SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENHANCED LOOKUP IN AN ONLINE DICTIONARY

• US 20130179155A1
• Filed: 03/06/2013
• Published: 07/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thinkmap Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Thinkmap Incorporated
• Inventors: Tinkler, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 9,384,265 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/322 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/36 Creation of semantic tools, e.g. ontology or thesauri
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries

Abstract

A system and method predictively generates words based on a user input, according to a frequency of lookup of each of the generated words. The system and method also allows for a user to add predictively generated words to a word list that assists in the facilitation of word and vocabulary comprehension for a user. Words in the online dictionary are grouped in word families where a user can navigate between different forms of a root word.

Claims

1-13. -13. (canceled)

14. A computer-implemented method for outputting a hierarchically structured word family, the method comprising:

assigning, by a computer processor, a selected word as a main word represented by a portion of a bar of a first hierarchical level;

for each hierarchical level, beginning with the first hierarchical level until a root word is assigned to a respective bar;

assigning, by the computer processor, a word that is an immediate parent of the main word of the respective hierarchical level as a main word represented by a portion of a bar of an immediately lower hierarchical level; and

assigning, by the computer processor, to remaining portions of the bar of the immediately lower hierarchical level, children of the word that is the immediate parent; and

displaying, by the computer processor, the bars according to the assignments.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, for each of the bars to which more than one word is assigned, sizes of the respective portions of the bar to which the more than one word is assigned are based on a differences in respective frequencies of occurrence of respective ones of the more than one word in a corpus of text.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the corpus of text includes text received from at least one online source.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the portions of the bars are selectable for changing which word is the selected word.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising, responsive to a selection of the selected word:

if a definition is stored for the selected word, displaying the definition of the selected word; and

if a definition is not stored for the selected word;

traversing one or more hierarchical word levels beginning with a hierarchical level that includes an immediate parent of the selected word, for an ancestor word of the selected word for which a definition is stored; and

displaying the stored definition of the ancestor word.

19. (canceled)

20. A hardware computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a processor, the instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method for outputting a hierarchically structured word family, the method comprising:

assigning a selected word as a main word represented by a portion of a bar of a first hierarchical level;

for each hierarchical level, beginning with the first hierarchical level until a root word is assigned to a respective bar;

assigning a word that is an immediate parent of the main word of the respective hierarchical level as a main word represented by a portion of a bar of an immediately lower hierarchical level; and

assigning to remaining portions of the bar of the immediately lower hierarchical level, children of the word that is the immediate parent; and

displaying the bars according to the assignments.