Method and device for parsing natural language sentences and other sequential symbolic expressions
First Claim
1. An apparatus for parsing symbol sequences such as natural language sentences into an organized symbol hierarchy, comprising:
- a microprocessor;
a memory addressable by said microprocessor;
a lexicon, stored in said memory, including symbols and an entity-type corresponding to each symbol, the entity-type selected from the group consisting of a picture-like entity, a relation, and a picture-like entity accompanied by a relation;
an input device for inputting the symbol sequence to said microprocessor;
a procedure, executing on said microprocessor, for determining the entity-type corresponding to each inputted symbol by searching said lexicon, and for grouping the inputted symbols according to rules based on entity-type; and
an output device for outputting the symbol grouping.
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Abstract
A parsing method and apparatus for symbolic expressions of thought such as English-language sentences is provided. The basic procedure distinguishes only between symbols for picture-like entities (such as "squirrel" or "justice") and symbols for relations (such as "above" or "pushed"). For example, to the cognitive parser the sentences "The squirrel buried a nut" and "My aunts sent a telegram" are equivalent. The parser thus operates at a level more basic than syntactic parsing, making it simpler. The illustrative embodiment, a cognitive parser for English sentences, comprises: a microprocessor, a stored lexicon including symbols and associated entity-types (picture or relation), an input device for a symbol sequence, and a procedure executing on the microprocessor for grouping the inputted picture-designating and relation-designating symbols according to rules based on entity type. A method comprising operation of the cognitive parser is also provided.
235 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus for parsing symbol sequences such as natural language sentences into an organized symbol hierarchy, comprising:
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a microprocessor; a memory addressable by said microprocessor; a lexicon, stored in said memory, including symbols and an entity-type corresponding to each symbol, the entity-type selected from the group consisting of a picture-like entity, a relation, and a picture-like entity accompanied by a relation; an input device for inputting the symbol sequence to said microprocessor; a procedure, executing on said microprocessor, for determining the entity-type corresponding to each inputted symbol by searching said lexicon, and for grouping the inputted symbols according to rules based on entity-type; and an output device for outputting the symbol grouping. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A lexicon for use in a parser for symbol sequences such as natural language sentences comprising:
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a memory device; and a table, stored in said memory device, including a plurality of symbols and an entity-type corresponding to each symbol of the plurality of symbols, the entity-type selected from the group consisting of a picture-like entity, a relation, and a picture-like entity accompanied by a relation. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. An apparatus operated by symbol sequences such as natural language sentences, comprising:
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a microprocessor; a memory addressable by said microprocessor; a lexicon, stored in said memory, including symbols and an entity-type corresponding to each symbol, the entity-type selected from the group consisting of a picture-like entity, a relation, and a picture-like entity accompanied by a relation; an input device for inputting the symbol sequence to said microprocessor; and a program, executing on said microprocessor, for determining the entity-type corresponding to each inputted symbol by searching said lexicon, for grouping the inputted symbols according to rules based on entity-type, and for generating an instruction for operating the apparatus in response to the symbol grouping. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A method for parsing symbol sequences such as natural language sentences into an organized symbol hierarchy, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a symbol sequence; extracting a symbol from the received symbol sequence; searching a lexicon with the extracted symbol and retrieving an entity-type corresponding to the symbol, the entity-type selected from the group consisting of a picture-like entity, a relation, and a picture-like entity accompanied by a relation; grouping the symbols according to the retrieved entity-types; repeating the extracting, searching, retrieving, and grouping steps for each symbol in the received symbol sequence; and outputting said symbol grouping. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification