Language translation system and method

• US 20040102956A1
• Filed: 11/14/2003
• Published: 05/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Transclick, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Transclick, Inc.
• Inventors: Levin, Robert E.
• Granted Patent: US 6,996,520 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/49 using very large corpora, e.g. the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/55 Rule-based translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/1822 Parsing for meaning understanding
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/228 of application context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

A system and method for translation of electronic communications automatically selects and deploys specialized dictionaries based upon context recognition and other factors. Software tools can be employed for continual dictionary enhancement. The invention can accept speech and text inputs and can be used to translate electronic mail, instant messages, chat, SMS messages, electronic text and word processing files, Internet web pages, Internet search results, and other textual communications for a variety of device types, including wireless devices. In one embodiment, language pairs are automatically determined in real-time.

Claims

1. A system for translating text from a source language to a target language, comprising:

an input component for receiving a request to translate text, said request including at least a target language designation, and input text to be translated;

a plurality of first-type translation dictionaries including at least one core language dictionary and a plurality of sub-language dictionaries;

a dictionary search component capable of searching a resource for at least one second-type translation dictionary;

a dictionary selection component in communication with said input component and said first-type and second-type translation dictionaries for selecting one of said dictionaries based upon said input text; and

a translation component for translating said input text from said source language into said target language using said selected dictionary.

2. The system of claim 1 further including a transmission component for transmitting said translated text to a designated recipient.

3. The system of claim 1 further including a user storage component for storing at least one user-specified dictionary and a user history, said history including an identification of said selected dictionary.

4. The system of claim 1 further including an interface component for communicating said input text to said second-type translation dictionary for translation by said translation component.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of first-type dictionaries are stored in a dictionary database.

6. The system of claim 1 further including a dictionary population interface for allowing the modification of at least one of said plurality of first-type dictionaries.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said dictionary populating interface includes a security component having functionality for limiting access to said dictionary populating interface.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said dictionary selection component searches said plurality of dictionaries using individual words from said received text.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said dictionary selection component searches said plurality of dictionaries using individual phrases from said received text.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said dictionary selection component searches said plurality of dictionaries using proper names from said received text.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said input component can receive a request for document translation of text into said target language.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein said input component can receive a specification of which sub-dictionary to use.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of first-type dictionaries includes at least one user-specified dictionary.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein said input text is communicated in a form taken from the group consisting of:

e-mail, fax, SMS message, instant message, voice, electronic document.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein said system further includes a notification component for notifying a system operator of the public domain status of a second-type dictionary.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein said plurality of sub-language dictionaries are language-dependent.

35. The system of claim 1 including a source language identification component for recognizing the source language of the input text.

17. A method for translating and communicating text, comprising:

receiving input text to be translated, along with at least one target language designation;

providing a plurality of first-type translation dictionaries, including at least one core language dictionary and a plurality of sub-language dictionaries;

providing a search component capable of searching a resource for at least one second-type translation dictionary;

searching said first and second-type dictionaries and selecting one of said dictionaries to be used in translating said input text, said selection being made based upon said input text; and

translating said input text into said target language using said sub-language dictionary.

18. The method of claim 17 further including the step of transmitting said translated text to a designated recipient.

19. The method of claim 17 further including the step of providing a user storage component for storing at least one user-specified dictionary and a user history, said history including an identification of said selected dictionary.

20. The method of claim 17 further including the step of providing an interface component for communicating said input text to said second-type translation dictionary for translation by said translation component.

21. The method of claim 17 including the step of providing a dictionary database for the storage of said plurality of first-type dictionaries.

22. The method of claim 17 further including the step of providing a dictionary population interface for allowing the modification of at least one of said plurality of first-type dictionaries.

23. The method of claim 22 including the step of providing a security component to said dictionary populating interface for limiting access to said dictionary populating interface.

24. The method of claim 17 wherein said step of selecting a dictionary includes the step of searching said plurality of dictionaries using individual words from said received text.

25. The method of claim 17 wherein said step of selecting a dictionary includes the step of searching said plurality of dictionaries using individual phrases from said received text.

26. The method of claim 17 wherein said step of selecting a dictionary includes the step of searching said plurality of dictionaries using proper names from said received text.

27. The method of claim 17 wherein said step of receiving input includes receiving a request for document translation of text into said at least one target language.

28. The method of claim 17 wherein said step of receiving input includes receiving a specification of which sub-dictionary to use.

29. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of providing a plurality of first-type dictionaries includes providing at least one user-specified dictionary.

30. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of receiving input text includes receiving said text in a form taken from the group consisting of:

e-mail, fax, instant message, voice, electronic document.

31. The method of claim 17 further including the step of providing a notification component for notifying a system operator of the public domain status of a second-type dictionary.

32. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of providing a plurality of sub-language dictionaries includes providing language-dependent sub-language dictionaries.

33. A system for translating a communication between a first network element and a second network element in a computer network, the communication having a textual portion presented in a first language, the system comprising:

a translation server for translating the textual portion of the communication from the first language to a second language to create a translated communication;

an interface server for receiving the communication via the network before it reaches the second network element, passing the communication to the translation server, receiving the translated communication from the translation server, and transmitting the translated communication to the second network element via the computer network, said interface server being capable of receiving an input element, said input element designating the communication to be translated and designating said second language;

a dictionary storage component for storing at least one core language dictionary and a plurality of sub-language dictionaries; and

a dictionary selection component for selecting at least one of said dictionaries based upon said communication to be translated.

34. A system for translating text from a source language to a target language in a computer network having a plurality of users, comprising:

means for receiving input text and at least one target language designation;

means for storing a translation dictionary database, including core language dictionaries, sub-language dictionaries, and user-specific dictionaries;

means for searching said network and for translation dictionaries;

means for providing an interface for populating dictionaries;

means for selecting one of said dictionaries based upon said input text;

means for translating said input text using said selected one of said dictionaries; and

means for delivering translated text to a desired one of said users.