Apparatus, method, and computer program product for supporting in communication through translation between different languages

Abstract

A communication supporting apparatus includes a rule storage unit that stores an extraction condition for extracting a keyword from a speech and a linking procedure linked with the extraction condition; an input receiving unit that receives an input of a speech; an extracting unit that extracts a keyword from a first speech in a first language based on the extraction condition stored in the rule storage unit; a translation unit that translates the first speech from the first language into a second language; an output unit that outputs the translated first speech; and a linking unit that links the extracted keyword with a second speech spoken in a second language immediately after the output first speech based on the linking procedure made to correspond to the extraction condition used when the keyword is extracted.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the construction of a communication supporting apparatus in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an example of a data structure of the keyword rules stored in a rule storage unit;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an example of a data structure of the speech history stored in a speech history storage unit;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing an example of a data structure of the replacement information stored in a replacement information storage unit;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the entire flow of a communication supporting operation in accordance with the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the entire flow of a keyword extracting process in accordance with the first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing an example of sentences to be spoken by two speakers to each other;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing an example of the information to be stored in a speech history storage unit;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing an example of an output sentence to be output by the communication supporting apparatus;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing an example of sentences to be spoken by two speakers to each other;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view showing an example of the information to be stored in the speech history storage unit;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view showing an example of an output sentence to be output by the communication supporting apparatus;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a structure of a communication supporting apparatus in accordance with a second embodiment;

FIG. 14 is an explanatory view showing an example of a data structure of the adding conditions stored in a adding condition storage unit;

FIG. 15 is an explanatory view showing an example of a data structure of the speech history stored in the speech history storage unit;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the entire flow of a communication supporting operation in accordance with the second embodiment;

FIG. 17 is an explanatory view showing an example of the information to be stored in the speech history storage unit;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing the structure of a communication supporting apparatus in accordance with a third embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing the entire flow of a communication supporting operation in accordance with the third embodiment; and

FIG. 20 is an explanatory view showing an example of an output sentence to be output by the communication supporting apparatus.

Claims

1. A communication supporting apparatus comprising: a rule storage unit that stores an extraction condition and a linking procedure linked with the extraction condition;an input receiving unit that receives a first speech in a first language and a second speech in a second language;an extracting unit that extracts a keyword from the first speech based on the extraction condition stored in the rule storage unit;a translation unit that translates the first speech from the first language into the second language;an output unit that outputs the translated first speech in the second language; anda linking unit that links the keyword extracted by the extracting unit with the second speech, whereinthe input receiving unit receives the second speech spoken immediately after outputting of the translated first speech,the linking unit links the extracted keyword with the second speech based on the linking procedure that is utilized for outputting the extracted keyword linked with the second speech in the second language spoken after the first speech in the first language, and corresponds to the extraction condition,the translation unit further translates the second speech linked with the extracted keyword from the second language into the first language, andthe output unit further outputs the extracted keyword in the first language linked with the second speech, and the translated second speech.

2. The communication supporting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rule storage unit stores the extraction condition for extracting a predetermined search subject word as a keyword from a speech and the linking procedure being correspond to the extraction condition, the linking procedure being utilized for outputting a phrase having the extracted keyword put in a predetermined position in the phrase, the phrase being linked with a speech spoken after the speech from which the keyword is extracted;the extracting unit extracts the same word as the search subject word or a similar word to the search subject word as the keyword from the first speech, based on the extraction condition stored in the rule storage unit; andthe linking unit links the second speech with the phrase having the extracted keyword put in the predetermined position in the phrase, based on the linking procedure made to correspond to the extraction condition used when the keyword is extracted.

3. The communication supporting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rule storage unit stores the extraction condition for extracting a word corresponding to an example keyword as a keyword from a speech and the linking procedure linked with the extraction condition, where the example keyword is a predetermined keyword contained in an example sentence of a predetermined speech, the extraction condition is utilized for outputting a phrase having the extracted keyword put in a predetermined position in the phrase, and the phrase is linked with a speech spoken after the speech from which the keyword is extracted;the extracting unit searches the example sentence that is the same as or similar to the first speech from the rule storage unit, and extracts a word corresponding to the example keyword contained in the detected example sentence, where the word is extracted as the keyword from words contained in the first speech, based on the extraction condition stored in the rule storage unit; andthe linking unit links the second speech with the phrase having the extracted keyword put in the predetermined position in the phrase, based on the linking procedure made to correspond to the extraction condition used when the keyword is extracted.

