English-language translation of exact interpretations of keyword queries

• US 8,000,957 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2008
• Issued: 08/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Deshpande, Prasad M., Zhu, Huaiyu, Vaithyanathan, Shivakumar, Krishnamurthy, Rajasekar, Raghavan, Sriram
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorvil; Richemond
• Assistant Examiner(s): Adesanya; Olujimi A
• Application Number:
  US12/129,082
• Publication Number:
  US 20080228468A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,174 Days
• Field of Search: 704/4, 704/8, 704/9
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9032 Query formulation

Abstract

The present invention relates to a methodology to translate exact interpretations of keyword queries into meaningful and grammatically correct plain-language queries in order to convey the meaning of these interpretations to the initiator of the search. The method includes the steps of generating at least one grammatically valid plain-language sentence interpretation for a keyword query from a generated sentence plain-language sentence clauses, wherein the grammatically valid plain-language sentence is based upon differing matching elements, and presenting at least one grammatically valid plain-language sentence interpretation for the keyword query to a keyword query system user for the user'"'"'s review.

Claims

1. A method for translating an interpretation of a keyword query into a grammatically correct plain-language query statement in a computer system having a processor, the method comprising the steps of:

acquiring, by the processor, at least one keyword to perform a keyword query search upon;

semantically interpreting, by the processor, the acquired keyword, further including the step of building a translation index to determine matching elements, wherein matching elements are derived from information comprising type names, attribute names, and atomic attributes values that are associated with a specific keyword;

merging, by the processor, the matching elements in the event that differing keywords comprise a same matching element and type alias;

providing, by the processor, a clause template for the customization of a plain-language sentence clause, wherein the plain-language sentence clause is based upon the matching elements that are selected for customization;

generating, by the processor, at least one plain-language sentence clause for each of the matching elements, wherein the matching elements relate to matches including a type match, a path patch, a value match and a word match;

determining, by the processor, if the plain-language sentence clauses can be merged, wherein the determination is based upon the attributes matched for a given type element;

specifying, by the processor, the plain-language sentence clauses that are to be merged, the plain-language sentence clause mergers being based upon the attributes matched for a given type element;

merging, by the processor, the plain-language sentence clauses, wherein the merging occurs for at least one of the path match, the value match and a combination of the path match and the value match, and wherein the merging is not possible for the type match and the word match;

generating, by the processor, at least one grammatically valid plain-language sentence for the keyword query from the generated plain-language sentence clauses, wherein the grammatically valid plain-language sentence is based upon differing matching elements;

presenting, by the processor, the at least one grammatically valid plain-language sentence for the keyword query to a keyword query system user for the user'"'"'s review.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the matching elements comprises elements that are related to a type match, a path match, a value match, and a word match.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of associating, by the processor, a differing default plain-language sentence clause with each matching element.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated grammatically valid plain-language sentence is based on grammatical rules associated with the English language.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein multiple word matching elements are combined into a plain-language sentence clause.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the matching elements having the same type alias are grouped together, and their plain-language sentence clauses are merged.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing, by the processor, a template for the overall structure of the at least one grammatically valid plain-language sentence.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the template comprises at least one placeholder for the information that is contained within a plain-language sentence clause.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the templates are hierarchical in structure, the templates being configured to generate clauses, and sub-clauses that are comprised within the clauses, the clauses and sub-clauses of the template being used to construct plain-language sentences.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the plain-language sentence clauses are classified as consecutively numbered types.

11. A computer program product that includes a non-transitory computer readable medium useable by a processor, the medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to translate an interpretation of a keyword query into a grammatically correct plain-language query, wherein the computer program product executes the steps of:

acquiring at least one keyword to perform a keyword query search upon;

generating a keyword query in order to semantically interpret the acquired keyword, further including the step of building a translation index to determine matching elements, wherein matching elements are derived from information comprising type names, attribute names, and atomic attributes values that are associated with a specific keyword;

merging the matching elements in the event that differing keywords comprise a same matching element and type alias;

providing a clause template for the customization of a plain-language sentence clause, wherein the plain-language sentence clause is based upon the matching elements that are selected for customization;

generating at least one plain-language sentence clause for each of the matching elements, wherein the matching elements relate to matches including a type match, a path patch, a value match and a word match;

determining if the plain-language sentence clauses can be merged, wherein the determination is based upon the attributes matched for a given type element;

specifying the plain-language sentence clauses that are to be merged, the plain-language sentence clause mergers being based upon the attributes matched for a given matching element;

merging the plain-language sentence clauses, wherein the merging occurs for at least one of the path match, the value match and a combination of the path match and the value match, and wherein the merging is not possible for the type match and the word match;

generating at least one grammatically valid plain-language sentence interpretation for the keyword query from the generated plain-language sentence clauses, wherein the grammatically valid plain-language sentence is based upon differing matching elements;

presenting the at least one grammatically valid plain-language sentence interpretation for the keyword query to a keyword query system user for the user'"'"'s review.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising the step of providing a template for the overall structure of the at least one grammatically valid plain-language sentence.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the template comprises at least one placeholder for the information that is contained within a plain-language sentence clause.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the templates are hierarchical in structure, the templates being configured to generate clauses, and sub-clauses that are comprised within the clauses, the clauses and sub-clauses of the template being used to construct plain-language sentences.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the plain-language sentence clauses are classified as consecutively numbered types.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the plain-language sentence templates can be optionally labeled as having the capability of being merged, in the event that the plain-language sentence templates are labeled as having the capability to be merged, then the clauses that correspond to the plain-language sentence templates are thereafter merged.