Methods and systems for analyzing incident reports

• US 7,613,667 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2005
• Issued: 11/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Coen, Gary A., Xue, Ping
• Primary Examiner(s): Vincent; David R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bharadwaj; Kalpana
• Application Number:
  US11/173,598
• Publication Number:
  US 20070005650A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,587 Days
• Field of Search: 706/45, 705/10, 700/16
• US Class Current: 706/21
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/211 Syntactic parsing, e.g. based on context-free grammar [CFG] or unification grammars
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

Systems and methods for examining text, such as incident reports, are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes specifying a client profile including at least one scenario of interest, the scenario of interest being formulated in an event calculus formalism; analyzing a portion of text for relevant information at least partially described by the scenario of interest; detecting relevant information including detecting a positive match between at least part of information relevant to the scenario of interest and at least part of the portion of text being analyzed; upon detecting such relevant information, extracting the relevant information; representing the extracted relevant information in the event calculus formalism; and performing an inference process on the extracted relevant information represented in the event calculus formalism.

Claims

1. A method comprising using a computer to automatically process a plurality of documents containing text to extract information of interest to a client, the processing performed by the computer including:

creating a client profile based on at least one scenario of interest to the client, the scenario of interest including a sequence of events, the client profile including an ordering of event representations that are of interest to the client;

conceptually decomposing the text in the documents into decomposed data;

applying event calculus axioms and formula to the client profile and the decomposed data to detect relevant information in the documents; and

upon detecting such relevant information, extracting the relevant information from the documents.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing further comprises performing an inference process on the extracted relevant information, including at least one of deductively determining when the extracted relevant information embodies the scenario of interest and abductively determining when the extracted relevant information embodies a scenario of interest.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein deductively determining when the extracted relevant information embodies the scenario of interest includes at least one of confirming the occurrence of the scenario of interest in the extracted relevant information and predicting the occurrence of the scenario of interest in the extracted relevant information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein predicting the occurrence of the scenario of interest includes determining that the extracted relevant information only partially embodies the scenario of interest, and determining that a confidence weight attached to the partially-embodied scenario of interest is satisfied.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing further comprises performing an inference process on the extracted relevant information, including abductively determining a most likely profiled scenario compatible with a plurality of user-specified events.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein abductively determining a most likely profiled scenario includes performing an inference process based on a logical formula represented as a conjunction F of a set of logical formulae describing events and activities drawn from the portion of text, the conjunction F including the plurality of user-specified events, and finding a logical description Δ

(M) of reported events such that F=Σ

(B)Σ

(E)Δ

(N)Δ

(M), where “

”

is the logical “

AND”

operator, and where;

Σ

(B) is a background theory comprising axioms for change in space-time, including changes in temporal and spatial locations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing further comprises performing an inference process on the extracted relevant information, including determining that one or more confidence weights attached to a partially-embodied scenario of interest are satisfied.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein creating a client profile includes specifying at least one of an event and a state of affairs integrated with at least one participant;

and wherein the client profile is compared with states, events and participants detected in text.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein creating a client profile includes specifying a confidence weight attached to the scenario of interest, the confidence weight identifying a minimum number of axioms to be instantiated by the extracted relevant information in determining when the extracted relevant information embodies the scenario of interest.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein extracting relevant information includes analyzing the portion of text using a natural language engineering component and providing a linguistic representation of text in the documents.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the processing further comprises representing the extracted relevant information by arranging the extracted information according to a formal set of truth conditions.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein representing the extracted relevant information includes reducing a unit of information from the portion of text into a syntactic representation of noun and verb phrases, and subsequently reducing the syntactic representation into a semantic representation in the formalism of lexical-conceptual structures.

13. An article comprising computer readable memory encoded with data for causing a computer to automatically process a plurality of documents containing text, the automatic processing including:

receiving client subscriber information, the subscriber information including at least one scenario of interest to the client, the scenario of interest including at least one of a pattern of events and a participant;

creating a client profile based on the received subscriber information, the client profile including an ordering of event representations that are of interest to the client;

conceptually decomposing the text in the documents into decomposed data;

applying event calculus axioms and formula to the client profile and the decomposed data to detect relevant information in the documents; and

upon detecting such relevant information, extracting the relevant information from the documents.

14. The article of claim 13, wherein the automatic Processing further includes performing an inference process including at least one of deductively determining when the extracted relevant information embodies a scenario of interest and abductively determining when the extracted relevant information embodies a scenario of interest.

15. The article of claim 14, wherein deductively determining when the extracted relevant information embodies the scenario of interest includes at least one of confirming the occurrence of the scenario of interest in the extracted relevant information and predicting the occurrence of the scenario of interest in the extracted relevant information.

16. The article of claim 15, wherein the predicting the occurrence of the scenario of interest includes determining that the extracted relevant information only partially embodies the scenario of interest, and determining that a confidence weight attached to the partially-embodied scenario of interest is satisfied.

17. The article of claim 13, further comprising performing an inference process includes abductively determining a most likely profiled scenario compatible with a plurality of user-specified events.

18. The article of claim 13, further comprising performing an inference process on the extracted information, including determining that one or more confidence weights attached to a partially-embodied scenario of interest are satisfied.

19. The article of claim 13, wherein extracting the relevant information includes using a natural language engineering component to analyze text in the documents and providing a linguistic representation of at least part of the portion of text.

20. A computer system comprising a computer programmed to automatically process a plurality of documents containing text, the automatic processing including:

receiving client subscriber information, the subscriber information including at least one scenario of interest to the client, the scenario of interest including at least one of a pattern of events and a participant;

creating a client profile based on the received subscriber information, the client profile including an ordering of event representations that are of interest to the client;

conceptually decomposing the text in the documents into decomposed data;

applying event calculus axioms and formula to the client profile and the decomposed data to detect relevant information in the documents; and

upon detecting such relevant information, extracting the relevant information from the documents.

21. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the automatic processing further includes at least one of deductively determining when the extracted relevant information embodies the scenario of interest and abductively determining when the extracted relevant information embodies the scenario of interest.

22. The computer system of claim 21, wherein deductively determining when the extracted relevant information embodies the scenario of interest includes at least one of confirming the occurrence of the scenario of interest in the extracted relevant information and predicting the occurrence of the scenario of interest in the extracted relevant information.

23. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the automatic processing further includes abductively determining a most likely profiled scenario compatible with a plurality of user-specified events.

24. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the automatic processing further includes performing an inference process including determining that one or more confidence weights attached to a partially-embodied scenario of interest are satisfied.

25. The computer system of claim 20, wherein extracting the relevant information includes using a natural language engineering component on text in the documents and providing a linguistic representation of at least part of the portion of text.