# US 8,543,378 B1 · System and method for discerning a term for an entry having a spelling error

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- Number: US 8,543,378 B1
- Document ID: US8543378B1
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B1
- Application number: 10/702,385
- Filed: 2003-11-05
- Granted: 2013-09-24
- Earliest claimed: 2003-11-05
- Assignees: W.W. Grainger, Inc.
- Applicants: Geoffry A. Westphal
- Inventors: Geoffry A. Westphal
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8543378B1

## CPC

- G06F 40/232: Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

A system and method for discerning a term for an entry having a spelling error. The system and method generally compares a “phonetic residue” of a misspelled entry to “phonetic residues” of terms in a dictionary of commonly misspelled words. In this regard, the “phonetic residue” of an entry or term may be arrived at by considering the consonants of an entry and term (e.g., by disregarding vowels). Additionally, the comparison of “phonetic residues” may consider one or more of a leading vowel (if any), letters likely to be omitted (e.g., silent letters), and/or letters likely to be added.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A physically embodied computer readable-media having embedded computer executable instructions for discerning a term for a misspelled entry, the instructions performing steps comprising:
creating a phonetic residue of the misspelled entry;
comparing the phonetic residue of the misspelled entry to created phonetic residues of one or more terms in a dictionary of terms; and
selecting those terms in the dictionary of terms that have a phonetic residue that substantially matches the phonetic residue of the misspelled entry whereby a selected entry is discerned as a term for the misspelled entry;
wherein the phonetic residue of the misspelled entry and the phonetic residues of the dictionary of terms are created by at least removing all phonetic information provided by non-leading vowels of the misspelled entry and terms in the dictionary of terms, respectively.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 1, wherein a selected term is automatically substituted for the misspelled entry.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 1, wherein a selected term is presented to a user as a possible substitute term for the misspelled entry.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions consider one or more letters that are addable to the phonetic residue of the misspelled entry when comparing and selecting a term from the dictionary of terms.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions consider one or more letters that are ommitable from the phonetic residue of the misspelled entry when comparing and selecting a term from the dictionary of terms.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 5, wherein the one or more letters that are ommitable from the phonetic residue of the misspelled entry comprise one or more consonants that are silent within a term in the dictionary of terms.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions consider one or more letters in the phonetic residue of the misspelled entry that are substituable for one or more letters in the phonetic residue of a term in the dictionary of terms as phonetic equivalents when comparing and selecting a term from the dictionary of terms.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions perform the step of applying a filtering process to a selected term.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 8, wherein the filtering process comprises comparing a first and a last consonant in the misspelled entry with a first and a last consonant in a selected term.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 9, wherein the filtering process considers one or more consonants that are addable to a start or end of the misspelled entry.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 9, wherein the filtering process considers one or more consonants that are substitutable for one or more consonants at a start or end of the misspelled entry.

### Claim 12 (depends on 9)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 9, wherein the filtering process considers one or more consonants that are omittable from a start or end of the misspelled entry.

### Claim 13 (depends on 8)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 8, wherein the filtering process comprises comparing a consonant pair at the start of the misspelled entry and of a selected term.

### Claim 14 (depends on 8)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 8, wherein the filtering process comprises comparing a consonant pair at the end of the misspelled entry and of a selected term.

### Claim 15 (depends on 8)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 8, wherein the filtering process comprises inserting a space between each letter pair in the phonetic residue of the misspelled entry and the phonetic residue of the selected term and determining a score representative of a letter and space distance between at least one letter in the phonetic residue of the misspelled entry and its corresponding letter in the phonetic residue of the selected entry.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 1, wherein the dictionary of terms comprises terms representative of attributes of products in an electronic catalog.

### Claim 17 (depends on 1)

The computer readable-media as recited in claim 1, wherein a selected term is provided to a search engine.