Mistake avoidance and correction suggestions

• US 9,081,761 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 07/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Little, John N., Teverovsky, Vadim, Hicklin, Joseph F., Breslau, Jason, Moulana, Nausheen, White, Bryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Vy, Hung T
• Application Number:
  US13/616,997
• Time in Patent Office: 1,033 Days
• Field of Search: 707/722, 707/758, 707/759, 707/765, 707/769, 715/773, 715/257, 704/8, 345/173, 345/168
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/243 Natural language query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2457 with adaptation to user needs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0237 using prediction or retrieval techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/232 Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation

Abstract

In an illustrative embodiment, an apparatus, computer-readable medium, or method may be configured to avoid command mistakes and suggest corrections. Known commands may be accessed which may include at least one expected identifier, alternative identifier, and/or identifier pattern. The frequencies of occurrence of the known commands may be calculated. A command with entered identifiers may be received and at least one possible mistake in the entered identifiers may be detected. A first numerical score for the known commands may be calculated using a string matching algorithm, a keystroke penalty matrix, and/or the detected at least one possible mistake. A second numerical score may be calculated using the frequencies of occurrence of the known commands and the first numerical score. Expected identifiers may be selected using the first and second numerical scores. A user-selectable command may be created using the expected known commands and displayed.

Claims

1. One or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media for storing computer-executable instructions executable by a processor, the media storing one or more instructions to:

access known commands including at least one expected identifier, alternative identifier, or identifier pattern;

receive a command containing one or more entered identifiers;

detect at least one possible mistake in the one or more entered identifiers;

calculate a first numerical score for the known commands using a keystroke penalty matrix and the detected at least one possible mistake;

calculate a second numerical score using frequencies of occurrence of the known commands and the first numerical score; and

select one or more expected identifiers using the first numerical score and the second numerical score.

2. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, further comprising at least one instruction to:

create a user-selectable command using the one or more selected expected identifiers;

or

automatically implement the one or more selected expected identifiers.

3. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 2, further comprising one or more instructions to:

display the user-selectable command as an alternative to the detected at least one possible mistake.

4. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 3, wherein displaying the user-selectable command includes identifying one or more unlicensed products.

5. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 3, wherein displaying the user-selectable command includes displaying a location of the one or more entered identifiers when the one or more entered identifiers is determined to be out of scope.

6. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 3, further comprising one or more instructions to:

allow user modification of the user-selectable command;

receive an indication of a user selection of the user-selectable command or that the user-selectable command was modified by the user; and

log whether the user-selectable option was selected or modified.

7. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 6, further comprising one or more instructions to:

calculate the frequencies of occurrence based on whether the user-selectable command was selected or modified.

8. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the at least one possible mistake comprises at least one of:

an unrecognized entered identifier, a syntax error, a context mistake, a synonym of an expected identifier, a typographical error, a release incompatibility error, a natural language translation of an expected identifier, an abbreviated expected identifier, an unlicensed product identifier, an out of scope entered identifier, or a deprecated identifier.

9. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the context mistake comprises at least one of:

a command function duality mistake, an incompatible argument type, an incorrect parameter name, an incorrect enumerated value, passing a reference by string literal, using linear indexing, or an incorrect object property and method.

10. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the syntax error comprise at least one of:

an indexing mistake, a punctuation error, or an operator or keyword from one or more programming languages.

11. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the alternative identifier comprises at least one of:

a synonym of expected identifiers, a language translation of an expected identifier, a recently modified identifier, an alternative name of an expected identifier, an unlicensed feature, a recently used identifier, a release incompatible identifier, a deprecated identifier, a special character, a property name, locale information, an enumerated value, an object property, an object method, or information from a user log.

12. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the identifier pattern comprises at least one of:

a programming language grammar, a programming language syntax, a programming language operator, a programming language keyword, a programming language punctuation, an alternative programming language grammar, an alternative programming language syntax, an alternative programming language operator, an alternative programming language keyword, or an alternative programming language punctuation.

13. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein an alternative programming language comprises at least one of:

C, C++, Java, Fortran, Pascal, Basic, Ada, JavaScript, HTML, XML, Perl, SQL, or C#.

14. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein an alternative programming language comprises at least one of:

an array-based language, M, Mathematica, Python, or R.

15. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the expected identifier comprises at least one of:

a command, a variable, a workspace variable, a local variable, a function name, a method name, an argument name, a token stored in a file, a keyword, a property, a property of an object, a lexical token, a global identifier, a local identifier, a global variable, a global function, a global method, a global keyword, a local variable, a local function, or a local script.

16. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein detecting at least one possible mistake occurs when the one or more entered identifiers is evaluated by the processing device.

17. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the keystroke penalty matrix associates a penalty score to characters identified with nearby keys on a keyboard that is smaller than a penalty score associated with keys located further away from an entered character on the keyboard.

18. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein calculating the second numerical score uses Bayes theorem.

19. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the keystroke penalty matrix is constructed based on locale.

20. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the frequencies of occurrence are calculated based on usage data of identifiers.

21. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, further comprising one or more instructions to:

receive additional known commands; and

calculate frequencies of occurrence of the additional known commands.

22. One or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media for storing computer-executable instructions executable by processing logic, the media storing one or more instructions to:

download the instructions of claim 1 to a computing environment, which when executed by the computing environment causes the computing environment to perform operations comprising the downloaded instructions.

23. One or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable media holding computer-executable instructions using a distributed environment, the media holding one or more instructions to:

perform the instructions of claim 1 in a distributed environment.

24. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein a string matching algorithm is used to calculate the first numerical score.

25. The one or more tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 24, wherein the string matching algorithm includes at least one of:

a Needleman-Wunsch algorithm;

or

a Smith-Waterman algorithm.

26. A computer-implemented method comprising:

accessing, by one or more processors, known commands including at least a plurality of expected identifiers;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a command containing one or more entered identifiers;

comparing the one or more entered identifiers to the expected identifiers and detecting one or more unknown commands using the comparison;

calculating, by the one or more processors, a first numerical score for the known commands using a keystroke penalty matrix and the one or more unknown identifiers;

calculating, by the one or more processors, a second numerical score using frequencies of occurrence of the known commands and the first numerical score;

selecting, by the one or more processors, one or more replacement identifiers from the expected identifiers using the first numerical score and the second numerical score;

creating, by the one or more processors, a user-selectable command using the one or more selected replacement identifiers;

displaying, by the one or more processors, the user-selectable command;

allowing, by the one or more processors, user modification of the user-selectable command; and

receiving, by the one or more processors, an indication of a user selection of the user-selectable command or that the user-selectable command was modified by the user.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein a string matching algorithm is used in calculating the first numerical score.

28. A system comprising:

memory;

an input device; and

one or more processors configured to;

receive known commands including at least one global identifier, local identifier, alternative identifier, or identifier pattern;

calculate frequencies of occurrence of the known commands;

receive a command containing one or more entered identifiers;

detect at least one possible mistake in the one or more entered identifiers;

calculate a first numerical score for the known commands using a keystroke penalty matrix and the detected at least one possible mistake;

calculate a second numerical score using the frequencies of occurrence of the known commands and the first numerical score;

select one or more global identifiers or local identifiers using the first numerical score and the second numerical score;

create a user-selectable command using the one or more selected global identifiers or local identifiers;

display the user-selectable command;

allow user modification of the user-selectable command; and

recalculate the frequencies of occurrence based on whether the user-selectable command was selected, not selected, or modified.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein a string matching algorithm is used to calculate the first numerical score.