Interactive system providing language information for communication between users of different languages

• US 6,321,188 B1
• Filed: 10/16/1995
• Issued: 11/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Hayashi, Hiroshi, Maruta, Tomoe, Furusawa, Hiromi, Noda, Goro
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hewitt, II, Calvin L
• Application Number:
  US08/543,312
• Time in Patent Office: 2,227 Days
• Field of Search: 395/751, 395/752, 395/753, 395/754, 395/757, 395/2.66, 395/2.8, 340/825.19, 379/52, 379/93, 379/96, 379/97, 379/98, 704/1, 704/2, 704/3, 704/4, 704/7, 704/271, 704/277, 704/257, 705/1, 705/50, 705/51
• US Class Current: 704/4
• 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 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation

Abstract

An apparatus for language translation is arranged such that phrases having identical meanings in different languages are stored by category. Following inputs of a phrase, a user selects a language by a language selecting button, observes a translation of the input phrase and selects a response phrase by up/down, left/right scroll buttons. On the basis of this selection, the selected response phrase in the particular language is read out from a storage device, is displayed on a display, and an address number of this phrase is transmitted to a remote plate by making use of a telephone line or the like. A receiver in the remote place outputs a received phrase in a particular language from its storage device on the basis of the received phrase number and the designation of the particular language.

Claims

1. An interactive system providing language information, comprising:

phrase storage means for storing a plurality of phrases wherein said phrases are stored in a predetermined language, and each of said phrases have phrase information and ordered so that first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions immediately precede second phrases of the plurality of phrases which are replies to the first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions;

input means for inputting a phrase of a high frequency of use among the plurality of phrases wherein the input means inputs only the phrase of a high frequency of use; and

transmitting means for transmitting phrase information of the phrase storage means specifying the phrase input by said input means for use by a remote system.

2. An interactive system providing language information comprising:

phrase storage means for storing a plurality of attributes, each attribute having a plurality of phrases wherein said phrases are stored in a predetermined language and ordered so that first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions immediately precede second phrases of the plurality of phrases which are replies to the first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions;

attribute designating means for designating a designated attribute of the plurality of attributes;

phrase designating means for designating a phrase from among the plurality of phrases having the designated attribute as designated by said attribute designating means; and

transmitting means for transmitting phrase information of the phrase storage means specifying the designated phrase and the designated attribute to a remote system.

3. An interactive system providing language information, comprising:

keyword designating means for designating a keyword;

phrase storage means for storing a plurality of phrases and/or words wherein said phrases and/or words are stored in a predetermined language and wherein each of the plurality of said phrases and/or words is classified by an attribute and ordered so that first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions immediately precede second phrases of the plurality of phrases which are replies to the first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions;

output means for outputting a phrase or a word from the plurality of phrases and/or words relating to said designated keyword along with a phrase or word attribute associated with said phrase or word;

transmitting means for transmitting said phrase or word of the phrase storage means and said phrase or word attribute associated with said phrase or word of the phrase storage means to a remote system.

6. The interactive system according to claim 3, wherein said output means is a visual display device.

7. The interactive system according to claim 3, wherein said output means includes an auditory output device.

8. The interactive system according to claim 6, wherein the display includes a character displaying portion and a phrase usage attribute displaying portion.

9. The interactive system according to claim 6, further comprising an auditory output device that audibly outputs speech information corresponding to the one or more identified phrases.

10. The interactive system according to claim 8, wherein the phrase usage attribute displaying portion displays phrase usage attributes in the form of pictograms.

4. An interactive system providing language information comprising:

storage means for storing phrases and/or words wherein said phrases and/or words are classified by a plurality of attributes and ordered so that first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions immediately precede second phrases of the plurality of phrases which are replies to the first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions;

receiving means for receiving data from a remote system specifying a first one of the phrases or words of the storage means;

attribute detecting means for detecting a first attribute of said first specified phrase or word;

display means for displaying said first specified phrase or said first specified word and displaying said first detected attribute; and

transmitting means for transmitting said first specified phrase or said first specified word of the storage means and said first detected attribute to a remote system.

5. The interactive system according to claim 4, further comprising a means to automatically change said first attribute being displayed to a second attribute corresponding to a new phrase or a new word if said first phrase or said first word being displayed is updated to the new phrase or the new word.

11. A language information device, comprising:

a keyword input interface by which a keyword may be input;

a phrase memory for storing a plurality of phrases wherein the phrases are classified by one or more phrase usage attributes and ordered so that first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions immediately precede second phrases of the plurality of phrases which are replies to the first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions;

a processor, the processor operating to identify one or more identified phrases of the plurality of phrases based on the keyword;

a display that displays the one or more identified phrases along with an associated phrase usage attribute; and

a transmitter that transmits to a remote device, information regarding the identified phrases of the phrase memory and the associated phrase usage attributes.

12. A language information device, comprising:

a keyword input interface by which a keyword may be input;

a phrase memory that stores a plurality of phrases wherein the phrases are classified by one or more phrase usage attributes and ordered so that first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions immediately precede second phrases of the plurality of phrases which are replies to the first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions;

a processor, the processor operating to identify one or more identified phrase of the plurality of phrases based on the keyword;

a user interface by which one of the one or more identified phrases may be selected; and

a transmitter that transmits information regarding the selected one or more identified phrases of the phrase memory to another language information device, the information including a phrase identifier and a phrase usage attribute of the selected one or more identified phrases.

13. A language information device, comprising:

a phrase memory that stores a plurality of phrases wherein the phrases wherein the phrases are classified by one or more phrase usage attributes and ordered so that first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions immediately precede second phrases of the plurality of phrases which are replies to the first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions;

a receiver that receives phrase information regarding a phrase of the phrase memory from another language information device, the phrase information including a phrase usage attribute of the phrase; and

a processor that identifies a phrase from the plurality of phrases stored in the phrase memory based on the received phrase information.

14. The language information device of claim 13, further comprising a display that displays the identified phrase and the phrase usage attribute associated with the identified phrase.

15. A language information device, comprising:

a storage means for storing a plurality of phrases wherein the phrases are classified by one or more phrase usage attributes and ordered so that first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions immediately precede second phrases of the plurality of phrases which are replies to the first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions;

a receiving means for receiving phrase information regarding a phrase from another language information device, the phrase information including a phrase usage attribute of the phrase; and

and identification means for identifying a phrase from the plurality of phrases stored in the storage means based on the received phrase information.

16. A method of transmitting phrase information to a receiving device, comprising:

receiving a keyword;

identifying one or more identified phrases from a plurality of stored phrases based on the received keyword, the one or more identified phrases having associated phrase usage attribute information and wherein the phrases are ordered so that first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions immediately precede second phrases of the plurality of phrases which are replies to the first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions;

selecting a selected phrase from the one or more identified phrases; and

transmitting phrase information regarding the selected stored phrase to the receiving device, the phrase information including a phrase identifier and the phrase usage attribute information of the selected one or more identified phrases.

17. A method of displaying a phrase, comprising:

receiving phrase information regarding a phrase from a sending device, the phrase information including a phrase usage attribute of the phrase;

identifying a phrase from a plurality of phrases stored in a storage means based on the received phrase information and where the phrases are ordered so that first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions immediately precede second phrases of the plurality of phrases which are replies to the first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions;

displaying the identified phrase stored in a storage means along with phrase usage information associated with the identified phrase.

18. A method of providing language information, comprising:

storing a plurality of attributes, each attribute having a plurality of phrases wherein the phrases are stored in the predetermined language and ordered so that first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions immediately precede second phrases of the plurality of phrases which are replies to the first phrases of the plurality of phrases which are questions;

designating any one of the plurality of attributes;

designating a phrase from among the plurality of phrases having the designated attribute; and

transmitting stored phrase information specifying the designated phrase and the designated attribute to a remote system.