Macro replacement of natural language input

• US 8,812,298 B1
• Filed: 07/28/2010
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wolfram Alpha LLC (Wolfram Research Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Wolfram Alpha LLC (Wolfram Research Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wolfram, Stephen, Overmann, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Huyen X.
• Application Number:
  US12/845,441
• Time in Patent Office: 1,483 Days
• Field of Search: 704 1- 10, 704/251, 704/255, 704/257, 704/270, 704/270.1, 704/231, 704/235, 1/1
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/18 of spreadsheets form-filling G06F40/174
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/40 Processing or translation of natural language natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/56 Natural language generation

Abstract

In a method of creating a natural language (NL) macro, a first term/phrase and a second term/phrase in an imprecise syntax are obtained, and an association between the first and the second terms/phrases is created. The association is stored as an NL macro. In a method of using an NL macro in an NL query, it is determined that an original NL query includes an NL macro, and the NL macro is replaced with its corresponding NL value to form a revised NL query. The revised NL query is processed to generate one or more answers.

Claims

1. A system for answering natural language (NL) queries, comprising:

one or more memories of one or more computing devices, one or more memories storing machine readable instructions, and the machine readable instructions including;

a first portion that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the system to;

generate an association between a first term or phrase in an imprecise syntax and a second term or phrase in an imprecise syntax,

store an indication of the association as a natural language (NL) macro, and

determine whether a mismatch between a context of the first term or phrase and a context of the second term or phrase exists, including;

determining a meaning of the second term or phrase,

comparing i) the meaning of the second term or phrase with ii) a meaning of the first term or phrase, and

determining whether a mismatch exists based on the act of comparing;

a second portion that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the system to generate one or more answers to NL queries; and

a third portion that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the system to;

detect the first term or phrase in a user input that is received after the determination of whether the mismatch exists,

replace, based on the stored indication of the association, the first term or phrase with the second term or phrase in the received user input to form a revised user input, and

provide the revised user input as an NL query to be answered by the second portion, when the second portion is executed by the one or more processors.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of:

the first portion comprises i) a macro manager configured to a) cause the system to generate the association and b) determine whether the mismatch between the context of the first term or phrase and the context of the second term or phrase exists, and ii) a macro database configured to store the natural language macro;

the second portion comprises i) a parser configured to cause the system to generate one or more expressions in precise syntax based on the NL query and ii) a substystem configured to cause the system to generate the one or more answers to the NL query based on the one or more expressions in precise syntax;

or

the system further comprises an input/output (I/O) interface coupled to the first portion, wherein the first term or phrase and the second term or phrase are obtained via the I/O interface.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the mismatch between the context of the first term or phrase and the context of the second term or phrase is a first potential error, and the macro manager is further configured to cause the system to:

determine a second potential error corresponding to at least one of the first term or phrase, the second term or phrase, or the association between the first term or phrase and the second term or phrase, and

provide an indication of the second potential error.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first portion, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the system further to at least one of:

modify the NL macro or provide an indication of the NL macro in response to a request.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first portion further comprises a macro assistant configured to cause the system to determine a suggested value of the second term or phrase.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the macro assistant is configured to cause the system to determine the suggested value of the second term or phrase based on at least one of the context of the first term or phrase, a previously received first term or phrase, a previously received second term or phrase, a particular stored macro, a user preference, a user activity, or data corresponding to a user.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mechanism to access stored user data, and wherein at least one of:

the second term or phrase refers to at least a portion of the stored user data, or the second portion is configured to generate an answer to the NL query based on the at least a portion of the user data or based on at least another portion of the stored user data.