Self-configuring language translation device

• US 8,682,640 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2009
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Compunetics Inc. (Compunetix, Inc.), International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Jaiswal, Peeyush
• Primary Examiner(s): Godbold, Douglas
• Application Number:
  US12/626,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20110125486A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,581 Days
• Field of Search: 704 2- 8
• US Class Current: 704/2
• 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: G10L 15/005 Language recognition

Abstract

An apparatus comprises an input device, a language processing unit, and a translation unit. The input device is configured to receive an oral statement. The language processing unit is configured to convert the oral statement into data and to analyze the data to identify a particular language of the oral statement. The translation unit is configured to provide a translation of the oral statement in response to identifying the particular language of the oral statement.

Claims

1. A method for translating oral statements, the method comprising:

receiving, by a hand held wireless device, an oral statement;

converting the oral statement into data;

analyzing, by a processing unit within the device, the data to identify a particular language of the oral statement;

determining whether the particular language is a configured translation language in the processing unit within the device to use to translate the oral statement;

in response to determining that the particular language is not the configured translation language in the processing unit within the device, automatically updating the translation language of the device with the particular language from a remote language database to reconfigure the translation language in the processing unit within the device to use to perform translations with the device;

in response to determining that the particular language is the configured translation language of the device, validating the translation language of the device; and

providing a translation of the oral statement.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining a location of the device;

responsive to identifying the particular language of the oral statement, determining whether the particular language is a default language;

responsive to determining that the particular language is the default language, determining a translation language of the device based on the location of the device, and providing the translation of the oral statement in the translation language of the device; and

responsive to determining that the particular language is not the default language, providing the translation of the oral statement in the default language.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

responsive to identifying the particular language of the oral statement, determining whether the particular language is one of the default language and the translation language of the device;

responsive to determining that the particular language is not one of the default language and the translation language of the device, requesting an input to update the translation language of the device with the particular language; and

responsive to receiving the input, updating the translation language of the device with the particular language.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

responsive to identifying the particular language of the oral statement, determining whether the particular language is one of the default language and the translation language of the device;

responsive to determining that the particular language is not one of the default language and the translation language of the device, requesting an input to provide a translation of future oral statements in the default language in at least one of the translation language of the device and the particular language; and

responsive to receiving the input, providing the translation of future oral statements in the default language in at least one of the translation language of the device and the particular language.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to determining that the particular language is the configured translation language of the device, automatically validating the translation language of the device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing, by a processing unit connected to the device, the data to identify a particular language of the oral statement comprises:

determining a location of the device;

searching a language database to identify the particular language based on the oral statement and the location of the device, wherein the language database stores data associated with a plurality of languages and a number of locations that each of the plurality of languages are spoken; and

responsive to identifying a new location for the particular language, updating the language database with the new location of the particular language.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the translation of the oral statement is provided in at least one of a text display and an audio display.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining, by a biometrical device, a voice inflection of the oral statement; and

providing the voice inflection of the oral statement in at least one of a visual display and an audio display.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a handheld wireless input device configured to receive an oral statement;

a language processing unit within the device configured with a translation language to convert the oral statement into data and to analyze the data to identify a particular language of the oral statement;

the language processing unit further configured to determine whether the particular language is a configured translation language of the language processing unit within the device to use to translate the oral statement, and in response to determining that the particular language is not the configured translation language of the device, automatically updating the translation language of the device with the particular language from a remote language database to reconfigure the translation language of the device to use to perform translations with the device, and in response to determining that the particular language is the configured translation language of the device, validating the translation language of the device; and

a translation unit configured to provide a translation of the oral statement.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:

a positioning system configured to determine a location of the input device;

