TEXT TRANSLATION USING CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION RELATED TO TEXT OBJECTS IN TRANSLATED LANGUAGE

• US 20180012278A1
• Filed: 09/22/2017
• Published: 01/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Chelly, Yan
• Granted Patent: US 10,453,108 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3344 using natural language analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation

Abstract

In an example embodiment, input is received from a first user of a computer system. A text object relating to a first item from the input is created, and translated from a first language to a second language. A plurality of text objects, in the second language, having text similar to the translated text object, are located in a database, each text object comprising textual information pertaining to the first item. The plurality of text objects having text similar to the translated text are then ranked based on a comparison of the contextual information about the first item and the contextual information stored in the database for the plurality of text objects having text similar to the translated text object. At least one of the ranked text objects is translated to the first language.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. An apparatus comprising:

a memory storing a database of text objects pertaining to items, the database further including contextual information about the items;

a translation module executable by a processor and configured to translate a text object created from input received from a first user about a first item from a first language to a second language;

a context ranking module configured to locate, in the database, a plurality of text objects, in the second language, having text similar to the translated text object, and to rank the plurality of text objects having text similar to the translated text object based on a comparison of contextual information about the first item and the contextual information stored in the database for the plurality of text objects having text similar to the translated text object;

the translation module further configured to translate at least one of the ranked text objects to the first language; and

a display module presenting the translated at least one of the ranked text objects.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a feedback module configured to receive feedback from the first user used to select one of the at least one ranked text objects to be used.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the feedback includes an explicit selection of one of the at least one ranked text objects by the first user.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the feedback includes scores assigned to a plurality of the ranked text objects.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the context ranking module is further configured to utilize the feedback in future rankings of text objects.

7. A method comprising:

receiving input from a first user of a computer system;

creating a text object relating to a first item from the input;

translate the text object from a first language to a second language;

locating, in a database, a plurality of text objects, in the second language, having text similar to the translated text object, each text object comprising textual information pertaining to the first item;

ranking the plurality of text objects having text similar to the translated text based on a comparison of the contextual information about the first item and the contextual information stored in the database for the plurality of text objects having text similar to the translated text object;

translating at least one of the ranked text objects to the first language; and

causing display of at least one of the ranked text objects to the first user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the input from the first user is a question regarding a product.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the contextual information is a category for the product.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the contextual information includes past sales information.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the contextual information includes product description information.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the contextual information includes one or more images of the product.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the translating the text to a second language includes passing the text to an application program interface (API) for a text translation service.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the translating the text to a second language and the translating at least one of the ranked plurality of text objects to the first language both utilize a single translation module.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by one or more machines to perform operations comprising:

receiving input from a first user of a computer system;

creating a text object relating to a first item from the input;

translate the text object from a first language to a second language;

locating, in a database, a plurality of text objects, in the second language, having text similar to the translated text object, each text object comprising textual information pertaining to the first item;

ranking the plurality of text objects having text similar to the translated text based on a comparison of the contextual information about the first item and the contextual information stored in the database for the plurality of text objects having text similar to the translated text object;

translating at least one of the ranked text objects to the first language; and

causing display of at least one of the ranked text objects to the first user.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the input from the first user is a question regarding a product.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the contextual information is a category for the product.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the contextual information includes past sales information.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the contextual information includes product description information.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the contextual information includes one or more images of the product.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the translating the text to a second language and the translating at least one of the ranked plurality of text objects to the first language both utilize a single translation module.