Abbreviating and compacting text to cope with display space constraint in computer software

• US 6,279,018 B1
• Filed: 02/23/1999
• Issued: 08/21/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hanger Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Kudrollis Software Inventions PVT Limited
• Inventors: Kudrolli, Abdus Samad, Kudrolli, Parvez, Kudrolli, Feroz
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bashore, William L.
• Application Number:
  US09/256,286
• Time in Patent Office: 910 Days
• Field of Search: 707/534, 707/104, 707/4, 707/6, 707/540, 704/9, 704/1, 345/357, 711/1
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/284 Lexical analysis, e.g. tokenisation or collocates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30

Abstract

This invention relates to text abbreviation methods to cope with display or print space constraint in computer software. In particular, abbreviation of text into predetermined field widths (with single or multiple rows), utilizing an operating system (121), an application program (122), and an abbreviation control data program (123), along with combinations of prioritized shortening methods in preference to or in addition to glossaries of acronyms and word abbreviations using an abbreviation function (127) are disclosed. The special handling of segments of input contained within pairs of pre-defined characters, as well as omission of spaces, and conversion of enumeration word or word sequences to numbers utilizing an abbreviation data file (124), a parameters sets file (125), and a parameters list (126), are also disclosed. The omission of spaces and phonetically less significant characters compacts word sequences, which saves display space and enables use of larger type sizes.

Claims

1. A method for abbreviating text to cope with display or print space constraint in computer software such that loss of word recognizability is minimized, wherein said text includes a plurality of words, said space constraint is defined in terms of a predetermined abbreviated text length limit and said method comprises the steps of:

a) selecting one or more words from the text as being abbreviatable words;

b) shortening only those abbreviatable words whose length exceeds a predetermined minimum word length limit while the length of the text is in excess of the predetermined abbreviated text length limit, said shortening comprising at least one of;

(i) replacing a sequence of alphabets in any abbreviatable word with a shorter sequence, wherein said sequence of alphabets does not include the initial of the abbreviatable word; and

(ii) deleting one or more alphabets from any abbreviatable word, but excluding from deletion the initial of the abbreviatable word; and

c) truncating only those abbreviatable words whose length exceeds a predetermined minimum truncated word length limit while the length of the text is in excess of the predetermined abbreviated text length limit.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising at least one of:

replacing in the text a sequence of words, being a phrase, with its corresponding commonly used acronym, if an entry containing the phrase and the acronym is found in a predetermined list; and

replacing in the text an abbreviatable word with its corresponding commonly used word abbreviation, if an entry containing the abbreviatable word and the word abbreviation is found in a predetermined list.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising at least one of:

replacing in the text a sequence of words, being a phrase, with its corresponding acronym, if an entry containing the phrase and the acronym categorized as less commonly used is found in a predetermined list and the length of the text is greater than the predetermined abbreviated text length limit even after shortening the abbreviatable words in the text; and

replacing in the text an abbreviatable word with its corresponding word abbreviation, if an entry containing said abbreviatable word and said word abbreviation categorized as less commonly used is found in a predetermined list, such replacement yields greater reduction than the reduction that is obtained by shortening said abbreviatable word and the length of the text is greater than the predetermined abbreviated text length limit even after shortening the abbreviatable words in the text.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising converting a continuous sequence of at least two enumeration words in the text, of which at least one of the enumeration words is a bundle word, into a shorter sequence using a predetermined list of enumeration words and corresponding abbreviations, wherein said bundle word is a single enumeration word which connotes a value greater than hundred and said shorter sequence contains at least four numeric characters.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising step (a) and at least one of steps (b), (c), and (d):

a) replacing bundle word abbreviations with predetermined corresponding figures, each said corresponding figure comprising either a punctuation character or a sequence of one or more punctuation characters and numeric zero(s);

b) inserting into the sequence of converted figures a numeric one;

c) locating and deleting occurrences of superfluous numeric zero(s), if any, from the sequence of converted figures; and

d) inserting into the sequence of converted enumeration words one or more numeric zero(s).

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising truncating the abbreviated text finally, starting from the right end, until the text is reduced to the predetermined abbreviated text length limit or the entire text is dealt with, but excluding from truncation the initial alphabet of any word and at least one of:

a) any numeric character or decimal point;

b) any character contained in a predetermined set of non-deletable symbols; and

c) predetermined protected segments.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the abbreviatable words on which the abbreviating steps are carried out include partially abbreviated words.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the length of any word is the number of characters in the word.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting step includes:

locating sequences of one or more contiguous alphabets preceded by a space, punctuation or beginning of text and followed by a space, punctuation or end of text and recognizing such sequences as words; and

locating words containing at least two alphabets and no upper case alphabets other than the first alphabet and classifying such words as abbreviatable words.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the replacing step comprises at least one of:

replacing a contiguous sequence of alphabets in any abbreviatable word with a shorter sequence of at least one alphabet, if an entry containing said contiguous sequence of alphabets and its corresponding shorter sequence is found in a predetermined list; and

replacing a sequence comprising a contiguously repeating consonant in any abbreviatable word with a shorter sequence of only one such consonant.

11. An abbreviated text generated by employing the method in claim 10.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the replaced shorter sequence is identified so that said shorter sequence is not further shortened using the shortening step subsequently.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the deleting step comprises deleting a contiguous sequence of one or more vowels from any abbreviatable word, provided said contiguous sequence is deleted entirely and the length of said abbreviatable word after deleting said contiguous sequence would not become less than the predetermined minimum word length limit.

14. An abbreviated text generated by employing the method in claim 13.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the truncating step includes at least one of:

truncating only the truncatable part of every abbreviatable word in an approximately equal proportion such that the text is reduced to the predetermined abbreviated text length limit, said truncatable part comprising that part of every such word which is in excess of the predetermined minimum truncated word length limit; and

truncating abbreviatable words to the predetermined minimum truncated word length limit, starting from the right end of the text, while the length of the text is in excess of the predetermined abbreviated text length limit.

16. An abbreviated text generated by employing the method in claim 15.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the selecting step includes at least one of:

classifying a word as a non-abbreviatable word, if said word is found in a predetermined list of words barred from abbreviation; and

classifying a word as a non-abbreviatable word, if said word is an acronym or a word abbreviation appearing in a predetermined list.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising dealing with predetermined delimited segments in an exceptional manner, where said dealing includes at least one of:

a) abbreviating only the delimited segment containing an abstract after deleting the rest of the text;

b) protecting the delimited segment from abbreviation;

c) prioritizing deletion of the delimited segment before abbreviating the rest of the text; and

d) prioritizing truncation of the delimited segment before truncating the rest of the text.

19. An abbreviated text generated by employing the method in claim 18.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the unit of measure for the predetermined abbreviated text length limit and for the length of the text is either a monospaced character or a unit of measure suitable for measuring proportionally spaced text.

21. A computer-readable medium embodying the method in one of claims 1-3, 4-6, 7, 8-12, 13, 15-18, 20.

22. An abbreviated text generated by employing the method in claim 1.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the shortening step (b) is executed irrespective of the predetermined abbreviated text length limit, the truncating step (c) is not executed and the abbreviated text is split into two or more lines each not exceeding the predetermined abbreviated text length limit.

24. A computer system for abbreviating text to cope with display or print space constraint such that loss of word recognizability is minimized, wherein said text includes a plurality of words and said system comprises:

a) means for selecting one or more words from the text as being abbreviatable words;

b) means for shortening only those abbreviatable words whose length exceeds a predetermined minimum word length limit while the length of the text is in excess of a predetermined abbreviated text length limit, said shortening means comprising at least one of;

(i) means for replacing a sequence of alphabets in any abbreviatable word with a shorter sequence, wherein said sequence of alphabets does not include the initial of the abbreviatable word; and

(ii) means for deleting one or more alphabets from any abbreviatable word such that the initial of the abbreviatable word is excluded from deletion;

c) means for truncating only those abbreviatable words whose length exceeds a predetermined minimum truncated word length limit while the length of the text is in excess of the predetermined abbreviated text length limit; and

d) means for controlling abbreviation of the text, said means comprising one or more predetermined abbreviation data lists, abbreviation options and abbreviation control parameters.

25. The system of claim 24 further comprising at least one of:

means for replacing in the text a sequence of words, being a phrase, with its corresponding commonly used acronym, if an entry containing the phrase and the acronym is found in a predetermined list; and

means for replacing in the text an abbreviatable word with its corresponding commonly used word abbreviation, if an entry containing the abbreviatable word and the word abbreviation is found in a predetermined list.

26. The system of claim 24 further comprising at least one of:

means for replacing in the text a sequence of words, being a phrase, with its corresponding acronym, if an entry containing the phrase and the acronym categorized as less commonly used is found in a predetermined list and the length of the text is greater than the predetermined abbreviated text length limit even after shortening the abbreviatable words in the text; and

means for replacing in the text an abbreviatable word with its corresponding word abbreviation, if an entry containing said abbreviatable word and said word abbreviation categorized as less commonly used is found in a predetermined list, such replacement yields greater reduction than the reduction that is obtained by shortening said abbreviatable word and the length of the text is greater than the predetermined abbreviated text length limit even after shortening the abbreviatable words in the text.

27. The system of claim 24 further comprising means for converting a continuous sequence of at least two enumeration words in the text, of which at least one of the enumeration words is a bundle word, into a shorter sequence using a predetermined list of enumeration words and corresponding abbreviations, wherein said bundle word is a single enumeration word which connotes a value greater than hundred and said shorter sequence contains at least four numeric characters.

28. The system of claim 27 further comprising means as in means (a) and at least one of means (b), (c), and (d):

a) means for replacing bundle word abbreviations with predetermined corresponding figures, each said corresponding figure comprising either a punctuation character or a sequence of one or more punctuation characters and numeric zero(s);

b) means for inserting into the sequence of converted figures a numeric one;

c) means for locating and deleting occurrences of superfluous numeric zero(s), if any, from the sequence of converted figures; and

d) means for inserting into the sequence of converted enumeration words one or more numeric zero(s).

29. The system of claim 24 wherein the controlling means includes means for dealing with predetermined delimited segments in an exceptional manner, where said dealing means includes at least one of:

a) means for abbreviating only the delimited segment containing an abstract after deleting the rest of the text;

b) means for protecting the delimited segment from abbreviation;

c) means for prioritizing deletion of the delimited segment before abbreviating the rest of the text; and

d) means for prioritizing truncation of the delimited segment before truncating the rest of the text.

30. The system of claim 24 wherein the controlling means includes means for determining the points of separation while abbreviating text into predetermined plural number of rows of predetermined row widths.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the determining means includes means for ensuring that said points of separation are determined such that at least one of the following conditions are satisfied:

a) each separated portion of the text when abbreviated results in uniform reduction, with the length reduction within each row after separation bearing approximately the same proportion to the sum of the excess length of every abbreviatable word over a predetermined minimum word length limit;

b) unutilized blank spaces are minimized in each of the abbreviated separate rows;

c) splitting of words between rows is minimized; and

d) words or sequences of characters which are too long to be accommodated at the end of any row and which will cause unutilized space in the row if accommodated in the next row, are split between the rows such that each split portion has at least two characters.

32. The system of claim 24 wherein the controlling means includes a file which facilitates abbreviation of the text by holding words or sequences obtained from the text along with an indication for every word that is abbreviatable.

33. The system of claim 24 wherein the abbreviation data list means includes at least one of:

a) a list of at least one entry containing a word barred from abbreviation;

b) a list of at least one entry containing an enumeration word and its abbreviation;

c) a list of at least one entry containing a phrase and its commonly used acronym;

d) a list of at least one entry containing a word and its commonly used word abbreviation;

e) a list of at least one entry containing a phrase and its less commonly used acronym; and

f) a list of at least one entry containing a sequence of alphabets and its shorter sequence for replacement in a word.

34. The system of claim 24 wherein the abbreviation option means includes at least one of:

a) an option for prioritized deletion or truncation of a delimited segment in the text;

b) an option for protection of a delimited segment from abbreviation in the text;

c) an option for barring predetermined words from abbreviation in the text;

d) an option for compulsorily replacing a phrase with its commonly used acronym in the text;

e) an option for compulsorily replacing a word with its commonly used abbreviation in the text;

f) an option for abbreviating an enumeration word sequence into a sequence containing at least one numeric character in the text;

g) an option for replacing an ending sequence of alphabets in a word with a shorter sequence;

h) an option for replacing an intervening sequence of alphabets in a word with a shorter sequence;

i) an option for replacing a sequence of a contiguously repeating consonant in a word with one such consonant;

j) an option for deleting a less significant alphabet in a word;

k) an option for need based replacement of a phrase with its less commonly used acronym in the text;

l) an option for truncating a word in the text; and

m) an option for final truncation of the text.

35. The system of claim 24 wherein the abbreviation control parameter means includes at least one of:

a) a group of one or more punctuations for deletion in the text;

b) a group of one or more less significant alphabets for deletion in a word;

c) a group of one or more non-deletable symbols;

d) a minimum word length limit;

e) a minimum truncated word length limit;

f) an abbreviated text length limit;

g) a separated row output width value; and

h) a number of separated output rows value.

36. A method for abbreviating text to fit into a display or print space constraint in computer software such that loss of word recognizability is minimized, wherein said text includes a plurality of words, said display or print space constraint comprises a predetermined plural number of rows of predetermined row widths and said method comprises the steps of:

a) selecting one or more words from the text as being abbreviatable words;

b) replacing in the text a sequence of words comprising a phrase with its corresponding acronym, if an entry containing the phrase and its corresponding acronym is found in a predetermined list;

c) after replacing phrases with corresponding acronyms as described in step (b), separating the text into at least two row strings such that the number of said row strings does not exceed the predetermined plural number of rows and each said row string is associated with its corresponding predetermined row width;

d) in any row string, shortening only those abbreviatable words whose length exceeds a predetermined minimum word length limit while the length of said row string is in excess of its corresponding predetermined row width, said shortening comprising at least one of;

(i) replacing a sequence of alphabets in any abbreviatable word with a shorter sequence, wherein said sequence of alphabets does not include the initial of the abbreviatable word; and

(ii) deleting one or more alphabets from any abbreviatable word, but excluding from deletion the initial of the abbreviatable word; and

e) in any row string, truncating only those abbreviatable words whose length exceeds a predetermined minimum truncated word length limit while the length of said row string is in excess of its corresponding predetermined row width.

37. The method of claim 36 further comprising converting a continuous sequence of at least two enumeration words in the text, of which at least one of the enumeration words is a bundle word, into a shorter sequence using a predetermined list of enumeration words and corresponding abbreviations, wherein said bundle word comprises a single enumeration word which connotes a value greater than hundred and said shorter sequence contains at least four numeric characters.

38. The method of claim 37 further comprising step (a) and at least one of steps (b), (c), and (d):

a) replacing bundle word abbreviations with predetermined corresponding figures, each said corresponding figure comprising either a punctuation character or a sequence of one or more punctuation characters and numeric zero(s);

b) inserting into the sequence of converted figures a numeric one;

c) locating and deleting occurrences of superfluous numeric zero(s), if any, from the sequence of converted figures; and

d) inserting into the sequence of converted enumeration words one or more numeric zero(s).

39. The method of claim 36 further comprising truncating any row string finally, starting from the right end, until said row string is reduced to its corresponding predetermined row width or the entire row string is dealt with, but excluding from truncation the initial alphabet of any word and at least one of:

a) any numeric character or decimal point;

b) any character contained in a predetermined set of non-deletable symbols; and

c) predetermined protected segments.

40. The method of claim 36 wherein the abbreviatable words on which the abbreviating steps are carried out include partially abbreviated words.

41. The method of claim 36 wherein the length of any word is the number of characters in the word.

42. The method of claim 36 wherein the selecting step includes:

locating sequences of one or more contiguous alphabets preceded by a space, punctuation or beginning of text and followed by a space, punctuation or end of text and recognizing such sequences as words; and

locating words containing at least two alphabets and no upper case alphabets other than the first alphabet and classifying such words as abbreviatable words.

43. The method of claim 36 wherein the replacing step comprises at least one of:

replacing a contiguous sequence of alphabets in any abbreviatable word with a shorter sequence of at least one alphabet, if an entry containing said contiguous sequence of alphabets and its corresponding shorter sequence is found in a predetermined list; and

replacing a sequence comprising a contiguously repeating consonant in any abbreviatable word with a shorter sequence of only one such consonant.

44. The method of claim 43 wherein the replaced shorter sequence is identified so that said shorter sequence is not further shortened using the shortening step subsequently.

45. The method of claim 36 wherein the deleting step comprises deleting a contiguous sequence of one or more vowels from any abbreviatable word, provided said contiguous sequence is deleted entirely and the length of said abbreviatable word after deleting said contiguous sequence would not become less than the predetermined minimum word length limit.

46. The method of claim 36 wherein the truncating step includes at least one of:

truncating only the truncatable part of every abbreviatable word in an approximately equal proportion such that the row string is reduced to its corresponding predetermined row width, said truncatable part comprising that part of every such word which is in excess of the predetermined minimum truncated word length limit; and

truncating abbreviatable words to the predetermined minimum truncated word length limit, starting from the right end of the row string, until the row string is reduced to its corresponding predetermined row width.

47. The method of claim 36 wherein the selecting step includes at least one of:

classifying a word as a non-abbreviatable word, if said word is found in a predetermined list of words barred from abbreviation; and

classifying a word as a non-abbreviatable word, if said word is an acronym or a word abbreviation appearing in a predetermined list.

48. The method of claim 36 further comprising dealing with predetermined delimited segments in an exceptional manner, where said dealing includes at least one of:

a) abbreviating only the delimited segment containing an abstract after deleting the rest of the text;

b) protecting the delimited segment from abbreviation;

c) prioritizing deletion of the delimited segment before abbreviating the rest of the text; and

d) prioritizing truncation of the delimited segment.

49. The method of claim 36 wherein the separating step (c) further comprises:

ca) in the text which has to be separated into row strings, selecting a word for splitting into two split portions;

cb) shortening the selected word using the shortening step (d) in said claim 36, if the selected word is an abbreviatable word;

cc) splitting the selected word such that each split portion has at least two characters;

cd) separating the text into at least two row strings such that one of the row strings ends with the first split portion and the next row string begins with the second split portion; and

cd) identifying each split portion to prevent further shortening.

50. The method of claim 36 wherein the unit of measure for the predetermined row widths and for the length of the row strings is either a monospaced character or a unit of measure suitable for measuring proportionally spaced text.

51. An abbreviated text generated by employing the method in claim 36.