Automatic text translation and routing system

• US 5,175,684 A
• Filed: 12/31/1990
• Issued: 12/29/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Trans-Link International Corporation
• Original Assignee: Trans-Link International Corporation
• Inventors: Chong, Leighton K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Envall, Jr., Roy N.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huntley, David
• Application Number:
  US07/636,400
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• Field of Search: 364/419, 379/90, 379/100, 358/400
• US Class Current: 704/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/268 Morphological analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/284 Lexical analysis, e.g. tokenisation or collocates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/55 Rule-based translation
• 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: Y10S 379/905 Fax mail

Abstract

A machine translation system includes an automatic routing system for automatically translating input text of a source language and sending output text of a selected target language to an addressee, in response to designations of the addressee, the target language, and/or the selected sublanguage scanned from a cover page for the input text. The system can interface with a number of input sources, such as a fax machine combined with a page scanner, a fax/modem board, or a network interface coupled to a server computer system. The server computer system can control the operation of the machine translation module for multiple target languages and/or sublanguages as designated by the cover page. A page formatting module is used to compose the translated text into a desired page format, and to provide footnotes for alternate translations of ambiguous phrases of the input text. The cover page can also designate a plurality of addressees in different target languages. The output end of the system may be a fax/modem board for sending output text to an addressee'"'"'s fax number, a network interface, or a page printer for printed copy. The machine translation module(s) of the system may be upgraded or replaced without disruption to the overall telecommunications routing functions of the system.

Claims

1. A machine translation system comprising:

a machine translation module which is capable of performing machine translation from input text of a source language to output text of a target language, said machine translation module having a plurality of target language submodules for performing machine translation into a plurality of different target languages;

a receiving interface for receiving via a first telecommunications link an electronic input which is divided into pages, said input pages including a cover page having predefined fields containing system information therein and at least one text page in a source language, wherein said cover page includes at least a first predefined field designating an address of an addressee to which translated output text is to be sent, and a second predefined field designating a selected one of the plurality of different target languages into which the at least one text page is to be translated, and

wherein said receiving interface includes a recognition module capable of electronically recognizing the address of the addressee designated in said first predefined field of the cover page of the received input pages, and the selected target language designated in said second predefined field of the cover page;

a sending interface for sending output text generated by said machine translation module to an addressee via a second telecommunications link; and

control means coupled to said receiving interface, said machine translation module, and said sending interface for recognizing the address and target language designated in said predefined fields of said cover page, for controlling said machine translation module to generate output text of the designated target language from the input text of the source language, and for operating said sending interface to automatically send the translated output text via the second telecommunications link to the designated address recognized from said predefined fields of said cover page.

2. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said receiving interface is coupled to receive input data through an optical page scanner device.

3. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said receiving interface is coupled to receive input data through a facsimile modem device.

4. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said receiving interface is coupled to receive input data through a network interface.

5. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said recognition module of said receiving interface is programmed for performing character recognition conversion of said at least one text page into text data.

6. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said recognition module of said receiving interface is programmed for converting input data of said cover page into system data for controlling said system.

7. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said machine translation module includes a plurality of source and target language pair submodules for performing machine translation from a plurality of different source languages into a plurality of different target languages, and said control means is operated to determine a selected source language and a selected target language designated in the predefined fields of said cover page and to control said machine translation module to load a corresponding language pair submodule for performing translation in the designated language pair.

8. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said control means is operated to determine a selected sublanguage of the input text designated in the predefined fields of said cover page and to control said machine translation module to load a corresponding sublanguage submodule for performing translation in the respective sublanguage.

9. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said control means is operated to determine a plurality of addresses of a plurality of addressees designated in the predefined fields of said cover page and to control said sending interface to send the translated output text to the respective addressees.

10. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said sending interface is coupled to send output data through a page printer device.

11. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said sending interface is coupled to send output data through a facsimile modem device.

12. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said sending interface is coupled to send output data through a network interface.

13. A machine translation system according to claim 1, further comprising an output page formatting module for formatting the translated output text from said machine translation module into a selected page format designated in the predefined fields of said cover page.

14. A machine translation system according to claim 13, wherein said output page formatting module includes a page formatting function for formatting the output text into pages corresponding respectively to the input text pages.

15. A machine translation system according to claim 13, wherein said output page formatting module includes a page formatting function for footnoting ambiguous phrases of the input text in their original source language or with alternate translations in the target language.

16. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said machine translation module is programmed to perform translation by a transfer method.

17. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said machine translation module is programmed to perform translation by an interlingua method.

18. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said machine translation module is separately programmed from said receiving interface, said sending interface, and said control means, such that it may be upgraded or replaced without disruption to the overall telecommunications routing functions of the system.

19. A machine translation system according to claim 1, wherein said machine translation module is a separately programmed translation processing computer, and said receiving interface, said sending interface, and said control means are programmed on a server computer system coupled to said translation processing computer.

20. A machine translation system comprising:

a machine translation module which is capable of performing machine translation from input text of a source language to output text of a target language, wherein said module includes a main source dictionary having common words of the source language defined therein and a plurality of subdictionaries each having specialized words of a respective one of a plurality of predefined sublanguage domains included within the source language defined therein, and said module has means for loading any selected one of said subdictionaries with said main dictionary for performing translation of an input text in the source language;

a receiving interface for receiving an electronic input representing a text input to said machine translation system and a sublanguage control input indicative of a selected one of a plurality of sublanguages within the source language applicable to the text input;

an output interface for output of translated text in the target language generated by said machine translation module; and

control means coupled to said receiving interface and said machine translation module and responsive to the sublanguage control input indicative of the selected sublanguage applicable to the text input for causing said machine translation module to load the corresponding selected subdictionary with said main dictionary of the source language for performing translation of the input text,

wherein said sublanguage control input to said system includes input representing a cover page having a predefined field designating a selected sublanguage domain which is applicable to the input text to be translated, and said control means includes means for operating said machine translation module to automatically load the subdictionary corresponding to the sublanguage domain designated in the predefined field of said cover page.

21. A machine translation system according to claim 20, wherein said electronic input to said system includes input representing a cover page having a predefined field designating an address of an addressee to which the translated text is to be sent, said output interface includes a sending interface for sending an electronic output of the translated text via a telecommunications link to a designated addressee, and said control means includes means for operating said sending interface to automatically send the translated output text via the telecommunications link to the address of the addressee designated in the predefined field of said cover page.

22. A machine translation system according to claim 21, wherein a plurality of target languages and a plurality of addressees are designated in predefined fields of said cover page, and said control means includes means for operating said machine translation module to translate the input text in the designated plurality of target languages and for operating said sending interface to send the translated text outputs to the respective addressees designated in the predefined fields of said cover page.

23. A method of performing machine translation in a transfer-type machine translation system comprising the steps of:

providing a machine translation module capable of performing machine translation from input text of a source language to output text of a target language;

dividing a dictionary operable with the machine translation module into a main source dictionary having common words of the source language defined therein and a plurality of subdictionaries each having specialized words of a respective one of a plurality of predefined sublanguage domains included within the source language defined therein;

receiving an electronic input representing a text input to the machine translation module and a predefined sublanguage control input representing a selected on of the plurality of sublanguages within the source language applicable to the text input, wherein said sublanguage control input to said system includes input representing a cover page having a predefined field designating a selected sublanguage domain which is applicable to the input text to be translated;

operating said machine translation module to automatically load the subdictionary corresponding to the sublanguage domain designated in the predefined field of said cover page.