System for answering natural language questions
First Claim
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1. A method of answering a question based on information stored on a computer-readable medium comprising the steps of receiving a question;
- parsing the question to obtain an analyzed question;
matching the analyzed question to a set of predetermined question patterns to obtain matched question patterns;
transforming the matched question patterns into one or more partially unspecified statements, wherein each of the partially unspecified statements is missing a portion corresponding to an answer;
generating partially unspecified queries corresponding to the partially unspecified statements; and
obtaining answers by matching the partially unspecified queries to stored information.
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Abstract
The present invention is a system for answering a natural language question. The system receives a question and transforms the question into one or more partially unspecified queries. The system then identifies matches for the queries in a body of information. The matches are optionally ranked, preferably based on the number of times each match is identified. The matches are provided as answers to the questions.
106 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of answering a question based on information stored on a computer-readable medium comprising the steps of
receiving a question; -
parsing the question to obtain an analyzed question;
matching the analyzed question to a set of predetermined question patterns to obtain matched question patterns;
transforming the matched question patterns into one or more partially unspecified statements, wherein each of the partially unspecified statements is missing a portion corresponding to an answer;
generating partially unspecified queries corresponding to the partially unspecified statements; and
obtaining answers by matching the partially unspecified queries to stored information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of answering a question based on documents stored on a computer-readable medium comprising the steps of:
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storing contexts for terms, wherein a context occurs in a document;
receiving a question;
transforming the question into one or more partially unspecified queries; and
identifying a match or a set of matches for the one or more partially unspecified queries within the contexts, thereby providing an answer or a set of answers for the question.
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7. A method for answering a question based on information stored on a computer-readable medium comprising the steps of:
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receiving a question;
transforming the question into one or more partially unspecified queries; and
identifying a match or a set of matches within a body of information stored on a computer-readable medium for each of one or more of the partially unspecified queries, thereby providing an answer or a set of answers for the question. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An apparatus for answering a natural language question comprising:
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a grammar comprising rules for constructing sentences for grammatical elements;
a parser employing the grammar in analyzing the natural language question and assigning a grammatical identifier to a plurality of grammatical elements in the question;
a set of predetermined question frames for transforming the analyzed question into one or more partially unspecified queries; and
a matching module for determining one or more answers to the natural language question by matching the one or more partially unspecified queries to information stored in a body of documents.
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30. An apparatus for answering a natural language question comprising:
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memory means to store a computer-executable process steps; and
a processor that executes computer-executable process steps so as to receive a question, to transform the question into one or more partially unspecified queries, and to identify matches for the one or more partially unspecified queries in a body of information, thereby providing an answer to the question.
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31. Computer-executable process steps stored on a computer-readable medium, the computer-executable process steps comprising:
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code to receive a question;
code to transform the question into a partially unspecified query; and
code to identify a match for the partially unspecified query in a body of information, thereby providing an answer to the question.
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Specification