wherein the language processing unit is configured to determine whether the particular language is the default language and to determine the translation language based on the location of the input device, in response to determining that the particular language is the default language and wherein the translation unit is configured to provide the translation of the oral statement in the translation language, in response to determining that the particular language is the default language, and to provide the translation of the oral statement in the default language, in response to determining that the particular language is not the default language.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the language processing unit is configured to determine whether the particular language is one of the default language and the translation language, in response to identifying the particular language of the oral statement, to request an input to update the translation language with the particular language, in response to determining that the particular language is not one of the default language and the translation language, and to update the translation language with the particular language, in response to receiving the input.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the language processing unit is configured to determine whether the particular language is one of the default language and the translation language, in response to identifying the particular language of the oral statement, and to request an input to provide a translation of future oral statements in the default language in at least one of the translation language and the particular language, in response to determining that the particular language is not one of the default language and the translation language and wherein the translation unit is configured to provide the translation of future oral statements in the default language in at least one of the translation language and the particular language, in response to receiving the input.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the language processing unit is further configured to respond to determining that the particular language is the configured translation language of the device by automatically validating the translation language of the device.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:

a positioning system configured to determine a location of the input device; and

a language database configured to store data associated with a plurality of languages and a number of locations that each of the plurality of languages are spoken, wherein the language processing unit is configured to search the language database to identify the particular language based on the oral statement and the location of the input device and wherein the language processing unit is configured to update the language database with a new location of the particular language in response to identifying the new location for the particular language.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:

a user interface configured to provide the translation of the oral statement in at least one of a text display and an audio display; and

a biometrical device configured to determine a voice inflection of the oral statement and to provide the voice inflection of the oral statement in the user interface in at least one of a visual display and an audio display.

16. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions for translating statements;

instructions, stored on the computer readable storage medium for receiving an oral statement at a handheld wireless device;

instructions for converting the oral statement into data;

instructions for analyzing the data using a language processing unit within the device to identify a particular language of the oral statement;

instructions for determining whether the particular language is a configured translation language in the language processing unit within the device to use to translate the oral statement, and in response to determining that the particular language is not the configured translation language in the processing unit within the device, automatically updating the translation language of the device with the particular language from a remote language database to reconfigure the translation language in the language processing unit within the device to use to perform translations with the device and in response to determining that the particular language is the configured translation language of the device, validating the translation language of the device; and

instructions for providing a translation of the oral statement.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 further comprising:

instructions for determining a location of the device;

instructions for determining whether the particular language is a default language, in response to identifying the particular language of the oral statement;

instructions for determining a translation language of the device based on the location of the device and providing the translation of the oral statement in the translation language of the device, in response to determining that the particular language is the default language; and

instructions for providing the translation of the oral statement in the default language, in response to determining that the particular language is not the default language.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 further comprising:

instructions for determining whether the particular language is one of the default language and the translation language of the device, in response to identifying the particular language of the oral statement;

instructions for requesting an input to update the translation language of the device with the particular language, in response to determining that the particular language is not one of the default language and the translation language of the device; and

instructions for updating the translation language of the device with the particular language, in response to receiving the input.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 further comprising:

instructions for determining whether the particular language is one of the default language and the translation language of the device, in response to identifying the particular language of the oral statement;

instructions for requesting an input to provide a translation of future oral statements in the default language in at least one of the translation language of the device and the particular language, in response to determining that the particular language is not one of the default language and the translation language of the device; and

instructions for providing the translation of future oral statements in the default language in at least one of the translation language of the device and the particular language, in response to receiving the input.

20. The computer program product of claim 16 further comprising:

instructions for responding to determining that the particular language is the configured translation language of the device by automatically validating the translation language of the device.

21. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the instructions for analyzing the data to identify a particular language of the oral statement comprise:

instructions for determining a location of the device;

instructions for searching a language database to identify the particular language based on the oral statement and the location of the device, wherein the language database stores data associated with a plurality of languages and a number of locations that each of the plurality of languages are spoken; and

instructions for updating the language database with a new location of the particular language, in response to identifying the new location for the particular language.

22. The computer program product of claim 16 further comprising:

instructions for determining, by a biometrical device, a voice inflection of the oral statement;

instructions for providing, in a user interface, the voice inflection of the oral statement in at least one of a visual display and an audio display; and

instructions for providing, in a user interface, the translation of the oral statement in at least one of a text display and an audio display.