Language conversion apparatus, language conversion method, and language conversion program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9946710-B2
Application number	US-201515312443-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 8, 2015
Priority date	Jul 4, 2013
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

Business rule statements written in a natural language are automatically converted into DRL language sentences. A language conversion apparatus 10 includes: a storage device 16 that stores syntax definition information 30 for defining syntaxes to convert a business rule statement written in a natural language into a DRL language sentence on a syntax basis, and conversion information 40 for converting element variables of the business rule statement into element variables of the DRL language sentence; and a CPU 11 that analyzes a syntax of the business rule statement by comparing the business rule statement with the syntax definition information 30 and converts the business rule statement into the DRL language sentence by referring to the conversion information 40.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A language conversion apparatus comprising:
a storage device that stores syntax definition information for defining a plurality of syntaxes for converting a business rule statement, which is written in a natural language and composed of one or more syntax elements, into a Drools Rule Language sentence on a syntax basis, and conversion information for converting an element variable included in the syntax element or syntax elements of the business rule statement into an element variable of the Drools Rule Language sentence;
a syntax analysis device for judging which one of the plurality of syntaxes defined by the syntax definition information matches a syntax of the business rule statement, by comparing a character string of the business rule statement with a character string of the syntax element constituting each syntax defined by the syntax definition information;
a conversion device that converts the business rule statement into the Drools Rule Language sentence by converting the element variable of the business rule statement into the element variable of the Drools Rule Language sentence with reference to the conversion information and converting the syntax element other than the element variable of the business rule statement into a syntax element of the Drools Rule Language sentence having the syntax which has been judged to match the syntax of the business rule statement, wherein the syntax definition information is classified into patterns so that the business rule statement can be converted into the Drools Rule Language sentence by means of a combination of a plurality of types of basic syntaxes; and
an interface connected to the apparatus, which outputs the converted Drools Rule Language sentence.

2. The language conversion apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the syntax definition information includes information about character strings, which distinguish and define a control syntax depending on its type, and defines conversion of a specific syntax written in the business rule statement into the Drools Rule Language sentence which varies depending on the type of the control syntax in which the specific syntax is written; and wherein the syntax analysis device judges whether or not a character string which defines the control syntax is written in the specific syntax of the business rule statement; and when an affirmative result of the judgment is obtained, the conversion device converts the specific syntax into the Drools Rule Language sentence which varies depending on the type of the control syntax.

3. The language conversion apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the business rule statement includes a nested structure in which a plurality of syntaxes are nested; wherein the syntax analysis device analyzes a syntax of the entire nested structure; and wherein the conversion device prioritizes an inner syntax inside the nested structure upon conversion to the Drools Rule Language sentence.

4. A language conversion method executed by a computer, comprising:
a step of comparing a character string of a syntax element, which constitutes each syntax defined by syntax definition information for defining a plurality of syntaxes for converting a business rule statement written in a natural language and composed of one or more syntax elements into a Drools Rule Language sentence on a syntax basis, with a character string of the business rule statement, thereby judging which one of the plurality of syntaxes defined by the syntax definition information matches a syntax of the business rule statement;
a step of converting the business rule statement into the Drools Rule Language sentence by referring to conversion information for converting an element variable included in the syntax element or syntax elements of the business rule statement into an element variable of the Drools Rule Language sentence and thereby converting the element variable of the business rule statement into the element variable of the Drools Rule Language sentence, and converting the syntax element other than the element variable of the business rule statement into a syntax element of the Drools Rule Language sentence having the syntax which has been judged to match the syntax of the business rule statement, wherein the syntax definition information is classified into patterns so that the business rule statement can be converted into the Drools Rule Language sentence by means of a combination of a plurality of types of basic syntaxes; and
a step of outputting the converted Drools Rule Language sentence by the computer.

5. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program which causes a computer to execute:
a step of comparing a character string of a syntax element, which constitutes each syntax defined by syntax definition information for defining a plurality of syntaxes for converting a business rule statement written in a natural language and composed of one or more syntax elements into a Drools Rule Language sentence on a syntax basis, with a character string of the business rule statement, thereby judging which one of the plurality of syntaxes defined by the syntax definition information matches a syntax of the business rule statement;
a step of converting the business rule statement into the Drools Rule Language sentence by referring to conversion information for converting an element variable included in the syntax element or syntax elements of the business rule statement into an element variable of the Drools Rule Language sentence and thereby converting the element variable of the business rule statement into the element variable of the Drools Rule Language sentence, and converting the syntax element other than the element variable of the business rule statement into a syntax element of the Drools Rule Language sentence having the syntax which has been judged to match the syntax of the business rule statement, wherein the syntax definition information is classified into patterns so that the business rule statement can be converted into the Drools Rule Language sentence by means of a combination of a plurality of types of basic syntaxes; and
a step of outputting the converted Drools Rule Language sentence by the computer.

Assignees

• Softbank Corp

Inventors

• Yamaguchi Keita

Classifications

• G06F40/55 Primary

  Rule-based translation · CPC title

• G06F8/41 Primary

  Compilation · CPC title

• G06F40/253

  Grammatical analysis; Style critique · CPC title

• G06F40/226

  Validation · CPC title

• G06F17/2872 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic