Conceptual reverse query expander

• US 8,402,046 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2008
• Issued: 03/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Forcepoint Federal Holdings LLC (Forcepoint LLC)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Peoples, Bruce E., Simpson, Brian J., Johnson, Michael R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Susan
• Application Number:
  US12/039,068
• Publication Number:
  US 20090222409A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,846 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/760
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing

Abstract

A method for multilingual data querying comprises sending one or more words in an original language to a word ontology. The method further comprises receiving sense descriptions of the one or more words from the word ontology, and selecting one or more sense descriptions of the one or more words and a language for querying. The method further comprises translating the one or more sense descriptions into the language for querying, and also translating the one or more sense descriptions back into the original language for verification. The method further comprises selecting at least one of the one or more sense descriptions to use in a query.

Claims

1. A method for multilingual data querying, comprising:

sending, by a computer system, one or more words in an original language to a word ontology;

receiving, by the computer system, sense descriptions of the one or more words from the word ontology;

receiving a selection of one or more sense descriptions of the one or more words and a second language other than the original language for querying;

translating, by the computer system, the one or more sense descriptions of the selection into the second language for querying, wherein the translating of the one or more sense descriptions of the selection into the second language generates one or more sense descriptions in the second language;

translating, by the computer system, the one or more sense descriptions in the second language back into the original language, wherein the translating of the one or more sense descriptions in the second language back into the original language generates one or more reverse-translated sense descriptions for verification; and

executing, by the computer system and in response to receiving a verification of the one or more reverse-translated sense descriptions, a query using the one or more sense descriptions in the second language.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the query using the one or more sense descriptions in the second language comprises querying one or more documents in the second language.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises translating one or more query results into the original language.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each sense description of the one or more words from the word ontology is a conceptual definition of the one or more words.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises displaying the results on an electronic display.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein sending one or more words to a word ontology comprises sending the one or more words to PRINCETON UNIVERSITY'"'"'S WORDNET®

.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises parsing one or more words from one or more documents into tokens.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein sending one or more words to a word ontology further comprises sending a part of speech to the word ontology.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises selecting the maximum number of query results to be returned.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein translating the one or more sense descriptions into the second language for querying further comprises selecting one or more translation programs to perform the translation.

11. A method for multilingual data querying, comprising:

translating, by a computer system, one or more sense descriptions from an original language into a foreign language, wherein the translating of the one or more sense descriptions from an original language into a foreign language generates one or more sense descriptions in the foreign language;

translating, by the computer system, the one or more sense descriptions in the foreign language back into the original language, wherein the translating of the one or more sense descriptions in the foreign language back into the original language generates one or more reverse-translated sense descriptions; and

executing, by the computer system and in response to receiving a verification of the one or more reverse-translated sense descriptions, a query using the one or more sense descriptions in the second language.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein executing the query using the one or more sense descriptions in the second language comprises querying one or more documents in the second language.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising translating one or more query results into the original language.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein translating the one or more sense descriptions into a foreign language further comprises selecting one or more translation programs to perform the translation.

15. A system for multilingual data querying, comprising:

an interface operable to allow a user to select one or more words in an original language;

a processor operable to access one or more document databases and execute one or more programs;

a translator operable to translate one or more sense descriptions of the one or more words into one or more new sense descriptions in a second language, and further operable to translate the one or more new sense descriptions back into the original language, wherein the translating of the one or more sense descriptions in the second language back into the original language generates one or more reverse-translated sense descriptions;

an electronic display operable to display the one or more sense descriptions, the one or more new sense descriptions in a second language, and the one or more reverse-translated sense descriptions; and

a querying program operable to execute, in response to receiving a verification of the one or more reverse-translated sense descriptions, a query using the one or more sense descriptions in the second language.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising one or more indexing components used to index documents in the one or more document databases.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the translator comprises one or more translating components.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the querying program is further operable to return one or more query results to the user.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the translator is further operable to translate one or more of the one or more query results into the original language.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein one or more of the one or more indexing components used to index documents are used by the translator to translate one or more of the one or more query results into the original language.