Microsoft Patenting IM Translation?

theodp writes "The USPTO just published Microsoft's patent application for a Method and system for translating instant messages, in which the software giant demonstrates how an English-speaking sender can type 'Hi' in an IM and it will be translated to 'Hola' for a Spanish-speaking recipient."

Comments

MS translations

[bobdehnhardt]

But oddly, "Linux" gets translated as "devil-spawn eroder of intellectual property rights"....

Re:Let's see a model!

[Theodore Logan]

Microsoft is probably the least able to produce this product. Translation software? Show us that you have this technology. (Yeah right.)

Microsoft Research actually employs some of the world's foremost experts in natural language processing. I say they're at least as likely as somebody else to come up with a viable product (though that is not to say that it is likely).

I had the idea to instantly translate char and IM three years ago, and even began planning an implementation. I never dreamed of it being patentable.