Correction of misspelled words

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention relate generally to word processing and, more particularly, to the correction of misspelled words in documents.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] Existing spelling correction systems, such as those found in many of today's word processing applications, check whether each word in a document is found in a limited dictionary database. When a word is not found in the dictionary database, the systems flag the word as being misspelled. Some systems also provide suggestions for replacing the misspelled word with its correctly-spelled counterpart, which may be determined by, for example, inserting, deleting, and/or transposing characters in the misspelled word.

[0005] According to one aspect, a method may include identifying a document corpus, creating a dictionary based on words in the document corpus, identifying a potentially misspelled word in a document, and providing a word from the dictionary as likely to correspond to the potentially misspelled word.

[0010] The following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. Also, the following detailed description does not limit the invention.

[0011] Dictionaries used in applications, such as word processing applications, are often very limited in the words that they include. Oftentimes, such dictionaries lack words specific to a particular field, such as common medical, legal, and/or technical words. These dictionaries also typically lack other types of common words, such as names of streets, businesses, and/or people.

[0012] Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may create a dictionary to supplement the standard dictionary of an application, such as a word processing application, based on a document corpus. The systems and methods may then suggest correctly spelled words for misspelled words in a document based on the standard and supplemental dictionaries.

[0013] FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a system 100 in which systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may be implemented. System 100 may include a client 110 connected to a server 120 via a network 130. A single client 110 and server 120 have been illustrated as connected to network 130 for simplicity. In practice, there may be more or fewer clients and servers. Also, in some instances, a client may perform the functions of a server and/or a server may perform the functions of a client.

[0014] A client 110 may include a client entity. An entity may be defined as a device, such as a personal computer, a wireless telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a lap top, or another type of computation or communication device, a thread or process running on one of these devices, and/or an object executable by one of these devices. A server 120 may include a server entity that gathers, processes, and/or maintains documents in a manner consistent with the principles of the invention.

[0015] Network 130 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a telephone network, such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), an intranet, the Internet, a memory device, or a combination of networks. Client 110 and server 120 may connect to network 130 via wired, wireless, and/or optical connections.

[0016] In an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention, server 120 may correspond to a local server and may communicate with client 110 via a local area network. In another implementation, server 120 may correspond to a web server and may communicate with client 110 via a wide area network, such as the Internet. In yet another implementation, system 100 may include no server 120 and client 110 may operate as a standalone device.

[0017] FIG. 2 is an exemplary diagram of client 110 according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention. Server 120 may be similarly configured. Client 110 may include a bus 210, a processor 220, a main memory 230, a read only memory (ROM) 240, a storage device 250, an input device 260, an output device 270, and a communication interface 280. Bus 210 may include a path that permits communication among the elements of client 110.

[0018] Processor 220 may include a conventional processor, microprocessor, or processing logic that interprets and executes instructions. Main memory 230 may include a random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic storage device that stores information and instructions for execution by processor 220. ROM 240 may include a conventional ROM device or another type of static storage device that stores static information and instructions for use by processor 220. Storage device 250 may include a magnetic and/or optical recording medium and its corresponding drive.

[0019] Input device 260 may include a conventional mechanism that permits an operator to input information to client 110, such as a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, voice recognition and/or biometric mechanisms, etc. Output device 270 may include a conventional mechanism that outputs information to the operator, including a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. Communication interface 280 may include any transceiver-like mechanism that enable client 110 to communicate with other devices and/or systems. For example, communication interface 280 may include mechanisms for communicating with another device or system via a network, such as network 130.

[0020] As will be described in detail below, client 110, consistent with the principles of the invention, may perform certain spell-checking operations. Client 110 may perform these operations in response to processor 220 executing software instructions contained in a computer-readable medium, such as memory 230. A computer-readable medium may be defined as a physical or logical memory device and/or carrier wave.

[0021] The software instructions may be read into memory 230 from another computer-readable medium, such as data storage device 250, or from another device via communication interface 280. The software instructions contained in memory 230 may cause processor 220 to perform processes that will be described later. Alternatively, hardwired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement processes consistent with the principles of the invention. Thus, implementations consistent with the principles of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

[0022] FIGS. 3A–4 are flowcharts of exemplary processing for correcting a misspelled word according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention. FIGS. 5A–11 are exemplary diagrams illustrating the processing of FIGS. 3A–4 according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention.

[0023] Processing may begin with the creating, modifying, or opening of a document (act 310) (FIG. 3A). The document may created, modified, or opened using an application, such as a word processing application (e.g., Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, or Adobe Acrobat), a spreadsheet application (e.g., Microsoft Excel), a graphics presentation application (e.g., Microsoft PowerPoint), a drawing application (e.g., Microsoft Visio), an e-mail application (e.g., Microsoft Outlook), or another type of application via which a user may enter text that may be misspelled.

[0024] A document corpus may be identified (act 320). The document corpus may include a single document or a group of documents. The document corpus may be identified on a per document basis. In other words, a user may identify a document corpus for each document the user creates, modifies, or opens. Alternatively, the document corpus may be identified for a series of documents that the user creates, modifies, or opens.

[0025] Examples of documents that may be selected for the document corpus include documents created using an application, such as one of the applications identified above (e.g., Word, WordPerfect, Acrobat, Excel, PowerPoint, Explorer, Visio, etc.) or an application used to create documents on the Internet (e.g., documents created using HTML or XML). A document of the document corpus may be located on client 110 or server 120, where server 120 may include a local server and/or a web server.

[0026] FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface 500 that may facilitate the identification of documents for the document corpus according to an implementation consistent with the principles of the invention. Graphical user interface 500 may include a set of selectable boxes that may, in some cases, be hierarchically arranged. One set of selectable boxes may correspond to documents associated with client 110. For example, the user may be given the option of selecting “My Computer” and having all documents stored on client 110 included in the document corpus. The user may also be given the option of selecting documents associated with a 3½ floppy drive (A:), a local disk drive (C:), a removable disk drive (D:), and/or a CD drive (E:). Any or each of the options may permit the user to select individual folders and/or documents associated with the drive.

[0027] Another set of selectable boxes may correspond to documents associated with “My Network Places.” These documents may correspond to documents that are accessible via a network, such as network 130. For example, these documents may be stored on a local server (or combination of servers) and/or a web server (or combination of servers), such as server 120.

[0028] Another set of selectable boxes may correspond to addresses of documents available on the Internet. The user may be given the option to enter an Internet address associated with a web document. The user may enter as many addresses as the user desires or select addresses from a web browser, a favorites list, or the like.

[0029] FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface 550 that may facilitate the identification of documents for the document corpus according to another implementation consistent with the principles of the invention. Graphical user interface 550 may identify for the convenience of the user the documents that the user previously selected for the document corpus. The user may be given the option of removing any of these documents by, for example, deselecting the document's corresponding selectable box. The user may also be given the option to add documents to the document corpus. When the user selects this option, the user may be presented with a graphical user interface similar to graphical user interface 500 (FIG. 5A).

[0030] Returning to FIG. 3A, a supplemental dictionary may be created based on words in the document(s) of the document corpus (act 330). In one implementation, a table of words may be created based on the document corpus. The table may identify words and in which documents(s) the words occur. Optionally, the table may also identify how many times a word occurs in a document or over a group of documents in the document corpus and/or where the word occurs in the document(s). In one implementation, the table may remove words that occur less than a threshold number of times in a document (e.g., a word occurring less than three times in any document of the document corpus may be removed) or a threshold number of times across a group of documents (e.g., a word occurring in less than five different documents of the document corpus may be removed). In other implementations, the supplemental dictionary may be formed in other ways known to those skilled in the art.

