Multilingual electronic document translation, management, and delivery system

• US 6,623,529 B1
• Filed: 01/28/1999
• Issued: 09/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Transperfect Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: David Large
• Inventors: Lakritz, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bashore, William L.
• Application Number:
  US09/239,393
• Time in Patent Office: 1,699 Days
• Field of Search: 715/536, 715/500.1, 704/3, 709/217-218, 709/203, 707/9
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/47 Machine-assisted translation, e.g. using translation memory

Abstract

A document localization, management and delivery system in a computer environment. A preferred embodiment of the invention automatically determines the language and country of a Web site visitor and directs the Web server to deliver the appropriate localized content contained in a country/language database to the visitor'"'"'s browser. The visitor'"'"'s browser is notified of the proper font and content encoding needed to display the selected language and is allowed to download the font. A toolkit is provided which allows a master site to be built that is language and country-independent. The actual language and country content is placed in a language/country database where it is easily managed and maintained. When a visitor enters the site, the requested document is automatically served in the visitor'"'"'s language and for the visitor'"'"'s country by filling in a document template from the master site with the correct language content from the language/country database. A viewer allows the developer to view and debug the document template as it appears to a visitor in any of the available language content from the language/country database.

Claims

1. A process for managing multilingual translation content and document delivery for a Web site in a computer environment, comprising the steps of:

automatically determining the language and country of a Web site visitor;

directing a Web server to deliver the appropriate localized content contained in one or more country/language databases and/or file systems to said visitors browser;

informing said browser of the proper font and content encoding needed to display the selected language in the requested document, wherein said browser is allowed to download said font from said process;

intercepting input text that is submitted using an HTML form;

writing said input text into a form database in a manner so that it is translated later, wherein said form database includes information to identify the country, language and encoding of said text to interpret it for subsequent translation;

identifying content that needs to be translated and staging the content for offline translation by at least one manual translation resource and at least one automatic translation resource;

dynamically routing and sequencing said content to the at least one manual translation resource and at least one automatic translation resource, wherein said routing and sequencing is performed according to any of;

the subject matter of the document to be processed, target language of the translations and whether draft-only or high quality is required; and

providing a database viewer which allows the translated content to be viewed in the context of the form in which it was originally entered.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein said determining step determines said visitor'"'"'s language and country from one or more of the following criteria:

the language preference setting in said browser, a cookie from a previous visit to the Web site, the root domain of said visitor, manual language selection by said visitor, the language content available on said server, a local database of countries and languages of the world, or the local configuration files on said Web site.

3. The process of claim 2, wherein said manual language and country selection is implemented through the use of a special embedded command set and without the need for any custom programming or interlinked Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and allows the user to return to the original document after said selection becomes effective.

4. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

placing said localized content into a cache if said content is not present in said cache.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein said directing step delivers said localized content from a cache if said content is present in said cache.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein said directing step supports content in all languages and encodings, including Unicode.

7. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

recording said visitor'"'"'s country and language preferences in a server log.

8. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

allowing a user to build a master site that is language and country-independent, wherein the actual language content is placed in one or more language databases.

9. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

automatically serving said requested document in said visitor'"'"'s language and for said visitor'"'"'s region or country by filling in a document template from the master site with the correct language content from one or more language databases.

10. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing the translated document content in one or more language databases, wherein adding a translated document involves translating the appropriate content and creating new entries in said database.

11. The process of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing the translated document content in one or more file systems.

12. The process of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

searching down a priority list of languages for a designated country;

looking for the next most appropriate language if a document in the language that is first on the priority list is not present on one or more servers and/or databases;

retrieving the content from a default directory if a requested document has not been translated into any of the languages on said list; and

wherein said list is sorted according to the most prevalent language or dialect for a particular country.

13. The process of claim 12, wherein an informational text message is displayed to a visitor if a document that is first on said priority list is not present on one or more servers and/or databases, wherein said informational text informs said visitor that the preferred language was not available and said informational text is supplied in the most recently valid language for said visitor'"'"'s country and language.

14. The process of claim 12, wherein said multilingual content is stored hierarchically as country and language independent elements without requiring the storage of individual files that are customized for each locale.

15. The process of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

creating localized content for specific geographic regions or countries by using a template to dynamically create documents tailored for a specific language or country, wherein said template is language-independent and country-independent and contains placeholder tags and server includes for country and language-specific information that have been removed from a document; and

dynamically inserting said information from an external glossary, another template, or document based on the requested language and country of said visitor.

16. The process of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

providing a parser for creating localized content for specific geographic regions or countries by parsing an ordinary HTML file for translatable text;

retrieving the translations from one or more language databases;

wherein said parser uses a rules-based approach to identify translatable text in an HTML document;

wherein the rules file used by said parser is completely modifiable by the user, said rules file consists of a series of declarations and regular expressions that inform said parser what should be considered as translatable; and

wherein the default action for said parser is that if there is no explicit rule, then all text between HTML tags is considered translatable.

17. The process of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

sequencing the text for translation;

reassembling the translated segments;

wherein each component string is called a segment and each segment has a unique segment ID within a document;

wherein each document has a unique document ID; and

wherein the segment ID and the document ID are used together to properly reassemble said translated segments into a composite and correct translation.

18. An apparatus for managing multilingual translation content and document delivery for a Web site in a computer environment, comprising:

a module for automatically determining the language and country of a Web site visitor;

a module for directing a Web server to deliver the appropriate localized content contained in one or more country language databases and/or file systems to said visitor'"'"'s browser;

a module for informing said browser of the proper font and content encoding needed to display the selected language in the requested document, wherein said browser is allowed to download said font from said apparatus;

a module for intercepting input text that is submitted using an HTML form;

a form database, wherein said input text is written into said form database in a manner so that it is translated later, wherein said form database includes information to identify the country, language and encoding of said text to interpret it for subsequent translation;

identifying content that needs to be translated and staging the content for offline translation by at least one manual translation resource and at least one automatic translation resource;

dynamically routing and sequencing said content to the at least one manual translation resource and at least one automatic translation resource, wherein said routing and sequencing is performed according to any of;

the subject matter of the document to be processed, target language of the translation, and whether draft-only or high quality is required; and

a database viewer, wherein said viewer allows the translated content to be viewed in the context of the form in which it was originally entered.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said determining module determines said visitor'"'"'s language and country from one or more of the following criteria:

the language preference setting in said browser, a cookie from a previous visit to the Web site, the root domain of said visitor, manual language selection by said visitor, the language content available on said server, a local database of countries and languages of the world, or the local configuration files on said Web site.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said manual language and country selection is implemented through the use of a special embedded command set and without the need for any custom programming or interlinked Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and allows the user to return to the original document after said selection becomes effective.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

a cache, wherein said localized content is placed into said cache if said content is not present in said cache.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said directing module delivers said localized content from said cache if said content is present in said cache.

23. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said directing module supports content in all languages and encodings, including Unicode.

24. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

a server log, wherein said visitor'"'"'s country and language preferences are recorded in said server log.

25. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

a module for allowing a user to build a master site that is language and country-independent, wherein the actual language content is placed in one or more language databases.

26. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

automatically serving said requested document in said visitor'"'"'s language and for said visitor'"'"'s region or country by filling in a document template from the master site with the correct language content from one or more language databases.

27. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

one or more language databases, wherein the translated document content is stored in said database(s), wherein adding a translated document involves translating the appropriate content and creating new entries in said database(s).

28. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

a module for storing the translated document content in one or more file systems.

29. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

a module for searching down a priority list of languages for a designated country;

a module for looking for the next most appropriate language if a document in the language that is first on the priority list is not present on one or more servers and/or databases;

a module for retrieving the content from a default directory if a requested document has not been translated into any of the languages on said list; and

wherein said list is sorted according to the most prevalent language or dialect for a particular country.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein an informational text message is displayed to a visitor if a document that is first on said priority list is not present on one or more servers and/or databases, wherein said informational text informs said visitor that the preferred language was not available and said informational text is supplied in the most recently valid language for said visitor'"'"'s country and language.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said multilingual content is stored hierarchically as country and language independent elements without requiring the storage of individual files that are customized for each locale.

32. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

a module for creating localized content for specific geographic regions or countries by using a template to dynamically create documents tailored for a specific language or country, wherein said template is language-independent and country-independent and contains placeholder tags and server includes for country and language-specific information that have been removed from a document; and

a module for dynamically inserting said information from an external glossary, another template, or document based on the requested language and country of said visitor.

33. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

a parser for creating localized content for specific geographic regions or countries by parsing an ordinary HTML file for translatable text;

a module for retrieving the translations from one or more language databases;

wherein said parser uses a rules-based approach to identify translatable text in an HTML document;

wherein the rules file used by said parser is completely modifiable by the user, said rules file consists of a series of declarations and regular expressions that inform said parser what should be considered as translatable; and

wherein the default action for said parser is that if there is no explicit rule, then all text between HTML tags is considered translatable.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

a module for sequencing the text strings for translation;

a module for reassembling the translated segments;

wherein each component string is called a segment and each segment has a unique segment ID within a document;

wherein each document has a unique document ID; and

wherein the segment ID and the document ID are used together to properly reassemble said translated segments into a composite and correct translation.

