Method and apparatus for referring expression generation
First Claim
1. A natural language generation method for generating a referring noun phrase for an intended referent found in one or more messages within a document plan, the method comprising:
- arranging, using a processor, one or more messages in a document plan, wherein messages represent a phrase or a simple sentence and are created in an instance in which an input data stream comprises data that satisfies one or more message requirements, and wherein at least a portion of the input data stream comprises non-linguistic data;
identifying an intended referent in a message of the one or more messages to be referred to in a textual output;
determining a lowest common ancestor for the intended referent and a previously referred-to entity within a part-of hierarchy;
determining a salient ancestor of the intended referent within the part-of hierarchy;
generating a referring noun phrase for the intended referent to be included in a textual output by traversing the part-of hierarchy from the salient ancestor to the lowest common ancestor such that a default descriptor is added to a queue for at least a portion of entities traversed in the part-of-hierarchy, wherein the reference noun phrase comprises a default descriptor of the intended referent and one or more default descriptors of one or more parts of the part-of hierarchy that are traversed;
generating the textual output comprising the referring noun phrase such that it is displayable on a user interface, wherein the textual output linguistically describes at least a portion of the input data stream; and
displaying the textual output via a display device.
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Abstract
Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products are described herein that are configured to perform referring expression generation. In some example embodiments, a method is provided that comprises identifying an intended referent to be referred to in a textual output. The method of this embodiment may also include determining that a salient ancestor of the intended referent is lower in a part-of hierarchy than a lowest common ancestor. The method of this embodiment may also include causing the salient ancestor to be set as a current target referent and a new salient ancestor to be determined for the current target referent. In some example embodiments, the default descriptor of each current target referent is added to the referring noun phrase and the part-of hierarchy is traversed via salient ancestor links until the new salient ancestor of the current target referent is higher than or equal to the lowest common ancestor.
175 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A natural language generation method for generating a referring noun phrase for an intended referent found in one or more messages within a document plan, the method comprising:
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arranging, using a processor, one or more messages in a document plan, wherein messages represent a phrase or a simple sentence and are created in an instance in which an input data stream comprises data that satisfies one or more message requirements, and wherein at least a portion of the input data stream comprises non-linguistic data; identifying an intended referent in a message of the one or more messages to be referred to in a textual output; determining a lowest common ancestor for the intended referent and a previously referred-to entity within a part-of hierarchy; determining a salient ancestor of the intended referent within the part-of hierarchy; generating a referring noun phrase for the intended referent to be included in a textual output by traversing the part-of hierarchy from the salient ancestor to the lowest common ancestor such that a default descriptor is added to a queue for at least a portion of entities traversed in the part-of-hierarchy, wherein the reference noun phrase comprises a default descriptor of the intended referent and one or more default descriptors of one or more parts of the part-of hierarchy that are traversed; generating the textual output comprising the referring noun phrase such that it is displayable on a user interface, wherein the textual output linguistically describes at least a portion of the input data stream; and displaying the textual output via a display device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus comprising:
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at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least; arrange one or more messages in a document plan, wherein messages represent a phrase or a simple sentence and are created in an instance in which an input data stream comprises data that satisfies one or more message requirements, wherein at least a portion of the input data stream comprises non-linguistic data; identify an intended referent in a message of the one or more messages to be referred to in a textual output; determine a lowest common ancestor for the intended referent and a previously referred-to entity within a part-of hierarchy; determine a salient ancestor of the intended referent within the part-of hierarchy; generate a referring noun phrase for the intended referent to be included in a textual output by traversing the part-of hierarchy from the salient ancestor to the lowest common ancestor such that a default descriptor is added to a queue for at least a portion of entities traversed in the part-of-hierarchy, wherein the reference noun phrase comprises a default descriptor of the intended referent and one or more default descriptors of one or more parts of the part-of hierarchy that are traversed; generate the textual output comprising the referring noun phrase such that it is displayable on a user interface, wherein the textual output linguistically describes at least a portion of the input data stream; and display the textual output via a display device. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A non-transitory computer readable memory medium having program code instructions stored thereon, the program code instructions which when executed by an apparatus cause the apparatus at least to:
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arrange one or more messages in a document plan, wherein messages represent a phrase or a simple sentence and are created in an instance in which an input data stream comprises data that satisfies one or more message requirements, wherein at least a portion of the input data stream comprises non-linguistic data; identify an intended referent in a message of the one or more messages to be referred to in a textual output; determine a lowest common ancestor for the intended referent and a preyiously referred-to entity within a part-of hierarchy; determine a salient ancestor of the intended referent within the part-of hierarchy; generate a referring noun phrase for the intended referent to be included in a textual output by traversing the part-of hierarchy from the salient ancestor to the lowest common ancestor such that a default descriptor is added to a queue for at least a portion of entities traversed in the part-of-hierarchy, wherein the reference noun phrase comprises a default descriptor of the intended referent and one or more default descriptors of one or more parts of the part-of hierarchy that are traversed; generate the textual output comprising the referring noun phrase such that it is displayable on a user interface, wherein the textual output linguistically describes at least a portion of the input data stream; and display the textual output via a display device. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification