User-specified phrase input learning

• US 9,009,591 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2008
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kung, Yun-Chiang, Shih, Sheng-Yao, Lee, Chin-Nan, Huang, Yu-Li, Liu, Hsiang-Fu
• Primary Examiner(s): Neway, Samuel G
• Application Number:
  US12/332,372
• Publication Number:
  US 20100153091A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,315 Days
• Field of Search: 704/9, 715256-262
• US Class Current: 715/258
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/53 Processing of non-Latin text kana-to-kanji conversion G06F40/129; vowelisation G06F40/232

Abstract

Architecture that enables a user to perform manual word-breaking by phrase input. Phrase input is where the user inserts a phrase-key (or separator) as a delimiter that indicates to an editor application such as an IME (input method editor) the composition of a specific phrase when entering characters (e.g., Asian). The word-breaking is controlled by the user. The conversion quality is improved as the user knows the desired input and ambiguous cases are reduced. A phrase can be specified while the user is composing the characters. By selecting a phrase-key separator, the user can specify the composing characters before the characters are presented as a phrase. Moreover, the architecture includes a phrase prioritization mechanism wherein each phrase can be treated as a single entity and assigned a character identifier (ID), which is related to the sequence of a candidate list.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented language editing system, comprising:

an editor component configured to receive and process a string of language objects of a written language and for visually designating the string as ambiguous if the string is not in a dictionary;

an input component configured to enable insertion of a user-specified phrase-key separator into the string of the language objects to disambiguate language objects of the string into a user-defined phrase recognizable as a grammatical unit, as the language objects are being input, wherein the phrase-key separator is a user-specified character automatically recognized by the system as a specific word-breaking character for activating an editing mode for separating the string into a proper phrase, wherein the editing mode changes the user-defined phrase by applying visually distinctive emphasis to the user-defined phrase;

a user interface configured to facilitate settings configuration for phrase input, including phrase input options that define a user-selected keyboard key to be assigned as the phrase-key separator; and

a microprocessor that executes computer-executable instructions in a memory associated with the editor component, the input component, and the user interface.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the written language is an East Asian language.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a decoding component configured to select an optimum path in a language model based on the phrase.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the phrase-key separator is manually inserted as the language objects are entered.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the editor component applies highlighting emphasis to the phrase to designate the phrase as disambiguated.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the editor component applies an associated underlining emphasis to a deconstructed phrase to designate the deconstructed phrase as ambiguated.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a learning component configured to learn the phrase based on multiple uses of the separator to create the phrase.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a phrase prioritization component configured to rank the phrase among other candidate phrases and automatically suggest a ranked phrase for insertion into the string.

9. A computer-implemented language editing system, comprising:

an editor component configured to receive and process a string of language objects of a written language and for providing visual emphasis to an unrecognizable string;

an input component configured to enable manual insertion of a user-specified phrase-key separator into the unrecognizable string of the language objects to break language objects of the string into a phrase recognizable as a grammatical unit, as the language objects are being input, wherein the phrase-key separator is a user-specified character automatically recognized by the system as a specific word-breaking character for separating the string into a proper phrase and applies a different visual emphasis to the recognizable phrase;

a learning component configured to learn the phrase based on multiple uses of the separator to create the phrase;

a user interface configured to facilitate settings configuration for phrase input, including phrase input options for defining a user-selected keyboard key to be assigned as the phrase-key separator; and

a microprocessor that executes computer-executable instructions in a memory associated with at least one of the editor component, the input component, or the learning component.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a decoding component configured to select an optimum path in a language model based on the phrase.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising a phrase prioritization component configured to rank the phrase among other candidate phrases and automatically suggest a ranked phrase for insertion into the string.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the written language is an East Asian language.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the editor component applies a first type of emphasis to the phrase to designate the phrase as disambiguated, and a second type of emphasis to a deconstructed phrase to designate the deconstructed phrase as ambiguous.

14. A computer-implemented language editing method, comprising acts of:

employing a user interface for configuring settings for phrase input options, to define a user-selected keyboard key to be assigned as a phrase-key separator;

receiving language objects of a written language into an editor;

processing the language objects as determined and undetermined phrases as the language objects are entered;

processing the phrase-key separator, manually-entered into an undetermined phrase of the language objects, as a word-break as the language objects are entered to designate language objects before the phrase-key separator as a phrase, wherein the phrase-key separator is a specific user-specified character automatically recognized by the system as a specific word-breaking character for separating the string into a proper phrase;

interpreting language objects relative to the phrase-key separator as a determined phrase,

applying visual distinctiveness to the determined phrase based on the phrase-key separator; and

utilizing a microprocessor that executes instructions stored in a memory associated with at least one of the acts of receiving, processing the language objects, processing the manually-entered separator, interpreting, or applying.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the language objects are part of an East Asian language.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

automatically applying a first emphasis to the undetermined phrase as a visual cue that the phrase is undetermined; and

automatically applying a second emphasis to the determined phrase as a visual cue that the phrase is determined.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising specifying language objects before the phrase-key separator as the determined phrase.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising learning the determined phrase for subsequent interpretation of phrases input as language objects in the editor.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically toggling between mode typing and modeless typing based on selection of a keyboard key assigned to the phrase-key separator.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising fixing an optimum path in a language model runtime using lattice decoding of a phrase input via the editor.