Distributed parser of natural language input

• US 20050015519A1
• Filed: 07/16/2004
• Published: 01/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iAnywhere Solutions Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Dejima, Inc. (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Amamiya, Makoto, Hodjat, Babak, Savoie, Christopher J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,761,499 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/043 Distributed expert systems; Blackboards

Abstract

Method and agent network architecture for processing a subject message, where each agent has a view of its own domain of responsibility. An initiator agent which receives a user-input request and does not itself have a relevant interpretation policy, queries its downchain agents whether the queried agent considers such message to be in its domain of responsibility. Each queried agent recursively determines whether it has an interpretation policy of its own that applies to the request, and if not, further queries its own further downchain neighboring agents. The further agents eventually respond to such further queries, thereby allowing the first-queried agents to respond to the initiator agent. The recursive invocation of this procedure ultimately determines one or more paths through the network from the initiator agent to one more more leaf agents. The request is then transmitted down the path(s), with each agent along the way taking any local action thereon and passing the message on to the next agent in the path. In the event of a contradiction, the network is often able to resolve many of such contradictions according to predetermined algorithms. If it cannot resolve a contradiction automatically, it learns new interpretation policies necessary to interpret the subject message properly. Such learning preferably includes interaction with the user (but only to the extent necessary), and preferably localizes the learning close to the correct leaf agent in the network.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for processing a subject message, by a network of agents including an initiator agent and at least one agent downchain of said initiator agent, each agent in said network having a view of its own domain of responsibility, comprising the steps of said initiator agent:

querying at least one of the agents downchain of said initiator agent in said network whether the queried agent considers said subject message to be in the queried agent'"'"'s domain of responsibility;

resolving any conflicting responses from said queried agents, which responses meet threshold quality criteria, to identify a prevailing group of at least one of said downchain agents to whom said subject message should be passed; and

instructing at least one agent in said prevailing group to handle said subject message.