JP2012064059A - Translation device, translation method and translation program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide translation technique which can acquire an accurate translation sentence and expand an area of expression.SOLUTION: A translation device comprises: example sentence storage means storing a first example sentence written in a first language and a second example sentence which is a description of the first example sentence in a second language; control means acquiring the first example sentence selected by a user from multiple candidate example sentences and a character string inputted by the user as a character string to be embedded in a prescribed configuration part in the first example sentence; and translation means translating the character string to a character string of the second language, reading the second example sentence corresponding to the first example sentence from the example sentence storage means, generating a translation sentence by embedding the character string of the second language into a configuration part in the second example sentence corresponding to the prescribed configuration part and outputting the translation sentence.

Description

  The present invention relates to a translation technique for automatically translating an original sentence input by a user into a sentence in another language.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for translating natural language by automatic processing of an apparatus or a computer is known. In recent years, access to information expressed in different languages has been facilitated by the Internet or the like, and the importance of natural language translation by such automatic processing has increased.

  As a translation technique based on automatic processing, for example, a technique of presenting an example sentence and its translated sentence to a user using a translation example sentence collection is known. In addition, for example, a method is also known in which a hierarchical example is presented to the user and a final example sentence is selected so that the user can select a large number of example sentences prepared in advance using a conversation method, for example. . There is also known a method of selecting a final example sentence by allowing a user to select a word collection that can appear according to a word order or grammar recognized by the system.

  There is also a complete machine translation method that performs natural language grammar analysis and semantic analysis on the input of any natural sentence in one language without using example sentences prepared in advance, and translates it into another language. Are known.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-330926

  However, in the translation example sentence collection and the conversation method, although an accurate translation sentence can be prepared in advance, the range that can be expressed is limited and is not suitable for a specific expression.

  In complete machine translation, the expression range of natural sentences is not limited, but due to the grammatical complexity and word ambiguity, it is difficult to always obtain the only optimal analysis result.

  Therefore, it is difficult for the prior art to always derive an accurate and optimal translation. In particular, it is not suitable for scenes where individual and specific communication is important and high accuracy is required, such as international trade.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a translation technique that secures the expandability of an expressible range while obtaining an accurate translation.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention stores an example sentence storing a first example sentence described in a first language and a second example sentence describing the first example sentence in a second language. A translation apparatus comprising means for inputting the first example sentence selected by a user from among a plurality of candidate example sentences and a character string embedded in a predetermined component in the first example sentence A control means for obtaining the character string, and the character string is translated into a character string in the second language, and the second example sentence corresponding to the first example sentence is read from the example sentence storage means, Translating means for generating a translated sentence by embedding a character string of the second language in a constituent part in the second example sentence corresponding to the predetermined constituent part, and outputting the translated sentence; It is configured as a characteristic translation device.

  The translation device is connected to a plurality of input / output devices via a communication network, and the control means uses the first example sentence selected by a user in one input / output device and the one input device. The character string input by the user may be acquired from the one input / output device, and the translated sentence generated by the translation unit may be transmitted to the other input / output device.

  The translation device includes user information storage means for storing user identification information of a user of the translation device, and user identification information of a user who uses the one input / output device from one input / output device. An authentication processing unit that receives the user information and refers to the user information storage unit to authenticate the user and identify the one input / output device related to the user.

  In addition, the user information storage means further stores a language used for each user identification information, and the translation device includes product identification information of a product related to the transaction and user identification information related to the product. Product information storage means for storing product information including, wherein the control means in the translation device receives the product identification information of the product selected by the user from one input / output device, and the product information storage means By referring to the user corresponding to the selected product, the user input / output device is designated as the output destination of the translated sentence, and the user information storage means is referred to, thereby The second language, which is the language used by the user, may be specified as the translation target language.

  In addition, the translation device includes user identification information of a user who has input original information consisting of identification information uniquely given for each generation of the translated sentence, the product identification information, and the first example sentence and a character string. And a communication information storage means for storing user identification information of the user who is the output destination of the translated text, the original text information, and information including the translated text. By referring to the communication information storage means in response to the inquiry request from the user, based on the identification information and the user identification information corresponding to the one input / output device, the user of the one input / output device Original text information or translated text corresponding to the language used may be rearranged in time series and output.

  Further, the example sentence storage means further stores the category for each example sentence, and the control means of the translation device receives a reply request from one input / output device that has received the translated sentence, and is identical to the translated sentence. Only example sentences in the category may be read from the example sentence storage unit, and the read example sentences may be transmitted as a candidate example sentence for reply to one input / output device that has transmitted the reply request.

  The control means of the translation device may notify an input / output device used by the user by e-mail that a translation has been generated for a certain user.

  Further, the control unit of the translation device analyzes the preference of the example sentence selected by the user for each user, stores the analysis result in the storage unit, and transmits the example sentence candidate to the input / output device of one user. In this case, the analysis result of the one user is acquired from the storage unit, and based on the analysis result, a plurality of example sentences having a high preference of the one user are acquired from the example sentence storage unit, An example sentence may be transmitted to the input / output device of the one user as the plurality of candidate example sentences.

  The present invention can also be configured as a translation method executed by the translation apparatus and a program for causing a computer to function as each unit of the translation apparatus.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a translation technique that obtains an accurate translation and secures extensibility of a range that can be expressed.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a translation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a functional configuration diagram of a translation apparatus 10. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the table stored in the user information storage part. It is a figure which shows the example of the table stored in the merchandise information storage part. It is a figure which shows the example of the table stored in the example sentence template storage part. It is a figure which shows the example of the table stored in the translation information storage part. It is a figure which shows the example of the table stored in the communication information storage part 19. FIG. It is a sequence chart for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of a question) of a translation system. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of contents of a screen displayed on the user terminal 1. FIG. It is a sequence chart for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of an answer) of a translation system. It is a figure which shows the example of the content of the screen displayed on the user terminal. It is a sequence chart for demonstrating operation | movement (in the case of a re-question) of a translation system. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of contents of a screen displayed on the user terminal 1. FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating contact ID, reference ID, and order ID.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As will be described below, in the present embodiment, an example relating to import / export trade (trade of goods) between two countries having different languages will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to such a form. It can be applied to any field. In addition, although English (language A) and Japanese (language B) are given as examples of languages to be used, these are merely examples, and the present invention can be applied to any language.

(System configuration)
FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a translation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the translation system according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which a translation apparatus 10 and user terminals 1 and 2 are connected via a communication network 3 such as the Internet.

  In the present embodiment, the user terminal 1 is a terminal of a country buyer (product purchaser) whose native language is the language A (English in the present embodiment), and the user terminal 2 is the language B (this embodiment). It is assumed that this is a terminal of a supplier (product seller) in a country whose native language is Japanese.

  The user terminals 1 and 2 are general PC terminals each provided with a Web browser, and each user terminal accesses the translation apparatus 10 through the Web browser and inputs / outputs questions / answers. Therefore, the user terminal may be referred to as an input / output device.

  FIG. 2 shows a functional configuration diagram of the translation apparatus 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the translation device 10 includes a transmission / reception unit 11, an authentication processing unit 12, a communication control unit 13, a translation processing unit 14, a user information storage unit 15, a product information storage unit 16, an example sentence template storage unit 17, a translation An information storage unit 18 and a communication information storage unit 19 are provided.

  The transmission / reception unit 11 is a functional unit for the translation apparatus 10 to perform data communication with the user terminals 1, 2, etc. via the communication network 3.

  The authentication processing unit 12 receives user IDs from the user terminals 1 and 2 and refers to the user information storage unit 15 to authenticate whether or not the user ID is registered in advance. It is. The communication control unit 13 includes a Web server function, and is a functional unit that performs screen creation / display control and communication control of questions / answers exchanged between the user terminal 1 and the user terminal 2. The communication control unit 13 also includes a function of notifying the user terminals 1 and 2 by e-mail or the like that there is a question / answer.

  The translation processing unit 14 is a functional unit that performs a process of translating a sentence in one language composed of an example sentence template including a blank and a character string described in the blank into a sentence in another language.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a table stored in the user information storage unit 15. As shown in FIG. 3, the user information storage unit 15 stores a user ID, a language used by the user, and an address for identifying a user terminal corresponding to the user. This terminal address is an address for identifying a destination for sending a notification, and may be, for example, an e-mail address. The information in the user information storage unit 15 is information registered in advance by a user or a system operator. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the buyer information (B1, B2, etc.) and the supplier information (S1, S2, etc.) are stored in the same user information storage unit 15, but these are stored in separate storage units. May be stored.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a table stored in the product information storage unit 16. As shown in FIG. 4, the product information storage unit 16 stores a product ID, a product name, and a supplier user ID. In this embodiment, it is assumed that a specific product is provided by a corresponding supplier, and the product information storage unit 16 stores the supplier's user ID in association with the product ID. If it can be associated, the user ID of the buyer may be further stored as the user ID here.
FIG. 5 shows an example of a table stored in the example sentence template storage unit 17. As shown in FIG. 5, the example sentence template storage unit 17 stores an example sentence ID, a category, an example sentence template in each language, and information indicating whether the example sentence is a question or an answer. As shown in FIG. 5, the example sentence template in the present embodiment is used in the sale and purchase of goods, for example, “If [] is [], the lead time is [] days.” In a sentence with high frequency (standard sentence), a component part that contains a different numerical value or name for each transaction is left blank. In other words, this component is a part that contains a character string that is not ambiguous in meaning and has no possibility of mistranslation. It is a proper noun such as numbers / symbols and place names. Further, in this blank, a number for identifying a component corresponding to the blank is assigned for each example sentence template. It should be noted that a dummy word (character string) may be embedded in the component corresponding to this blank and used as an example sentence template.

  Also, the example sentence template related to the question and the example sentence template related to the answer may be stored in different storage units. The example sentence template may be stored in a separate storage unit for each language.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of a table stored in the translation information storage unit 18. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the translation information storage unit 18 stores an example sentence ID, the blank number described above, and a character string group (for each language) that is likely to be placed in the blank. In the example of FIG. 6, blanks that are assumed to be input with character strings that do not differ between languages, such as numbers, are marked as “input character strings”. In other words, the numbers and the like remain unchanged even after the translation process, and the input character string becomes the translated character string as it is.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of a table stored in the communication information storage unit 19. As shown in FIG. 7, the communication information storage unit 19 stores a contact ID, a sender ID, a receiver ID, a product ID, a reference ID, an order ID, an example sentence ID, and a communication sentence related to a question / answer. The

  Details of the processing of each functional unit with reference to the information stored in each storage unit will be sequentially described in the operation description to be described later.

  The translation apparatus 10 can be realized by causing a general computer including a CPU, a memory, a hard disk, a communication interface, and the like to execute a program describing the processing of each functional unit. The program can be recorded and distributed on a recording medium such as a portable memory. It is also possible to download the program from a server on the network and install it.

(Translation system operation)
Next, the operation of the translation system according to the present embodiment will be described in detail. Hereinafter, for the sake of convenience, the user (ie, buyer) of the user terminal 1 is described as user 1, and the user (ie, supplier) of the user terminal 2 is described as user 2.

<Question>
First, the processing operation in the case of sending a question about a certain product from the user terminal 1 to the user terminal 2 will be described along the procedure shown in the sequence chart of FIG.

  When the user terminal 1 accesses the translation device 10, an authentication screen is displayed on the user terminal 1. Therefore, the user 1 inputs a user ID to the user terminal 1, and the user terminal 1 transmits the user ID to the translation device 10 (step 1). In translation apparatus 10, authentication processing unit 12 receives a user ID via transmission / reception unit 11, and refers to user information storage unit 15, and the user ID is already registered. The communication with the user terminal 1 is permitted (step 2). That is, here, it is specified that the user terminal 1 is the user terminal of the user 1 who has been successfully authenticated, and a communication session with the user terminal 1 is established. Thereafter, for example, there is no communication and a predetermined time continues. The communication session is maintained until the user logs out or logs out. The user ID that has been successfully authenticated is passed to the communication control unit 13.

  In the above example, the user ID is used for authentication, but of course, authentication may be performed including a password in addition to the user ID.

