Learning question paraphrases from log data

• US 20080040339A1
• Filed: 08/07/2006
• Published: 02/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zhao, Shiqi, Zhou, Ming
• Application Number:
  US11/500,224
• Publication Number:
  US 20080040339A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3334 Selection or weighting of terms from queries, including natural language queries

Abstract

Question paraphrases useful for systems such as natural language processing and information retrieval are ascertained by examining log data from a computer based information source such as an Internet search engine or a computer based encyclopedia.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for obtaining question paraphrases comprising:

obtaining log data of questions made to a computer based information source; and

identifying question paraphrases from the log data, each question paraphrase comprising at least two questions having different words but embodying substantially the same semantic inquiry.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 wherein obtaining log data includes extracting said questions from non-questions in the log data.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2 wherein identifying question paraphrases includes classifying questions according to question types.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3 wherein classifying questions according to a type of question word.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4 wherein classifying questions according to the type of question word comprising a set of who, what, when, where, why, and how.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 4 wherein identifying question paraphrases includes classifying each of the questions classified according to the type of question word into separate.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 4 wherein identifying question paraphrases includes classifying each of the questions classified according to the type of question word into separate clusters based on a common word contained in each question.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 4 wherein identifying question paraphrases includes identifying question paraphrases in each cluster.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 4 wherein identifying question paraphrases includes classifying question pairs in each cluster based on at least one feature of the question pairs.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9 wherein the log data includes associated information indicative of an answer to each of the questions, and wherein the feature comprises similarity of the information indicative of the answers to the questions.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 9 wherein the feature comprises syntactic similarity of the questions.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 9 wherein the feature comprises similarity of translations of the questions

13. A computer implemented method for obtaining question paraphrases comprising:

obtaining log data of questions made to a computer based information source, wherein log data includes associated information indicative of an answer to each of the questions; and

identifying question paraphrases from the log data, each question paraphrase comprising at least two questions having different words but embodying substantially the same semantic question, and wherein identifying question paraphrases includes ascertaining similarity of the information indicative of the answers to the questions.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13 wherein identifying question paraphrases includes ascertaining syntactic similarity of the questions.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 14 wherein identifying question paraphrases includes ascertaining similarity of translations of the questions.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 13 wherein identifying question paraphrases includes classifying each of the questions into separate clusters based on a common word contained in each question.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 15 wherein identifying question paraphrases includes ascertaining similarity of translations of the questions.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 18 wherein identifying question paraphrases includes classifying questions according to a type of question word comprising a set of who, what, when, where, why, and how.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 18 wherein identifying question paraphrases includes classifying each of the questions into separate clusters based on a common word contained in each question.

17. A computer implemented method for obtaining question paraphrases comprising:

obtaining log data of questions made to a computer based information source; and

identifying question paraphrases from the log data, each question paraphrase comprising at least two questions having different words but embodying substantially the same semantic question, and wherein identifying question paraphrases includes ascertaining syntactic similarity of the questions.