Techniques for performing language detection and translation for multi-language content feeds

• US 9,977,781 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2016
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Swerdlow, Andrew, Jagpal, Navdeep
• Primary Examiner(s): Godbold, Douglas
• Application Number:
  US15/299,948
• Publication Number:
  US 20170039189A1
• Time in Patent Office: 578 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/263 Language identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services

Abstract

A technique for translating a portion of a website includes receiving a language set of a user indicating a primary language of the user is received. A content feed to be displayed to the user is received and parsed to identify a text portion of a user generated content. The original language of the text portion is determined and compared with the one or more languages in the language set. When the original language of the text portion does not match the languages in the language set: (i) the text portion, the original language, and the primary language are provided to a translation engine, (ii) a translated version of the text portion is received from the translation engine, (iii) the translated version of the text portion is inserted into the content feed to obtain a modified content feed, and (iv) the modified content feed is displayed to the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

obtaining, at a computing device having one or more processors, a parsable content feed from at least one server associated with a social network comprising a plurality of users, the parsable content feed comprising at least one of (i) user-generated text posts on the social network and (ii) user-generated text comments to posts on the social network;

obtaining, at the computing device, a set of preferred languages for a user operating the computing device, the user being one of the plurality of users;

identifying, at the computing device, a text portion in the parsable content feed, the text portion being a sub-portion of text of the parsable content feed;

obtaining, at the computing device, a detected language for the text portion;

comparing, at the computing device, the detected language to the set of preferred languages for the user;

when the detected language does not match any of the set of preferred languages, displaying, by the computing device and proximate to the text portion in the parsable content feed, a clickable icon configured for displaying a machine translation of the text portion and the text portion, the machine translation of the text portion being to one of the set of preferred languages for the user; and

displaying, by the computing device and in response to a user selection of the clickable icon, the machine translation of the text portion and the text portion in the parsable content feed.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, by the computing device, an indication of the machine translation of the text portion at a location proximate to the machine translation of the text portion.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the displaying of the machine translation of the text portion in the parsable content feed is concurrent with the displaying of the text portion in the parsable content feed.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the displaying of the machine translation of the text portion is after the text portion in the parsable content feed.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the user selection of the clickable icon, transmitting a request for the machine translation of the text portion; and

after transmitting the request, receiving the machine translation of the text portion, wherein receipt of the machine translation of the text portion causes the computing device to display it in the parsable content feed.

6. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a server having one or more processors and associated with a social network comprising a plurality of users, a first request for a parsable content feed from a computing device associated with a user of the plurality of users, the parsable content feed comprising at least one of (i) user-generated text posts on the social network and (ii) user-generated text comments to posts on the social network, wherein the parsable content feed comprises a text portion in a source language, the text portion being a sub-portion of text of the parsable content feed;

transmitting, from the server to the computing device, the parsable content feed in response to the first request;

detecting, at the server, the source language of the text portion to obtain a detected source language;

comparing, at the server, the detected source language to a set of preferred languages for the user; and

when the detected source language does not match any of the set of preferred languages, outputting, from the server to the computing device, a clickable icon for display in the parsable content feed proximate to the text portion, the clickable icon being configured to display a machine translation of the text portion and the text portion in the parsable content feed, the machine translation of the text portion being in one of the set of preferred languages for the user.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising outputting, from the server to the computing device, an indication of the machine translation of the text portion, wherein receipt of the indication causes the computing device to display the indication proximate to the machine translation of the text portion.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the machine translation of the text portion is displayed concurrently with the text portion in the parsable content feed.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the machine translation of the text portion is displayed after the text portion in the parsable content feed.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the clickable icon is configured to generate a second request for the machine translation of the text portion, and further comprising:

receiving, at the server from the computing device, the second request;

in response to receiving the second request, obtaining the machine translation of the text portion to one of the set of preferred languages for the user; and

transmitting, from the server to the computing device, the machine translation of the text portion, wherein receipt of the machine translation of the text portion causes the computing device to display the machine translation of the text portion and the text portion in the parsable content feed.

11. A computing device, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a set of instructions stored thereon; and

one or more processors configured to execute the set of instructions, which causes the computing device to perform operations comprising;

obtaining a parsable content feed from at least one server associated with a social network comprising a plurality of users, the parsable content feed comprising at least one of (i) user-generated text posts on the social network and (ii) user-generated text comments to posts on the social network;

obtaining a set of preferred languages for a user operating the computing device, the user being one of the plurality of users;

identifying a text portion in the parsable content feed, the text portion being a sub-portion of text of the parsable content feed;

obtaining a detected language for the text portion;

comparing the detected language to the set of preferred languages for the user;

when the detected language does not match any of the set of preferred languages, displaying, proximate to the text portion in the parsable content feed, a clickable icon configured for displaying a machine translation of the text portion and the text portion, the machine translation of the text portion being to one of the set of preferred languages for the user; and

displaying, in response to a user selection of the clickable icon, the machine translation of the text portion and the text portion of the parsable content feed.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise displaying an indication of the machine translation of the text portion at a location proximate to the machine translation of the text portion.

13. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the displaying of the machine translation of the text portion in the parsable content feed is concurrent with the displaying of the text portion in the parsable content feed.

14. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the displaying of the machine translation of the text portion is after the text portion in the parsable content feed.

15. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to the user selection of the clickable icon, transmitting a request for the machine translation of the text portion; and

after transmitting the request, receiving the machine translation of the text portion, wherein receipt of the machine translation of the text portion causes the computing device to display it in the parsable content feed.

16. A server associated with a social network comprising a plurality of users, the server comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium having a set of instructions stored thereon; and

one or more processors configured to execute the set of instructions, which causes the server to perform operations comprising;

receiving a first request for a parsable content feed from a computing device associated with a user of the plurality of users, the parsable content feed comprising at least one of (i) user-generated text posts on the social network and (ii) user-generated text comments to posts on the social network, wherein the parsable content feed comprises a text portion in a source language, the text portion being a sub-portion of text of the parsable content feed;

transmitting, to the computing device, the parsable content feed in response to the first request;

detecting the source language of the text portion to obtain a detected source language;

comparing the detected source language to a set of preferred languages for the user; and

when the detected source language does not match any of the set of preferred languages, outputting, to the computing device, a clickable icon for display in the parsable content feed proximate to the text portion, the clickable icon being configured to display a machine translation of the text portion and the text portion in the parsable content feed, the machine translation of the text portion being in one of the set of preferred languages for the user.

17. The server of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise outputting, to the computing device, an indication of the machine translation of the text portion, wherein receipt of the indication causes the computing device to display the indication proximate to the machine translation of the text portion.

18. The server of claim 16, wherein the machine translation of the text portion is displayed concurrently with the text portion in the parsable content feed.

19. The server of claim 16, wherein the machine translation of the text portion is displayed after the text portion in the parsable content feed.

20. The server of claim 16, wherein the clickable icon is configured to generate a second request for the machine translation of the text portion, and wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the computing device, the second request;

in response to receiving the second request, obtaining the machine translation of the text portion to one of the set of preferred languages for the user; and

transmitting, to the computing device, the machine translation of the text portion, wherein receipt of the machine translation of the text portion causes the computing device to display the machine translation of the text portion and the text portion in the parsable content feed.