Japanese Input Method Indepedent of Applications

The Japanese input method is a complex procedure involving preediting operations. An application that accepts Japanese from an input device must have three systems for the input method: a keybinding system, a manipulator for preediting, and a kana-to-kanji conversion system. Various keybinding systems and manipulators accelerate input operations. Our implementation separates an application from the Japanese input method in three layers. An application can use a front-end input processor to perform all operations including I/O. An application can use the henkan (conversion) module and implement I/O operation itself. An application can execute all operations except keybinding, which is handled by an input method library.