METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING LANGUAGE OF TEXT IN A HANDHELD ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND A HANDHELD ELECTRONIC DEVICE INCORPORATING THE SAME

• US 20080065369A1
• Filed: 09/08/2006
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Fux, Vadim, Kolomiets, Sergey
• Granted Patent: US 8,423,908 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/263 Language identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/274 Converting codes to words; Guess-ahead of partial word inputs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30

Abstract

Incoming e-mails, instant messages, SMS, and MMS, are analyzed by a handheld electronic device to identify the language of text.

Claims

1. A method of identifying language of text in a handheld electronic device having at least one application for receiving text from a source external to the handheld electronic device and having available thereto a plurality of indicator lists with each indicator list comprising a number of linguistic objects which are indicative of a preselected language and which are in a different language from the linguistic objects of the other indicator lists, the method comprising:

analyzing the text to at least preliminarily determine an encoding of the text; and

comparing linguistic objects of the text to at least some of the linguistic objects of at least some of the indicator lists to identify the language of the text and to verify the encoding of the text.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing frequency of use of characters in the text to at least preliminarily determine the encoding of the text.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a proportion of linguistic objects of the text to the linguistic objects of each of at least some of the indicator lists.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining that the proportion of linguistic objects of the text that are also in a particular indicator list exceeds a predetermined threshold and, responsive thereto, determining that the language of the text is the preselected language of a particular indicator list.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said comparing comprises checking the linguistic objects of the text with at least some of the linguistic objects of all of the indicator lists.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the handheld electronic device has stored therein the plurality of indicator lists with each indicator list comprising linguistic objects that are indicative of the preselected language, and wherein the linguistic objects that are indicative of the preselected language comprise a set of most frequently found linguistic objects of the preselected language of the indicator list.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the handheld electronic device has stored therein the plurality of indicator lists with each indicator list comprising linguistic objects that are indicative of the preselected language that are in a different language from the linguistic objects of the other indicator lists, and wherein the different language comprises a different dialect of a same language used in one or more countries.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the indicator lists do not identify that language of the text and, responsive thereto, applying an alternate encoding to the text, and comparing linguistic objects of the text to at least some of the linguistic objects of at least some of the indicator lists to identify the language of the text and to verify the alternate encoding of the text.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the alternate encoding is determined by re-analyzing the text to at least preliminarily determine an alternate encoding of the text.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said determining further comprises calculating that the proportion of the linguistic objects of the text that are also in a particular indicator list does not exceed the predetermined threshold.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising employing adding linguistic objects of the text to a list to facilitate the generation of text.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying linguistic objects of the text on a display of a handheld electronic device.

13. A handheld electronic device comprising a processing apparatus comprising a processor and a memory having stored therein at least one application for receiving text from a source external to the handheld electronic device and a plurality of indicator lists with each indicator list comprising a number of linguistic objects which are indicative of a preselected language and which are in a different language from the linguistic objects of the other indicator lists, the memory having stored therein a number of routines which, when executed by the processor, cause the handheld electronic device to perform operations comprising:

analyzing the text to at least preliminarily determine an encoding of the text; and

comparing linguistic objects of the text to at least some of the linguistic objects of at least some of the indicator lists to identify the language of the text and to verify the encoding of the text.

14. The handheld electronic device of claim 13, further comprising analyzing frequency of use of characters in the text to at least preliminarily determine the encoding of the text.

15. The handheld electronic device of claim 13, further comprising determining a proportion of linguistic objects of the text to the linguistic objects of each of at least some of the indicator lists.

16. The handheld electronic device of claim 15, further comprising determining that the proportion of linguistic objects of the text that are also in a particular indicator list exceeds a predetermined threshold and, responsive thereto, determining that the language of the text is the preselected language of a particular indicator list.

17. The handheld electronic device of claim 13, wherein said comparing comprises checking the linguistic objects of the text with at least some of the linguistic objects of all of the indicator lists.

18. The handheld electronic device of claim 13, wherein the handheld electronic device has stored therein the plurality of indicator lists with each indicator list comprising linguistic objects that are indicative of the preselected language, and wherein the linguistic objects that are indicative of the preselected language comprise a set of most frequently found linguistic objects of the preselected language of the indicator list.

19. The handheld electronic device of claim 13, wherein the handheld electronic device has stored therein the plurality of indicator lists with each indicator list comprising linguistic objects that are indicative of the preselected language that are in a different language from the linguistic objects of the other indicator lists, and wherein the different language comprises a different dialect of a same language used in one or more countries.

20. The handheld electronic device of claim 13, further comprising determining that the indicator lists do not identify that language of the text and, responsive thereto, applying an alternate encoding to the text, and comparing linguistic objects of the text to at least some of the linguistic objects of at least some of the indicator lists to identify the language of the text and to verify the alternate encoding of the text.

21. The handheld electronic device of claim 20, wherein the alternate encoding is determined by re-analyzing the text to at least preliminarily determine an alternate encoding of the text.

22. The handheld electronic device of claim 20, wherein said determining further comprises calculating that the proportion of the linguistic objects of the text that are also in a particular indicator list does not exceed the predetermined threshold.

23. The handheld electronic device of claim 13, further comprising employing adding linguistic objects of the text to a list to facilitate the generation of text.

24. The handheld electronic device of claim 13, further comprising displaying linguistic objects of the text on a display of a handheld electronic device.