SPELLING AND GRAMMAR CHECKING SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A method of correcting a misspelled word in input text, the method comprising:
- steps of;
detecting a misspelled word in the input text, wherein the detecting comprises comparing each word in the input text to a dictionary database and characterizing a word as misspelled when the word does not match any words in the dictionary database;
determining a list of alternative words for the misspelled word; and
ranking the list of alternative words based on a context of the input text, wherein the alternative words yield correct parts of speech sequences according to the context.
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Abstract
System of correcting misspelled words in input text detects a misspelled word in the input text, determines a list of alternative words for the misspelled word, and ranks the list of alternative words based on a context of the input text. In certain embodiments, finite state machines (FSMs) are utilized in the spelling and grammar correction process, storing one or more lexicon FSMs, each of which represents a set of correctly spelled reference words. Storing the lexicon as one or more FSMs facilitates those embodiments of the invention employing a client-server architecture. The input text to be corrected may also be encoded as a FSM, which includes alternative word(s) for word(s) in need of correction along with associated weights. The invention adjusts the weights by taking into account the grammatical context in which the word appears in the input text. In certain embodiments the modification is performed by applying a second FSM to the FSM that was generated for the input text, where the second FSM encodes a grammatically correct sequence of words, thereby generating an additional FSM.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method of correcting a misspelled word in input text, the method comprising:
- steps of;
detecting a misspelled word in the input text, wherein the detecting comprises comparing each word in the input text to a dictionary database and characterizing a word as misspelled when the word does not match any words in the dictionary database;
determining a list of alternative words for the misspelled word; and
ranking the list of alternative words based on a context of the input text, wherein the alternative words yield correct parts of speech sequences according to the context. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- steps of;
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8. A method of retrieving text from a source, the method comprising the steps of:
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inputting a search word;
correcting a spelling of the search word by comparing the search word to a dictionary database and characterizing the search word as a misspelled search word when the search word does not match any words in the dictionary database;
determining a list of alternative words including a best alternative word for the misspelled search word;
ranking the list of alternative words based on a context of the input text;
replacing the misspelled search word with the best alternative word; and
retrieving text from the source that includes the corrected search word. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of retrieving text from a source, the method comprising the steps of:
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inputting a search phrase comprised of a plurality of words, at least one of the plurality of words being a misspelled word;
replacing the misspelled word in the search phrase with a corrected word in order to produce a corrected search phrase by comparing each word in the search phrase to a dictionary database and characterizing a word as a misspelled word when the word does not match any words in the dictionary database, determining a list of alternative words including a best alternative word for the misspelled word, ranking the list of alternative words based on a context of the input text, and replacing the misspelled word with the best alternative word; and
retrieving text from the source based on the corrected search phrase. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method of correcting misspelled words in input text sequences received from a plurality of different clients, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing, in a memory on a server, a single shared lexicon comprised of a plurality of reference words;
receiving the input text sequences from the plurality of different clients;
spell-checking the input text sequences using the reference words in the single shared lexicon; and
outputting spell-checked text sequences to the plurality of different clients. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of selecting a replacement word for an input word in a phrase, the method comprising the steps of:
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determining alternative words for the input word, the alternative words including at least one compound word which is comprised of two or more separate words, each alternative word having a rank associated therewith; and
selecting, as the replacement word, an alternative word having a highest rank. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method of correcting a grammatical error in input text, the method comprising the steps of:
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detecting a grammatical error in input text;
generating a first finite state machine (“
FSM”
) for the input text, the first finite state machine including alternative words for at least one word that comprises a grammatical error in the input text and a rank associated with each alternative word;
adjusting the ranks in the first FSM in accordance with one or more of a plurality of predetermined grammatical rules;
determining which of the alternative words is grammatically correct based on the ranks associated with the alternative words; and
replacing the at least one word that comprises a grammatical error in the input text with a grammatically correct alternative word determined in the determining step. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A word processing method for creating and editing text documents, the word processing method comprising the steps of:
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inputting text into a text document;
checking the document for grammatically-incorrect words;
replacing grammatically-incorrect words in the document with grammatically-correct words; and
outputting the document;
wherein the checking step comprises (i) generating a finite state machine (“
FSM”
) for text in the text document, the finite state machine including alternative words for at least one word in the text and a rank associated with each alternative word, (ii) adjusting the ranks in the FSM in accordance with one or more of a plurality of predetermined grammatical rules, and (iii) determining which of the alternative words is grammatically correct based on ranks for the alternative words.
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39. A method of retrieving text from a source, the method comprising the steps of:
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inputting a search phrase comprised of a plurality of words, at least one of the plurality of words being a grammatically incorrect word;
replacing the grammatically incorrect word in the search phrase with a grammatically correct word in order to produce a corrected search phrase; and
retrieving text from the source based on the corrected search phrase. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42)
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43. A method of retrieving text from a source, the method comprising the steps of:
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inputting a search phrase comprised of a plurality of words, at least one of the plurality of words being a grammatically incorrect word;
replacing the grammatically incorrect word in the search phrase with a grammatically correct word in order to produce a corrected search phrase, wherein the replacing step comprises the method of any of claims 241, 249, or 253; and
retrieving text from the source based on the corrected search phrase.
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44. A method of spell-checking input text, the method comprising the steps of:
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detecting a misspelled word in the input text;
storing one or more lexicon finite state machines (“
FSM”
) in a memory, each of the lexicon FSMs including plural reference words;
generating an input FSM for the misspelled word;
selecting one or more reference words from the lexicon FSMs based on the input FSM, the one or more reference words substantially corresponding to a spelling of the misspelled word; and
outputting selected ones of the one or more reference words. - View Dependent Claims (45)
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Specification