Patents Examined by Lamont Spooner
  • Patent number: 8082145
    Abstract: Embodiments for manipulating characters displayed on a display screen are provided, wherein one example method includes identifying a selected word, wherein the selected word includes at least one character to be modified. The method further includes correlating each of the at least one character with a unique numerical value and receiving a selection command and a modification command, wherein the selection command is the unique numerical value corresponding to a selected character. Furthermore, the method includes modifying the selected character responsive to the modification command to generate a modified word.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: David Mowatt, Robert Chambers, Felix GTI Andrew
  • Patent number: 8078449
    Abstract: In a speech translation apparatus, a correspondence storage unit stores therein identifiers of terminals and usage languages used in the terminals associated with each other. A receiving unit receives a source speech from one of the terminals. A translating unit acquires usage languages from the correspondence storage unit, and generates a translated speech by using each of the acquired usage languages as a target language. When the translated speech is generated in any one of the target languages, a determining unit determines whether it has been generated in all the target languages. If the translated speech has been generated in all the target languages, an output unit outputs the translated speech. A sending unit sends the translated speech to each of the terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2011
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Manabu Nagao
  • Patent number: 8027831
    Abstract: An information display control apparatus includes an example sentence storage unit that stores a plurality of example sentences, an input unit that accepts a user's operation of inputting a string of characters, an example sentence search unit that, when a compound word consisting of a plurality of constituting words which are combinable and splittable is input via the input unit, searches the example sentences in the example sentence storage unit for an example sentence containing the compound word in a combined state where the plurality of constituting words are combined and an example sentence containing the compound word in a split state where the plurality of constituting words are split, and a display control unit that displays the example sentences searched by the example sentence search unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: Casio Computer Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Masaaki Yanagisawa
  • Patent number: 8027830
    Abstract: The invention concerns a method for source language comprehension designed for a listener mastering a target language, which consists in causing the listener to listen to a statement, consisting of a series of several contents, in the source language and in displaying simultaneously with the listening of the statement a succession of notations marking the succession of contents in the source language, showing a notation marking a content only as from the time when it is being heard and showing, a series of inscriptions in the target language which corresponds to the full statement. The method is characterized in that it consists in showing the whole series of inscriptions before the beginning of the statement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Inventor: Francois Teytaud
  • Patent number: 8024178
    Abstract: A system offers potential completions for fragments of text. The system may obtain a text fragment and identify documents that include the text fragment. The system may locate sentences within the documents that include at least a portion of the text fragment, identify sentence endings associated with the located sentences, and present the sentence endings as potential completions for the text fragment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Georges R Harik, Simon Tong, David R Cheng
  • Patent number: 8024176
    Abstract: One embodiment generally pertains to a method of prediction. The method includes generating a set of affixes from a selected input sequence and comparing the set of affixes with a predictive set of affixes. The method also includes selecting an affix from the predictive set of affixes. The invention uses various input data sets and allows the ability to perfectly render the original data set and the minimal size of the predictive set of affixes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignee: Dictaphone Corporation
    Inventors: Alwin B. Carus, Thomas J. Deplonty, III
  • Patent number: 7970598
    Abstract: The present invention allows subscribers to an online information service to participate in real-time conferencing or chat sessions in which a message originating from a subscriber in accordance with a first language is translated to one or more languages before it is broadcast to the other conference areas. Messages in a first language are translated automatically to one or more other languages through language translation capabilities resident at online information service host computers. Access software that subscribers use for participating in conference is integrated with speech recognition and speech generation software such that a subscriber may speak the message he or she would like to share with other participants and may hear the messages from the other participants in the conference. Speech-to-speech translation may be accomplished as a message spoken into a computer microphone in accordance with a first language may be recited by a remote computer in accordance with a second language.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: AOL Inc.
    Inventors: Mary A. Flanagan, Philip Jensen, Douglas P. Chinnock
  • Patent number: 7580828
    Abstract: A computer translation system is disclosed generally comprising a monitor displaying a pair of adjacent columns that have parallel scrolling means. The columns are divided horizontally to form at least two pairs of parallel scrolling fields, including a main pair of fields and a second pair located above the main pair. The main pair includes a translation field for text that is to be translated and a correction field for the translated text where an operator can check and correct this translated text. The second pair of scrolling fields includes first and second accumulating fields for progressively receiving and displaying the text from the translation field and the correction field, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2009
    Inventor: Giovanni D'Agostini
  • Patent number: 7509251
    Abstract: A method, computer program product, and data processing system for mock-translating the text messages used in a software application at runtime is disclosed. A text message in a first human language are read from a resource bundle at runtime. A textual representation of the text message having features of a second human language is then derived from the original text message and displayed in the application in place of the original text message. This textual representation may contain such features of the second human language as the character set and average length of words. The displayed textual representation can then be used to determine whether modifications to the application code need be made in order to support the second human language.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: James Neal Andrews, David Bruce Kumhyr, Joseph C. Ross
  • Patent number: 7483828
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for translating a document segment in a first language into a document segment in a second language. A document segment can be text in the form of words or phrases in a document. The invention can be used where there is insufficient information to directly translate the document in the first language into the document in the second language. The invention includes providing an association between the document segment in the first language and a document segment in each of a plurality of third languages, providing an association between sample segments in the second language each of which corresponds to a segment in each of the plurality of third languages, identifying at least two sample segments that are identical as a deduced association segment; and associating the deduced association segment with the document segment in the first language.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2009
    Assignee: Meaningful Machines, L.L.C.
    Inventor: Eli Abir
  • Patent number: 7447635
    Abstract: A natural language interface control system for operating a plurality of devices consists of a first microphone array, a feature extraction module coupled to the first microphone array, and a speech recognition module coupled to the feature extraction module, wherein the speech recognition module utilizes hidden Markov models. The system also comprises a natural language interface module coupled to the speech recognition module and a device interface coupled to the natural language interface module, wherein the natural language interface module is for operating a plurality of devices coupled to the device interface based upon non-prompted, open-ended natural language requests from a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2008
    Assignees: Sony Corporation, Sony Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Courtney C. Konopka, Lars Cristian Almstrand
  • Patent number: 7447624
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture provide a single multi-language source code file and effects single-language executable files from the multi-language source code file. A program extracts text elements in the first language from the source code. The extracted text elements include context information that identifies a location of the text element in the first language in the source code. Translations of the extracted text elements in a second language are obtained. The translations of the text elements in the second language are merged into the source code at merge locations based on the context information. Versions of the source code in the first language and the second language are then generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2008
    Assignee: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Inventor: Nils Fuhrmann
  • Patent number: 7392182
    Abstract: A speech recognition system processes speech outputs from a user to select a list element from a list of list elements. The user speaks the speech output as a whole word and an initial character sequence of the desired list element. The whole word and individual character sequence components are processed separately. A sublist is generated in response to the individual character sequence. A list element is selected in response to the whole word and sublist.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2008
    Assignee: Harman International Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Gerhard Nuessle, Harald Bernd Enderle, Franz S. Gerl
  • Patent number: 7389221
    Abstract: The present invention provides an interactive system and method for effective and convenient language translation. The system and method provides a translation window that is opened in conjunction with a web page window containing web pages hosted on the internet. The translation window and web page window are automatically adjusted in size and position so that they fit on one user-viewable screen without overlapping. The translation window is linked to a translation dictionary database accessible through the internet which provides accurate and comprehensive definitions of the words that are identified to be translated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2008
    Assignee: GlobalEnglish Corporation
    Inventors: Brent E. Pearson, Scott T. Silliman, Peter A. Richter, Samuel N. Neff
  • Patent number: 7389224
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for performing a search for information containing natural language is disclosed which uses a natural language query. The query is input in the form of units of the natural language and this is matched with units in the natural language of the data. Where there are unmatched units in the query and/or the data, context data in the form of one or more unmatched units of the query and/or the data is generated. Each unmatched unit as a predefined linguistic relationship to one of the or each matched unit. Output data is formed as matched units with any respective context data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2008
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: David Elworthy
  • Patent number: 7379862
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for analyzing and debugging natural language parses is provided. An input sentence is received and parsed by a parsing engine. A table of constituents is retrieved from the parsing engine and a grid tree is drawn representing the input sentence. Nodes of the tree, or connecting points, appear at intersections of the tree “branches.” Once the grid has been drawn, the first syntactically correct parse of the sentence is mapped to the grid in a tree-like manner (the “parse tree”). Input is then received for selecting one of several graphical buttons, for selecting a node that is in the parse tree, for selecting a node that is not in the parse tree, or for selecting options from one of several “pull-down” menus. If a connecting point that is not contained in the parse tree is selected, a group of menu options may be displayed adjacent to the selected connecting point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2008
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Su Chin Chang, Hajime Wada
  • Patent number: 7363214
    Abstract: A system and method for determining quality of written product reviews to distinguish the user reviews for further use or processing. In one embodiment, the opinion analyzer system includes a processor, a parser module, an prose analyzer module, a characteristic features database, and a language value rules database. In another embodiment, the method comprises the steps of parsing language of a portion of a user review, extracting characteristic feature from the user review, determining a quality parameter based on the extracted characteristic feature, determining a raw score based on the quality parameter, and determining quality of the user review based on the raw score.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2008
    Assignee: CNET Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy A. Musgrove, Robin Walsh
  • Patent number: 7356462
    Abstract: A method of grammar learning from a corpus comprises, for the other non-context words, generating frequency vectors for each non-context token in a corpus based upon counted occurrences of a predetermined relationship of the non-context tokens to identified context tokens. Clusters are grown from the frequency vectors according to a lexical correlation among the non-context tokens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignee: AT&T Corp.
    Inventors: Srinivas Bangalore, Giuseppe Riccardi
  • Patent number: 7346508
    Abstract: A speaker of encoded speech data recorded in a semiconductor storage device in an IC recorder is to be retrieved easily. An information receiving unit 10 in a speaker retrieval apparatus 1 reads out the encoded speech data recorded in a semiconductor storage device 107 in an IC recorder 100. A speech decoding unit 12 decodes the encoded speech data. A speaker frequency detection unit 13 discriminates the speaker based on a feature of the speech waveform decoded to find the frequency of conversation (frequency of occurrence) of the speaker in a preset time interval. A speaker frequency graph displaying unit 14 displays the speaker frequency on a picture as a two-dimensional graph having time and the frequency as two axes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2003
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2008
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Toguri, Masayuki Nishiguchi
  • Patent number: RE40731
    Abstract: A system for indexing displayed elements that is useful for accessing and understanding new or difficult materials, in which a user highlights unknown words or characters or other displayed elements encountered while viewing displayed materials. In a language learning application, the system displays the meaning of a word in context; and the user may include the word in a personal vocabulary to build a database of words and phrases. In a Japanese language application, one or more Japanese language books are read on an electronic display. Readings (‘yomi’) for all words are readily viewable for any selected word or phrase, as well as an English reference to the selected word or phrase. Extensive notes are provided for difficult phrases and words not normally found in a dictionary. A unique indexing scheme allows word-by-word access to any of several external multi-media references.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2009
    Assignee: Sentius International Corporation
    Inventors: Mark Bookman, Brian Yamanaka