Disambiguation of term meaning

• US 8,250,071 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2010
• Issued: 08/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Killalea, Tom, Hamaker, Janna
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DEBBIE M
• Application Number:
  US12/826,980
• Time in Patent Office: 783 Days
• Field of Search: 707/726, 707/728, 707/739, 707/749, 707/999.001, 707/999.003, 707/999.006, 707/999.007
• US Class Current: 707/728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/284 Lexical analysis, e.g. tokenisation or collocates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis

Abstract

A meaning of a term is determined using the contents of a corpus of books through use of metadata about the books within the corpus, terms in the same work which provide context, and so forth. Users may query to determine the meaning of a term. Users may also build vocabulary skills by testing as well. A changing meaning of a term over time may be determined and utilized as well. Searches are facilitated by the enhanced ability to determine meaning of the terms, particularly in context. Feedback from the searches may also be used to refine future searches.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

under control of one or more computers configured with specific executable instructions,

accepting a term query for a term in a target passage within an electronic book;

accessing contents of the electronic book and metadata associated with the electronic book;

associating the term query with the electronic book;

determining a top ranking meaning of the term from one or more possible meanings, the top ranking meaning based at least in part upon the contents of the electronic book and the metadata associated with the electronic book; and

determining one or more related portions of one or more other electronic books, the one or more related portions using the term consistent with the top ranking meaning in the target passage within the electronic book.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the one or more related portions.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the top ranking meaning of the term.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, the determining the top ranking meaning of the term further comprising:

accessing the possible meanings of the term;

ranking the possible meanings according to correspondence of metadata associated with the term query and the metadata associated with the electronic book; and

designating a possible meaning of the term having a highest ranking as the top ranking meaning.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a confounder passage in which the term is used with a meaning other than the top ranking meaning, and presenting a question to a user as to whether the confound passage or the target passage is incorrect.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a report displaying variation of meaning of the term within a pre-determined set of parameters.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the pre-determined set of parameters comprise:

a range of dates;

a user demographic;

genre;

or

a combination thereof.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

accepting a term query for a term in a target passage within an electronic book;

accessing contents of the electronic book and metadata associated with the electronic book;

associating the term query with the electronic book;

determining a top ranking meaning of the term from one or more possible meanings, the top ranking meaning based at least in part upon the contents of the electronic book and the metadata associated with the electronic book; and

determining one or more related portions of one or more other electronic books, the one or more related portions using the term consistent with the top ranking meaning in the target passage within the electronic book.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, further comprising presenting the one or more related portions.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, further comprising presenting the top ranking meaning of the term.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, the determining the top ranking meaning of the term further comprising:

accessing the possible meanings of the term;

ranking the possible meanings according to correspondence of metadata associated with the term query and the metadata associated with the electronic book; and

designating a possible meaning of the term having a highest ranking as the top ranking meaning.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, further comprising presenting a confounder passage in which the term is used with a meaning other than the top ranking meaning, and presenting a question to a user as to whether the confound passage or the target passage is incorrect.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, further comprising presenting a report displaying variation of meaning of the term within a pre-determined set of parameters.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the pre-determined set of parameters comprise:

a range of dates;

a user demographic;

genre;

or

a combination thereof.

15. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform acts comprising;

accepting a term query for a term in a target passage within an electronic book;

accessing contents of the electronic book and metadata associated with the electronic book;

associating the term query with the electronic book;

determining a top ranking meaning of the term from one or more possible meanings, the top ranking meaning based at least in part upon the contents of the electronic book and the metadata associated with the electronic book; and

determining one or more related portions of one or more other electronic books, the one or more related portions using the term consistent with the top ranking meaning in the target passage within the electronic book.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising presenting the one or more related portions.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising presenting the determined top ranking meaning of the term.

18. The system of claim 15, the determining the top ranking meaning of the term further comprising:

accessing the possible meanings of the term;

ranking the possible meanings according to correspondence of metadata associated with the term query and the metadata associated with the electronic book; and

designating a possible meaning of the term having a highest ranking as the top ranking meaning.

19. The system of claim 15, further comprising presenting a confounder passage in which the term is used with a meaning other than the top ranking meaning, and presenting a question to a user as to whether the confound passage or the target passage is incorrect.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising presenting a report displaying variation of meaning of the term within a pre-determined set of parameters.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the pre-determined set of parameters comprise:

a range of dates;

a user demographic;

genre;

or

a combination thereof.