Multi-modal user interface
First Claim
1. A multi-modal user interface comprising:
- input means for receiving from a user a textual database query which refers to an element not contained in the textual input and a referential input which refers to elements contained in responses to a plurality of previous queries from the user;
means for detecting a referential ambiguity in the textual database query, the referential ambiguity comprising an ambiguous reference to the element not contained in the textual input;
means for removing the referential ambiguity according to the referential input to provide an unambiguous query; and
means for evaluating the unambiguous query and providing a result of the evaluation to the user.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A multi-modal user interface for removing a referential ambiguity from a natural language input to a computer system. A user provides both a textual input and a referential input. The referential input is provided by using a mouse to point to text items on the screen. The referential input removes the ambiguity from the textual input. The textual input typically is a query of a database and is displayed as a query in a query card. The referential input is a selection of elements from responses to previous queries. The user selects various ones of these query cards for display on the screen at any given time and points to elements of the responses in the displayed cards as necessary to provide referential inputs for new queries.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A multi-modal user interface comprising:
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input means for receiving from a user a textual database query which refers to an element not contained in the textual input and a referential input which refers to elements contained in responses to a plurality of previous queries from the user; means for detecting a referential ambiguity in the textual database query, the referential ambiguity comprising an ambiguous reference to the element not contained in the textual input; means for removing the referential ambiguity according to the referential input to provide an unambiguous query; and means for evaluating the unambiguous query and providing a result of the evaluation to the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer implemented method of querying a database, the method comprising:
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receiving a database query from a user, the query referring to an element not contained in the query; receiving a referential input from the user, the referential input referring to elements contained in responses to a plurality of previous queries from the user; identifying any referential expression in the database query that refers to the element not contained in the database query; resolving any ambiguous reference in the referential expression to the element not contained in the query according to the referential input to provide an unambiguous query; evaluating the unambiguous query; and providing a result of the evaluation to the user. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification