Using web ranking to resolve anaphora
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- receiving a first query;
receiving a second, follow-up query;
determining that an anaphora is present in the second, follow-up query by determining that the second, follow-up query includes a pronoun that refers to an entity that is not present in the second, follow-up query;
in response to determining that the anaphora is present in the second, follow-up query, determining that the first query is associated with a plurality of possible entities;
generating a plurality of candidate queries, wherein each candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries is generated by replacing the pronoun in the second, follow-up query with a corresponding possible entity;
obtaining a ranking for the plurality of candidate queries from a ranking engine;
determining that a corresponding possible entity in a highest-ranked candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries is an entity associated with the anaphora from the second, follow-up query, wherein the entity associated with the anaphora from the second, follow-up query is the entity that is not present in the second, follow-up query and is referred to by the pronoun in the second, follow-up query; and
based on determining that the corresponding possible entity in the highest-ranked candidate query is the entity associated with the anaphora, providing the highest-ranked candidate query to a search engine and obtaining search results for the highest-ranked candidate query from the search engine.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The specification relates to a method of receiving a first query and a second query. The method analyzes the second query for a presence of anaphora. If anaphora is present, the method analyzes the first query for a presence of an entity that can be associated with the anaphora. If the analysis analyzing the first query returns two or more associated entities, the method forms a third query wherein the anaphora of the second query is replaced with one of the associated entities and forms a fourth query wherein the anaphora is replaced with the other of the associated entities. The third query and the fourth query are sent to a query-ranking engine. The third query and the fourth query receive a ranking and the higher-ranked query is sent to a search engine.
22 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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receiving a first query; receiving a second, follow-up query; determining that an anaphora is present in the second, follow-up query by determining that the second, follow-up query includes a pronoun that refers to an entity that is not present in the second, follow-up query; in response to determining that the anaphora is present in the second, follow-up query, determining that the first query is associated with a plurality of possible entities; generating a plurality of candidate queries, wherein each candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries is generated by replacing the pronoun in the second, follow-up query with a corresponding possible entity; obtaining a ranking for the plurality of candidate queries from a ranking engine; determining that a corresponding possible entity in a highest-ranked candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries is an entity associated with the anaphora from the second, follow-up query, wherein the entity associated with the anaphora from the second, follow-up query is the entity that is not present in the second, follow-up query and is referred to by the pronoun in the second, follow-up query; and based on determining that the corresponding possible entity in the highest-ranked candidate query is the entity associated with the anaphora, providing the highest-ranked candidate query to a search engine and obtaining search results for the highest-ranked candidate query from the search engine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system comprising:
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one or more processors; one or more computer-readable storage mediums containing instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising; receiving a first query; receiving a second, follow-up query; determining that an anaphora is present in the second, follow-up query by determining that the second, follow-up query includes a pronoun that refers to an entity that is not present in the second, follow-up query; in response to determining that the anaphora is present in the second, follow-up query, determining that the first query is associated with a plurality of possible entities; generating a plurality of candidate queries, wherein each candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries is generated by replacing the pronoun in the second, follow-up query with a corresponding possible entity; obtaining a ranking for the plurality of candidate queries from a ranking engine; determining that a corresponding possible entity in a highest-ranked candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries is an entity associated with the anaphora from the second, follow-up query, wherein the entity associated with the anaphora from the second, follow-up query is the entity that is not present in the second, follow-up query and is referred to by the pronoun in the second, follow-up query; and based on determining that the corresponding possible entity in the highest-ranked candidate query is the entity associated with the anaphora, providing the highest-ranked candidate query to a search engine and obtaining search results for the highest-ranked candidate query from the search engine. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer-program product, the product tangibly encoded on a machine-readable storage medium, including instructions configured to cause one or more data processing apparatus to:
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receiving a first query; receiving a second, follow-up query; determining that an anaphora is present in the second, follow-up query by determining that the second, follow-up query includes a pronoun that refers to an entity that is not present in the second, follow-up query; in response to determining that the anaphora is present in the second, follow-up query, determining that the first query is associated with a plurality of possible entities; generating a plurality of candidate queries, wherein each candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries is generated by replacing the pronoun in the second, follow-up query with a corresponding possible entity; obtaining a ranking for the plurality of candidate queries from a ranking engine; determining that a corresponding possible entity in a highest-ranked candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries is an entity associated with the anaphora from the second, follow-up query, wherein the entity associated with the anaphora from the second, follow-up query is the entity that is not present in the second, follow-up query and is referred to by the pronoun in the second, follow-up query; and based on determining that the corresponding possible entity in the highest-ranked candidate query is the entity associated with the anaphora, providing the highest-ranked candidate query to a search engine and obtaining search results for the highest-ranked candidate query from the search engine. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification