A Japanese Text Input Interface Using On-Line Writing-Box-Free Handwriting Recognition and Kana-to-Kanji Conversion

Abstract

People often forget how to write Kanji characters even though they are able to read those characters. If one cannot write a Kanji character, one cannot input it with current handwriting recognition engines. Therefore, we propose to combine Kana (phonetic characters) to Kanji conversion with a handwriting recognition engine. Moreover, we remove writing boxes to write characters one by one, since they are unnatural for many applications. This is similar to writing on a plain paper with a pen. When, handwritten characters are misrecognized, the user corrects them using correction gestures. When the user cannot write Kanji characters, the user writes in Kana and invokes the Kana-to-Kanji conversion. In reality, people often write Kana characters instead of Kanji characters when they cannot write those characters or it takes more time than writing Kana characters. Kana-to-Kanji conversation is common in keyboard interface. This paper describes the design of a pen interface by which the user can write text without writing boxes, correct misrecognitions and specify Kana-to Kanji conversion. When a user writes Kana characters instead of Kanji characters, it would be desirable to translate them to Kanji characters automatically.