Reuse of available source data and localizations

• US 20080019281A1
• Filed: 07/21/2006
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Liger, Francois M., Elgazzar, Mohamed K., Nelson, Jan, Issa, Refaat, Kohlmeier, Bernhard, Mola Marti, Jordi, Kepner, Jason, Mody, Viraj, Lerum, Cameron B.
• Application Number:
  US11/490,563
• Publication Number:
  US 20080019281A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

Generally described, aspects of the present invention are directed toward providing available source data and localized information to a user. More specifically, a source string is obtained and used to retrieve a corresponding set of available source data. The source data can include available resources or available content. Further, the resources can correspond to strings. An element from the set of available source data can be selected and used to obtain data associated with the selected element. The associated data can include localized information corresponding to the selection of source data. Thus, available source data and corresponding localized information can be obtained and used in an application or document.

Claims

1. A method for processing data comprising:

obtaining a request for available source data corresponding to a source string in any language; and

in response to the request, providing a consolidated set of available source data and corresponding linking data, wherein the linking data links elements within the consolidated set such that updates to any one element propagate to all selections of the element.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a request for available associated data corresponding to a user selection of source data; and

in response to the request, providing a consolidated set of available associated data, wherein the consolidated set of available associated data includes localized information corresponding to the user selection of source data.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

submitting a query for available source data matching the source string to each of a plurality of data providers;

obtaining a set of matching available source data from at least one of the plurality of data providers; and

consolidating each set of matching available source data into a single set of available source data, wherein consolidation of the source data involves prioritizing the order of elements within the consolidated set of available source data.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

submitting a query for available associated data corresponding to the user selection of source data to each of a plurality of data providers;

obtaining a set of available associated data from at least one of the plurality of data providers; and

consolidating each set of available associated data into a single set of available associated data, wherein consolidation of the associated data involves prioritizing the order of elements within the consolidated set of available associated data.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

providing metadata corresponding to the available source data, wherein the source data can include one or more resources, and wherein metadata can be used to validate the one or more resources.

6. The method as recited in claim 2 further comprising:

providing metadata corresponding to the set of available associated data, wherein the metadata can be used to validate the localized information included in the associated data set.

7. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the localized information includes one or more elements, and wherein each element corresponds to at least one of:

(1) a translation of the user selection of source data and (2) an equivalent re-interpretation of the user selection of source data.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the request for available source data retrieves data that matches the source string according to at least one of:

(1) an approximate matching, (2) a regular expression matching, (3) an exact matching, (4) a range matching, and (5) a transformation matching.

9. In a computer system including a display and an input device, a method for displaying data corresponding to a source string, the method comprising:

obtaining a set of available resources corresponding to the source string;

displaying the set of available resources;

obtaining a selection of an available resource;

obtaining an associated data set, wherein each element in the associated data set corresponds to a localized version of the selected resource; and

displaying or persisting the associated data set.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 further comprising:

obtaining metadata from an author of the source string; and

at design time, validating the source string and any corresponding localizations using the metadata.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein at least a portion of the metadata corresponds to information about meaning of terms in the source string.

12. The method as recited in claim 9 further comprising:

obtaining the source string from a user through the input device; and

validating the source string.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein validating the source string includes performing a stylistic validation to determine whether the source string is understandable.

14. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein validating the source string includes performing a functional validation to determine whether the source string conforms to requirements of a selected environment.

15. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein validating the source string includes performing a terminology validation to ensure that the source string includes only valid terms.

16. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein validating the source string includes performing a linguistic validation to determine whether the source string conforms to grammar and spelling rules.

17. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components for processing data comprising:

a data-processing component for obtaining a source string and available source data, wherein the source data includes one or more validated resources corresponding to the source string; and

a data-provider interface component for transmitting a request for associated data corresponding to a selection of source data and for obtaining the associated data;

wherein the associated data includes localized information corresponding to the user selection of source data.

18. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17 further comprising:

a data manager component for consolidating data sets received from one or more data provider components and for distributing the consolidated data to the data-provider interface component.

19. The computer-executable components of claim 17, wherein a user interface component displays the associated data obtained by the data-provider interface component.

20. The computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, wherein the associated data is persisted into a file.