Natural language interaction with large databases

• US 7,788,088 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2006
• Issued: 08/31/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Visweswariah, Karthik, Goel, Vaibhava, Ablondi, William J., Quinn, Jerome L., Jan, Ea-Ee, Maison, Benoit Emmanuel
• Primary Examiner(s): Hudspeth; David R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Neway; Samuel G
• Application Number:
  US11/329,559
• Publication Number:
  US 20070162275A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,693 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database

Abstract

A method includes applying at least one tag to at least one data element stored in a database the tag having at least one associated rule, utilizing the at least one associated rule to generate at least one variant of the data element, and storing the at least one variant in the database.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

associating, by a processor, a tag with at least one individual one of a plurality of data elements that comprise an original string stored in a database, each tag having an associated rule from a plurality of rules;

utilizing, by a processor, said tag and said associated rule to generate a variant of a data element associated with said tag, wherein parsing is utilized to associate the tag with the at least one individual one of the plurality of data elements of the original string, wherein the parsing involves more than two levels of parsing and the rules associated with each tag are configured to be altered and updated and permit for automatic regeneration of variants;

storing said variant in said database;

altering said rule in response to said generated variant by changing a definition of said rule;

receiving a request;

comparing, at the processor, said request to said data element and to said variant; and

selecting at least one of said data element and said variant corresponding to said request,

wherein the processor is configured to divide a tag into multiple tags and to generate a variant for each of the multiple tags, wherein the more than two levels of parsing comprise a first level parsing as an initial parsing, a second level parsing as a parsing performed upon an output of the first level parsing, and a third level parsing as a parsing performed upon an output of the second level parsing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said tag and said associated rule are generated in an automated fashion.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising utilizing statistical parsing to associate the tag with a data element.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said original string comprises a text string.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising editing said variant.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving a request for at least one of said data element and said variant;

comparing said request to said data element and said variant; and

selecting at least one of said data element and said variant corresponding to said request.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said request comprises text.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said text comprises natural language.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of rules relates to an inclusion of comments.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of rules relates to an inclusion of a sub-description.

11. A system comprising:

a database in which is stored a data element of an original string;

means for automatically associating a tag with at least one individual one of a plurality of data elements that comprise the original string, each tag having an associated rule from a plurality of rules;

means for automatically utilizing said tag and said associated rule to generate a variant of said data element associated with said tag, wherein parsing is utilized to associate the tag with the at least one individual one of the plurality of data elements of the original string, wherein the parsing involves more than two levels of parsing and the rules associated with each tag are configured to be altered and updated and permit for automatic regeneration of variants;

means for storing said variant in said database;

means for altering said rule in response to said generated variant by changing a definition of said rule;

means for receiving a request;

means for comparing, at the processor, said request to said data element and to said variant; and

means for selecting at least one of said data element and said variant corresponding to said request,

wherein the means for automatically associating is configured to divide a tag into multiple tags and to generate a variant for each of the multiple tags, wherein the more than two levels of parsing comprise a first level parsing as an initial parsing, a second level parsing as a parsing performed upon an output of the first level parsing, and a third level parsing as a parsing performed upon an output of the second level parsing.

12. The system of claim 11, comprising:

means for receiving a request for at least one of said data element and said variant;

means for comparing said request to said data element and said variant of said data element; and

selecting at least one of said data element and said variant corresponding to said request.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium embodied with a computer program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations to generate variants of data elements, the operations comprising:

automatically associating, by a processor, a tag with at least one individual one of a plurality of data elements that comprise an original string stored in a database, each tag having an associated rule from a plurality of rules;

automatically utilizing said tag and said associated rule to generate variant of a data element associated with said tag, wherein parsing is utilized to associate the tag with the at least one individual one of the plurality of data elements of the original string, wherein the parsing involves more than two levels of parsing and the rules associated with each tag are configured to be altered and updated and permit for automatic regeneration of variants;

storing said variant in said database;

altering said rule in response to said generated variant by changing a definition of said rule;

receiving a request;

comparing, at the processor, said request to said data element and to said variant; and

selecting at least one of said data element and said variant corresponding to said request,

wherein the processor is configured to divide a tag into multiple tags and to generate a variant for each of the multiple tags, wherein the more than two levels of parsing comprise a first level parsing as an initial parsing, a second level parsing as a parsing performed upon an output of the first level parsing, and a third level parsing as a parsing performed upon an output of the second level parsing.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, comprising defining said tag and said associated rule.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein said tag and said associated rule are generated in an automated fashion.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, comprising utilizing statistical parsing to associate said tag with said data element.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein said data element is a text string.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, comprising:

receiving a request for said data element and said variant;

comparing said request to said data element and said variant; and

selecting said data element and said variant corresponding to said request.