System and method for providing dynamic multiple language support for application programs

• US 7,653,529 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2006
• Issued: 01/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alto Dynamics, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: FL NA Software Holding LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Litster, Andre, Broadhead, Shaun
• Primary Examiner(s): Hudspeth; David R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Spooner; Lamont M
• Application Number:
  US11/526,506
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150258A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,219 Days
• Field of Search: 704 2- 8
• US Class Current: 704/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

In response to a user activating a language switching mechanism to indicate a newly selected language, a language switch component sends a language key that corresponds to a first language sensitive element displayed in the user interface to a language resource manager. The language resource manager retrieves from a language resource bundle, which corresponds to the newly selected language, a second language sensitive element. The language switch component then replaces the first language sensitive element with the second language sensitive element. The replacement process is then repeated for all language sensitive elements in the user interface.

Claims

1. A system for providing multiple language support for

at least one application program, comprising:

a plurality of language resource bundles, stored on a computer-readable storage medium, comprising associations between language keys and displayable language-sensitive elements, at least some of the plurality of language resource bundles corresponding to different languages, wherein at least one of the associations is specific to a particular application and at least one of the associations is applicable to a plurality of applications, such that each of the plurality of language resource bundles includes both application-specific and generic associations;

a language resource manager, stored on a computer-readable storage medium, configured to receive a first language key, locate a first language resource bundle corresponding to a first selected language, identify within the first language resource bundle a first language-sensitive element associated with the first language key, provide the first language-sensitive element to an application program for display in a graphical user interface, receive a second language key, locate a second language resource bundle corresponding to a second selected language, identify within the second language resource bundle a second language-sensitive element associated with the second language key, and provide the second language-sensitive element to the application program to replace the first language-sensitive element in the graphical user interface; and

a language switching component stored on a computer-readable storage medium and configured to preempt application programs, discard a currently displayed graphical user interface, generate a new graphical user interface comprising at least one new language-sensitive element for a received language key, and resume execution of preempted application programs.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second language keys are received by the language resource manager from the application program.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the language resource manager provides a mechanism for switching from the first selected language to the second selected language.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one language-sensitive element is a non-text language-sensitive element selected from the group consisting of an icon, a graphic, and a video clip.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the language resource manager is further configured to replace at least some of a plurality of language-sensitive elements displayed in the graphical user interface with new language-sensitive elements in response to a change from the first selected language to the second selected language.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a parser configured to parse a language resource file comprising descriptors of language keys and descriptors of language-sensitive elements and to generate therefrom a language resource bundle, wherein the descriptors of language keys and descriptors of language-sensitive elements are editable as human readable text.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one descriptor of a language key is selected from the group consisting of a string, a character, a number, and a symbol.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one descriptor of a language-sensitive element comprises an address.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the address comprises a file name.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one descriptor of a language key comprises a string.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one descriptor of a language key comprises a character.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one descriptor of a language key comprises a number.

13. The system of claim 6, wherein at least one descriptor of a language key comprises a symbol.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one language-sensitive element comprises an icon.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one language-sensitive element comprises a graphic.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one language-sensitive element comprises a video clip.

17. A method for providing multiple language support for at least one application program, comprising:

receiving a first language key;

locating a first language resource bundle corresponding to a first selected language, wherein the first language resource bundle is selected from a plurality of language resource bundles comprising associations between language keys and displayable language-sensitive elements, at least some of the plurality of language resource bundles corresponding to different languages, wherein at least one of the associations is specific to a particular application and at least one of the associations is applicable to a plurality of applications, such that at least some individual resource bundles include both application-specific and generic associations;

identifying within the first language resource bundle a first language-sensitive element associated with the first language key;

providing the first language-sensitive element to an application program for display in a graphical user interface;

receiving a second language key;

locating a second language resource bundle corresponding to a second selected language;

identifying within the second language resource bundle a second language-sensitive element associated with the second language key;

providing the second language-sensitive element to the application program to replace the first language-sensitive element in the graphical user interface, wherein providing the second language-sensitive element comprises;

preempting the application program;

discarding a graphical user interface;

generating a new graphical user interface comprising the second language-sensitive element; and

resuming execution of the application program.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first and second language keys are received by the language resource manager from an application program.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

providing a mechanism for switching from the first selected language to the second selected language.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one language-sensitive element is a non-text language-sensitive element selected from the group consisting of an icon, a graphic, and a video clip.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

replacing at least some of a plurality of language-sensitive elements displayed in a graphical user interface with new language-sensitive elements in response to a change from the first selected language to the second selected language.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

parsing a language resource file comprising descriptors of language keys and descriptors of language-sensitive elements and to generate therefrom a language resource bundle, wherein the descriptors of language keys and descriptors of language-sensitive elements are editable as human-readable text.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein at least one descriptor of a language key is selected from the group consisting of a string, a character, a number, and a symbol.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein at least one descriptor of a language key comprises a string.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein at least one descriptor of a language key comprises a character.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein at least one descriptor of a language key comprises a number.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein at least one descriptor of a language key comprises a symbol.

28. The method of claim 22, wherein at least one descriptor of a language sensitive element comprises an address.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the address comprises a file name.

30. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one language-sensitive element comprises an icon.

31. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one language-sensitive element comprises a graphic.

32. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one language-sensitive element comprises a video clip.

33. A system for providing multiple language support for at least one application program, comprising:

a parser, stored on a computer-readable storage medium, configured to parse a language resource file comprising descriptors of language keys and descriptors of language-sensitive elements and to generate therefrom a language resource bundle, wherein the descriptors of language keys and descriptors of language-sensitive elements are editable as human-readable text;

a plurality of language resource bundles, generated by the parser, comprising associations between language keys and displayable language-sensitive elements, at least some of the plurality of language resource bundles corresponding to different languages;

a language resource manager, stored on a computer-readable storage medium, configured to replace at least some of a plurality of language-sensitive elements displayed in a graphical user interface with new language-sensitive elements in response to a change from a first selected language to a second selected language, wherein the language resource manager is configured to receive language keys for the respective language-sensitive elements of the graphical user interface and use the language keys to identify corresponding language-sensitive elements in a particular language resource bundle associated with the second language; and

a language switching component stored on a computer-readable storage medium and configured to preempt application programs, discard a currently displayed graphical user interface, generate a new graphical user interface comprising at least one new language-sensitive element for a received language key, and resume execution of preempted application programs.

34. A system for providing multiple language support for at least one application program, the system comprising:

a language switching component embodied on a computer-readable storage medium and configured to;

preempt an application program;

save a state of the application program;

discard a graphical user interface;

generate a new graphical user interface comprising at least one new language-sensitive element indicated by a language resource bundle for a received language key;

restore the state of the application program; and

resume execution of the application program.

35. A method comprising:

preempting an application program;

saving a state of the application program;

discarding a graphical user interface;

generating a new graphical user interface comprising at least one new language-sensitive element indicated by a language resource bundle for a received language key;

restoring the state of the application program; and

resuming execution of the application program.

36. A tangible computer-readable medium having stored thereon, computer-executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

preempting an application program;

saving a state of the application program;

discarding a graphical user interface;

generating a new graphical user interface comprising at least one new language-sensitive element indicated by a language resource bundle for a received language key;

restoring the state of the application program; and

resuming execution of the application program.