Method and Apparatus for Annotating a Document

• US 20080222511A1
• Filed: 04/02/2008
• Published: 09/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kambhatla, Nandakishore, Roukos, Salim Estephan
• Application Number:
  US12/061,244
• Publication Number:
  US 20080222511A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/295 Named entity recognition

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for annotating documents with one or more of entities, events and relations. Documents are annotated by presenting the document to a user; presenting the user with a list of possible entity types, wherein the list of possible entity types is configurable; and obtaining at least one mention annotation that associates a selected phrase in the document with one of the possible entity types. The selected phrase can be presented to the user, for example, based on one or more presentation rules associated with the associated entity type. The method can be implemented, for example, in a client-server configuration where a browser communicates with a remote server. A document can also be annotated by presenting the document to a user; presenting the user with a list of possible relation types, wherein the list of possible relation types is configurable; receiving at least two mention annotations from the user that each associate a selected phrase in the document with a entity type; and obtaining a relation annotation, wherein the relation annotation specifies a relation type between the at least two mention annotations.

Claims

1. A method for annotating a document, comprising:

presenting said document to a user;

presenting said user with a list of possible entity types, wherein said list of possible entity types is configurable; and

obtaining at least one mention annotation that associates a selected phrase in said document with one of said possible entity types.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said selected phrase is presented to said user based on one or more presentation rules associated with said associated entity type.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said presentation rules define a color for presenting phrases associated with said associated entity type.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said possible entity types may be configured to selectively allow coreference annotations.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one received mention annotation has an associated entity identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one received mention annotation has one or more associated offsets into said document.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one received mention annotation has an associated entity identifier and may be linked to coreferences having the same entity identifier.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving one or more coreference annotations that link a plurality of said mention annotations that refer to the same entity.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating an output file in a desired format.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said presenting steps is performed by a browser communicating with a remote server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one mention annotation can be resized to add or remove one or more adjacent words.

12. A method for annotating a document, comprising:

presenting said document to a user;

presenting said user with a list of possible relation types, wherein said list of possible relation types is configurable;

receiving at least two mention annotations from said user that each associate a selected phrase in said document with a entity type; and

obtaining a relation annotation, wherein said relation annotation specifies a relation type between said at least two mention annotations.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said relation annotation comprises said at least two mention annotations and a time value.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of presenting possible time values to said user.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of presenting the possible relation types to said user that can have said at least two mention annotations as arguments.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said possible relation types are presented to said user in a menu.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of presenting said relation annotation to said user.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of highlighting selected mention annotations.

19. A system for annotating a document, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor, coupled to the memory, operative to;

present said document to a user;

present said user with a list of possible entity types, wherein said list of possible entity types is configurable; and

obtain at least one mention annotation that associates a selected phrase in said document with one of said possible entity types.

20. A system for annotating a document, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor, coupled to the memory, operative to;

present said document to a user;

present said user with a list of possible relation types, wherein said list of possible relation types is configurable;

receive at least two mention annotations from said user that each associate a selected phrase in said document with a entity type; and

receive a relation annotation from said user, wherein said relation annotation specifies a relation type between said at least two mention annotations.