Providing definitions that are sensitive to the context of a text
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- an electronic device comprisingone or more persistent data storage devices storingmultiple definitions of a first term, each of the definitions stored in association with a characterization of a context of texts in which the definition appropriately characterizes usage of the first term, wherein at least some of the definitions are stored in association with characterizations of time periods, andone or more media files that includes textual content, the textual content including the first term;
one or more display screens configured to display the textual content of a first of the media files;
one or more input elements configured to receive a user selection of the first term within a particular textual content; and
one or more data processing devices programmed to respond to receipt of the user selection of the first term by performing operations comprisingaccessing, from the one or more persistent data storage devices, the characterizations of the contexts of the texts that are stored in association with the definitions of the first term,comparing the accessed characterizations of the contexts of the texts with one or more characteristics of the context of the particular textual content, andranking the definitions of the first term according to respective likelihoods that the definitions appropriately characterize the usage of the first term within the particular textual content,wherein the one or more data processing devices is programmed to compare the time periods with a date when the particular textual content was authored.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and techniques for providing definitions to a user. The provision embodies the context of a text in which the defined term appears. In one aspect, a system includes an electronic device that includes one or more data processing devices programmed to respond to receipt of the user selection of the first term by performing operations. The operations include accessing, from the one or more persistent data storage devices, the characterizations of the contexts of the texts, comparing the accessed characterizations of the contexts of the texts with one or more characteristics of the context of the textual content of a media file, and ranking the definitions of the first term according to respective likelihoods that the definitions appropriately characterize the usage of the first term within the textual content of the media file.
35 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
an electronic device comprising one or more persistent data storage devices storing multiple definitions of a first term, each of the definitions stored in association with a characterization of a context of texts in which the definition appropriately characterizes usage of the first term, wherein at least some of the definitions are stored in association with characterizations of time periods, and one or more media files that includes textual content, the textual content including the first term; one or more display screens configured to display the textual content of a first of the media files; one or more input elements configured to receive a user selection of the first term within a particular textual content; and one or more data processing devices programmed to respond to receipt of the user selection of the first term by performing operations comprising accessing, from the one or more persistent data storage devices, the characterizations of the contexts of the texts that are stored in association with the definitions of the first term, comparing the accessed characterizations of the contexts of the texts with one or more characteristics of the context of the particular textual content, and ranking the definitions of the first term according to respective likelihoods that the definitions appropriately characterize the usage of the first term within the particular textual content, wherein the one or more data processing devices is programmed to compare the time periods with a date when the particular textual content was authored. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method performed by a system of one or more data processing devices, the method comprising:
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receiving, by the system, user selection of a term found in a text displayed by the system; determining, by the system, one or more of a historical context of the text, a geographical context of the text, or a subject matter context of the text; comparing, by the system, the one or more of the historical, the geographic, or the subject matter contexts of the text to one or more characteristics of different definitions of the selected term; ranking, by the system, the different definitions of the selected term based at least in part on a result of the comparison; and displaying, by the system, one or more of the different definitions according to the ranking of the different definitions; receiving, by the system, a user confirmation of the propriety or impropriety of a displayed definition; receiving user selection of a second term found in the text; and ranking, by the system, different definitions of the second term based at least in part on the user confirmation of the propriety or impropriety of the definition of the first term; and displaying, by the system, one or more of the different definitions of the second term according to the ranking of the different definitions of the second term, wherein the first term differs from the second term. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system of electronic devices, the system comprising:
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a plurality of electronic devices each comprising; one or more persistent data storage devices storing multiple definitions of a first term, each of the definitions stored in association with a characterization of a context of texts in which the definition appropriately characterizes usage of the first term, wherein at least some of the definitions are stored in association with characterizations of time periods, and a media file that includes textual content, the textual content including the first term; one or more display screens configured to display the textual content of the media file; one or more input elements configured to receive a user selection of the first term within the textual content; and one or more data processors programmed to receive user confirmations of the propriety or impropriety of different definitions for characterizing usage of a first term in a particular text, the one or more data processing devices programmed to respond to receipt of the user selection of the first term by performing operations comprising accessing, from the one or more persistent data storage devices, the characterizations of the contexts of the texts, comparing the accessed characterizations of the contexts of the texts with one or more characteristics of the context of the textual content of the media file, the comparing including comparing the time periods with a date when the textual content was authored, and ranking the definitions of the first term according to respective likelihoods that the definitions appropriately characterize the usage of the first term within the textual content of the media file; and a communication interface configured to output messages characterizing the user confirmations and the particular text. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A method implemented by a system of one or more data processing devices, the method comprising:
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receiving, at the system from a plurality of remote electronic devices, a plurality of messages characterizing user confirmations of the propriety or impropriety of different definitions for characterizing usages of a first term in different texts; storing information characterizing the definitions and the texts in one or more persistent data storage devices; analyzing, by the system, the information stored at the one or more persistent data storage devices to determine a plurality of weights that represent likelihoods that the different definitions appropriately characterize usages of the first term in a plurality of different time periods; and outputting the plurality of weights and identifiers of the time periods in which the weights represent the likelihoods from the system. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A system comprising:
an electronic device comprising one or more persistent data storage devices storing multiple definitions of a first term, each of the definitions stored in association with a characterization of a context of texts in which the definition appropriately characterizes usage of the first term, wherein at least some of the definitions are stored in association with characterizations of time periods, and one or more media files that includes textual content, the textual content including the first term; one or more display screens configured to display the textual content of a first of the media files; one or more input elements configured to receive a user selection of the first term within a particular textual content; and one or more data processing devices programmed to respond to receipt of the user selection of the first term by performing operations comprising accessing, from the one or more persistent data storage devices, the characterizations of the contexts of the texts that are stored in association with the definitions of the first term, comparing the accessed characterizations of the contexts of the texts with one or more characteristics of the context of the particular textual content, and ranking the definitions of the first term according to respective likelihoods that the definitions appropriately characterize the usage of the first term within the particular textual content, wherein the one or more data processing devices is programmed to analyze the particular textual content to determine the characteristics of the context of the particular textual content.
Specification