Method and system for responding to requests relating to complex data maintained in a structured form

• US 7,124,142 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2003
• Issued: 10/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Conversive, Inc.
• Inventors: Williams, Robert, McBride, Aaron Joseph, Brennan, Christopher, Rappaport, Rob, Romero, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Application Number:
  US10/705,679
• Publication Number:
  US 20050102286A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,072 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-1041, 707200-205, 707/143
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3335 Syntactic pre-processing, e.g. stopword elimination, stemming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90344 by using string matching techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

A method and apparatus for processing user entered input and providing a response in a system for autonomously processing requests includes rules. For each rule, whether the input is recognized is determined. If it is, a response is sent to the user. To determine recognized input, the method attempts to match the rule to a pattern. If a match is not found, the input is not recognized. If a match is found, the input is recognized and the response is sent. Alternatively, the input is conditionally recognized and a statement validator is executed which queries structured data to determine if a logic statement evaluates to true. Depending on how the statement evaluates: i) the input is recognized and the response is sent, ii) the structured data is queried again for the next statement validator, or iii) the input is not recognized and the method continues to the next rule.

Claims

1. A method for processing input entered by a user and providing at least one response in a system for autonomously processing the input, comprising the steps of:

providing rules,

receiving the input entered by the user;

processing the input after the input is entered by the user, wherein the step of processing the input includes the step of standardizing the input by using (a) a remove punctuation process, (b) a spell check process, (c) an expand contractions process, and (d) a standardize case process, and for each rule;

determining if the input is recognized, and

if the input is recognized, sending an appropriate response to the user,

wherein the step of determining if the input is recognized, includes the steps of;

attempting to match the input to at least one pattern,

if no match is found, not recognizing the input and continuing to the next rule, and

if a match is found, either;

recognizing the input and continuing to the step of sending the appropriate response, or

conditionally recognizing the input and executing at least one statement validator to determine if the input is appropriately matched by the rule, the statement validator including the steps of;

querying structured data to determine if a logic statement evaluates to true,

depending upon whether the statement evaluates to true or false, either;

recognizing the input and continuing to the step of sending the appropriate response,

repeating the step of querying the structured data for the next statement validator, if available, or

not recognizing the input and continuing to the next rule.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the statement validator further includes the steps of:

taking a relevant part of the input based on code of the rule,

querying the structured data using the relevant part to obtain a result,

evaluating a logic statement based on the result, where depending upon whether the statement evaluates to true or false, either;

recognizing the input and continuing to the step of sending the appropriate response,

repeating the step of querying the structured data for the next statement validator, if available, or

not recognizing the input and continuing to the next rule.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the statement validator further includes the steps of:

taking a relevant part of the input based on code of the rule,

querying the structured data using the relevant part to obtain a result,

evaluating a logic statement based on the result and the relevant part, where depending upon whether the statement evaluates to true or false, either;

recognizing the input and continuing to the step of sending the appropriate response,

repeating the step of querying the structured data for the next statement validator, if available, or

not recognizing the input and continuing to the next rule.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the statement validator further includes the steps of:

querying the structured data to obtain a result,

taking a relevant part of the input based on code of the rule,

evaluating a logic statement based on the result and the relevant part, where depending upon whether the statement evaluates to true or false, either;

recognizing the input and continuing to the step of sending the appropriate response,

repeating the step of querying the structured data for the next statement validator, if available, or

not recognizing the input and continuing to the next rule.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the statement validator further includes the steps of:

querying the structured data to obtain a result,

evaluating a logic statement based on the result, where depending upon whether the statement evaluates to true or false, either;

recognizing the input and continuing to the step of sending the appropriate response,

repeating the step of querying the structured data for the next statement validator, if available, or

not recognizing the input and continuing to the next rule.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the input includes questions, declarative statements, or other normal communication patterns.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of processing the input includes the step of extracting structure or meaning from the input.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of extracting structure or meaning from the input is accomplished using one or more of a lexical analysis process or a semantic analysis process.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of sending the appropriate response includes the steps of:

extracting executable code from the appropriate response, and

running the executable code to embed dynamic information in the appropriate response.

10. The method according to claim 1, the method further includes the steps of, for any rule for which the input is recognized:

identifying logic within the rule, and

executing the logic.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of executing logic includes the step of choosing the appropriate response from a set of responses.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step of choosing the appropriate response is achieved by randomly choosing from the set of responses.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step of choosing the appropriate response is based upon a query of outside information.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the step of choosing the appropriate response is based upon a query of the structured data.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of executing logic includes the step of choosing the appropriate response from a set of responses based upon the step of executing at least one statement validator to determine if a logic statement in the statement validator evaluates to true.

16. A computer based system that processes input entered by a user and provides at least one response in a system for autonomously processing requests, comprising:

an engine configured to;

receive the input from the user; and

process the input by standardizing the input by using (a) a remove punctuation process, (b) a spell check process, (c) an expand contractions process, and (d) a standardize case process; and

a set of rules accessible by the engine, wherein for each rule the engine is configured to;

determine if the input is recognized, and

send an appropriate response to the user if the input is recognized, wherein the engine is configured to determine if the input is recognized by;

attempting to match the input to at least one pattern, and

if no match is found, not recognizing the input and continuing to the next rule, and

if a match is found, either;

recognizing the input and sending the appropriate response, or

conditionally recognizing the input and executing at least one statement validator to determine if the input is appropriately matched by the rule, wherein the statement validator is configured to;

query structured data to determine if a logic statement evaluates to true, and depending upon whether the statement evaluates to true or false, either;

recognizing the input and sending the appropriate response,

querying the structured data for the next statement validator, if available, or

not recognizing the input and continuing to the next rule.

17. The system according to claim 16, further including script storage housing the set of rules.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein each rule includes an input recognizer and at least one response layer.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein each rule further includes at least one logic layer.

20. The system according to claim 18, further including:

client software adapted to receive the input from the user; and

a connection interface in communication with the client software and the engine.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein the connection interface includes the client software.

22. The system according to claim 16, further including a user interface in communication with the connection interface and including the client software.

23. The computer based apparatus according to claim 22, further including a network interconnecting the connection interface and the user interface.

24. The system according to claim 16, further including other data sources utilizable by the engine to identify a response.