  Subsequently, the communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 transmits screen information (including a product name and a product ID) for inputting product information to the user terminal 1 (Step 3). On the user terminal 1 that has received the information, a screen configured to be able to select one product name from a plurality of product names is displayed, and the user 1 selects a product name for which a transaction (purchase) is desired. As a result, the product ID (or product name) of the selected product is sent from the user terminal 1 to the communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 (step 4). In Step 4, instead of selecting from a plurality of products, a product ID or a product name may be directly input. Further, the product ID and the product name can be collectively referred to as product identification information.

  The communication control unit 13 that has received the product ID retrieves the product information storage unit 16 using the product ID, thereby acquiring the user ID of the user who receives the question (here, the user ID of the user 2). In a storage means such as a memory (step 5). This user ID corresponds to information for specifying the output destination of the translated question text. The communication control unit 13 reads a plurality of example sentence templates related to the question corresponding to the language used by the user 1 (language A, acquired from the user information storage unit 15) from the example sentence template storage unit 17 (step 6), Screen information including the target product name and the read example sentence template is transmitted to the user terminal 1 (step 7).

  The user terminal 1 that has received the screen information displays the target product name and a plurality of example sentence templates so that one can be selected, and the user 1 selects one example sentence template. (Step 8). Then, the user 1 inputs a necessary character string in the blank of the selected example sentence template (step 9). Regarding the character string input here, the user may directly input the character string, or based on the information received from the translation device 10 by the user terminal 1 (information read from the translation information storage unit 18), It is also possible to present a plurality of candidate character strings that enter the blank and select one of them. FIG. 9 shows an example of the contents of a screen displayed on the user terminal 1 when a character string is input.

  Thereafter, when there is a translation instruction (such as clicking a predetermined button) from the user on the screen, the user terminal 1 gives an example sentence ID of the question and a question sentence (example sentence template and input character string for each blank number). It is sent to the translation apparatus 10 (step 10 in FIG. 8).

  The communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 that has received the above information passes the received information to the translation processing unit 14, and the translation processing unit 14 performs the translation process (step 11). In step 11, the translation processing unit 14 refers to the translation information storage unit 18, and uses the recipient's language (here, language B, user ID of user 2) for each blank number corresponding to the received example sentence ID. The translation value of the input character string corresponding to the sentence information stored in the user information storage unit 15 is acquired, and the acquired translation value is converted into the example sentence template of the language B corresponding to the example sentence ID (from the example sentence template storage unit 17). By applying to (acquisition), a translated question sentence is created, and the question sentence is output to the communication control unit 13.

  In the present embodiment, the character string is translated using information stored in the translation information storage unit 18, but the translation method is not limited to this. For example, this character string may be translated using existing translation means (translation software or the like).

  The communication control unit 13 stores the original question sentence (language A) and the translated question sentence (language B) in the communication information storage unit 19 together with the corresponding example sentence ID (step 12). When storing these sentences in the communication information storage unit 19, the communication control unit 13 determines the current contact (contact from the user 1 to the user 2) and exchanges between the users. An order ID for identifying the question / answer order one by one is assigned, and stored in the communication information storage unit 19 together with the sender's user ID, the receiver's user ID, and the product ID. The first record in FIG. 7 corresponds to the current storage. Since this is the first question, no reference ID is given.

  Thereafter, for confirmation, the communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 displays a question sentence before translation and a question sentence after translation on the user terminal 1 (step 13). Here, if there is a correction, it is accepted, and the same process as described above is performed on the corrected question sentence. In step 13, only the question sentence before translation may be displayed. Here, a question may be added. When adding a question, the user terminal 1 transmits an addition instruction to the translation apparatus 10, and thereafter, the process from step 6 is performed again, and the question is added.

  When the user 1 who has finished the confirmation clicks a predetermined button (for example, a transmission button) (step 14), a notification transmission instruction is transmitted to the translation apparatus 10 (step 15). The communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 that has received the notification transmission instruction notifies the user terminal 2 that is a receiver corresponding to the target product that there is a question. Here, the user ID stored in step 5 can be used. This notification may be performed by e-mail, for example, but is not limited to e-mail. In addition, the notification includes access destination information (for example, a contact ID corresponding to a question, a sender ID, and a product ID), and the access destination information is selected (clicked) on the user terminal 2. As a result, a display request for communication information (such as a question sentence) is transmitted to the translation apparatus 10.

