Cognitive Agent for Capturing Referential Information During Conversation Muting

• US 20180157637A1
• Filed: 12/01/2016
• Published: 06/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Grant, Robert H., Greenberger, Jeremy A., Hewitt, Trudy L., Lam, Joseph, Schembari, Francesco C.
• Granted Patent: US 10,146,770 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/232 Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/295 Named entity recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/35 Discourse or dialogue representation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/063 Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/566 Grouping or aggregating service requests, e.g. for unified processing

Abstract

A mechanism is provided in a data processing system comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory comprising instructions executed by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to implement a cognitive system for capturing referential information. The cognitive system receives a first indication that a group text messaging conversation is in a muted state for a first user. The cognitive system detects a first use of a referential phrase in the group text messaging conversation during a first time period when the group text messaging conversation is in the muted state. The cognitive system receives a second indication that the group text messaging conversation is in a non-muted state. The cognitive system detects a second use of the referential phrase in the group text messaging conversation during a second time period when the group text messaging conversation is in the non-muted state. The second time period is subsequent to the first time period. The cognitive system alters a message containing the second use of the referential phrase within the group text messaging conversation.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one memory comprising instructions executed by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to implement a cognitive system for capturing referential information, the method comprising:

receiving, by the cognitive system, a first indication that a group text messaging conversation is in a muted state for a first user;

detecting, by the cognitive system, a first use of a referential phrase in the group text messaging conversation during a first time period when the group text messaging conversation is in the muted state;

receiving, by the cognitive system, a second indication that the group text messaging conversation is in a non-muted state;

detecting, by the cognitive system, a second use of the referential phrase in the group text messaging conversation during a second time period when the group text messaging conversation is in the non-muted state, wherein the second time period is subsequent to the first time period; and

altering, by the cognitive system, a message containing the second use of the referential phrase within the group text messaging conversation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the cognitive system, a first probability that the first user understands the referential phrase; and

providing first information to the first user when the first probability is below a threshold, wherein the first information pertains to the referential phrase.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining the first probability comprises evaluating a profile for the first user.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining the first probability comprises evaluating text surrounding the second use of referential phrase.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the providing first information to the first user further comprises replacing the referential phrase with the first information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the first use of the referential phrase comprises identifying a reference to an external source of information, identifying a topic of clarifying questions in the group text messaging conversation, identifying multiple versions of an entity in the group text messaging conversation, or identifying a phrase with uniqueness and post-frequency.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the first use of the referential phrase comprises recording the first use of the referential phrase with identification of a type of referential phrase, and a confidence value.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein altering the message containing the second use of the referential phrase comprises determining an output method for altering the message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein altering the message containing the second use of the referential phrase comprises determining an output method for altering the message using a trained machine learning classifier.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the trained machine learning classifier receives as input previous usage of output methods by the first user.

11. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to implement a cognitive system for capturing referential information, wherein the computer readable program causes the computing device to:

receive, by the cognitive system, a first indication that a group text messaging conversation is in a muted state for a first user;

detect, by the cognitive system, a first use of a referential phrase in the group text messaging conversation during a first time period when the group text messaging conversation is in the muted state;

receive, by the cognitive system, a second indication that the group text messaging conversation is in a non-muted state;

detect, by the cognitive system, a second use of the referential phrase in the group text messaging conversation during a second time period when the group text messaging conversation is in the non-muted state, wherein the second time period is subsequent to the first time period; and

alter, by the cognitive system, a message containing the second use of the referential phrase within the group text messaging conversation.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

determining, by the cognitive system, a first probability that the first user understands the referential phrase; and

providing first information to the first user when the first probability is below a threshold, wherein the first information pertains to the referential phrase.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the determining the first probability comprises evaluating a profile for the first user.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the determining the first probability comprises evaluating text surrounding the second use of referential phrase.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the providing first information to the first user further comprises replacing the referential phrase with the first information.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein detecting the first use of the referential phrase comprises identifying a reference to an external source of information, identifying a topic of clarifying questions in the group text messaging conversation, identifying multiple versions of an entity in the group text messaging conversation, or identifying a phrase with uniqueness and post-frequency.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein detecting the first use of the referential phrase comprises recording the first use of the referential phrase with identification of a type of referential phrase, and a confidence value.

18. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein altering the message containing the second use of the referential phrase comprises determining an output method for altering the message.

19. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein altering the message containing the second use of the referential phrase comprises determining an output method for altering the message using a trained machine learning classifier.

20. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to implement a cognitive system for capturing referential information, wherein the instructions cause the processor to;

receive, by the cognitive system, a first indication that a group text messaging conversation is in a muted state for a first user;

detect, by the cognitive system, a first use of a referential phrase in the group text messaging conversation during a first time period when the group text messaging conversation is in the muted state;

receive, by the cognitive system, a second indication that the group text messaging conversation is in a non-muted state;

detect, by the cognitive system, a second use of the referential phrase in the group text messaging conversation during a second time period when the group text messaging conversation is in the non-muted state, wherein the second time period is subsequent to the first time period; and

alter, by the cognitive system, a message containing the second use of the referential phrase within the group text messaging conversation.