Information query method and device

• US 10,860,632 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2016
• Issued: 12/08/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Wang, Jiexiong, Yang, Yang, Fu, Weijun, Chen, Yining
• Primary Examiner(s): Featherstone, Mark D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Halm, Kweku William
• Application Number:
  US15/550,591
• Publication Number:
  US 20180039692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,797 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/243 Natural language query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2445 Data retrieval commands; View definitions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2448 for particular applications; for extensibility, e.g. user defined types
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3326 using relevance feedback from the user, e.g. relevance feedback on documents, documents sets, document terms or passages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3344 using natural language analysis

Abstract

An information query method and device. The method comprises: converting a query text in a natural language entered by a user, into a structured statement in an abstract query language; converting the statement in an abstract query language into a basic query statement or multiple iterated basic query statements (S200); and for a prepared database, performing query operations according to the basic query statement or the multiple iterated basic statements. Intentional analysis can be performed firstly on query texts in a natural language entered by a user to filter out a text requiring no query, a query text meeting the intention is converted into a statement in a abstract query language, then the statement in the abstract query language is converted into a basic query statement or multiple iterated basic query statements, most query intentions can be covered, complex logical and reasoning query can be achieved, and query results can be returned conveniently.

Claims

1. An information query method, comprising:

converting a query text in a natural language inputted by a user into a structured statement in an abstract query language;

converting the structured statement in the abstract query language into a basic query statement or multiple iterated basic query statements;

executing a query operation against a database structure and according to the basic query statement or the multiple iterated basic statements, wherein the database structure comprises an entity database and a category database, the category database comprises a plurality of entity category data and category tags, the plurality of entity category data are divided into a plurality of levels, comprising the entity category data in a low level subordinate to the entity category data associated therewith in a higher level, wherein an entry for an entity in the entity database comprises a meta-information field storing a category tag of the plurality of entity category tags corresponding to the entity category data for describing a category of the entity, wherein the entry further comprises a variable attribute field storing entity attribute data;

wherein the basic query statement or the multiple iterated basic statements comprises;

an entity information query statement, which is used for querying entity information related to a designated entity;

an entity attribute query statement, which is used for querying a designated attribute of the designated entity; and

an entity reverse query statement, which is used for reversely querying a corresponding entity according to a designated attribute filtering condition and a designated category, wherein executing the entity reverse query statement comprises retrieving in the entity database the entry satisfying the following conditions;

the category tag is a category tag corresponding to the entity category data representing the designated category or a category tag corresponding to the entity category data subordinate to the designated category; and

the entity attribute data satisfies the designated attribute filtering condition; and

when the designated attribute related to the designated attribute filtering condition belongs to the entity attribute data defined by the designated category, executing the query operation according to the entity reverse query statement.

2. The information query method according to claim 1, wherein the basic query statement comprises:

a related entity query statement, which is used for querying an entity that has a designated relationship with the designated entity; and

an entity relational query statement, which is used for querying a relationship between two designated entities.

3. The information query method according to claim 2, wherein the database structure comprises:

the entity database, the entry for the entity in the entity database comprising an entity data field and the variable attribute field, wherein the entity data field stores the entity data representing the entity, and the variable attribute field stores the entity attribute data describing an entity'"'"'s attribute; and

a relational database, each entry in the relational database comprising two nodes and edge information, wherein the two nodes respectively store two entity data representing two entities, and the edge information stores the entity relational data of two entities.

4. The information query method according to claim 3, wherein the entry for the entity in the entity database further comprises a meta-information field, wherein the meta-information field stores the meta-information related to the entity, and the meta-information refers to the information distinguishing the entity from other entities, and wherein in the step of executing the query operation, the entity information is determined on the basis of the meta-information.

5. The information query method according to claim 4, wherein the category database stores, in association with each entity category data, an entity attribute defined by the entity category represented by the entity category data.

6. An information query device, comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program instructions, the at least one memory and the computer program instructions, with the at least one processor, causing the information query device at least to perform operations comprising:

converting a query text in a natural language inputted by a user into a structured statement in an abstract query language;

converting the structured statement in the abstract query language into a basic query statement or multiple iterated basic query statements;

executing a query operation against a database structure and according to the basic query statement or the multiple iterated basic statements, wherein the database structure comprises an entity database and a category database, the category database comprises a plurality of entity category data and category tags, the plurality of entity category data are divided into a plurality of levels, comprising the entity category data in a low level subordinate to the entity category data associated therewith in a higher level, wherein an entry for an entity in the entity database comprises a meta-information field storing a category tag of the plurality of entity category tags corresponding to the entity category data for describing a category of the entity, wherein the entry further comprises a variable attribute field storing entity attribute data;

wherein the basic query statement or the multiple iterated basic statements comprises;

an entity information query statement, which is used for querying entity information related to a designated entity;

an entity attribute query statement, which is used for querying a designated attribute of the designated entity; and

an entity reverse query statement, which is used for reversely querying a corresponding entity according to a designated attribute filtering condition and a designated category, wherein executing the entity reverse query statement comprises retrieving in the entity database the entry satisfying the following conditions;

the category tag is a category tag corresponding to the entity category data representing the designated category or a category tag corresponding to the entity category data subordinate to the designated category; and

the entity attribute data satisfies the designated attribute filtering condition; and

when the designated attribute related to the designated attribute filtering condition belongs to the entity attribute data defined by the designated category, executing the query operation according to the entity reverse query statement.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program instructions, with the at least one processor, cause the device to perform operations comprising:

executing the entity information query statement, so as to query the entity information related to the designated entity;

executing the entity attribute query statement, so as to query the designated attribute of the designated entity;

executing the entity reverse query statement, so as to reversely query the corresponding entity according to the designated attribute filtering condition and the designated category;

executing a related entity query statement, so as to query an entity that has a designated relationship with the designated entity; and

executing an entity relational query statement, so as to query a relationship between two designated entities.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program instructions, with the at least one processor, cause the device to perform operations comprising:

storing entity data representing the entity, and the variable attribute field storing the entity attribute data describing an entity'"'"'s attribute;

storing meta-information related to the entity, and the meta-information refers to entity information distinguishing the entity from other entities, and determining the entity information on the basis of the meta-information;

storing two entity data representing two entities, and edge information associated with two nodes comprising entity relational data representing a relation between the two entities.

9. The device according to claim 8, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program instructions, with the at least one processor, cause the device to perform operations comprising:

storing in association with each entity category data, an entity attribute defined by the entity category represented by the entity category data.

10. An information query method, comprising:

performing an intentional analysis on a query text in a natural language inputted by a user, which is then converted into a structured query statement;

converting the query statement into a basic query statement or multiple iterated basic query statements;

executing a query operation against a database structure and according to the basic query statement or the multiple iterated basic statements, wherein the database structure comprises an entity database and a category database, the category database comprises a plurality of entity category data and category tags, the plurality of entity category data are divided into a plurality of levels, comprising the entity category data in a low level subordinate to the entity category data associated therewith in a higher level, wherein an entry for an entity in the entity database comprises a meta-information field storing a category tag of the plurality of entity category tags corresponding to the entity category data for describing a category of the entity, wherein the entry further comprises a variable attribute field storing entity attribute data, wherein the basic query statement or the multiple iterated basic statements comprises;

an entity information query statement, which is used for querying entity information related to a designated entity;

an entity attribute query statement, which is used for querying a designated attribute of the designated entity; and

an entity reverse query statement, which is used for reversely querying a corresponding entity according to a designated attribute filtering condition and a designated category, wherein executing the entity reverse query statement comprises retrieving in the entity database the entry satisfying the following conditions;

the category tag is a category tag corresponding to the entity category data representing the designated category or a category tag corresponding to the entity category data subordinate to the designated category; and

the entity attribute data satisfies the designated attribute filtering condition; and

when the designated attribute related to the designated attribute filtering condition belongs to the entity attribute data defined by the designated category, executing the query operation according to the entity reverse query statement.

11. The information query method according to claim 10, wherein the step of performing an intentional analysis on a query text in a natural language inputted by a user, which is then converted into a structured query statement, comprises:

performing an intentional analysis on the query text in the natural language to determine

a query intention of the query text in the natural language;

removing text content that is not consistent with the query intention from the query text in the natural language; and

converting the query text in the natural language following the removing step into the structured statement in the structured query statement.

12. The information query method according to claim 10, wherein the step of executing a query operation according to the basic query statement or the multiple iterated basic statements, comprises:

querying the designated attribute of the designated entity;

querying the information related to the designated entity;

reversely querying the corresponding entity according to the designated attribute filtering condition and the designated category;

querying an entity that has a designated relation with a designated entity;

or

querying a relationship between two designated entities.

13. The information query method according to claim 10, wherein the step of executing a query operation according to the basic query statement or the multiple iterated basic statements, comprises:

in the entity database, using the basic query statement to query an entity data field and/or the variable attribute field, wherein the entity data field stores the entity data representing the entity, and the variable attribute field stores the entity attribute data describing the entity'"'"'s attribute; and

in the relational database, using the basic query statement to query an entry, wherein each entry comprises two nodes and edge information, wherein the two nodes respectively store two entity data representing two entities, and the edge information stores the entity relational data of two entities.

14. The information query method according to claim 13, wherein the step of, in the entity database, using the basic query statement to query an entity data field and/or a variable attribute field, comprises:

in the entity database, using the basic query statement to query the meta-information field, wherein the meta-information field stores the meta-information related to the entity, and the meta-information refers to the information distinguishing the entity from other entities.

15. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code portions stored therein, the computer-executable program code portions comprising program code instructions configured to:

convert the structured statement in the abstract query language into a basic query statement or multiple iterated basic query statements;

execute a query operation against a database structure and according to the basic query statement or the multiple iterated basic statements, wherein the database structure comprises an entity database and a category database, the category database comprises a plurality of entity category data and category tags, the plurality of entity category data are divided into a plurality of levels, comprising the entity category data in a low level subordinate to the entity category data associated therewith in a higher level, wherein an entry for an entity in the entity database comprises a meta-information field storing a category tag of the plurality of entity category tags corresponding to the entity category data for describing a category of the entity, wherein the entry further comprises a variable attribute field storing entity attribute data;

wherein the basic query statement or the multiple iterated basic statements comprises;

an entity information query statement, which is used for querying entity information related to a designated entity;

an entity attribute query statement, which is used for querying a designated attribute of the designated entity; and

an entity reverse query statement, which is used for reversely querying a corresponding entity according to a designated attribute filtering condition and a designated category, wherein executing the entity reverse query statement comprises retrieving in the entity database the entry satisfying the following conditions;

the category tag is a category tag corresponding to the entity category data representing the designated category or a category tag corresponding to the entity category data subordinate to the designated category; and

the entity attribute data satisfies the designated attribute filtering condition; and

when the designated attribute related to the designated attribute filtering condition belongs to the entity attribute data defined by the designated category, executing the query operation according to the entity reverse query statement.