FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to the field of data processing, and more particularly to data processing systems which allow concurrent multi-lingual use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The change from centralized, batch operation of data processing systems to distributed, interactive usage has resulted in more users being directly involved with these systems. When a data processing system is used in a country with multiple national languages or is accessed by user terminals located in different countries with different national languages, the system must accept commands and respond in the national language or languages of the users. In the past, support for national languages has been accomplished by placing all messages in a collection that can be replaced either completely such that all users of a given system will see messages in a selected national language, or on a user by user basis such that each user will see messages of one national language. The first approach fails to offer a solution for users in a country, such as Canada, where there are more than one national language. Both approaches handle output only, are typically limited to messages, and have the following problems:

1. Language-dependent text other than messages exist in most computers in the form of language dependent (a) command verbs entered as input, such as "Delete", which must be recognizable by a program without need for separate programs to handle each national language, (b) keywords entered as input in commands or as screen panel fields, such as "source", (c) online documentation, or (d) prompts and help information.

2. They do not allow appropriate responses from service functions in a connected computer that has no knowledge of the requestor's language preference. For example, a user may invoke service A on computer 1. Service A may request from service B on computer 2, and service B may need to send messages to the user even though the usage is indirect.

3. They do not allow use of a new function that is supported in a language that could be understood by the user if the preferred language is not yet available.

Even where the national language problem is solved, the fact that computer users are becoming more heterogeneous as the usage of computers spreads raises other problems. For example, not only may the national language preference of users in a distributed data processing system differ, but the level of experience or knowledge of the users may vary widely. In many cases, different classes of users need to use the same computer services, and this requires messages to be customized for each class of user. For example, a programmer could understand the message, "Node XYZ does not respond, reinitialization will take 10 minutes." and could arrange other work until it became available. However, mail room data entry personel whose work depends on node XYZ might more easily understand, "Take a 10 minute coffee break and then try again." Some messages could, of course, be understood by all classes of users. Therefore, not only are translations of all messages needed for users in different national languages, but some messages must be customized for different classes of users.

Many existing applications such as COBOL and FORTRAN were originally written only in English. This has not been a problem in the past where, for example, a German programmer has learned the meaning of the application's English commands. However, as the use of such products moves away from the data processing professional, the need for national language support in the application products increases. Unfortunately, it is often time consuming and costly to modify existing applications which have been written to support only one language in such a way that they would support more than one. A common architecture or design has not been found which might be applied to solve this problem since each application addresses its message and dialog generation in a different way. One alternative to address this problem involves producing different versions of the application, each one of which supports a single national language. This is not only expensive to develop, test, and maintain but requires the installation which has a need for more than one language to purchase multiple licenses.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a data processing system which facilitates concurrent multi-lingual use.

It is another object of the invention to provide a data processing system capable of being used by many different people with widely varying experience and knowledge.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a mechanism to facilitate the generation of messages by programmed components such that national language support can be added to these components without making nay modifications to the component.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a way for a program to be independent of the national language in which an input to the computer is received.

Briefly stated, the objects of the invention are accomplished by using national language indexes together with specialized services to provide complete support in the national language preferred by the user. As used herein, "complete" means the user will not sense output (e.g. see, hear, or feel in the case of braille) in any other language unless it is one the user has specified as an acceptable alternative, and all input by the user (e.g. typed or spoken) is in the preferred national language. The national language indexes are selected either when the user is enrolled, or from the "Sign On" entry screen if users are not enrolled. More than one national language index is given per user, a primary index which identifies the language most preferred by a user, and one or more secondary indexes that identify languages that the user can understand even though they are not the preferred language. Use of these indexes allow all programs, including application, application control, and supervisor programs, to be independent of the user's chosen national language.

The national language indexes are used for a data collection contains message models. Message models are stored via a message identifier primary key that is common for all usage and a secondary key that is the national language index. A central message service composes messages from message models by substituting language independent variable values before the message is shown to the user. More particularly, the message service receives requests for message text from application, application control and supervisor programs. The requesting program supplies the message identifier, and the message service users that as the primary key for retrieval from one or more data collections containing message models. The message service uses as a secondary key the national language index which is set when the user signs on to the computer. The message model data collections may be organized in any manner that allows use of primary and secondary keys. All such collections have a secondary key to identify the national language of the message model. In addition to the language index that is set when the user signs on, other values are set to identify an order of search among data collections according to the classification of the current user. The message service searches different data collections until it finds the first occurrence of the requested message model in the national language needed for a particular user. This classification index could be used as a tertiary index within a single data collection in an alternative implementation. That message model is composed and sent to application control. A message coordinator program in application control checks the message identified and the type of output device to determine what action is necessary.

Separate data collections for each language contain other types of text that are more specialized or of greater volume than messages. These data collections contain the national language index as a standard part of their identifying name. The collections are made available for each user so the order of search for named elements will find the material in the primary (preferred) or secondary (usable) national language. Examples of use include on-line documentation, HELP texts, static text on display panels, and sample data for application programs or application usage environments. The idiosyncrasies and differences between languages create problems that sometimes are best solved by language-dependent versions of programs. Such cases are likely to occur when the program must be adjusted because of differences in length or format for the same information in different languages. The advantages of such data collections being available for all programs are that all input required of a user and all text responses to the user can be in the national language of the user and, therefore, concurrent, multi-lingual use of the system is possible. For example, a French speaking user and an English speaking user can use the same programs on the same system concurrently without encountering any text in the other user's language.

The invention also allows a program to be independent of the national language in which the input to the computer is received. The national language index is used to obtain variable names and the text strings associated with each variable, in pairs. The program can obtain the variable-name/text-string pairs directly or a central service may be requested to stored the text strings for retrieval via the variable name. The variable name has a particular meaning to the program and the associated text string is the language independent input that will trigger that meaning. That is, input from the user can be compared with text strings associated with relevant variables to find the meaning known to a language-dependent program. National language indexes are used to locate the appropriate file to define command-verb synonyms, a technique common to other operating systems. The technique of variable-name/text-string pairs for use with various types of input is similar to, but more general than command-verb synonym processing.

The invention further facilitates the generation of messages by programmed components that do not have interfaces for national language support such that national language support can be added to these components without making any modifications to the components and also allows new languages to be added without modifying the components. Most operating systems have a specific interfaces for user messages, such as "Write to Operator" in OS/370, "Terminal PUT" in TSO, and "Write Terminal" in VM/370. Modification of those interfaces allow messages from old programs to be intercepted and replaced with messages in other national languages. The message identifier contained in the old message is used to retrieve a template that identifies substitutable values in the original message, and the replacement message model is retrieved by the national language index. The replacement service uses the message, the template and the message model to compose an equivalent message in the user's national language.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, aspects and advantages of the invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of message data with direct composition of the message and use by the application program;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of message data with direct composition of the message and use by the application control program.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of message data with direct composition of the message and use by the supervisor program;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of message data with central composition of the message and use by the application program;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of message data with central composition of the message and use by the application control program; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating the flow of message data with central composition of the message and use by the supervisor program.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As used in the description which follows, variables behave and can be used as if they were handled by an associative memory dedicated to a specific user's job. As used herein, "job" is synonymous with "session", "process" or "address space". That is,

1. Variable names and values are dynamically definable;

2. Values associated with a specific variable may be stored or fetched by name, i.e. the program that uses them does not known their storage location;

3. Storage and retrieval of variable values is managed by a Supervisor Service;

4. Variable values are accessible, i.e. may be fetched and stored, by any program that runs for a specific user ("any program" includes Application, Application Control or Supervisor programs, and "Supervisor" is synonymous with "Operating Ssytem");

5. Variable values can be arithmetic, i.e. binary, or character strings; and

6. Implicit conversion between arithmetic values and character strings will occur automatically according to usage context, and explicity conversion in either direction can be requested.

The Supervisor (or operating system) program characteristics relevant to the invention are as follows:

1. They contain components or services that run at the highest priority;

2. They provide generic services and interfaces through which these services may be requested by either Application programs or Application Control programs;

3. They include Message Services of two types;

a. Message Request interface which receives requests from Supervisor programs or Application programs to send a specific message to a user. This interface forwards the request to Application Control programs by assigning values to variables and causing an event to be stacked for Application Control. This event allows an Application Control program to decide how to send the information to the user according to characteristics of the output device(s) used by the specific user, i.e. turn on a light, compose and display text, convert via voice synthesis, or provide a braille surface.

b. Message Composition interface which composes message text from message models (character strings) that include recognizable variable names. The variable names in the message model are replaced with the current values associated with those names. The message model to use in composition is determined by the following:

(1) A message context identifier which is the same regardless of national language;

(2) A primary (preferred) national language index stored in a variable when the user signed-on to the computer, or a secondary (acceptable) national language index defined and stored in a similar manner; and

(3) A user class identifier used to customize the choices of messages within a given national language. For example, user class can be used to obtain message text customized according to the needs of a nonprofessional, a professional, a beginning user, an experienced user, and so forth.

The Application Control characteristics relevant to the invention are as follows:

1. They are programs that run at the same priority as the Supervisor, and higher than Applcation programs.

2. They have an event logic. Events can be triggered by any of the following:

a. any program that runs for a specific user;

b. hardware on the local computer; or

c. network data traffic from other computers.

Events are stacked until corresponding Application Control programs are free to handle them.

3. They have an event processing program to handle events created by the Message Service programs in the Supervisor. The events relay requests from either Application, Application Control, or other Supervisor programs that act for the user.

Application program characteristics relevant to the invention are as follows:

1. They are fetched and begin to run at the request of an Application Control program in a given user's job.

2. They run or execute only when Application Control and Supervisor programs have no current work to do for the specific user, i.e. at the lowest priority.

3. They can request services provided by Supervisor programs or Application Control programs.

4. Their requests may be via macros, subroutine or function calls.

5. Their requests may cause events for Application Control programs.

Message services can be used in two modes by any type of program:

1. Central Composition which is designed so a single component may handle all general message traffic to the output device that interfaces with the user. This frees application programs from need to decide whether the text goes to a display, a voice synthesizer, a braille surface, or merely turns on an indicator light.

2. Direct Composition which leaves disposition of the message text to the program that requests its composition. This leaves the program free to use the text in several ways. Some examples follow:

a. as message that is sent to the user directly, or through other services;

b. as output to a data file, such as column headers in compiler listings, or records of system activity;

c. as a pre-fetched copy of a frequently used message to the user; or

d. as a means to check national language dependent responses from the user, i.e. words and phrases.

Beginning now with reference to FIG. 1, the implementation of direct message composition will be described first because of the simpler flow of data. The Application program 10 uses a macro 14, or a subroutine that uses, the macro, to request message composition service. The macro can also assign values to variables that will be substituted into the message model during composition, but the example here will omit that detail. For example, the macro

MSG MSGNO=ABC-1,COMP=MSG1

requests composition of message model ABC-1 into the variable MSG1. The macro causes control to pass, as indicated by the arrow a, to Message Request service 15 in the Supervisor 13. Because it is a direct composition request (COMP=MSG1), Message Request 15 calls Message Composition 17 as indicated by the arrow b. Message Composition in turn uses the Message Model identification (ABC-1) and the national language index established when the user signed onto the computer, e.g. 006 for Spanish, to obtain the correct message model from the Message Model Data Collection 18 as indicated by the arrow c. Any substitutable variable names in the message model are replaced by the current value of the variables, the resulting text is stored as the value of the variable MSG1, and control returns the Message Request 15 as indicated by the arrow d. Message Request now returns control to the Application 10 as indicated by arrow e, and the message text is ready for use by the Application.

In FIG. 2, the Application Control program 12 uses a control statement 11 to request message composition service. Values must have been assigned to variables that will be substituted into the message model during composition, but again the example here will omit that detail. For example, the control statement

COMPOSE JKL-1 INTO $MSG1

requests composition of message model JKL-1 into the variable $MSG1. The statement causes control to pass, as indicated by arrow a, to Message Composition service 17 in the Supervisor 13. Message Composition 17 uses the Message Model identification (JKL-1) and the national language index established when the user signed onto the computer, e.g. 006 for Spanish, to obtain the correct message model from the Message Model Data Collection 18 as indicated by the arrow b. Any substitutable variable names in the message model are replaced by the current value of the variables, the resulting text is stored as the value of the variable $MSG1, control then returns to the Application Control 12 following the control statement 11 as indicated by arrow c, and the message text is ready for use by Application Control.

In FIG. 3, the Supervisor program 13 uses a macro 16 to request message composition service. The macro can also assign values to variables that will be substituted into the message model during composition, but as before the example here will omit that detail. For example, the macro

$MSG MSGNO=XYZ-1,COMP=TXT1

requests composition of message model XYZ-1 into variable TXT1. The macro causes control to pass, as indicated by arrow a, to Message Request service 15 in the Supervisor 13. Because it is a direct composition request (COMP=TXT1), Message Request 15 calls Message Composition 17 as indicated by arrow b. Message Composition uses the Message Model identification (XYZ-1) and the national language index extablished when the user signed onto the computer, e.g. 006 of Spanish, to obtain the correct message model from the Message Model Data Collection 18 as indicated by arrow c. Any substitutable variable names in the message model are replaced by the current value of the variables, the resulting text is stored as the value of the variable $MSG1, and control returns to Message Request 15 as indicated by arrow d. Message Request then returns control to the Supervisor program following the macro 16 as indicated by the arrow e, and the message text is ready for use by the Supervisor.

The examples described thus far illustrate implementation of the direct composition of messages. Next, beginning with reference to FIG. 4 will be described examples illustrating implementation of central composition of messages. In FIG. 4, the Application program 10 uses a macro 14, or a subroutine which uses the macro, to request message composition service. The macro can also assign values to variables that will be substituted into the message model during composition, but the example here will omit that detail. For example, the macro

MSG MSGNO=ABC-1

requests information from message model ABC-1 be given to the user. The macro causes control to pass, as indicated by arrow a, to Message Request service 15 in the Supervisor 13. Message Request stores the message model identification (ABC-1) in a variable and causes an event to be stacked for Message Request 19 in Application Control 12 as indicated by arrow b. Message Request 19 is an event handler that decides how the message is to be passed to the user and can base that decision on the message model identification. If the message model identification is one that means an indicator light should be turned on rather than passing textual information to the user, then that is done, and control passes back to the Application program 10 following macro 14 as indicated by arrow g. On the other hand, if message text must be passed to the user, then a control statement in Message Request 19 of Application Control 12 passes control to Message Composition 17 in the Supervisor 13 as indicated by the arrow c. Message Composition uses the Message Model identification (ABC-1) and the national language index established when the user signed onto the computer, e.g. 006 for Spanish, to obtain the correct message model from the Message Model Data Collection 18 as indicated by the arrow d. Any substitutable variable names in the message model are replaced by the current value of a variable, the resulting text is stored as the value of a variable, and control returns to Message Request 19 in Application Control 12 as indicated by arrow e. Message Request 19 sends the message text to the user as indicated by the arrow f. When all Application Control programs quiesce, then the lower priority Application program 10 resumes execution following the macro 14 as indicated by the arrow g.

In FIG. 5, the Application Control program 12 uses a control statement 11 to (a) assign values to substitutable variables, (b) store the message model identification in a variable, and (c) call Message Request 19 in Application Control 12. Message Request 19 is an event handler that decides how the message is to be passed to the user, and can base that decision on the message model identification. If the message model identification is one that means an indicator light should be turned on rather than passing textual information to the user, then that is done, and control returns to the next statement below control statements 11 as indicated by the arrow f. If, on the other hand, message text must be passed to the user, then a control statement in Message Request 19 of Application Control 12 passes control to Message Composition 17 in the Supervisor 13 as indicated by the arrow b. Message Composition 17 uses the Message Model identification and the national language index established when the user signed onto the computer, e.g. 006 for Spanish, to obtain the correct message model from the Message Model Data Collection 18 as indicated by the arrow c. Any substitutable variable names in the message model are replaced by the current value of the variables, the resulting text is stored as the value of a variable, and control returns to Message Request 19 in Application Control 12 as indicated by arrow d. Message Request 19 sends the message text to the user as indicated by arrows e and returns to the control statement following control statements 11 as indicated by arrow f.

In FIG. 6, the Supervisor program 13 uses a macro 16 to request message composition service. The macro can also assign values to variables that will be substituted into the message model during composition, but the example here will omit that detail. For example, the macro

MSG MSGNO=XYZ-1

requests information from message model XYZ-1 be given to the user. The macro causes control to pass, as indicated by arrow a, to Message Request service 15 in Supervisor 13. Message Request 15 stores the message model identification (XYZ-1) in a variable, and causes an event to be stacked for Message Request 19 in Application Control 12 as indicated by arrow b. Message Request 19 is an event handler that decides how the message is to be passed to the user, and can base that decision on the message model identification. If the message model identification is one that means an indicator light should be turned on rather than passing textual information to the user, then that is done, and control passes back to the Supervisor 13 following the macro 16 as indicated by the arrow g. On the other hand, if message text must be passed to the user, then a control statement in Message Request 19 of Application Control 12 passes control to Message Composition 17 in the Supervisor 13 as indicated by the arrow c. Message Composition uses the Message Model identification (XYZ-1) and the national language index established when the user signed onto the computer, e.g. 006 for Spanish, to obtain the correct message model from the Message Model Data Collection 18 as indicated by arrow d. Any substitutable variable names in the message model are replaced by the current value of the variables, the resulting text is stored as the value of a variable, and control returns to Message Request 19 in Application Control 12 as indicated by the arrow e. Message Request 19 sends the message text to the user as indicated by the arrow f. Control then passes back to the Supervisor 13 following the macro 15 as indicated by arrow g.

In the disclosed implementations, the invention uses a service the provides a storage facility akin to associative memory accessible to all types of programs in the computer. Alternative implementations might use dynamic table creation and manipulation of other types of memory.

Besides providing a message to the user in either a primary (preferred) or secondary (acceptable) language, the data processing system according to the invention is capable of accepting national language inputs from the user. Language dependent input to computers include the following:

1. Command Verbs,

2. Command Keywords,

3. Screen Input Fields, and

4. Acceptable synonyms or abbreviations of any of the above.

First, consider the simplest example which assumes no abbreviations are allowed. Assume a program XYZ is written in the United States and values it can receive for input include DELETE, RENAME, UPDATE, and CREATE. A message model would be defined with identifier XYZ-INPUT-1, and which contained the following pairs of text strings:

XYZ-DELETE DELETE

XYZ-RENAME RENAME

XYZ-UPDATE UPDATE

XYZ-CREATE CREATE

A utility program is given the message identifier XYZ-INPUT-1, and it would perform the following services:

1. Request message service to provide message XYZ-INPUT-1 in the current user's national language, assuming English for the United States.

2. Store the string DELETE as the value for variable name XYZ-DELETE, store the string RENAME as the value for variable name XYZ-RENAME, and so on.

Program XYZ can now compare the input received with the value contained by the variables XYZ- . . . known to the program and learn what was received.

Abbreviations can be handled with triplets of or n-tuples of values. As one example, assume abbreviations allow truncation from the right end of the word some minimum number of letters required. Then the values stored could be as follows:

XYZ-DELETE DELETE 3

XYZ-RENAME RENAME 2

XYZ-UPDATE UPDATE 3

XYZ-CREATE CREATE 2

where the number represents the minimum number of letters that will be accepted as an abbreviation. The utility program would store DELETE as the value of variable XYZ-DELETE, store 3 as the value of XYZ-DELETE-NO, and similarly for the other triples. The program now has enough information to look for partial abbreviations if a match is not found for the complete string DELETE. Other types of abbreviations could use the third value in the triple as a pattern to extract the abbreviation letters from the second value in the triple. For example, the preferred abbreviation of SHARED might be SHR, and XX.X.. would be used as the template to extract the abbreviation. The utility programs could contain special provision for non-European languages where truncation may be from the left or where a character requires two bytes of storage.

As a further extension of the invention, a mechanism is provided to facilitate the generation of messages, such as for example error messages, by existing application components such that national language support can be added to these components without making any modifications to the component. This mechanism also allows new languages to be added without modifying the component. Two assumptions are made: First, it is assumed that each message will be preceded by a message identifier which is unique to the message. This is likely to be a valid assumption since standards have been established by companies in the data processing field. An example of one such standard is IBM Interdivisional Standard I-S 3-7019 002 which describes the standards for the Message Formats including the Message ID. This standard states that each informational or error message should be preceded by a three to six character component identification code followed by a three or four character message number followed by a severity code or action code.

Secondly, it is assumed that each message will be displayed using one of the standard system message services: Write-To-Operator (WTO), Write-To-Operator-with-Reply (WTOR), Terminal PUT (TPUT), WRite TERMinal (WRTERM), or LINE EDIT. This is also likely to be a valid assumption since these are the only services which have been available to perform this function.

The invention modifies the above system services of access a keyed data base using a key consisting of the concatenation of the message identifier and national language code. The data obtained from the data base can then be displayed in place of the original data provided in the error message. If no data is found which matches the derived key, the original message is displayed without modification. By selectively making entries in the data base, specific components can be supported with messages in selected languages. Messages for components and languages not entered into the data base wil be unaffected, and the messages will be displayed just as the component originally generated the message. In addition, there are often characters in a message which are not part of the message skeleton itself but are generated by the component. These characters, referred to as variable information, convey additional information about an error or condition. For example, the error message, "EDIMSG5133 INVALID CHARACTER IN FILE ID: . . . ", indicates the file ID which contains an illegal character. This variable information can be transferred to the translated message by reserving a single character which cannot appear in any translated message, such as for example "%", and then using that character to indicate a substitution from the original message. For instance, the above message could be entered as follows in the message data base: "EDIGMSG513E INVALID CHARACTER IN FILE ID: %42-8". This indicate that eight characters, starting with the forty-second character in the original message should be substituted in place of the "%42-8" in the transposed message. The substitution, of course, can come from anywhere in the original message and can be placed anywhere in the transposed message.

There are many advantages to the concurrent multi-lingual capability provided by the invention. For example, multi-national companies could have one system with user terminals in several countries. A single copy of any function useful to that business could be used in any country without need for every user to known the same language. Additionally, development and maintenance of the business functions would be simplified because only one copy of the program is enough for all users.

A person who needs computer resource could use one located several times zones away. For example, people in California could use a system located in France or Germany. Daytime users in California would benefit from the responsiveness of a lightly loaded system in France where it is night time. This allows better balancing of workload across time zones.

Computer systems in countries that have more than one national language could support usage in any of those languages concurrently. One of the largest countries with more than one national language is Canada; others include Belgium (French and Walloon), and Switzerland (French, German, Italian and Romansh). Brazil trades with neighboring countries that use Spanish rather than Portuguese and so would probably benefit from multi-lingual computer usage.

The ease with which other languages can be supported also would simplify customizing the same nominal language where differences exist between countries. For examples, French translations used in manuals for Canadian citizens differ from those for citizens of France. Similarly, there are substantial differences between English as used in Australia, England and the United States. Spanish usage that is polite in one Latin American country is considered to be impolite in others.