System and method for generating grammatically correct text strings

• US 7,983,895 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2004
• Issued: 07/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Daybreak Game Company, LLC (Enad Global 7 AB)
• Original Assignee: Sony Online Entertainment LLC (Enad Global 7 AB)
• Inventors: Mauer, William M., Riley, Steven J., McEntee, Robert A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hudspeth; David R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Spooner; Lamont M
• Application Number:
  US10/985,352
• Publication Number:
  US 20060100853A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,443 Days
• Field of Search: 704 2- 8, 715/265
• US Class Current: 704/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/253 Grammatical analysis; Style critique
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/45 Example-based machine translation; Alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

A system and method for generating grammatically correct text in a target language based on one or more text templates and corresponding context in a source language comprises a software module configured to select one or more source language text templates and corresponding context in the source language. The system also includes a localization engine configured to obtain the selected one or more source language text templates and corresponding context in the target language from memory, apply the target language context to the one or more target language text templates, and apply one or more grammatical rules for the target language, thereby generating a grammatically correct text string in the target language. The system further includes a display configured to display the grammatically correct text string in the target language.

Claims

1. A translation development server configured to generate a grammatically correct text string in a target language based on a source language text string, the server comprising:

an interface configured to receive the source language text string, and generate a source language text template based at least in part on variable elements of the source language text string, the source language text template comprising one or more tokens which represent words or phrases in the source language text string, and the one or more tokens including a token operator and a token operand,

wherein the token operator is assigned to a variable text clement, the variable text element analyzed to identify a context type of the variable text element which is assigned to the token operand;

a translator development tool configured to operate in conjunction with the source language text template and source language metadata to generate corresponding target language text template, target language metadata, and one or more target language grammatical rules; and

a translation tool to generate the target language text template and the target language metadata corresponding to the source language text template and the source language metadata by parsing and translating the source language text template into the target language text template using the token operator, the token operand, and the source language metadata, the translation tool further configured to generate the text string in the target language using the target language text template, the target language metadata, and the one or more target language grammatical rules.

2. The server of claim 1, wherein the context type includes at least one of number, gender, type of object, rank, age, and faction.

3. The server of claim 1, further comprising

a plurality of client devices, each client device including a translation tool configured to operate in conjunction with the translation development tool to generate the grammatically correct text string in the target language based on the source language text string.

4. A method of generating a grammatically correct text string in a target language based on a source language text string, the method implemented in a client-server system and comprising:

receiving the source language text string from at least one of client and server text string, and generating a source language text template based at least in part on variable elements of the source language text string within at least one of client and server, the source language text template comprising one or more tokens which represent words or phrases in the source language text string, and the one or more tokens including a token operator and a token operand,

wherein the token operator is assigned to a variable text element, the variable text element analyzed to identify a context type of the variable text element which is assigned to the token operand;

generating a target language text template and target language metadata corresponding to the source language text template and the source language metadata by parsing and translating the source language text template into the target language text template using the token operator, the token operand, and the source language metadata within at least one of client and server; and

generating the text string in the target language using the target language text template, the target language metadata, and one or more target language grammatical rules within at least one of client and server.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the text string in the target language further comprises

expanding the target language text template according to the one or more target language grammar rules.

6. A computer readable medium configured to store a program executing a method of generating a grammatically correct text string in a target language based on a source language text string, the program comprising executable instructions that cause a computer to:

receive the source language text string, and generate a source language text template based at least in part on variable elements of the source language text string, the source language text template comprising one or more tokens which represent words or phrases in the source language text string, and the one or more tokens including a token operator and a token operand,

wherein the token operator is assigned to a variable text element, the variable text element analyzed to identify a context type of the variable text element which is assigned to the token operand;

generate a target language text template and target language metadata corresponding to the source language text template and the source language metadata by parsing and translating the source language text template into the target language text template using the token operator, the token operand, and the source language metadata; and

generate the text string in the target language using the target language text template, the target language metadata, and one or more target language grammatical rules.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the context type comprises at least one of number, gender type, rank, age, and faction.

8. A computer gaming system configured to a generate grammatically correct text string in a target language based on a source language text string, the system comprising:

a translation development server;

a game console in communication with the translation development server via a network, the game console including a game software module configured to receive the source language text string, and generate a source language text template based at least in part on variable elements of the source language text string, the source language text template comprising one or more tokens which represent words or phrases in the source language text string, and the one or more tokens including a token operator and a token operand,

wherein the token operator is assigned to a variable text element, the variable text element analyzed to identify a context type of the variable text element which is assigned to the token operand;

the translation development server comprising;

a translator development tool configured to receive the source language text template and source language metadata from the game software module to generate corresponding target language text template, target language metadata, and one or more target language grammatical rules; and

a translation tool to generate the target language text template and the target language metadata corresponding to the source language text template and the source language metadata by parsing and translating the source language text template into the target language text template using the token operator, the token operand, and the source language metadata, the translation tool further configured to generate the text string in the target language using the target language text template, the target language metadata, and the one or more target language grammatical rules.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the context type includes at least one of number, gender, type of object, rank, age, and faction.

10. A translation system configured to generate a grammatically correct text string in a target language based on a source language text string, the translation system comprising:

a translation application interface configured to receive a source language text template from a software module of a computer game,

wherein the source language text template is generated based at least in part on variable elements of the source language text string, the source language text template comprising one or more tokens which represent words or phrases in the source language text string, and the one or more tokens including a token operator and a token operand,

wherein the token operator is assigned to a variable text element, the variable text element analyzed to identify a context type of the variable text element which is assigned to the token operand; and

a localization engine configured to operate in conjunction with the translation application interface module to generate the grammatically correct text string in the target language.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the localization engine generates the grammatically correct text string in the target language by:

coding target language grammatical rules;

searching lookup tables for a target language text template and a target context corresponding to the source language text template and the context type;

applying the target context to the target language text template to expand the target language text template according to the target language grammatical rules;

outputting the expanded target language text template as the grammatically correct text string in the target language.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising

adding and modifying mctadata for a variant text associated with the source language text string according to attributes of the target language, wherein the text string in the target language is defined using the modified metadata in addition to the translated target language text template.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising

modifying the text string in the target language with supplemental information, wherein the supplemental information includes at least one of supplemental details and supplemental directives.

12. A computer-implemented method of generating a grammatically correct text string in a target language based on a source language text string, the method implement in a client-server system and comprising the method comprising:

generating a source language text template based on the source language text string within at least one of client and server, the source language text template including at least one token, wherein the at least one token includes;

a token operator assigned to a variable text element included in the source language text string, wherein a first symbol is designated as the token operator, and wherein the first symbol corresponds to a predefined source language grammar rule, and

a token operand assigned to the variable text element, wherein a second symbol is designated as the token operand, and wherein the second symbol corresponds to a predefined context type;

translating one or more words in the source language text template to one or more words in the target language so as to generate a target language text template within at least one of client and server; and

defining the text string in the target language from the translated target language text template according to target language grammatical rules within at least one of client and server.