JP7686211B1 - Translation support method and translation system - Google Patents

Abstract

The display text of an application is made multilingual.
[Solution] In the application usage support system, a CDN server 61 of the translation system is equipped with a first processing means for, if translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is stored in the cache area 6131, reading out the translated text data in the cache area 6131 and sending it to the mobile terminal, and, if translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is not stored in the cache area 6131, a second processing means for requesting translated text data of the display text from a translation server, receiving the translated text data from the translation server, storing the translated text data in cache area 6131 in association with the display text identification information, and sending the translated text data to the mobile terminal.
[Selected figure] Figure 10

Description

The present invention relates to a technology for multilingualizing the display text of an application.

Various technologies have been proposed to support the multilingualization of web content. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a technology that enables text displayed on a web page to be translated at an appropriate time. The invention described in Patent Document 1 includes a website, a user terminal, and a translation system. The website receives a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request including a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a web page in the website from the user terminal, and transmits Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) data of the web page to the user terminal that sent the HTTP request. In this invention, when the native language of the user terminal that sent the HTTP request is a second language different from the first language that is the original language of the web page, the website transmits a translation request to the translation system to translate the text in the first language in the web page into text in the second language, receives the text in the second language from the translation system, and transmits HTML data in which the text in the first language in the web page has been replaced with the text in the second language to the user terminal. According to this invention, website operators can provide web pages in various languages by simply making simple changes to their website.

Meanwhile, users of mobile devices such as smartphones spend much of their time using mobile devices using applications for mobile devices. App stores such as App Store (registered trademark) and Google Play (registered trademark) publish a variety of applications developed by application providers known as developers. Mobile device applications are written in a high-level language to define the layout of the application's display screen on the mobile device, as well as functions that call HTML data and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) at specific URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) on the network. The steps from development to release of a mobile device application are as follows:

As shown in FIG. 33, in developing an application for a mobile terminal, an engineer of the application provider codes the application and verifies the functions required for its release. After this verification, the application provider submits a store application to the platform provider. When a store application is submitted, the platform provider examines whether the application meets the screening criteria, and if the application passes the screening, the application is registered in the app store server 901. After this, users of mobile terminals 903 can visit the app store server 901, select an application, and install the application on their mobile terminals 903.

As shown in FIG. 34, when an application installed on the mobile terminal 903 is launched, the mobile terminal 903 displays the application's display screen (in the example of FIG. 34, the Health Check display screen) that displays the text data and image data described in the application itself.

As shown in FIG. 35, if a web page call function or an API call function is written in an application installed on the mobile terminal 903, when the application is launched, the mobile terminal 903 sends a request to the application server 951 or the API server 961, receives HTML data or text data from the servers 951 and 961, and displays the display screen of the application (Weather News in the example of FIG. 35) that lays out this data.

After an application is released, the application provider performs tasks such as updating the application version, updating the displayed content, and sending push notifications.

As shown in FIG. 36, when an application provider updates the display content of an application, the application provider accesses the application server 951 from the application provider's own terminal and rewrites the HTML data of the display content of the application in the application server 951. After that, when the application is launched on the mobile terminal 903, the HTML data after rewriting in the application server 951 is sent to the mobile terminal 903, and the content is displayed as the display screen of the application.

As shown in FIG. 37, when an application provider delivers a push notification, the application provider accesses the application server 951 from the application provider's own terminal and registers the text of the push notification and the device token of its destination. Once the push notification information is registered, the application server 951 sends the push notification information to a push notification server 971 (an APNs (Apple Push Notification Service) server or an FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging) server), and the push notification server 971 sends a push notification to the mobile terminal corresponding to the device token. When the mobile terminal 903 receives the push notification, the text data in the push notification is displayed as the push notification.

JP 2017-90887 A

In many applications for mobile terminals, data for the basic layout of the application's display screen is embedded in the application itself. In this type of application for mobile terminals, when the data for the display content of the application's display screen in the application server is updated, the updated data is sent to the mobile terminal in response to a request from the mobile terminal to the application server, and this data changes the content of the application's display screen on the mobile terminal. However, in the technology of Patent Document 1, if the native language of the user terminal that sent the HTTP request is different from the original language of the web page, the website translates the entire web page and sends it to the user terminal. For this reason, if the technology of Patent Document 1 is applied to multilingualization of the display content of applications for mobile terminals, there is a risk that responses from the server to the mobile terminal will be delayed when requests are sent to the server from a large number of mobile terminals.

The present invention was made in consideration of these problems, and aims to provide a technical means for efficiently multilingualizing the display text of applications for mobile devices.

In order to solve the above problem, a translation support method which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention is a translation support method using a system including a mobile terminal on which an OS and a specific application running on the OS are implemented, a display text providing server which transmits text data of the display text on the display screen of the application to the mobile terminal in response to a request from the mobile terminal, and a translation system which supports switching the language of the display text on the mobile terminal, the translation system including a translation server and a CDN server, and a first step in which the mobile terminal determines whether the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application is in a default language of the mobile terminal, and when the mobile terminal determines that the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application is not in the default language of the mobile terminal, a translated text request message including display text identification information of the display text on the display screen of the application and addressed to a specific address in the CDN server is transmitted to the mobile terminal. and transmits the translated text request message; when the CDN server receives the translated text request message, the CDN server determines whether translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is stored in a cache area of the storage means of the CDN server, and if so, reads out the translated text data in the cache area and transmits it to the mobile terminal; if not, requests translated text data of the display text from the translation server, receives the translated text data from the translation server, stores the translated text data in the cache area in association with the display text identification information, and transmits the translated text data to the mobile terminal; and, in a fourth step, the mobile terminal receives the translated text data and displays the translated text data as display text on the display screen of the application.

In this aspect, the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application may include text data transmitted from the display text providing server to the mobile terminal and stored in a storage means of the mobile terminal.

The storage means of the mobile terminal may have a cache area, and in the second step, when the mobile terminal determines that the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application is not in the default language of the mobile terminal, it may determine whether translated text data in the default language of the mobile terminal is stored in the cache area of the mobile terminal, and if translated text data is stored, it may display the translated text data as the display screen of the application, and in the fourth step, the mobile terminal may store the translated text data received from the CDN server in the cache area of the mobile terminal.

In addition, the trigger for determining in the first step whether the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application is in the default language of the mobile device may be the launch of the application on the mobile device or the arrival of a predetermined periodic timing.

Another preferred embodiment of the present invention is a translation system that supports switching the language of the display text on a display screen of a mobile terminal on which an OS and a specific application running on the OS are implemented, and includes a translation server and a CDN server, and when the CDN server receives a translated text request message from the mobile terminal, the CDN server includes display text identification information of the display text on the display screen of the application and is addressed to a specific address in the CDN server, a determination means for determining whether translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is stored in a cache area of a storage means of the CDN server, and the determination means stores the translated text data in the cache area. The system further comprises a first processing means for reading out the translated text data in the cache area and sending it to the mobile device when it is determined that translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is stored, and a second processing means for requesting translated text data of the display text from the translation server, receiving the translated text data from the translation server, storing the translated text data in the cache area in association with the display text identification information, and sending the translated text data to the mobile device when the determination means determines that translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is not stored in the cache area.

This invention makes it possible to efficiently translate text displayed on mobile device applications into multiple languages.

1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a mobile terminal application usage support system 9 including a translation system 4 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of an application AP registered in the application server 951 in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an application user terminal 3 in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an application provider first terminal 1 appearing in FIG. 1 . 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an application provider second terminal 2 appearing in FIG. 1 . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a bilingual DB server 41 in FIG. 1. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data structure of a bilingual DB 4142 in FIG. 6. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a translation server 51 appearing in FIG. 1. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a data structure of a translated text DB 5142 in FIG. 8. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a CDN server 61 in FIG. 1. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the data structure of a table TBL in the cache area 6131 in FIG. 10. 11 is a flowchart of a basic process during startup of an application AP′ in the application user terminal 3. 11 is a flowchart of a basic process during startup of an application AP′ in the application user terminal 3. 13 is a display example of the display screen of the application AP′ when the default language of the OS 341 of the application user terminal 3 is Japanese. 13 is a flowchart of a process performed when a push notification related to an application AP′ is received in the application user terminal 3. 13 is a display example of a push notification when the default language of the OS 341 of the application user terminal 3 is Japanese. 11 is a flowchart of a process related to automatic detection and automatic translation of an update of an application AP′ in the second application provider terminal 2. 11 is a flowchart of a process related to automatic detection and automatic translation of an update of an application AP′ in the second application provider terminal 2. 13 is a flowchart of a process related to automatic translation of a push notification related to an application AP′ in an application provider second terminal 2. 11 is a flowchart of a process related to editing translated text data of an application AP′ in the application provider first terminal 1. 11 is a flowchart of a process related to editing translated text data of an application AP′ in the application provider first terminal 1. 13 is a display example of a first edit screen on an application provider first terminal 1. 13 is a display example of a second edit screen on the first terminal 1 of an application provider. 13 is a flowchart of a process related to editing translated text data of an application AP′ in a second application provider terminal 2. 13 is a flowchart of a process related to editing translated text data of an application AP′ in a second application provider terminal 2. 13 is a flowchart of a process related to editing translated text data of an application AP′ in a second application provider terminal 2. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an operation of shaking the application provider second terminal 2. 13 is a display example of a third edit screen on the second terminal 2 of the application provider. 11 is a flowchart of a process relating to editing of translated text data of an application AP′ in a first application provider terminal 1 and a second application provider terminal 2. 11 is a flowchart of a process relating to editing of translated text data of an application AP′ in a first application provider terminal 1 and a second application provider terminal 2. 11 is a flowchart of a process relating to editing of translated text data of an application AP′ in a first application provider terminal 1 and a second application provider terminal 2. 13 is a display example of a second edit screen on the first terminal 1 of an application provider. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a conventional technique. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a conventional technique. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a conventional technique. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a conventional technique. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a conventional technique.

Figure 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an application usage support system 9 for mobile terminals that includes a translation system 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is intended for an operator of the translation system 4 (hereinafter referred to as the operator) to provide a multilingual service for an application AP to a person (hereinafter referred to as the application provider) who provides an application AP that he or she has developed in an app store, and to a person (hereinafter referred to as the application user) who downloads the application AP from the app store to his or her mobile terminal and uses it.

In FIG. 1, the mobile terminal application support system 9 includes a translation system 4, an app store server 901, an application server 951, an API server 961, a push notification server 971, a first app provider terminal 1, a second app provider terminal 2, and an app user terminal 3. The first app provider terminal 1 is a personal computer of the app provider, and the second app provider terminal 2 is a mobile terminal of the app provider. The app user terminal 3 is a mobile terminal of the app user.

The application store server 901 plays the same role as the application store server 901 shown in Figures 33, 34, 35, 36, and 37. When an application provider applies to the platform provider for a store of an application AP that the application provider has developed, and the application AP passes the platform provider's examination, the application AP is registered in the DB of the application store server 901.

As shown in FIG. 2, an application registered in the app store server 901 includes a manifest file, a native content description section, a web page call function, an API call function, and the like. The manifest file is a file that describes information about resources required to operate the application AP. The native content description section describes the layout structure of the display screen of the application AP and the display text on the screen. The web page call function is a function that transmits a request for markup data at a specific URL on the network 90, receives the markup data, and displays text data described as elements in the markup data as display text at a specific position on the display screen of the application AP. The API call function is a function that transmits a request for a specific API on the network 90, receives text data from the API, and displays the text data as display text at a specific position on the display screen of the application AP.

The application server 951 and API server 961 provide text data of the display text of the application AP to the mobile terminal in response to a request from the mobile terminal.

In more detail, the application server 951 plays the same role as the application server 951 shown in Figures 35, 36, and 37. When the web page call function of the application AP is executed on the mobile terminal and the application server 951 receives a request addressed to the URL of the web page from the mobile terminal, the application server 951 reads the markup data of the display screen of the application AP in the memory area indicated by the URL of this request and transmits it to the mobile terminal. When the provider of the application AP updates the display content of the application AP, the provider accesses the application server 951 from its own terminal and rewrites the markup data of the display screen of the application AP in the application server 951. After that, when the application AP is launched on the mobile terminal, the rewritten markup data in the application server 951 is transmitted to the mobile terminal, and the description content is displayed as the display screen of the application AP.

The API server 961 plays the same role as the API server 961 shown in Figures 35, 36, and 37. When the API call function of the application AP is executed in the mobile terminal and a request addressed to the URL of the API is received from the mobile terminal, the API server 961 performs a predetermined API process and transmits the text data obtained as a result of this process to the mobile terminal.

The push notification server 971 plays the same role as the push notification server 971 shown in FIG. 37. The push notification server 971 receives push notification information from the application server 951 or other servers, identifies the destination mobile terminal based on the device token/device correspondence table in its own device, and delivers the push notification to this mobile terminal.

Figure 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the application user terminal 3. The application user terminal 3 has a control unit 31, a Wi-Fi communication module 321, a mobile communication module 322, a volatile memory unit 33, a non-volatile memory unit 34, a touch panel 35, an acceleration sensor 36, and a battery 37. The control unit 31 includes a CPU. The control unit 31 reads data and programs stored in the non-volatile memory unit 34 into the volatile memory unit 33, and performs various calculations and executes programs while using the volatile memory unit 33 as a work area.

A cache area 331 is secured in the volatile storage unit 33. The cache area 331 stores translated text data provided to the application user terminal 3 from the translation system 4.

The non-volatile storage unit 34 stores an OS 341 for mobile terminals and a plurality of applications AP. Among the plurality of applications AP in the non-volatile storage unit 34, there are applications AP that are the target of the multilingual service and other applications AP. The applications AP that are the target of the multilingual service are registered in the application store server 901 by the application provider and installed in the application user terminal 3 from the application store server 901. In the following description, the reference symbol of the application AP that is the target of the multilingual service is application AP', and is distinguished from the other applications AP. The application AP' includes a Software Development Kit (SDK) 39. The SDK 39 is incorporated into the application AP' by the application provider before the application AP' is registered in the application store server 901 and can be provided to the mobile terminal. The SDK 39 includes functions that realize the following functions.
a1. SDK Startup Function This is a function for starting up the SDK 39 in the application AP'.
a2. Application display screen translation display function This is a function that determines whether the text data in the native content description section of the application AP', the text data received from the application server 951, and the text data received from the API server 961 are in the default language of the OS 341 of the application user terminal on the display screen of the application AP', and if they are not in the default language of the OS 341 of the mobile terminal, determines whether the translated text data is stored in the cache area 331 of the volatile storage unit 33, and if the translated text data is not stored, transmits a translated text request message requesting the translated text data of the display text of the application AP' to the translation system 4, receives a translated text providing message including the translated text data of the display text of the application AP' from the translation system 4, stores the translated text data in the translated text providing message in the cache area 331, and displays the translated text data as the display text on the display screen of the application AP'.
This is a function for checking, upon receiving a push notification related to the application AP', whether or not translated text data of the push notification is stored in the cache area 331 of the volatile storage unit 33, and, if the translated text data of the push notification is stored in the cache area 331, displaying the translated text data in the cache area 331 as the display text of the push notification related to the application AP'.

Figure 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the application provider first terminal 1. The application provider first terminal 1 has a control unit 11, a communication interface 12, a volatile storage unit 13, a non-volatile storage unit 14, a display 15, a keyboard 16, and a pointing device 17. The control unit 11 includes a CPU. The control unit 11 reads data and programs stored in the non-volatile storage unit 14 into the volatile storage unit 13, and performs various calculations and processes related to the execution of programs while using the volatile storage unit 13 as a work area.

The non-volatile memory unit 14 stores an OS 141 for the personal computer and a browser 142.

Figure 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the application provider second terminal 2. The application provider second terminal 2 has a control unit 21, a Wi-Fi communication module 221, a mobile communication module 222, a volatile memory unit 23, a non-volatile memory unit 24, a touch panel 25, an acceleration sensor 26, and a battery 27. The control unit 11 includes a CPU. The control unit 11 reads data and programs stored in the non-volatile memory unit 24 into the volatile memory unit 23, and performs various calculations and executes programs while using the volatile memory unit 23 as a work area.

A cache area 231 is secured in the volatile storage unit 23. The cache area 231 stores translated text data provided from the translation system 4 to the application provider second terminal 2.

The non-volatile storage unit 24 stores an OS 242 for mobile terminals and an application AP'. The application AP' in the non-volatile storage unit 24 incorporates an SDK 29. The SDK 29 is incorporated into the application AP' by the application provider before the application AP' is registered in the application store server 901 and becomes available for provision to mobile terminals. The SDK 29 includes functions a1, a2, and a3 that are the same as those of the above-mentioned SDK 39, and functions that realize the functions shown below.
b1. Update detection/automatic translation function This is a function that transmits and receives a message with the translation system 4 when a predetermined trigger signal TR2 occurs, and based on the result of the message transmission and reception, checks whether the text data in the original language and the translated text data in the foreign language of the display screen and the display text of the push notification of the application AP' are stored in the translated text DB 5142 of the translation system 4, and if the text data in the original language and the translated text data in the foreign language are not stored in the translated text DB 5142, transmits to the translation system 4 a registration request message including the screen/push notification identification information of the display screen and the push notification, and the text data in the original language of the display text of the display screen and the push notification and the translated text data translated into a foreign language, or a registration request message requesting the registration of the translated text data.
This is a function for transmitting, when a push notification related to application AP' is received, to the translation system 4, a registration request message including the screen/push notification identification information of the push notification, and requesting registration of text data in the original language of the display text of the push notification and text data translated into a foreign language, or the translated text data.
b3. Translation and editing function This is a function that, when a predetermined trigger signal TR3 occurs, transmits a translated text request message requesting translated text data of the display text of the application AP' to the translation system 4, receives a translated text providing message including the translated text data of the display text of the application AP' from the translation system 4, stores the translated text data in the translated text providing message in the cache area 231, displays the third editing screen with the translated text data embedded therein, and when a predetermined operation involving the modification of part or all of the display text is performed on the third editing screen, generates a translation rewrite request message including the modified text data, and transmits this translation rewrite request message to the translation system 4.
b4. Application display screen capturing function This is a function that, when a predetermined trigger signal TR5 occurs, captures the display screen in which the translated text data in the cache area 231 is displayed as the display content of the application AP', and transmits the image data obtained by this capturing to the translation system 4.

In FIG. 1, the translation system 4 has a bilingual DB server 41, a translation server 51, and a CDN server 61. These servers 41, 51, and 61 serve to support switching the language of the display text of the application AP' on the application user terminal 3.

Figure 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of the bilingual DB server 41. The bilingual DB server 41 has a control unit 411, a communication interface 412, a volatile storage unit 413, and a non-volatile storage unit 414. The control unit 411 includes a CPU. The control unit 411 reads data and programs stored in the non-volatile storage unit 414 into the volatile storage unit 413, and performs various calculations and executes programs while using the volatile storage unit 413 as a work area.

The non-volatile memory unit 414 stores a server OS 4141, a bilingual DB 4142, and a multilingual support program 4143.

Figure 7 is a diagram showing the data structure of the bilingual DB 4142. The bilingual DB 4142 is a library that contains translated text data such as proper nouns such as company names and product names, and frequently used phrases. Each record in the bilingual DB 4142 has fields for "original language code", "original language text", "foreign language code", and "foreign language text". The "original language code" field indicates language identification information for the original language. The "translated language text" field indicates text data for the proper noun or phrase to be translated. The "foreign language code" indicates language identification information for the foreign language into which it is translated. The "foreign language text" field indicates text data for the proper noun or phrase translated from the original language into the foreign language.

The multilingual support program 4143 has the following functions:
This is a function that receives a message including text data in the original language from the translation server 51, searches the translation DB 4142 for text data in a foreign language that corresponds to the text data in the original language in this message, and transmits the searched text data in the foreign language to the translation server 51.
This is a function to receive a message including a pair of text data in the source language and text data in the foreign language obtained by the translation process from the translation server 51, to determine whether or not the text data in this message is registered in the translation DB 4142, and if not, to store the text data in the source language and the text data in the foreign language in the message in the translation DB 4142.

Figure 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of the translation server 51. The translation server 51 has a control unit 511, a communication interface 512, a volatile storage unit 513, and a non-volatile storage unit 514. The control unit 511 includes a CPU. The control unit 511 reads data and programs stored in the non-volatile storage unit 514 into the volatile storage unit 513, and performs various calculations and executes programs while using the volatile storage unit 513 as a work area.

The non-volatile memory unit 514 stores a server OS 5141, a translated text DB 5142, and a multilingual support program 5143.

Figure 9 is a diagram showing the data structure of translated text DB5142. Translated text DB5142 is a collection of multiple records, each of which corresponds to the display text of the display screen of application AP' or a push notification. Each record in translated text DB5142 has fields for "App ID", "Screen ID/Push Notification ID", "Display Text ID", "Original Language Code", "Original Language Text", "Foreign Language Code", "Foreign Language Text", "Size", "Style", "Alignment", and "Status".

The "App ID" field indicates the app identification information of the application AP'. The "Screen ID/Push Notification ID" field indicates the identification information of the display screen or push notification of the application AP'. If the record is for display text in the display screen of the application AP', the value of the "Screen ID/Push Notification ID" field will be screen/push notification identification information including identification information unique to the display screen (e.g., identification information in which the first two characters are the letters SC indicating a display screen), and if the record is for display text of a push notification related to the application AP', the value of the "Screen ID/Push Notification ID" field will be screen/push notification identification information including identification information unique to the push notification (e.g., identification information in which the first two characters are the letters PS indicating a push notification).

The "Display Text ID" field indicates display text identification information unique to the display text. The "Source Language Language Code" field indicates language identification information of the source language of the display text. The "Source Language Text" field indicates text data in the source language of the display text. The "Foreign Language Language Code" field indicates language identification information of the foreign language into which the display text is translated. The "Foreign Language Text" field indicates translated text data obtained by translating the text data of the display text from the source language to the foreign language. The "Size" field indicates size information of the translated text data. The "Style" field indicates style information of the translated text data. The "Alignment" field indicates alignment information of the translated text data.

The "Status" field indicates status information of the translated text data. Here, there are two types of status information: "Save", which indicates that the translated text data is registered in the translated text DB 5142 but is not permitted to be provided to the application user terminal 3, and "Publish", which indicates that the translated text data is registered in the translated text DB 5142 and is permitted to be provided to the application user terminal 3.

The multilingual support program 5143 has the following functions.
d1. Application display screen translation function When a registration request message is received from the CDN server 61, requesting registration of text data in the original language of the display text on the display screen of the application AP' and translated text data obtained by translating the original text data into a foreign language, or a registration request message requesting registration of translated text data, the function translates the untranslated text data on the display screen from the original language into a predetermined foreign language, stores the translated text data obtained by this translation in the translated text DB 5142 in association with the display text identification information, transmits the translated text data to the CDN server 61, and stores it in the table TBL of the cache area 6131 of the CDN server 61.
d2. Push notification translation function When a registration request message is received from the CDN server 61, requesting registration of text data of the display text of an unregistered push notification related to the application AP' and translated text data obtained by translating the text data from the original language into a specified foreign language, the untranslated push notification is translated from the original language into the specified foreign language, the translated text data obtained by this translation is stored in the translated text DB 5142 in association with the screen/push notification identification information, and the translated text data is transmitted to the CDN server 61 and stored in the table TBL of the cache area 6131 of the CDN server 61.
This is a function for receiving, from the application provider second terminal 2, capturing image data of a display image in which the translated text data in the cache area 231 is displayed as the display content of the application AP′ in the application provider second terminal 2, and for storing the capturing image data in a predetermined area of the volatile storage unit 23.
d4. Translated text correction support function This is a function that, when an edit second screen request message including screen/push notification identification information of the display screen of the application AP' and addressed to the URL of the edit second screen in the translation server 51 is received from the application provider first terminal 1, reads translated text data corresponding to the screen/push notification identification information in the edit second screen request message from the translated text DB 5142, reads image data stored in a predetermined area of the volatile storage unit 23 at this time, generates markup data for the edit second screen including the translated text data and image data, transmits this markup data to the application provider first terminal 1, and, when a translation rewrite request message including display text identification information of the display content corrected on the edit second screen and the corrected text data is received from the application provider first terminal 1, searches the translated text DB 5142 for a record including translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translation rewrite request message, and rewrites the translated text data of the searched record with the text data in the translation rewrite request message.

Figure 10 is a diagram showing the configuration of the CDN server 61. The CDN server 61 has a control unit 611, a communication interface 612, a volatile storage unit 613, and a non-volatile storage unit 614. The control unit 611 includes a CPU. The control unit 611 reads data and programs stored in the non-volatile storage unit 614 into the volatile storage unit 613, and performs various calculations and executes programs while using the volatile storage unit 613 as a work area.

A cache area 6131 is allocated in the volatile storage unit 613. As shown in FIG. 11, the cache area 6131 stores a table TBL that collects copies of records in the translated text DB 5142 whose status is "Published."

The non-volatile storage unit 614 stores a server OS 6141 and a multilingual support program 6142. The multilingual support program 6142 has the following functions.
e1. Translated text delivery function This is a function that, when a translated text request message requesting translated text data of the display text of the application AP' is received from the application user terminal 3, determines whether translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is stored in the cache area 6131 of the CDN server 61, and if stored, reads out the translated text data in the cache area 6131 and transmits a translated text providing message including the translated text data to the application user terminal 3, and if not stored, transmits a translated text request message requesting translated text data of the display text to the translation server 51, receives the translated text data from the translation server 51, stores the translated text data in the cache area 6131 in association with the display text identification information, and transmits the translated text data to the application user terminal 3.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
12 and 13 are flowcharts of basic processing during the execution of the application AP′ in the application user terminal 3. In FIG.

In FIG. 12, when application AP' is launched, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 stores in a specified area of the volatile storage unit 33 the text data in the original language of each display text on the display screen of application AP', i.e., the text data described in the native content description section of application AP', and the text data received from the application server 951 and API server 961 by sending a request to those servers 951 and 961.

After the application AP' is launched in the application user terminal 3, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 monitors whether or not a trigger signal TR1 has occurred in the application user terminal 3 (S1010). This trigger signal TR1 triggers switching of the language of the display text on the display screen of the application AP'. The trigger signal TR1 may be generated when the application AP' is launched, or may be generated at a predetermined interval (e.g., every 5 seconds). If the trigger signal TR1 has occurred in the application user terminal 3 (S1010: Yes), the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 proceeds to step S1020.

In step S1020, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 checks the language set as the default in the OS 341, and determines whether the text data in the original language of each display text stored in a specified area of the volatile storage unit 33 is the same as the default language of the OS 341. If the text data in the original language of the display text is different from the default language of the OS 341 (S1020: No), the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 proceeds to step S1030, and if it is the same as the default language of the OS 341 (S1020: Yes), the control unit 31 proceeds to step S1130.

In step S1030, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 determines whether translated text data for each display text is stored in the cache area 331. If translated text data is not stored (S1030: No), the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 proceeds to step S1040, and if translated text data is stored (S1030: Yes), the control unit 31 proceeds to step S1120.

In step S1040, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 generates a translated text request message including the application identification information of the application AP', the screen/push notification identification information of each display screen of the application AP', the display text identification information of each display text in the display screen, and the language identification information of the default language of the OS 341, and is addressed to a specific URL of the CDN server 61, and transmits the translated text request message to the network 90.

When the control unit 611 of the CDN server 61 receives the translated text request message, it extracts the app identification information, screen/push notification identification information, display text identification information, and language identification information of the original language from the translated text request message, stores them in the volatile storage unit 613, and searches the table TBL of the cache area 6131 for a record containing translated text data corresponding to this information. If the control unit 611 of the CDN server 61 does not have a record containing the translated text data in the cache area 6131 (S1050: No), it proceeds to step S1060, and if the cache area 6131 has a record containing the translated text data in question (S1050: Yes), it proceeds to step S1100.

The control unit 611 of the CDN server 61 generates a translated text request message including the application identification information, screen/push notification identification information, display text identification information, and language identification information of the original language stored in the volatile memory unit 613, and transmits this translated text request message to the translation server 51.

When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives the translated text request message, it extracts the application identification information, screen/push notification identification information, display text identification information, and original language identification information from the translated text request message and stores them in the volatile storage unit 513. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches records in the translated text DB 5142 whose "Status" is set to "Publish" as the search range, and searches for records in the translated text DB 5142 that contain translated text data that corresponds to the application identification information, screen/push notification identification information, display text identification information, and original language identification information in the volatile storage unit 613 (S1070).

If the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 finds a corresponding record among the records in the search range in the translated text DB 5142, it reads out information from the fields "App ID", "Screen ID/Push notification ID", "Display text ID", "Original language code", "Original language text", "Foreign language code", "Foreign language text", "Size", "Style", and "Layout" of that record, and transmits this information to the CDN server 61 (S1080).

The control unit 611 of the CDN server 61 stores the application identification information, screen/push notification identification information, display text identification information, language identification information of the original language, text data of the original language, language identification information of the foreign language to which the text is to be translated, translated text data, size information, style information, and placement information received from the translation server 51 as a new record in table TBL of the cache area 6131 (S1090), and proceeds to step S1100.

In step S1100, the control unit 611 of the CDN server 61 reads information from the fields "App ID", "Screen ID/Push Notification ID", "Display Text ID", "Original Language Language Code", "Original Language Text", "Foreign Language Language Code", "Foreign Language Text", "Size", "Style", and "Layout" in the relevant record in the table TBL of the cache area 6131 (the record searched for in the table TBL in step S1050 or the record added to the table TBL in step S1090), generates a translated text provision message including this information, and transmits this translated text provision message to the network 90.

When the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 receives the translated text provision message, it extracts the application identification information, screen/push notification identification information, display text identification information, language identification information of the foreign language to which the text is to be translated, the translated text data, size information, style information, and layout information from the translated text provision message, and stores this information in the cache area 331 of the volatile storage unit 33 (S1110), and proceeds to step S1120.

In step S1120, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 displays the translated text data, size information, style information, and placement information in the cache area 331 of the volatile storage unit 33 as display text on the display screen of the application AP'.

Figure 14 shows an example of the display screen of application AP' when the default language of OS341 of the application user terminal 3 is Japanese. In this display example, seven display texts on the display screen of application AP' are replaced from the original language, English, to Japanese, which is the default language of OS341.

In step S1130 of FIG. 13, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 displays the text data in the original language, size information, style information, and placement information in the cache area as display text on the display screen of the application AP'.

Figure 15 is a flowchart showing the processing performed when a push notification related to an application is received on the application user terminal 3.

In FIG. 15, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 monitors whether or not a push notification related to the application AP' has been received (S2010). If the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 has received a push notification (S2010: Yes), the control unit 31 proceeds to step S2020.

In step S2020, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 checks the language set as the default in the OS 341, and determines whether the text data received as the push notification is the same as the default language of the OS 341. If the text data in the original language of the push notification is different from the default language of the OS 341 (S2020: No), the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 proceeds to step S2030, and if the original language is the same as the default language of the OS 341 (S2020: Yes), the control unit 31 proceeds to step S2040.

In step S2030, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 determines whether or not translated text data of the push notification is stored in the cache area 331. If the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 determines that translated text data is not stored (S2030: No), the control unit 31 proceeds to step S2040, and if translated text data is stored (S2030: Yes), the control unit 31 proceeds to step S2050.

In step S2040, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 displays the text data in the original language as the display text for the push notification.

In step S2050, the control unit 31 of the application user terminal 3 displays the translated text data in the cache area 331 as the display text for the push notification.

Figure 16 shows an example of how a push notification is displayed when the default language of the OS341 of the application user terminal 3 is Japanese. In this display example, the display text of the push notification is changed from the original language, English, to the default language of the OS341, Japanese.

Figures 17 and 18 are flowcharts of the process related to automatic detection and automatic translation of updates to the display text of application AP' on the second application provider terminal 2.

In FIG. 17, when application AP' is launched, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 stores in a specified area of the volatile storage unit 23 the text data in the original language of each display text on the display screen of application AP', i.e., the text data described in the native content description section of application AP', and the text data received from the application server 951 and API server 961 by sending a request to those servers 951 and 961.

After the application AP' is launched in the second application provider terminal 2, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 monitors whether a trigger signal TR2 has occurred in the second application provider terminal 2 (S3010). This trigger signal TR2 triggers automatic detection and automatic translation of updates to the display text of the application AP'. The trigger signal TR2 may be generated when the application AP' is launched, or may be generated at a predetermined interval (e.g., every 24 hours). If the trigger signal TR2 has occurred in the second application provider terminal 2 (S3010: Yes), the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 proceeds to step S3020.

In step S3020, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 generates an update detection message that includes the application identification information of the application AP' and is addressed to a specific URL of the translation server 51, and transmits this update detection message to the network 90.

When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives the update detection message, it extracts the application identification information from the update detection message and stores it in the volatile storage unit 513. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches all records in the translated text DB 5142 as the search range, and searches for records in the volatile storage unit 513 that include the application identification information (S3030).

The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 reads information from the fields "App ID", "Screen ID/Push notification ID", "Display text ID", "Original language code", "Original language text", "Foreign language code", "Foreign language text", "Size", "Style", and "Layout" of the record searched for in the translated text DB 5142, generates a translated text provision message including this information, and transmits this translated text provision message to the network 90 (S3040).

When the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 receives the translated text provision message, it extracts information from the translated text provision message and stores the extracted information in the volatile storage unit 23. The control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 compares the information extracted from the translated text provision message and stored in the volatile storage unit 23 with the information previously stored in the volatile storage unit 23, and determines whether or not there is any text data in the original language and foreign language that has not been registered in the translated text DB 5142 among the latest displayed text on the display screen of the application AP' (S3050). If there is any text data in the original language and foreign language that has not been registered in the translated text DB 5142 among the latest displayed text on the display screen of the application AP' (S3050: Yes), the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 proceeds to step S3060.

Here, there are various aspects of the information comparison in step S3050. For example, the display text identification information of the translated display text extracted from the translated text provision message (display text identification information stored in translated text DB 5142) and the display text identification information stored in the volatile storage unit 23 (display text identification information sent from the translation server 51 to the application provider second terminal 2 in the process related to the previous automatic detection and automatic translation (Figures 17 and 18) (step S3090 in Figure 18) and stored in the cache area 231 of the application provider second terminal (step S3100 in Figure 18), or the display text identification information sent from the translation server 51 to the application provider second terminal 2 in the process related to the previous automatic translation of the push notification (Figure 19 shown below)) The application provider may compare the numbers of pieces of display text identification information) sent from the application provider second terminal 2 to the application provider second terminal 2 (step S4090 in FIG. 19 ) and stored in the cache area 231 of the application provider second terminal 2 (step S4100 in FIG. 19 ). If the numbers of display text identification information are different, it may be determined that at least one of the text data in the original language and the translated text data in the foreign language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' is unregistered, and if the numbers of display text identification information are the same, it may be determined that the text data in the original language and the translated text data in the foreign language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' has been registered. Similarly, if the number of screen/push notification identification information of the translated display text extracted from the translated text providing message is different from the number of screen/push notification identification information stored in the volatile storage unit 23, it may be determined that at least one of the text data in the original language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' and the translated text data in the foreign language is unregistered, and if the numbers of screen/push notification identification information are the same, it may be determined that the text data in the original language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' and the translated text data in the foreign language are registered. Also, the number of text data in the original language extracted from the translated text providing message is compared with the number of text data in the original language stored in the volatile storage unit 23, and if the numbers are different, it may be determined that the text data in the original language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' is unregistered, and if the numbers are the same, it may be determined that the text data in the original language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' is registered. In addition, the number of translated text data extracted from the translated text provision message is compared with the number of translated text data stored in the volatile storage unit 23. If the numbers are different, it is determined that the translated text data of the most recent display text on the display screen of the application AP' has not been registered, and if the numbers are the same, it is determined that the translated text data of the most recent display text on the display screen of the application AP' has been registered.

In step S3060, the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 generates a registration request message addressed to a specific URL of the translation server 51, and transmits this registration request message to the network 90. Specifically, when the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 determines in step S3050 that both the original language text data and the translated foreign language text data of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' are unregistered, the control unit 21 generates an original language/foreign language translation registration request message including the application identification information of the application AP', the screen/push notification identification information of the display screen on which the unregistered display text is located, the language identification information of the original language of the unregistered display text, the original language text data of the unregistered display text, and the language identification information of one or more foreign languages that are preset as translation destinations, and transmits this original language/foreign language translation registration request message. If the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 determines in step S3050 that the text data in the original language of the latest display text on the display screen of application AP' has been registered, but the translated text data in the foreign language has not been registered, the control unit 21 generates a foreign language translation registration request message including the application identification information of application AP', the screen/push notification identification information of the display screen on which the untranslated display text is located, the language identification information of the original language of the untranslated display text, the text data in the original language of the untranslated display text, and the language identification information of one or more foreign languages that have been preset as translation destinations, and transmits this foreign language translation registration request message.

When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives the registration request message, it extracts information from the registration request message, stores the extracted information in the volatile storage unit 513, and performs a translation process (S3070). In this translation process, if the registration request message received from the application provider second terminal 2 is a source language/foreign language translation registration request message, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 performs a source language registration process in which the application identification information, screen/push notification identification information, language identification information of the source language, and text data of the source language in the source language/foreign language translation registration request message are added as new records to the translated text DB 5142, and then the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 performs a foreign language registration process in which the text data of the source language is translated into one or more foreign languages indicated by the language identification information of the foreign language to which the translation is to be made, and the application identification information, screen/push notification identification information, language identification information of the source language, text data of the source language, language identification information, and translated text data in the source language/foreign language translation registration request message are added as new records to the translated text DB 5142. If the registration request message received from the application provider second terminal 2 is a foreign language translation registration request message, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 performs only the foreign language registration process without performing the source language registration process.

In more detail, in the foreign language registration process, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 sends text data in the original language to be translated to the bilingual DB server 41 (S3071). The control unit 411 of the bilingual DB server 41 performs a search process (S3072). In the search process, the control unit 411 of the bilingual DB server 41 searches whether there are proper nouns or phrases in the bilingual DB 4142 that correspond to the text data in the original language to be translated, and returns the search results to the translation server 51 (S3073). When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches the bilingual DB 4142 and obtains search results that match the text data to be translated, it stores the search results in the volatile storage unit 513 as translated text data. When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 does not obtain a search result that matches the text data to be translated by searching the bilingual DB 4142, it sends an inquiry to the search engine site and the trained model for translation to obtain a translation result that matches the text data to be translated, and stores this translation result as translated text data in the volatile storage unit 513. When the control unit 411 of the translation server 51 determines that the translated text data indicates a proper noun or phrase and requires registration in the bilingual DB 4142, it sends the language identification information of the source language, the text data of the source language, the language identification information of the foreign language to be translated, and the translated text data to the bilingual DB server 41 (S3074). The control unit 411 of the bilingual DB server 41 performs a registration process (S3075). In the registration process, the control unit 411 of the bilingual DB server 41 generates a new record containing the language identification information of the source language, the text data of the source language, the language identification information of the foreign language into which the data is to be translated, and the translated text data received from the translation server 51, and stores this record in the bilingual DB 4142.

After the translation process, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 stores the information "Save" in the "Status" field of the new record in the translated text DB 5142 (S3080). Here, the "Size", "Style", and "Layout" fields in this new record may be left blank, or may contain size information, style information, and layout information that are preset as initial values.

In step S3090, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 reads the information of the "app ID," "screen ID/push notification ID," "display text ID," "original language code," "original language text," "foreign language code," and "foreign language text" of the record added to the translated text DB 5142, generates a translation registration message including this information, and transmits this translation registration message to the network 90.

When the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 receives the translation registration message, it extracts the information in the translation registration message and stores the extracted information in the cache area 231 (S3100).

Here, the application provider second terminal 2 performs processing related to automatic detection and automatic translation of updates to the display text of the application AP' shown in Figures 17 and 18, and after the translated text data of the new display text on the display screen of the application AP' is added to the translated text DB 5142 of the translation server 51, when the trigger signal TR1 is generated in the application user terminal 3, the application user terminal 3 proceeds to the processing of step S1010: Yes → step S1020: No → step S1030: No → step S1040 in Figure 12, and a translated text request message is sent from the application user terminal 3 to the CDN server 61. At this point, there is no translated text data of the new display text in the table TBL of the cache area 6131 of the CDN server 61, so the processing proceeds to step S1050: No → step S1060, and a translated text request message is sent from the CDN server 61 to the translation server 51. In the translation server 51, in step S1070, new translated text data is read from the translated text DB 5142 and transmitted to the CDN server 61. In the CDN server 61, in step S1090, this new translated text data is stored in the table TBL of the cache area 6131, and in step S1100, a translated text provision message including this new translated text data is transmitted from the CDN server 61 to the application user terminal 3. In the application user terminal 3, in step S1110, this new translated text data is stored in the cache area 331. Thereafter, when the trigger signal TR1 is generated again in the application user terminal 3, the process in the application user terminal 3 proceeds in the order of step S1010: Yes->step S1020: No->step S1030. At this point, the new translated text data is in the cache area 331, so the result of the determination in step S1030 is "Yes", and the process proceeds to step S1120, where the translated text data of the new display text is displayed as the display text on the display screen of application AP'.

By repeating the above process, even if the text data provided to the application user terminal 3 from the application server 951 or API server 961 is updated without the knowledge of the application provider, the language of the display content on the application user terminal 3 can be made to follow the update.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of the process related to the automatic translation of a push notification related to the application AP' in the application provider second terminal 2. Here, as a preparatory step for the automatic translation of this push notification, the application provider sets the application provider second terminal 2 as a test environment and test distributes to the application provider second terminal 2 the push notification to be distributed to the application user terminal 3. Specifically, the application provider accesses the push notification registration site of the application server 951 and registers the message of the push notification to be distributed and the device token information of the application provider second terminal 2. Once this registration is completed, the application server 951 transmits the information of the push notification registered by the application provider to the push notification server 971, and the push notification server 971 transmits the push notification to the application provider second terminal 2.

In FIG. 19, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 monitors whether a push notification related to the application AP' has been received (S4010). If the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 has received a push notification (S4010: Yes), the control unit 21 proceeds to step S4060.

In step S4060, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 generates a registration request message addressed to a specific URL of the translation server 51, and transmits this registration request message to the network 90. Specifically, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 compares the text data of the display text of the push notification to be delivered with information previously stored in the volatile storage unit 23, and determines whether or not the display text of the push notification to be delivered includes text data in the original language and the foreign language that has not yet been registered in the translated text DB 5142. When the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 determines that both the text data in the original language and the translated text data in the foreign language of the display text of the push notification to be delivered are unregistered, it generates an original language/foreign language translation registration request message including the application identification information of application AP', the screen/push notification identification information of the unregistered push notification, the language identification information of the original language of the unregistered push notification, the text data in the original language of the unregistered push notification, and the language identification information of one or more foreign languages that are pre-set as translation destinations, and sends this original language/foreign language translation registration request message. If the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 determines that the text data in the original language of the display text of the push notification to be distributed has been registered, but the translated text data in the foreign language has not been registered, the control unit 21 generates a foreign language translation registration request message including the application identification information of the application AP', the screen/push notification identification information of the untranslated push notification, the language identification information of the original language of the untranslated push notification, the text data in the original language of the untranslated push notification, and the language identification information of one or more foreign languages that are preset as translation destinations, and transmits this foreign language translation registration request message.

