Apparatus, method and computer program product for translating speech, and terminal that outputs translated speech

A speech translation apparatus comprising:

• a correspondence storage unit that stores identifiers to uniquely identify each of a plurality of terminals connected via a network and usage languages used in the terminals associated with each other;
• a receiving unit that receives a source speech from one of the terminals;
• a translating unit that acquires the usage languages different from a source language used in the source speech from the correspondence storage unit, and generates a translated speech translated from the source speech by using each of the acquired usage languages as a target language;
• a sending unit that sends the translated speech to each of the terminals identified by the identifier corresponding to the target language and sends the source speech to each of the terminals identified by the identifier corresponding to the source language;
• a determining unit that determines whether the translated speech has been generated in all of the target languages, when the translated speech is generated in any one of the target languages;
• and
• an output unit that outputs duration information of a speech duration of the source speech determined by the determining unit, when the translated speech has been generated in all of the target languages, wherein
• the sending unit further sends the duration information to the terminals.

A speech translation apparatus comprising:

• a language storage unit that stores usage languages;
• a first receiving unit that receives a source speech from a plurality of other speech translation apparatuses connectable via a network;
• a translating unit that generates a translated speech translated from the source speech by using each of the usage languages stored in the language storage unit as a target language;
• a second receiving unit that receives information indicating that the source speech has been translated into a language used in another speech translation apparatus therefrom;
• a determining unit that determines whether the translated speech has been generated in all of the other speech translation apparatuses, when the information is received from any one of the other speech translation apparatuses;
• and
• an output unit that outputs the translated speech when the translated speech has been generated in all of the other speech translation apparatuses.

A speech translation method comprising:

• receiving a source speech from a plurality of terminals connectable via a network;
• acquiring the usage languages different from a source language used in the source speech from a correspondence storage unit that stores identifiers to uniquely identify each of a plurality of terminals and usage languages used in the terminals associated with each other;
• generating a translated speech translated from the source speech by using each of the usage languages acquired as a target language;
• determining whether the translated speech has been generated in all of the target languages when the translated speech is generated in any one of the target languages;
• outputting the translated speech when it is determined that the translated speech has been generated in all of the target languages;
• and
• sending the translated speech to each of the terminals identified by the identifier corresponding to the target language.

A computer program product having a computer readable medium including programmed instructions for translating a source speech, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform:

• receiving the source speech from a plurality of terminals connectable via a network;
• acquiring the usage languages different from a source language used in the source speech from a correspondence storage unit that stores identifiers to uniquely identify each of a plurality of terminals and usage languages used in the terminals associated with each other;
• generating a translated speech translated from the source speech by using each of the usage languages acquired as a target language;
• determining whether the translated speech has been generated in all of the target languages when the translated speech is generated in any one of the target languages;
• outputting the translated speech when it is determined that the translated speech has been generated in all of the target languages;
• and
• sending the translated speech to each of the terminals identified by the identifier corresponding to the target language.