7,099,876

09/211803

December 15, 1998

A multi-field text string data structure is employed to encapsulating identification, meaning, and pronunciation information for a text string. A first field contains the Unicode characters for the text string in a language in which the text string is entered, which may be latin characters, characters which sound-map to latin characters, or one or more ideographs. A second field contains either the same characters or an intermediate representation of the text string, such as syllabary characters for a phonetic spelling of the characters within the first field. A third field contains either the same characters as the first field or a latin character phonetic spelling of the characters in the first field. The first field thus contains the text string in the language in which the text string was entered, while the second and third field contains information about the meaning and pronunciation of the text string. When the characters in the first field are unrecognizable to a user, or when the characters in the first field have more than one meaning or more than one pronunciation, the contents of the second and third fields allow the user to recognize the text string and/or perceive the correct meaning and pronunciation of the text string.

Hetherington, David James (Austin, TX, US); Kumhyr, David Bruce (Fuquay-Varina, NC, US)

International Business Machines Corporation (Armonk, NY, US)

1. A text string data structure within a computer usable medium, comprising: a multi-field text string object encapsulating a plurality of discrete fields; a first field within the multi-field text string object containing a first character string representing a word; a second field within the multi-field text string object containing a second character string representing the word; and a third field within the multi-field text string object containing a third character string representing the word; wherein the first character string contains characters for a first human language; and the third character string contains the first character string prefixed by at least one character with a low sort value.

2. The text string data structure of claim 1 , wherein the second character string is different from the first character string.

3. The text string data structure of claim 1 , wherein the first character string contains characters from a first character set employed by a first human language and the second character string contains characters from a second character set employed by a second human language.

4. The text string data structure of claim 1 , wherein the first character string contains characters for a first human language and the second character string contains characters for a second human language which sound-map to characters within the first character string.

5. The text string data structure of claim 1 , wherein the first character sing contains an ideograph and the second character string contains a phonetic spelling of the ideograph.

6. The text string data structure of claim 1 , wherein the third character string is different from the second character string.

7. The text string data structure of claim 6 , wherein the third character string is different from the first character string.

8. The text string data structure of claim 1 , wherein: the first character string contains characters for a first human language; the second character string contain characters for a second human language which sound-map to characters within the first character sting; and the third character string is identical to the first character string.

9. The text string data structure of claim 1 , wherein: the first character string contains an ideograph; the second character string contains Latin characters for a phonetic spelling of the ideograph; and the third character string contains syllabary characters for a phonetic spelling of the ideograph.

10. A method of encapsulating information in a text string data structure, comprising: creating a multi-field text string object encapsulating a plurality of discrete fields; storing a first character string representing a word in a first field within the multi-field text string object; storing a second character string representing the word in a second field within the multi-field text string object; storing a third character string representing the word in a third field within the multi-field text sting object; and storing the first character string prefixed by at least one character with a low sort value as the third character string.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of storing a second character string representing the word in a second field within the multi-field text string object further comprises: if the first character string contains characters from a first character set employed by a first human language, storing characters from a second character set employed by a second human language in the second field, wherein the second character string is different from the first character string.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: storing characters from a first human language as the first character string; storing characters from a second human language which sound-map to characters within the first character string as the second character string; and storing characters identical to the first character string as the third character string.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: storing an ideograph as the first character string; storing a Latin character phonetic spelling of the ideographs as the second character string; and storing syllabary characters for a phonetic spelling of the ideograph as the third character string.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: storing identical characters as the first, second, and third character strings.

15. A system for encapsulating information in a text string data structure, comprising: means for creating a multi-field text string object encapsulating a plurality of discrete fields; means for storing a first character string representing a word in a first field within the multi-field text string object; means for storing a second charter string representing the word in a second field within the multi-field text string object; means for storing a third character string representing the word in a third field within the multi-field text string object]; and means for storing the first character string prefixed by at least one character with a low sort value as the third character string.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the means for storing a second character string representing the word in a second field within the multi-field text string object further comprises: means, if the first character string contains characters from a first character set employed by a first human language, for storing characters from a second character set employed by a second human language in the second field, wherein the second character string is different from the first character string.

17. The system of claim 15 , further comprising: means for storing characters from a first human language as the first character string; means for storing characters from a second human language which sound-map to characters within the first character string as the second character string; and means for storing characters identical to the first character string as the third character string.

18. The system of claim 15 , further comprising: means for storing an ideograph as the first character string; means for storing a Latin character phonetic spelling of the ideograph as the second character string; and means for storing syllabary characters for a phonetic spelling of the ideograph as the third character string.

19. The system of claim 15 , further comprising: means for storing identical characters as the first, second, and third character stings.

707/100

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