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1 *****************************************
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2 * Chapter 1 INTERODUCTION *
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3 *****************************************
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8 1.1 OVERVIEW
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9 =============
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10
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11 This manual introduces the cWnn Chinese Input System, which is based on Unix
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12 workstations.
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13
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14 Currently, most of the Chinese Input Systems are developed on personal computers.
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15 In terms of all aspects, personal computers are not as powerful as workstations,
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16 especially in the network capabilities. With the advance of technology, Unix has begun
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17 to popularize as it supports multi-windows, multi- users as well as multi-environment.
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18 Based on these features, cWnn is developed to cater for various input methods and other
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19 useful facilities.
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20
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21 The input methods offered by cWnn are divided into two categories :
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22
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23 1. Phonetic
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24 ~~~~~~~~~~~
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25 This is a method of inputing Chinese characters using their pronunciations. The common
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26 phonetic symbols for Chinese are Hanyu Pinyin and Zhuyin, with Hanyu Pinyin being used
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27 commonly in Mainland China and Singapore. The Zhuyin phonetic symbols were used before
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28 Hanyu Pinyin was introduced. It is now less common but is still used in Taiwan and
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29 Hong Kong.
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30
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31 Currently, some of the Chinese input systems are based on monosyllabic word, that is,
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32 only a single Chinese character is input at a time. However, cWnn is able to convert any
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33 arbitrary length of pronunciations to Chinese characters at one time. The system has a
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34 good monitoring feature on the Chinese pronunciations. It performs an automatic checking
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35 for all inputs entered by the user, making sure that they are legal. This provides users
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36 with a good input environment and at the same time, caters for error tolerance in four
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37 tones and pronunciation. This is a great help to users who cannot master the four tones
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38 of Chinese pronunciation. Besides, cWnn has a standardization of Pinyin, Zhuyin,
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39 together with the four tones of Pinyin.
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40
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41 As such, cWnn provides an ideal phonetic input environment for the users.
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42
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48
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49
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50 - 1-1 -
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51 2. Radical
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52 ~~~~~~~~~~
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53 In this method, a Chinese character is input by breaking up the character into its
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54 components, which are subsequently entered one by one. Currently, a few hundred of such
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55 input methods have been developed. cWnn offers the most commonly used Radical input
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56 methods such as Wubi and Cangji. In this system, any input methods can be easily added
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57 by simply installing the code table into the system.
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58
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59
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60
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61 With the strong network capabilities of Unix, together with the multi-user and
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62 multi-window features, cWnn is able to achieve sharing of resources and at the same time,
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63 supports multi-environment.
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100 - 1-2 -
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101
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102 1.2 CWNN SYSTEM STRUCTURE
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103 ==========================
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104
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105 Based on the strong network capabilities of Unix, cWnn adopts a Client-Server
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106 Model. This model consists of a server, a socket and several clients. One server can
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107 serve many clients at one time and they are able to run on different machines as well as
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108 the same machine.
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109 The clients are the front-end of the system and they interact with the users.
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110 The clients execute on the Unix shell and request for services from the server through
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111 the socket.
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112 The server receives service requests from the client, performs the request, and
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113 passes the result back to the client via the socket.
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114
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115 The server manages all the resources, such as dictionaries and usage frequency
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116 files, and maintains an input environment for each of its clients. To the user, each
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117 client supports different input methods which can be provided by different servers.
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118 Hence, cWnn is a multi-environment system, with its structure shown in the following
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119 figures.
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120
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121
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122 +---------------------+ +----------+
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123 | client | | server |
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124 | front-end processor |--+--------------| Cserver |
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125 +---------------------+ | +----------+
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126 | |
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127 | |
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128 | |
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129 +---------------------+ | +-------------------------------------+
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130 | client | | | System Resources : Dictionaries, |
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131 | front-end processor |--| | Frequency files |
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132 +---------------------+ | | and Grammar |
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133 : | | files |
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134 : | | |
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135 : | | Environment Resources : A env, |
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136 +--------------------+ | | B env ... |
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137 | client |---+ +-------------------------------------+
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138 | front-end processor|
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139 +--------------------+
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140
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141 Figure 1.1 : cWnn System Structure
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142 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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150 - 1-3 -
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151
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152 1.3 SPECIAL FEATURES ON THE SYSTEM STRUCTURE
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153 =============================================
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154
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155 The main feature of cWnn is its system independency. Each environment can have
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156 its own environment files according to the needs of the user, and each user can choose
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157 his own environment setup. The flexible environment setup includes the following :
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158
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159 1. Input Automaton Setting
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160 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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161 Input automaton is a front-end processor which allows the user to define his own input
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162 environment according to his needs. Through this setting, interfaces like the keyboard
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163 layout and function keys can be selected. For more details, please refer to Chapter 6.
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164
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165 2. Environment Setting
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166 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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167 The environment setting provided by the server includes the definition of conversion
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168 methods and grammer, conversion parameters, dictionaries etc. These can be set before
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169 the startup of the front-end processor. Please refer to Chapter 5 for detailed
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170 descriptions. The environment can also be set after the startup of the front-end
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171 processor, via keyboard command. Refer to Chapter 3 for details.
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172
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173 3. Creation of Dictionary and Grammer Files
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174 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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175 The system enables a user to have a choice of different dictionaries and also to create
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176 his own dictionary according to his needs. For example, a computer professional can
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177 create his own dictionary which consists of all the computer terms needed. This
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178 dictionary can be added to the system, hence enriching the resources.
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179
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180 4. Encoded Input Method
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181 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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182 As mentioned, besides phonetic input method, cWnn supports several radical input methods
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183 such as Wubi and Qianma. Any input method can be installed easily in cWnn, which supports
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184 any type of encoded input method. For details, please refer to Chapter 5.
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185
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186 5. Keyboard Definition
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187 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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188 All the different types of operations in cWnn's input environment can be set via the
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189 keyboard. Different users have different keyboard function needs. As such, this
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190 keyboard definition enables different users to have different user interfaces. For
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191 details, please refer to Chapter 5.
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200 - 1-4 -
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201
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202 1.4 HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CONFIGURATIONS
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203 =========================================
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204
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205 Besides the above features, cWnn is also hardware, operating system and window
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206 system independent. It is developed on the Omron Luna Unix Workstation, and is now
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207 portable to other operating systems and Unix workstations as shown below.
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208
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209 +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
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210 |Software Environment | Operating System | Supporting Window |
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211 |-----------------------+--------------------+--------------------|
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212 | LUNA | Unios-U | X and GMW |
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213 | | | |
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214 | LUNA | Unios-B | X and GMW |
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215 | | | |
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216 | SUN3 | SUNOS | X |
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217 | | | |
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218 | SUN4 | SUNOS | X |
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219 | | | |
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220 | LUNA88K | Mach | X |
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221 +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
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250 - 1-5 -
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