a specific electric circuit diagram for one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1...Keyboard group for consonant input, 2...Keyboard group for vowel input, 3...Keyboard group for internal sound input, 4.
... Keyboard group for inputting short vowels, 5 ... Keyboard group for inputting voiced sounds, 6 ... Keyboard group for inputting voiced sounds, 7
...Keyboard group for inputting diphthongs or long vowels, 31, 4
1...Priority determination circuit, 32-36, 42-44
... code generator, 37. ．． ...Character generator, 38...Display device, 39...Storage device, 40...Printing device, 45...N
OR circuit, 46...AND circuit. Aoi - Diagram 2 - Dedication diagram

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a Japanese input device in which a keyboard group for consonants is placed in a position that can be operated with either the left or right hand, and a keyboard group for vowels is placed in a position that can be operated with the other hand, each of the combinations of vowels and internal sounds is A group of keys that can be input using a single keyboard, a group of keys that are a combination of vowels and voiced sounds, each of which can be input using a single keyboard, a group of keys that are a combination of vowels and other voiced sounds, each of which can be input using a single keyboard. At least one of the keyboard groups configured to allow input, or a keyboard group configured to input diphthongs or long vowels, each of which can be input using a single keyboard, and each keyboard group The arrangement of the respective keyboards in the above is such that they correspond vertically to the input keyboards for the monophthongs of the vowels included in the pronunciation, and the monophthong keyboards are arranged in a row on the left and right. A kanji input device using Roman characters.