4. The communication supporting apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising: a speech history storage unit that stores a speech history of the first speech and the second speech; anda first analyzing unit that analyzes a speech intention of the second speech based on the speech history stored in the speech history storage unit and the second speech, whereinthe linking unit links the second speech with the extracted keyword based on the linking procedure made to correspond to the extraction condition used for extracting the keyword, when the speech intention of the second speech matches a predetermined speech intention.

5. The communication supporting apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising: a second analyzing unit that analyzes a meaning of the second speech, and acquires a subject indicated by an anaphoric expression representing another subject contained in a speech in the second speech from the speech history stored in the speech history storage unit, whereinthe linking unit links the anaphoric expression contained in the second speech with a modificand or a modifier of the indicated subject, when the modificand or the modifier of the indicated subject contains the extracted keyword.

6. The communication supporting apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising: a replacement information storage unit that stores an arbitrary word and a replacement word linked with the arbitrary word, where the replacement word has the same meaning as the arbitrary word but is expressed in a different form from the arbitrary word; anda word replacing unit that searches the replacement word corresponding to the keyword linked with the translated second speech from the replacement information storage unit, and replaces the keyword linked with the translated second speech with the searched replacement word, whereinthe output unit outputs the translated first speech, the replacement word in place of the keyword, and the translated second speech.

7. The communication supporting apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising: a speech recognizing unit that receives audio inputs of the first speech and the second speech, and outputs a speech recognition result after recognizing the received speeches, whereinthe input receiving unit receives the speech recognition result output by the speech recognizing unit as the input of the first speech or the second speech.

8. The communication supporting apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising: a character recognizing unit that receives inputs of the first speech and the second speech in the form of character information, and outputs a character recognition result after recognizing the received character information, whereinthe input receiving unit receives the character recognition result output by the character recognizing unit as the inputs of the first speech and the second speech.

9. The communication supporting apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising: a displaying unit that displays the second speech, whereinthe output unit outputs the translated second speech to the displaying unit.

10. The communication supporting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the output unit outputs the translated second speech to a printer.

11. The communication supporting apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising: a speech synthesizing unit that performs speech synthesis in the second language for the translated second speech, whereinthe output unit outputs the synthesized speech in the second language.

12. The communication supporting apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the speech synthesizing unit performs speech synthesis by changing the sound attributes including the volume and quality of the sound corresponding to a keyword contained in the translated second speech, to different sound attributes from sound attributes corresponding to other than the keyword contained in the translated second speech.

13. A communication method comprising: receiving a first speech in a first language;extracting a keyword from the first speech in the first language, based on an extraction condition;translating the first speech from the first language into a second language;outputting the translated first speech in the second language;receiving a second speech in the second language, immediately after outputting of the translated first speech in the second language;linking the second speech in the second language, with the extracted keyword in the first language based on a linking procedure correspond to the extraction condition, the linking procedure being utilized for outputting the extracted keyword linked with the second speech in the second language spoken after the first speech in the first language;translating the second speech from the second language into the first language; andoutputting the extracted keyword in the first language linked with the second speech, and the translated second speech.

14. A computer program product having a computer readable medium including programmed instructions for processing communication supporting, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform: receiving a first speech in a first language;extracting a keyword from the first speech in the first language, based on an extraction condition;translating the first speech from the first language into a second language;outputting the translated first speech in the second language;receiving a second speech in the second language, immediately after outputting of the translated first speech in the second language;linking the second speech in the second language, with the extracted keyword in the first language based on a linking procedure correspond to the extraction condition, the linking procedure being utilized for outputting the extracted keyword linked with the second speech in the second language spoken after the first speech in the first language;translating the second speech from the second language into the first language; andoutputting the extracted keyword in the first language linked with the second speech, and the translated second speech.