Pronoun semantic analysis system and method
First Claim
1. In a natural language application running on a computer system, said natural language application for allowing a user to manipulate a plurality of displayed objects on a display device through natural language commands, said plurality of displayed objects being generated by a computer system, a method of interpreting a word sequence including a verb and a pronoun comprising:
- if said word sequence includes a noun referred to by said pronoun, then ignoring said pronoun;
if one of said plurality of displayed objects is presently selected, then interpreting said pronoun as referring to said presently selected displayed object; and
if none of said plurality of displayed objects are presently selected, then interpreting said pronoun as referring to one of said plurality of displayed objects which is proximate to a current insertion point on said display device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method of interpreting user commands for controlling a computer application. When a user command includes a pronoun such as "it", "this", "that" etc., the pronoun will be interpreted in an intuitive fashion according to the context of the computer application. In a word processing application, users can issue commands such as "copy that" or "bold that", and the system will select the proper object to perform the operation on. The system can be used with a speech recognition application to allow users to control applications easily through voice commands and text.
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Citations
7 Claims
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1. In a natural language application running on a computer system, said natural language application for allowing a user to manipulate a plurality of displayed objects on a display device through natural language commands, said plurality of displayed objects being generated by a computer system, a method of interpreting a word sequence including a verb and a pronoun comprising:
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if said word sequence includes a noun referred to by said pronoun, then ignoring said pronoun; if one of said plurality of displayed objects is presently selected, then interpreting said pronoun as referring to said presently selected displayed object; and if none of said plurality of displayed objects are presently selected, then interpreting said pronoun as referring to one of said plurality of displayed objects which is proximate to a current insertion point on said display device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification