Use of statistical flow data for machine translations between different languages

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016188575-A1
Application number	US-201414584925-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 29, 2014
Priority date	Dec 29, 2014
Publication date	Jun 30, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

In a flow of computer actions, a computer system ( 110 ) receives a request involving a machine translation. In performing the translation ( 160, 238 ), or in using the translation in subsequent computer operations ( 242, 1110 ), the computer system takes into account known statistical relationships ( 310 ), obtained from previously accumulated click-through data ( 180 ), between a machine translation performed in a flow, the flow's portions preceding the translation, and success indicators pertaining to the flow's portion following the translation. The statistical relationships are derived by data mining of the click-through data. Further, normal actions can be suspended to use a random option to accumulate the click-through data and/or perform statistical AB testing. Other features are also provided.

First claim

1 . A method comprising a first computer system performing operations of:
(A) obtaining statistical flow data for a plurality of flows each of which comprises a flow of computer actions performed by one or more computer systems in response to one or more requests, at least some of the computer actions comprising machine translations, wherein the statistical flow data define, for the plurality of flows, statistical relationships between items (i), (ii), and (iii) for flows containing machine translations, wherein for a flow containing a machine translation (MT) performed in response to a request:
item (i) is an output of the machine translation (MT) and/or a computer system's use of the MT's output in the flow,
item (ii) is one or more first flow parameters defined at least in part by the flow's portion before the request,
item (iii) is one or more success parameters defined at least in part by the flow's portion after the MT;
(B) receiving a first request in a first flow of computer actions; (C) obtaining one or more first values which are values of the one or more first flow parameters for the first flow, wherein at least one first value is at least partially defined by the first flow's portion before the first request; and (D) performing a first operation responsive to the first request and comprising performing a first MT, wherein the first operation comprises matching the one or more first values with one or more of the statistical relationships specified by the statistical flow data, wherein the matching produces a result used in performing the first MT and/or in computer use of the first MT's output.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the first MT comprises generating a plurality of candidate translations, and the matching is used to select one or more, but less than all, of the candidate translations for subsequent computer use.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the subsequent computer use comprises performing a computer search on the one or more selected candidate translations.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the first MT comprises generating a plurality of candidate translations, wherein the subsequent computer use comprises performing a computer search on at least two of the candidate translations, and the computer user comprises arranging the search results based on the matching.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein at least one first value is at least partially defined by a document appearing in the first flow's portion before the request.

6 . A method comprising a first computer system performing operations of:
(A) obtaining statistical flow data for a plurality of flows each of which comprises a flow of computer actions performed by one or more computer systems, at least some of the computer actions comprising machine translations, wherein the statistical flow data define, for the plurality of flows, statistical relationships between items (i), (ii), and (iii) for flows containing machine translations, wherein for a flow containing a machine translation (MT) of a text:
item (i) is an output of the machine translation (MT) and/or a computer system's use of the MT's output in the flow,
item (ii) is one or more first flow parameters defined at least in part by the flow's portion before the MT, the one or more first flow parameters being unrelated to the text,
item (iii) is one or more success parameters defined at least in part by the flow's portion after the MT;
(B) receiving a first text in a first flow of computer actions; (C) obtaining one or more first values which are values of the one or more first flow parameters for the first flow; and (D) performing a first operation responsive to the first request and comprising performing an MT of the first text, wherein the first operation comprises matching the one or more first values with one or more of the statistical relationships specified by the statistical flow data, wherein the matching produces a result used in performing the MT of the first text and/or in computer use of the output of the MT of the first text.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the MT of the first text comprises generating a plurality of candidate translations, and the matching is used to select one or more, but less than all, of the candidate translations for subsequent computer use.

8 . The method of claim 7 wherein the subsequent computer use comprises performing a computer search on the one or more selected candidate translations.

9 . The method of claim 6 wherein the MT of the first text comprises generating a plurality of candidate translations, wherein the subsequent computer use comprises performing a computer search on at least two of the candidate translations, and the computer use comprises arranging the search results based on the matching.

10 . The method of claim 6 wherein at least one first value is at least partially defined by a document unrelated to the first text and appearing in the first flow's portion before the MT of the first text.

11 . A method comprising a first computer system performing operations of:
(A) obtaining click-through data for a plurality of flows each of which comprises a flow of computer actions performed by one or more computer systems in response to one or more requests, at least some of the computer actions comprising machine translations; (B) obtaining, from the click-through data, statistical flow data which define, for the plurality of flows, statistical relationships between items (i), (ii), and (iii) for flows containing machine translations, wherein for a flow containing a machine translation (MT) performed in response to a request:
item (i) is an output of the machine translation (MT) and/or a computer system's use of the MT's output in the flow,
item (ii) is one or more first flow parameters defined at least in part by the flow's portion before the request,
item (iii) is one or more success parameters defined at least in part by the flow's portion after the MT.

12 . A method comprising a first computer system performing operations of:
(A) obtaining click-through data a plurality of flows each of which comprises a flow of computer actions performed by one or more computer systems, at least some of the computer actions comprising machine translations; (B) obtaining, from the click-through data, statistical flow data which define, for the plurality of flows, statistical relationships between items (i), (ii), and (iii) for flows containing machine translations, wherein for a flow containing a machine translation (MT) of a text:
item (i) is an output of the machine translation (MT) and/or a computer system's use of the MT's output in the flow,
item (ii) is one or more first flow parameters defined at least in part by the flow's portion before the MT, the one or more first flow parameters being unrelated to the text,
item (iii) is one or more success parameters defined at least in part by the flow's portion after the MT.

13 . A first computer system programmed to perform the method of claim 1 .

14 . The first computer system of claim 13 wherein in the method, the first MT is operable to generate a plurality of candidate translations, and the matching is operable to be used to select one or more, but less than all, of the candidate translations for subsequent computer use.

15 . The first computer system of claim 14 wherein in the method, the subsequent computer use comprises performing a computer search on the one or more selected candidate translations.

16 . The first computer system of claim 13 wherein in the method, the first MT is operable to generate a plurality of c

Assignees

• Ebay Inc

Inventors

• Sawaf Hassan

Classifications

• G06F40/58 Primary

  Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation · CPC title

• G06F40/51 Primary

  Translation evaluation · CPC title

• G06F17/289 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic