U.S. patent application number 13/037262 was filed with the patent office on 2012-08-30 for systems, methods and media for translating informational content.
Invention is credited to Andrew Trese.
Application Number | 20120221319 13/037262 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 46719605 |
Filed Date | 2012-08-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120221319 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Trese; Andrew |
August 30, 2012 |
Systems, Methods and Media for Translating Informational
Content
Abstract
Systems, methods, and media for translating informational
content via a publishing server are provided herein. Methods may
include receiving a request for informational content from a
visitor device, the request including a language preference,
responsive to the request, locating informational content stored in
a database based upon analytical data corresponding to the visitor
device, translating at least a portion of the informational content
utilizing the language preference of the request if a language of
the informational content does not correspond to the language
preference of the request, and storing the translated at least a
portion of the informational content in the database associated
with the publishing server.
Inventors: |
Trese; Andrew; (Somerville,
MA) |
Family ID: |
46719605 |
Appl. No.: |
13/037262 |
Filed: |
February 28, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
704/2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 40/40 20200101;
G06F 40/47 20200101 |
Class at
Publication: |
704/2 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/28 20060101
G06F017/28 |
Claims
1. A method for translating informational content via a publishing
server, comprising: receiving a request for informational content
from a computing system, the request including a language
preference; responsive to the request, locating informational
content stored in a database based upon analytical data
corresponding to the computing system; translating at least a
portion of the informational content utilizing the language
preference of the request if a language of the informational
content does not correspond to the language preference of the
request; and storing the translated at least a portion of the
informational content in the database associated with the
publishing server.
2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising selecting a
type of translation by: comparing the language preference of the
request to a translation guidelines to determine the type of
translation that is to be utilized in the step of translating; and
selecting type of translation that is to be utilized in the step of
translating based upon the comparison.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein if the language
preference of the request is the same as the language preference of
a first threshold amount of additional requests for a same type of
informational content as the request, the informational content is
translated by one or more human translators; if the priority of the
request is the same as the language preference of a second
threshold amount of additional requests for a same type of
informational content as the request, the informational content is
translated by one or more human translators and one or more machine
translators; and if the language preference of the request is the
same as the language preference of a third threshold amount of
additional requests for a same type of informational content as the
request, the informational content is translated by one or more
machine translators.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein translating includes a
first translation of the at least a portion of the informational
content via one or more machine translators before a second
translation via one or more human translators.
5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing
the translated at least a portion of the informational content to
one or more content authors before providing the translated at
least a portion of the informational content to one or more
computing systems.
6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: receiving
from the one or more content authors a trust score that corresponds
to the accuracy of the translated at least a portion of the
informational content; and providing the translated at least a
portion of the informational to one or more computing systems
content if the trust score of the translated at least a portion of
the informational content is above a threshold amount.
7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising
retranslating the translated at least a portion of the
informational content having a trust score below the threshold
amount.
8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving
one or more modifications to the translated at least a portion of
the informational content from one or more content authors and
updating the translation of the at least a portion of the
informational content with the one or more modifications.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the located
informational content includes an extensible markup language format
and a first language, and the translated at least a portion of the
informational content includes the same extensible markup language
format as the located informational content but in a second
language that corresponds to the language preference of the
request.
10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising selecting a
type of translation by determining a criticality of the located
informational content.
11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: providing
the translated at least a portion of the informational content to
one or more computing systems; receiving feedback from the one or
more client devices in a first language corresponding to the
translated at least a portion of the informational content;
translating the feedback from the first language to a language
utilized by one or more content authors if the language utilized by
the one or more content authors is different than the first
language; receiving modifications to the at least a portion of the
informational content from the one or more client devices in the
language utilized by the one or more content authors; incorporating
the modifications into the at least a portion of the informational
content; translating the modifications to the first language; and
incorporating the modifications into the translated at least a
portion of the informational content in the first language.
12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving
authorization to translate from at least one content manager before
the step of translating at least a portion of the informational
content.
13. A system for translating informational content via a publishing
server, comprising: a memory for storing executable instructions
for translating informational content; and a processor configured
to execute the executable instructions stored in the memory to:
receive a request for informational content from a computing
system, the request including a language preference; responsive to
the request, locate informational content stored in a database
based upon analytical data corresponding to the computing system;
translate at least a portion of the informational content utilizing
the language preference of the request if the language of the
informational content does not correspond to the language
preference of the request; and store the translated at least a
portion of the informational content in the database associated
with the publishing server.
14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the processor is
further adapted to execute the instructions to select a type of
translation by: comparing the language preference of the request to
a translation guidelines to determine the type of translation that
is to be utilized in the step of translating; and selecting type of
translation that is to be utilized in the step of translating based
upon the comparison.
15. The system according to claim 14, wherein if the language
preference of the request is the same as the language preference of
a first threshold amount of additional requests for a same type of
informational content as the request, the informational content is
translated by one or more human translators; if the priority of the
request is the same as the language preference of a second
threshold amount of additional requests for a same type of
informational content as the request, the informational content is
translated by one or more human translators and one or more machine
translators; and if the language preference of the request is the
same as the language preference of a third threshold amount of
additional requests for a same type of informational content as the
request, the informational content is translated by one or more
machine translators.
16. The system according to claim 13, wherein translating includes
a first translation of the at least a portion of the informational
content via one or more machine translators before a second
translation via one or more human translators.
17. The system according to claim 13, wherein the processor is
further adapted to execute the instructions to provide the
translated at least a portion of the informational content to one
or more content authors before providing the translated at least a
portion of the informational content to one or more computing
systems.
18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the processor is
further adapted to execute the instructions to: receive from the
one or more content authors a trust score that corresponds to the
accuracy of the translated at least a portion of the informational
content; and provide the translated at least a portion of the
informational to one or more computing systems content if the trust
score of the translated at least a portion of the informational
content is above a threshold amount.
19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the processor is
further adapted to execute the instructions to retranslate the
translated at least a portion of the informational content having a
trust score below the threshold amount.
20. The system according to claim 13, wherein the processor is
further adapted to execute the instructions to receive one or more
corrections to the translation of the at least a portion of the
informational content from one or more content authors and update
the translation of the at least a portion of the informational
content with the one or more corrections.
21. The system according to claim 13, wherein the located
informational content includes an extensible markup language format
and a first language, and the translated at least a portion of the
informational content includes the same extensible markup language
format as the located informational content but in a second
language that corresponds to the language preference of the
request.
22. The system according to claim 13, wherein the processor is
further adapted to execute the instructions to select a type of
translation by determining a criticality of the informational
content.
23. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is
further adapted to execute the instructions to: provide the
translated at least a portion of the informational content to one
or more computing systems; receive feedback from the one or more
computing systems in a first language corresponding to the
translated at least a portion of the informational content;
translate the feedback from the first language to a language
utilized by one or more content authors if the language utilized by
the one or more content authors is different than the first
language; receive modifications to the at least a portion of the
informational content from the one or more client devices in the
language utilized by the one or more content authors; incorporate
the modifications into the at least a portion of the informational
content; translate the modifications to the first language; and
incorporate the modifications into the translated at least a
portion of the informational content in the first language.
24. The system according to claim 13, wherein the processor is
further adapted to execute the instructions to receive
authorization from at least one content manager before the step of
translating at least a portion of the informational content.
25. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having a
computer program embodied thereon, the computer program executable
by a processor in a computing system to perform a method for
generating analytical data, the method comprising: receiving a
request for informational content from a computing system, the
request including a language preference; responsive to the request,
locating informational content stored in a database based upon
analytical data corresponding to the computing system; translating
at least a portion of the informational content utilizing the
language preference of the request if a language of the
informational content does not correspond to the language
preference of the request; and storing the translated at least a
portion of the informational content in the database associated
with the publishing server.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This nonprovisional patent application is related to U.S.
patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled "SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND
MEDIA FOR GENERATING ANALYTICAL DATA," filed on Feb. ______, 2011,
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/510,913, entitled "Translating
Documents Based On Content," filed on Jul. 28, 2009, U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 12/572,021, entitled "Providing
Machine-Generated Translations and Corresponding Trust Levels,"
filed on Oct. 1, 2009, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/720,536,
entitled "Predicting the Cost Associated with Translating Textual
Content," filed on Mar. 9, 2010, and U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 12/820,061, entitled "Multiple Means of Trusted Translations,"
filed on Jul. 28, 2009, the disclosures of the aforementioned
applications are incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present technology relates generally to translating
informational content via a publishing server, and more
specifically, but not by way of limitation, to systems, methods,
and media for translating informational content. In some
embodiments, the systems, methods, and media may be adapted to
translate informational content, dynamically, utilizing both
analytical data and language preferences.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Commonly utilized methods for translating information
content include human or manual translation of the informational
content from a first language to one or more different languages.
While human translation may create suitable translations, the cost
associated with human translation can be prohibitive if the
informational content needs to be translated into a plurality of
languages, or requires frequent translations due to frequent
modification of the informational content.
