DISAMBIGUATING USER INTENT IN CONVERSATIONAL INTERACTION SYSTEM FOR LARGE CORPUS INFORMATION RETRIEVAL

• US 20140040274A1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Published: 02/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veveo, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Veveo, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: ARAVAMUDAN, Murali, BARVE, Rakesh, VENKATARAMAN, Sashikumar, AGARWAL, Vineet, RAMAMOORTHY, Ganesh, SAVARKAR, Abhijit, MOHAIDEEN PATHURUDEEN, Ahmed Nizam, REDDY, K China Srinivasulu
• Granted Patent: US 9,465,833 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3328 using graphical result space presentation or visualisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/367 Ontology
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90324 using system suggestions

Abstract

A method of disambiguating user intent in conversational interactions for information retrieval is disclosed. The method includes providing access to a set of content items with metadata describing the content items and providing access to structural knowledge showing semantic relationships and links among the content items. The method further includes providing a user preference signature, receiving a first input from the user that is intended by the user to identify at least one desired content item, and determining an ambiguity index of the first input. If the ambiguity index is high, the method determines a query input based on the first input and at least one of the structural knowledge, the user preference signature, a location of the user, and the time of the first input and selects a content item based on comparing the query input and the metadata associated with the content item.

Claims

1. A method of disambiguating user intent in conversational interactions for information retrieval, the method comprising:

providing access to a set of content items, each of the content items being associated with metadata that describes the corresponding content items;

providing access to structural knowledge, the structural knowledge showing semantic relationships and links among the content items;

providing a user preference signature, the user preference signature describing preferences of a user for at least one of (i) particular content items and (ii) metadata associated with the content items;

receiving a first input from the user, the first input intended by the user to identify at least one desired content item;

determining an ambiguity index of the first input;

upon a condition in which the ambiguity index exceeds a first threshold value, determining a query input based on the first input and at least one of the structural knowledge, the user preference signature, a location of the user, and a time of the first input and selecting a subset of content items from the set of content items based on comparing the query input and the metadata associated with the subset of content items; and

upon a condition in which the ambiguity index does not exceed the first threshold value, selecting a subset of content items from the set of content items based on comparing the first input and the metadata associated with the subset of content items.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the subset of content items to the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the ambiguity index is determined based on a number of possible interpretations of the first input.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising upon a condition in which the ambiguity index exceeds the first threshold value, determining which portion of the first input is ambiguous, wherein the determination of the query input is further based on the ambiguous portion of the input.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining intent, entity, and filter of the input, the intent being what is sought by the user, the entity being a noun or pronoun describing the intent, and the filter being a qualifier of the entity.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising upon a condition in which the ambiguity index exceeds a second threshold value, asking for and receiving a second input from the user, wherein the determination of the query input is further based on the second input.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising asking for and receiving a second input from the user, wherein the determination of the query input is further based on the second input.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising presenting the subset of content items to the user.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the second threshold value is higher than the first threshold value.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising upon a condition in which the ambiguity index exceeds the first threshold value, determining which portion of the first input is ambiguous, wherein the determination of the query input is further based on the ambiguous portion of the input.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising determining intent, entity, and filter of the input, the intent being what is sought by the user, the entity being a noun or pronoun describing the intent, and the filter being a qualifier of the entity.

12. A system for disambiguating user intent in conversational interactions for information retrieval, the system comprising:

computer readable instructions encoded on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer readable instructions causing a computer system to;

provide access to a set of content items, each of the content items being associated with metadata that describes the corresponding content items;

provide access to structural knowledge, the structural knowledge showing semantic relationships and links among the content items;

provide a user preference signature, the user preference signature describing preferences of a user for at least one of (i) particular content items and (ii) metadata associated with the content items;

receive a first input from the user, the first input intended by the user to identify at least one desired content item;

determine an ambiguity index of the first input;

upon a condition in which the ambiguity index exceeds a first threshold value, determine a query input based on the first input and at least one of the structural knowledge, the user preference signature, a location of the user, and a time of the first input and select a subset of content items from the set of content items based on comparing the query input and the metadata associated with the subset of content items; and

upon a condition in which the ambiguity index does not exceed the first threshold value, select a subset of content items from the set of content items based on comparing the first input and the metadata associated with the subset of content items.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the computer system to present the subset of content items to the user.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the ambiguity index is determined based on a number of possible interpretations of the first input.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the computer system to, upon a condition in which the ambiguity index exceeds the first threshold value, determine which portion of the first input is ambiguous, wherein the determination of the query input is further based on the ambiguous portion of the input.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the computer system to determine intent, entity, and filter of the input, the intent being what is sought by the user, the entity being a noun or pronoun describing the intent, and the filter being a qualifier of the entity.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the computer system to ask for and receive a second input from the user, wherein the determination of the query input is further based on the second input.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the computer system to, upon a condition in which the ambiguity index exceeds a second threshold value, ask for and receive a second input from the user, wherein the determination of the query input is further based on the second input.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the computer system to present the subset of content items to the user.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the second threshold value is higher than the first threshold value.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the computer system to, upon a condition in which the ambiguity index exceeds the first threshold value, determine which portion of the first input is ambiguous, wherein the determination of the query input is further based on the ambiguous portion of the input.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the computer readable instructions further cause the computer system to determine intent, entity, and filter of the input, the intent being what is sought by the user, the entity being a noun or pronoun describing the intent, and the filter being a qualifier of the entity.