METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPELLCHECKING ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS

• US 20080178076A1
• Filed: 01/18/2007
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kritt, Barry Alan, Law, Douglas Alan
• Granted Patent: US 8,201,086 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/257
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/232 Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation

Abstract

A computer implemented method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for spellchecking an electronic document. In response to receiving the electronic document, the process parses the electronic document for a set of non-standard words that are absent from a dictionary used by a document editing program. In response to locating the set of non-standard words in the electronic document, the process generates an index that includes, but is not limited to, the set of non-standard words. The process then reviews the electronic document for spelling errors using the generated index.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for spellchecking an electronic document, the computer implemented method comprising:

responsive to receiving the electronic document, parsing the electronic document for a set of non-standard words, wherein the set of non-standard words are absent from a dictionary used by a document editing program;

responsive to locating the set of non-standard words in the electronic document, generating an index comprising the set of non-standard words to form a generated index; and

reviewing the electronic document for spelling errors using the generated index.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a set of filtering rules; and

reviewing the electronic document for spelling errors according to the set of filtering rules, wherein the set of filtering rules indicates which non-standard words to identify as potentially misspelled.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to at least one of locating the set of non-standard words in at least one personal dictionary and confirming the set of non-standard words as being previously ignored, identifying the set of non-standard words in the electronic document as being correctly spelled.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to locating the set of non-standard words in a first personal dictionary, adding the set of non-standard words of the generated index to a second personal dictionary, wherein the first personal dictionary is a personal dictionary of a previous user, and wherein the second personal dictionary is a personal dictionary of a subsequent user.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the step of reviewing the electronic document for spelling errors further comprises:

identifying, according to the set of filtering rules, the set of non-standard words created by a selected user.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the step of reviewing the electronic document for spelling errors further comprises:

identifying, according to the set of filtering rules, the set of non-standard words created in a selected document revision.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the generated index is embedded in the electronic document.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the generated index further comprises at least one of the following:

a first field comprising a set of non-standard words;

a second field comprising a status of the set of non-standard words, wherein the status is derived from a previous spellcheck;

a third field comprising a status of the set of non-standard words, wherein the status is derived from a file save operation;

a fourth field comprising a name of an author, wherein the name identifies the author who first drafted the set of non-standard words; and

a fifth field comprising information identifying a document revision number.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

adding a subset of non-standard words of a personal dictionary to the generated index, wherein the subset of non-standard words comprises only non-standard words previously identified with at least one non-standard word of the generated index.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the steps are performed by a document editing program.

11. A method for adding a subset of non-standard words of a personal dictionary to an index of non-standard words, the method comprising:

responsive to receiving a request to add a plurality of non-standard words to the personal dictionary, adding the plurality of non-standard words to the personal dictionary, wherein the plurality of non-standard words is associated with a common identifier to form the subset of non-standard words; and

responsive to locating at least one non-standard word of the index of non-standard words in the personal dictionary, wherein the at least one non-standard word is included in the subset of non-standard words, copying the subset of non-standard words to the index of non-standard words.

12. A computer usable program product comprising:

a computer usable medium including computer usable program code for spellchecking an electronic document, the computer usable program product further comprising;

computer usable program code for parsing the electronic document for a set of non-standard words in response to receiving the electronic document, wherein the set of non-standard words are absent from a dictionary used by a document editing program;

computer usable program code for generating an index comprising the set of non-standard words to form a generated index in response to locating the set of non-standard words in the electronic document; and

computer usable program code for reviewing the electronic document for spelling errors using the generated index.

13. The computer usable program product of claim 12 further comprising:

computer usable program code for receiving a set of filtering rules; and

computer usable program code for reviewing the electronic document for spelling errors according to a set of filtering rules, wherein the set of filtering rules indicates which non-standard word to identify as potentially misspelled.

14. The computer usable program product of claim 12 further comprising:

computer usable program code for identifying the set of non-standard words in the electronic document as being correctly spelled responsive to at least one of locating the set of non-standard words in at least one personal dictionary and confirming the set of non-standard words as being previously ignored.

15. The computer usable program product of claim 12 further comprising:

computer usable program code for adding the set of non-standard words of the generated index to a second personal dictionary responsive to locating the set of non-standard words in a first personal dictionary, wherein the first personal dictionary is a personal dictionary of a previous user, and wherein the second personal dictionary is a personal dictionary of a subsequent user.

16. The computer usable program product of claim 12 further comprising:

computer usable program code for identifying, according to the set of filtering rules, the set of non-standard words created by a selected user.

17. The computer usable program product of claim 12 further comprising:

computer usable program code for identifying, according to the set of filtering rules, the set of non-standard words created in a selected document revision.

18. The computer usable program product of claim 12, wherein the computer usable program code for generating an index further comprises:

computer usable program code for generating a first field comprising a set of non-standard words;

computer usable program code for generating a second field comprising a status of the set of non-standard words, and wherein the status is derived from a previous spellcheck;

computer usable program code for generating a third field comprising a status of the set of non-standard words, wherein the status is derived from a file save operation;

computer usable program code for generating a fourth field comprising a name of an author, wherein the name identifies the author who first drafted the set of non-standard words; and

computer usable program code for generating a fifth field comprising information identifying a document revision number.

19. The computer usable program product of claim 12 further comprising:

computer usable program code for adding a subset of non-standard words of a personal dictionary to the generated index of non-standard words, wherein the subset of non-standard words have been previously identified with at least one other non-standard word of the generated index.

20. A data processing system for spellchecking an electronic document, the data processing system comprising:

a storage device, wherein the storage device stores computer usable program code; and

a processor, wherein the processor executes the computer usable program code, and wherein the computer usable program code comprises;

a means for parsing the electronic document for a set of non-standard words responsive to receiving the electronic document, wherein the non-standard words are absent from a dictionary used by a document editing program;

a means for generating an index comprising the set of non-standard words to form a generated index in response to locating the set of non-standard words in the electronic document; and

a means for reviewing the electronic document for spelling errors using the generated index.