USER INTERFACE FOR AN EVIDENCE-BASED, HYPOTHESIS-GENERATING DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

• US 20120301864A1
• Filed: 04/17/2012
• Published: 11/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bagchi, Sugato, Ferrucci, David A., Levas, Anthony T., Barborak, Michael A., Daniels, Steven D.
• Granted Patent: US 9,153,142 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 434/362
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/00 Measuring for diagnostic purposes radiation diagnosis A61B6/00; diagnosis by ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/00; Identification of persons
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student

Abstract

Systems and methods display at least one subject, and display a location for at least one user to enter at least one problem related to the subject. The problem comprises unknown items to which the user would like more information. In response to the problem, such systems and methods automatically generate evidence topics related to the problem, and automatically generate questions related to the problem and the evidence topics. Further, such systems and methods can receive additional questions from the user. In response to the questions, such systems and methods automatically generate answers to the questions by referring to sources, automatically calculate confidence measures of each of the answers, and then display the questions, the answers, and the confidence measures. When the user identifies one of the answers as a selected answer, such systems and methods display details of the sources and the factors used to generate the selected answer.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying, on a user interface, at least one subject;

displaying, on said user interface, a location for at least one user to enter at least one problem related to said at least one subject, said at least one problem comprising unknown items;

in response to said at least one problem, automatically generating evidence topics related to said at least one problem using at least one computerized device operatively connected to said user interface;

automatically generating questions related to said at least one problem and said evidence topics using said at least one computerized device;

receiving additional ones of said questions from said at least one user through said user interface;

in response to said questions, automatically generating answers to said questions by referring to sources within said at least one computerized storage medium using said at least one computerized device;

automatically calculating confidence measures of each of said answers using said at least one computerized device;

displaying said questions, said answers, and said confidence measures on said user interface;

when said at least one user identifies one of said answers as a selected answer through said user interface, displaying details of said sources and said factors used to generate said selected answer on said user interface.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising maintaining a history of said questions, said answers, and said confidence measures.

3. The method according to claim 1, said details of said sources comprising annotations to said sources.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising displaying how said sources contributed to said confidence measures of said answers on said user interface.

5. The method according to claim 1, said at least one problem comprising at least one question.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving, into said user interface, an identification of said at least one subject.

7. A method comprising:

displaying, on a user interface, at least one subject;

displaying, on said user interface, a location for at least one user to enter at least one problem related to said at least one subject, said at least one problem comprising unknown items;

in response to said at least one problem, automatically generating evidence topics related to said at least one problem using at least one computerized device operatively connected to said user interface, said evidence topics being categorized into dimensions of evidence;

displaying said evidence topics categorized into said dimensions of evidence on said user interface;

receiving factors in response to said evidence topics from said at least one user through said user interface;

automatically retrieving additional ones of said factors from at least one computerized storage medium operatively connected to said at least one computerized device;

automatically generating questions related to said at least one problem and said evidence topics using said at least one computerized device;

receiving additional ones of said questions from said at least one user through said user interface;

receiving an indication of ones of said factors that should be ignored and ones of said factors that should be considered from said at least one user through said user interface;

in response to said questions, automatically generating answers to said questions by referring to said factors that should be considered and to sources within said at least one computerized storage medium using said at least one computerized device;

automatically calculating confidence measures of each of said answers using said at least one computerized device;

displaying said questions, said answers, and said confidence measures on said user interface;

when said at least one user identifies one of said answers as a selected answer through said user interface, displaying details of said sources and said factors used to generate said selected answer on said user interface.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising maintaining a history of said questions, said answers, and said confidence measures.

9. The method according to claim 7, said details of said sources comprising annotations to said sources.

10. The method according to claim 7, further comprising displaying how said sources contributed to said confidence measures of said answers on said user interface.

11. The method according to claim 7, said at least one problem comprising at least one question.

12. The method according to claim 7, further comprising receiving, into said user interface, an identification of said subject.

13. A method comprising:

displaying, on a user interface, at least one subject;

displaying, on said user interface, a location for at least one user to enter at least one problem related to said subject, said at least one problem comprising unknown items;

in response to said at least one problem, automatically generating evidence topics related to said at least one problem using at least one computerized device operatively connected to said user interface, said evidence topics being categorized into dimensions of evidence;

displaying said evidence topics categorized into said dimensions of evidence on said user interface;

receiving factors in response to said evidence topics from said at least one user through said user interface;

automatically retrieving additional ones of said factors from at least one computerized storage medium operatively connected to said at least one computerized device;

automatically generating questions related to said at least one problem and said evidence topics using said at least one computerized device;

receiving additional ones of said questions from said at least one user through said user interface;

receiving an indication of ones of said factors that should be ignored and ones of said factors that should be considered from said at least one user through said user interface;

in response to said questions, automatically generating answers to said questions by referring to said factors that should be considered and to sources within said at least one computerized storage medium using said at least one computerized device;

automatically calculating confidence measures of each of said answers using said at least one computerized device;

displaying said questions, said answers, and said confidence measures on said user interface;

when said at least one user identifies one of said answers as a selected answer through said user interface, displaying details of said sources and said factors used to generate said selected answer on said user interface;

receiving a rating of at least one of said sources regarding how well said sources support said answers from said at least one user, through said user interface;

after said displaying of said questions said answers and said confidence measures receiving at least one of updated factors and updated information from said sources using said at least one computerized device;

automatically generating at least one updated answer based on said updated factors and updated information from said sources using said at least one computerized device;

automatically comparing said answers to said at least one updated answer to produce an update severity score for each questions using said at least one computerized device;

displaying said update severity score for each questions on said graphic user interface;

automatically combining said update severity score for each of said questions to produce an update priority for said subject using said at least one computerized device;

automatically ranking a plurality of subjects according to update priority using said at least one computerized device; and

displaying said plurality of subjects ranked according to update priority on said graphic user interface.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising maintaining a history of said questions, said answers, and said confidence measures.

15. The method according to claim 13, said details of said sources comprising annotations to said sources.

16. The method according to claim 13, further comprising displaying how said sources contributed to said confidence measures of said answers on said user interface.

17. The method according to claim 13, said at least one problem comprising at least one question.

18. The method according to claim 13, further comprising receiving, into said user interface, an identification of said subject.

19. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by at least one computerized device, said non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions executable by said at least one computerized device to perform a method comprising:

displaying at least one subject;

displaying a location for at least one user to enter at least one problem related to said subject, said at least one problem comprising unknown items;

in response to said at least one problem, automatically generating evidence topics related to said at least one problem;

automatically generating questions related to said at least one problem and said evidence topics;

receiving additional ones of said questions from said at least one user;

in response to said questions, automatically generating answers to said questions by referring to sources;

automatically calculating confidence measures of each of said answers;

displaying said questions, said answers, and said confidence measures;

when said at least one user identifies one of said answers as a selected answer, displaying details of said sources and said factors used to generate said selected answer.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 19, said method further comprising maintaining a history of said questions, said answers, and said confidence measures.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 19, said details of said sources comprising annotations to said sources.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 19, further comprising displaying how said sources contributed to said confidence measures of said answers.

23. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 19, said at least one problem comprising at least one question.

24. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 19, said method further comprising receiving an identification of said subject.