Evidence diffusion among candidate answers during question answering
First Claim
1. A computer readable storage device storing a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method of diffusing evidence among candidate answers during question answering, comprising:
- identifying, by a processor, a relationship between a first candidate answer and a second candidate answer, wherein the candidate answers are generated by a question-answering computer process for answering a question, the candidate answers have associated supporting evidence, and the candidate answers have associated confidence scores;
determining whether to transfer the associated supporting evidence from the first candidate answer to the second candidate answer, or to transfer the associated supporting evidence from the second candidate answer to the first candidate answer, by analyzing how the question is posed and types of the first candidate answer and the second candidate answer;
in response to determining to transfer the associated supporting evidence from the first candidate answer to the second candidate answer,transferring all or some of the evidence from the first candidate answer to the second candidate answer based on the identified relationship, andcomputing a new confidence score for the second candidate answer based on the transferred evidence and second candidate answer'"'"'s existing evidence;
in response to determining to transfer the associated supporting evidence from the second candidate answer to the first candidate answer,transferring all or some of the evidence from the second candidate answer to the first candidate answer based on the identified relationship, and computing a new confidence score for the first candidate answer based on the transferred evidence and first candidate answer'"'"'s existing evidence.
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Abstract
Diffusing evidence among candidate answers during question answering may identify a relationship between a first candidate answer and a second candidate answer, wherein the candidate answers are generated by a question-answering computer process, the candidate answers have associated supporting evidence, and the candidate answers have associated confidence scores. All or some of the evidence may be transferred from the first candidate answer to the second candidate answer based on the identified relationship. A new confidence score may be computed for the second candidate answer based on the transferred evidence.
62 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A computer readable storage device storing a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method of diffusing evidence among candidate answers during question answering, comprising:
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identifying, by a processor, a relationship between a first candidate answer and a second candidate answer, wherein the candidate answers are generated by a question-answering computer process for answering a question, the candidate answers have associated supporting evidence, and the candidate answers have associated confidence scores; determining whether to transfer the associated supporting evidence from the first candidate answer to the second candidate answer, or to transfer the associated supporting evidence from the second candidate answer to the first candidate answer, by analyzing how the question is posed and types of the first candidate answer and the second candidate answer; in response to determining to transfer the associated supporting evidence from the first candidate answer to the second candidate answer, transferring all or some of the evidence from the first candidate answer to the second candidate answer based on the identified relationship, and computing a new confidence score for the second candidate answer based on the transferred evidence and second candidate answer'"'"'s existing evidence; in response to determining to transfer the associated supporting evidence from the second candidate answer to the first candidate answer, transferring all or some of the evidence from the second candidate answer to the first candidate answer based on the identified relationship, and computing a new confidence score for the first candidate answer based on the transferred evidence and first candidate answer'"'"'s existing evidence. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system for diffusing evidence among candidate answers during question answering, comprising:
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a processor; and an evidence diffusion module operable to identify a relationship between a first candidate answer and a second candidate answer, wherein the candidate answers are generated by a question-answering computer process for answering a question, the candidate answers have associated supporting evidence, and the candidate answers have associated confidence scores, the evidence diffusion module further operable to transfer all or some of the evidence associated with the first candidate answer from the first candidate answer to the second candidate answer based on the identified relationship, the evidence diffusion module further operable to compute a new confidence score for the second candidate answer based on the transferred evidence and an existing evidence associated with the first candidate answer, wherein the first candidate answer and the second candidate answers have evidence feature attributes of at least passage-text-evidence and transferred-passage-text evidence, and wherein the evidence associated with the first candidate answer is transferred at least from the passage-text-evidence feature attribute of the first candidate answer to the transferred-passage-text evidence feature attribute of the second candidate answer. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification