Holographic speech translation system and method

• US 7,286,993 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2004
• Issued: 10/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Product Discovery, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Product Discovery, Inc.
• Inventors: Brotz, Gregory R.
• Primary Examiner(s): HARPER, V PAUL
• Application Number:
  US10/898,124
• Publication Number:
  US 20050038663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,187 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 704/277
• 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: G10L 21/06 Transformation of speech into a non-audible representation, e.g. speech visualisation or speech processing for tactile aids G10L15/26 takes precedence

Abstract

Some embodiments of the present invention provide a speech translation system comprising a display upon which at least one word spoken by a user can be displayed. The speech translation system can include a holographic storage medium having a plurality of frames, each having data representative of at least one word in a source language. In some embodiments, the system includes one or more lasers positioned to direct a first beam of light to the display to generate a first modified beam of light leaving the display. This modified beam of light can be directed to the holographic storage medium to scan for a matching speech segment stored in the holographic storage medium. Upon detecting a match, some embodiments of the system can generate a translation of the speech segment by receiving a second modified beam of light from the holographic storage medium and carrying information representative of the translation.

Claims

1. A speech translation system, comprising:

a display upon which data corresponding to at least one spoken word of a user is displayed;

a holographic storage medium having a plurality of frames oriented at different angles within the holographic storage medium, each frame having;

a first portion carrying data representative of at least one word in a first language, and

a second portion carrying data representative of at least one word in a second language, wherein the at least one word in the second language is a translation of the at least one word in the first language;

a first laser positioned to direct a beam of light through the display and the holographic storage medium, at least one of the holographic storage medium and the first laser movable to direct the beam to different frames of the plurality of frames; and

at least one light detector positioned to receive light from the laser through the holographic storage medium;

an output device by which translated speech is provided to a user; and

a correlation detector coupled to the at least one detector and adapted to detect a match between the at least one spoken word upon the display and the data representative of at least one word in the first language in the first portion of a frame, the correlation detector responsive to detection of the match by sending the data representative of the at least one word in the second language in the second portion of the frame to the output device.

2. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and second portions of each frame are co-planar.

3. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and second portions of each frame lie in planes oriented at an angle with respect to one another, and wherein the angle is greater than zero degrees.

4. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the output device comprises a speech synthesizer.

5. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first laser is positioned to direct a beam of light through the second portion of the frame in the holographic storage medium to generate a modified beam of light received by the light detector.

6. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a second laser positioned to direct a beam of light through the second portion of the frame in the holographic storage medium to generate a modified beam of light.

7. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of frames are angle-multiplexed frames.

8. A speech translation system, comprising:

a display upon which at least one word spoken by a user in a first language can be displayed;

a holographic storage medium having a plurality of frames, each frame having data representative of at least one word in the first language and a translation of the at least one word in a second language;

at least one first laser positioned to direct light to the display to generate a first modified beam of light leaving the display, the first modified beam of light received by the holographic storage medium to generate a second modified beam of light leaving the holographic storage medium, the first modified beam of light carrying information from the display representative of the at least one word spoken by the user in the first language, the second modified beam of light carrying information from the holographic storage medium reflecting a degree of similarity between the at least one word spoken by the user in the first language and at least one word in the first language stored in the holographic storage medium;

a first detector positioned to receive the second modified beam of light; and

at least one of the first detector and a second detector positioned to receive a third modified beam of light from the holographic storage medium, the third modified beam of light carrying information from the holographic storage medium representative of a translation in the second language of the at least one word in the first language stored in the holographic storage medium;

a correlation detector coupled to the first detector and adapted to identify a match between the information from the display and the information from the holographic storage medium reflecting the degree of similarity.

9. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 8, wherein:

the second modified beam of light leaves a first portion of a first frame of the plurality of frames; and

the third modified beam of light leaves a second portion of the first frame.

10. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first and second portions of the first frame are substantially co-planar.

11. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the first and second portions of the first frame lie in planes oriented at an angle with respect to one another, and wherein the angle is greater than zero degrees.

12. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the third modified beam of light is generated by light from the at least one first laser and received by the holographic storage medium.

13. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the third modified beam of light is generated by light from at least one second laser and received by the holographic storage medium.

14. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the at least one first laser is movable to change a positional relationship of the at least one first laser with respect to the holographic storage medium.

15. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the holographic storage medium is movable to change a positional relationship of the at least one first laser with respect to the holographic storage medium.

16. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 8, further comprising an output device by which translated speech is provided to a user.

17. The speech translation system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the correlation detector is adapted to identify a match based at least in part by an intensity of the second modified beam of light.