Generating a Superset of Question/Answer Action Paths Based on Dynamically Generated Type Sets

• US 20150169544A1
• Filed: 12/12/2013
• Published: 06/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Winkler, Timothy P., Bufe, John P. III
• Granted Patent: US 9,971,967 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation

Abstract

An approach is provided for generating supersets of Q/A action paths based on dynamically generated type sets. In the approach, a corpus of knowledge that is used by the QA system is analyzed. The analyzing is performed according to a natural language processing (NLP) of a number of key words that have been found to exceed an expected frequency, such as a frequency found in general language usage. Runtime code is generated by utilizing the key words. The generated runtime code is able to provide answers from the corpus of knowledge, such as by being in a natural language question or in a structured query language expression, with the provided answers being related to one or more predicted questions.

Claims

1. A method, in an information handling system comprising a processor and a memory, generating question-answer paths for a QA system, the method comprising:

analyzing a corpus of knowledge used by the QA system, wherein the analyzing is performed according to a natural language processing (NLP) of a plurality of key words found to exceed an expected frequency; and

generating a runtime code by utilizing the key words, wherein the generated runtime code is adapted to providing answers from the corpus of knowledge, and wherein the provided answers are related to one or more predicted questions.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accessing a structured database from the corpus of knowledge, wherein the structured database is included in the corpus of knowledge and facilitates searching for answers to the questions using a runtime code that includes a structured query language expression.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

providing a user interface (UI) allowing a user to input a question; and

responsive to receiving the question by the UI, utilizing the runtime code to formulate the structured query language expression;

querying the structured database to retrieve responsive information;

utilizing the retrieved responsive information to formulate a possible answer; and

presenting the formulated possible answer to the user.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

selecting a set of data sources included in the corpus of knowledge, wherein the selected set of data sources are related to a common domain of information;

extracting a plurality of words from the set of data sources;

calculating a domain-usage frequency for each of the plurality of words, wherein the domain-usage frequency is the frequency that each of the plurality of words occurs in the set of data sources;

retrieving a general-usage frequency for each of the plurality of words, wherein the general-usage frequency is the frequency that each of the plurality of words occurs in general language usage;

for each of the plurality of words, comparing the domain-usage frequency of the word with the general-usage frequency of the word; and

identifying a set of the plurality of words from the plurality of words as the plurality key words, the identifying based on the comparison revealing that the domain-usage frequency corresponding to each word in the set of the plurality of words is statistically significantly higher than the general-usage frequency corresponding to the respective word.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

searching a plurality of schemas corresponding to the structured database for the plurality of key words;

finding a selected one of the key words in a selected one of the schemas, wherein the selected schema corresponds to a selected database table included in the structured database; and

building the structured query language expression to search for the selected key word in the selected database table.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating a natural language question that is based on the structured query language expression;

presenting the generated natural language question to the user at the UI;

receiving edits, at the UI, from the user to the generated natural language question, wherein the received edits form a completed natural language question; and

storing the completed natural language question as runtime code that can be processed by the QA system.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the corpus of knowledge includes a first corpus that relates to a first domain of knowledge and a second corpus that relates to a second domain of knowledge, wherein the key words include a first set of key words related to the first corpus and second set of key words related to the second corpus, and wherein the first and second sets of key words differ between the two domains.

8. An information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory coupled to at least one of the processors;

a display; and

a set of instructions stored in the memory and executed by at least one of the processors to generate question-answer paths for a QA system, wherein the set of instructions perform actions of;

analyzing a corpus of knowledge used by the QA system, wherein the analyzing is performed according to a natural language processing (NLP) of a plurality of key words found to exceed an expected frequency; and

generating a runtime code by utilizing the key words, wherein the generated runtime code is adapted to providing answers from the corpus of knowledge, and wherein the provided answers are related to one or more predicted questions.

9. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein the actions further comprise:

accessing a structured database from the corpus of knowledge, wherein the structured database is included in the corpus of knowledge and facilitates searching for answers to the questions using a runtime code that includes a structured query language expression.

10. The information handling system of claim 9 wherein the actions further comprise:

providing a user interface (UI) allowing a user to input a question; and

responsive to receiving the question by the UI, utilizing the runtime code to formulate the structured query language expression;

querying the structured database to retrieve responsive information;

utilizing the retrieved responsive information to formulate a possible answer; and

presenting the formulated possible answer to the user.

11. The information handling system of claim 9 wherein the actions further comprise:

selecting a set of data sources included in the corpus of knowledge, wherein the selected set of data sources are related to a common domain of information;

extracting a plurality of words from the set of data sources;

calculating a domain-usage frequency for each of the plurality of words, wherein the domain-usage frequency is the frequency that each of the plurality of words occurs in the set of data sources;

retrieving a general-usage frequency for each of the plurality of words, wherein the general-usage frequency is the frequency that each of the plurality of words occurs in general language usage;

for each of the plurality of words, comparing the domain-usage frequency of the word with the general-usage frequency of the word; and

identifying a set of the plurality of words from the plurality of words as the plurality key words, the identifying based on the comparison revealing that the domain-usage frequency corresponding to each word in the set of the plurality of words is statistically significantly higher than the general-usage frequency corresponding to the respective word.

12. The information handling system of claim 11 wherein the actions further comprise:

searching a plurality of schemas corresponding to the structured database for the plurality of key words;

finding a selected one of the key words in a selected one of the schemas, wherein the selected schema corresponds to a selected database table included in the structured database; and

building the structured query language expression to search for the selected key word in the selected database table.

13. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein the actions further comprise:

generating a natural language question that is based on the structured query language expression;

presenting the generated natural language question to the user at the UI;

receiving edits, at the UI, from the user to the generated natural language question, wherein the received edits form a completed natural language question; and

storing the completed natural language question as runtime code that can be processed by the QA system.

14. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein the corpus of knowledge includes a first corpus that relates to a first domain of knowledge and a second corpus that relates to a second domain of knowledge, wherein the key words include a first set of key words related to the first corpus and second set of key words related to the second corpus, and wherein the first and second sets of key words differ between the two domains.

15. A computer program product stored in a computer readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions that, when executed by an information handling system, causes the information handling system to generate question-answer paths for a QA system by performing actions comprising:

analyzing a corpus of knowledge used by the QA system, wherein the analyzing is performed according to a natural language processing (NLP) of a plurality of key words found to exceed an expected frequency; and

generating a runtime code by utilizing the key words, wherein the generated runtime code is adapted to providing answers from the corpus of knowledge, and wherein the provided answers are related to one or more predicted questions.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the actions further comprise:

accessing a structured database from the corpus of knowledge, wherein the structured database is included in the corpus of knowledge and facilitates searching for answers to the questions using a runtime code that includes a structured query language expression.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 wherein the actions further comprise:

providing a user interface (UI) allowing a user to input a question; and

responsive to receiving the question by the UI, utilizing the runtime code to formulate the structured query language expression;

querying the structured database to retrieve responsive information;

utilizing the retrieved responsive information to formulate a possible answer; and

presenting the formulated possible answer to the user.

18. The computer program product of claim 16 wherein the actions further comprise:

selecting a set of data sources included in the corpus of knowledge, wherein the selected set of data sources are related to a common domain of information;

extracting a plurality of words from the set of data sources;

calculating a domain-usage frequency for each of the plurality of words, wherein the domain-usage frequency is the frequency that each of the plurality of words occurs in the set of data sources;

retrieving a general-usage frequency for each of the plurality of words, wherein the general-usage frequency is the frequency that each of the plurality of words occurs in general language usage;

for each of the plurality of words, comparing the domain-usage frequency of the word with the general-usage frequency of the word;

identifying a set of the plurality of words from the plurality of words as the plurality key words, the identifying based on the comparison revealing that the domain-usage frequency corresponding to each word in the set of the plurality of words is statistically significantly higher than the general-usage frequency corresponding to the respective word;

searching a plurality of schemas corresponding to the structured database for the plurality of key words;

finding a selected one of the key words in a selected one of the schemas, wherein the selected schema corresponds to a selected database table included in the structured database; and

building the structured query language expression to search for the selected key word in the selected database table.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the actions further comprise:

generating a natural language question that is based on the structured query language expression;

presenting the generated natural language question to the user at the UI;

receiving edits, at the UI, from the user to the generated natural language question, wherein the received edits form a completed natural language question; and

storing the completed natural language question as runtime code that can be processed by the QA system.

20. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the corpus of knowledge includes a first corpus that relates to a first domain of knowledge and a second corpus that relates to a second domain of knowledge, wherein the key words include a first set of key words related to the first corpus and second set of key words related to the second corpus, and wherein the first and second sets of key words differ between the two domains.