INPUT METHOD EDITOR HAVING A SECONDARY LANGUAGE MODE

• US 20100169770A1
• Filed: 04/09/2008
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Yang, Wei, Chau, Jeremy C., Hong, Feng
• Granted Patent: US 9,710,452 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/261
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/263 Language identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/53 Processing of non-Latin text kana-to-kanji conversion G06F40/129; vowelisation G06F40/232
• 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

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which an input method editor receives a mode control input and determines a language mode based on the mode control input. Upon receiving composition inputs, the input method editor interprets the composition input based on the determined language mode.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

operating an input method editor in a primary language mode, the primary language mode defining a primary dictionary to be used by the input method editor;

receiving a mode control input as a composition input at the input method editor, the mode control input being operable to instruct the input method editor to use a secondary language mode;

operating the input method editor in the secondary language mode based on receiving the mode control input, the secondary language mode defining a secondary dictionary to be used by the input method editor;

receiving composition input at the input method editor operating in the secondary language mode, the composition input comprising one or more keystrokes from a keyboard input device;

comparing in the secondary language mode the composition inputs to entries in the secondary dictionary;

identifying in the secondary language mode candidate words based on the comparison;

presenting in the secondary language mode the candidate words to a user of the input method editor; and

receiving in the secondary language mode a word selection from the user, the word selection selecting a word from among the candidate words.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary language mode comprises a Chinese mode and the secondary language mode comprises an English mode.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the mode control input comprises an input sequence of two or more keystrokes.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

comparing the composition inputs to prefixes of English words; and

identifying English words based on the comparison, the English words comprising the candidate selections.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

inserting the selected word within a text being edited by the input method editor, wherein the text being edited by the input method editor is text that was generated in the primary language mode.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising;

translating the selected word to a language associated with the primary language mode prior to inserting the selected word into the text.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the input method editor is responsive to a plurality of mode control inputs, each mode control input associated a corresponding secondary language mode.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more secondary language modes comprise at least an English mode.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving composition input in the primary language mode; and

interpreting the composition input in the primary language mode based on a primary dictionary, and wherein the primary dictionary comprises a logographic dictionary.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reverting back to the primary language mode after receiving in the secondary language mode a word selection from the user.

11. A computer program product, encoded on a tangible program carrier, operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

operating an input method editor in a primary language mode, the primary language mode identifying a first dictionary to be used in interpreting composition input received from a user of the input method editor;

receiving a mode control input as a composition input, the mode control input instructing the input method editor operate in a secondary language mode;

operating the input method editor in the secondary language mode, the secondary language mode defining a second dictionary to be used in interpreting composition input receive from the user of the input method editor;

presenting a candidate word list in the secondary language mode, the candidate word list being based on a comparison of the composition input and the second dictionary; and

receiving a word selection from the user, the word selection selecting a word from the candidate word list.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein operating in a secondary language mode comprises:

comparing the composition input to entries in the second dictionary; and

identifying a candidate word based on the comparison.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the candidate words list comprises one or more candidate words.

14. A system comprising one or more processors and one or more memory devices storing one or more computer programs operable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

processing input method editor composition inputs in a first language mode, the first language mode defining a first language dictionary for a first language that is used to interpret the composition inputs, and present a first candidate word list of words in the first language;

in response to processing a mode control input in the composition inputs in the first language mode, processing subsequent input method editor composition inputs in a second language mode, the second language mode defining a second language dictionary for a second language that is used to interpret the composition inputs, and present a second candidate word list of words in the second language; and

selecting a word from one of the first candidate word list or the second candidate word list in response to receiving a word selection of one of the words in the first candidate word list or the second candidate word list.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first language mode is a Chinese mode and the second language mode is an English mode.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more computer programs are further operable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

comparing the composition inputs to prefixes of English words when processing input method editor composition inputs in the second language mode; and

identifying English words based on the comparison.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more computer programs are further operable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising translating the selected English word to a Chinese word when the selected word is selected from the second candidate word list.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more computer programs are further operable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising translating the selected word to a language associated with the first language mode when the selected word is selected from the second candidate word list.

19. A system, comprising:

a composition input table that includes an association of composition inputs and characters for first and second languages;

a language mode table that defines a first language mode for a first language and a second language mode for a second language, the first language mode associated with a first language dictionary associated with the first language, and the second language mode associated with a second language dictionary associated with the second language;

an input method editor engine configured to receive a mode control input and select one of the first language mode or the second language mode in response to the mode control input, and to process composition inputs in the selected language mode and present a candidate word list of words in the language of the selected language mode, and to select a word from the candidate word list in response to receiving a word selection;

wherein the mode control input is a composition input.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first language mode is a Chinese mode and the second language mode is an English mode.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the input method editor engine is further configured to translate the selected word from English to Chinese the selected word is selected from a candidate word list of words in the English language.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the input method editor engine is further configured to revert back to the first language mode after the selection of a word from the candidate word list in the second language mode.