[0004] Therefore, many different methods and systems have been
created to automatically translate informational content via
mechanical translators (e.g., computing systems adapted to
translate informational content). Unfortunately, commonly utilized
mechanical translators translate static informational content and
provide no mechanisms for verifying the accuracy of the
translations. For example, some mechanical translators will scrape
textual data from a content source such as a published web page or
document, translate the text, and provide the text to end users.
Therefore, mechanical translators are not adapted to translate
informational content that has been gathered from a data source in
a raw (e.g., non-rendered) format such as XML.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] According to some embodiments, methods for translating
informational content are provided herein. Such methods may include
receiving a request for informational content from a computing
system, the request including a language preference, responsive to
the request, locating informational content stored in a database
based upon analytical data corresponding to the computing system,
translating at least a portion of the informational content
utilizing the language preference of the request if a language of
the informational content does not correspond to the language
preference of the request, and storing the translated at least a
portion of the informational content in the database associated
with the publishing server.
[0006] In other embodiments, systems for translating informational
content may include a memory for storing executable instructions
for translating informational content, and a processor configured
to execute the executable instructions stored in the memory to
receive a request for informational content from a computing
system, the request including a language preference, responsive to
the request, locate informational content stored in a database
based upon analytical data corresponding to the computing system,
translate at least a portion of the informational content utilizing
the language preference of the request if the language of the
informational content does not correspond to the language
preference of the request, and store the translated at least a
portion of the informational content in the database associated
with the publishing server.
[0007] Other embodiments of the present technology may include a
non-transitory computer readable storage medium having a computer
program embodied thereon, the computer program executable by a
processor in a computing system to perform a method for translating
informational content. The exemplary method for translating
informational content may include receiving a request for
informational content from a computing system, the request
including a language preference, responsive to the request,
locating informational content stored in a database based upon
analytical data corresponding to the computing system, translating
at least a portion of the informational content utilizing the
language preference of the request if a language of the
informational content does not correspond to the language
preference of the request, and storing the translated at least a
portion of the informational content in the database associated
with the publishing server.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary architecture
of a system utilized to practice aspects of the present
technology.
[0009] FIG. 2 illustrates an application adapted to translate
informational content.
[0010] FIG. 3 is an exemplary flow diagram of a method for
translating informational content.
[0011] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing system
that may be utilized to practice aspects of the present
disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS
[0012] While this technology is susceptible of embodiment in many
different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be
described in detail several specific embodiments with the
understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an
exemplification of the principles of the technology and is not
intended to limit the technology to the embodiments
illustrated.
[0013] As stated above, the systems and methods of the present
technology may be adapted to translate informational content. It
will be understood that in some embodiments, the informational
content may be created in an extensible markup language format. As
such, translation of the informational content may be facilitated
by translation of the informational content in its extensible
markup language format from a first language to one or more
different languages. Therefore, in various exemplary embodiments,
translated informational content remains in its raw, extensible
language format until it is rendered and provided to the end user
based upon the language preference of the end user.
[0014] Broadly described, the systems and methods provided herein
may allow content authors to select the type of translation
utilized to translate the informational content based upon
analytical data regarding the relative number of requests received
from end users. For example, if the systems and methods determine
that a substantial majority of end users are requesting the same
type of informational content in the English language, the content
authors may create an authoritative version of the informational
content in the English language.
[0015] As such, requests for the same informational content in a
language different from English require translation of the
informational content by the systems and methods of the present
technology.
[0016] Because the translation of informational content via human
beings can be costly, the systems and methods may translate
infrequent requested informational content by way of machine
translation. Content authors may utilize the systems and methods
provided herein to establish translation guidelines that are
utilized to select an appropriate type of translation for each
request received. For example, to reduce translation costs, content
authors may specify that infrequent requests for informational
content in a particular language may result in the translation of
the informational content into the particular language via machine
translators. The utilization of machine translators, rather than
human translators results in significant cost savings for content
authors. The ability for content authors to select the type of
translation may be particularly important for content authors who
provide content across a wide array of communication channels and
in many languages.
[0017] In some embodiments, the systems and methods provide
translated informational content to content authors before the
translated informational content is provided to the end user.
Content authors may trust score the translated informational
content based upon the accuracy of the translated informational
content. Content authors may specify that only translated
informational content having a trust score above a threshold amount
may be stored or provided to end users.
[0018] In additional embodiments, the systems and methods may
provide content authors with the ability to edit translated
informational content on-the-fly. Moreover, end users may provide
feedback regarding the accuracy of the informational content, as to
both the translation and the subject matter of the informational
content. If the language utilized by the end user is different than
the language utilized by the content author, the systems and
methods may translate the feedback utilizing the language
preference of the end user.
[0019] Upon the content author updating the translated
informational content, the updated informational content may be
translated from the language of the content author to the language
of the end user either via machine translation or human
translation.
[0020] In contrast to commonly utilized methods for translating
informational content that are utilized to translate static
content, the systems and methods of the present technology may
translate informational content on-the-fly, responsive to user
requests and utilizing the preferences of end users as determined
by analytical data. Stated otherwise, rather than translating
already rendered informational content, which may or may not
correspond to the preferences of the end user, the systems and
methods may render and translate informational content that
specifically corresponds to the preferences of the end user. Stated
otherwise, after the systems and methods have translated the
informational content, the translated informational content is
personalized to the end user based on their preferences. It will be
understood that the preferences of the end user may be determined
via an analysis of analytical data obtained from the end user.
[0021] The present technology may include machine translation
features such as determining translation quality level, translating
documents based on content, as well as incorporate other features.
Exemplary features are described in U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 12/510,913, entitled "Translating Documents Based On Content,"
filed on Jul. 28, 2009, U.S. patent application Ser. No.
12/572,021, entitled "Providing Machine-Generated Translations and
Corresponding Trust Levels," filed on Oct. 1, 2009, U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 12/720,536, entitled "Predicting the Cost
Associated with Translating Textual Content," filed on Mar. 9,
2010, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/820,061, entitled
"Multiple Means of Trusted Translations," filed on Jul. 28, 2009,
the disclosures of the aforementioned applications are incorporated
herein by reference.
[0022] Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic diagram of an exemplary
architecture 100 for practicing aspects of the present technology
is depicted. Generally speaking, the architecture 100 may include a
plurality of client devices 105A (shown herein as a single client
device 105A) that are communicatively coupled to one or more
publishing servers 110 (shown herein as a single publishing server
110) via a network 115. The network 115 may include any one of a
number of different communication channels, and in some embodiments
may include the Internet. It will be understood that the client
devices 105A may by utilized by content authors to establish
translation guidelines and review translations for accuracy, as
will be described in greater detail herein.
[0023] In some implementations, the respective functionalities of
the publishing server 110 may be distributed across a plurality of
servers that reside in a cloud computing configuration (not
shown).
[0024] The architecture 100 may also include a plurality of visitor
devices 105B (shown herein as a single visitor device 105B)
communicatively coupled to the publishing server 110 via the
network 115. The visitor device 105B may be associated with
visitors that request and receive information content via the
publishing server 110.
[0025] Both the client device 105A and the visitor device 105B may
include any general purpose computing system that may implement a
web browser application or other suitable applications adapted to
request and provide information (such as web content) to and from
the publishing server 110. A suitable exemplary client device 105A
or visitor device 105B may include the computing system 400
disclosed with reference to FIG. 4. Additionally, the publishing
server 110 may also include many of the components of computing
system 400, although specific implementational and structural
details regarding the publishing server 110 will be provided
below.
[0026] As stated above, the publishing server 110 may be adapted to
generate analytical data and utilize the generated analytical data
to dynamically generate informational content. For example, the
publishing server 110 may be adapted to generate analytical data
from actions performed on the publishing server 110 by one or more
visitor devices 105B.
[0027] According to some embodiments, the publishing server 110 may
be adapted to translate informational content on-the-fly,
responsive to user requests. Additionally, the publishing server
110 may be adapted to select informational content to be translated
by evaluating analytical data associated with visitor devices 105B.
It will be understood that the analytical data may be generated
from an analytical data gathering module 135, which will be
described in greater detail below. It will further be understood
that analytical data may include device configuration information,
language preference, behavioral information, demographical
information, and so forth, gathered from the visitor device
105B.
[0028] According to some embodiments, the publishing server 110 may
be communicatively coupled to a database 125 that is utilized by
content authors to store informational content. In some
embodiments, the database 125 includes an extensible markup
language (XML) database. Informational content generated by the
content authors may be stored in the XML database in a native XML
format until requested by end users. It will be understood that the
database 125 may utilize a Darwin Information Typing Architecture
(DITA) for authoring, producing, and delivering information,
although one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that
other types of information architectures may likewise be utilized
in accordance with the present technology.
[0029] It will be understood that because the database 125 may be
adapted to utilize DITA architecture, the publishing server 110 may
be able to generate informational content in a variety of exemplary
formats, such as portable document format (PDF) documents via
extensible stylesheet language formatting objects (XSL-FO),
extensible hypertext markup language, rich text format, and a
plurality of application specific informational content formats
(e.g., eclipse, java, oracle, and so forth.). While the database
125 has been disclosed as utilizing DITA architecture, one of
ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other types of data
architectures may likewise be utilized in accordance with the
present technology. In addition to generating informational content
in a variety of formats, the systems and methods provided herein
may generate informational content that is translated based upon
the language preference of the end user.
