| 摘要 |
<p>An accurate and fast operating arrangement for retrieving information from a directory (140) responsive to a sequence of character signals, the character signals comprising for example the spoken spelling of a name. A set of probable characters for each character signal is stored (110) in a position ordered array. A candidate word is formed (115) from the most probable characters of the array and the directory (140) is repeatedly searched (120, 130) for words therein which match a candidate word. After each unsuccessful search, the candidate word is modified (115, 170) by selectively substituting army characters for mismatched position characters on the basis of the closest mismatched word found in the preceding search. If there are no more array characters for substitution after an unsuccessful search, a new candidate word is formed (150, 170) by placing an ignore character in the first mismatched position of the best candidate word of all preceding searches. The position of the ignore mismatch character is shifted (170) left each time no further array characters are available for substitution. Responsive to detection of a matching word, a message is generated (160) from the information associated therewith. </p> |