35. A program storage medium readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for managing multilingual translation content and document delivery for a Web site in a computer environment, comprising the steps of:

automatically determining the language and country of a Web site visitor;

directing a Web server to deliver the appropriate localized content contained in one or more country/language databases and/or file systems to said visitor'"'"'s browser;

informing said browser of the proper font and content encoding needed to display the selected language in the requested document, wherein said browser is allowed to download said font from said method;

intercepting input text that is submitted using an HTML form;

writing said input text into a form database in a manner so that it is translated later, wherein said form database includes information to identify the country, language and encoding of said text to interpret it for subsequent translation;

identifying content that needs to be translated and staging the content for offline translation by at least one manual translation resource and at least one automatic translation resource;

dynamically routing and sequencing said content to the at least one manual translation resource and at least one automatic translation resource, wherein said routing and sequencing is performed according to any of;

the subject matter of the document to be processed, target language of the translation, and whether draft-only or high quality is required; and

providing a database viewer which allows the translated content to be viewed in the context of the form in which it was originally entered.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein said determining step determines said visitor'"'"'s language and country from one or more of the following criteria:

the language preference setting in said browser, a cookie from a previous visit to the Web site, the root domain of said visitor, manual language selection by said visitor, the language content available on said server, a local database of countries and languages of the world, or the local configuration files on said Web site.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein said manual language and country selection is implemented through the use of a special embedded command set and without the need for any custom programming or interlinked Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and allows the user to return to the original document after said selection becomes effective.

38. The method of claim 35, further comprising the step of:

placing said localized content into a cache if said content is not present in said cache.

39. The method of claim 35, wherein said directing step delivers said localized content from a cache if said content is present in said cache.

40. The method of claim 35, wherein said directing step supports content in all languages and encodings, including Unicode.

41. The method of claim 35, further comprising the step of:

recording said visitor'"'"'s country and language preferences in a server log.

42. The method of claim 35, further comprising the step of:

allowing a user to build a master site that is language and country-independent, wherein the actual language content is placed in one or more language databases.

43. The method of claim 35, further comprising the step of:

automatically serving said requested document in said visitor'"'"'s language and for said visitor'"'"'s region or country by filling in a document template from the master site with the correct language content from one or more language databases.

44. The method of claim 35, further comprising the step of:

storing the translated document content in one or more language databases, wherein adding a translated document involves translating the appropriate content and creating new entries in said database.

45. The method of claim 35, further comprising the step of:

storing the translated document content in one or more file systems.

46. The method of claim 35, further comprising the steps of:

searching down a priority list of languages for a designated country;

looking for the next most appropriate language if a document in the language that is first on the priority list is not present on one or more servers and/or databases;

retrieving the content from a default directory if a requested document has not been translated into any of the languages on said list; and

wherein said list is sorted according to the most prevalent language or dialect for a particular country.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein an informational text message is displayed to a visitor if a document that is first on said priority list is not present on one or more servers and/or databases, wherein said informational text informs said visitor that the preferred language was not available and said informational text is supplied in the most recently valid language for said visitor'"'"'s country and language.

48. The method of claim 46, wherein said multilingual content is stored hierarchically as country and language independent elements without requiring the storage of individual files that are customized for each locale.

49. The method of claim 35, further comprising the steps of:

creating localized content for specific geographic regions or countries by using a template to dynamically create documents tailored for a specific language or country, wherein said template is language-independent and country-independent and contains placeholder tags and server includes for country and language-specific information that have been removed from a document; and

dynamically inserting said information from an external glossary, another template, or document based on the requested language and country of said visitor.

50. The method of claim 35, further comprising the steps of:

providing a parser for creating localized content for specific geographic regions or countries by parsing an ordinary HTML file for translatable text;

retrieving the translations from one or more language databases;

wherein said parser uses a rules-based approach to identify translatable text in an HTML document;

wherein the rules file used by said parser is completely modifiable by the user, said rules file consists of a series of declarations and regular expressions that inform said parser what should be considered as translatable; and

wherein the default action for said parser is that if there is no explicit rule, then all text between HTML tags is considered translatable.

51. The method of claim 50, further comprising the steps of:

sequencing the text for translation;

reassembling the translated segments;

wherein each component string is called a segment and each segment has a unique segment ID within a document;

wherein each document has a unique document ID; and

wherein the segment ID and the document ID are used together to properly reassemble said translated segments into a composite and correct translation.