Machine translation system

• US 4,821,230 A
• Filed: 01/02/1987
• Issued: 04/11/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/1986
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumano, Akira, Nogami, Hiroyasu, Miike, Seiji, Amano, Shin-ya
• Primary Examiner(s): Heckler, Thomas M.
• Application Number:
  US07/000,133
• Time in Patent Office: 830 Days
• Field of Search: 364/200 MS File, 364/900 MS File, 364/419
• US Class Current: 704/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/211 Syntactic parsing, e.g. based on context-free grammar [CFG] or unification grammars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/268 Morphological analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/55 Rule-based translation

Abstract

A machine translation system has an input unit for inputting an original sentence, a dictionary section for storing language information used in translation processing, a translation processor for translation-processing the original sentence with reference to the language information stored in the dictionary section, and an output unit for outputting a translated sentence obtained by the translation processor. The translation processor has an analysis section, a translated sentence generation section, and a punctuation mark generation section. The analysis section analyzes the original sentence. The translated sentence generation section generates the translated sentence in accordance with the analysis result of the analysis section. The punctuation mark generation section generates a punctuation mark substantially independently of a punctuation mark present in the original sentence, and appropriately inserts it in the translated sentence.

Claims

1. A machine translation system comprising input means for inputting an original sentence, dictionary means for storing language information used in translation processing, translation processing means for translating the original sentence input through said input means with reference to the language information stored in said dictionary means, and output means for outputting a translated sentence obtained by said translation processing means,

said translation processing means including

analysis means for analyzing the original sentence syntactically and semantically using both a syntactic analysis grammar and a semantic analysis grammar,

translated sentence generation means for generating the translated sentence using both a syntactic generation grammar and a morphological grammar in accordance with an analysis result from said analysis means, and

punctuation mark generation means for generating an appropriate punctuation mark based on at least one of the analyzed structure of the original sentence and the structure of the translated sentence substantially independently of a punctuation mark present in the original sentence during a translated sentence generation process of said translated sentence generation means, and inserting the generated punctuation mark in the translated sentence.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein said analysis means includes syntactic analysis means for analyzing a syntactic structure of the original sentence, and said punctuation mark generation means includes punctuation mark setting means for setting a type and position of the punctuation mark in the translated sentence in accordance with the syntactic structure of the original sentence obtained by said syntactic analysis means.

3. A system according to claim 2, wherein said syntactic analysis means includes connective structure analyzing means for analyzing a connective structure of the original sentence, and said punctuation mark setting means includes appropriately setting means for appropriately setting the type and position of the punctuation mark in the translated sentence in accordance with the connective structure.

4. A system according to claim 2, wherein said syntactic analysis means includes modification structure analyzing means for analyzing a modification structure of the original sentence, and said punctuation mark setting means includes appropriately setting means for appropriately setting the type and position of the punctuation mark in the translated sentence in accordance with the modification structure.

5. A system according to claim 2, wherein said syntactic analysis means includes connective and modification structure analyzing means for analyzing connective and modification structures of the original sentence, and said punctuation mark setting means includes appropriately setting means for appropriately setting the type and position of the punctuation mark in the translated sentence in accordance with the connective and modification structures.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein said translated sentence generation means includes syntactic structure generation means for generating a syntactic structure of the translated sentence, and said punctuation mark generation means includes punctuation mark setting means for setting a type and position of the punctuation mark in the translated sentence in accordance with the syntactic structure of the translated sentence.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein said punctuation mark setting means includes appropriately setting means for appropriately setting the type and position of the punctuation mark in the translated sentence in accordance with the connective structure of the translated sentence.

8. A system according to claim 6, wherein said punctuation mark setting means includes appropriately setting means for appropriately setting the type and position of the punctuation mark in the translated sentence in accordance with the modification structure of the translated sentence.

9. A system according to claim 6, wherein said punctuation mark setting means includes appropriately setting means for appropriately setting the type and position of the punctuation mark in the translated sentence in accordance with the connective and modification structures of the translated sentence.

10. A system according to claim 1, wherein said translated sentence generation means includes semantic discrimination means for discriminating a predetermined semantic structure of the translated sentence, and said punctuation mark generation means includes punctuation mark setting means for appropriately setting a type and position of the punctuation mark in the translated sentence in accordance with the semantic structure of the translated sentence.