Electronic sentence translator

• US 4,597,055 A
• Filed: 07/24/1981
• Issued: 06/24/1986
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/1980
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Yoshida, Kunio, Morimoto, Masafumi, Nakanishi, Tosaku, Yanagiuchi, Shigenobu, Hashimoto, Shintaro, Morinaga, Hisao
• Primary Examiner(s): Zache, Raulfe B.
• Application Number:
  US06/286,534
• Time in Patent Office: 1,796 Days
• Field of Search: 364/419, 364/200 MS File, 364/900 MS File
• US Class Current: 704/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/279 Recognition of textual entities
• 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

An electronic translator is characterized in that a new translated sentence is prepared by using at least one word contained in a sentence key inputted those cases where no word corresponding to the word is stored in a memory for storing a plurality of translated words. The translator comprises an input circuit for inputting the sentence, an access circuit for accessing a most equivalent translated sentence, and a detection circuit for detecting whether all of the words contained in the sentence are stored in memory and for inserting such unstored words directly into the translated sentence.

Claims

1. An improved electronic translator wherein a first sentence in a first language is translated into a second sentence in a second language, the translator comprising

input means for entering the first sentence into the translator,

a first memory means for storing a plurality of words and sentences in the first language, the plurality of words and sentences being stored at respectively specific addresses,

a second memory means for storing a like plurality of words and sentences in the second language, each of the plurality of words and sentences in the second memory means being stored at a specific address that is equivalent to the address of a corresponding word or sentence in the first memory means,

selection means for selecting from among the sentences and words stored in the first memory means that combination of words to produce a translatable sentence that is most equivalent to the first sentence entered by said input means,

access means responsive to the selection means for retrieving a sentence and words from addresses in the second memory means equivalent to those of the most equivalent sentence selected by the selection means to achieve a second, translated sentence in the second language that is most equivalent to the first sentence, and

output means responsive to the access means for outputting the second, translated sentence in the second language.

2. An improved electronic translator according to claim 1, wherein at least some of the sentences stored in the first memory means include words that are marked so that other words may be readily substituted therefor.

3. An improved electronic translator according to claim 2, wherein at least some of the sentences having marked words therein have a plurality of such marked words.

4. An improved electronic translator according to claim 3, wherein a maximum of two words are marked.

5. An improved electronic translator according to claim 3, wherein the words are marked by enclosing them in parenthesis.

6. An improved electronic translator according to claim 5, wherein two words are marked with one word enclosed by a single set of parenthesis while the other word is enclosed in a double set of brackets.

7. An improved electronic translator according to claim 6, wherein means are provided responsive to the input means for permitting another word to be substituted for each one of the marked words sequentially.

8. An improved electronic translator according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of related words are enclosed within parenthesis.

9. An improved electronic translator according to claim 2, wherein the first memory means stores a code indicative of a part of speech associated with a marked word.

10. An improved electronic translator according to claim 1, wherein means are provided responsive to the input means for inserting any word not found in the first memory means directly into the translated sentence.

11. An improved electronic translator according to claim 1, wherein the selection means includes detection means responsive to the input means for detecting whether an input word is stored in the first memory means, and insertion means responsive to the detection means for inserting an input word not stored in the first memory means into the translated sentence being retrieved by the access means.

12. An improved electronic translator according to claim 1, wherein the selection means initially searches the sentences stored in the first memory means for a substantially equivalent sentence and, if none is found, to secondarily search the first memory means for individual words from which to form the first sentence.

13. An improved electronic translator according to claim 12, wherein the selection means further detects all differences between the substantially equivalent sentence and the first sentence and to search the first memory means for individual words constituting all differences detected.

14. An improved electronic translator according to claim 1, wherein the output means comprises a display.

15. An improved electronic translator wherein a first sentence in a first language is translated into a second sentence in a second language, the translator comprising

input means for entering the first sentence into the translator,

a first memory means for storing a plurality of words and sentences in the first language, the plurality of words and sentences being stored at respectively specific addresses,

a second memory means for storing a like plurality of words and sentences in the second language, each of the plurality of words and sentences in the second memory means being stored at a specific address that is equivalent to the address of a corresponding word or sentence in the first memory means,

first access means responsive to the input means for retrieving a sentence from those sentences stored in the first memory means,

first detection means responsive to the first access means and the input means for detecting the sentence from those sentences stored in the first memory means that is most equivalent to the first sentence entered by the input means and for identifying any differences that exist between the first sentence and the most equivalent sentence,

second access means responsive to the first detection means for retrieving a word from those words stored in the first memory means,

second detection means responsive to the first detection means and the second access means for detecting whether a word from those words stored in the first memory means is equivalent to any difference identified by the first detection means between the first sentence and the most equivalent sentence and for identifying any differences that continue to exist between the first sentence and the most equivalent sentence,

first insertion means responsive to the second detection means for inserting each word detected by the second detection means into the most equivalent sentence,

third access means responsive to the first and second detection means and the first insertion means for retrieving a sentence and words from addresses in the second memory means equivalent to those of the most equivalent sentence detected by the first detection means and the words detected by the second detection means to achieve a second, translated sentence in the second language that is most equivalent to the first sentence,

second insertion means responsive to the second detection means and third access means to insert any continuing differences identified by the second detection means into the second sentence untranslated, and

output means responsive to the third access means and second, insertion means for outputting the second translated sentence in the second language.

16. An improved electronic translator according to claim 15, wherein at least some of the sentences stored in the first memory means include words that are marked so that other words may be readily substituted therefor.

17. An improved electronic translator according to claim 16, wherein at least some of the sentences having marked words therein have a plurality of such marked words.

18. An improved electronic translator according to claim 17, wherein a maximum of two words are marked.

19. An improved electronic translator according to claim 17, wherein the words are marked by enclosing them in parenthesis.

20. An improved electronic translator according to claim 19, wherein two words are marked with one word enclosed by a single set of parenthesis while the other word is enclosed in a double set of brackets.

21. An improved electronic translator according to claim 20, wherein means are provided responsive to the input means for permitting another word to be substituted for each one of the marked words sequentially.

22. An improved electronic translator according to claim 19, wherein a plurality of related words are enclosed within parenthesis.

23. An improved electronic translator according to claim 16, wherein the first memory means stores a code indicative of a part of speech associated with a marked word.

24. An improved electronic translator according to claim 15, wherein the first memory means includes no sentence equivalent to the first sentence, wherein the second detection means serially detects whether words stored in the first memory means are equivalent to each successive word in the first sentence such that the first sentence is thereby translated word-by-word.

25. An improved electronic translator according to claim 15, wherein the output means comprises a display.

26. A method of translating a first sentence in a first language into a second sentence in a second language comprising the steps of

storing a plurality of words and sentences in a first memory means, each of the plurality of words and sentences being stored at respectively specific addresses,

storing a like plurality of words and sentences in the second language in a second memory means, each of the plurality of words and sentences in the second memory means being stored at a specific address that is equivalent to the address of a corresponding word or sentence in the first memory means,

selecting from among the words and sentences stored in the first memory means that combination that is most equivalent to the first sentence, and

retrieving from the second memory means a translated sentence equivalent to the combination selected from the first memory means.

27. A method according to claim 26, wherein the step of inserting all untranslatable words from the first sentence into the translated sentence is further included.

28. A method according to claim 27, wherein the selecting step is further comprised of the steps of

determining whether any sentence stored in the first memory means has a measure of equivalency to the first sentence,

identifying any differences that exist between the first sentence and a sentence determined to have a measure of equivalency to it, and

searching the first memory means for each word in the first sentence not found in a sentence determined to have a measure of equivalency to the first sentence.

29. A method according to claim 27, wherein at least some of the sentences stored in the first memory means include words that are marked so that other words may be readily substituted therefor.

30. A method according to claim 29, wherein at least some of the sentences having marked words therein have a plurality of such marked words.

31. A method according to claim 30, wherein a maximum of two words are marked.

32. A method according to claim 30, wherein the words are marked by enclosing them in parenthesis.

33. A method according to claim 32, wherein two words are marked with one word enclosed by a single set of parenthesis while the other word is enclosed in a double set of brackets.

34. A method according to claim 33, wherein means are provided responsive to the input means for permitting another word to be substituted for each one of the marked words sequentially.

35. A method according to claim 32, wherein a plurality of related words are enclosed within parenthesis.

36. A method according to claim 29, wherein a code indicative of a part of speech associated with a marked word is stored in the first memory means.

37. A method according to claim 27, wherein there is included the further step of displaying the translated sentence.