[0030] Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 collectively, the publishing
server 110 may be described as a particular purpose computing
system that includes executable instructions that when executed by
the processor of the publishing server 110, cause the publishing
server 110 to translate informational content in response to
receiving a request for informational content by the client device
105. The informational content selected for translation may include
informational content that corresponds to analytical data gathered
regarding the end user via the client device 105. Generally
speaking, the analytical data may include any of device
configuration information, user profile information, language
preferences, end user skill level, actions performed on a
publishing server, and other conditions.
[0031] While the executable instructions resident on the publishing
server 110 may include any number of modules, engines,
applications, functions, and so forth, for the purposes of clarity,
the executable instructions may be generally described as a
translation application 200 having one or more modules.
[0032] Generally speaking, the translation application 200 may
include a user interface module 205, a communications module 210, a
translation management module 215, and an analytical translator
engine 220. It will be understood that the translation application
200 may include fewer or more modules and/or engines and still fall
within the scope of the present technology.
[0033] In some embodiments (such as in FIG. 1), the translation
application 200 may include a standalone application executable via
the client device 105A and the visitor device 105B. In other
embodiments, the translation application may reside on another
computing device (not shown) that is communicatively coupled to the
publishing server 110. The translation application 200 may interact
with the publishing server 110 and database 125. In additional
embodiments (such as in FIG. 2), the translation application 200
may include a web-based application residing on the publishing
server 110 that may be accessible via a web browser application
resident on both the client device 105A or the visitor device
105B.
[0034] In some embodiments, the translation application 200 is
communicatively coupled to an informational content delivery
application 130 that includes an analytical data gathering module
135. Both the informational content delivery application 130 and
the analytical data gathering module 135 may reside on the
publishing server 110. Generally speaking, the informational
content delivery application 130 may provide informational content
that corresponds to analytical data gathered by the analytical data
gathering module 135. That is, rather than providing end users with
static informational content, the informational content delivery
application 130 may provide end users with informational content
that is tailored to the preference of the end user. Additional
details regarding the analytical data gathering module 135 are
provided in U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed on Feb.
______, 2011, titled "SYSTEMS, METHODS, AND MEDIA FOR GENERATING
ANALYTICAL DATA."
[0035] Content authors may interact with the translation
application 200 via graphical user interface generated by the user
interface module 205. That is, content authors may utilize
graphical user interfaces to control the operation of one or more
of the functionalities of the translation application 200. The
functionalities of the translation application 200 will be
discussed in greater detail below.
[0036] The communications module 210 may be adapted to receive
requests for translated informational content from the visitor
device 105B and provide translated informational content from the
publishing server 110 to the visitor device 105B via the publishing
server.
[0037] In some embodiments, the communications module 210 may
communicatively couple the publishing server 110 and the client
device 105A and the visitor device 105B via a security protocol.
According to some embodiments, the communications module 210 may
utilize a cryptographic application programming interface. In some
embodiments, the application 200 may utilize a representational
state transfer (RESTful) web service API.
[0038] Upon the visitor device 105A accessing the translation
application 200, the translation application 200 may communicate
with the analytical data gathering module 135 to gather information
from the visitor device 105A. It will be understood that the
analytical data gathering module 135 may operate transparently to
the end user of the visitor device 105A.
[0039] As background, content authors may create authoritative
versions of informational content that are stored the database 125.
In some embodiments, the authoritative versions may be created in a
language that is selected based upon analytical data gathered by
the analytical data gathering module 135. The analytical data may
correspond to a plurality of end users (gathered from visitor
devices 105B associated with the end users) that frequently utilize
informational content. As such, the authoritative versions of
informational content may include informational content in one or
more languages frequently utilized by the end users.
[0040] Upon receiving a request for informational content from the
visitor device 105A, the translation management module 215 may be
executed by the processor of the publishing server 110 to determine
the language preference of the end user. The translation management
module 215 may accomplish these ends by way of the analytical data
gathering module 135. In some embodiments, the analytical data
gathering module 135 may determine language preferences from
informational content frequently accessed by the end user. In other
embodiments, the translation management module 215 may determine
language preference data by way of explicit information included in
the request. For example, the end user may submit a request for
informational content via a web form that allows the end user to
specify a language preference.
[0041] If the language preference of the end user is the same as
one or more authoritative versions of informational content stored
on the database 125, the communications module 205 may provide the
informational content to the end user without need for
translation.
[0042] If the language preference of the end user is not the same
as an authoritative version of the informational content stored on
the database 125, translation management module 215 may be adapted
to determine a type of translation that may be utilized to
translate the informational content by way of translation
guidelines established by the content authors. It will be
understood that in some embodiments, the translation management
module 215 may assign a translation priority level to each request
that is utilized to determine the type of translation that will be
utilized to translate the informational content. Additionally, the
content authors may specify the details of the translation priority
levels utilized by the translation management module 215.
[0043] In additional embodiments, content authors may specify that
certain types of informational content may always be subject to
machine translation, regardless of trust score. Content authors may
specify that certain types of informational content may be subject
to machine translation as long as the machine translation achieves
a specific trust score. For example, content authors may specify
that it is permissible for the analytical translator engine 220 to
translate and provide the translated informational content to an
end user if the translation achieves a trust score of three or
greater. Additionally, content authors may specify that some types
of informational content (such as critical informational content)
are always translated ahead of time by one or more human
translators.
[0044] According to some embodiments, the translation management
module 215 may select the type of translation utilized to translate
the informational content by determining a priority for the
request. It will be understood that in some embodiments, the
priority may be based upon aggregate demand or the criticality of
the informational content.
[0045] For example, assuming that English is the language of the
authoritative version of the requested informational content,
requests for the informational content in a language different from
the language of the authoritative version may be analyzed by the
translation management module 215 to determine a priority of the
translation.
[0046] If the priority of the translation is low, the translation
management module 215 may instruct the analytical translator engine
220 to utilize one or more types of machine translation only. In
contrast, if the priority of the translation is high, the
analytical translator engine 220 may utilize one or more human
translators. If the priority of the translation falls somewhere
between low and high, combinations of both machine and human
translation may be utilized.
[0047] In some embodiments, the priority of a translation may be
determined by first establishing threshold levels indicative of
aggregate numbers of requests for informational content relative to
language preference. For example, threshold levels may be
stratified into translation guidelines that include a first
threshold amount, a second threshold amount, and a third threshold
amount.
[0048] If the language preference of the request is the same as the
language preference of the first threshold amount, the
informational content may be translated by one or more human
translators. If the language preference of the request is the same
as the language preference of the second threshold amount, the
informational content may be translated by both one or more human
translators and one or more machine translators, and if the
language preference of the request is the same as the language
preference of the third threshold amount, the informational content
may be translated by one or more machine translators only.
[0049] Moreover, the translation guidelines that are utilized by
the translation management module 215 may be defined by the content
authors. For example, the content author may specify the
requirements of the threshold amounts.
[0050] In some embodiments, all human translation of informational
content may be executed ahead of time, that is, before the
informational content is provided to the end users. For example,
using analytical data gathered from analytical data gathering
module 135, a determination is made if informational content should
be translated by a human ahead of time (prior to receiving
requests) and then made available to end users. On the other hand,
if informational content is not translated ahead of time via human
translators, the informational content may be machine translated on
the fly machine upon receiving a request for informational
content.
[0051] Because content authors may specify how the translation
management module 215 prioritizes the translation of informational
content, the content authors may substantially reduce the cost of
unnecessary translations of infrequently requested informational
content. Correspondingly, content authors may delineate the types
of informational content that may be translated by human
translators, regardless of the frequency of use, based upon the
criticality of the informational content. A non-limiting example of
critical informational content may include an installation manual
for a mechanical system, which if installed improperly may pose a
significant danger to operators.
[0052] Content authors may specify that one or more human
translators may translate critical informational content. In some
embodiments, critical informational content may be translated a
first time by one or more machine translators and a second time by
one or more human translators. As such, the one or more human
translators may verify the accuracy of the informational content
translated by the one or more machine translators.
[0053] Once informational content has been translated into one or
more languages, the translated informational content may be stored
in the database 125. The translated informational content may be
provided to end users upon subsequent request, without the need to
subsequently translate the informational content.
[0054] In additional embodiments, when a content author modifies
informational content in a particular language, the analytical
translator engine 215 may be executed to locate previously
translated versions of the informational content and translate the
modifications into additional languages based upon previous
translations. The translated modifications may be incorporated into
the previously translated informational content by the analytical
translator engine 215.
[0055] Rather than translating only the modifications, the
analytical translator engine 215 may retranslate the entire
informational content into additional languages. The translation of
modifications may also be subject to prioritization by the content
author. The ability of the analytical translator engine 215 to
incorporate modifications into previously translated informational
content is enhanced by the ability of the database 125 to retain
the informational content in XML format.
[0056] After the analytical translator engine 215 has caused the
translation of informational content by one or more of the
above-described methods, the translated informational content may
be provided, via the communications module 205, to one or more
content authors for verification of the accuracy of the
translation. In some embodiments, content authors may trust score a
translation for accuracy. Therefore, translations receiving a trust
score of less than a threshold trust score are rejected and may not
be stored in the database 125 or provided to the visitor device
105B. In contrast, translations receiving a trust score of higher
than a threshold trust score are approved and may be stored in the
database 125 or provided to the visitor device 105B. Translations
having a trust score that falls within a given range of values may
optionally be retranslated and rescored by the content authors.
[0057] For example, one or more machine translators may translate
informational content. Subsequent evaluations of the translations
by content authors may result in the content authors associating
the translations with a trust score that falls within the given
range of values. As such, the content authors may specify that the
translations be retranslated utilizing a second type of translator
(e.g., human translators) that is different that the first type of
translator (e.g., machine translators).
[0058] According to other embodiments, content authors may receive
feedback from the end users regarding the translation of the
informational content. Feedback may include data corresponding to
the accuracy of the translation, the comprehensiveness of the
informational content, and so forth. Because the end user may be
utilizing a different language from the content author, the
translation management module 215 may determine the language
associated with the feedback. The language determined by the
translation management module 215 may be utilized by the analytical
translator engine 220 to translate the feedback into the language
utilized by the content manager.
[0059] Any modifications of the informational content by the
content author based upon the feedback may finally be translated
into the language of the end user by the analytical translator
engine 220. The previously translated informational content that is
stored in the database 125 may be updated by the analytical
translator engine 220 to reflect the modifications.
[0060] In other embodiments, the translation application 200 may
provide content authors with a content editor (not shown) that is
generated by the user interface module 205. The content editor
provides the content author (or other authorized entities) the
ability to quickly edit portions of translations of informational
content based upon feedback received from end users, or from
content authors reviewing the translation of the informational
content.
[0061] If desired, changes to the informational content received
from the content authors may be automatically translated and
incorporated into previously translated informational content that
resides on the database 125 via the analytical translator engine
220.
[0062] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary flow chart of a method 300
for translating informational content. The method 300 may include a
step 305 of receiving a request for informational content from a
visitor device. It will be understood that the request may include
a language preference. For example, the request may be received via
the communications module of a translation application adapted to
translate informational content. In other embodiments, the request
may be received by an informational content delivery application
that is communicatively coupled to a publishing server.
[0063] In operations where the request is received via an
informational content delivery application, the informational
content delivery application may provide the request to the
translation application via the communications module of the
translation application. It will be understood that the
communications module of the translation application may utilize a
secure protocol for transmitting data across a network.
[0064] Responsive to the request received in step 305, the method
300 may include the step 310 of locating informational content
stored in a database, based upon analytical data corresponding to
the visitor device from which the request was received. It will be
understood that the analytical data may be gathered via an
analytical data gathering module associated with the informational
content delivery application. As stated previously, the database
includes a wide variety of informational content stored in an XML
format.
[0065] Next, the method 300 may include the step 315 of translating
at least a portion of the informational content utilizing the
language preference of the request, if the language of the
informational content does not correspond to the language
preference of the request. Finally, the method 300 may include the
step 320 of storing the translated at least a portion of the
informational content in the database associated with the
publishing server. The translated informational content may be
provided to the database via the secure protocol utilized by the
communications module of the translation application.
[0066] The method 300 may include the optional step 310A of
selecting the type of translation to be utilized to translate the
informational content based upon priority. As described in greater
detail above, infrequently requested informational content may be
translated by machine translators, while more frequently requested
informational content or critical informational content may be
translated by human translators. The ability for content authors to
select the type of translation to be utilized to translate
informational content based upon priority may provide significant
cost savings compared to methods that wholesale translate
informational content without regard to priority. As such, the
optional step 310A of selecting the type of translation to be
utilized may be executed before the step 315 of translating.
[0067] Additionally, as has been stated previously, because the
step 310A of translating occurs only when a request is received,
unnecessary translation of informational content may be avoided,
thus reducing overall translation costs. This is in contrast to
typical methods for distributing translated informational content
that includes translating informational content before a request or
demand for the informational content has been determined.
[0068] The method 300 may also include an optional step 315A of
providing the translated informational content to one or more
content authors. The content authors may trust score the accuracy
of the translation and specify that only translated informational
content having a trust score above a threshold amount may be stored
in the database or provided to an end user via their client
device.
[0069] Assuming the translation of the informational content
achieves a trust score above the threshold amount, the method 300
may include the step 325 of providing the translated informational
content to the computing device from which the request for
informational content was received.
[0070] On the other hand, if the trust score of a translation is
below the threshold amount, the method 300 may include the step 330
of providing a message to the end user that the informational
content is currently unavailable.
[0071] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary computing system 400 that
may be used to implement an embodiment of the present technology.
The computing system 400 of FIG. 4 includes one or more processors
410 and memory 420. Main memory 420 stores, in part, instructions
and data for execution by processor 410. Main memory 420 can store
the executable code when the system 400 is in operation. The system
400 of FIG. 4 may further include a mass storage device 430,
portable storage medium drive(s) 440, output devices 450, user
input devices 460, a graphics display 440, and other peripheral
devices 480.
[0072] The components shown in FIG. 4 are depicted as being
connected via a single bus 490. The components may be connected
through one or more data transport means. Processor unit 410 and
main memory 420 may be connected via a local microprocessor bus,
and the mass storage device 430, peripheral device(s) 480, portable
storage device 440, and display system 470 may be connected via one
or more input/output (I/O) buses.
[0073] Mass storage device 430, which may be implemented with a
magnetic disk drive or an optical disk drive, is a non-volatile
storage device for storing data and instructions for use by
processor unit 410. Mass storage device 430 can store the system
software for implementing embodiments of the present technology for
purposes of loading that software into main memory 410.
[0074] Portable storage device 440 operates in conjunction with a
portable non-volatile storage medium, such as a floppy disk,
compact disk or digital video disc, to input and output data and
code to and from the computing system 400 of FIG. 4. The system
software for implementing embodiments of the present technology may
be stored on such a portable medium and input to the computing
system 400 via the portable storage device 440.
[0075] Input devices 460 provide a portion of a user interface.
Input devices 460 may include an alphanumeric keypad, such as a
keyboard, for inputting alphanumeric and other information, or a
pointing device, such as a mouse, a trackball, stylus, or cursor
direction keys. Additionally, the system 400 as shown in FIG. 4
includes output devices 450. Suitable output devices include
speakers, printers, network interfaces, and monitors.
[0076] Display system 470 may include a liquid crystal display
(LCD) or other suitable display device. Display system 470 receives
textual and graphical information, and processes the information
for output to the display device.
[0077] Peripherals 480 may include any type of computer support
device to add additional functionality to the computing system.
Peripheral device(s) 480 may include a modem or a router.
[0078] The components contained in the computing system 400 of FIG.
4 are those typically found in computing systems that may be
suitable for use with embodiments of the present technology and are
intended to represent a broad category of such computer components
that are well known in the art. Thus, the computing system 400 of
FIG. 4 can be a personal computer, hand held computing system,
telephone, mobile computing system, workstation, server,
minicomputer, mainframe computer, or any other computing system.
The computer can also include different bus configurations,
networked platforms, multi-processor platforms, etc. Various
operating systems can be used including UNIX, Linux, Windows,
Macintosh OS, Palm OS, and other suitable operating systems.
[0079] Some of the above-described functions may be composed of
instructions that are stored on storage media (e.g.,
computer-readable medium). The instructions may be retrieved and
executed by the processor. Some examples of storage media are
memory devices, tapes, disks, and the like. The instructions are
operational when executed by the processor to direct the processor
to operate in accord with the technology. Those skilled in the art
are familiar with instructions, processor(s), and storage
media.
[0080] It is noteworthy that any hardware platform suitable for
performing the processing described herein is suitable for use with
the technology. The terms "computer-readable storage medium" and
"computer-readable storage media" as used herein refer to any
medium or media that participate in providing instructions to a CPU
for execution. Such media can take many forms, including, but not
limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media and transmission
media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic
disks, such as a fixed disk. Volatile media include dynamic memory,
such as system RAM. Transmission media include coaxial cables,
copper wire and fiber optics, among others, including the wires
that comprise one embodiment of a bus. Transmission media can also
take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated
during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) data communications.
Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a
floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, magnetic tape, any other
magnetic medium, a CD-ROM disk, digital video disk (DVD), any other
optical medium, any other physical medium with patterns of marks or
holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, an EEPROM, a FLASHEPROM, any other
memory chip or data exchange adapter, a carrier wave, or any other
medium from which a computer can read.
[0081] Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in
carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to a CPU
for execution. A bus carries the data to system RAM, from which a
CPU retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructions
received by system RAM can optionally be stored on a fixed disk
either before or after execution by a CPU.
[0082] The above description is illustrative and not restrictive.
Many variations of the technology will become apparent to those of
skill in the art upon review of this disclosure. The scope of the
technology should, therefore, be determined not with reference to
the above description, but instead should be determined with
reference to the appended claims along with their full scope of
equivalents.
* * * * *