KR20170132715A - A communication terminal, a message translation system, a message translation method, and a message translation program - Google Patents

Abstract

In a message translation system, the immediacy of conversation through an instant messaging service between users with different languages of use is maintained. The communication terminal mutually transmits / receives the message data to / from another terminal connected to the own terminal through the network, judges whether or not the translation of the message represented by the received message data is necessary, Instructs the external translation server to translate the message represented by the received message data when it is determined that translation of the message represented by the data is necessary, and transmits the received message data and the message data received by the translation server to the translated translation And outputs at least one of the message data to an output unit such as a display.

Description

A communication terminal, a message translation system, a message translation method, and a message translation program

The present invention relates to a communication terminal, a message translation system, a message translation method, and a message translation program.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mobile communication terminals including touch panels such as smart phones and tablet-type personal computers have become widespread. Accordingly, an instant messaging service capable of transmitting an instant message as shown in Patent Document 1 below is provided. The instant messaging service has high immediacy of conversation through the service and also has a high confidentiality of the message between the sender and the receiver of the message as compared with the conventional chat service because the user participating in the conversation is designated. In the instant messaging service, group communication, in which a message is transmitted from one sender to one or a plurality of recipients by broadcasting (broadcasting), has become mainstream.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2014-504406

In such an instant messaging service, it is considered that a user transmits and receives a message to and from another user having a different language. In this case, it is desirable to translate immediately into the language of the recipient so that the recipient of the message can understand the transmitted message. However, such translation services are generally not prevalent and it has been difficult to use instant messaging services in the form of being able to maintain the immediacy of conversations among a plurality of users using various languages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and provides a communication terminal, a message translation system, a message translation method, and a message translation program capable of maintaining immediacy of conversation through an instant messaging service among users having different languages .

In order to solve the above problems, a communication terminal according to an aspect of the present invention includes: a communication unit for mutually transmitting and receiving message data to and from another (other) terminal connected to its own terminal through a network; A translation necessity determination unit that determines whether or not a message included in the data is required to be translated; and a determination unit that determines whether or not translation of the message included in the received message data is required by the translation necessity determination unit, And an output unit for outputting at least one of the received message data and the translation message data translated by the translation server, .

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a message translation system including: a plurality of communication terminals connected through a network; a message transmission server for enabling message data to be mutually transmitted and received between the plurality of communication terminals; And a translation server connected to the communication terminal and transmitting translation message data translated into a message represented by the message data, wherein the communication terminal exchanges message data with the other terminal connected to the host terminal through the network A translation necessity judging unit for judging whether or not a translation of a message represented by the received message data is necessary; and a translation request judging unit for judging whether or not translation of the message indicated by the received message data is necessary To the external translation server as the received message data Wherein the translation server comprises a translation instruction unit for instructing a translation of a message to be displayed and an output unit for outputting at least one of the received message data and translation message data in which the received message data is translated by the translation server, A receiving unit for receiving a translation instruction of a message represented by the received message data and the received message data from the communication terminal; a translation unit for translating a message represented by the received message data according to the translation instruction; And a transmission unit for transmitting the translation message data translated by the translation unit to the communication terminal having received the translation instruction.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for translating a message, the method comprising: transmitting and receiving message data between a communication terminal and a terminal connected to the terminal through a network; And instructs an external translation server to translate a message represented by the received message data when it is determined that translation of a message represented by the received message data is necessary, And at least one of translation message data in which the received message data is translated by the translation server is output.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for message translation, comprising: a communication unit for mutually transmitting and receiving message data between a communication terminal and another terminal connected to its own terminal through a network; A translation request judging unit for judging whether or not a translation of the message included in the received message data is required by the translating necessity judging unit; A translation instructing section for instructing translation of a message included in the message data and an output section for outputting at least one of the received message data and the translation message data in which the received message data is translated by the translation server .

According to an aspect of the present invention, it is possible to maintain the immediacy of conversation through the instant messaging service between users with different languages of use.

1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a message translation system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the message transmission server 10 of the message translation system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a block diagram showing an outline of a message translation system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the message translation system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a block diagram showing an outline of a message translation system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the message translation system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a block diagram showing an outline of a message translation system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
8 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the message translation system according to the third embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a block diagram showing an outline of a message translation system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
10 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the message translation system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
11 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the message translation system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
12 is a block diagram showing an outline of a modification of the message translation system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
13 is a diagram showing a display screen on a message transmission side communication terminal and a message reception side using an instant messaging service in the message translation system according to the fifth embodiment.

1. First Embodiment

Hereinafter, a message translation system, a communication terminal used in the message translation system, and a message translation method in the message translation system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(1-1) Configuration of message translation system

First, the configuration of a communication terminal used in the message translation system and the message translation system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

(1-1-1) Overview of Message Translation System

1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a message translation system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

The message translation system 1 includes a message transmission server 10 for transmitting an instant message (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as a message), and a communication terminal 20 for which an IM application 210 having a message translation instruction function is installed (20a, 20b, 20c and 20d) and the translation server 30 are connected via a communication network NW.

The message translation system 1 provides an instant messaging service in which a plurality of communication terminals 20 exchange instant messages with each other via a communication network NW. This instant messaging service is provided, for example, from the message transmission server 10 to the communication terminal 20 via the instant messaging application installed in the communication terminal 20. [ The instant messaging service may be provided through a web browser or the like installed in the communication terminal 20. [

In the message translation system 1, when the user's language of the user of the communication terminal 20 is different, a translation message translated from the sender's instant message is displayed on the communication terminal 20 of the recipient of the instant message . In addition, in the instant messaging service, high immediacy of conversation through the service is required. For this reason, the message translation system 1 does not require the user to judge whether or not translation is required, and translates the instant message and outputs the translated message to the display unit or the like. Thereby, the message translation system 1 translates an instant message between users having different languages in use, while maintaining high immediacy of conversation through the service.

1 shows a message translation system 1 in a state in which four communication terminals 20a, 20b, 20c and 20d are connected to a communication network NW as a communication terminal 20. As shown in Fig. Here, the user language of the user of the communication terminal 20a is English (EN), the language of the user of the communication terminal 20b is Japanese (JP), and the language of the user of the communication terminal 20c is Chinese ), And the user's language of the communication terminal 20d is Korean (KR).

At this time, an English instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 20a of the user who uses English is displayed on the display unit of the communication terminal 20b of the user who uses Japanese, translated into Japanese and displayed. An English instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 20a of the user who uses English may be translated into Japanese voice and output to the voice output section of the communication terminal 20b of the user who uses Japanese.

An English instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 20a is translated into Chinese and displayed on the display section of the communication terminal 20c of the user who speaks Chinese. An English instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 20a is translated into Korean and displayed on the display section of the communication terminal 20d of the user who uses the Korean language.

In the message translation system 1, the translation of the instant message is performed by the external translation server 30 on the occasion that the instant messaging terminal 20 receives the instant message. That is, the communication terminal 20 that has received the instant message gives a translation instruction to the translation server 30 and receives the translated message from the translation server 30.

On the other hand, the message data of the instant message includes, in addition to the data representing the message, a message ID for identifying each instant message, a user ID of the message sender, and a user ID of the message receiver.

Hereinafter, each part of the message translation system 1 will be described in detail.

(1-1-2) Message transmission server

2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the message transmission server 10 of the message translation system 1. As shown in Fig.

The message transmission server 10 includes a communication unit 101, a message processing unit 102, and a user information management unit 103. [ The message transmission server 10 receives a message from a communication terminal (for example, the communication terminal 20a) of a plurality of communication terminals 20 and a communication terminal of some of the plurality of communication terminals 20 And 20d), simultaneously transmits the message data of the instant message. In the following description, a case where an instant message is broadcasted from the communication terminal 20a to the communication terminals 20b, 20c, and 20d will be described.

The communication unit 101 is an interface for connecting the message transmission server 10 and a plurality of communication terminals 20 (communication terminals 20a, 20b, 20c and 20d) via a communication network NW. The communication unit 101 receives message data of an instant message from any one of the plurality of communication terminals 20 and transmits the message data to a specified destination.

The message processing unit 102 performs transmission / reception processing of an instant message. The message processing unit 102 acquires the information indicating the transmission destination of the message data from the message data of the instant message received through the communication unit 101, and transmits the message data to the specified transmission destination. At this time, the message processing unit 102 refers to the user information management unit 103, which will be described later, to specify the transmission destination of the message data.

The user information management unit 103 is a storage unit for storing user information and the like of a user of the instant messaging service.

The user information management unit 103 stores the user ID set in the instant messaging application installed in the communication terminal 20 (hereinafter sometimes referred to as " IM application ") as user information. Further, in association with the user ID, even if the identification number of the communication terminal 20 in which the user ID is set, the subscriber identification number of the user using the communication terminal 20 in which the user ID is set, and other contract information are stored good. Examples of the identification number of the communication terminal 20 include International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) and Media Access Control (MAC) address. The subscriber identification number may be, for example, an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI).

The message transmission server 10 does not perform any determination of whether or not translation processing and translation of an instant message are necessary. For this reason, in the instant messaging service of the message translation system 1 according to the first embodiment, addition or change of facilities of the message transfer server 10 is performed even when a new translation function is added or a translation target language is added no need.

(1-1-3) Translation server

3 is a block diagram showing the communication terminals 20a and 20b, the message transmission server 10 and the translation server 30 among the message translation systems 1 shown in Fig. Referring to Fig. 3, the translation server 30 will be described.

On the other hand, in Fig. 3, the message data of the instant message described in the language of the user of the communication terminal 20a is described as " IM ". 3, the message data of the translation message in which the instant message described in the language used by the user of the communication terminal 20a is translated is referred to as " translation IM ".

The translation server 30 translates the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 20 based on a translation instruction from the communication terminal 20. [ The translation server 30 is connected to a plurality of communication terminals 20 and transmits translation message data translated into message data to the communication terminal 20. [

The translation server 30 is provided with a communication section 301 including a receiving section 301a and a transmitting section 301b and a translating section 302. [

The communication unit 301 is an interface for transmitting and receiving the instant message data or the translation data of the message data with the communication terminal 20 via the communication network NW.

The receiving unit 301a receives a message instruction from the communication terminal 20 (20b) for translating the message data received from the message transmission server 10 and the message represented by the received message data.

The transmitting unit 301b transmits the translation message data translated by the translating unit 302, which will be described later, to the communication terminal 20 (20b) receiving the translation instruction.

The translation unit 302 translates a message represented by the message data received from the message transmission server 10 by the communication terminal 20 (20b) in accordance with the translation instruction received from the communication terminal 20 (20b). The translation unit 302 translates the message by machine translation based on rule base translation, statistical translation, or the like.

Further, the translating unit 302 may re-translate the translated message in the original language. By transmitting the retransmitted message to the communication terminal 20a, it is possible to confirm to the sender of the instant message whether the intention is transmitted to the recipient of the instant message by the translation message.

 In the translating unit 302, for example, the following translation processing is performed.

(1) a process of translating an instant message (text data) described in the language of use of the user of the transmission side communication terminal into an instant message (text data) of the language of the user of the reception side communication terminal

(2) Processing for converting an instant message described in the language of use of the user of the transmitting-side communication terminal into voice data of the user's language of the receiving-side communication terminal

(3) Processing for converting a voice message uttered in the user's language of the user of the transmitting-side communication terminal into voice data of the user's language of the receiving-side communication terminal

(4) Processing for replacing a predetermined string corresponding to confidential information or public good common sense into another string

(5) A process of converting a graphic character or a stamp into an appropriate graphic character or stamp suitable for a culture of a translated language (for example, a finger action for creating a circle with a thumb and forefinger indicating " OK " Translation into another finger action which means "OK" in the culture)

(6) Processing for displaying an image that should not be displayed as non-display or replacing it with another image

(7) Abbreviations such as "4 u" and "lol" are appropriately translated (for example, "for you", "laughing out loud" Translate properly to mean)

The translation server 30 includes a translation server # 1 (EN) 30a for performing bidirectional translation between English and Japanese and a translation server # 2 (CN) 30b for performing bidirectional translation between Chinese and Japanese And a translation server # 3 (KR) 30c for performing bidirectional translation between English and Korean. In addition, it may include a translation server #n 30n that performs bidirectional translation between languages other than English, Chinese and Korean and Japanese. Also, the translation server 30 may be a multilingual translation server for translating between multiple languages.

The translation server # 1 (EN) 30a, the translation server # 2 (CN) 30b, the translation server # 3 (KR) 30c, The translation server #n 30n may be a server that is not related to each other or a server that is related to each other.

The translation server 30 is an example of the IM application installed in the communication terminal 20 (20b) (the IM application of the communication terminal 20b in Fig. 3) according to the operation of the user of the communication terminal 20 (210). For example, a user of the communication terminal 20b whose language is Japanese can associate the IM server 210 with the translation server # 1 (JP) 30a. Thus, the communication terminal 20b can transmit the translation instruction to the Japanese translation server # 1 (JP) 30a of the instant message described in English. Similarly, the user of the communication terminal 20b whose language is Japanese is provided with the translation server # 2 (CN) 30b, the translation server # 3 (KR) 30c, The translation server #n 30n can be associated.

The user of the communication terminal 20 (20b) can register the translation server 30 of the required language in the IM application 210 of the host terminal, thereby diversifying the translation target language. In addition, since the user of the communication terminal 20 (20b) can easily add or delete the translation server 30 in the IM application 210, the introduction of the translation function is facilitated.

Here, the message data of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 20a includes a message ID for specifying the message. The translation message data includes a message ID corresponding to the message ID included in the message data before translation or a message ID corresponding to the message ID included in the message data before translation. For this reason, the communication terminal 20 can associate the message data before translation with the translation message data received from the translation server 30.

On the other hand, the message ID can be represented by, for example, a plurality of alphanumeric characters for specifying a message and a number of "1" representing "0" indicating translation before or translation after being given to the end of the alphanumeric character of plural digits .

For example, when the message ID of the message data before translation appears as a 10-digit number "1234567890", the message ID of the translation message data corresponding to the message data is "1234567891". That is, the digit of the lower one digit is replaced by "1" from "0". In this case, since the one-digit number below the message ID included in the message data before translation is " 0 ", the message data is judged to be message data before translation. Further, since the 1-digit number below the message ID of the translation message data is " 1 ", the message data is judged to be post-translation message data. In addition, the upper nine digits of the message ID included in the message data before translation coincide with the upper nine digits of the message ID of the translation message data. Therefore, it is determined that the pre-translation message data having the message ID "1234567890" and the translation message data having the message ID "1234567891" correspond.

On the other hand, when a plurality of translation servers 30 are connected to each other via mutual communication or the like, cooperation among the plurality of translation servers 30 can be achieved. For example, when the translation server 30 receives the translation instruction from the communication terminal 20b, but the translation into the translation language specified by the translation instruction is not supported, the translation server 30 transmits the translation instruction to the translation server 30 A translation instruction can be transmitted. The other translation server performs translation processing based on the translation instruction and transmits the translation result to the communication terminal 20b.

(1-1-4) Communication terminal

The communication terminal 20 is a mobile communication terminal such as a smart phone, a tablet type personal computer, or the like, or a fixed communication terminal such as a personal computer, to which an instant messaging service is provided.

3, the communication terminal 20 (20b) includes a communication unit 201 and a terminal 20 in which an operating system (hereinafter sometimes referred to as " terminal OS ") of the communication terminal 20 is stored An OS storage unit 202, an output unit 203 for outputting character information or voice information, and an IM application 210 installed in the communication terminal 20.

(Communication section)

The communication unit 201 communicates an instant message message with other communication terminals 20 (communication terminals 20a, 20c, and 20d) connected to its own terminal (communication terminal 20b) via the communication network NW It is an interface that mutually transmits and receives data.

The communication unit 201 receives message data of an instant message transmitted from one of the plurality of communication terminals 20 and transmitted by the message transmission server 10. [ The communication unit 201 transmits message data of an instant message to some communication terminals (for example, the communication terminals 20b, 20c, and 20d) of the plurality of communication terminals 20 to the message transmission server 10 do. The communication unit 201 is an interface for connecting to a communication network such as a packet switching (PS) network and a wireless LAN.

(Terminal OS storage unit)

The terminal OS storage unit 202 is a storage unit for storing an operation system that is software for controlling each process in the communication terminal 20b. Examples of the terminal OS include Android (registered trademark) and iOS (registered trademark) used in a smart phone or a tablet type personal computer. Also, for example, Windows (registered trademark) and MacOS (registered trademark) used in a personal computer can be cited.

The terminal OS storage unit 202 includes a language setting unit 202a in which a terminal OS installed in its own terminal or a language used by another program is set. In the language setting unit 202a, for example, locale information indicating a usable country or region and a language is stored.

(Output section)

The output unit 203 is a display device for displaying text or an image, or an audio output unit for outputting audio.

The output unit 203 outputs at least one of the message data received from the message transmission server 10 and the translation message data translated from the message data received from the message transmission server 10 by the translation server 30. [ Therefore, when translation of the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is unnecessary, only the message data is output to the output unit 203. [ When the message data received from the message transmission server 10 requires translation, only the translation message data is outputted to the output unit 203, or both the translation message data and the message data before translation are output .

Here, " translation message data " includes at least one of translation text data obtained by translating the message data received from the message transmission server 10 and translated speech data obtained by phonetically converting translated text data.

The output unit 203 includes at least one of a display unit 203a for displaying character information and an image, and a sound output unit 203b for outputting sound information.

The display unit 203a is, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic electroluminescence (EL) display. The display unit 203a displays a user interface for operating the communication terminal 20b. An operation screen of the IM application 210 is displayed on the display unit 203a. An instant message corresponding to the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is displayed on the operation screen of the IM application 210. [ Also, on the operation screen of the IM application 210, a translation message corresponding to the translation message data (translation text data) received from the translation server 30 is displayed. The display unit 203a displays at least one of an instant message and a translation message.

The sound output unit 203b is, for example, a speaker. From the voice output unit 203b, a voice message obtained by voice conversion of the message data received from the message transmission server 10, or translation voice data obtained by voice conversion of the translation text data translated by the translation server 30, do.

(Instant messaging application)

The IM application 210 is software (message translation program) installed in the communication terminal 20. The IM application 210 provides an instant messaging service to the communication terminal 20b in which the IM application 210 is installed to send and receive an instant message to and from another communication terminal 20. [

The IM application 210 includes a translation necessity determination unit 220, a translation instruction unit 230, and an output control unit 240.

The translation necessity determination unit 220 determines whether or not translation of the message data of the instant message received from the message transmission server 10 is necessary. The translation necessity determination unit 220 in the first embodiment includes a native language determination unit 221 and a language comparison unit 222. [

The original language determination section 221 determines a language for describing an instant message received from the message transmission server 10 (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as a "native language").

The language comparison unit 222 compares the language of the instant message received from the message transmission server 10 with the language of the translation destination for translating the instant message received from the message transmission server 10 May be described). The target language is preset in the IM application 210. The target language is a language used by the user selected by the user of the communication terminal 20b when the IM application 210 is started for the first time and the target language setting section 222a in the language comparing section 222, . The language comparison unit 222 obtains the target language by inquiring the locale information stored in the language setting unit 202a with respect to the terminal OS storage unit 202. If the acquired target language is the target language setting unit 222a, . In this case, the language comparison unit 222 acquires the target language from the terminal OS storage unit 202 when the IM application 210 is activated, and sets and updates the target language.

When it is determined by the language comparison unit 222 that the source language of the instant message received from the message transmission server 10 does not match the target language of the translation destination, the translation necessity determination unit 220 determines whether the received message data It is determined that the translation of the message indicated by "

(Translation instruction unit)

The translation instructing unit 230 instructs the translation requesting unit 220 to transmit the message to the external translation server 30 when it is determined in the translation necessity determining unit 220 that translation of the message represented by the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is necessary Indicates translation of one message data. The translation instructing unit 230 transmits to the translation server 30 the translation instruction of the message data received from the message transmission server 10 and the message indicated by the message data.

On the other hand, if the translation necessity determination unit 220 determines that translation of the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is unnecessary, the translation instruction unit 230 does not instruct translation to the translation server 30 .

When the message data received from the message transmission server 10 includes data corresponding to confidential information, or data corresponding to a predetermined character string, such as contrary to the free speech rate, the translation instructing unit 230 transmits the predetermined character string Processing for preventing translation is performed. For example, when the message in the message data received from the message transmission server 10 includes a predetermined character string, the translation instruction unit 230 does not transmit the translation instruction of the message to the translation server 30. The translation instruction unit 230 may generate modified message data by replacing a predetermined character string included in the message with another character string and transmit a translation instruction of the message indicated by the modified message data to the translation server 30. [ The translation instruction unit 230 transmits a translation instruction of the message indicated by the modification message data to the translation server 30 together with the modification message data.

On the other hand, in some cases, after the translation instruction unit 230 transmits a translation instruction of the message data to the external translation server 30, the translation to the target language of the message data is not answered. In this case, the translation instructing unit 230 retransmits the translation instruction of the message data to the other translation server 30. [

(Output control section)

The output control unit 240 receives the translation message data from the translation server 30 when the translation necessity determination unit 220 determines that translation of the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is necessary, (203). Thereby, the output control section 240 causes the display section 203a of the output section 203 to display the translation message corresponding to the translation message data, for example.

On the other hand, when it is determined by the translation necessity determination unit 220 that the translation of the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is unnecessary, the output control unit 240 outputs the message data received from the message transmission server 10 And transmits it to the output unit 203. The output control unit 240 causes the display unit 203a of the output unit 203 to display an instant message corresponding to the message data received from the message transmission server 10, for example.

On the other hand, when the communication terminal 20b has an input section such as a touch panel or a button, and a telephone function such as a voice telephone or a television telephone, the communication terminal 20b is provided with a voice input section such as a microphone for inputting a user's utterance, (Not shown) for controlling a circuit switching (CS) call connection from a mobile terminal to a mobile communication network such as a 3G network or an LTE network.

The IM application 210 has a message creating unit or the like (not shown) for creating an instant message according to the operation of the input unit by the user, and the communication terminal 20a, 20c and 20d As shown in FIG.

The communication terminals 20a, 20c, and 20d have the same configuration as the communication terminal 20b.

(1-2) Message Translation Method in Message Translation System

Hereinafter, a message translation method according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.

4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the instant messaging receiving side communication terminal 20 (20b) of the message translation system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in Figs. 1 and 3 . A message translation method in the message translation system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

An instant message directed to the plurality of communication terminals 20 including the communication terminal 20b is broadcasted to the message transmission server 10 from the communication terminal 20a as shown in Fig. As shown in Fig. 4, in step S102, the communication terminal 20b receives the message data of the instant message from the message transmission server 10 via the communication network NW, and the process proceeds to step S104. When the message data of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 20a is encrypted, for example, the encryption is released when the communication terminal 20b receives the message data.

Subsequently, in step S104, the source language of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 20a is determined on the basis of the message data received by the source language determining section 221 of the communication terminal 20b, and the process proceeds to step S106 . Subsequently, in step S106, the language comparison unit 222 compares the source language of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 20a with the target language, which is a translation target language previously set in the IM application 210, And the target language are inconsistent.

If it is determined that the original language matches the predetermined target language (NO in step S106), it is determined that translation of the message indicated by the message data received by the translation necessity determination unit 220 is unnecessary, and the process proceeds to step S114 . The message data received from the message transmission server 10 is transmitted from the translation necessity determination unit 220 to the output unit 203 via the output control unit 240 in step S114. As a result, the untransmitted instant message corresponding to the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is displayed on the display unit 203a (step S114), and the message translation processing is terminated.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the original language and the predetermined target language do not match (YES in step S106), it is determined that translation of the message data received by the translation necessity determination unit 220 is necessary, I go over.

In step S108, the translation instruction unit 230 transmits a translation instruction of the received message data and the message indicated by the message data to the external translation server 30, and the process proceeds to step S110. Even if the message data of the received instant message is encrypted, the encryption has already been released. Therefore, the message data to be translated sent to the translation server 30 is message data that is not encrypted. In addition, even when secret information is included in the received instant message, since the message data is transmitted to the translation server 30 based on the setting of the user, the communication secret is not protected.

At this time, as the translation server 30 to which the translation instruction of the message represented by the message data is transmitted, translation between the original language of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 20a and the target language preset in the IM application 210 is possible The translation server is selected. For example, when the user's language of the communication terminal 20a is English and the user's language of the communication terminal 20b is Japanese, the translation server # 1 (EN) 30a that translates between Japanese and English A translation instruction is transmitted.

Thereafter, the instant message corresponding to the message data received by the communication terminal 20b from the message transmission server 10 is translated into the target language in the translation server 30, and the translation message data is transmitted from the translation server 30 to the communication terminal 30 (20b).

Subsequently, in step S110, the communication terminal 20b receives the translation message data from the translation server 30, and the process proceeds to step S112. Finally, in step S112, the translation message data received from the translation server 30 is transmitted from the output control section 240 to the output section 203, a translation message corresponding to the translation message data is displayed on the display section 203a, The message translation processing is terminated.

On the other hand, in step S106, when comparing the original language of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 20a with the target language, the terminal OS storage unit 202 is checked for the locale information stored in the language setting unit 202a The target language may be acquired.

In addition, an instant message of a untranslated portion may be displayed on the display unit 203a together with a translation message. In this case, after step S106, the language comparison unit 222 transmits the unscrambled message data to the output control unit 240. [ Then, in step S112, the output control unit 240 transmits the translated message data and the unavailable message data to the display unit 203a, so that the translated message and the untransmitted instant message are displayed on the display unit 203a.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION [

The following effects can be obtained in the communication terminal, the message translation system, and the message translation method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

(1) For the user of the communication terminal, the necessity of translation and the selection screen for selecting the language of translation are not displayed at all. In addition, the communication terminal of the sender does not need to give a translation instruction by including an identifier for instructing translation of a predetermined language into a part of the instant message created by the communication terminal of the sender. Therefore, it is possible to provide the translation message to the communication terminal of the user who needs to translate the instant message without reducing the immediacy of the conversation in the instant messaging service.

(2) The message transmission server of the instant messaging system does not collectively perform the translation process, but only the communication terminal that needs the translation generates communication according to the translation process. As a result, congestion of the communication network NW is reduced.

(3) When introducing the translation function into the instant messaging service, it is not necessary to add or change facilities at the message transmission server side, so that the cost for facility investment can be reduced. Further, by installing an application having a translation function (an IM application capable of registering a translation application) in the communication terminal, the translation service can be used. Therefore, only by installing or updating an application having a translation function, only a user who desires to use the translation function can provide a translation service to the communication terminal of the user who wants to use the translation function.

(4) The user can register and use only the translation server of the required language in the IM application. Therefore, the translation target language is diversified, and the translation target language can be easily added and deleted.

(5) The encrypted instant message is not released until the recipient's communication terminal receives the encrypted instant message. Further, the data can be transmitted to the desired translation server after the communication terminal receives it. For this reason, the recipient can freely select the translation server to be used while securing the confidentiality of the communication by encrypting it again and transmitting it to the translation server.

(6) Since the message data and the translation message data are transmitted and received between one communication terminal and a specific translation server, an instant message or the like is less liable to leak than in the case where the message transmission server performs intensive translation, .

2. Second Embodiment

Hereinafter, a message translation system, a communication terminal used in the message translation system, and a message translation method in the message translation system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The message translation system according to the second embodiment determines whether the instant message needs to be translated in a manner different from the message translation system according to the first embodiment.

On the other hand, the message translation system according to the second embodiment differs from the message translation system according to the first embodiment in that a part of the configuration of the IM application 210 installed in the communication terminal 20b described in the first embodiment is changed, Is different from the translation system (1).

Therefore, in the second embodiment, only the IM application 210 will be described in detail, and description of other functional units will be omitted.

5 is a block diagram showing an outline of a message translation system 2 according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

(2-1) Configuration of message translation system

The message translation system 2 according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes the message transmission server 10 and four communication terminals 40 (only the communication terminals 40a and 40b are shown in Fig. 5) And the translation server 30 is connected via the communication network NW. On the other hand, the message transmission server 10 and the translation server 30 have the same configuration as the message transmission server 10 and the translation server 30 described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

(2-1-1) Communication terminal

5, the communication terminal 40 (40b) according to the second embodiment includes a communication unit 201, a terminal OS storage unit 202, an output unit 203, a communication terminal 40 And an IM application 410 installed in the IM server.

On the other hand, among the communication terminal 40 (40b), the communication unit 201, the terminal OS storage unit 202, and the output unit 203 are the communication unit 201, the terminal OS storage unit 202, Since the configuration is the same as that of the output unit 203, a description thereof will be omitted.

(Instant messaging application)

The IM application 410 is software installed in the communication terminal 40 (40b). The IM application 410 is connected to the communication terminal 40b in which the IM application 410 is installed and the other communication terminal 40 (communication terminal 40a and communication terminals 40c and 40d not shown) And provides an instant messaging service for sending and receiving an instant message.

The IM application 410 includes a translation necessity determination section 420, a translation target user information holding section 450, a translation instruction section 230, and an output control section 240. On the other hand, the translation instruction unit 230 and the output control unit 240 are the same as the translation instruction unit 230 and the output control unit 240 in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

The translation necessity determination unit 420 determines whether or not the translation of the message represented by the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is necessary. The translation necessity determination section 420 in the second embodiment includes a target language setting section 422a.

For example, when the IM application 410 is activated for the first time, the user language of the user is selected by the user of the communication terminal 40b, and the target language in the translation necessity determination section 420 And is stored in the language setting section 422a.

The translation-target user information holding unit 450 holds a user ID of a user who uses a language different from the target language, which is a translation destination language of a message represented by the message data received from the message transmission server 10. [ In addition, the translation-target user information storage unit 450 may store the user ID of the user corresponding to the user ID of the user who uses a language different from the target language, (30).

In the IM application 410, a user ID of another user can be registered as a user ID of a friend according to a user's operation or the like. Therefore, in the IM application 410, when a new user ID is registered as a friend, the IM application 410 receives a preset use language from the communication terminal 40 of the user of the new user ID, It is determined whether or not it matches a predetermined target language. If the received usage language does not match the destination language preset in the user terminal, the IM application 410 transmits the new user ID and the user's language of the user ID or the connection destination of the corresponding translation server 30 And causes the translation target user information holding unit 450 to hold the information.

The translation necessity determination unit 420 determines whether or not the user ID of the message sender of the message data received from the message transmission server 10 matches the user ID held in the translation target user information holding unit 450 . When the user ID of the message sender of the message data and the user ID held in the translation-target user information storage unit 450 match, the translation necessity determining unit 420 determines whether the message indicated by the received message data It is determined that translation is necessary. The translation necessity determining unit 420 determines whether or not the translation server 30 (see FIG. 5) for performing translation instructions, based on the user's language of the user ID associated with the user ID held in the translation target user information holding unit 450 ).

The target language is a language used by the user of the communication terminal 40b, and is, for example, Japanese. Therefore, the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 40 (40a) of the user who uses a language different from Japanese is likely to be described in a language other than Japanese. Therefore, in the IM application 410 of the second embodiment, by comparing the user ID of the user who uses a language different from Japanese and the user ID of the message sender included in the message data of the instant message, .

On the other hand, when the user's language of the communication terminal 40b is Japanese and the user's language of the communication terminal 40a is English, for example, the target language in the IM application 410 installed in the communication terminal 40b is It becomes Japanese. Therefore, the user ID of the user of the communication terminal 40a using the language other than Japanese is held in the translation target user information holding unit 450 of the communication terminal 40b.

However, there is a case where a user whose language is not Japanese is sending an instant message described in Japanese in consideration of the language (target language) of the user of the communication terminal 40b. Therefore, the user ID of the user whose language is not Japanese may not be held in the translation target user information holding unit 450 of the communication terminal 40b.

(Translation instruction unit)

When the translation necessity determining section 420 determines that translation of a message represented by the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is necessary, the translation instructing section 230 instructs the translation server 30 to receive Indicates the translation of the message represented by one message data. The translation instructing unit 230 transmits to the translation server 30 the translation instruction of the message data received from the message transmission server 10 and the message indicated by the message data.

On the other hand, when it is determined by the translation necessity determination section 420 that translation of the message represented by the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is unnecessary, the translation instruction section 230 transmits the translation to the translation server 30 Do not instruct.

(Output control section)

The output control unit 240 receives the translation message data from the translation server 30 when the translation necessity determination unit 420 determines that translation of a message represented by the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is necessary And transmits it to the output unit 203. Thereby, the output control section 240 causes the display section 203a of the output section 203 to display the translation message corresponding to the translation message data, for example.

On the other hand, if it is determined by the translation necessity determination section 420 that the translation of the message represented by the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is unnecessary, And transmits the message data to the output unit 203. The output control unit 240 causes the display unit 203a of the output unit 203 to display an instant message corresponding to the message data received from the message transmission server 10, for example.

(2-2) Message Translation Method in Message Translation System

Hereinafter, a message translation method according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the instant message receiving side communication terminal 40 (40b) of the message translation system 2 according to the second embodiment of the present invention shown in Fig. A message translation method in the message translation system 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

An instant message directed to the plurality of communication terminals 40 including the communication terminal 40b is broadcasted to the message transmission server 10 from the communication terminal 40a as shown in Fig. 6, the communication terminal 40b receives the message data of the instant message from the message transmission server 10 via the communication network NW in step S202, and the process proceeds to step S204.

Subsequently, in step S204, the translation necessity determining unit 420 of the communication terminal 40b acquires the user ID of the message sender included in the received message data, and the process proceeds to step S206. Subsequently, in step S206, the translation necessity determining section 420 compares the user ID of the message sender of the message data with the user ID held in the translation target user information holding section 450, and obtains the user ID of the message sender And the user ID held in the translation target user information holding unit 450 are coincident with each other.

If it is determined that the user ID of the message sender does not match the user ID held in the translation target user information holding unit 450 ("NO" in step S206), the translation request determining unit 420 determines that the message data It is determined that the translation of the message indicated by " NO " is unnecessary, and the process goes to step S214. The message data received from the message transmission server 10 is transmitted from the translation necessity determination unit 220 to the output unit 203 through the output control unit 240 in step S214. As a result, the untransmitted instant message corresponding to the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is displayed on the display unit 203a (step S214), and the message translation processing is terminated.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the user ID of the message sender matches the user ID held in the translation target user information holding unit 450 (YES in step S206), the translation necessity determining unit 420 determines whether or not the received message It is determined that the translation of the message represented by the data is necessary, and the process proceeds to step S208.

In step S208, the translation instruction unit 230 transmits a translation instruction of the received message data and the message indicated by the message data to the external translation server 30, and the process proceeds to step S210.

Thereafter, in the translation server 30, the instant message corresponding to the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is translated into the target language, and the translation message data is transmitted to the communication terminal 40b.

Subsequently, in step S210, the communication terminal 40b receives the translation message data from the translation server 30, and the process proceeds to step S212. Finally, in step S212, the translation message data received from the translation server 30 is transmitted from the output control unit 240 to the output unit 203, a translation message corresponding to the translation message data is displayed on the display unit 203a, The processing is terminated.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION [

The communication terminal, the message translation system, and the message translation method according to the second embodiment of the present invention can achieve the following effects (7) in addition to the effects (1) to (6) have.

(7) Since it is possible to determine whether or not a translation is required based on the user ID of the message sender of the message data received from the message transmission server 10, it is possible to speed up the translation process.

3. Third Embodiment

Hereinafter, a message translation system, a communication terminal used in the message translation system, and a message translation method in the message translation system according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the message translation system according to the third embodiment, when the communication terminal stores a message having a high frequency of being translated by the translation server and receives a message with a high frequency of translation, the communication terminal can perform translation have.

On the other hand, the message translation system according to the third embodiment differs from the message translation system according to the first embodiment in that a part of the configuration of the IM application 210 installed in the communication terminal 20b described in the first embodiment is changed, Is different from the translation system (1).

Therefore, in the third embodiment, only the IM application will be described in detail, and description of other functional units will be omitted.

7 is a block diagram showing an outline of a message translation system 3 according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

(3-1) Configuration of message translation system

The message translation system 3 according to the third embodiment of the present invention includes the message transmission server 10 and four communication terminals 50 (only the communication terminals 50a and 50b are shown in Fig. 7) And the translation server 31 is connected via the communication network NW. On the other hand, the message transmission server 10 has the same configuration as that of the message transmission server 10 described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

(3-1-1) Communication terminal

7, the communication terminal 50 (50b) according to the third embodiment includes a communication unit 201, a terminal OS storage unit 202, an output unit 203, a communication terminal 50 And an IM application 510 installed in the IM server 510.

On the other hand, among the communication terminal 50 (50b), the communication unit 201, the terminal OS storage unit 202, and the output unit 203 are the communication unit 201, the terminal OS storage unit 202, Since the configuration is the same as that of the output unit 203, a description thereof will be omitted.

(Instant messaging application)

The IM application 510 is software installed in the communication terminal 50 (50b). The IM application 510 is capable of communicating with the communication terminal 50b in which the IM application 510 is installed and the other communication terminal 50 (communication terminal 50a and communication terminals 50c and 50d not shown) And provides an instant messaging service for sending and receiving an instant message.

The IM application 510 includes a translation necessity determination unit 520, a translation instruction unit 230, an output control unit 540, and a frequency translation translation unit 550.

The borrowing translation maintaining unit 550 holds the high borrowing message data, which is the message data of the instant message having a high translation frequency in the translation server 31, and the high borrowing translation message data, in which the high borrowing message data is translated. The idle translation maintaining unit 550 is periodically synchronized with the idle translation holding unit 313 of the translation server 31 when the IM application 510 is activated. In addition, the vacant translation maintaining unit 550 may be periodically synchronized with the vacant translation holding unit 313 of the translation server 31. Accordingly, the high-frequency translation message retaining unit 550 maintains and updates the high-frequency translation message data and the high-frequency translation message data.

On the other hand, the vacant translation maintaining unit 550 is updated by, for example, an LRU (Least Recently Used) method.

On the other hand, " high-urgency message data " refers to message data of a message having a large number of translations among the instant messages translated from the current time to a certain time in the past. For example, the message data of the upper 50 messages (the messages before translation) having a large number of translations in the past day is referred to as " high-urgency message data ".

Also, " high-speed translation message data " refers to message data of a message in which " high-urgency message data " is translated into a predetermined language.

The translation necessity determination unit 520 determines whether translation of a message represented by the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is necessary. In addition, the translation necessity determining unit 520 determines whether or not the high-frequency translation message data related to the high-frequency message data identical to the message data of the message determined to be necessary for translation is stored in the high- . That is, the translation necessity determining unit 520 determines whether or not the translation message corresponding to the message requiring translation is held in the spoken translation holding unit 550 as the high-sped translation message. When the high-frequency translation message data corresponding to the message data of the message determined to be necessary for translation is held in the high-level translation holding unit 550, the translation necessity determining unit 520 reads the high- And acquires corresponding high-priority translation message data. Then, the translation necessity determining unit 520 transmits the high-speed translation message data acquired from the high-level translation holding unit 550 to the output control unit 540. [

For example, the translation necessity determining section 520 determines that the translation of the received English message " Good Morning " is necessary. It is assumed that data indicating the high-speed message "Good Morning" and data indicating the high-speed translation message "goodbye" related to the high-speed message "Good Morning" are maintained in the vacant translation maintaining unit 550.

At this time, the translation necessity determining unit 520 determines whether or not the data indicating "good", which is a translation message corresponding to "Good Morning" determined to be necessary for translation, is retained in the high- . The translation necessity determining unit 520 obtains the translated message " Good Morning " corresponding to " Good Morning " from the vacant translation maintaining unit 550 and transmits it to the output control unit 540. [

If the data of the high-priority translation message corresponding to the message determined to be necessary for translation is not held in the spoken translation holding unit 550, the translation necessity determining unit 520 reads the translation And transmits a message translation instruction to the server 31. [

(Translation instruction unit)

The translation instructing unit 230 is a case where it is determined in the translation necessity determining unit 520 that translation of a message represented by the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is necessary, When the high-level translation message data corresponding to the data is not held in the high-level translation holding unit 550, the external translation server 31 is instructed to translate the received message data.

(Output control section)

When the translation of the received message data is unnecessary, the output control unit 540 receives the message data received from the message transmission server 10 from the translation necessity determination unit 520. [ Also, when the received message data is required to be translated and the high-level translation message data corresponding to the message data is held in the high-level translation holding unit 550, the output control unit 540 controls the translation necessity determination unit 520). When the received message data is required to be translated and the high-frequency translation message data corresponding to the message data is not stored in the high-frequency translation storage unit 550, the output control unit 540 controls the translation server 31, Lt; / RTI >

The output control unit 540 outputs at least one of the message data and the high-priority translation message data received from the translation necessity determination unit 520 and the translation message data received from the translation server 31 to the output unit 203, . The output control unit 540 causes the display unit 203a of the output unit 203 to display an instant message received from the message transmission server 10 or a translation message translated from the instant message. On the other hand, the translation message is a message displayed on the basis of the high-speed translation message data or the translation message data received from the translation server 31.

(3-1-2) Translation server

Referring to Fig. 7, the translation server 31 of the message translation system 3 according to the third embodiment will be described.

The translation server 31 performs translation of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 50 based on the translation instruction from the communication terminal 50. [ The translation server 31 is connected to a plurality of communication terminals 50 and transmits translation message data translated into message data to the communication terminal 50. [

The translation server 31 includes a communication unit 301 including a reception unit 301a and a transmission unit 301b, a translation unit 302 and a vacant translation holding unit 313. The transmitting unit 301b, the receiving unit 301a and the communicating unit 301 and the translating unit 302 are the same as the transmitting unit 301b, the receiving unit 301a, and the communicating unit 301 in the first embodiment, 302, a description thereof will be omitted.

(Maintained translation service)

The borrowed translation maintaining unit 313 holds the high-priority translation message data, which is the message data of the instant message having the high translation frequency in the translation unit 302, and the high-translation translation message data in which the high-translation message data is translated. The spontaneous translation holding unit 313 periodically collects and saves the message data of messages having a large number of translations out of the instant messages translated by the translator 302 within a predetermined period of time from the current time. The spontaneous translation holding unit 313 updates the high spoken message data and the high spoken translation message data, for example, and then synchronizes the spoken translation holding unit 550 of the communication terminal 50b. As a result, the high-urgency message data and the high-priority translation message data stored in the idle-translation retaining unit 550 of the communication terminal 50b are always updated to the latest state.

On the other hand, the spoken translation holding unit 550 of the communication terminal 50b and the spoken translation holding unit 313 of the translation server 31 are connected to the communication terminal 40 and the translation server 30 according to the second embodiment, respectively .

(3-2) Message Translation Method in Message Translation System

Hereinafter, a message translation method according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

8 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the communication terminal 50 (50b) on the instant message receiving side of the message translation system 3 according to the third embodiment of the present invention shown in Fig. A message translation method in the message translation system 3 will be described with reference to FIG.

An instant message directed to the plurality of communication terminals 50 including the communication terminal 50b is broadcasted to the message transmission server 10 from the communication terminal 50a as shown in Fig. As shown in Fig. 8, in step S302, the communication terminal 50b receives the message data of the instant message from the message transmission server 10 via the communication network NW, and the process proceeds to step S304.

Subsequently, in step S304, the source language of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 50a is determined based on the received message data in the source language determining section 221 of the communication terminal 50b, and the processing proceeds to step S306 . Subsequently, in step S306, the language comparison unit 222 compares the source language of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 50a with the target language, which is a translation target language previously set in the IM application 510, And the target language are inconsistent.

If it is determined that the original language and the predetermined target language coincide with each other ("NO" in step S306), it is determined that translation of the message indicated by the message data received by the translation necessity determination unit 520 is unnecessary, . The message data received from the message transmission server 10 is transmitted from the translation necessity determination unit 520 to the output unit 203 via the output control unit 540 in step S320. As a result, the untransmitted instant message corresponding to the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is displayed on the display unit 203a (step S320), and the message translation processing is terminated.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the original language and the predetermined target language do not match (YES in step S306), it is determined that translation of the message data received by the translation necessity determination unit 520 is necessary, and the process proceeds to step S308 I go over.

In step S308, the translation necessity determining unit 520 determines whether the high-priority translation message data related to the high-urgency message data identical to the message data of the message determined to be necessary for translation is stored in the high- ≪ / RTI > At this time, if the desired translation data is retained in the vacant translation maintaining unit 550 (Yes in step S308), the process proceeds to step S310. In step S310, the high-priority translation message data desired by the translation necessity determining unit 520 is acquired from the spoken translation holding unit 550 and transmitted to the output control unit 540, and the process proceeds to step S312. In step S312, the high-frequency translation message data acquired from the high-frequency translation holding unit 550 is transmitted from the output control unit 540 to the output unit 203, and the translation message corresponding to the high- 203a, and the message translation processing is terminated.

If the desired translation data is not stored in the translation translation storage unit 550 (NO in step S308), the process proceeds to step S314.

In step S314, the translation instruction unit 230 transmits a translation instruction of the received message data and the message represented by the message data to the external translation server 31, and the process proceeds to step S316.

Subsequently, in step S316, the communication terminal 50b receives the translation message data from the translation server 31, and the process proceeds to step S318. Finally, in step S318, the translation message data received from the translation server 31 is transmitted to the output unit 203 by the output control unit 540, and a translation message corresponding to the translation message data is displayed on the display unit 203a , The message translation processing is terminated.

On the other hand, in the third embodiment described above, message data and its translation (translation message data) may be maintained in the spoken translation holding unit 313 in the translation server 31. [

In an instant messaging service, an instant message by a sender's language (for example, English) may be broadcast to a plurality of recipients using a language different from the language (for example, Japanese). In this case, a translation instruction (for example, a translation instruction from English to Japanese) for the same message may be frequently transmitted to the translation server 31 from the communication terminals 50 of a plurality of recipients. In this case, by holding the translation message data for the one translation instruction in the spoken translation holding unit 313, the held translation message data can be returned to the communication terminal 50 for another translation instruction. This makes it possible to reduce the processing load of the translation server 31 and shorten the time required for translation.

Alternatively, instead of the message data, the busy translation holding unit 313 may maintain the message ID of the message. That is, the message translation unit 313 in the translation server 31 may maintain the message ID of the message data and the corresponding translation message data. A message broadcasted by a sender to a plurality of recipients includes the same message ID. Therefore, it is possible to quickly determine whether or not a translation message for a predetermined message is retained in the spoken translation holding unit 313 by comparing the message IDs, thereby shortening the time required for translation.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION [

The following effects (8) can be obtained in addition to the effects (1) to (6) described in the first embodiment in the communication terminal, the message translation system and the message translation method according to the third embodiment of the present invention have.

(8) The communication terminal collects a high-frequency translation message in which a high-frequency translation message is translated from a translation server and a high-frequency translation message, and maintains a high-frequency message and a high- have. Therefore, when the communication terminal receives the instant message having a high translation frequency, the communication with the communication server can be reduced because the translation can be performed within the terminal without communicating with the translation server.

4. Fourth Embodiment

Hereinafter, a message translation system, a communication terminal used in the message translation system, and a message translation method in the message translation system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the message translation system according to the fourth embodiment, when there is a wrong translation in the translation message translated by the translation server, or when it is desired to modify the translation into a more preferable translation for the user, It is possible to make correction. Further, in the message translation system according to the fourth embodiment, when the communication terminal again receives the translation message corrected by the user, the translation message can be automatically corrected and displayed.

On the other hand, the message translation system according to the fourth embodiment is different from the message translation system according to the first embodiment in that a part of the configuration of the IM application 210 installed in the communication terminal 20b described in the first embodiment is changed. Is different from the translation system (1).

Therefore, only the IM application 210 will be described in detail in the fourth embodiment, and description of other functional units will be omitted.

In the fourth embodiment, an input section provided in the communication terminal, which is not described in the first embodiment, will be described.

9 is a block diagram showing an outline of a message translation system 4 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

(4-1) Configuration of message translation system

The message translation system 4 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention has the message transmission server 10 and four communication terminals 60 (only the communication terminals 60a and 60b are shown in Fig. 9) And the translation server 30 is connected via the communication network NW. On the other hand, the message transmission server 10 and the translation server 30 have the same configuration as the message transmission server 10 and the translation server 30 described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

(4-1-1) Communication terminal

9, the communication terminal 60 (60b) according to the fourth embodiment includes a communication unit 201, a terminal OS storage unit 202, an output unit 203, an input unit 604, And an IM application 610 installed in the communication terminal 60.

The communication unit 201, the terminal OS storage unit 202 and the output unit 203 of the communication terminal 60 (60b) are the communication unit 201, the terminal OS storage unit 202, And the output unit 203, the description thereof will be omitted.

(Input section)

The input unit 604 is, for example, a touch panel, a button unit or a keyboard, and a microphone for voice recognition. The input unit 604 accepts an operation input of the communication terminal 60 by the user. The user's operation is, for example, a start operation of the IM application 610, an input of an instant message, and a correction instruction input of the translation message data received from the translation server.

The input unit 604 accepts an operation instruction from the user when the touch input to the touch panel by the user, the depression of the button, the input by the voice, or the like is detected. For example, when a touch input is made to the touch panel by the user, the input unit 604 specifies which icon displayed on the touch panel is touch-input based on the touch position on the touch panel of the user. Thereafter, the application corresponding to the specific icon of the input unit 604 is activated. For example, if the input unit 604 specifies that the touch input has been made to the area where the icon of the IM application 610 of the touch panel is displayed, the IM application 610 is activated.

The user can input, for example, a correction instruction of the translation message displayed on the display section 203a from the input section 604. [ The input unit 604 transmits a correction instruction to the translation learning unit 650 (to be described later in detail) of the IM application 610 when a correction instruction of the translation message is input.

(Instant messaging application)

The IM application 610 is software installed in the communication terminal 60 (60b). The IM application 610 provides an instant messaging service for transmitting and receiving an instant message to and from the other communication terminal 60 (communication terminal 60a) to the communication terminal 60b in which the IM application 610 is installed do.

The IM application 610 includes a translation necessity determination unit 220, a translation instruction unit 230, an output control unit 640, and a translation learning unit 650. On the other hand, the translation necessity determining unit 220 and the translation instructing unit 230 are the same as the translation necessity determining unit 220 and the translation instructing unit 230 in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted .

In the following description, the translation result received from the translation server 30 by the communication terminal 60 is referred to as "translation message data", the translation message data corrected by the translation learning unit 650 is referred to as "corrected translation message data" .

In the IM application 610, when the message data of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 60a is received from the message transmission server 10, the same processing as the processing in the IM application 210 in the first embodiment is executed Is done. Then, the communication terminal 60b receives the translation message data from the translation server 30.

(Output control section)

The output control unit 640 notifies the translation learning unit 650 of whether or not the corrected translation message data corresponding to the received translation message data is retained when the translation message data is received from the translation server 30 . The output control unit 640 receives the corrected translation message data or the reply indicating that correction is unnecessary from the translation learning unit 650 as an answer to the inquiry. The output control unit 640 outputs the corrected translation message data to the output unit 203 when the corrected translation message data is received from the translation learning unit 650. [ The output control unit 640 outputs the translation message data received from the translation server 30 to the output unit 203 when receiving the reply indicating that correction is unnecessary from the translation learning unit 650. [

(Translation learning department)

The translation learning unit 650 includes a first translation correction unit 651, a correction information holding unit 652, and a second translation correction unit 653. The first translation correction unit 651 corrects the translation message data received from the translation server 30 based on the correction instruction from the user. When the translation message data corrected in the past by the first translation correction unit 651 is received from the translation server 30, the second translation correction unit 653 automatically And corrects the translation message data.

The first translation correction unit 651 corrects the translation message data received from the translation server based on the correction instruction inputted from the input unit 604. [ When the correction instruction of the translation message data is input from the input unit 604, the first translation correction unit 651 receives the translation message data to be corrected from the translation server 30, And acquires the message data. The first translation correction unit 651 corrects the translation message data to be corrected acquired from the output control unit 640 based on the correction instruction inputted from the input unit 604 to generate corrected translation message data.

The first translation correction unit 651 transmits the corrected translation message data and the correction instruction inputted from the input unit 604 to the output control unit 640. [ The first translation correction unit 651 transmits the translation message data and the corrected translation message data to be corrected to the correction information holding unit 652. [

For example, in the case where the translation message data received from the translation server 30 is data indicating "Thank you" at the communication terminal 60b, an instant message "Thank you" from the user of the communication terminal 60a is displayed on the display section 203a Is displayed. When the user of the communication terminal 60b desires to correct "Thank you" to "Thank you", the user of the communication terminal 60b inputs "Thank you" which is the translated message after correction from the input unit 604 and corrects "Thank you" Enter corrective instructions. The first translation correction unit 651 acquires data indicating " Thank you " as the correction target from the output control unit 640 based on the correction instruction inputted from the input unit 604. [ The first translation correction unit 651 corrects the data indicating " Thank you " obtained from the output control unit 640 to the data indicating " thank you " inputted from the input unit 604. Finally, the first translation correction unit 651 transmits to the output control unit 640 the data indicating "Thank you" and the correction instruction for correcting "Thank you" inputted from the input unit 604 to "Thank you".

The correction information holding unit 652 holds the corrected translation message data associated with the translation message data transmitted from the first translation correction unit 651 in association with the corrected translation message data. That is, the related translation message data and the corrected translation message data held in the correction information holding unit 652 correspond to past correction information. For example, in the above example, the correction information holding unit 652 associates and holds the translation message data indicating " Thank you " transmitted from the first translation correction unit 651 and the correction translation message data indicating & do.

The second translation correction unit 653 determines whether or not the translation message data identical to the translation message data received from the translation server 30 is held in the correction information holding unit 652. [ In the case where the same translation message data is held in the correction information holding unit 652, the second translation correction unit 653 associates the same translation message data with the same translation message data from the correction information holding unit 652 And acquires the held corrected translation message data. The second translation correction unit 653 corrects the received translation message data to "correction translation message data" acquired from the correction information holding unit 652. [ The second translation correction unit 653 performs correction processing based on the correction inquiry from the output control unit 640. [

For example, in the above example, in the past, when the user inputs a correction instruction to make "Thank you" as "Thank you", the correction information holding unit 652 stores the translation message data "Thank you" and the corrected translation message data "Thank you" Are held in association with each other. In this case, the second translation correction unit 653 determines whether or not the translation message "Thank you" identical to the data of "Thank you" received from the translation server 30 is held in the correction information holding unit 652 . When the same translation message "Thank you" described above is held in the correction information holding unit 652, the second translation correction unit 653 receives the translation message from the correction information holding unit 652 in association with "Thank you" And acquires the data of the corrected translation message " thank you. &Quot; The second translation correction unit 653 corrects the received translation message "Thank you" to "Thank you" acquired from the correction information holding unit 652.

(4-2) Message Translation Method in Message Translation System

Hereinafter, a message translation method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

10 and 11 are flowcharts showing the flow of processing in the instant message receiving side communication terminal 60 (60b) of the message translation system 4 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention shown in Fig. 9 . Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when the correction processing is performed by the second translation correction unit 653, and Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of the processing when the correction processing is performed by the first translation correction unit 651 It is a flow chart. A message translation method in the message translation system 4 will be described with reference to Figs. 10 and 11. Fig.

First, with reference to Fig. 10, the processing performed when the second translation correction unit 653 performs correction processing will be described.

An instant message directed to the plurality of communication terminals 60 including the communication terminal 60b is broadcasted to the message transmission server 10 from the communication terminal 60a as shown in Fig. 10, in step S402, the communication terminal 60b receives message data of an instant message from the message transmission server 10 via the communication network NW, and the process proceeds to step S404.

Subsequently, in step S404, the source language of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 60a is determined based on the message data received by the source language determination unit 221 of the communication terminal 60b, and the processing proceeds to step S406 . Subsequently, in step S406, the language comparison unit 222 compares the original language of the instant message transmitted from the communication terminal 60a with the target language, which is a translation target language previously set in the IM application 610, And the target language are inconsistent.

If it is determined that the original language matches the predetermined target language (NO in step S406), it is determined that translation of the message indicated by the message data received by the translation necessity determination unit 220 is unnecessary, and the process proceeds to step S422 . The message data received from the message transmission server 10 is transmitted from the translation necessity determination unit 220 to the output unit 203 via the output control unit 640 in step S422. As a result, the instant messaging of the unengaged portion corresponding to the message data received from the message transmission server 10 is displayed on the display unit 203a, and the message translation processing is terminated.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the original language and the predetermined target language do not match (Yes in step S406), it is determined that translation of the message data received by the translation necessity determination unit 220 is necessary, and the process proceeds to step S408 I go over.

In step S408, the translation instruction unit 230 transmits a translation instruction of the received message data and the message indicated by the message data to the external translation server 30, and the process proceeds to step S410.

Thereafter, the instant message corresponding to the message data received from the message transmission server 10 by the communication terminal 60b is translated into the target language by the translation server 30, and the translation message data is transmitted from the translation server 30 to the communication terminal 30 (60b).

Subsequently, in step S410, the communication terminal 60b receives the translation message data from the translation server 30, and the received translation message data is transmitted to the output control section 640, and the process proceeds to step S412. Subsequently, in step S412, the output control unit 640 inquires of the translation learning unit 650 whether or not the corrected translation message data corresponding to the translation message data is retained.

If the translated translation message data corresponding to the received translation message data is retained in the translation learning unit 650 (Yes in step S412), the process proceeds to step S414. In step S414, the translation message data received from the translation server 30 is corrected to corrected translation message data by the second translation correction unit 653 of the translation learning unit 650, and the corrected translation message is output to the output control unit 640, And the process goes to step S416.

Finally, in step S416, the corrected translation message data received from the translation learning unit 650 is transmitted to the output unit 203 by the output control unit 640, and a corrected translation message corresponding to the corrected translation message data is displayed on the display unit 203a, and the message translation processing is terminated.

If the translated translation message data corresponding to the received translation message data is not held in the translation learning unit 650 (NO in step S412), the process proceeds to step S418. In step S418, the translation learning unit 650 transmits an answer indicating the correction is unnecessary to the output control unit 640, and the process proceeds to step S420. In step S420, the translation control unit 640 sends the translation message data received from the translation server 30 to the output unit 203, the translation message corresponding to the translation message data is displayed on the display unit 203a, The translation processing is terminated.

Next, with reference to Fig. 11, a process performed by the first translation correction unit 651 for performing a correction process based on a user's correction instruction will be described.

For example, as in step S420, a translation message is displayed on the display unit 203a. In step S432, the user who has viewed the displayed translation message receives a correction instruction of the displayed translation message from the input unit 604, and the process proceeds to step S434. In step S434, the first translation correction unit 651 corrects the translation message data based on the input correction instruction, and the process goes to step S436. In step S436, the translation message data to be corrected and the corrected translation message data to which the translation message data to be corrected have been corrected are held in the correction information holding unit 652, and the process proceeds to step S438. Finally, in step S438, the corrected translation message data and the correction instruction input from the input unit 604 are transmitted from the first translation correction unit 651 to the display unit 203a through the output control unit 640. [ Then, the corrected translation message corresponding to the corrected translation message data is displayed on the display section 203a, and the message translation processing is terminated.

(4-3) Modification

12, the translation server 32, similarly to the correction information holding unit 652 provided in the translation learning unit 650 of the communication terminal 60b, transmits the translation message data and the user's instruction And a correction information holding unit 323 for holding the corrected translation message data associated with the translation message data.

The correction information holding unit 323 receives and maintains the translation message data and the corrected translation message data held in the correction information holding unit 652 of the translation learning unit 650 from the communication terminal 60b. The correction information storage unit 323 is periodically synchronized with the translation learning unit 650 of the communication terminal 60b to maintain and update the translation message data and the corrected translation message data.

At this time, when the translation server 32 includes the correction information storage unit 323, the translation server 32 stores the translation message data received from the communication terminal 60b and stored in the correction information storage unit 323, And performs translation based on the corrected translation message data.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION [

(9) to (12), in addition to the effects (1) to (6) described in the first embodiment, in the communication terminal, the message translation system and the message translation method according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, Effect can be obtained.

(9) The communication terminal of the message receiving side corrects the translation message received from the translation server based on the correction instruction of the translation message from the user, so that the communication terminal learns the appropriate translation, Accuracy is improved.

(10) After the correction instruction is given to the translation message from the user, the translation message is corrected without issuing another correction instruction.

(11) Since the translation server can perform translation based on the correction instruction of the translation message from the user, the translation server learns the appropriate translation and improves the accuracy of correction in the translation server.

(12) The corrected translation message corrected according to the user's preference can be displayed easily.

5. Fifth Embodiment

Hereinafter, a communication terminal used in a message translation system and a message translation system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the message translation system according to the fifth embodiment, when the translation message is displayed on the display unit of the communication terminal, the display mode of the translation message data is changed according to the translation reliability of the translation message data.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a display screen (display section 203a) of a communication terminal [70 (70a, 70b) using an instant messaging service in the message translation system according to the fifth embodiment]. 12A shows a display screen of the communication terminal 70a on the instant message transmission side and FIG. 12B shows a display screen of the communication terminal 70b on the instant message reception side. On the other hand, the use language of the user John of the communication terminal 70a is English, and the use language of the user Ichiro of the communication terminal 70b is Japanese.

The user John of the communication terminal 70a sends a message "Good Morning!" To the user Ichiro of the communication terminal 70b using the instant messaging service. &Quot; Where shall we meet up today? &Quot;. At this time, on the basis of the translation instruction from the communication terminal 70b, an English message "Good Morning!" Transmitted from the communication terminal 70a, not shown, Translated into Japanese. On the screen of the communication terminal 70b, a Japanese message " Hi !, " which is a translation result of a translation server (not shown) &Quot; Where should I satisfy today? &Quot; is displayed.

The translation server judges that the translation reliability of the second sentence of the Japanese message after translation "Should I satisfy today?" Is low. In this case, the translation server can transmit the additional data relating to the translation reliability together with the translation message data to the communication terminal 70b. The additional data relating to the reliability of the translation is, for example, data for displaying a phrase in which an unknown word or translation is indefinite in a bold text or a text color. In the communication terminal 70b, the output control section 240 changes the display state of one sentence of " Where should I satisfy today? Which is judged to have low reliability of translation " based on the additional data in bold text or the like , And displays it on the display unit 203a.

This makes it easy for the user to recognize that the translation reliability of the translation message is low. When the message includes a sentence or word or the like that is different from the other display modes, the user displays the instant message before translation transmitted from the communication terminal 70a together with the translation message, or performs correction input of the translation message .

On the other hand, "translation reliability" refers to an index indicating the accuracy of translation. For example, when an unknown word that is not held in a database of the translation server is included in the message to be translated, the sentence containing a lot of phrases corresponding to an unknown word in the post-translation message is judged as " do. The " unknown word " includes, for example, a word that has been most recently used at the time of translation, a word that the sender has come to, and the like.

Further, for example, accuracy of translation can be evaluated by a known automatic translation evaluation method. When the evaluation result by the automatic translation evaluation method is less than a predetermined score, it can be judged that the translation reliability is low.

As a known automatic translation evaluation method, for example, an evaluation method using an index such as BLEU (BiLingual Evaluation Understudy) can be mentioned.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION [

The following effects (13) can be obtained in addition to the effects (1) to (6) described in the first embodiment in the communication terminal, the message translation system and the message translation method according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention have.

(13) Since it is possible to confirm to the user that the translation reliability of the displayed translation message is low, the user can provide an opportunity to confirm the message before translation or to correct the translation message.

6. Variations

The message translation system for translating an instant message can be realized even when the message transmission server 10 has the translation instruction function described in each of the above embodiments.

For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, an example in which the IM application 210 is installed in the communication terminal 20 has been described. However, among the IM applications 210, the functions related to the translation instruction are provided in the message transmission server 10 . Thereby, the message transmission server 10 gives a translation instruction to the translation server 30, and receives the translation result from the translation server 30. [ In this case, the communication terminal 20 receives both the post-translation instant message or the post-translation instant message and the pre-translation instant message from the message transmission server 10.

Similarly, among the IM applications 510 and 610 installed in the communication terminals 50 and 60, the message transfer server 10 may have a function related to the translation instruction. In this case, the communication terminals 50 and 60 receive both the post-translation instant message or post-translation instant message and the pre-translation instant message from the message transmission server 10.

The scope of the present invention is not limited to the illustrative embodiments shown and described, but includes all embodiments which bring about equivalent effects to those of the present invention. Further, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the combination of features of the invention classified by the claims, but can be divided by all desired combinations of specific features among all the disclosed features.

1, 2, 3, 4: Message Translation System 10: Message Transfer Server
20a to 20d, 40, 40a to 40d, 50, 50a to 50d, 60, 60a, 60b, 70a,
30, 31, 32: translation server 201, 301:
203: output unit 203a:
210, 410, 510, 610: Instant Messaging (IM) applications
220, 420: translation necessity judgment section 222: language comparison section
230: translation instruction unit 301a:
301b: transmission unit 302:
313: Spent translation maintaining unit 323: Correction information maintenance unit
450: translation target user information holding unit 313, 550: busy translation holding unit
604: input unit 650: translation learning unit
651: first translation correction unit 652: correction information storage unit

Claims (11)

A communication unit for mutually transmitting and receiving message data to and from another terminal connected to the terminal through a network;
A translation necessity judging unit for judging whether or not a translation of a message included in the received message data is necessary,
A translation instruction unit for instructing an external translation server to translate a message included in the received message data when it is determined by the translation necessity determination unit that translation of the message included in the received message data is required;
An output unit for outputting at least one of the received message data and translation message data in which the received message data is translated by the translation server,
To the communication terminal. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: comparing a source language of the message of the received message data with a target language that is a language of a translation destination for translating a message included in the received message data,
And,
The translation necessity determination unit may determine,
Wherein the language comparison unit determines that translation of a message included in the received message data is necessary when it is determined that the original language and the target language do not match. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a translation target user information holding unit for holding a user ID of a user who uses a language different from a target language, which is a language of a translation destination for translating a message included in the received message data,
And,
The translation necessity determination unit may determine,
Wherein the communication control unit determines that translation of a message included in the received message data is necessary when the user ID of the sender of the received message data matches the user ID held in the translation target user information holding unit Terminal. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising the steps of: storing the high-translation message data having a high translation frequency in the translation server and the high-translation message data having the high-
And,
The output unit includes:
When the high-priority translation message data related to the high-urgency message data that is the same as the received message data of the message determined to be in need of translation by the translation necessity determination unit is held in the high-priority translation holding unit, And outputs the high-speed translation message data acquired from the communication terminal. 5. The image processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A display unit for displaying the message data as text
And,
The display unit includes:
And changes the display mode of the translation message data according to the translation reliability of the message included in the translation message data. A plurality of communication terminals connected via a network,
A message transmission server that enables mutual transmission / reception of message data between the plurality of communication terminals;
A translation server connected to the plurality of communication terminals for transmitting translation message data translated into a message represented by message data to the communication terminal,
And,
The communication terminal,
A communication unit for mutually transmitting and receiving message data between the host terminal and another terminal connected via the network,
A translation necessity judging unit for judging whether or not a translation of a message represented by the received message data is necessary,
A translation instructing unit for instructing an external translation server to translate a message represented by the received message data when it is determined by the translation necessity determining unit that translation of the message represented by the received message data is required;
An output unit for outputting at least one of the received message data and translation message data in which the received message data is translated by the translation server,
And,
The translation server,
A receiver for receiving a translation instruction of the message represented by the received message data and the received message data from the communication terminal;
A translator for translating a message represented by the received message data according to the translation instruction;
And a transmission unit for transmitting the translation message data translated by the translation unit to the communication terminal
The message translation system comprising: The method of claim 6, wherein the message transmission server comprises:
And the message data is simultaneously transmitted from one communication terminal of the plurality of communication terminals to a part of the communication terminals of the plurality of communication terminals. 8. The communication terminal according to claim 6 or 7,
An input unit capable of inputting a correction instruction of the translation message data received from the translation server;
A first translation correcting unit for correcting the translation message data based on a correction instruction input by the input unit,
A correction information holding unit for holding the translation message data and the corrected translation message data associated with the translation message data,
And a translation learning unit
And,
The translation server,
Wherein the translating unit performs translation based on the translation message data received from the communication terminal and held in the correction information holding unit and the corrected translation message data. A communication terminal,
Exchanges message data with other terminals connected to the host terminal through the network,
Determining whether a translation of the message represented by the received message data is necessary,
Instructs an external translation server to translate the message represented by the received message data if it is determined that translation of the message represented by the received message data is necessary,
And outputting at least one of the received message data and the translation message data in which the received message data is translated by the translation server. 10. The system according to claim 9,
Receiving a translation instruction of the message represented by the received message data and the received message data from the communication terminal,
Translating a message represented by the received message data according to the translation instruction,
And transmits the translated message data to the communication terminal having received the translation instruction. A communication terminal,
A communication unit for mutually transmitting and receiving message data between the host terminal and another terminal connected via the network,
A translation necessity judging unit for judging whether or not a translation of a message included in the received message data is necessary,
A translation instruction unit for instructing an external translation server to translate a message included in the received message data when it is determined by the translation necessity determination unit that translation of the message included in the received message data is required;
An output unit for outputting at least one of the received message data and translation message data in which the received message data is translated by the translation server,
A program for translating a message.

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