Community Translation On A Social Network

• US 20090198487A1
• Filed: 12/05/2008
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Putnam, Christopher W., Grimm, Stephen M., Olivan-Lopez, Javier, Vera, Nicolas, Kwan, Ting Yin, Laverdet, Marcel, Losse, Katherine P., Little, Chad, Cox, Rebekah, Wong, Yishan
• Granted Patent: US 8,271,260 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for translating text in a social network. In one embodiment translations of text phrases are received from members of the social network. These text phrases include content displayed in a social networking system, such as content from social networking objects. A particular member is provided with content including a text phrase in a first language, and the member requests translation into another language. Responsive to this request, a translation of the text phrase is selected from a set of available translations. The selection is based on actions by friends of the member in the social network, the actions being associated with the set of available translations. These actions can the viewing of or approval of translations by the friends, for example. The selected translation is then presented to the member requesting the translation.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of translating text in a social network, the method comprising:

receiving translations of text phrases from members of the social network, the text phrases comprising content displayed in a social networking system;

providing content to a particular member, the content including a text phrase in a first language;

responsive to receiving a request from the member to translate the text phrase from the first language to a second language;

selecting a translation of the text phrase from a set of translations of the text phrase in the second language, wherein the selecting is based on actions by friends of the member in the social network, the actions associated with translations from the set of translations; and

presenting the selected translation of the text phrase to the member requesting the translation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the text phrase comprises a portion of a social networking system object.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the social networking system object comprises an external application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the text phrase comprises a portion of a social networking system infrastructure.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting is based on which of the translations from the set of translations were viewed by the friends.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting is based on which of the translations from the set of translations were created by the friends.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting is based on which of the translations from the set of translations were rejected by the friends, the rejecting of a translation comprising a friend requesting an alternate translation after viewing the translation.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining quality scores for the translations in the set of translations based on votes received from voting members of the social network, each vote indicating the voting member'"'"'s perceived quality of the translation; and

wherein the selecting is based on a comparison of the quality scores for the translations in the set of translations.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining a weight for each received vote, the weight indicating the vote'"'"'s relative contribution to the quality score.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the weight of a vote submitted by a voting member is based on the perceived quality among members of translations previously submitted by the voting member.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the weight of a vote submitted by voting member who is a friend of the member requesting the translation is weighted more heavily than a vote submitted by a voting member who is not a friend of the member requesting the translation.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the selected translation to the member requesting the translation further comprises:

displaying a confidence level associated with the selected translation, the confidence level based on actions by friends of the member in the social network, the actions associated with translations from the set of translations.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving translations of text phrases from members of the social network comprises:

displaying a text phrase containing a token, the token representing a placeholder for non-translatable text to be included in a translation of the text phrase;

receiving a translation of the text phrase from a member of the social network, the translation comprising the token inserted at a location in the translation chosen by the member.

14. A computer program product for translating text in a social network, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for:

receiving translations of text phrases from members of the social network, the text phrases comprising content displayed in a social networking system;

providing content to a particular member, the content including a text phrase in a first language;

responsive to receiving a request from the member to translate the text phrase from the first language to a second language;

selecting a translation of the text phrase from a set of translations of the text phrase in the second language, wherein the selecting is based on actions by friends of the member in the social network, the actions associated with translations from the set of translations; and

presenting the selected translation of the text phrase to the member requesting the translation.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the text phrase comprises a portion of a social networking system object.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the social networking system object comprises an external application.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the text phrase comprises a portion of a social networking system infrastructure.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the selecting is based on which of the translations from the set of translations were viewed by the friends.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the selecting is based on which of the translations from the set of translations were created by the friends.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the selecting is based on which of the translations from the set of translations were rejected by the friends, the rejecting of a translation comprising a friend requesting an alternate translation after viewing the translation.

21. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer code is further configured for:

determining quality scores for the translations in the set of translations based on votes received from voting members of the social network, each vote indicating the voting member'"'"'s perceived quality of the translation; and

wherein the selecting is based on a comparison of the quality scores for the translations in the set of translations.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the computer code is further configured for:

determining a weight for each received vote, the weight indicating the vote'"'"'s relative contribution to the quality score.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the weight of a vote submitted by a voting member is based on the perceived quality among members of translations previously submitted by the voting member.

24. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the weight of a vote submitted by voting member who is a friend of the member requesting the translation is weighted more heavily than a vote submitted by a voting member who is not a friend of the member requesting the translation.

25. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein presenting the selected translation to the member requesting the translation further comprises:

displaying a confidence level associated with the selected translation, the confidence level based on actions by friends of the member in the social network, the actions associated with translations from the set of translations.

26. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein receiving translations of text phrases from members of the social network comprises:

displaying a text phrase containing a token, the token representing a placeholder for non-translatable text to be included in a translation of the text phrase;

receiving a translation of the text phrase from a member of the social network, the translation comprising the token inserted at a location in the translation chosen by the member.