METHOD AND COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY ANSWERING NATURAL LANGUAGE QUESTIONS
First Claim
1. A computer system for automatically answering natural language questions, the system comprising:
- an input module to receive said natural language questions;
a data store to record linked pairs of questions and corresponding answers;
a system to link pairs of questions and corresponding answers into groups, to enable the generation of a prototypical answer that answers each question from said pairs of questions and answers in said group, and to store said prototypical answers in said data store;
a matcher configured to compare a said received natural language question with a question in said data store having an associated prototypical answer and outputs said associated prototypical answer for said question in response to said matching.
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Abstract
A computer system and method for automatically answering natural language questions. The system comprises an input to receive said natural language questions; a data store to record linked pairs of questions and corresponding answers; a matcher configured to compare a said received natural language question withsaid linked question and answer pairs and an output to transfer a said received natural language question to a researcher if no matches are found. The system may further comprise a system to link pairs of questions and corresponding answers into groups, to enable the generation of a prototypicalanswer for each group of pairs of questions and answers and to store said prototypicalanswers in said data store; wherein said matcher compares a said received naturallanguage question with a question in said data store having an associated prototypicalanswer and output said associated prototypical answer for said question in response to said matching. Alternatively, said matcher may be configured to output all linked question and answer pairs which matchsaid received natural language question. The system may be further adapted to distribute natural language questions to be answered to researchers by assigning unpopularity scores to each of said natural language questions.
74 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A computer system for automatically answering natural language questions, the system comprising:
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an input module to receive said natural language questions; a data store to record linked pairs of questions and corresponding answers; a system to link pairs of questions and corresponding answers into groups, to enable the generation of a prototypical answer that answers each question from said pairs of questions and answers in said group, and to store said prototypical answers in said data store; a matcher configured to compare a said received natural language question with a question in said data store having an associated prototypical answer and outputs said associated prototypical answer for said question in response to said matching. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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2. (canceled)
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13. (canceled)
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18-69. -69. (canceled)
Specification