Language processing dictionary for bidirectionally retrieving morphemic and semantic expressions

• US 4,703,425 A
• Filed: 07/17/1985
• Issued: 10/27/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/1984
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Muraki, Kazunori
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jerry
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUI, KIM T
• Application Number:
  US06/755,812
• Time in Patent Office: 832 Days
• Field of Search: 364/419, 364/200, 364/900, 364/300, 434/153
• US Class Current: 704/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/247 Thesauruses; Synonyms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/268 Morphological analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• 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

Morphemic, conceptional or semantic, and syntaxic dictionaries (21-23) keep morphemic, conceptional, and syntaxic items, respectively. Each morphemic item comprises a morphemic description and a first pointer pointing to a set of syntaxic items corresponding to the morphemic description. Similarly, each conceptional item comprises a conceptional description or symbol and a second pointer pointing to a set of syntaxic items. Each syntaxic item comprises a syntaxic description and a third and a fourth pointer pointing to a set of morphemic items and to a set of conceptional items, respectively. Responsive to an input expression, a retrieving arrangement (24) retrieves a morphemic and a conceptional item when the input expression is morphemic and conceptional, respectively. The first or the second pointer of the retrieved item is used in retrieving a syntaxic item by which the morphemic and/or the conceptional dictionary is referred back to. An output expression is produced as a morphemic, a conceptional, and/or a syntaxic expression as desired.

Claims

1. A language processing dictionary responsive to an input expression for producing an output expression, said language processing dictionary comprising;

a morphemic, a conceptional, and a syntaxic dictionary for keeping morphemic, conceptional, and syntaxic items, respectively, each morphemic item comprising a morphemic description and a first pointer pointing to a set of predetermined at least one of said syntaxic items;

each conceptional item comprising a conceptional description and a second pointer pointing to a set of prescribed at least one of said syntaxic items;

each syntaxic item comprising a syntaxic description and a third and a fourth pointer pointing to a set of preselected at least one of said morphemic items and to a set of preselected at least one of said conceptional items, respectively; and

retrieving means responsive to said input expression for retrieving one of said morphemic items as a particular item and one of said conceptional items as a specific item when said input expression is morphemic and conceptional, respectively, responsive to the first pointer of said particular item for retrieving one of said morphemic and said conceptional items as a selected item that is retrieved with reference to the first through the fourth pointers, and responsive to the second pointer of said specific item for retrieving one of said morphemic items as a special item that is retrieved with reference to the first through the fourth pointers, said retrieving means thereby producing one of the morphemic and the conceptional descriptions as said output expression that is comprised by said selected item and producing one of the morphemic descriptions as said output expression that is comprised by said special item.

2. A language processing dictionary as claimed in claim 1, wherein said retrieving means comprises:

an index file comprising an index field and a pointer field, said index field being for keeping morphemic and conceptional expressions, said pointer field being for keeping morphemic item pointers and conceptional item pointers corresponding to said morphemic and said conceptional expressions, respectively, each morphemic item pointer pointing to a set of predetermined at least one of said morphemic items, each conceptional item pointer pointing to a set of prescribed at least one of said conceptional items;

first retrieving means responsive to said input expression for retrieving, with reference to said morphemic and said conceptional expressions, one of said morphemic item pointers as a particular pointer and one of said conceptional item pointers as a specific pointer when said input expression is morphemic and conceptional, respectively, responsive to said particular pointer for retrieving said particular item from the morphemic item set which said particular pointer points to, and responsive to said specific pointer for retrieving said specific item from the conceptional item set which said specific pointer points to; and

second retrieving means responsive to the first pointer of said particular item for retrieving said selected item and responsive to the second pointer of said specific item for retrieving said special item, said second retrieving means thereby producing one of the morphemic and the conceptional descriptions as said output expression that is comprised by said selected item and producing one of the morphemic descriptions as said output expression that is comprised by said special item.