Methods and apparatus for processing grammatical tags in a template to generate text

• US 8,150,676 B1
• Filed: 11/25/2008
• Issued: 04/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yseop SA
• Original Assignee: Yseop SA
• Inventors: Kaeser, Alain
• Primary Examiner(s): Lerner, Martin
• Application Number:
  US12/323,196
• Time in Patent Office: 1,225 Days
• Field of Search: 704/1, 704/9, 715/209, 715/224, 715/226, 715/271, 715/260
• US Class Current: 704/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/56 Natural language generation

Abstract

Method and apparatus for automatically generating text in a human language using a template. The template may include at least one grammatical tag that implicates at least one actor in a sentence in the template. Human-language text may be determined to fill in the tag based on a characteristic of the actor, such as, for example, the actor'"'"'s gender, whether the actor is singular or plural, or some other characteristic of the actor.

Claims

1. A method for automatically generating text, the method comprising acts of:

accessing human-language text automatically generated using at least one template that includes at least some fixed text and at least one tag that serves as a placeholder to be filled in with automatically generated text;

automatically identifying instances of at least one portion of the human-language text appearing multiple times in the human language text, wherein the automatically identifying is performed via at least one processor; and

automatically generating output text in a human-readable language at least in part by substituting one or more synonyms of the at least one portion for one or more of the identified instances of the at least one portion in the human-language text;

wherein the one or more synonyms comprises a first synonym;

wherein identifying instances of the at least one portion comprises identifying two instances of the at least one portion that appear in close proximity to each other in the human-language text;

wherein substituting the one or more synonyms comprises substituting the first synonym for one of the two identified instances of the at least one portion in the human-language text; and

wherein identifying the two instances of the at least one portion comprises identifying two instances that appear within a threshold number of characters or words of one another in the human-language text.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one portion is a word and each of the one or more synonyms is a synonym of the word.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one portion is a phrase and each of the one or more synonyms is a synonym phrase that is synonymous with the phrase.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the two instances of the at least one portion comprises identifying two instances in a same sentence or paragraph of the human-language text.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one tag comprises a synonym tag that specifies the one or more synonyms of the at least one portion.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one template comprises the one or more synonyms.

7. At least one computer readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed on a computer system, perform a method for automatically generating text, the method comprising acts of:

accessing human-language text automatically generated using at least one template that includes at least some fixed text and at least one tag that serves as a placeholder to be filled in with automatically generated text;

identifying instances of at least one portion of the human-language text appearing multiple times in the human language text; and

automatically generating output text in a human-readable language at least in part by substituting one or more synonyms of the at least one portion for one or more of the identified instances of the at least one portion in the human-language text;

wherein the one or more synonyms comprises a first synonym;

wherein identifying instances of the at least one portion comprises identifying two instances of the at least one portion that appear in close proximity to each other in the human-language text;

wherein substituting the one or more synonyms comprises substituting the first synonym for one of the two identified instances of the at least one portion in the human-language text; and

wherein identifying the two instances of the at least one portion comprises identifying two instances that appear within a threshold number of characters or words of one another in the human-language text.

8. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the at least one portion is a word and each of the one or more synonyms is a synonym of the word.

9. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the at least one portion is a phrase and each of the one or more synonyms is a synonym phrase that is synonymous with the phrase.

10. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein

identifying the two instances of the at least one portion comprises identifying two instances in a same sentence or paragraph of the human-language text.

11. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the at least one tag comprises a synonym tag that specifies the one or more synonyms of the at least one portion.

12. The at least one computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the at least one template comprises the one or more synonyms.

13. A computer system comprising:

at least one memory; and

at least one controller, coupled to the at least one memory, that;

accesses, from the at least one memory, human-language text automatically generated using at least one template that includes at least some fixed text and at least one tag that serves as a placeholder to be filled in with automatically generated text;

identifies instances of at least one portion of the human-language text appearing multiple times in the human language text; and

automatically generates output text in a human-readable language at least in part by substituting one or more synonyms of the at least one portion for one or more of the identified instances of the at least one portion in the human-language text;

wherein the one or more synonyms comprises a first synonym;

wherein the at least one controller identifies instances of the at least one portion at least in part by identifying two instances of the at least one portion that appear in close proximity to each other in the human-language text;

wherein substituting the one or more synonyms comprises substituting the first synonym for one of the two identified instances of the at least one portion in the human-language text; and

wherein identifying the two instances of the at least one portion comprises identifying two instances that appear within a threshold number of characters or words of one another in the human-language text.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one portion is a word and each of the one or more synonyms is a synonym of the word.

15. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one portion is a phrase and each of the one or more synonyms is a synonym phrase that is synonymous with the phrase.

16. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one controller identifies the two instances of the at least one portion at least in part by identifying two instances in a same sentence or paragraph of the human-language text.

17. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one tag comprises a synonym tag that specifies the one or more synonyms of the at least one portion.

18. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the at least one template comprises the one or more synonyms.