Patent Description:
Digital handwriting has become increasingly popular with an increase in the number of information processing devices (smartphones, tablet terminals, laptop personal computers (PCs), and the like) that support input by a stylus. The use of digital handwriting makes it possible to realize operations that could not be realized by conventional handwriting on a sheet of paper, such as reproduction in the writing order and collation by use of the speed of handwriting as a feature quantity.

When inputting by a stylus, an information processing device is configured to generate ink data including one or more pieces of stroke data. The stroke data is data including a series of coordinates indicating the locus of the designated position of the stylus after the pen tip of the stylus comes into contact with a touch surface until the pen tip separates from the touch surface. For example, in a case where a user inputs a character string with a stylus, an information processing device generates stroke data for each stroke and stores the same in a storage unit as a series of ink data. The ink data thus generated finally becomes data representing a character string input by the user. <CIT> discloses an example of such ink data.

<NPL>), discloses generating and scoring correction candidates for both non-syllable and real-syllable errors based on the linguistic features as well as the error characteristics of OCR outputs.

In the meantime, when a user inputs a character string by handwriting, there is a possibility of occurrence of a spelling error such as a missing character, a superfluous character, and a typo. Since this kind of spelling error is naturally reflected in the character string represented by the ink data, in a case where a spelling error is included in a handwritten character string represented by the ink data, it is desirable that the information processing device automatically detect the error and modify the ink data.

Thus, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide an ink data modification method, an information processing device, and a program that can automatically modify ink data including a spelling error.

An ink data modification method according to the present invention is an ink data modification method adapted to a handwritten character string, the method including a determination step of determining a modification method of ink data by detecting a spelling error included in a handwritten character string represented by the ink data, and a modification step of modifying the ink data by operating the ink data on the basis of the modification method.

An information processing device according to the present invention is an information processing device including a modification method determination unit that determines a modification method of ink data by detecting a spelling error included in a handwritten character string represented by the ink data, and a modification operation unit that modifies the ink data by operating the ink data on the basis of the modification method.

A program according to the present invention is a program that causes an information processing device to function as a modification method determination unit that determines a modification method of ink data by detecting a spelling error included in a handwritten character string represented by the ink data, and a modification operation unit that modifies the ink data by operating the ink data on the basis of the modification method.

According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically modify ink data adapted to a handwritten character string including a spelling error.

<FIG> is a diagram for depicting an example of a configuration and a use state of a tablet terminal <NUM> according to the embodiment of the present invention. The tablet terminal <NUM> is an information processing device adapted to input by a stylus P, and is configured to have a panel surface <NUM> that serves as a display surface and a touch surface. Although the input method by use of the stylus P is not limited, for example, an active capacitive method (AES) or an electromagnetic induction method (EMR) can be suitably used. Hereinafter, the description will be continued on the assumption that the active capacitive method is used.

<FIG> is a diagram for depicting an internal configuration of the tablet terminal <NUM>. As depicted in the drawing, the tablet terminal <NUM> is configured to have a host processor <NUM>, a storage unit <NUM>, a display <NUM>, a touch sensor <NUM>, and a sensor controller <NUM>.

The host processor <NUM> is a central processing unit of the tablet terminal <NUM>, and plays a role of executing an operating system of the tablet terminal <NUM> and various types of applications such as drawing software by executing a program stored in the storage unit <NUM>. The drawing software includes a function of generating a file for storing ink data in the storage unit <NUM>, a function of generating stroke data on the basis of coordinates and data sequentially supplied from the sensor controller <NUM> between pen-down and pen-up, to be described later, to display the same on the display <NUM> after sequentially rendering and of writing the generated stroke data in the storage unit in association with each other as a series of ink data, and a function of extracting the generated ink data from the storage unit <NUM> to be displayed on the display <NUM> after rendering.

The storage unit <NUM> includes a main storage device including, for example, a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and an auxiliary storage device including, for example, a flash memory or a hard disk. A program executed by the host processor <NUM> is preliminarily stored in the storage unit <NUM>, and various types of data used or generated by the host processor <NUM> are also stored therein. The data includes, in addition to the above-described ink data, identification information of the tablet terminal <NUM>, login information for logging in to the above-described operating system or the various types of applications, and the like.

The display <NUM> is a device for visually outputting a result of a process by the host processor <NUM>, and includes, for example, a liquid crystal display or an organic electro-luminescence (EL) display.

The touch sensor <NUM> is a device having a plurality of sensor electrodes arranged over the entire panel surface <NUM> depicted in <FIG>. The plurality of sensor electrodes includes a plurality of X electrodes each extending in a Y direction and a plurality of Y electrodes each extending in an X direction. Common electrodes arranged in the display <NUM> may be used as the plurality of X electrodes, and the tablet terminal <NUM> thus configured is called an "in-cell type.

The sensor controller <NUM> is an integrated circuit that uses the touch sensor <NUM> to detect positions of the stylus P and fingers within the panel surface <NUM> and to receive data transmitted by the stylus P. The data received from the stylus P includes a pen pressure value indicating a pressure applied to the pen tip of the stylus P, a pen identification (ID) preliminarily assigned to each stylus P, and the like. Regarding the pen pressure value among them, the sensor controller <NUM> is configured to detect that the stylus P has come into contact with the panel surface <NUM> (pen-down) and that the stylus P has been separated from the panel surface <NUM> (pen-up), on the basis of the pen pressure value received from the stylus P. The sensor controller <NUM> sequentially supplies coordinates indicating a detected position, received data, and pen-down or pen-up information to the host processor <NUM>.

The drawing software executed in the host processor <NUM> is configured to generate stroke data on the basis of various types of data supplied from the sensor controller <NUM>, and to store the generated stroke data in association with a series of preliminarily generated ink data in the storage unit <NUM>. Regarding input by the stylus P in particular, the drawing software is configured to generate stroke data by arranging a series of coordinates and pen pressure values supplied from the sensor controller <NUM> in time series between pen-down and pen-up, and to store the generated stroke data in association with the series of ink data while associating with user information indicating the user who has input the stroke data. The concrete contents of the user information may be a pen ID supplied from the sensor controller <NUM>, identification information of the tablet terminal <NUM>, or login information of the operating system or drawing application.

The drawing software is also configured to extract the generated ink data from the storage unit <NUM> and render the data to be displayed on the display <NUM>. In the rendering, for example, a predetermined interpolation curve such as a Catmull-Rom curve is used to complement coordinates among a series of coordinates. In addition, a pen pressure value is used to control a line width or transparency.

The description will be given by returning to <FIG>. The character string of "patent aplication" depicted in the drawing is an example of a handwritten character string represented by the ink data. The tablet terminal <NUM> according to the embodiment is characterized in that a spelling error included in such a handwritten character string is automatically detected, and the ink data is automatically modified on the basis of the result. Hereinafter, this point will be described in detail.

<FIG> is a diagram for depicting functional blocks of the host processor <NUM> and data stored in the storage unit <NUM>. In the drawing, only the parts related to the above feature are depicted.

As depicted in <FIG>, the host processor <NUM> is functionally configured to have a modification method determination unit <NUM> and a modification operation unit <NUM>. Among these units, the modification method determination unit <NUM> includes a character recognition processing unit 20a and a spelling error detection unit 20b. It should be noted that the modification method determination unit <NUM> and the modification operation unit <NUM> are preferably implemented as one of the functions in the above-described drawing software. In addition, the storage unit <NUM> stores an ink database <NUM>, a standard pattern database <NUM>, and a word dictionary database <NUM>.

The ink database <NUM> is a database for accumulating the ink data generated by the host processor <NUM>. The ink database <NUM> may accumulate not only the ink data generated by the host processor <NUM> of the tablet terminal <NUM> but also ink data generated by a host processor of another information processing device.

The modification method determination unit <NUM> is a functional unit that detects a spelling error included in the character string represented by the ink data stored in the ink database <NUM> to determine a modification method of the ink data. The ink data as a target for the spelling error detection is designated by, for example, a user. As a concrete process, the modification method determination unit <NUM> first executes a character recognition process by use of the character recognition processing unit 20a, so that text data indicating the character string represented by the ink data to be processed is acquired. Next, the modification method determination unit <NUM> detects a spelling error included in the acquired text data by use of the spelling error detection unit 20b. Then, an ink data modification method is finally determined on the basis of the contents of the detected spelling error. Hereinafter, the details will be described.

The character recognition processing unit 20a is a functional unit that executes a character recognition process by use of the standard pattern database <NUM> by performing a process similar to what is generally called OCR (Optical Character Recognition). Specifically, when the ink data is input, the character recognition processing unit 20a first analyzes the layout thereof and segments lines and characters (including spaces). Next, the character recognition processing unit 20a extracts a feature value from each of the segmented characters.

The standard pattern database <NUM> preliminarily stores a standard pattern for each character of the above-described feature value. The character recognition processing unit 20a having extracted the feature value from each of the segmented characters selects one character for each of the segmented characters by checking the extracted feature value against the standard pattern in the standard pattern database <NUM>. The character recognition processing unit 20a outputs a series of characters thus selected as text data indicating a character string represented by the ink data to be processed.

Here, the text data output from the character recognition processing unit 20a is preferably stored in the ink database <NUM> in association with the ink data to be processed. Thus, when the modification operation unit <NUM> acquires an additional stroke data group, to be described later, from the ink database <NUM>, the additional stroke data group to be acquired can be determined on the basis of the text data stored in association with each ink data.

Next, the spelling error detection unit 20b is a functional unit that detects a spelling error included in the text data output from the character recognition processing unit 20a by use of the word dictionary database <NUM> in which data of words including combinations of one or more characters is preliminarily stored. Specifically, the spelling error detection unit 20b first divides the text data output from the character recognition processing unit 20a into words. This division may be performed on the basis of a space between the characters in the case of language such as English that is written with a space between words. On the other hand, in the case of language such as Japanese that is not written with a space between words, words may be extracted by performing a knowledge process based on the words stored in the word dictionary database <NUM> and divided on the basis of the result.

The spelling error detection unit 20b then determines, for each of one or more words obtained by the division, whether or not there is a matching or similar word in the word dictionary database <NUM>. Here, the similarity between the two words means, for example, that the Levenshtein distance or the Jaro-Winkler distance between words is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value. In a case where there is a matching word for a certain word, the spelling error detection unit 20b concludes that the word includes no spelling error. In addition, also in a case where there is neither a matching word nor a similar word for a certain word, the spelling error detection unit 20b concludes that the word includes no spelling error. The reason for this conclusion is that the word is possibly a word such as a proper noun that is not listed in the dictionary. On the other hand, in a case where there is no matching word for a certain word but there is a similar word, the spelling error detection unit 20b concludes that the word includes a spelling error.

<FIG> illustrate diagrams each depicting an example of the above process executed by the spelling error detection unit 20b. <FIG> depicts ink data, and <FIG> depicts text data output from the character recognition processing unit 20a on the basis of the ink data of <FIG> also depicts a word delimiter <NUM> obtained as a result of the above-described division of text data. <FIG> depicts words found in the word dictionary database <NUM> by the spelling error detection unit 20b for each portion of the text data of <FIG> divided by the delimiter <NUM>.

As depicted in <FIG>, for the "patent" portion of the text data, a word "patent" that completely matches is found in the word dictionary database <NUM>. Therefore, the spelling error detection unit 20b concludes that the word "patent" includes no spelling error. On the other hand, for the "aplication" portion of the text data, a completely matching word is not found in the word dictionary database <NUM>, but a similar word "application" is found. Therefore, the spelling error detection unit 20b concludes that the word "aplication" includes a spelling error.

The description will be given by returning to <FIG>. In the spelling error detected by the spelling error detection unit 20b, there may be three kinds of spelling errors such as a missing character, a superfluous character, and a typo. The missing character is a spelling error that a necessary character is missing, the superfluous character is a spelling error that an unnecessary character is mixed, and the typo is a spelling error that a necessary character is replaced by a different character. The modification method determination unit <NUM> determines an ink data modification method on the basis of these detection results of the spelling errors. The modification method thus determined is to add a character in the case of the missing character, to delete a character in the case of the superfluous character, and to replace a character in the case of the typo.

Next, the modification operation unit <NUM> is a functional unit that modifies the ink data by operating the ink data on the basis of the modification method determined by the modification method determination unit <NUM>. Hereinafter, the process performed by the modification operation unit <NUM> will be described in detail with reference to <FIG>.

<FIG> illustrates diagrams each explaining an operation of the ink data for modifying a missing character. <FIG> depicts an example of the ink data to be processed. The ink data in this example is "patent aplication" depicted in <FIG>, and one "p" is missing when compared with "patent application" written in the correct spelling.

The modification method determined by the modification method determination unit <NUM> having received the input of the ink data depicted in <FIG> is, for example, to add "p" between "p" and "l" in "aplication. " The modification operation unit <NUM> first selects, from the ink database <NUM> depicted in <FIG>, one or more pieces of ink data input by the user same as one who has input the ink data to be processed. It should be noted that the ink data selected here may include ink data that is currently to be processed. Then, the modification operation unit <NUM> acquires one or more pieces of stroke data representing "p" that is a character to be added from the one or more selected pieces of ink data. Hereinafter, the one or more pieces of stroke data thus acquired will be referred to as an "additional stroke data group. " A character <NUM> depicted in <FIG> indicates the additional stroke data group thus acquired.

Next, the modification operation unit <NUM> determines a width X of the character <NUM> to be added on the basis of the size of each character configuring the ink data to be processed and the contents of the character to be added. Then, among a plurality of characters represented by the ink data to be processed, those positioned on the right side in the same line as the insertion portion of the character <NUM> to be added are selected, and the selected one or more characters are moved to the right side on the basis of the determined width X. Specifically, in order to move the selected one or more characters to the right side by a distance corresponding to the width X, a numerical value corresponding to the moving distance is added to each of a series of coordinates included in the stroke data corresponding to the characters to be moved. It should be noted that a concrete moving distance of each stroke data by the operation may be a distance obtained by adding a predetermined adjustment value α to the width X as depicted in, for example, <FIG>. However, the adjustment value α may be a positive value, a negative value, or zero.

Next, the modification operation unit <NUM> adjusts the values of the series of coordinates configuring the additional stroke data group such that the rendering result of the ink data with the additional stroke data group added becomes natural. Specifically, the values of the series of coordinates configuring the additional stroke data group are adjusted such that the character "p" displayed as a result of rendering the additional stroke data group is displayed at the position determined by the modification method determination unit <NUM> with the width X determined in advance. The modification operation unit <NUM> may also adjust the insertion position of the additional stroke data group in a file configuring the ink data such that the order of reproduction becomes natural in a case where the ink data is automatically reproduced. The modification operation unit <NUM> having executed the adjustment terminates the operation of the ink data by adding the additional stroke data group after the adjustment to the ink data.

Here, in the case of English as in the example of <FIG>, a series of stroke data positioned on the right side of the portion into which the additional stroke data group is inserted is moved to the right side, but a method different therefrom can be employed depending on language and a writing method. For example, in language written from left to right such as Arabic, a series of stroke data positioned on the left side of the portion into which the additional stroke data group is inserted is moved to the left side. In addition, in Japanese written vertically, a series of stroke data positioned on the lower side of the portion into which the additional stroke data group is inserted is moved to the lower side.

<FIG> illustrate diagrams each explaining an operation of the ink data for modifying a superfluous character. <FIG> depicts ink data to be processed according to this example. The ink data is "patent application," and one unnecessary "l" is added when compared with "patent application" written in the correct spelling. In <FIG>, a character <NUM> corresponds to "l.

The modification method determined by the modification method determination unit <NUM> having received the input of the ink data depicted in <FIG> is to delete one "l" in the "application. " The modification operation unit <NUM> first acquires a width Y of the character "l" to be deleted in the ink data to be processed. Then, as depicted in <FIG>, one or more pieces of stroke data corresponding to the character "l" to be deleted are deleted from a plurality of pieces of stroke data configuring the ink data.

Thereafter, among the plurality of characters represented by the ink data to be processed, the modification method determination unit <NUM> selects those positioned on one side (the right side in the example of <FIG>) in the same line as the deleted character "l," and moves the selected one or more characters to the left side on the basis of the width Y. Specifically, in order to move the selected one or more characters to the left side by a distance corresponding to the width Y, a numerical value corresponding to the moving distance is subtracted from each of a series of coordinates included in the stroke data corresponding to the characters to be moved. It should be noted that a concrete moving distance of each character by the operation may be a distance obtained by adding a predetermined adjustment value β to the width Y, as depicted in, for example, <FIG>. However, the adjustment value β may be a positive value, a negative value, or zero. The modification operation unit <NUM> terminates the operation of the ink data by the process described above.

Here, in the case of English as in the example of <FIG>, the stroke data positioned on the right side of the deleted character is moved to the left side, but a method different therefrom can be employed depending on language and a writing method. For example, in language written from left to right such as Arabic, the stroke data positioned to the left side of the deleted character is moved to the right side. In addition, in Japanese written vertically, the stroke data positioned on the lower side of the deleted character is moved to the upper side.

<FIG> illustrate diagrams each explaining an operation of the ink data for modifying a typo. <FIG> depicts ink data to be processed according to this example. The ink data is "patent applecation," and "i" after "appl" is replaced with "e" when compared with "patent application" written in the correct spelling. In <FIG>, a character <NUM> corresponds to "e.

The modification method determined by the modification method determination unit <NUM> having received the input of the ink data depicted in <FIG> is to replace "e" in "applecation" with "i. " The modification operation unit <NUM> having received the determination first executes the same operation of the ink data as described with reference to <FIG> with "e" as the target to be deleted as depicted in <FIG>. Next, the modification operation unit <NUM> executes the same operation of the ink data as described with reference to <FIG> such that "i" is added between "l" and "c" as depicted in <FIG>.

As a result of executing these operations, the replacement of "e" in "applecation" with "i" is realized as depicted in <FIG>. As described above, the operation of the ink data for modifying a typo includes a combination of the operation of the ink data for modifying a superfluous character and the operation of the ink data for modifying a missing character.

Next, the process of the host processor <NUM> described above will be described again in more detail from another point of view by referring to a processing flow of the host processor <NUM>.

<FIG> is a flowchart for depicting the overall flow of the ink data modification process executed by the host processor <NUM>. As depicted in the drawing, the host processor <NUM> first acquires ink data from the ink database <NUM> (Step S1), and executes a character recognition process (Step S2). The details of the character recognition process are as described above.

Next, the host processor <NUM> divides text data obtained by the character recognition process into words (Step S3). The details of the dividing process are as described above. Thereafter, the host processor <NUM> executes the processes of Steps S5 to S13 for each word in the text data obtained by the division of Step S3 (Step S4).

Specifically, the host processor <NUM> first determines whether or not there is a matching word in the word dictionary database <NUM> depicted in <FIG> (Step S5). As a result, if present, the host processor <NUM> concludes that there is no spelling error and proceeds to the process for the next word. On the other hand, if not present, the host processor <NUM> further determines whether or not there is a similar word in the word dictionary database <NUM> (Step S6). The meaning of the similarity herein is as described above. In a case where it is determined to be not present in Step S6, the host processor <NUM> concludes that there is no spelling error and proceeds to the process for the next word. On the other hand, in a case where it is determined to be present, the host processor <NUM> compares the word to be processed with a similar word in the word dictionary database <NUM> to detect the content of the spelling error included in the word to be processed (Step S7). As described above, the spelling error thus detected may include three kinds of spelling errors such as a missing character, a superfluous character, and a typo.

Next, the host processor <NUM> determines an ink data modification method on the basis of the contents of the spelling error detected in Step S7 (Step S8). Here, the contents of the spelling error detected in Step S7 is not limited to only one. In a case where a word contains a plurality of spelling errors, the host processor <NUM> selects one of them and determines a modification method for modifying the selected spelling error.

Next, the host processor <NUM> determines whether the modification method determined in Step S8 is addition of a character, deletion of a character, or replacement of a character (Step S9). As a result, a character addition process (Step S10) is executed in the case of the addition of a character, a character deletion process (Step S <NUM>) is executed in the case of the deletion of a character, and a character replacement process (Step S12) is executed in the case of the replacement of a character. The details thereof will be described later with reference to <FIG>.

The host processor <NUM> having completed any of Steps S10 to S12 determines whether or not the modification of all the spelling errors included in the word to be processed has been completed (Step S13), and in a case where it is determined to have not been completed, the host processor <NUM> returns to Step S8 to modify the remaining spelling errors. On the other hand, in a case where it is determined to have been completed, the host processor <NUM> proceeds to the process for the next word. In a case where the process for all of the words in the text data obtained by the division in Step S3 has been completed, the host processor <NUM> terminates the ink data modification process.

<FIG> is a flowchart for depicting details of the character addition process (Step S10) depicted in <FIG>. The host processor <NUM> that executes this process first selects one or more pieces of ink data generated by the same user as the ink data to be processed (acquired in Step S1 of <FIG>) from the ink database <NUM>, and acquires the above-described additional stroke data group from the selected one or more pieces of ink data (Step S20).

Next, the host processor <NUM> determines the width X of the character to be added on the basis of the size of each character configuring the ink data to be processed and the contents of the character to be added (Step S21). Next, the host processor <NUM> selects, among a plurality of characters represented by the ink data to be processed, those positioned on the right side in the same line as the insertion portion of the character to be added (Step S22), and operates the ink data such that the selected one or more characters move to the right side by a distance (specifically, the distance X+α depicted in <FIG>) corresponding to the width X (Step S23). The details of the operation are as described above.

Next, the host processor <NUM> adjusts the values of a series of coordinates configuring the additional stroke data group such that the rendering result of the ink data with the additional stroke data group added becomes natural (Step S24). The details of the adjustment process are as described above. Thereafter, the host processor <NUM> adds the additional stroke data group after the adjustment to the ink data (Step S25), and terminates the character addition process.

<FIG> is a flowchart for depicting details of the character deletion process (Step S11) depicted in <FIG>. The host processor <NUM> that executes the process first derives the width Y of the character to be deleted in the ink data to be processed (Step S30). Thereafter, the host processor <NUM> deletes one or more pieces of stroke data corresponding to the character to be deleted from the ink data to be processed (Step S31).

Next, the host processor <NUM> selects, among a plurality of characters represented by the ink data to be processed, those positioned on the right side in the same line as the deleted character (Step S32). Then, the ink data to be processed is operated such that the selected one or more characters move to the left side by a distance (specifically, the distance Y+β depicted in <FIG>) corresponding to the width Y (Step S33). The details of the operation are as described above. Upon completion of Step S33, the host processor <NUM> terminates the character deletion process.

<FIG> is a flowchart for depicting details of the character replacement process (Step S12) depicted in <FIG>. As depicted in the drawing, this process is a combination of the character deletion process and the character addition process. Specifically, the host processor <NUM> first executes the character deletion process depicted in <FIG> with an erroneous character as the deletion target (Step S40). Accordingly, the erroneous character is deleted from the ink data to be processed, and the space created by the deletion is filled. Next, the host processor <NUM> executes the character addition process depicted in <FIG> such that the correct character is added at the position where the erroneous character is deleted (Step S41). Accordingly, the correct character is inserted at the position where the typo of the ink data to be processed is deleted. After the completion of Step S41, the host processor <NUM> terminates the character replacement process.

As described above, according to the ink data modification method, the information processing device, and the program according to the embodiment, a spelling error included in the character string represented by the ink data can be automatically detected, and the ink data can be modified on the basis of the result. Therefore, the ink data including a spelling error can automatically be modified.

In addition, in a case where the modification of adding a character is performed, the additional stroke data group is acquired from the ink data input in the past by the user same as one who has input the ink data to be processed, and thus characters whose handwriting is different from other parts can be prevented from being mixed into the ink data.

Further, since the values of a series of coordinates configuring the additional stroke data group are adjusted so that the rendering result of the ink data with the additional stroke data group added becomes natural and the additional stroke data group is then added to the ink data, a natural rendering result can be obtained even after the modification.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, it is obvious that the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment in any way, and the present invention can be carried out in various modes without departing from the gist thereof.

For example, it has been described in <FIG> that one or more pieces of ink data input by the user same as one who has input the ink data to be processed are selected from the ink database <NUM>, but the ink data selected from the ink database <NUM> need not necessarily be input by the same user.

In addition, it has been described that the modification method determination unit <NUM> depicted in <FIG> executes the character recognition process by use of the character recognition processing unit 20a, such that text data indicating the character string represented by the ink data to be processed is acquired, but the text data need not necessarily be acquired. That is, by executing the character recognition process by use of the character recognition processing unit 20a in the modification method determination unit <NUM>, the size, inclination, and the like of a handwritten character string represented by the ink data to be processed may be corrected to normalize the handwritten character string, and the normalized handwritten character string may be registered in the storage unit <NUM> in place of the text data to detect a spelling error included in the acquired handwritten character string by use of the spelling error detection unit 20b in the modification method determination unit <NUM> with the handwritten character string itself as a target.

<FIG> is a diagram for depicting functional blocks of a host processor <NUM> and data stored in a storage unit <NUM> according to a modified example of the above-described embodiment configured as described above. As depicted in the drawing, the host processor <NUM> according to the modified example has a character recognition processing unit 20c in place of the character recognition processing unit 20a, and a spelling error detection unit 20d in place of the spelling error detection unit 20b. In addition, the storage unit <NUM> has a handwritten character string database <NUM> in place of the word dictionary database <NUM>.

The handwritten character string database <NUM> is a database for storing normalized handwritten character strings. The handwritten character string database <NUM> is configured to store examples of handwritten character strings for as many words as possible.

The character recognition processing unit 20c normalizes a character string by executing the character recognition process for the ink data as a target for the spelling error detection. Specifically, the character recognition processing unit 20c first performs the same process as the character recognition processing unit 20a to segment lines and characters and select one character for each of the segmented characters. Then, the segmented character is shaped so as to be close to a shape (that is, the shape of the character stored in the handwritten character string database <NUM>) expected as the shape of the selected character. This shaping includes the correction of inclination and the like as described above. In addition, the size of each character after the shaping is adjusted such that, for example, the sizes of the segmented characters are equal to each other.

The spelling error detection unit 20d detects a spelling error by comparing the shaped handwritten character string output from the character recognition processing unit 20c with the handwritten character string registered in the handwritten character string database <NUM>. Specifically, the spelling error detection unit 20d first divides the handwritten character string output from the character recognition processing unit 20c into words. This process may be the same process as the division of text data performed by the spelling error detection unit 20b. Then, for each of one or more words obtained by the division, it is determined whether or not there is a matching or similar handwritten character string in the handwritten character string database <NUM>. In a case where there is a matching handwritten character string for a certain word, the spelling error detection unit 20d concludes that the word includes no spelling error. In addition, in a case where there is neither a matching handwritten character string nor a similar handwritten character string for a certain word, the spelling error detection unit 20d concludes that the word includes no spelling error. On the other hand, in a case where there is no matching handwritten character string for a certain word but there is a similar handwritten character string, the spelling error detection unit 20d concludes that the word includes a spelling error. The processes of the modification method determination unit <NUM> and the modification operation unit <NUM> having received this conclusion are as described in the above embodiment.

As described above, according to the modified example, the ink data including a spelling error can automatically be modified without acquiring the text data in the same manner as in the above embodiment.

In addition, in a handwritten character string, preceding and following characters are connected to each other in some cases as in the case of, for example, a cursive style of English. Accordingly, when the additional stroke data group is added to the ink data, the modification operation unit <NUM> may determine two pieces of stroke data to be connected after the addition, and may deform the shape(s) (including the position(s) and/or thickness(es)) of one or both of the two pieces of stroke data so that the determined two pieces of stroke data are connected to each other. As similar to the above, when one or more pieces of stroke data are deleted and characters positioned on one side in the same line as the deleted character are moved to the other side, two pieces of stroke data to be connected to each other may be determined after the moving operation is performed, and the shape(s) (including the position(s) and/or thickness(es)) of one or both of the two pieces of stroke data may be deformed such that the determined two pieces of stroke data are connected to each other. In this way, it is possible to realize a continuous stroke in which the preceding and following characters are connected to each other.

In addition, at least one of the ink database <NUM>, the standard pattern database <NUM>, and the word dictionary database <NUM> depicted in <FIG> and the handwritten character string database <NUM> depicted in <FIG> may be connected to the host processor <NUM> via a network.

Claim 1:
An ink data modification method configured for a handwritten character string, the method comprising:
a step of acquiring ink data, wherein the ink data includes stroke data input by a user,
wherein the stroke data is data including a series of coordinates indicating a locus of a designated position of a stylus,
a determination step of determining a modification method of the ink data by detecting a spelling error included in a handwritten character string represented by the ink data; and
a modification step of modifying the ink data by manipulating the ink data on a basis of the modification method,
wherein the modification method is to add a character, and the manipulation of the ink data by the modification step includes an operation of adding one or more pieces of stroke data representing a character to be added to a plurality of pieces of stroke data configuring the ink data,
or
wherein the modification method is to delete a character, and the manipulation of the ink data by the modification step includes an operation of deleting one or more pieces of stroke data corresponding to a character to be deleted from the plurality of pieces of stroke data configuring the ink data,
or
wherein the modification method is to replace a character, and the manipulation of the ink data by the modification step includes:
an operation of deleting, from a plurality of pieces of stroke data configuring the ink data, one or more pieces of stroke data corresponding to an erroneous character, and
an operation of adding one or more pieces of stroke data representing a correct character to the plurality of pieces of stroke data configuring the ink data.