SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IDENTIFYING AN INTENT OF A USER QUERY

• US 20160085800A1
• Filed: 09/23/2014
• Published: 03/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: United Video Properties Incorporated (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Pujari, Mangesh
• Application Number:
  US14/493,590
• Publication Number:
  US 20160085800A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2423 Interactive query statement specification based on a database schema
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/243 Natural language query formulation

Abstract

Systems and methods are described herein for identifying an intent of a user query. A media guidance application may receive a query from a user using any suitable method, including text input and voice/speech recognition software. The media guidance application may extract a plurality of n-grams from the query. The media guidance application may calculate, for each of the plurality of n-grams, a mutual information value with each of a plurality of potential intents. The mutual information value may indicate a measure of dependence between one of the plurality of n-grams and one of the plurality of potential intents. The media guidance application may select a subset of the plurality of n-grams based on the calculated mutual information values and input the subset of the plurality of n-grams into a probabilistic classifier, such as a Naïve Bayes Classifier, in order to identify the intent of the query.

Claims

1. A method for identifying an intent of a user query, comprising:

receiving a query from a user;

extracting a plurality of n-grams from the query;

calculating, for each of the plurality of n-grams, a mutual information value with each of a plurality of potential intents;

selecting a subset of the plurality of n-grams based on the calculated mutual information values; and

identifying the intent of the query by inputting the subset of the plurality of n-grams into a probabilistic classifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the probabilistic classifier identifies the intent of the query based on conditional probabilities of the subset of the plurality of n-grams being related to each of the plurality of potential intents.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the probabilistic classifier is a Naï

ve Bayes classifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculated mutual information values indicate a measure of dependence between one of the plurality of n-grams and one of the plurality of potential intents.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each n-gram of the subset is associated with a mutual information value with at least one of the plurality of potential intents that exceeds a threshold value.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the subset of the plurality of n-grams based on the calculated mutual information values comprises removing an n-gram from the subset associated with calculated mutual information values that do not exceed a threshold value.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the subset of the plurality of n-grams based on the calculated mutual information values comprises removing an n-gram from the subset identified in a list of stop words.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a dominating n-gram of the plurality of n-grams, wherein the dominating n-gram is associated with a mutual information value with a dominating intent of the plurality of potential intents that exceeds a threshold value; and

wherein identifying the intent of the query comprises increasing a probability that the intent of the query is the dominating intent.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying the intent of the query further comprises decreasing a probability that the intent of the query is an intent other than the dominating intent.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the query from the user comprises receiving the query using one of text input or speech recognition.

11. A system for identifying an intent of a user query, comprising:

control circuitry configured to;

receive a query from a user;

extract a plurality of n-grams from the query;

calculate, for each of the plurality of n-grams, a mutual information value with each of a plurality of potential intents;

select a subset of the plurality of n-grams based on the calculated mutual information values; and

identify the intent of the query by inputting the subset of the plurality of n-grams into a probabilistic classifier.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the probabilistic classifier identifies the intent of the query based on conditional probabilities of the subset of the plurality of n-grams being related to each of the plurality of potential intents.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the probabilistic classifier is a Naï

ve Bayes classifier.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the calculated mutual information values indicate a measure of dependence between one of the plurality of n-grams and one of the plurality of potential intents.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein each n-gram of the subset is associated with a mutual information value with at least one of the plurality of potential intents that exceeds a threshold value.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is configured to select the subset of the plurality of n-grams based on the calculated mutual information values by removing an n-gram from the subset associated with calculated mutual information values that do not exceed a threshold value.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is configured to select the subset of the plurality of n-grams based on the calculated mutual information values by removing an n-gram from the subset identified in a list of stop words.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

identify a dominating n-gram of the plurality of n-grams, wherein the dominating n-gram is associated with a mutual information value with a dominating intent of the plurality of potential intents that exceeds a threshold value; and

wherein the control circuitry is configured to identify the intent of the query by increasing a probability that the intent of the query is the dominating intent.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the control circuitry is configured to identify the intent of the query by decreasing a probability that the intent of the query is an intent other than the dominating intent.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is configured to receive the query from the user by receiving the query using one of text input or speech recognition.

21-50. -50. (canceled)