Searching for and updating translations in a terminology database

[0001] This invention relates generally to localization of computer-based applications, and more particularly to translating application terminology into local languages.

[0002] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and data as described below and in the drawings hereto: Copyright © 2001, Siebel Systems, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

[0003] Computer-based applications generally contain textual data that is presented to a user to allow the user to interact with the applications. The textual data is written in a human language, usually the native language of the country of the developer or a common language, such as English. When the application is destined for use in other countries, typically the textual data is manually translated into the various local languages as part of a process commonly referred to as “localization.” Localization must be performed for each new version of the application. When localization must be repeatedly performed on a suite of interrelated applications, the cost of localizing the applications into many languages can be very high. Additionally, if the applications in the suite are provided by different vendors, the complexity of dealing with multiple file formats increases the costs accordingly.

[0004] Text strings from computer-based applications are converted from multiple external formats into an internal format. The text strings are stored in a terminology database. Translations for the test strings are also stored in the terminology database and associated with the corresponding text strings. In one aspect, text strings are converted into a export format for translation into one or more target languages. The translations are converted into the appropriate external formats and output to the applications that supplied the text strings. In another aspect, the terminology database is queried for an appropriate translation for each newly converted text string. In still another aspect, metadata for the text strings is created and associated with the text strings in the terminology database, and used as query criteria to determine the appropriate translation. The metadata may be exported in conjunction with the text strings.

[0005] The present invention describes systems, clients, servers, methods, and machine-readable media of varying scope. In addition to the aspects of the present invention described in this summary, further aspects of the invention will become apparent by reference to the drawings and by reading the detailed description that follows.

[0012] In the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical, functional, and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

[0013] A system level overview of the operation of an embodiment of a terminology database translation system 101 that facilitates localization of multiple related applications is described by reference to FIG. 1A. Computer-based applications from multiple vendors may interface with a core application to present the data processed by the core application to a user on various hardware and software platforms and to provide additional functionality to the core application. The multiple related applications, including the core application, are represented as applications 103 in FIG. 1A. Typically, user viewable text in the applications 103 are written in a particular language, referred to as a “source” language, which must be translated into various target languages before the applications 103 can be effectively used in different countries. The text may be messages directed to the user, words on buttons and other types of controls presented on a screen, captions that describe information to be entered, etc. The text may consist of a single word, a phrase, or a set of phrases, all of which are referred to herein as “text strings.” Generally, the applications 103 each store their text strings and associated information, such as the executable code to present a screen, in a particular, often proprietary file format, illustrated as external file formats 105 in FIG. 1A. When the applications 103 must be localized into a different language, adapters 107 in the terminology database translation system 101 convert the text strings in the various external formats 105 into a common internal format 109. Each external format 105 normally requires a separate adapter 107 but common components may be shared among adapters. Each adapter 107 also creates metadata from the information associated with the text strings by the applications 103. The metadata describes the corresponding text strings, and may include an identifier for the source application 103 and for each text string, the version of the corresponding adapter 107, identifiers for the screens on which the text strings appear, locations within the screen for the text strings, maximum string lengths, the external format, etc. The metadata also specifies one or more target languages for the localization. One embodiment of text strings and metadata in the internal format 109 is described in more detail below in conjunction with FIG. 1B.

[0014] A terminology database (“term DB”) 111 in the terminology database translation system 101 contains records of text strings and associates each text string in the source language with its various translations in the target languages. Each text string may be associated with multiple translations for each target language depending on its metadata. For example, the English word “account” may mean a customer in one context and a bank account in another. The term DB 111 may also contain the corresponding metadata for the text string in the same or separate records as the text string records, and maintains logical linkages between the text strings and the associated metadata. It will be appreciated that a single text string may be associated with multiple instances of metadata when the text string appears in multiple contexts. One embodiment of the term DB 111 is described further below in conjunction with FIG. 1C.

[0015] The term DB 111 is queried for an appropriate translation for each input text string. Various types of query criteria, including some or all of the metadata, may be used by the term DB 111 to determine the appropriate translation as explained below in conjunction with FIG. 2. If an appropriate translation is found, the translation in the internal format 119 is sent to the appropriate adapter 107 for conversion into the external format 121 and subsequent output to the application 103 that was the source of the text string. The terminology database translation system 101 may output the translations individually or as a group of translations, such as when all text strings for a particular application 103 have been translated or on a periodic basis.

[0016] If an appropriate existing translation of a text string is not found in the term DB 111, the text string and associated metadata is stored in the term DB 111 and marked for translation. At various times, the marked text strings are converted from the internal format 109 into an export format 113 and sent to translators 115 for translation into the specified target language(s). The export format 113 may contain the text strings and associated metadata, or some or all of the metadata may be sent separately with logical links to the text strings. In one embodiment, all marked text strings for a particular application 103 are sent as a batch. In another embodiment, all marked text strings for a particular language are sent to the appropriate translators 115 as a “localization kit.” The metadata for a text string included in a batch or kit specifies an identifier for the batch/kit. Additionally, each batch/kit may specify identifiers for the included text strings.

[0017] The translations in the export format 117 are returned from the translators 115 to the term DB 111. The terminology database translation system 101 stores the translations in the term DB 111 and associates the translations with the input text strings and metadata. As described above, the translated text strings are sent to the adapters 107 for return to the applications 103 individually, in groups, or all at once.

[0018] It will be appreciated that the internal format may be any file format that can be processed by the term DB 111, including various character coding schemes such as Unicode. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that the export format may be any file format that can encode the input text strings, translations, and optionally the metadata. In one embodiment, the export format is based on the extensible markup language (XML) specification.

[0019] FIG. 1B illustrates an internally formatted file 109 containing text strings 123 and corresponding metadata 125 associated through a logical link 127, which may be identifiers or other types of pointers that link each text string 123 to its metadata 125. As previously described, the metadata 125 associates the input text string with the external format in which it was received, so that the translation can be properly converted from the internal format to the external format, and contains information that identifies the text string and the context in which it appears. The context information in the metadata 125 may also be used to aid the translator 115 in producing a correct and accurate translation. In one embodiment, the metadata includes a reproduction of the actual visual content for the text string as described in conjunction with FIG. 1D further below.

[0020] As illustrated in FIG. 1C, one embodiment of the term DB 111 consists of two components: staging information 129 and term memory 131. The staging information 129 and the term memory 131 may be separate files or different types of records within the term DB 111.

[0021] If there is no matching translation for an input text string and metadata, the input text string is stored in the term memory 131 (if not already present) and the corresponding metadata is stored in the staging information 129 with a link to the text string. When the corresponding translation 117 is received from the translators 115, it is stored in the term memory 131, linked to the text string, and the metadata link is updated to refer to the translation.

[0022] In an alternate embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1C in phantom, when a translation is received, a multimatch editor 135 is invoked to approve the translation before it is stored in the term memory 131. The multimatch editor 135 may be a automated or manual process. An automatic version of the multimatch editor 135 may incorporate a commercially available language translation engine. When the multimatch editor 135 is a manual process, it may present alternate translations to the user and/or give the user the option of inputting a more accurate translation. The alternate translations may be chosen from the existing translations for the text string in the term memory 131.

[0023] In another alternate embodiment, when localization for a particular language is to be performed for the first time, a glossary 133 containing selected text strings is initially sent to the translators 115. Once the translation of the glossary 133 is approved, the glossary 133 is used to initialize the term memory 131 for subsequent translation sessions as illustrated in FIG. 1C (in phantom). The text strings may be selected on their frequency of occurrence, their length, or on other criteria. The glossary 133 may change over time as different text strings are translated and stored in the term memory 131. Typically the size of the glossary 133 is kept small to facilitate its rapid translation into a new language.

[0024] In yet another alternate embodiment shown in FIG. 1C, an application code archive 137 (in phantom) stores text strings, translations, and metadata for one or more applications, and is used to initialize the staging information 129 and term memory 131 for a translation session. New translations in the term memory 131 are written to the archive 137.

[0025] Turning now to FIG. 1D, an emulation file 140 is described that presents a representation of a visual context for a text string when executed. The emulation file 140 contains data to recreate a screen, or view, presented to a user by an application without having to execute the application itself. The data in the emulation file 140 is typically coded in a markup language such as HTML (hypertext markup language) or XML. The emulation file 140 contains view data 141, including, for example, an identifier for the view and markup code that specifies the font, color, location, etc. of the entire view. An applet entry 143 is present in the emulation file 140 for each applet within the view. The applet entry 143 contains applet data 145 including an applet identifier and the general markup code for the applet. The applet entry 143 also contains a mode entry 147 for each applet layout that could appear in the view. Each mode entry 147 contains mode data 149 identifying the mode and its markup code, and identifiers and markup code for one or more applet user controls 151 that are part of the applet.

[0026] When more than one mode entry 147 exists, the applet data 145 further contains markup code that presents the different applet modes in response to user input. In one embodiment, a default mode is initially presented when the emulation file 140 is executed and clicking within the boundaries of the applet causes the markup code in the applet data 145 to show all the modes within the view. It will be appreciated that the various entries in the emulation file 140 may hold pointers to other files that contain the markup code and other data for the entries. Additionally, although only a single view is illustrated as being stored in the emulation file in FIG. 1D, the invention is not so limited.

[0027] The emulation file 140 may be created by extracting the visual context information for the views, applets, modes and controls from the information associated with the input text strings 105 when they are converted into the internal format. Each emulation file 140 may be sent to the translators as part or, or separate from, the text strings in the export format 113. Furthermore, a reference to the emulation file 140, and not the file itself, may be sent that allows access to the emulation file 140 through a network connection, such as a URL that causes the emulation file 140 to represent the visual context in a browser connected to the Internet.

[0028] One embodiment of a translation method 200 to be performed by the terminology database translation system 101 is described with reference to flowchart shown in FIG. 2. The translation method 200 uses two threads of execution to perform its functions, one thread beginning at block 201 to process the input text strings from the applications 103, and another thread beginning at block 221 to process the translations from the translators 115. Although for sake of clarity each of the threads of execution is described below in terms of a single instance, it will be appreciated that multiple instances of one or both of the threads may be executing at one time to handle the multiple external formats and target languages.

[0029] Starting with block 201, the translation method 200 receives input text strings from one of the source applications in one of the multiple external formats. The method 200 converts the input text strings from the external format into the internal format (block 203) and creates the metadata for the input text strings (block 205) from the information associated with the input text strings. The translation method 200 queries the terminology data base for a match on each input text string to determine if an appropriate translation in the specified target language exists within the term database (blocks 207 until 213).

[0030] If an appropriate translation does not exist (block 209), the input text string and/or associated metadata are added to the terminology database at block 211. As one of skill in the art will readily understand, the text string may have been previously stored in the terminology database but associated with different metadata, and thus only the metadata need be stored and logically linked to the existing text sting at block 211. Once the terminology database has been queried for all the input text strings (block 213), the method 200 determines if all the input text strings have been translated (block 215). If not, the method 200 converts the untranslated input text strings into the export format (block 217) and exports the text strings for translation at block 219. On the other hand, if the terminology database contains the target language translations for all the input text strings (block 215), the translations are converted into the appropriate external format (block 227) and returned to the source application (block 229).

[0031] Assuming some text strings have been exported for translation, the method 200 receives the translations in the export format at block 221. The translations are converted into the internal format (block 223) and added to the terminology database (block 225). When added, the translations are logically linked to the stored input text strings and the appropriate metadata. The translations subsequently are converted into the external format at block 227 and returned to the source application at block 229. As described previously, the processes represented by blocks 227 and 229 may be performed for individual or groups of translations at various times.

[0032] It will be appreciated that the searching process represented by block 209 may be utilize various database queries and query criteria. In one embodiment, the query criteria includes the text string and the identifiers for the application, view and applet. The query may specify an exact match on all the query criteria, may use a subset of the available query criteria, or may weight the query criteria. If the text string includes special characters, the query may accept only translations that contain the special character. Alternatively, if the text string appears in the glossary, the translation associated with the glossary entry may be deemed the best match without regard to the other query criteria.

