Patent Application
20110307240
With the proliferation of networking and network based processing, web based services and web applications are taking over the traditional computing tasks performed by locally installed applications. Locally installed applications, as their name suggests, need to be installed, maintained, and updated at the local level making it difficult to manage larger systems such as enterprise computing systems, where hundreds or thousands of users need attention and support of the information technology personnel. Web applications, on the other hand, are accessed by users through thick or thin clients with much easier maintenance since there is one main application to be installed, maintained, and updated. An illustrative example of web based applications is document sharing services, which provide document creation, editing, and sharing services through a simple user interface such as a browsing application user interface. Because the application is centrally managed, many features that were difficult of impractical in locally installed applications may be provided. One such feature is multilingual document support.
Data presented in some web based applications may be structured in a hierarchical organization. The classification of terms (data) according to a predefined relationship is also referred to as taxonomy. In multilingual applications, a specific relationship between different nodes that model translation may need to be created. This greatly increases the complexity of the system, both in modeling, where the taxonomist needs to keep track of both the conceptual hierarchy as well as every translation relationship, and in viewing, where a user cannot simply switch their viewing language.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to exclusively identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Embodiments are directed to providing translations of a term as property in multilingual taxonomical hierarchies. Translations for each node in a tree structure may be associated with the node of primary language as labels, where each node may have a plurality of labels. A default label and language combination may be designated to be used in place of a missing secondary language during rendering if a translation into the secondary language does not exist.
These and other features and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory and do not restrict aspects as claimed.
As briefly described above, each node in a taxonomical tree may be assigned one or more labels based on supported languages rather than having a new tree or node in a tree for each language. One of the labels may be designated as the default label representing one of the supported languages in the system that is selected as the default. If a node has not been translated into a certain language, the default label for the default system language may be used. In the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustrations specific embodiments or examples. These aspects may be combined, other aspects may be utilized, and structural changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description is therefore not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
While the embodiments will be described in the general context of program modules that execute in conjunction with an application program that runs on an operating system on a personal computer, those skilled in the art will recognize that aspects may also be implemented in combination with other program modules.
Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and comparable computing devices. Embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
Embodiments may be implemented as a computer-implemented process (method), a computing system, or as an article of manufacture, such as a computer program product or computer readable media. The computer program product may be a computer storage medium readable by a computer system and encoding a computer program that comprises instructions for causing a computer or computing system to perform example process(es). The computer-readable storage medium can for example be implemented via one or more of a volatile computer memory, a non-volatile memory, a hard drive, a flash drive, a floppy disk, or a compact disk, and comparable media.
Throughout this specification, the term “platform” may be a combination of software and hardware components for managing networked computer systems, which may provide multilingual taxonomical hierarchy support. Examples of platforms include, but are not limited to, a hosted service executed over a plurality of servers, an application executed on a single server, and comparable systems. The term “server” generally refers to a computing device executing one or more software programs typically in a networked environment. However, a server may also be implemented as a virtual server (software programs) executed on one or more computing devices viewed as a server on the network. More detail on these technologies and example operations is provided below.
Thus, any content hierarchy in web based applications may be organized through taxonomical tree structures. In web based applications supporting multiple languages, translations of terms within the content need to be organized in a similar fashion to the original language terms. One such approach is shown in hierarchy 102 of diagram 100. Root node 1 branches out to child nodes 2 and 3. Child node 2 branches out to child nodes 4 and 5. Each of these nodes may represent a term. Child node 3 branches out to child nodes 6 and 7A through 7D, where 7A through 7D represent different language versions of the same term. Thus, a new node may be added to the hierarchy preserving a relationship within the tree structure.
Another approach is re-creating the same tree structure for each translation version as shown by hierarchies 104, 106, and 108. As shown in the diagram, some of the nodes in hierarchies 106 and 108 are white, while others and all nodes in hierarchy 104 are grey. Hierarchy 104 may represent a default (or primary) language structure. All terms are included in the tree structure. Some of the terms may not have translations in other languages. Thus, some nodes in secondary language trees 106 and 108 may be omitted nodes in the other language trees.
Both approaches described above require creation of specific relationships between different nodes that model the translation(s) increasing the complexity of the system in modeling and rendering. For example, in the multiple hierarchy approach introduces the additional complexity of maintaining relationships between each tree structure corresponding to a language.
Hierarchy 110 of diagram 100 illustrates a tree structure according to embodiments. Nodes 112 representing terms are assigned labels 114 (as a property). Translations of a particular term may then be associated with the primary language term through the labels. Each node may have a plurality of labels.
A list of translatable languages may be tracked as well as the default language for the system. Then, for every term in the system, a full set of labels may be associated with the term. A label may be a name that the term can be known as, for example, “United States”, “USA”, “United States of America”, “États-Unis”. For every language with a label, one label may be denoted as the default for that language. The default label is the label that appears whenever the term is shown, for example, in a document, in a web page, or in a tree view for a user to select from.
If a particular node does not have a translation, then the system default language may be used. When the default language of the system is changed, terms that have not yet been translated may be assigned the default term in the previous default language. Furthermore, multiple terms in a particular language may map to a single term in the default language. For example, a particular concept in English may be described by two or more terms in Japanese. In such cases, the different translations may also be associated with the same node as different properties.
Thus, labeling based modeling of translations in multilingual taxonomical hierarchies may be used for one-to-one translations, one-to-many translations, multiple descriptions, and even synonyms. In diagram 200, nodes 222 are shown with corresponding labels 224. Nodes 222 are associated with default language English. A majority of the nodes have Japanese as a secondary language, while node 6 has only English. Some nodes have French and others German as tertiary language. During rendering, if German is selected as working language, English versions of the terms for nodes without German translations may be used (e.g. displayed or played if audio is being used).
Once a taxonomical hierarchy 334 is created, translations of terms corresponding to nodes of the hierarchy may be provided by a separate application executed by server 332 or by an external translation provider 338. Translations 340 may include one-to-one translations or one-to-many translations in other languages or dialects. Embodiments are not limited to languages or dialects, however. Specialized cultural vocabularies such as legal culture, military culture, medical culture, and similar ones may also be used to provide equivalent text strings, descriptions, synonyms, etc. Furthermore, audio files may also be used in addition to textual data to form original tree structures and annotate them with labels.
The translations may be added to the original taxonomical hierarchy 334 as properties of individual nodes and a default language selected such that if a translation of a particular node does not exist in a user selected working language, the default version is used. Thus, the annotated hierarchy 336 may be used to render documents or provide selection options 344 to user 346 through client application/device 342.
The example systems in
As discussed previously, translations of original terms structured as nodes in a taxonomical hierarchy may be added to the structure as properties associated with each node rather than having a new tree or node in a tree for each language. One of the supported languages in the system may be selected as the default. If a node has not been translated into a certain language, the default label for the default system language maybe used instead.
Client devices 411-413 may be thin clients managed by a hosted service. One or more of the servers 418 may provide a portion of operating system functionality including hierarchy annotation through labels. Data such as the translations and original terms may be stored in one or more data stores (e.g. data store 416), which may be managed by any one of the servers 418 or by database server 414.
Network(s) 410 may comprise any topology of servers, clients, Internet service providers, and communication media. A system according to embodiments may have a static or dynamic topology. Network(s) 410 may include a secure network such as an enterprise network, an unsecure network such as a wireless open network, or the Internet. Network(s) 410 may also coordinate communication over other networks such as PSTN or cellular networks. Network(s) 410 provides communication between the nodes described herein. By way of example, and not limitation, network(s) 410 may include wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media.
Many other configurations of computing devices, applications, data sources, and data distribution systems may be employed to implement multilingual runtime rendering of metadata. Furthermore, the networked environments discussed in
Application 522 may be any web based application using hierarchically structured data for rendering services to users. Multilingual support for the services may be provided through annotating a taxonomical hierarchy structure with labels corresponding to various translations for each node in the structure. Modeling module 524 may annotate the tree structure with the translations by adding corresponding translations as properties of each node and designating a default language for use in case of absence of a working language translation for a node. Application 522 and modeling module 524 may be separate applications or integrated components of a hosted service. This basic configuration is illustrated in
Computing device 500 may have additional features or functionality. For example, the computing device 500 may also include additional data storage devices (removable and/or non-removable) such as, for example, magnetic disks, optical disks, or tape. Such additional storage is illustrated in
Computing device 500 may also contain communication connections 516 that allow the device to communicate with other devices 518, such as over a wired or wireless network in a distributed computing environment, a satellite link, a cellular link, a short range network, and comparable mechanisms. Other devices 518 may include servers, desktop computers, handheld computers, and comparable devices. Communication connection(s) 516 is one example of communication media. Communication media can include therein computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media.
Example embodiments also include methods. These methods can be implemented in any number of ways, including the structures described in this document. One such way is by machine operations, of devices of the type described in this document.
Another optional way is for one or more of the individual operations of the methods to be performed in conjunction with one or more human operators performing some. These human operators need not be collocated with each other, but each can be only with a machine that performs a portion of the program.
Process 600 begins with operation 610, where a primary or default language is determined for terms (data) to be organized in a taxonomic hierarchy. The term language as used herein may refer to dialects or specific cultural vocabulary, and is not limited to national or spoken languages. At operation 620, the taxonomical hierarchy may be created with each node in the tree structure corresponding to a term, which may be a word or a group of words in textual or audio format. At operation 630, languages, in which translations of the terms are available or will be available, may be determined. For example, in establishing a document sharing service, the administrators may define specific secondary languages for predefined regions.
The translations may be received by the system (or performed) at operation 640. Not all terms may have translations in particular languages available. At operation 650, the translations may be added to the taxonomical hierarchy as labels to each corresponding node such that multilingual rendering of the data structure may be supported at operation 660 upon detection of a working language desired by a user. For terms without a translation in a particular language, the default language label may be used.
The operations included in process 600 are for illustration purposes. Data modeling of multilingual taxonomical hierarchies according to embodiments may be implemented by similar processes with fewer or additional steps, as well as in different order of operations using the principles described herein.
The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the composition of the embodiments. Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims and embodiments.
