Method and system of creating and using Chinese language data and user-corrected data

• US 20040006458A1
• Filed: 11/27/2002
• Published: 01/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Kolomiets, Sergey V., Fux, Vadim
• Granted Patent: US 7,228,267 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/53 Processing of non-Latin text kana-to-kanji conversion G06F40/129; vowelisation G06F40/232

Abstract

Unique identifiers for each of a plurality of Chinese Pinyin syllables are generated and stored in an array of identifiers. A plurality of Hanzi character candidate lists is also generated, each list including Hanzi character candidates associated with a Pinyin syllable. Each identifier in the array has an array index, and each Hanzi character candidate in each list has a candidate index in the list. For each of a plurality of words having multiple Pinyin syllables, a data record including a key and a value is then generated. In a data record for a word, the key is an array index of the identifier in the array of identifiers and tone information for each of the multiple Pinyin syllables of the word, and the value is a candidate index, in the list of candidates associated with each of the Pinyin syllables, of the candidate that represents each of the Pinyin syllables.

Claims

1. A language data structure for use in converting Chinese Pinyin syllables into Chinese Hanzi characters, the data structure comprising:

a plurality of Hanzi character candidate lists, each list comprising Hanzi character candidates associated with a Pinyin syllable, and each Hanzi character candidate in each list having an index in the list; and

a plurality of language data records, each language data record corresponding to a word having a plurality of Pinyin syllables and comprising a key and a value,

wherein the key in each language data record comprises a sequence of indexes and tone information for the Pinyin syllables of the word to which the language data record corresponds, and wherein the value in each language data record comprises a sequence of indexes of Hanzi character candidates, in the lists of candidates respectively associated with the Pinyin syllables of the word, that represent the Pinyin syllables of the word.

2. The language data structure of claim 1, wherein each data record is a whole number of bytes in length.

3. The language data structure of claim 1, wherein the index and tone information for each Pinyin syllable are stored in two bytes in a data record.

4. The language data structure of claim 3, wherein the index is 10 bits in length, and wherein the tone information is 5 bits in length.

5. The language data structure of claim 1, wherein the plurality of language data records are stored in a plurality of arrays, and wherein each array stores language data records corresponding to words having the same number of Pinyin syllables.

6. The language data structure of claim 5, wherein language data records in each of the plurality of arrays are sorted based on a first index in the sequence of indexes and tone information.

7. The language data structure of claim 1, further comprising an array of Pinyin syllable identifiers associated with Pinyin syllables, wherein the indexes of the Pinyin syllables of the word are indexes, in the array of Pinyin syllable identifiers, of the identifiers respectively associated with the Pinyin syllables of the word.

8. The language data structure of claim 7, wherein each syllable comprises n+1 characters from an alphabet of N characters, and wherein the identifiers are determined according to the following formula:

ID=index₀*(N⁰)+index₁* (N¹)+ . . . +index_n*(Nⁿ),

where;

index₀ is the index of a first character in the syllable,

index₁ is the index of a second character in the syllable,

index_n is the index of an (n+1)th character in the syllable, and

N is the total number of the characters used for syllable construction.

9. The language data structure of claim 7, further comprising an array of Chinese Bopomofo syllable identifiers associated with Bopomofo syllables and a correspondence array indicating correspondence between each Pinyin syllable identifier and its corresponding Bopomofo syllable identifier.

10. The language data structure of claim 1, wherein the plurality of data records comprises language data records for two-syllable words, and wherein each language data record for a two-syllable word comprises:

a key comprising an index of a second Pinyin syllable in the two-syllable word and tone information entry for a first Pinyin syllable and the second Pinyin syllable in the two-syllable word; and

a value comprising a sequence of indexes of Hanzi character candidates, in the lists of candidates respectively associated with the first and second Pinyin syllables, that represent the first and second Pinyin syllables.

11. The language data structure of claim 10, wherein the language data records for two-syllable words are stored in a data record array, wherein each of the language data records for two-syllable words is a variant associated with the first Pinyin syllable, wherein variants associated with the same first Pinyin syllable are grouped in the data record array, and wherein the language data structure further comprises an array of offsets, each offset comprising an offset, in the data record array, of a first variant associated with a first Pinyin syllable.

12. A method of creating Chinese language data, comprising the steps of:

generating identifiers for each of a plurality of Chinese Pinyin syllables;

storing the generated identifiers in an array of identifiers, each identifier in the array of identifiers having an array index;

generating a plurality of Hanzi character candidate lists, each list comprising Hanzi character candidates associated with a Pinyin syllable, and each Hanzi character candidate in each list having a candidate index in the list; and

for each of a plurality of words having multiple Pinyin syllables, generating a data record comprising a key and a value, wherein the key comprises an array index of the identifier in the array of identifiers for each of the multiple Pinyin syllables and tone information for each of the multiple Pinyin syllables, and wherein the value comprises a candidate index, in the list of candidates associated with each of the multiple Pinyin syllables, of the candidate that represents each of the multiple Pinyin syllables.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of sorting the array of identifiers in increasing order of identifier.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of generating a data record comprises the step of generating a data record comprising a key and a value for each of a plurality of twosyllable words, wherein the key comprises an array index of the identifier in the array of identifiers for a second Pinyin syllable in the two-syllable word and tone information for a first Pinyin syllable and the second Pinyin syllable in the two-syllable word, and wherein the value comprises a candidate index, in the list of candidates associated with each of the first and second Pinyin syllables, of the candidate that represents each of the first and second Pinyin syllables.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

storing the data records for two-syllable words a data record array, wherein data records for two-syllable words having the same first Pinyin syllable are grouped in the data record array; and

generating an array of offsets, each offset comprising an offset, in the data record array, of a first data record associated with a first Pinyin syllable.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of storing the data records in one of a plurality of data record arrays, wherein each array stores data records corresponding to words having a predetermined number of Pinyin syllables.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the data records in each of the plurality of data record arrays are sorted based on a first array index in each data record.

18. A system of using Chinese language data for converting Chinese Pinyin syllables into Chinese Hanzi characters, the language data including a plurality of Hanzi character candidate lists, each list comprising Hanzi character candidates associated with a Pinyin syllable, and each Hanzi character candidate in each list having an index in the list, and a plurality of language data records, each language data record corresponding to a word having a plurality of Pinyin syllables and comprising a key and a value, the key in each language data record comprising a sequence of indexes and tone information for the Pinyin syllables of the word to which the language data record corresponds and the value in each language data record comprising a sequence of indexes of Hanzi character candidates, in the lists of candidates respectively associated with the Pinyin syllables of the word, that represent the Pinyin syllables of the word, the system comprising:

a keyboard having keys representing a plurality of characters for composing Pinyin syllables;

an input queue configured to receive input Pinyin syllable from the keyboard;

a memory configured to store the plurality of Hanzi character candidate lists and the plurality of data records;

an input processor operatively coupled to the memory and the input queue and configured to segment the input Pinyin syllables into input words, to search the language data records for language data records respectively corresponding to each input word including the input Pinyin syllables, and to convert each input word into the Chinese Hanzi character candidates using the Hanzi character candidate indexes in the corresponding data record;

a display; and

a user interface coupled between the display and the input processor to display the input Pinyin syllables on the display and to replace the input Pinyin syllables with the Chinese Hanzi character candidates when the input Pinyin syllables are converted by the input processor.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the input queue is further configured to receive a Hanzi character selection input identifying a selected Hanzi character representing one or more of the input Pinyin syllables, and wherein the input processor is further configured to determine whether a Hanzi character selection input has been received, and to convert the one or more of the input Pinyin syllable inputs into the selected Hanzi characters where a Hanzi character selection input has been received.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the input processor is further configured to form a new word including the one or more input Pinyin syllables, to generate a new data record corresponding to the new word, and to store the new data record in the memory.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the input processor is further configured to search the language data records and any new data records for data records corresponding to each input word.