Method and apparatus for aggregating with information generalization

• US 9,600,471 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2015
• Issued: 03/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arria Data2text Limited
• Original Assignee: Arria Data2text Limited
• Inventors: Bradshaw, William Anthony, Reiter, Ehud Baruch
• Primary Examiner(s): Godbold, Douglas
• Application Number:
  US14/702,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20150324347A1
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/289 Phrasal analysis, e.g. finite state techniques or chunking
• 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

Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products are described herein that are configured to perform aggregation of phrase specifications. In some example embodiments, a method is provided that comprises identifying two or more generalized phrase specifications. In some example embodiments, the two or more generalized phrase specifications contain at least one aggregatable constituent. The method of this embodiment may also include generating an aggregated phrase specification from the two or more generalized phrase specifications. In some example embodiments, the aggregated phrase specification comprises a combined noun phrase generated from the aggregatable constituents and one or more additional constituents based on a determined level of generalization.

Claims

1. A method for generating language by transforming raw input data that is at least partially expressed in a non-linguistic format into a format that can be expressed linguistically in a textual output, the method comprising:

generating one or more phrase specifications from the raw input data;

identifying the one or more phrase specifications that contain at least one aggregatable constituent;

generating one or more generalized phrase specifications based on the one or more phrase specifications;

identifying two or more generalized phrase specifications, wherein the two or more generalized phrase specifications contain at least one aggregatable constituent;

generating an aggregated phrase specification from the two or more generalized phrase specifications, wherein the aggregated phrase specification comprises at least one of a combined noun phrase generated from the at least one aggregatable constituents and one or more additional constituents based on a determined level of generalization; and

generating the textual output, based at least in part on the aggregated phrase specification, such that it is displayable on a user interface.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining one or more constituents that are removable in one or more phrase specifications; and

removing the one or more constituents that are removable, such that the one or more phrase specifications are one or more generalized phrase specifications.

3. A method according to claim 2, further comprising:

removing all of the one or more constituents from the one or more phrase specifications that are removable; and

replacing all of the one or more generalizable constituents from the one or more phrase specifications with the determined generalized constituent, such that the one or more phrase specifications are one or more generalized phrase specifications.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining one or more constituents that are generalizable in one or more phrase specifications;

determining a generalized constituent for at least one of the one or more generalizable constituents; and

replacing the one or more generalized constituents with the determined generalized constituent, such that the one or more phrase specifications are one or more generalized phrase specifications.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the generalized constituent is a most generalized constituent in a predefined constituent listing.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the two or more generalized phrase specifications are identified as aggregatable in an instance in which each of the two or more generalized phrase specifications are identical but for the at least one aggregatable constituent in each of the two or more generalized phrase specifications.

7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating the combined noun phrase using the at least one aggregatable constituent in the two or more generalized phrase specifications.

8. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the two or more generalized phrase specifications are still identified as aggregatable with a constituent that was removed; and

populating the aggregated phrase specification with at least one of a generalized constituent or a removed constituent.

9. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the two or more generalized phrase specifications are still identified as aggregatable with a constituent that is less generalized then a generalized constituent; and

populating the aggregated phrase specification with the constituent that is less generalized then the generalized constituent based on a predefined constituent listing.

10. An apparatus for generating language by transforming raw input data that is at least partially expressed in a non-linguistic format into a format that can be expressed linguistically in a textual output, the apparatus comprising:

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;

generate one or more phrase specifications from the raw input data;

identify the one or more phrase specifications that contain at least one aggregatable constituent;

generate one or more generalized phrase specifications based on the one or more phrase specifications;

identify two or more generalized phrase specifications, wherein the two or more generalized phrase specifications contain at least one aggregatable constituent;

generate an aggregated phrase specification from the two or more generalized phrase specifications, wherein the aggregated phrase specification comprises at least one of a combined noun phrase generated from the at least one aggregatable constituents and one or more additional constituents based on a determined level of generalization; and

generate the textual output, based at least in part on the aggregated phrase specification, such that it is displayable on a user interface.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

determine one or more constituents that are removable in one or more phrase specifications; and

remove the one or more constituents that are removable, such that the one or more phrase specifications are one or more generalized phrase specifications.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

remove all of the one or more constituents from the one or more phrase specifications that are removable; and

replace all of the one or more generalizable constituents from the one or more phrase specifications with the determined generalized constituent, such that the one or more phrase specifications are one or more generalized phrase specifications.

13. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

determine one or more constituents that are generalizable in one or more phrase specifications;

determine a generalized constituent for at least one of the one or more generalizable constituents; and

replace the one or more generalized constituents with the determined generalized constituent, such that the one or more phrase specifications are one or more generalized phrase specifications.

14. An apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the generalized constituent is a most generalized constituent in a predefined constituent listing.

15. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the two or more generalized phrase specifications are identified as aggregatable in an instance in which each of the two or more generalized phrase specifications are identical but for the at least one aggregatable constituent in each of the two or more generalized phrase specifications.

16. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

generate the combined noun phrase using the at least one aggregatable constituent in the two or more generalized phrase specifications.

17. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

determine that the two or more generalized phrase specifications are still identified as aggregatable with a constituent that was removed; and

populate the aggregated phrase specification with at least one of a generalized constituent or a removed constituent.

18. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

determine that the two or more generalized phrase specifications are still identified as aggregatable with a constituent that is less generalized then a generalized constituent; and

populate the aggregated phrase specification with the constituent that is less generalized then the generalized constituent based on a predefined constituent listing.

19. A computer program product for generating language by transforming raw input data that is at least partially expressed in a non-linguistic format into a format that can be expressed linguistically in a textual output, the computer program product comprising:

at least one computer readable non-transitory memory medium having program code instructions stored thereon, the program code instructions, which when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to;

generate one or more phrase specifications from the raw input data;

identify the one or more phrase specifications that contain at least one aggregatable constituent;

generate one or more generalized phrase specifications based on the one or more phrase specifications;

identify two or more generalized phrase specifications, wherein the two or more generalized phrase specifications contain at least one aggregatable constituent;

generate an aggregated phrase specification from the two or more generalized phrase specifications, wherein the aggregated phrase specification comprises at least one of a combined noun phrase generated from the at least one aggregatable constituents and one or more additional constituents based on a determined level of generalization; and

generate the textual output, based at least in part on the aggregated phrase specification, such that it is displayable on a user interface.

20. A computer program product according to claim 19 further comprises program code instructions, which when executed by an apparatus, further cause the apparatus at least to:

determine one or more constituents that are generalizable in one or more phrase specifications;

determine a generalized constituent for at least one of the one or more generalizable constituents; and

replace the one or more generalized constituents with the determined generalized constituent, such that the one or more phrase specifications are one or more generalized phrase specifications.

21. A computer program product according to claim 19 further comprises program code instructions, which when executed by an apparatus, further cause the apparatus at least to:

determine one or more constituents that are removable in one or more phrase specifications; and

remove the one or more constituents that are removable, such that the one or more phrase specifications are one or more generalized phrase specifications.

22. A computer program product according to claim 20, wherein the generalized constituent is a most generalized constituent in a predefined constituent listing.

23. A computer program product according to claim 21 further comprises program code instructions, which when executed by an apparatus, further cause the apparatus at least to:

remove all of the one or more constituents from the one or more phrase specifications that are removable; and

replace all of the one or more generalizable constituents from the one or more phrase specifications with the determined generalized constituent, such that the one or more phrase specifications are one or more generalized phrase specifications.

24. A computer program product according to claim 19, wherein the two or more generalized phrase specifications are identified as aggregatable in an instance in which each of the two or more generalized phrase specifications are identical but for the at least one aggregatable constituent in each of the two or more generalized phrase specifications.

25. A computer program product according to claim 19 further comprises program code instructions, which when executed by an apparatus, further cause the apparatus at least to:

generate the combined noun phrase using the at least one aggregatable constituent in the two or more generalized phrase specifications.

26. A computer program product according to claim 19 further comprises program code instructions, which when executed by an apparatus, further cause the apparatus at least to:

determine that the two or more generalized phrase specifications are still identified as aggregatable with a constituent that was removed; and

populate the aggregated phrase specification with at least one of a generalized constituent or a removed constituent.

27. A computer program product according any to claim 19 further comprises program code instructions, which when executed by an apparatus, further cause the apparatus at least to:

determine that the two or more generalized phrase specifications are still identified as aggregatable with a constituent that is less generalized then a generalized constituent; and

populate the aggregated phrase specification with the constituent that is less generalized then the generalized constituent based on a predefined constituent listing.