Method and apparatus for determining theme for discourse

• US 5,887,120 A
• Filed: 05/31/1995
• Issued: 03/23/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle Corporation
• Inventors: Wical, Kelly
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rhodes, Jason W.
• Application Number:
  US08/455,484
• Time in Patent Office: 1,392 Days
• Field of Search: 395/60, 395/759, 395/760, 395/54, 395/10, 364/419.07, 364/419.08
• US Class Current: 706/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

A content processing system determines content of input discourse. The content processing system includes a theme vector processor that determines themes in the input discourse. The theme vector processor identifies themes, including identifying the relative importance of the themes in the input discourse by generating a theme strength. The theme strength indicates relative thematic importance for the theme in the input discourse. A knowledge catalog, which includes static ontologies arranged in a hierarchical structure, is also disclosed. The static ontologies are independent and parallel of each other, and contain knowledge concepts to represent a world view of knowledge. The theme vector processor utilizes the static ontologies to generate a theme concept for each theme by extracting a knowledge concept from a higher level node in the hierarchical structure of a static ontology.

Claims

1. A method for determining theme in an input discourse, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of themes from said input discourse;

storing a plurality of categories in a knowledge catalog arranged hierarchically to reflect semantic or linguistic relationships among said categories in said knowledge catalog;

classifying said themes of said input discourse by relating said themes into categories of said knowledge catalog, wherein classification of said themes in categories of said knowledge catalog reflects semantic or linguistic relationships between said themes;

generating a theme concept for said themes by extracting a category from a higher level in said knowledge catalog; and

adding a theme concept as a theme if more than one theme map to said theme concept.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether each theme term is essentially non-ambiguous such that said theme term is commonly recognized as having a single sense; and

classifying only non-ambiguous terms in said knowledge catalog.

3. A computer readable medium comprising a set of instructions stored therein, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps of:

receiving a plurality of themes from said input discourse;

storing a plurality of categories in a knowledge catalog arranged hierarchically to reflect semantic or linguistic relationships among said categories in said knowledge catalog;

classifying said themes of said input discourse by relating said themes into categories of said knowledge catalog, wherein classification of said themes in categories of said knowledge catalog reflects semantic or linguistic relationships between said themes;

generating a theme concept for said themes by extracting a category from a higher level in said knowledge catalog; and

adding a theme concept as a theme if more than one theme map to said theme concept.

4. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 3, further comprising instructions for:

determining whether each theme term is essentially non-ambiguous such that said theme term is commonly recognized as having a single sense; and

classifying only non-ambiguous terms in said knowledge catalog.