Mobile terminal with an automatic translation function

• US 20020022498A1
• Filed: 04/19/2001
• Published: 02/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Hokao, Tomoaki
• Granted Patent: US 6,907,256 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.4
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/58 including a multilanguage function

Abstract

A mobile terminal of the invention includes a language translation unit and stores in advance a language used in the mobile terminal. When the mobile terminal calls or receives a call, the mobile terminal recognizes a country ID corresponding to a people who is called by the mobile terminal or who calls the mobile terminal, by using a telephone number, notification information of a base station, or a control signal from the mobile terminal. Then, the mobile terminal performs language translation by using a translation pattern determined based on the language used in the mobile terminal and the country ID.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal which is bearable by a user and which is capable of performing both of sending and receiving operations, comprising:

a storage unit which registers first language information which identifies a first language used by the user in the mobile terminal;

a determining unit which determines second language information which identifies a second language, on the basis of language information included in a calling telephone number entered by the user of the mobile terminal or in a reception telephone number received by the mobile terminal;

a language translation unit which translates outgoing information from the first language into the second language and/or incoming information from the second language into the first language; and

an output unit which outputs the translated information.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the language information includes a country code of the telephone number.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1 further comprising a language information sending unit which sends the language information to a calling terminal if no language information is included in the calling telephone number.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further comprising a language information receiving unit which receives the language information from the originator'"'"'s terminal, wherein the determining unit uses the received language information as the language information to determine the second language.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 1 further comprising a radio communicating unit which communicates via a radio network, wherein the determining unit determines the second language by using the language information included in signals which are radiated from a base station if there are no language information in the calling telephone number or the reception telephone number.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the output unit comprises at least one of a display unit to display characters or images and a loudspeaker to output a sound.

7. A method of translating incoming/outgoing information at a mobile terminal which is capable of performing receiving and sending operations and which is bearable by a user, the method comprising the steps of:

fetching first language information which is stored in the mobile terminal and which is representative of a first language used by the user in the mobile terminal;

determining a second language from second language information on the basis of language information included in a calling telephone number entered by the user of the mobile terminal or in a reception telephone number sent from an originator who calls the mobile terminal;

selecting a proper translation pattern with reference to the combination of the first language and the second language;

translating outgoing information from the first language into the second language and/or incoming information from the second language into the first language, using the selected pattern; and

outputting the translated incoming information.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising a step of sending the language information to a calling terminal if no language information is included in the calling telephone number.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising a step of receiving the language information from the originator'"'"'s terminal, wherein the determining step uses the received language information as the language information to determine the second language.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising a step of communicating via a radio network, wherein the determining step determines the second language by using language information included in signals which are radiated from a base station if there are no language information in the calling telephone number or the telephone number of the originator.

11. A recording medium readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computers to perform a method of translating incoming/outgoing information at a mobile terminal which is capable of performing receiving and sending operations and which is bearable by a user, the method comprising the steps of:

fetching first language information which is stored in the mobile terminal and which is representative of a first language used by the user in the mobile terminal;

determining a second language from second language information on the basis of language information included in a calling telephone number entered by the user of the mobile terminal or in a reception telephone number sent from an originator who calls the mobile terminal;

selecting a proper translation pattern with reference to the combination of the first language and the second language;

translating outgoing information from the first language into the second language and/or incoming information from the second language into the first language, using the selected pattern; and

outputting the translated incoming information.

12. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave and representing a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of translating incoming/outgoing information at a mobile terminal which is capable of performing receiving and sending operations and which is bearable by a user, the method comprising the steps of:

fetching first language information which is stored in the mobile terminal and which is representative of a first language used by the user in the mobile terminal;

determining a second language from second language information on the basis of language information included in a calling telephone number entered by the user of the mobile terminal or in a reception telephone number sent from an originator who calls the mobile terminal;

selecting a proper translation pattern with reference to the combination of the first language and the second language;

translating outgoing information from the first language into the second language and/or incoming information from the second language into the first language, using the selected pattern; and

outputting the translated incoming information.

13. A program product comprising, computer readable instructions and a recording medium bearing the computer readable instructions;

the instructions being adaptable to enable computers to perform a method of translating incoming/outgoing information at a mobile terminal which is capable of performing receiving and sending operations and which is bearable by a user, the method comprising the steps of;

fetching first language information which is stored in the mobile terminal and which is representative of a first language used by the user in the mobile terminal;

determining a second language from second language information on the basis of language information included in a calling telephone number entered by the user of the mobile terminal or in a reception telephone number sent from an originator who calls the mobile terminal;

selecting a proper translation pattern with reference to the combination of the first language and the second language;

translating outgoing information from the first language into the second language and/or incoming information from the second language into the first language, using the selected pattern; and

outputting the translated incoming information.