[0031] A word not in a standard dictionary may be identified (act 340). The standard dictionary may include a dictionary associated with the application the user is using to create, modify, or open the document. For example, many existing software applications (e.g., Word, WordPerfect, Acrobat, PowerPoint, Explorer, etc.) include standard dictionaries that a user may use to check for misspelled words in a document. A word that does not appear in the standard dictionary may be flagged in some manner as a potentially misspelled word. FIG. 6 is an exemplary diagram of a document in which the words “multiplexor” and “multiplexer” are identified as words not in a standard dictionary.

[0032] Returning to FIG. 3A, it may be determined whether the word matches a word in the supplemental dictionary (act 350). For example, the supplemental dictionary may be searched for an occurrence of the word. In one implementation, a match is determined if the word appears in the supplemental dictionary and its number of occurrences in a document or over a group of documents exceeds a threshold. In another implementation, a match is determined for any occurrence of the word in the supplemental dictionary.

[0033] If a match occurs (act 350), then the word may be designated as matching a word in the supplemental dictionary (act 360) (FIG. 3B). In one implementation, the word may be treated as if it were correctly spelled (act 362). In this case, the flag associated with the word to identify the word as a potentially misspelled word may be removed. Processing may then return to act 340 (FIG. 3A) where another word may be identified as not being in the standard dictionary.

[0034] In another implementation, the flag associated with the word to identify the word as a potentially misspelled word may be changed to a different type of flag, such as one that identifies the word as one that does not match a word in the standard dictionary, but matches a word in the supplemental dictionary (act 364). Processing may then return to act 340 (FIG. 3A) where another word may be identified as not being in the standard dictionary.

[0035] If a match does not occur (act 350) (FIG. 3A), then the word may be designated as not matching in the supplemental dictionary (act 380) (FIG. 3C). In this case, the flag associated with the word to identify the word as a potentially misspelled word may be changed to a different type of flag, such as one that identifies the word as one that does not match a word in the standard dictionary or the supplemental dictionary. Processing may then return to act 340 (FIG. 3A) where another word may be identified as not being in the standard dictionary.

[0036] FIGS. 7 and 8 are exemplary diagrams of a document that illustrates the processing of acts 360–380 of FIGS. 3B and 3C. In the exemplary diagram of FIG. 7, the word “multiplexor” has been designated as not being in either the standard dictionary or the supplemental dictionary (as described with respect to act 380) and the word “multiplexer” has been designated as not being in the standard dictionary, but being in the supplemental dictionary (as described with respect to act 360). The word “multiplexor,” in this example, is visually distinguished by marking the word with underlining. In other implementations, the word may be visually distinguished in other ways, such as by changing other attributes associated with the word (e.g., font, size, color, etc.). The word “multiplexer,” in this example, is not visually distinguished from other text of the document.

[0037] In the exemplary diagram of FIG. 8, the word “multiplexor” has been designated as not being in either the standard dictionary or the supplemental dictionary (as described with respect to act 380) and the word “multiplexer” has been designated as not being in the standard dictionary, but being in the supplemental dictionary (as described with respect to act 370). The word “multiplexor,” in this example, is visually distinguished by marking the word with underlining. In other implementations, the word may be visually distinguished in other ways, such as by changing other attributes associated with the word (e.g., font, size, color, etc.). The word “multiplexer,” in this example, is also visually distinguished by marking the word with underlining different from the underlining associated with “multiplexor.” In other implementations, the word may be visually distinguished in other ways, such as by changing other attributes associated with the word (e.g., font, size, color, etc.). In any event, the words “multiplexor” and “multiplexer” may be visually distinguished in different ways to show that one of the words was in the supplemental dictionary while the other was not.

[0038] At some point, one of the words in the document may be selected (act 410) (FIG. 4). Selection of the word may occur as a result of the user activating the spell checking software associated with the application. Alternatively, selection of the word may occur as a result of a user selecting the word using, for example, a mouse and cursor (e.g., right clicking on the word).

[0039] It may then be determined whether the word was designated as matching a word in the supplemental dictionary (act 420). If not, a closely matching word or words from the standard and supplemental dictionaries may be provided (act 430). A closely matching word may refer to a word that is likely to correspond to the potentially misspelled word. Several techniques exist for identifying closely matching words. For example, closely matching words may be identified by replacing one or more letters of the potentially misspelled word, dropping one or more letters of the potentially misspelled word, and/or adding one or more letters to the potentially misspelled word to obtain words that are either in the standard dictionary or the supplemental dictionary. In other implementations, yet other techniques may be used to identify closely matching words.

[0040] In one implementation, it may be required that a word in a document of the document corpus occur at least a threshold number of times to be a closely matching word. Alternatively or additionally, it may be required that a word occur at least a threshold number of times in different documents of the document corpus to be a closely matching word. In another implementation, a word need only occur once in a document of the document corpus to be a closely matching word. In this case, the threshold may be considered to be equal to one.

[0041] FIGS. 9A and 9B are exemplary diagrams that illustrate the processing of acts 410–430 of FIG. 4. In the exemplary diagram of FIG. 9A, a potentially misspelled word was selected by spell checking software associated with an application. In this case, the potentially misspelled word is “multiplexor.” As shown in FIG. 9A, a spell checker window 900 may be provided. Spell checker window 900 may include an excerpt of the document that includes the potentially misspelled word in a “Not in Dictionary” section. Spell checker window 900 may also include a list of closely matching words from the standard dictionary and the supplemental dictionary in a “Suggestions” section.

[0042] The closely matching words may optionally be ranked in some manner. For example, the closely matching words may be ranked based on the number of times that the words appear in documents of the document corpus and/or where the words occur within documents of the document corpus. A word that occurs more times in a document of the document corpus may be ranked higher than a word that occurs fewer times in a document of the document corpus. Alternatively or additionally, a word that occurs in more documents of the document corpus may be ranked higher than a word that occurs in fewer documents of the document corpus. Alternatively or additionally, a word that occurs in a more prominent location within a document (e.g., in a title) may be ranked higher than a word that occurs in a less prominent location within a document (e.g., in a footer). In other implementations, other techniques may be used to rank the closely matching words.

[0043] Spell checker window 900 may also include a set of selectable items. One selectable item, “Ignore,” may indicate that this occurrence of the potentially misspelled word should be considered a correct spelling. Another selectable item, “Ignore All,” may indicate that all occurrences of the potentially misspelled word should be considered a correct spelling. A further selectable item, “Add,” may indicate that the potentially misspelled word should be added to the standard dictionary. Another selectable item, “Change,” may indicate that this occurrence of the potentially misspelled word should be replaced with a selected one of the closely matching words. Yet another selectable item, “Change All,” may indicate that all occurrences of the potentially misspelled word should be replaced with a selected one of the closely matching words. A further selectable item, “Context,” may indicate that context of a selected one of the closely matching words should be provided, as will be described in more detail below. Another selectable item, “Undo,” may indicate that a previous operation should be undone. A further selectable item, “Cancel,” may indicate that the spell checking operation should terminate.

[0044] In the exemplary diagram of FIG. 9B, a potentially misspelled word was selected by the user using, for example, a right click of a mouse. In this case, the potentially misspelled word is again “multiplexor.” As shown in FIG. 9B, a window 950 may be provided. Window 950 may include a list of closely matching words from the standard dictionary and the supplemental dictionary. In one implementation, the closely matching words may optionally be ranked in some manner, as described above.

[0045] Window 900 may also include a set of selectable items. One selectable item, “Ignore All,” may indicate that all occurrences of the potentially misspelled word should be considered a correct spelling. A further selectable item, “Add,” may indicate that the potentially misspelled word should be added to the standard dictionary. Another selectable item, “Spelling . . . ,” may indicate that the spell checking software should be initiated.

[0046] Returning to FIG. 4, a link to a document in the document corpus and/or an excerpt from a document in the document corpus may optionally be provided (act 440). The document and/or the excerpt from the document may provide context for one of the closely matching words. This may aid the user in determining which of the words to select to replace the potentially misspelled word.

[0047] FIG. 10 is an exemplary diagram for presenting a list of links to documents in the document corpus. A window 1000 may be presented that includes a list of links to documents that contain a selected one of the closely matching words. When one of these links is selected, the associated document may be provided via the same or a different window. The closely matching word may be visually distinguished in some manner (e.g., highlighted) in the document.

[0048] The links may optionally be ranked in some manner. For example, the links may be ranked based on the number of occurrences of the closely matching word in the associated document or where the closely matching word occurs within the associated document. A link associated with a document that includes more occurrences of the word may be ranked higher than a link associated with a document that includes fewer occurrences of the word. Alternatively or additionally, a link associated with a document in which the word occurs in a more prominent location (e.g., in a title) may be ranked higher than a link associated with a document in which the word occurs in a less prominent location (e.g., in a footer). In other implementations, other techniques may be used to rank links.

[0049] Window 1000 may permit the user to select a next set of links (if available) or a previous set of links (if available). Window 1000 may also permit the user to be presented with an excerpt from a document corresponding to one of the links, possibly instead of or prior to, being presented with the entire document.

[0050] FIG. 11 is an exemplary diagram for presenting an excerpt from a document in the document corpus. A window 1100 may be presented that includes a link to and an excerpt from a document that contains a selected one of the closely matching words. When the link is selected, the associated document may be provided via the same or a different window. The closely matching word may be visually distinguished in some manner (e.g., highlighted) in the document.

[0051] The document presented via window 1100 may correspond to one of a list of optionally ranked documents that contain the closely matching word. For example, the documents may be ranked based on the number of occurrences of the closely matching word in the documents or where the closely matching word occurs within the documents. A document that includes more occurrences of the word may be ranked higher than a document that includes fewer occurrences of the word. Alternatively or additionally, a document in which the word occurs in a more prominent location (e.g., in a title) may be ranked higher than a document in which the word occurs in a less prominent location (e.g., in a footer). In other implementations, other techniques may be used to rank documents.

[0052] Window 1100 may permit the user to be presented with a next excerpt (if available) or a previous excerpt (if available) within the same document. Window 1100 may also permit the user to be presented with an excerpt from a next document (if one exists) or a previous document (if one exists).

[0053] Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may create a dictionary to supplement the standard dictionary of an application based on a document corpus. The systems and methods may then suggest correctly spelled words for potentially misspelled words in a document based on the standard and supplemental dictionaries.

[0054] The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the present invention provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention.

[0055] For example, while series of acts have been described with regard to FIGS. 3A–4, the order of the acts may be modified in other implementations consistent with the principles of the invention. Further, non-dependent acts may be performed in parallel.

[0056] In one exemplary implementation, the document corpus may be identified and the supplemental dictionary created after opening a document or during creation or modification of a document. For example, the user, at any time, may select or change which documents are included in the document corpus. The supplemental dictionary may then be created after opening the document or during creation or modification of the document. For example, the supplemental dictionary may be created during idle periods, such as between keystrokes, while the user operates upon the document.

[0057] In another exemplary implementation, the document corpus may be identified and/or the supplemental dictionary created prior to the user opening a document. For example, the user may select or change which documents are included in the document corpus independent of any particular document to be opened, created, or modified. The supplemental dictionary may then be created prior to the user opening a document—independent of any particular document.

[0058] It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that aspects of the invention, as described above, may be implemented in many different forms of software, firmware, and hardware in the implementations illustrated in the figures. The actual software code or specialized control hardware used to implement aspects consistent with the principles of the invention is not limiting of the present invention. Thus, the operation and behavior of the aspects were described without reference to the specific software code—it being understood that one of ordinary skill in the art would be able to design software and control hardware to implement the aspects based on the description herein.

[0059] No element, act, or instruction used in the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or more items. Where only one item is intended, the term “one” or similar language is used. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise. The scope of the invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.