<Answer>
Next, processing relating to an answer performed after a question is made as described above and notified to the user terminal 2 will be described with reference to the sequence chart of FIG. In the following, it is assumed that the login authentication process from the user terminal 2 to the translation apparatus 10 has been completed.

  When the access destination information included in the notification is selected in the user terminal 2, a display request (for example, a request including a contact ID, a sender ID, and a product ID corresponding to a question may be called an inquiry request). It is transmitted to the translation apparatus 10 (step 21). The communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 searches the communication information storage unit 19 using the received ID information and the user ID of the user 2, so that the response corresponds to the received ID information and the user ID of the user 2. A question sentence (language B) which is not (no reference ID) is acquired (step 22), and screen information including the question sentence (language B) is transmitted to the user terminal 2 (step 23). Here, it is assumed that there are a plurality of question sentences, and the communication control unit 13 sorts the question sentences in the order of the order ID (= the order of time series), and transmits screen information including the sorted question sentences. ing.

  On the user terminal 2 that has received the screen information, a plurality of question sentences (each corresponding to one example sentence ID) are displayed. Then, the user 2 selects a question sentence to be answered (step 24). Thereby, an answer request (reply request) including an example sentence ID corresponding to the selected question sentence is transmitted from the user terminal 2 to the translation apparatus 10, and the communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 receives this (Step 25). ).

  The communication control unit 13 that has received the example sentence ID refers to the example sentence template storage unit 17 and acquires an example sentence template (reply candidate sentence) in the language B of “answer” belonging to the same category as the category corresponding to the example sentence ID ( Step 26), screen information including the acquired plural example sentence templates is transmitted to the user terminal 2 (Step 27). As described above, since the answer example sentences in the same category as the question category are selected, the number of answer example sentences can be reduced.

  On the user terminal 2 that has received the screen information, the target product name is displayed, and a plurality of (answer) example sentence templates (language B) are displayed so that one can be selected. Selects one example sentence template (step 28). Then, the user 2 inputs a necessary character string in the blank of the selected example sentence template (step 29). FIG. 11 shows an example of the contents of a screen displayed on the user terminal 2 when a character string is input.

  Thereafter, when there is a translation instruction (such as clicking a predetermined button) from the user 2 on the screen, the user terminal 2 sends an example sentence ID of the answer, an answer sentence (example sentence template and input character string for each blank number), and Is sent to the translation apparatus 10 (step 30).

  The communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 that has received the above information passes these pieces of information to the translation processing unit 14, and the translation processing unit 14 performs translation processing (step 31). In step 31, the translation processing unit 14 refers to the translation information storage unit 18, and for each blank number corresponding to the received example sentence ID, the language (in this case, language A) of the answer recipient (question sender). ) Is obtained, and the translated value is created by applying the translated value of the input information corresponding to the example sentence ID of the language A corresponding to the example sentence ID (obtained from the example sentence template storage unit 17). Then, the created answer sentence is passed to the communication control unit 13.

  The communication control unit 13 stores the pre-translation answer sentence and the post-translation answer sentence together with the corresponding example sentence ID in the communication information storage unit 19 (step 32). When storing these sentences in the communication information storage unit 19, the communication control unit 13 gives a contact ID and an order ID for identifying the current contact (answer to the user 1 for the question received from the user 1), Further, a contact ID corresponding to the question sentence is given as a reference ID, and is stored in the communication information storage unit 19 together with the sender user ID, the receiver user ID, and the product ID. For example, the second record in FIG. 7 corresponds to the current storage.

  Thereafter, for confirmation, the communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 displays the reply sentence before translation and the reply sentence after translation on the user terminal 2 (step 33). Here, if there is a correction, it is accepted, and the same processing as described above is performed on the corrected answer sentence. In step 33, only the response text before translation may be displayed. Here, a question may be made from the user 2 side. In the case of asking a question, in the processing described with reference to FIG. 8, the same processing as that when the user terminal 1 is replaced with the user terminal 2 is performed.

  The processing from step 24 to step 33 is repeated for unanswered inquiries.

  When the user 2 who has confirmed each answer clicks a predetermined button (for example, a transmission button) (step 34), a notification transmission instruction is transmitted to the translation apparatus 10 (step 35). The communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 that has received the notification transmission instruction transmits a notification that there has been an answer to the user terminal 1 corresponding to the user 1. The notification includes access destination information (for example, including a contact ID corresponding to an answer, a sender ID, and a product ID). In the user terminal 1, when the access destination information is selected (clicked), A notification information display request is transmitted to the translation apparatus 10.

<Re-question>
Next, processing relating to a second question performed after the question and answer are performed as described above and the user terminal 1 is notified will be described with reference to the sequence chart of FIG. In the following, it is assumed that the login process from the user terminal 1 to the translation apparatus 10 has been completed.

  When access destination information is selected in the user terminal 1, a display request (for example, including a contact ID, a sender ID, and a product ID corresponding to the answer) is transmitted to the translation apparatus 10 (step 41). The translation device 10 searches the communication information storage unit 19 using the received ID information or the like, thereby acquiring an answer sentence (an answer sentence of language A used by the user 1) corresponding to the received ID information or the like ( Step 42), screen information including the answer sentence (language A) is transmitted to the user terminal 1 (step 43). Here, in order for the user 1 to grasp the exchange so far, the communication control unit 13 acquires not only the answer sentence but also the question sentence that is the basis of the answer sentence, and uses the contact ID, the order ID, and the like. The screen information obtained by sorting the questions / answers in time series is transmitted to the user terminal 1.

  The user terminal 1 that has received the screen information displays a plurality of question / answer pairs. When the user 1 wants to ask a question regarding a specific answer, the user 1 selects an answer sentence to be asked (step 44). Thereby, the example sentence ID corresponding to the selected answer sentence is transmitted from the user terminal 1 to the translation apparatus 10, and the communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 receives it (step 45).

  The communication control unit 13 that has received the example sentence ID refers to the example sentence template storage unit 17 to obtain an example sentence template of “question” that belongs to the same category as the category corresponding to the example sentence ID (step 46), and The screen information including the example sentence template is transmitted to the user terminal 1 (step 47).

  In the user terminal 1 that has received the screen information, the target product name is displayed and a plurality of (questions) so that one can be selected near (for example, directly below) the selected answer sentence. The example sentence template is displayed, and the user 1 selects one example sentence template (step 48). Then, the user 1 inputs a necessary character string in the blank of the selected example sentence template (step 49). FIG. 13 shows an example of the contents of a screen displayed on the user terminal 1 when a character string is input.

  After that, when there is a translation instruction (such as clicking a predetermined button) from the user on the screen, the translation terminal 10 receives an example sentence ID and a question sentence (input information for each example sentence template and blank number) from the user terminal 1. (Step 50).

  The communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 that has received the above information passes these pieces of information to the translation processing unit 14, and the translation processing unit 14 performs translation processing (step 51). Further, the communication information storage unit 13 performs storage processing (step 52). These processing contents are the same as those described so far.

  Thereafter, for confirmation, the communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 displays a question sentence before translation and a question sentence after translation on the user terminal 1 (step 53). Here, if there is a correction, it is accepted, and the same process as described above is performed on the corrected question sentence. In step 53, only the question sentence before translation may be displayed. Here, a new question may be made from the user 1 side.

  The processing from step 44 to step 53 is repeatedly performed for the answer to which the question is asked.

  When the user 1 who has confirmed each question clicks a predetermined button (for example, a transmission button) (step 54), a notification transmission instruction is transmitted to the translation apparatus 10 (step 55). Upon receiving the notification transmission instruction, the communication control unit 13 of the translation apparatus 10 transmits a notification that there is a question to the user terminal 2 corresponding to the user 2 (step 56). The notification includes access destination information (for example, including a contact ID corresponding to a question, a sender ID, and a product ID). In the user terminal 2, when the access destination information is selected (clicked), A notification information display request is transmitted to the translation apparatus 10.

As described above, the question, the answer, and the re-question have been described. However, according to the translation system described in the present embodiment, it is possible to exchange further answers / questions. Further, by storing the buyer's user ID in association with the product in the product information storage unit 16, the question / answer process starting from the user terminal 2 (supplier) is performed in the same manner as in the above example. be able to.
In the above example, the translation device 10 sends a notification indicating that there is an answer / question to the user terminal, and then the user terminal accesses the translation device 10 to display the answer / question. Instead of sending a notification, the translation device 10 may be connected to the user terminal, and the answer / question screen information may be sent to the user terminal.

(About information stored in the communication information storage unit 19)
Here, referring to FIG. 14, the contact ID, the reference ID, and the order ID, which are information stored in the communication information storage unit 19, are attached and used in more detail. explain.

  As shown in FIG. 14, when two questions regarding the corresponding product are input on the user terminal 1, one contact ID 1 is given to these questions, the first question has an order ID 1, and the next question has Order ID2 is given. These questions are translated and displayed on the user terminal 2, and an answer to each is input. In the example of FIG. 14, the contact ID 2 and the reference ID 1 are assigned to the answer 1 to the question 1 and the answer 2 to the question 2, respectively. In addition, an order ID 3 is assigned to the answer 1, and an order ID 4 is assigned to the answer 2. With these pieces of information (corresponding to identification information uniquely assigned to each generation of a translation ID and a pair of contact ID and order ID), the communication control unit 13 can identify which question the answer corresponds to, The communication control unit 13 can display on the user terminal 1 a screen in which questions and answers are arranged in an appropriate chronological order.

  By using such an ID, for example, by transmitting an inquiry request designating a specific product from the user terminal to the translation device 10, the communication control unit 13 of the translation device 10 allows the user of the user terminal to Past questions / answers (questions / answers in a language corresponding to the user ID) corresponding to the ID and the product can be acquired, sorted in time series, and displayed on the user terminal that transmitted the request. When the product is not specified, the communication control unit 13 generates the sorted information for each product and displays it on the user terminal.

  In addition, when storing information in the communication information storage unit 19, the time information (time stamp) is stored together to specify a period (for example, from one year ago to the present). It is also possible to display questions / answers about a specific product. Such display of past information can be appropriately performed in the above-described question / answer processing.

  In addition, the communication control unit 13 acquires an example sentence ID of each user's question / answer (a record in which the user is a sender) in the communication information storage unit 19, and refers to the example sentence template storage unit 17 to obtain the example sentence By obtaining the ID category, the preference of the question category and the answer category may be analyzed for each user, and the analysis result may be stored in the storage means for each user ID. The analysis here is, for example, determining and recording, from the most frequently used category to the Xth most frequently used category, as the category preferred by the user. Thus, for example, when acquiring a plurality of example sentence templates for display on the user terminal 1 in the question processing described with reference to FIG. 8, only the example sentence templates of the category preferred by the user 1 are obtained. It can be acquired, sorted in order of preference (in descending order of use frequency), and displayed on the user terminal 1. The same applies when displaying the example sentence template of the answer.

  As described so far, according to the technology according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to obtain an accurate translation of the target language, and to expand the range of expression without impairing the accuracy of the translation. Can be secured. Further, it is possible for a supplier or a buyer related to a product to accurately communicate questions and answers without knowing each other's contact information in advance.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, the communication history can be rearranged in an easy-to-understand manner and displayed as a list, so that past exchanges can be easily grasped and used for future transactions.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and applications are possible within the scope of the claims. For example, in the present embodiment, an example is shown in which translation is performed during communication between a sender and a receiver. However, in the present invention, a single user sends an original sentence (example sentence template + blank character string) to a user terminal. Can be applied to a translation system whose main purpose is to obtain a translation of the original text from the translation device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2 User terminal 3 Communication network 10 Translation apparatus 11 Transmission / reception part 12 Authentication processing part 13 Communication control part 14 Translation processing part 15 User information storage part 16 Product information storage part 17 Example sentence template storage part 18 Translation information storage part 19 Communication information storage Part

Claims (10)