When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives the registration request message, it extracts the information in the registration request message, stores the extracted information in the volatile memory unit 513, and performs translation processing (S4070). In this translation process, if the registration request message received from the application provider second terminal 2 is an original language/foreign language translation registration request message, an original language registration process is performed in which the application identification information, the push notification screen/push notification identification information, the language identification information of the original language of the push notification, and the text data of the original language of the push notification in the original language/foreign language translation registration request message are added as new records to the translated text DB 5142.Then, a foreign language registration process is performed in which the text data of the original language of the push notification is translated into one or more foreign languages indicated by the language identification information of the foreign language to which the push notification is translated, and the application identification information, the push notification screen/push notification identification information, the language identification information of the original language of the push notification, the text data of the original language of the push notification, the language identification information of the foreign language to which the push notification is translated, and the translated text data of the push notification in the original language/foreign language translation registration request message are added as new records to the translated text DB 5142. If the registration request message received from the application provider second terminal 2 is a foreign language translation registration request message, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 performs only the foreign language registration process without performing the source language registration process. The procedures of steps S4070, S4071, S4072, S4073, S4074, and S4075 in this translation process are the same as the procedures of steps S3070, S3071, S3072, S3073, S3074, and S3075 in the translation process of FIG. 18.

After the translation process, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 stores the information "Publish" in the "Status" field of the new record in the translated text DB 5142 (S4080), and proceeds to step S4090. The "Size", "Style", and "Layout" fields in this new record may be left blank, or may contain size information, style information, and layout information that are preset as initial values.

In step S4090, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 reads the information of the "app ID," "screen ID/push notification ID," "display text ID," "original language code," "original language text," "foreign language code," and "foreign language text" of the record added to the translated text DB 5142, generates a translation registration message including this information, and transmits this translation registration message to the network 90.

When the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 receives the translated text provision message, it extracts the information in the translated text provision message and stores the extracted information in the cache area 231 (S4100).

Here, the application provider second terminal 2 performs processing related to the automatic translation of the push notification related to the application AP' shown in FIG. 19, and the translated text data of the push notification to be delivered is added to the translated text DB 5142 of the translation server 51. When the trigger signal TR1 is generated in the application user terminal 3, the processing proceeds as follows: Step S1010: Yes → Step S1020: No → Step S1030: No → Step S1040 → Step S1050: No → Step S1060 → Step S1070 in FIG. 12. At this point, the translated text data of the push notification to be delivered is stored in the translated text DB 5142, so in step S1070, the translated text data of the push notification to be delivered is read from the translated text DB 5142 together with the translated text data of other display texts on the display screen, and is sent to the CDN server 61. In the CDN server 61, in step S1090, the translated text data of the push notification is stored in table TBL of cache area 6131, and in step S1100, a translated text provision message including the translated text data of the push notification is sent from the CDN server 61 to the application user terminal 3. In the application user terminal 3, in step S1110, the translated text data of the push notification is stored in cache area 331. Thereafter, when the application user terminal 3 receives the push notification that was scheduled to be delivered, the process proceeds from step S2010: Yes to step S2020: No to step S2030 in FIG. 15. At this point, the translated text data of the push notification is in cache area 331, so the determination result in step S2030 is "Yes", and the process proceeds to step S2050, where the translated text data is displayed as the display text of the push notification.

Figures 20 and 21 are flowcharts of the process involved in editing the translated text data of application AP' on the application provider first terminal 1.

In FIG. 20, when the browser 142 is launched in the first application provider terminal 1 and a specific operation related to viewing the editing screen is performed, the control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 generates an editing first screen request message including the application identification information of the application AP' and addressed to the URL of the editing first screen in the translation server 51, and transmits this editing first screen request message to the network 90 (S5010).

When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives the edit first screen request message, it extracts the app identification information from the edit first screen request message and stores it in the volatile memory unit 513. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches all records in the translated text DB 5142 as the search range, and searches for records in the volatile memory unit 513 that include the app identification information (S5020).

The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 reads information from the fields "App ID", "Screen ID/Push notification ID", "Display text ID", "Original language code", "Original language text", "Foreign language code", "Foreign language text", "Size", "Style", and "Layout" of the record searched from the translated text DB 5142. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 embeds the information of the record searched from the translated text DB 5142 in a specified location of the template for the first editing screen of the application AP' to generate markup data for the first editing screen, and transmits this markup data to the network 90 (S5030).

When the control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 receives the markup data of the first editing screen, it stores the markup data in the volatile storage unit 13. The control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 interprets the markup data of the first editing screen in the volatile storage unit 13, specifies the layout of the first editing screen, and displays the first editing screen (S5040).

Figure 22 is a display example of the first editing screen on the first application provider terminal 1. On the first editing screen, multiple screen images SRC-i (i = 1 to L: L is the total number of display screens in the application AP', in the example of Figure 22, L = 5) are arranged, which imitate each display screen of the application AP'. The screen images SRC-i are the largest in size in the middle, and the further to the left and right they are, the smaller they become. The middle screen image SRC-i is the tentatively selected screen image SRC-i. Away to the left and right from the middle screen image SRC-i are a left shift button 181L and a right shift button 181R. The left shift button 181L and the right shift button 181R are used to cycle through the screen images SRC-i (i = 1 to L). When the mouse pointer is moved to the left shift button 181L and a left click is performed, the leftmost screen image SRC-i moves to the rightmost, and the other screen images SRC-i shift one by one to the left. When the mouse pointer is moved to the right shift button 181R and a left click is performed, the rightmost screen image SRC-i moves to the leftmost, and the other screen images SRC-i shift one by one to the right. On the first editing screen, the operator of the application provider performs a screen selection operation. In the screen selection operation, the mouse pointer is moved onto the middle screen image SRC-i and a left click is performed.

If a screen selection operation is performed on the first editing screen (S5170: Yes), the control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 proceeds to step S5180.

In step S5180, the control unit 11 of the application provider first terminal 1 generates an edit second screen request message including the screen/push notification identification information of the display screen selected by the screen selection operation and addressed to the URL of the edit second screen in the translation server 51, and transmits this edit second screen request message to the network 90.

After transmitting the markup data of the edited first screen to the application provider first terminal 1, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 monitors whether or not an edited second screen request message has been received from the application provider first terminal 1. If the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives an edited second screen request message (S5190: Yes), the control unit 511 proceeds to step S5200.

In step S5200, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 extracts the screen/push notification identification information from the edit second screen request message and stores it in the volatile storage unit 513. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches all records in the translated text DB 5142, searches for records in the volatile storage unit 513 that contain the screen/push notification identification information, and reads out information in the fields "Screen ID/Push Notification ID", "Display Text ID", "Original Language Code", "Original Language Text", "Foreign Language Code", "Foreign Language Text", "Size", "Style", and "Layout" of the records searched for in the translated text DB 5142. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 then embeds the information of the records searched for in the translated text DB 5142 in a predetermined location in the template for the edit second screen of the application AP' to generate markup data for the edit second screen, and transmits this markup data to the network 90 (S5210).

When the control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 receives the markup data of the second editing screen, it stores the markup data in the volatile storage unit 13. The control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 interprets the markup data of the second editing screen in the volatile storage unit 13, specifies the layout of the second editing screen, and displays the second editing screen (S5220).

Figure 23 is a display example of the second editing screen in the first terminal 1 of the application provider. The second editing screen has a language display field 182 and a translation list 183. The left side of the language display field 182 displays information on the source language (EN in the example of Figure 23), and the right side displays information on the translation target language (JP in the example of Figure 23). The translation list 183 is a vertical arrangement of translation display fields 185-j (j = 1 to M: M is the total number of display texts on the display screen, M = 8 in the example of Figure 23) for each display text on the display screen. The left frame of the translation display field 185-j displays information on the source language of the display text, and the right frame displays information on the translated word of the display text. On the second editing screen, the operator of the application provider performs language switching and correction operations. In the language switching operation, the mouse pointer is moved to the pull-down expansion button 184 in the language display field 182 and left-clicked to expand the pull-down (not shown), and the mouse pointer is moved to the desired language in the pull-down and left-clicked. When the language switching operation is performed, the translated word information in the box on the right side of the translation list 183 is switched to that of the language selected by the language switching operation. In the correction operation, the mouse pointer is moved to the translation display field 185-j of the desired display text in the translation list 183 and left-clicked to activate the correction box, and the text in this correction box is rewritten.

If a correction operation is performed on the second editing screen (S5230: Yes), the control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 proceeds to step S5240.

In step S5240, the control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 generates a translation rewrite request message addressed to the translation server 51, including display text identification information of the display text corrected by the correction operation, language identification information of the source language and the foreign language to which the text is translated in the language display field 182 at the time of the correction operation, and the corrected text data, and transmits this translation rewrite request message to the network 90. Then, the process returns to step S5230.

When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives the translation rewrite request message, it extracts the display text identification information, the language identification information of the source language, the language identification information of the foreign language to which the text is to be translated, and the corrected text data from the translation rewrite request message, and stores them in the volatile storage unit 513. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches all records in the translated text DB 5142 as the search range, and searches for records in the volatile storage unit 513 that include the display text identification information (S5250).

The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 rewrites the text data of the "foreign language text" of the record searched for in the translated text DB 5142 with the corrected text data in the volatile memory unit 513 (S5260).

Figures 24, 25, and 26 are flowcharts of the process involved in editing the translated text data of application AP' on the application provider second terminal 2.

When any of the display screens of the application AP' is displayed, the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 monitors whether or not a trigger signal TR3 has occurred in the application provider second terminal 2 (S6010). This trigger signal TR3 triggers translation and editing in the application provider second terminal 2 alone. As shown in FIG. 27, the trigger signal TR3 may be generated when the application provider second terminal 2 is shaken. Specifically, when the waveform of the output signal of the acceleration sensor 26 matches a predetermined pattern, the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 may determine that the application provider second terminal 2 has been shaken and generate the trigger signal TR3. When the trigger signal TR3 has occurred in the application provider second terminal 2 (S6010: Yes), the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 proceeds to step S6020.

In step S6020, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 generates a translated text request message addressed to a specific URL of the translation server 51, including the screen/push notification identification information of the display screen of the application AP' at the time when the trigger signal TR3 was generated, the display text identification information of the display text on the display screen, and the language identification information of the foreign language to be translated, and transmits the translated text request message to the network 90.

When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives the translated text request message, it extracts the screen/push notification identification information, the display text identification information, and the language identification information of the foreign language to which the text is to be translated from the translated text request message, and stores these in the volatile storage unit 513. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches all records in the translated text DB 5142, and searches for records in the volatile storage unit 513 that contain translated text data that corresponds to the screen/push notification identification information and the display text identification information (S6030).

The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 reads information from the fields "Screen ID/Push notification ID", "Display text ID", "Original language code", "Original language text", "Foreign language code", "Foreign language text", "Size", "Style", and "Layout" of the record searched for in the translated text DB 5142, generates a translated text provision message including this information, and transmits this translated text provision message to the network 90 (S6040).

When the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 receives the translated text provision message, it extracts the information in the translated text provision message, stores the extracted information in the cache area 231 (S6050), and proceeds to step S6060.

In step S6060, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 displays the third editing screen based on the language identification information of the foreign language to be translated, the translated text data, the size information, the style information, and the placement information in the cache area 231.

28(A) is a display example of the third editing screen in the second terminal 2 of the application provider. The third editing screen includes a language display field 281, a translation list 282, a scroll bar 283, a first button 286, a second button 287, and a third button 288. The language display field 281 displays the language identification information of the foreign language to be translated (JP in the example of FIG. 28(A)). The translation list 282 is a vertical arrangement of translation display fields 285-k (k=1 to N: N is the total number of display texts on the display screen, N=7 in the example of FIG. 28) for each display text on the display screen. The scroll bar 283 is for vertically scrolling the display range of the translation list 282. The translation display field 285-k displays information on the translated words of the display text. The first button 286 displays the word "Preview". The second button 287 displays the word "Cancel". The word "Publish" is written inside the third button 288.

On the second editing screen, the operator of the app provider performs a language switching operation, a correction operation, a Preview operation, a Cancel operation, or a Publish operation. In a language switching operation, the operator touches the language display field 281 to expand a pull-down (not shown), and then touches the desired language in the pull-down. When a language switching operation is performed, the information in the translation display field 285-k (k=1 to N: N is the total number of displayed texts on the display screen; in the example of FIG. 28, N=7) of the translation list 282 switches to the language selected by the language switching operation.

As shown in FIG. 28(B), in the correction operation, the desired translation display field 285-k in the translation list 282 is touched to activate the correction box 285'-k, and the information on the characters, size, style, or position of the translated word in this correction box 285'-k is rewritten.

For the Preview operation, touch the first button 286. For the Cancel operation, touch the second button 287. For the Publish operation, touch the third button 288.

If a correction operation has been performed on the third editing screen (S6070: Yes), the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 proceeds to step S6080, and if a correction operation has not been performed, the control unit 21 proceeds to step S6120.

In step S6080, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 rewrites the translated text data, size information, style information, or layout information of the display text modified by the modification operation in the cache area 231. After that, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 generates a translation rewrite request message including the rewritten information in the cache area 231 and addressed to the translation server 51, and transmits this translation rewrite request message to the network 90 (S6090).

When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives the translation rewrite request message, it extracts the display text identification information, translated text data, size information, style information, and layout information from the translation rewrite request message and stores them in the volatile storage unit 513. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches all records in the translated text DB 5142, and searches for records in the volatile storage unit 513 that contain the display text identification information (S6100).

The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 rewrites the information in the "Foreign Language Text", "Size", "Style", or "Layout" fields of the record searched for in the translated text DB 5142 with the corrected information in the volatile memory unit 513 (S6110).

If the Preview operation is performed on the third editing screen (S6120: Yes), the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 proceeds to step S6130, and if the Preview operation is not performed, the control unit 21 proceeds to step S6140.

In step S6130, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 displays the translated text data, size information, style information, and placement information in the cache area 231 of the volatile storage unit 23 as a preview screen of the application AP', and proceeds to step S6140.

In step S6140, if a Cancel operation is performed on the third edit screen (S6140: Yes), the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 restores the information in the cache area 331 of the volatile storage unit 33 to the information before the rewrite, and returns to step S6070. If a Cancel operation is not performed (S6140: No), the process proceeds to step S6150.

If a Publish operation is performed on the third edit screen (S6150: Yes), the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 proceeds to step S6160, and if a Publish operation is not performed (S6150: No), the control unit 21 returns to step S6070.

In step S6160, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 generates a status change request message including the display text identification information in the cache area 331 and addressed to a specific URL of the translation server 51, and transmits this status change request message to the network 90.

When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives the status change request message, it extracts the display text identification information from the status change request message and stores it in the volatile storage unit 513. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches all records in the translated text DB 5142 as the search range, and searches for records in the volatile storage unit 513 that contain the display text identification information (S6170).

The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 rewrites the information in the "Status" field of the record searched for in the translated text DB 5142 to "Publish" (S6180). After rewriting the information in the "Status" field, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 reads information from the "App ID", "Screen ID/Push Notification ID", "Display Text ID", "Original Language Code", "Original Language Text", "Foreign Language Code", "Foreign Language Text", "Size", "Style", and "Layout" fields of the rewritten record, and transmits this information to the CDN server 61 (S6190).

The control unit 611 of the CDN server 61 stores the application identification information, screen/push notification identification information, display text identification information, language identification information of the original language, text data of the original language, language identification information of the foreign language to which the text is to be translated, translated text data, size information, style information, and placement information received from the translation server 51 as a new record in table TBL of the cache area 6131 of the volatile storage unit 613 (S6200).

Figures 29, 30, and 31 are flowcharts of the process of editing the translated text data of application AP' by the first application provider terminal 1 and the second application provider terminal 2.

29, when the browser 142 is launched in the first application provider terminal 1 and a predetermined operation related to viewing the first edit screen is performed, the control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 sends a first edit screen request message (S7010), the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches for a corresponding record in the translated text DB 5142 (S7020), sends markup data for the first edit screen with the information of this record embedded (S7030), and the control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 displays the first edit screen (FIG. 22) (S7040). The processing of these steps S7010, S7020, S7030, and S7040 is the same as the processing of steps S5010, S5020, S5030, and S5040 in FIG. 20.

In conjunction with the display of the first editing screen on the first application provider terminal 1, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 monitors whether or not a trigger signal TR4 has been generated within the second application provider terminal 2 (S7051). This trigger signal TR4 is an opportunity for the first application provider terminal 1 and the second application provider terminal 2 to jointly translate and edit the content. It is preferable that the trigger signal TR4 be generated at a predetermined interval (e.g., every 5 seconds).

When a trigger signal TR4 occurs in the second application provider terminal 2 (S7051: Yes), the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 transmits a translated text request message (S7052). The process of step S7052 is the same as the process of step S6020 in FIG. 24.

When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives the translated text request message, it searches for a corresponding record in the translated text DB 5142 (S7100) and sends a translated text provision message including information about this record to the application provider second terminal 2 (S7110). The processing of these steps S7100 and S7110 is similar to the processing of steps S6030 and S6040 in FIG. 24.

When the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 receives the translated text provision message, it extracts the information in the translated text provision message and stores the extracted information in the cache area 231 (S7115), and proceeds to step S7116.

In step S7116, the control unit 21 of the second application provider terminal 2 displays the translated text data, size information, style information, and layout information in the cache area 331 as display text on the display screen of the application AP', captures this display screen, and transmits image data of the captured image to the translation server 51. Then, the process returns to step S7051.

After transmitting the translated text provision message to the application provider second terminal 2, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 monitors the transmission of image data from the application provider second terminal 2. If the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives image data (S7121: Yes), it stores the received image data in a predetermined area of the volatile storage unit 23 (S7122) and proceeds to step S7190.

In step S7190, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 monitors whether or not an edit second screen request message has been received from the application provider first terminal 1. If the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 has received an edit second screen request message (S7190: Yes), the control unit 511 proceeds to step S7200.

In step S7200, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 extracts the screen/push notification identification information from the edit second screen request message and stores it in the volatile storage unit 513. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches all records in the translated text DB 5142, searches for records in the volatile storage unit 513 that contain the screen/push notification identification information, and reads out information in the fields of "Screen ID/Push Notification ID", "Display Text ID", "Original Language Code", "Original Language Text", "Foreign Language Code", "Foreign Language Text", "Size", "Style", and "Layout" of the records searched from the translated text DB 5142. The control unit 511 of the translation server 51 then embeds the information of the records searched from the translated text DB 5142 and the latest image data received from the application provider second terminal 2 in a predetermined position of the template for the edit second screen of the application AP' to generate markup data for the edit second screen, and transmits this markup data to the network 90 (S7210).

When the control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 receives the markup data of the second editing screen, it stores the markup data in the volatile storage unit 13. The control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 interprets the markup data of the second editing screen in the volatile storage unit 13, specifies the layout of the second editing screen, and displays the second editing screen (S7220).

Figure 32 is an example of the second editing screen displayed in step S7220. Unlike the second editing screen (Figure 23) when translation and editing is performed by the first application provider terminal 1 alone, the second editing screen (Figure 32) when editing work is performed by the first application provider terminal 1 and the second application provider terminal 2 has a capturing image IMG of the image data received from the second application provider terminal 2 embedded to the left of the translation list 183. On this second editing screen, the operator of the application provider performs language switching operations and correction operations.

If a correction operation is performed on the second edit screen (S7230: Yes), the control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 proceeds to step S7240 and sends a translation rewrite request message to the translation server 51. If a correction operation is not performed (S7230: No), the control unit 11 proceeds to step S7270 and monitors whether a screen update trigger signal TR5 has occurred. The screen update trigger signal TR5 may be generated at a predetermined interval (e.g., every second). If a screen update trigger signal TR5 has occurred (S7270: Yes), the control unit 11 of the first application provider terminal 1 proceeds to step S7180 and resends the second edit screen request message. If a screen update trigger signal TR5 has not occurred (S7270: No), the control unit 11 proceeds to step S7230 and waits for a correction operation to be performed.

When the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 receives the translation rewrite request message, it searches for the corresponding record in the translated text DB 5142 (S7250) and rewrites the translated text data of the searched record (S7260). The processing of these steps S7250 and S7260 is the same as the processing of steps S6100 and S6110 in FIG. 25.

Here, in the process related to editing the translated text data of application AP' by the application provider first terminal 1 and the application provider second terminal 2 shown in Figures 29, 30, and 31, the display screen of application AP' on the application provider second terminal 2 is captured, and the edited second screen on the application provider first terminal 1 with the captured image embedded therein is updated in real time. Therefore, the operator of the application provider can proceed with the revision work while checking the revised display screen.

29, 30, and 31 are performed by the application provider first terminal 1 and the application provider second terminal 2, and the translated text data in the translated text DB 5142 of the translation server 51 is rewritten. When a trigger signal TR1 is generated in the application user terminal 3, the application user terminal 3 proceeds to step S1010: Yes → step S1020: No → step S1030: No → step S1040 in FIG. 12, and a translated text request message is sent from the application user terminal 3 to the CDN server 61. At this point, the translated text data in the table TBL of the cache area 6131 of the CDN server 61 has not been rewritten, so the process proceeds to step S1050: No → step S1060, and a translated text request message is sent from the CDN server 61 to the translation server 51. In the translation server 51, in step S1070, the rewritten translated text data is read from the translated text DB 5142 and transmitted to the CDN server 61. In the CDN server 61, in step S1090, the rewritten translated text data is stored in the table TBL of the cache area 6131, and in step S1100, a translated text provision message including the rewritten translated text data is transmitted from the CDN server 61 to the application user terminal 3. In the application user terminal 3, in step S1110, the rewritten translated text data is stored in the cache area 331. After that, when the trigger signal TR1 is generated again in the application user terminal 3, the process in the application user terminal 3 proceeds in the order of step S1010: Yes->step S1020: No->step S1030 in FIG. 12. At this point, the rewritten translated text data is in cache area 331, so the result of the determination in step S1030 is "Yes", and the process proceeds to step S1120, where the translated text data corrected on the second editing screen is displayed as the display text on the display screen of application AP'.

The above is the details of this embodiment. The mobile terminal application usage support system 8 of this embodiment includes mobile terminals 2 and 3 on which OS 241 and 341 and a specific application AP' that runs on OS 241 and 341 are implemented, display text providing servers 951 and 961 that transmit text data of the display text on the display screen of application AP' to the mobile terminals 2 and 3 in response to a request from the mobile terminals 2 and 3, and a translation system 4 that supports switching the language of the display text on the mobile terminals 2 and 3, and the translation system 4 includes a translation server 51 and a CDN server 61.

In this embodiment, a translation support method is realized by the mobile terminal application usage support system 8, and this translation support method includes the following steps:
A step in which the mobile terminal 3 judges whether text data of the display text on the display screen of the application AP' (text data of the native content description section of the application AP' itself, and text data received from the display text providing servers 951 and 961) is in a default language of the mobile terminal 3;
generating a translated text request message including display text identification information of the display text on the display screen of the application AP' and addressed to a predetermined address in the CDN server 61 when the mobile terminal 3 determines that the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application AP' is not in a default language of the mobile terminal 3, and transmitting the translated text request message;
a step in which, when the CDN server 61 receives a translated text request message, it determines whether translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is stored in a cache area 6131 of a storage means of the CDN server 61, and if stored, reads out the translated text data in the cache area 6131 and transmits it to the portable terminal 3; if not stored, it requests translated text data of the display text from the translation server 51, receives the translated text data from the translation server 51, associates the translated text data with the display text identification information and stores it in the cache area 6131, and transmits the translated text data to the portable terminal 3;
The method includes a step in which the mobile terminal 3 receives the translated text data and displays the translated text data as display text on a display screen of the application AP'.

In this embodiment, the CDN server 61 of the translation system 4 is
a determining means for determining whether translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is stored in a cache area 6131 of a storage means of the CDN server 61 when a translated text request message including display text identification information of a display text on a display screen of the application AP' and addressed to a specific address in the CDN server 61 is received from the mobile terminal 3;
a first processing means for reading out the translated text data in the cache area 6131 and transmitting the translated text data to the mobile terminal 3 when the determining means determines that the translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is stored in the cache area 6131;
and second processing means for, if the determination means determines that translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is not stored in the cache area 6131, requesting the translation server 51 for the translated text data of the display text, receiving the translated text data from the translation server 51, storing the translated text data in the cache area 61311 in correspondence with the display text identification information, and transmitting the translated text data to the mobile terminal 3.

By having such a configuration, this embodiment can efficiently translate the display text of the mobile device application AP' into multiple languages.

In addition, the translation support method of this embodiment includes:
a step of, when the mobile terminal 2 of the application provider receives a push notification related to the application AP', transmitting to the translation system 4 a translation registration request message including the push notification identification information of the push notification, and requesting registration of text data of the display text of the unregistered push notification and translated text data obtained by translating the text data from an original language into a predetermined foreign language;
a step of translating, when the translation system 4 receives the translation registration request message, untranslated text data of the push notification corresponding to the push notification identification information in the translation registration request message from the original language into a predetermined foreign language, and storing the translated text data obtained by this translation in a storage means of the translation system 4 in association with the push notification identification information in the translation registration request message;
The method includes a step in which the mobile terminal 3 of the app user receives translated text data of a push notification related to application AP' from the translation system 4, stores the received translated text data in a cache area 331 of a storage means of the mobile terminal 3, and then, when text data in the original language of the push notification related to application AP' is received, displays the translated text data in the cache area 331 as display text for the push notification related to application AP'.

In this embodiment, the translation system 4 includes:
a storage means for storing push notification identification information of a push notification related to a predetermined application AP′ operating on an OS 241, 341 of the mobile terminal 2, 3, and translated text data obtained by translating text data in a source language of the push notification into a predetermined foreign language in association with each other;
a first processing means for, when receiving a translation registration request message including push notification identification information of an untranslated push notification related to the application AP' from a mobile terminal 2 of an application provider that is a provider of the application AP', translating text data of the untranslated push notification corresponding to the push notification identification information in the translation registration request message from an original language to a predetermined foreign language, and storing the translated text data obtained by this translation in a storage means in association with the push notification identification information in the translation registration request message;
and a second processing means for, when a translated text request message including push notification identification information is received from a mobile terminal 3 of an application user who is a user of the application AP', reading out translated text data stored in the storage means in correspondence with the push notification identification information in the translated text request message, and transmitting the read translated text data to the mobile terminal 3 of the application user.

By having such a configuration, according to this embodiment, the display text of the push notification of the mobile device application AP' can be made multilingual.

In addition, the translation support method of this embodiment includes:
a step of transmitting a message between the application provider's mobile terminal 2 and the translation system 4 when a predetermined trigger signal is generated in the application provider's mobile terminal 2, and based on the result of the message transmission and reception, checking whether or not the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application and the translated text data obtained by translating the same from the source language into a predetermined foreign language are stored in the translated text DB 5142 of the translation system 4, and if the text data of the source language and the translated text data of the foreign language are not stored in the translated text DB 5142, transmitting a translation registration request message to the translation system 4 to request registration of the text data of the unregistered display text and the translated text data obtained by translating the same from the source language into the predetermined foreign language;
a step of judging whether translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translation registration request message is stored in a storage means of the translation system 4 when the translation system 4 receives the translation registration request message, and if not, translating the untranslated text data of the display text corresponding to the display text identification information in the translation registration request message from the original language to a predetermined foreign language, and storing the translated text data obtained by this translation in the storage means in association with the display text identification information in the translation registration request message;
A step in which the mobile terminal 3 of the application user judges whether text data of the display text on the display screen of the application AP' (text data of the native content description section of the application AP' itself, text data received from the display text providing servers 951, 961) is in a default language of the mobile terminal 3;
sending a translated text request message including display text identification information of the display text on the display screen of the application AP' to the translation system 4 when the mobile terminal 3 of the application user determines that the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application AP' is not in a default language of the mobile terminal 3;
a step of, when the translation system 4 receives a translated text request message, determining whether translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translated text request message is stored in a storage means, and if so, reading out the translated text data in the storage means and transmitting it to the mobile terminal 3 of the application user;
a step in which the mobile terminal 3 of the application user determines whether the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application AP' (the text data of the native content description section of the application AP' itself, the text data received from the display text providing servers 951, 961) is in the default language of the mobile terminal 2, 3, and if it determines that the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application AP' is not in the default language of the mobile terminal 2, 3, generates a translated text request message including display text identification information of the display text on the display screen of the application AP' and addressed to a predetermined address in the translation system 4, and transmits the translated text request message;
a step of transmitting translated text data stored in a storage means in association with display text identification information in the translated text request message to a mobile terminal of an application user when the translation system receives the translated text request message;
The method includes a step in which the mobile terminal 3 of the application user receives the translated text data and displays the translated text data as display text on the display screen of the application AP'.

In the present embodiment, the translation system 4 includes a storage means for storing, in association with each other, application identification information of a predetermined application AP' running on the OS 241, 341 of the mobile terminal 2, 3, display text identification information of display text on the display screen of the application AP', and translated text data obtained by translating text data in an original language of the display text into a predetermined foreign language;
a first processing means for, when receiving an update detection message including application identification information of the application AP' from a mobile terminal 2 of an application provider that is a provider of the application AP', reading translated text data corresponding to the application identification information in the update detection message from a storage means, and transmitting a translated text providing message including the read translated text data to the mobile terminal 2 of the application provider;
a second processing means for, when receiving a translation registration request message from the mobile terminal 2 of the application provider after transmitting the translated text providing message, including display text identification information of untranslated display text on the display screen of the application AP', translating untranslated text data of the display text corresponding to the display text identification information in the translation registration request message from the original language to a predetermined foreign language, and storing the translated text data obtained by this translation in the storage means in association with the display text identification information in the translation registration request message;
and a third processing means for, when a translated text request message including display text identification information of the display text on the display screen of the application AP' is received from a mobile terminal 3 of an app user who is a user of the application AP', reading out translated text data stored in the storage means in correspondence with the display text identification information in the translated text request message, and transmitting the read translated text data to the mobile terminal 3 of the app user.

With this configuration, according to this embodiment, the provider of the application AP' for mobile devices can translate the display text of the application AP' on the app user's mobile device 3 into a foreign language simply by sending a message from the provider's mobile device 2 to the translation system 4 without having to rewrite the code of the application AP'. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the application AP' for mobile devices can be translated into multiple languages without wasting human and financial resources.

In addition, the translation support method of this embodiment includes:
a step in which a second terminal 2 of the application provider captures a display screen on which the translated text data is laid out as display text of the application AP' when a predetermined trigger signal is generated within the second terminal 2, and transmits the image data obtained by this capturing to a translation system 4;
A step in which the translation system 4 receives image data from the second terminal 2 and stores the received image data in a second storage means;
A step in which a first terminal 1 of an application provider transmits an edit screen request message including screen identification information of a display screen of the application AP' to a translation system 4;
a step in which, when the translation system 4 receives the edit screen request message, it reads from the first storage means translated text data corresponding to the screen identification information in the edit screen request message, reads from the second storage means image data currently stored in the second storage means, generates markup data for the edit screen including the translated text data read from the first storage means and the image data read from the second storage means, and transmits the markup data to the first terminal 1 of the application provider;
a step in which the first terminal 1 of the application provider receives markup data of an editing screen from the translation system 4 and displays the editing screen based on the markup data;
a step of transmitting a translation rewrite request message including display text identification information of the corrected display content and the corrected text data to the translation system 4 when an operation of correcting translated text data of the display content on the editing screen is performed on the first terminal 1 of the application provider;
a translation system (4) receiving a translation rewrite request message from the first terminal (1) of the application provider, and rewriting translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translation rewrite request message with the text data in the translation rewrite request message;
A step in which the mobile terminal 3 of the application user transmits a translated text request message including screen identification information of the display screen of the application AP' to the translation system 4;
When the translation system 4 receives the translated text request message, it reads translated text data corresponding to the screen identification information in the translated text request message from the first storage means, and transmits the read translated text data to the mobile terminal 3 of the application user;
The method includes a step in which the mobile terminal 3 of the application user receives the translated text data from the translation system 4, and displays the received translated text data as display text on the display screen of the application AP'.

In the present embodiment, the translation system 4 includes a first storage means for storing screen identification information of a display screen of a predetermined application AP' running on the OS 241, 341 of the mobile terminal 2, 3, display text identification information of a display text on the display screen, and translated text data obtained by translating text data in a source language of the display text into a predetermined foreign language in association with each other;
A second storage means;
a first processing means for receiving, from a second terminal 2 of an application provider that is a provider of the application AP', capturing image data of a display screen on the second terminal 2 that displays the translated text data as a display content of the application AP', and storing the received image data in a second storage means;
a second processing means for receiving an edit screen request message including screen identification information of a display screen of the application AP' from a first terminal 1 of an application provider that is a provider of the application AP', reading translated text data corresponding to the screen identification information in the edit screen request message from the first storage means, reading image data currently stored in the second storage means from the second storage means, generating markup data for the edit screen including the translated text data read from the first storage means and the image data read from the second storage means, and transmitting the markup data to the first terminal 1 of the application provider;
a third processing means for receiving, from the first terminal 1 of the application provider, a translation rewrite request message including display text identification information of a display text corrected on the editing screen and corrected text data, and rewriting the translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the translation rewrite request message with the text data in the translation rewrite request message;
and a fourth processing means for receiving a translated text request message including screen identification information of the display screen of the application AP' from the mobile terminal 3 of the application user who is a user of the application AP', reading out translated text data corresponding to the screen identification information in the received translated text request message from the first storage means, and transmitting the read translated text data to the mobile terminal 3 of the application user.

With this configuration, according to this embodiment, the provider of the application AP' for mobile devices can modify the content of the foreign language display text of the application AP' on the app user's mobile device 3 by simply rewriting the text while referring to the captured image on the editing screen, without having to rewrite the code of the application AP'. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to further reduce the human and financial resources required to make the application AP' for mobile devices multilingual.

The above describes one embodiment of the present invention, but the following modifications are possible.

(1) In the above embodiment, the application AP' that is the target of the multilingual service is not limited to applications provided to mobile terminals via the application store server 901. For example, a factory management application may be stored on a storage medium, and this storage medium may be directly provided from the application provider to the application user. Such applications may also be the target of the multilingual service.

(2) In the above embodiment, there were separate application identification information for identifying the application AP' itself, screen/push notification identification information for identifying multiple display screens of the application AP' and push notifications related to the application AP', and display text identification information for identifying each display text in the display screen and the display text of the push notification. However, the screen/push notification identification information and the display text identification information may be a common type of identification information. For example, the screen/push notification identification information may be a 10-digit character string, with the top three digits being a character string unique to the display screen or push notification, and the bottom seven digits being a character string unique to each display text in the display screen or the display text of the push notification. In addition, the identification information for identifying the display screen and the identification information for identifying the push notification may be separate. In this case, each record in the translated text DB 5142 has fields for "application ID", "screen ID", "push notification ID", "display text ID", "language code of original language", "text of original language", "foreign language code", "text of foreign language", "size", "style", "layout", and "status", the "screen ID" field indicates unique screen identification information of the display screen of the application AP', and the "push notification ID" field indicates unique push notification identification information of the push notification related to the application AP'. In this case, the "push notification ID" field in the display text field of the display screen of the application AP' in the translated text DB 5142 may be left blank, and the "screen ID" field in the display text field of the push notification related to the application AP' in the translated text DB 5142 may be left blank. In this case, the information in the "screen ID" field and the information in the "push notification ID" field can be used as unique display text identification information of the display text, so the "display text" field may be eliminated.

(3) In the above embodiment, in the process related to automatic detection and automatic translation of updates to the display text of application AP', the application provider second terminal 2 transmits and receives messages to and from the translation system 4, obtains information obtained by past translation processes related to application AP' in the translation system 4, compares this information with the information in the volatile storage unit 23 of the application provider second terminal 2, and determines whether or not there is any text in the latest display screen of application AP' for which the original language and foreign language text data have not been registered in the translated text DB 5142. However, the translation system 4 may be caused to determine whether or not there is any text in the latest display screen of application AP' for which the original language and foreign language text data have not been registered in the translated text DB 5142. For example, in the process of FIG. 17, when the trigger signal TR2 occurs (S3010: Yes), the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 does not perform the processes of steps S3020 and S3050, and transmits an inquiry message including the URL of the server 951, 961 that provides text data related to the application AP' to the translation system 4 (S3060'). When the translation system 4 receives the inquiry message, it transmits a request to the URL in the inquiry message to receive text data in the original language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' from the server 951, 961, and determines whether or not there is a record in the translated text DB 5142 having the same text data as that received from the server 951, 961. If there is a record including the same text data, it is determined that the text data in the original language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' has been registered, and if there is no same text data, it is determined that the text data of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' has not been registered. When the text data in the original language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' is not registered, the translation system 4 considers that the translated text data in the foreign language of the display text is also not registered. When the text data in the original language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' is registered, the translation system 4 determines whether the translated text data in the foreign language of the display text is registered or not. When the translated text DB 5142 contains a record including translated text data associated with the same display text identification information as the text data in the original language determined to be registered, the translation system 4 determines that the translated text data in the foreign language is also registered. When the translated text DB 5142 does not contain a record including translated text data associated with the same display text identification information as the text data in the original language determined to be registered, the translation system 4 determines that the text data in the original language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' is registered, but the translated data in the foreign language is not registered. Through the above processing, the translation system 4 determines whether the state is a first state in which the original language text data and translated text data of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' have been registered, a second state in which neither the original language text data nor the translated text data of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' have been registered, or a third state in which only the foreign language translated text data of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' has not been registered, and transmits a registration status notification message indicating this determination result to the application provider second terminal 2. If the registration status notification message indicates the second or third state, the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 proceeds to step S3060 in FIG. 17, generates an original language/foreign language translation registration request message (in the case of the second state) or a foreign language translation registration request message (in the case of the third state), and transmits this message to the translation system 4.

(4) In step S3050 of the process related to automatic detection and automatic translation of updates to the display text of the application AP' in the above embodiment, the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 may not determine whether the text data in the original language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' is stored in the translated text DB 5142, but may only determine whether the translated text data in a foreign language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' is stored in the translated text DB 5142. In this aspect, when the control unit 21 of the application provider second terminal 2 determines that the translated text data in a foreign language of the latest display text on the display screen of the application AP' is not stored in the translated text DB 5142, it may send a translation registration request message to the translation server 51 of the translation system 4, which includes display text identification information of the untranslated display text and requests registration of translated text data obtained by translating the untranslated display text from the original language to a specified foreign language. In this embodiment, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 searches the translated text DB 5142 for a record containing text data in the original language that corresponds to the display text identification information in the translation registration request message, adds the text data in the original language to the translated text DB 5142 as a new record, and then translates the text data into the foreign language.

(5) In step S3080 of the above embodiment, the control unit 511 of the translation server 51 stores "Save" in the "Status" field of the new record in the translated text DB 5142. However, "Publish" may be stored in the "Status" field of the new record in the translated text DB 5142. Also, in step S4080, "Save" may be stored in the "Status" field of the new record in the translated text DB 5142.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Application provider first terminal 2 Application provider second terminal 3 Application user terminal 4 Translation system 9 Application usage support system 11 Control unit 12 Communication interface 13 Volatile memory unit 14 Non-volatile memory unit 15 Display 16 Keyboard 17 Pointing device 21 Control unit 23 Volatile memory unit 24 Non-volatile memory unit 25 Touch panel 26 Acceleration sensor 27 Battery 29 SDK
31 Control unit 33 Volatile memory unit 34 Non-volatile memory unit 35 Touch panel 36 Acceleration sensor 37 Battery 39 SDK
41 Bilingual DB server 51 Translation server 61 CDN server 90 Network 142 Browser 181L Left shift button 181R Right shift button 182 Language display field 183 Bilingual list 184 Pull-down expansion button 185 Bilingual display field 221 Wi-Fi communication module 222 Mobile communication module 231 Cache area 281 Language display field 282 Bilingual list 283 Scroll bar 285 Bilingual display field 286 First button 287 Second button 288 Third button 321 Wi-Fi communication module 322 Mobile communication module 331 Cache area 411 Control unit 412 Communication interface 413 Volatile memory unit 414 Non-volatile memory unit 511 Control unit 512 Communication interface 513 Volatile memory unit 514 Non-volatile memory unit 611 Control unit 612 Communication interface 613 Volatile storage unit 614 Non-volatile storage unit 901 App store server 951 Application server 961 API server 971 Push notification server 4143 Multilingual support program 5143 Multilingual support program 6131 Cache area 6142 Multilingual support program

Claims (4)

A mobile terminal on which an OS and a predetermined application that runs on the OS are implemented;
a display text providing server that transmits text data of a display text on a display screen of the application to the mobile terminal in response to a request from the mobile terminal;
A translation system that supports switching of the language of the display text in the mobile terminal, comprising:
The translation system includes a translation server and a CDN server.
the translation server has a database storing display text identification information of each display text and translated text data of each display text in association with each other;
A first step of the mobile terminal determining whether text data of a display text on a display screen of the application is in a default language of the mobile terminal;
a second step of generating a first translated text request message including display text identification information of the display text on the display screen of the application and destined for a predetermined address in the CDN server, when the mobile terminal determines that the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application is not in the default language of the mobile terminal, and sending the first translated text request message;
a third step of determining whether translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the first translated text request message is stored in a cache area of a storage means of the CDN server when the CDN server receives the first translated text request message, and if the translated text data is stored, reading out the translated text data in the cache area and transmitting the translated text data to the mobile terminal; if the translated text data is not stored, transmitting a second translated text request message including the same display text identification information as that included in the first translated text request message to the translation server, receiving from the translation server the translated text data stored in the database in association with the display text identification information in the second translated text request message , storing the translated text data in association with the display text identification information in the cache area, and transmitting the translated text data to the mobile terminal;
and a fourth step of the mobile terminal receiving the translated text data and displaying the translated text data as display text on a display screen of the application. 2. The translation support method according to claim 1, wherein the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application includes text data transmitted from the display text providing server to the mobile terminal and stored in a storage means of the mobile terminal. 2. The translation support method according to claim 1, wherein the trigger for determining in the first step whether the text data of the display text on the display screen of the application is in a default language of the mobile terminal is that the application has been launched on the mobile terminal or a predetermined periodic timing has arrived.
3. The translation support method according to claim 1 or 2. A translation system that supports switching of a language of a text displayed on a display screen of a predetermined application in a mobile terminal on which an OS and the application run on the OS are implemented, comprising:
A translation server and a CDN server,
the translation server has a database storing display text identification information of each display text and translated text data of each display text in association with each other;
The CDN server includes:
a determining means for determining whether translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the first translated text request message is stored in a cache area of a storage means of the CDN server when a first translated text request message including display text identification information of a display text on a display screen of the application and addressed to a predetermined address in the CDN server is received from the mobile terminal;
a first processing means for reading out the translated text data in the cache area and transmitting the translated text data to the mobile terminal when the determining means determines that the translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the first translated text request message is stored in the cache area;
and second processing means for, when the determining means determines that translated text data corresponding to the display text identification information in the first translated text request message is not stored in the cache area, sending to the translation server a second translated text request message including the same display text identification information as that included in the first translated text request message , receiving from the translation server the translated text data stored in the database in correspondence with the display text identification information in the second translated text request message , storing the translated text data in the cache area in correspondence with the display text identification information, and transmitting the translated text data to the mobile terminal.