Machine interpreter which stores and retrieves translated sentences based on variable and invariable sentence portions

• US 6,067,510 A
• Filed: 03/19/1997
• Issued: 05/23/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kubo, Yukihiro, Onishi, Satoshi, Kimura, Kozue
• Primary Examiner(s): Isen, Forester W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Edouard, Patrick N.
• Application Number:
  US08/821,576
• Time in Patent Office: 1,161 Days
• Field of Search: 704/2-7, 704/277, 345/352, 345/356, 707/536
• US Class Current: 704/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/45 Example-based machine translation; Alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/47 Machine-assisted translation, e.g. using translation memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/55 Rule-based translation

Abstract

A machine interpreter and method provides a structure in which words are sorted and hierarchically displayed as candidates for substitution in particular order by the display. The words are prestored in variable and invariable word groups. The words of a variable word group are displayed, a word is selected, and a translation takes place based on an invariable word group of an input sentence and the selected word. Consequently, a time for retrieving the words can be reduced.

Claims

1. A machine interpreter comprising:

a parallel translation data base for storing an example sentence of a first language and a corresponding translation of the example sentence of a second language;

a variable semantic feature dictionary for designating a variable word group of at least one word corresponding to a particular word group, of at least one word, of the example sentence, and for storing word groups of the first and second languages in pairs;

input means for inputting a request for retrieval from the parallel translation data base;

retrieving means for retrieving an example sentence and a translated sentence from the parallel translation data base based upon an input retrieval request;

display for displaying the example sentence and translated sentence retrieved from the parallel translation data base;

control means for arranging words of a variable word group in the variable semantic feature dictionary corresponding to the particular word group of the example sentence, and for causing the display to display the arranged words and a word group corresponding to the arranged words; and

substituting means for substituting a translated word of the arranged words, equivalent to a word requested by the input means, for the particular word of the example sentence.

2. The machine interpreter as defined in claim 1, wherein the control means arranges the words of the variable word group in the variable semantic feature dictionary corresponding to the particular word of the example sentence, and causes the display to display the words of the variable word group in a particular order.

3. The machine interpreter as defined in claim 1, wherein the control means arranges the words of the variable word group in the variable semantic feature dictionary corresponding to the particular word of the example sentence, and causes the display to display the words of the variable word group by setting a word identical to the particular word of the example sentence which is being displayed.

4. The machine interpreter as defined in claim 1, wherein the control means further controls the display to display the words of the variable word group in a column for selection and inputting to be substituted for the particular word of the example sentence, and wherein the substituting means further substitutes the selected word of the character string for the particular word of the example sentence when a word of the displayed column is selected by the input means.

5. The machine interpreter as defined in claim 2 or 3, wherein the control means further controls the display to invert and display a variable word group and a word selected by the input means from the words of the variable word group displayed by the display.

6. The machine interpreter as defined in claim 2, wherein the particular order is alphabetical.

7. The machine interpreter of claim 1, wherein the control means further classifies the words of the variable word group into categories based on a classification standard, the input means selects a category, and the display displays words in the selected category together with a name of the selected category in a hierarchical structure.

8. A machine interpreter comprising:

a parallel translation data base for registering an example sentence described in a first language and a translated sentence of the example sentence described in a second language to correspond to each other;

a variable semantic feature dictionary for causing a variable word group to correspond to a particular word of the example sentence for each semantic feature, and for storing the first and second languages in pairs;

input means for inputting a request for retrieval of the parallel translation data base, or an instruction to substitute a word;

retrieving means for retrieving the parallel translation data base by the request for retrieval from the input means;

display means for displaying an example sentence and a translated sentence of the parallel translation data base;

control means for sorting a variable word group in the variable semantic feature dictionary corresponding to the particular word of the example sentence based on a sort item of each variable semantic feature, and causing the display means to hierarchically display the sort item and a word group belonging to the sort item; and

substituting means for substituting a translated word equivalent to a desired word selected by the input means for the particular word of the example sentence.