SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING QUESTION AND ANSWERS WITH DEFERRED TYPE EVALUATION
First Claim
1. computer-implemented method of generating answers to questions based on any corpus of data comprising the steps of:
- receiving an input query; and
performing an automated query analysis including determining the lexical answer type;
automatically computing candidate answers to the input query using said corpus of data;
computing one or more lexical types (LAT) for each candidate answer;
using an automated scoring function comparing candidate answer lexical types to the query LAT and producing a score for each candidate answer; and
,returning one or more answers based on the produced scores for delivery to a user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system, method and computer program product for conducting questions and answers with deferred type evaluation based on any corpus of data. The method includes processing a query including waiting until a “Type” (i.e. a descriptor) is determined AND a candidate answer is provided; the Type is not required as part of a predetermined ontology but is only a lexical/grammatical item. Then, a search is conducted to look (search) for evidence that the candidate answer has the required LAT (e.g., as determined by a matching function that can leverage a parser, a semantic interpreter and/or a simple pattern matcher). In another embodiment, it may be attempted to match the LAT to a known Ontological Type and then look for a candidate answer up in an appropriate knowledge-base, database, and the like determined by that type. Then, all the evidence from all the different ways to determine that the candidate answer has the expected lexical answer type (LAT) is combined and one or more answers are delivered to a user.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. computer-implemented method of generating answers to questions based on any corpus of data comprising the steps of:
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receiving an input query; and performing an automated query analysis including determining the lexical answer type; automatically computing candidate answers to the input query using said corpus of data; computing one or more lexical types (LAT) for each candidate answer; using an automated scoring function comparing candidate answer lexical types to the query LAT and producing a score for each candidate answer; and
,returning one or more answers based on the produced scores for delivery to a user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12)
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10. A system for generating answers to questions based on any corpus of data comprising:
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query analysis means for receiving an input query and performing query context analysis function to break down said input query into query terms and determining the lexical answer type; candidate answer generating means automatically computing candidate answers to the input query using said corpus of data, said generating means further computing one or more lexical types (LAT) for each candidate answer; a plurality of scoring modules each for automatically scoring all candidate answers each using an automated scoring function for comparing candidate answer lexical types (LAT) to the query LAT and producing a score for each candidate answer; and
,said plurality of scoring modules returning one or more answers based on the produced scores for delivery to a user. - View Dependent Claims (11, 13, 14)
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15. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for generating answers to questions based on any corpus of data, said method steps including the steps of:
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receiving an input query; and performing an automated query analysis including determining the lexical answer type; automatically computing candidate answers to the input query using said corpus of data; computing one or more lexical types (LAT) for each candidate answer; using an automated scoring function comparing candidate answer lexical types (LAT) to the query LAT and producing a score for each candidate answer; and
,returning one or more answers based on the produced scores for delivery to a user. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of deploying a computer program product for generating answers to questions based on any corpus of data, wherein, when executed, the computer program performs the steps of:
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receiving an input query; and performing an automated query analysis including determining the lexical answer type; automatically computing candidate answers to the input query using said corpus of data; computing one or more lexical types (LAT) for each candidate answer; using an automated scoring function comparing candidate answer lexical types (LAT) to the query LAT and producing a score for each candidate answer; and
,returning one or more answers based on the produced scores for delivery to a user. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification