INTENT MANAGEMENT TOOL

• US 20090089044A1
• Filed: 08/14/2006
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle OTC Subsidiary LLC (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Inquira Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Bierner, Gann Alexander, Beghelli, Filippo Ferdinando Paulo, Cooper, Edwin Riley, Dukes, Michael Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,781,813 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3338 Query expansion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/263 Language identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis

Abstract

Linguistic analysis is used to identify queries that use different natural language formations to request similar information. Common intent categories are identified for the queries requesting similar information. Intent responses can then be provided that are associated with the identified intent categories. An intent management tool can be used for identifying new intent categories, identifying obsolete intent categories, or refining existing intent categories.

Claims

1. A method for classifying information requests, comprising:

receiving a group of text questions logged for one or more servers for a period of time;

identifying groups of the logged questions that use a variety of different linguistic expressions to express similar information requests;

assigning intent categories applicable to each group of questions requesting similar information; and

configuring intent responses that each provide applicable information to all of the questions assigned to the same intent categories.

2. The method according to claim 1 including:

conducting spelling analysis to replace unidentifiable words in the questions;

conducting punctuation analysis to correct punctuation in the questions;

conducting sentence analysis to identify sentence structures and sentence elements in the questions;

conducting a stem analysis to add and identify other forms of words to the questions;

conducting a concept analysis using one or more ontologies to identify concepts related to the questions; and

conducting a linguistic analysis using the identified concepts, sentence structures, sentence elements, and other added and identified forms of words to identify intent categories for the questions.

3. The method according to claim 1 including:

identifying the intent categories associated with the largest groups of questions; and

posting pre-query information or links on a web page that provide intent responses for the identified intent categories.

4. The method according to claim 3 including:

receiving a new group of questions logged for the one or more servers for another period of time;

using natural language analysis to identify new groups of questions not associated with existing intent categories; and

assigning new intent categories for the identified new groups of questions; and

configuring new intent responses that provide information applicable to all of the new questions in the same new intent categories

5. The method according to claim 4 including:

identifying any of the new intent categories associated with at least a pre-query threshold number of new questions; and

posting the new intent responses for the identified new intent categories on a web page.

6. The method according to claim 5 including:

identifying any existing intent categories that are not associated with at least a lower threshold number of new questions; and

removing pre-query intent responses for any of the identified existing intent categories from the web page.

8. The method according to claim 1 including assigning parameters to the intent categories that control how the associated intent responses are displayed.

9. The method according to claim 8 including:

identifying ontologies associated with the intent categories;

presenting concepts in the identified ontologies for selection by a user;

assigning any of the selected concepts as ontology parameters for the associated intent categories; and

displaying intent responses for the ontology parameters assigned to the intent categories.

10. The method according to claim 8 including associating user parameters with the intent categories that cause a search engine to display different information associated with a user submitting the question or associated with a query history associated with the user submitting the question.

11. The method according to claim 1 including assigning response parameters to the intent responses that cause a search engine to display both the intent responses associated with the intent categories and also display any additional information associated with the response parameters assigned to the intent responses.

7. The method according to claim 7 including configuring at least some of the intent categories into an intent hierarchy that causes the intent responses associated with the intent categories to be displayed according to the configured intent hierarchy.

12. A method for discovering query intent categories, comprising:

logging queries received by an enterprise information system;

using a clustering engine to identify clusters of the logged queries;

generating names for the clusters of logged queries;

using the generated names to create intent categories pertinent to the queries in the same clusters; and

using a linguistic matching language to match the queries in the same clusters with the intent categories.

13. The method according to claim 13 including using ontology elements associated with the enterprise information system as features for the clustering engine and then using at least some of the cluster names generated by the clustering engine to create intent categories.

14. The method according to claim 13 including:

identifying queries that do not match any of the created intent categories;

submitting the identified queries to the clustering engine;

generating new cluster names for the clusters of non-matching queries; and

using the new cluster names to generate additional intent categories.

15. The method according to claim 14 including:

automatically generating an intent hierarchy by identifying a new intent category having an associated set of queries that comprise a sub-set of queries for an existing intent category and identifying the new intent category as a child of the existing intent category; and

identifying a new intent category having a subgroup of associated queries that comprise all of the queries matching an existing intent category and identifying the new intent category as a parent of the existing intent category.