Systems and methods for advanced grammar checking

• US 9,002,700 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2011
• Issued: 04/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Grammarly, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Grammarly, Inc.
• Inventors: Hoover, Bradley, Lytvyn, Maksym, Shevchenko, Oleksiy
• Primary Examiner(s): AZAD, ABUL K
• Application Number:
  US13/107,501
• Publication Number:
  US 20110313757A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,425 Days
• Field of Search: 704/9, 704/4
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/211 Syntactic parsing, e.g. based on context-free grammar [CFG] or unification grammars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/253 Grammatical analysis; Style critique
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/289 Phrasal analysis, e.g. finite state techniques or chunking

Abstract

In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for methods and systems of grammar checking comprising a grammar checking facility and a plurality of human proofreaders in a crowd-source population for the detection and correction of grammatical errors in text as received from a computing device with input restrictions including reduced size keyboard and display.

Claims

1. A method of grammar checking, the method comprising:

receiving text through a communications network at a first computing device-based grammar checking facility from a second computing device of a user, wherein the grammar checking facility is adapted to automatically detect a plurality of grammatical errors in the text through software algorithms, wherein the second computing device has input limitations including at least one of a reduced size keyboard and a reduced size display relative to a standard keyboard and display;

providing, from the grammar checking facility through the communications network to each of a plurality of human proofreader computing devices of a plurality of human proofreaders in a crowd-source population at least one excerpt of the text containing an identified possible grammatical error as a result of the automated detection of the grammar checking facility so that a human augmented grammar correction is collectively performed by the plurality of human proofreaders in parallel, and wherein each of the plurality of human proofreader computing devices is separate from the first computing device and the second computing device;

receiving and incorporating results of the plurality of human proofreaders to contribute to an at least one corrected version of the received text; and

sending the at least one corrected version back to the second computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one corrected version includes a plurality of corrected excerpts integrated back into the original text where the second computing device receives the entire text with mistakes corrected.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the error is provided to the plurality of human proofreaders for assessment in multiple-choice format.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the error is provided to the plurality of human proofreaders for assessment in short answer format.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the error is provided to the plurality of human proofreaders for assessment of the error.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the grammar checking facility provides the at least one excerpt of the text containing the identified possible grammatical error based on a ranking of the human proofreader.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one corrected version is a redline version.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the excerpt of text is obfuscated as sent to the at least one proofreader.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the grammar checking facility automatically correcting a first level of the plurality of grammatical errors through software algorithms without human intervention, and the human proofreaders correcting a second level of the plurality of grammatical errors.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the human proofreaders detecting additional grammatical errors not found in the grammar checking facility automatic detection of the plurality of grammatical errors, wherein the human proofreaders correct the additional grammatical errors in addition to correcting the plurality of grammatical errors detected through the grammar checking facility.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second computing device is a mobile computing device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the received text was generated as at least one of an email message or a text message on a mobile device.

13. A system of grammar checking, the system comprising:

a first computing device-based grammar checking facility integrated into a computing environment to analyze text generated by a remote second computing device for grammatical errors, wherein a user generates the text on the second computing device, the second computing device transmits the text to the grammar checking facility through a communications network, and the grammar checking facility automatically detects a plurality of grammatical errors in the text through software algorithms and sends, to each of a plurality of third computing devices of a plurality of human proofreaders in a crowd-source population at least one excerpt of the text containing at least one of the plurality of grammatical errors so that human augmented grammar checking of the excerpt is collectively performed by the plurality of human proofreaders in parallel, and wherein each of the plurality of third computing devices is separate from the first computing device and the second computing device,

wherein the results of the human augmented grammar checking by the plurality of human proofreaders contributes to at least one corrected version of the received text,

wherein the at least one corrected version is sent back to the second computing device, and

wherein the second computing device has input limitations including at least one of a reduced size keyboard and a reduced size display relative to a standard keyboard and display.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first computing device is a server, the second computing device is a user client device, and the third computing device is a client computing device.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the second computing device is a mobile computing device.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the received text was generated as at least one of an email message or a text message on a mobile device.

17. A method of grammar checking, the method comprising:

receiving text through a communications network at a first computing device-based grammar checking facility from a second computing device of a user, wherein the grammar checking facility is adapted to automatically detect a plurality of grammatical errors in the text through software algorithms, and the second computing device has input limitations including at least one of a reduced size keyboard and a reduced size display relative to a standard keyboard and display;

detecting the plurality of grammatical errors in the text through the grammar checking facility;

transmitting the plurality of grammatical errors through the communications network to a plurality of human proofreader computing devices of a plurality of human proofreaders in a crowd-source population, where the plurality of grammatical errors is distributed in parallel amongst the plurality of human proofreader computer devices, each grammatical error of the plurality of grammatical errors transmitted to at least one of the plurality of human proofreader computing devices, and wherein each of the plurality of human proofreader computing devices is separate from the first computing device and the second computing device;

correcting the plurality of grammatical errors through the plurality of human proofreaders;

transmitting the corrected plurality of grammatical errors through the communications network to a computing device which is adapted to assemble the corrected text;

assembling a corrected text from the corrected plurality of grammatical errors and the received text; and

transmitting the assembled corrected text to the second computing device of a user.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the grammar checking facility automatically correcting a first level of the plurality of grammatical errors through software algorithms and without human intervention, and the human proofreaders correcting a second level of the plurality of grammatical errors.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising the human proofreaders detecting additional grammatical errors not found in the grammar checking facility automatic detection of the plurality of grammatical errors, wherein the human proofreaders correct the additional grammatical errors in addition to correcting the plurality of grammatical errors detected through the grammar checking facility.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one of the plurality of human proofreader computing devices is a mobile computing device.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the user previously entered the received text into the second computing device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the user entered the received text through at least one of directly typing, uploading, and a copy-and-paste operation into an application on the second computing device.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the user entered the received text though an application program interface (API) associated with the grammar checking facility.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising the human proofreaders contributing to the step of detecting the plurality of grammatical errors in the text, wherein at least a portion of the received text is transmitted across the communication network to at least one the plurality of proofreader computing devices of the plurality of human proofreaders, the at least one of the plurality of human proofreaders detecting grammatical errors in the received text, and transmitting the detected grammatical errors across the communications network to the first computing device-based grammar checking facility.

25. The method of claim 17, further comprising a step of grammar checking the assembled corrected text prior to transmitting to the second computing device of the user.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the grammar checking of the assembled corrected text is provided at least in part by the grammar checking facility.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the grammar checking of the assembled corrected text is provided at least in part by the plurality of human proofreaders.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the plurality of grammatical errors is distributed amongst the plurality of human proofreader computer devices through a bidding process.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the human proofreaders are monitored for quality of proofreading.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the determined quality of proofreading for a human proofreader determines a type of detected error the proofreader is subsequently transmitted.

31. A method of grammar checking, the method comprising:

receiving text through a communications network at a first computing device-based grammar checking facility from a second computing device of a user, wherein the grammar checking facility is adapted to automatically detect a plurality of grammatical errors in the text through software algorithms or segment the received text for distribution through the communications network to a plurality of human proofreader computing devices of a plurality of human proofreaders in a crowd-source population to detect a plurality of grammatical errors in the text, wherein the second computing device has input limitations including at least one of a reduced size keyboard and a reduced size display relative to a standard keyboard and display, and wherein each of the plurality of human proofreader computing devices is separate from the first computing device and the second computing device;

detecting the plurality of grammatical errors in the text through at least one of the grammar checking facility and the plurality of human proofreader computing devices of the plurality of human proofreaders, wherein if the plurality of human proofreaders performs the detecting then the segmented received text is distributed in parallel amongst the plurality of human proofreader computer devices of the plurality of human proofreaders for detection, wherein each of the human proofreaders detects errors and transmits detected errors back to the grammar checking facility through the communications network from the plurality of human proofreader computer devices of the human proofreaders;

correcting the plurality of grammatical errors in the text through the plurality of human proofreader computing devices of the plurality of human proofreaders, wherein the plurality of grammatical error detections is distributed in parallel amongst the plurality of human proofreader computer devices of the human proofreaders for correction, wherein each of the human proofreaders corrects errors and transmits corrections back to the grammar checking facility through the communications network from the plurality of human proofreader computer devices of the human proofreaders;

assembling a corrected text from the corrected plurality of grammatical errors and the received text; and

transmitting the assembled corrected text to the second computing device of a user.

32. A method of grammar checking, the method comprising:

receiving text through a communications network at a first computing device-based grammar checking facility from a second computing device of a user, wherein the grammar checking facility is adapted to segment the received text for distribution through the communications network to a plurality of human proofreader computing devices of a plurality of human proofreaders in a crowd-source population to detect a plurality of grammatical errors in the text, wherein the second computing device has input limitations including at least one of a reduced size keyboard and a reduced size display relative to a standard keyboard and display, and wherein each of the plurality of human proofreader computing devices is separate from the first computing device and the second computing device;

detecting the plurality of grammatical errors in the text through the plurality of human proofreader computing devices of the plurality of human proofreaders, wherein the segmented received text is distributed in parallel amongst the plurality of human proofreader computer devices of the plurality of human proofreaders for detection, wherein each of the human proofreaders detects errors and transmits detected errors back to the grammar checking facility through the communications network from the plurality of human proofreader computer devices of the human proofreaders;

correcting the plurality of grammatical errors in the text through the plurality of human proofreader computing devices of the plurality of human proofreaders, wherein the plurality of grammatical error detections is distributed in parallel amongst the plurality of human proofreader computer devices of the human proofreaders for correction, wherein each of the human proofreaders corrects errors and transmits corrections back to the grammar checking facility through the communications network from the plurality of human proofreader computer devices of the human proofreaders;

assembling a corrected text from the corrected plurality of grammatical errors and the received text; and

transmitting the assembled corrected text to the second computing device of a user.

33. A method of grammar checking, the method comprising:

receiving text through a communications network at a first computing device-based grammar checking facility from a second computing device of a user, wherein the grammar checking facility is adapted to segment the received text for distribution through the communications network to a plurality of human proofreader computing devices of a plurality of human proofreaders in a crowd-source population to detect a plurality of grammatical errors in the text, wherein the second computing device has input limitations including at least one of a reduced size keyboard and a reduced size display relative to a standard keyboard and display, and wherein each of the plurality of human proofreader computing devices is separate from the first computing device and the second computing device;

detecting the plurality of grammatical errors in the text through the plurality of human proofreader computing devices of the plurality of human proofreaders, wherein the segmented received text is distributed in parallel amongst the plurality of human proofreader computer devices of the plurality of human proofreaders for detection, wherein each of the human proofreaders detects and corrects the errors and transmits corrections back to the grammar checking facility through the communications network from the plurality of human proofreader computer devices of the human proofreaders;

assembling a corrected text from the corrected plurality of grammatical errors and the received text; and

transmitting the assembled corrected text to the second computing device of a user.