Method of label transform for managing heterogeneous information

• US 10,498,851 B2
• Filed: 01/10/2017
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Anglin, Debbie A., Liu, Su, Ly, Andrew, Yan, Shunguo
• Primary Examiner(s): Celani, Nicholas P
• Application Number:
  US15/403,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20180198880A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,057 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/173 using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30108 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed herein for normalizing heterogeneous information provided in labels processed by Internet of Things (IoT) devices. A label transform assistant service receives a request from an IoT device to translate content associated with a label of an item to a format readable by the device. The content includes attributes describing the item. The request specifies a target language and target encoding. A source language and a source encoding associated with the attributes are determined. Each of the attributes are normalized based on a configuration of the network service. Each of the normalized attributes is translated to the target language and the target encoding.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a network service, a request from a device to translate content associated with a label of an item to a format readable by the device, wherein the request includes an image of the label, wherein the content includes a plurality of attributes describing the item, wherein the request specifies a target language and a target encoding, and wherein the request was transmitted by the device in response to determining that the label is not readable by the device;

searching a data store based on the image of the label to identify one or more matching labels;

determining a source language and a source encoding associated with the one or more matching labels;

normalizing the label to a standardized label specified by a configuration of the network service by;

translating one or more attributes of the plurality of attributes from the determined source language to a standardized language specified by the configuration of the network service,

identifying one or more symbols included on the label using image processing,

generating one or more textual strings describing the one or more symbols,

converting each attribute of the plurality of attributes to a standardized encoding specified by the configuration of the network service, and

storing the translated one or more attributes and the generated one or more strings, formatted according to the standardized encoding, in the standardized label, wherein the standardized label further identifies the one or more matching labels; and

generating a translated label by;

translating the one or more attributes specified by the standardized label to the target language,

translating the one or more strings specified by the standardized label to the target language, and

converting the translated label to the target encoding.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, in response to the request, the translated attributes to the device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the standardized label to the data store.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is an Internet of Things (IoT)-based appliance, and wherein the item is a clothing item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes includes at least one of an item type, item group, and item information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network service executes on a cloud computing platform.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration provides a mapping for each of the plurality of attributes to a value defined by the network service.

8. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which, when executed on a processor, performs an operation, comprising;

receiving, by a network service, a request from a device to translate content associated with a label of an item to a format readable by the device, wherein the request includes an image of the label, wherein the content includes a plurality of attributes describing the item, wherein the request specifies a target language and a target encoding, and wherein the request was transmitted by the device in response to determining that the label is not readable by the device,

searching a data store based on the image of the label to identify one or more matching labels,

determining a source language and a source encoding associated with the one or more matching labels,

normalizing the label to a standardized label specified by a configuration of the network service by;

translating one or more attributes of the plurality of attributes from the determined source language to a standardized language specified by the configuration of the network service,

identifying one or more symbols included on the label using image processing,

generating one or more textual strings describing the one or more symbols,

converting each attribute of the plurality of attributes to a standardized encoding specified by the configuration of the network service, and

storing the translated one or more attributes and the generated one or more strings, formatted according to the standardized encoding, in the standardized label, wherein the standardized label further identifies the one or more matching labels, and

generating a translated label by;

translating the one or more attributes specified by the standardized label to the target language,

translating the one or more strings specified by the standardized label to the target language, and

converting the translated label to the target encoding.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the operation further comprises:

sending, in response to the request, the translated attributes to the device.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the operation further comprises:

storing the standardized label to the data store.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the device is an Internet of Things (IoT)-based appliance, and wherein the item is a clothing item.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the attributes includes at least one of an item type, item group, and item information.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the network service executes on a cloud computing platform.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the configuration provides a mapping for each of the plurality of attributes to a value defined by the network service.

15. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing program code, which, when executed on the processor, performs an operation comprising;

receiving, by a network service, a request from a device to translate content associated with a label of an item to a format readable by the device, wherein the request includes an image of the label, wherein the content includes a plurality of attributes describing the item, wherein the request specifies a target language and a target encoding, and wherein the request was transmitted by the device in response to determining that the label is not readable by the device,

searching a data store based on the image of the label to identify one or more matching labels,

determining a source language and a source encoding associated with the one or more matching labels,

normalizing the label to a standardized label specified by a configuration of the network service by;

translating one or more attributes of the plurality of attributes from the determined source language to a standardized language specified by the configuration of the network service,

identifying one or more symbols included on the label using image processing,

generating one or more textual strings describing the one or more symbols,

converting each attribute of the plurality of attributes to a standardized encoding specified by the configuration of the network service, and

storing the translated one or more attributes and the generated one or more strings, formatted according to the standardized encoding, in the standardized label, wherein the standardized label further identifies the one or more matching labels, and

generating a translated label by;

translating the one or more attributes specified by the standardized label to the target language,

translating the one or more strings specified by the standardized label to the target language, and

converting the translated label to the target encoding.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the operation further comprises:

sending, in response to the request, the translated attributes to the device.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the operation further comprises:

storing the standardized label to the data store.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the device is an Internet of Things (IoT)-based appliance, and wherein the item is a clothing item.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the attributes includes at least one of an item type, item group, and item information.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the configuration provides a mapping for each of the plurality of attributes to a value defined by the network service.