[0033] In practice, the translation method 200 may constitute one or more programs made up of machine-executable instructions. Describing the method with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 2 enables one skilled in the art to develop such programs, including such instructions to carry out the operations (acts) represented by logical blocks 201 until 229 on suitably configured machines (the processor of the machine executing the instructions from machine-readable media). The machine-executable instructions may be written in a computer programming language or may be embodied in firmware logic. If written in a programming language conforming to a recognized standard, such instructions can be executed on a variety of hardware platforms and for interface to a variety of operating systems. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein. Furthermore, it is common in the art to speak of software, in one form or another (e.g., program, procedure, process, application, module, logic . . . ), as taking an action or causing a result. Such expressions are merely a shorthand way of saying that execution of the software by a machine causes the processor of the machine to perform an action or produce a result. It will be further appreciated that more or fewer processes may be incorporated into the method illustrated in FIG. 2 without departing from the scope of the invention and that no particular order is implied by the arrangement of blocks shown and described herein.

[0034] The following description of FIGS. 3A-B is intended to provide an overview of computer hardware and other operating components suitable for implementing the terminology database translation system, but is not intended to limit the applicable environments. One of skill in the art will immediately appreciate that the invention can be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network.

[0035] FIG. 3A shows several computer systems 1 that are coupled together through a network 3, such as the Internet. The term “Internet” as used herein refers to a network of networks which uses certain protocols, such as the TCP/IP protocol, and possibly other protocols such as the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) for hypertext markup language (HTML) documents that make up the World Wide Web (web). The physical connections of the Internet and the protocols and communication procedures of the Internet are well known to those of skill in the art. Access to the Internet 3 is typically provided by Internet service providers (ISP), such as the ISPs 5 and 7. Users on client systems, such as client computer systems 21, 25, 35, and 37 obtain access to the Internet through the Internet service providers, such as ISPs 5 and 7. Access to the Internet allows users of the client computer systems to exchange information, receive and send e-mails, and view documents, such as documents which have been prepared in the HTML format. These documents are often provided by web servers, such as web server 9 which is considered to be “on” the Internet. Often these web servers are provided by the ISPs, such as ISP 5, although a computer system can be set up and connected to the Internet without that system being also an ISP as is well known in the art.

[0036] The web server 9 is typically at least one computer system which operates as a server computer system and is configured to operate with the protocols of the World Wide Web and is coupled to the Internet. Optionally, the web server 9 can be part of an ISP which provides access to the Internet for client systems. The web server 9 is shown coupled to the server computer system 11 which itself is coupled to web content 10, which can be considered a form of a media database. It will be appreciated that while two computer systems 9 and 11 are shown in FIG. 3A, the web server system 9 and the server computer system 11 can be one computer system having different software components providing the web server functionality and the server functionality provided by the server computer system 11 which will be described further below.

[0037] Client computer systems 21, 25, 35, and 37 can each, with the appropriate web browsing software, view HTML pages provided by the web server 9. The ISP 5 provides Internet connectivity to the client computer system 21 through the modem interface 23 which can be considered part of the client computer system 21. The client computer system can be a personal computer system, a network computer, a Web TV system, or other such computer system. Similarly, the ISP 7 provides Internet connectivity for client systems 25, 35, and 37, although as shown in FIG. 3A, the connections are not the same for these three computer systems. Client computer system 25 is coupled through a modem interface 27 while client computer systems 35 and 37 are part of a LAN. While FIG. 3A shows the interfaces 23 and 27 as generically as a “modem,” it will be appreciated that each of these interfaces can be an analog modem, ISDN modem, cable modem, satellite transmission interface (e.g. “Direct PC”), or other interfaces for coupling a computer system to other computer systems. Client computer systems 35 and 37 are coupled to a LAN 33 through network interfaces 39 and 41, which can be Ethernet network or other network interfaces. The LAN 33 is also coupled to a gateway computer system 31 which can provide firewall and other Internet related services for the local area network. This gateway computer system 31 is coupled to the ISP 7 to provide Internet connectivity to the client computer systems 35 and 37. The gateway computer system 31 can be a conventional server computer system. Also, the web server system 9 can be a conventional server computer system.

[0038] Alternatively, as well-known, a server computer system 43 can be directly coupled to the LAN 33 through a network interface 45 to provide files 47 and other services to the clients 35, 37, without the need to connect to the Internet through the gateway system 31.

[0039] FIG. 3B shows one example of a conventional computer system that can be used as a client computer system or a server computer system or as a web server system. It will also be appreciated that such a computer system can be used to perform many of the functions of an Internet service provider, such as ISP 5. The computer system 51 interfaces to external systems through the modem or network interface 53. It will be appreciated that the modem or network interface 53 can be considered to be part of the computer system 51. This interface 53 can be an analog modem, ISDN modem, cable modem, token ring interface, satellite transmission interface (e.g. “Direct PC”), or other interfaces for coupling a computer system to other computer systems. The computer system 51 includes a processing unit 55, which can be a conventional microprocessor such as an Intel Pentium microprocessor or Motorola Power PC microprocessor. Memory 59 is coupled to the processing unit 55 by a bus 57. Memory 59 can be dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and can also include static RAM (SRAM). The bus 57 couples the processing unit 55 to the memory 59 and also to non-volatile storage 65 and to display controller 61 and to the input/output (I/O) controller 67. The display controller 61 controls in the conventional manner a display on a display device 63 which can be a cathode ray tube (CRT) or liquid crystal display. The input/output devices 69 can include a keyboard, disk drives, printers, a scanner, and other input and output devices, including a mouse or other pointing device. The display controller 61 and the I/O controller 67 can be implemented with conventional well known technology. A digital image input device 71 can be a digital camera which is coupled to an I/O controller 67 in order to allow images from the digital camera to be input into the computer system 51. The non-volatile storage 65 is often a magnetic hard disk, an optical disk, or another form of storage for large amounts of data. Some of this data is often written, by a direct memory access process, into memory 59 during execution of software in the computer system 51. One of skill in the art will immediately recognize that the terms “computer-readable medium” and “machine-readable medium” includes any type of storage device that is accessible by the processing unit 55 and also encompasses a carrier wave that encodes a data signal.

[0040] It will be appreciated that the computer system 51 is one example of many possible computer systems which have different architectures. For example, personal computers based on an Intel microprocessor often have multiple buses, one of which can be an input/output (I/O) bus for the peripherals and one that directly connects the processing unit 55 and the memory 59 (often referred to as a memory bus). The buses are connected together through bridge components that perform any necessary translation due to differing bus protocols.

[0041] Network computers are another type of computer system that can be used with the present invention. Network computers do not usually include a hard disk or other mass storage, and the executable programs are loaded from a network connection into the memory 59 for execution by the processing unit 55. A Web TV system, which is known in the art, is also considered to be a computer system according to the present invention, but it may lack some of the features shown in FIG. 3B, such as certain input or output devices. A typical computer system will usually include at least a processor, memory, and a bus coupling the memory to the processor.

[0042] It will also be appreciated that the computer system 51 is controlled by operating system software which includes a file management system, such as a disk operating system, which is part of the operating system software. One example of an operating system software with its associated file management system software is the family of operating systems known as Windows® from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., and their associated file management systems. The file management system is typically stored in the non-volatile storage 65 and causes the processing unit 55 to execute the various acts required by the operating system to input and output data and to store data in memory, including storing files on the non-volatile storage 65.

[0043] A translation system incorporating a terminology database has been described. Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement which is calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the present invention. For example, although the invention has been described using English as the source language, any human language is suitable for the source or target languages.

[0044] The terminology used in this application with respect to databases is meant to include all types of data storage environments, including relational databases, indexed files, linked lists, and the like. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that this invention be limited only by the following claims and equivalents thereof.