Enhanced linguistic transformation

• US 7,881,928 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2007
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gu, Liang, Zhang, Wei, Gao, Yuqing
• Primary Examiner(s): Hudspeth; David R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Spooner; Lamont M
• Application Number:
  US11/680,863
• Publication Number:
  US 20080077386A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,433 Days
• Field of Search: 704 2- 8, 704/246, 704/251, 704/255, 704/270, 704/275
• US Class Current: 704/231
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• 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

Techniques for enhanced linguistic transformation are disclosed. For example, a method of linguistic transformation includes the steps of providing at least one input to a plurality of modules, wherein at least one module has a different configuration than at least another module, obtaining at least one output from each of at least a subset of the plurality of modules, and generating a set of distinct outputs. The input and the output include linguistic representations and at least a portion of the output is a result of applying one or more linguistic transformations to at least a portion of the input.

Techniques for displaying a plurality of results so as to emphasize component-level differences are also disclosed. By way of example, a method of displaying a plurality of results includes the steps of determining at least one primary result within the plurality of results; displaying the at least one primary result with at least a first set of color attributes; and displaying at least one alternative result with at least a second set of color attributes. Each result represents an application of at least one linguistic transformation to a common input and each result comprises a plurality of components.

Claims

1. A method of linguistic transformation, the method comprising the steps of:

providing at least one input to a plurality of modules, wherein at least a first module has a different configuration than at least a second module;

obtaining at least one output from each of at least a subset of the plurality of modules;

generating an output set, wherein the output set comprises at least a portion of a set of distinct outputs obtained from the modules;

presenting the output set to a user;

permitting the user to select at least one output from the presented output set; and

presenting at least one future output generated by at least one module with an altered characteristic relative to at least one future output generated by other modules, wherein the at least one module at least one of;

generated the at least one output selected by the user; and

assigned a high probability value to the at least one output selected by the user;

wherein the input and the output comprise linguistic representations and at least a portion of the output is a result of applying one or more linguistic transformations to at least a portion of the input;

wherein generating the output set comprises a step of removing duplicates from the outputs obtained from the modules such that each output within the output set is distinct.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

sorting the output set based on at least one score value associated with each member of the output set, wherein the at least one score value associated with a given member of the output set is based at least in part on how many of the plurality of modules generated the given member of the output set.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining at least one primary result within the output set;

displaying the at least one primary result with at least a first set of color attributes; and

displaying at least one alternative result with at least a second set of color attributes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one module generated the at least one output selected by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one module assigned a high probability value to the at least one output selected by the user.

6. A system for linguistic transformation, the system comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and operative to;

provide at least one input to a plurality of modules, wherein at least a first module has a different configuration than at least a second module;

obtain at least one output from each of at least a subset of the plurality of modules;

generate an output set, wherein the output set comprises at least a portion of a set of distinct outputs obtained from the modules;

present the output set to a user;

permit the user to select at least one output from the presented output set; and

present at least one future output generated by at least one module with an altered characteristic relative to at least one future output generated by other modules, wherein the at least one module at least one of;

generated the at least one output selected by the user; and

assigned a high probability value to the at least one output selected by the user;

wherein the input and the output comprise linguistic representations and at least a portion of the output is a result of applying one or more linguistic transformations to at least a portion of the input;

wherein generating the output set comprises a step of removing duplicates from the outputs obtained from the modules such that each output within the output set is distinct.

7. An article of manufacture for linguistic transformation, comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:

providing at least one input to a plurality of modules, wherein at least a first module has a different configuration than at least a second module;

obtaining at least one output from each of at least a subset of the plurality of modules;

generating an output set, wherein the output set comprises at least a portion of a set of distinct outputs obtained from the modules;

presenting the output set to a user;

permitting the user to select at least one output from the presented output set; and

presenting at least one future output generated by at least one module with an altered characteristic relative to at least one future output generated by other modules, wherein the at least one module at least one of;

generated the at least one output selected by the user; and

assigned a high probability value to the at least one output selected by the user

wherein the input and the output comprise linguistic representations and at least a portion of the output is the result of applying one or more linguistic transformations to at least a portion of the input; and

wherein generating the output set comprises a step of removing duplicates from the outputs obtained from the modules such that each output within the output set is distinct.

8. A method of displaying a plurality of results so as to emphasize component-level differences, the method comprising the steps of:

determining at least one primary result within the plurality of results;

displaying the at least one primary result with at least a first set of color attributes; and

displaying at least one alternative result,

wherein each result represents an application of at least one linguistic transformation to a common input, and

wherein each result comprises a plurality of components;

wherein a given alternative result is displayed with at least a second set of color attributes if only one component differs between the primary result and the given alternative result; and

wherein the given alternative result is displayed with at least a third set of color attributes if a plurality of components differ between the primary result and the given alternative result.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of displaying at least one alternative result comprises:

displaying at least a portion of the components which are identical in the primary result and the given alternative result with the first set of color attributes; and

displaying at least a portion of the components which are different in the primary result and the given alternative result with a set of color attributes other than the first set of color attributes.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of results is generated by performing the steps of:

providing at least one input to a plurality of modules, wherein at least one module has a different configuration than at least another module;

obtaining at least one output from each of at least a subset of the plurality of modules; and

generating a plurality of results, wherein the plurality of results comprises at least a portion of a set of distinct outputs obtained from the modules;

wherein generating the plurality of results comprises a step of removing duplicates from the outputs obtained from the modules such that each result within the plurality of results is distinct.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein each component consists of a letter and each result comprises one or more words.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein each component consists of a word and each result comprises a plurality of words.

13. A system for displaying a plurality of results so as to emphasize component-level differences, the system comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and operative to;

determine at least one primary result within the plurality of results;

display the at least one primary result with at least a first set of color attributes; and

display at least one alternative result,

wherein each result represents an application of at least one linguistic transformation to a common input, and

wherein each result comprising a plurality of components;

wherein a given alternative result is displayed with at least a second set of color attributes if only one component differs between the primary result and the given alternative result; and

wherein the given alternative result is displayed with at least a third set of color attributes if a plurality of components differ between the primary result and the given alternative result.

14. An article of manufacture for displaying a plurality of results so as to emphasize component-level differences, the article comprising a machine readable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:

determining at least one primary result within the plurality of results;

displaying the at least one primary result with at least a first set of color attributes; and

displaying at least one alternative result,

wherein each result represents an application of at least one linguistic transformation to a common input, and

wherein each result comprises a plurality of components;

wherein a given alternative result is displayed with at least a second set of color attributes if only one component differs between the primary result and the given alternative result; and

wherein the given alternative result is displayed with at least a third set of color attributes if a plurality of components differ between the primary result and the given alternative result.

15. A method of linguistic transformation, the method comprising the steps of:

providing at least one input to a plurality of modules, wherein at least one module has a different configuration than at least another module;

obtaining at least one output from each of at least a subset of the plurality of modules;

generating an output set, wherein the output set comprises at least a portion of a set of distinct outputs obtained from the modules,

determining at least one primary result within the output set;

displaying the at least one primary result with at least a first set of color attributes; and

displaying at least one alternative result,

wherein the input and the output comprise linguistic representations and at least a portion of the output is a result of applying one or more linguistic transformations to at least a portion of the input;

wherein generating the output set comprises a step of removing duplicates from the outputs obtained from the modules such that each output within the output set is distinct;

wherein a given alternative result is displayed with at least a second set of color attributes if only one component differs between the primary result and the given alternative result; and

wherein the given alternative result is displayed with at least a third set of color attributes if a plurality of components differ between the primary result and the given alternative result.