A translation apparatus comprising example sentence storage means for storing a first example sentence described in a first language and a second example sentence describing the first example sentence in a second language,
Control means for acquiring the first example sentence selected by the user from among a plurality of candidate example sentences and a character string input by the user as a character string embedded in a predetermined component in the first example sentence When,
The character string is translated into a character string of the second language, the second example sentence corresponding to the first example sentence is read from the example sentence storage means, and the second example sentence corresponding to the predetermined constituent unit is read. Translation means for generating a translated sentence by embedding a character string of the second language in a constituent part in an example sentence, and outputting the translated sentence;
A translation apparatus comprising: The translation device is connected to a plurality of input / output devices via a communication network,
The control means obtains the first example sentence selected by a user in one input / output device and the character string input by the user in the one input device from the one input / output device. The translation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the translation sentence generated by the translation unit is transmitted to another input / output apparatus. The translation device includes:
User information storage means for storing user identification information of the user of the translation device;
The user identification information of the user who uses the one input / output device is received from the one input / output device, and the user is authenticated by referring to the user information storage means. Authentication processing means for specifying the one input / output device according to
The translation apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: The user information storage means further stores a language used for each user identification information,
The translation device includes:
Product information storage means for storing product information including product identification information of a product related to a transaction and user identification information related to the product,
The control means in the translation device comprises:
Receiving the product identification information of the product selected by the user from one input / output device;
By referring to the product information storage means, the user corresponding to the selected product is specified, the input / output device of the user is designated as the output destination of the translated text, and the user information storage means is referred to By specifying the second language, which is the language used by the user, as the target language,
The translation apparatus according to claim 3. The translation device includes:
Identification information uniquely given for each generation of the translated sentence, the product identification information, user identification information of the user who has input the original sentence information composed of the first example sentence and the character string, and the output destination of the translated sentence Communication information storage means for storing information including user identification information of the user, the original text information, and the translated text,
The control means includes
Based on the identification information and the user identification information corresponding to the one input / output device by receiving an inquiry request from the one input / output device and referring to the communication information storage means, the one input / output Output the original text information or translated text corresponding to the language used by the user of the device in time series.
The translation apparatus according to claim 4, wherein: The example sentence storage means further stores the category for each example sentence,
The control means of the translation device comprises:
Receive a reply request from one I / O device that received the translation,
Read only example sentences in the same category as the translated sentence from the example sentence storage means, and send the read example sentence as a candidate example sentence for reply to one input / output device of the sender of the reply request.
The translation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the translation apparatus is one of the following.   The control means of the translation device notifies an input / output device used by the user by e-mail that a translation has been generated for a certain user. The translation apparatus according to claim 1. The control means of the translation device comprises:
Analyzing the preference of the example sentence selected by the user for each user, storing the analysis result in the storage means,
When transmitting example sentence candidates to an input / output device of a single user, the analysis result of the single user is acquired from the storage means, and a plurality of preferences of the single user are high based on the analysis result Obtaining an example sentence from the example sentence storage means, and transmitting the plurality of example sentences as the plurality of candidate example sentences to the input / output device of the one user;
The translation apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein A translation method executed by a translation apparatus comprising example sentence storage means for storing a first example sentence described in a first language and a second example sentence describing the first example sentence in a second language. And
Obtaining the first example sentence selected by the user from among a plurality of candidate example sentences, and a character string input by the user as a character string embedded in a predetermined component in the first example sentence; ,
The character string is translated into a character string of the second language, the second example sentence corresponding to the first example sentence is read from the example sentence storage means, and the second example sentence corresponding to the predetermined constituent unit is read. Generating a translated sentence by embedding the character string of the second language in the constituent part in the example sentence, and outputting the translated sentence;
A translation method comprising: A computer comprising example sentence storage means for storing a first example sentence described in a first language and a second example sentence describing the first example sentence in a second language;
Control means for acquiring the first example sentence selected by the user from among a plurality of candidate example sentences and a character string input by the user as a character string embedded in a predetermined component in the first example sentence ,
The character string is translated into a character string of the second language, the second example sentence corresponding to the first example sentence is read from the example sentence storage means, and the second example sentence corresponding to the predetermined constituent unit is read. Translation means for generating a translated sentence by embedding the character string of the second language in the constituent part in the example sentence, and outputting the translated sentence,
Program to function as.

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