Contextual queries

• US 8,983,989 B2
• Filed: 02/05/2010
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Srikanth, Munirathnam, Vaddadi, Phani, Najm, Tarek
• Primary Examiner(s): Mamillapalli, Pavan
• Application Number:
  US12/700,985
• Publication Number:
  US 20110196852A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,866 Days
• Field of Search: 707/759, 707/760
• US Class Current: 707/759
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3332 Query translation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/36 Creation of semantic tools, e.g. ontology or thesauri
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-storage media for generating contextual queries are provided. The system includes a search engine to receive user queries and contexts, a query understanding component to generate a semantic representation of the query, and a data source command generator to transform the semantic representation into commands for multiple data sources. The data source command generator is connected to the query understanding component. The data source command generator selects data source commands based on lexical information associated with each data source.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to generate contextual queries, the method comprising:

receiving a user query and context, wherein the context is provided by one or more applications that the user operates during the current query session;

generating a semantic representation of the query using domain ontologies, wherein the domain ontologies identify filters, concepts, and relations in a number of categories;

refining the semantic representation using filters associated with each domain traversed in a current query session, wherein some filters augment the semantic representation with criteria of the one or more applications operated by the user during the current query session; and

selecting one or more data source commands to issue against data sources having content associated with terms in the query based on the context and the semantic representation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a query and context type using query and context ontologies.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein structure for the semantic representation is derived from a template associated with a query type included in the query ontology.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data source includes structured data sources, unstructured data sources, and semistructured data sources.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the structured data sources are queried using one of:

Structured Query Language (SQL) or SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language (SPARQL).

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the unstructured or semistructured data sources are queried using textual keyword queries.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the data source commands are selected based on lexical information associated with each data source.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein some filters include mathematical operators that are associated with the one or more applications operated by the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein application contexts for the one or more applications are selected from the domain ontologies when generating the semantic query representation.

10. One or more computer readable media, not a signal per se, configured to perform a method to process queries, the method comprising:

receiving a user query and context, wherein the context is provided by one or more applications that the user operates during the current query session;

generating a semantic representation of the query using domain ontologies;

refining the semantic representation using filters associated with each domain traversed in a current query session, wherein some filters augment the semantic representation with criteria of the one or more applications operated by the user during the current query session; and

selecting one or more data source commands to issue against a data source having content associated with terms in the query.

11. The media of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a query and context type using query and context ontologies.

12. The media of claim 11, wherein structure for the semantic representation is derived from a template associated with a query type included in the query ontology.

13. The media of claim 10, wherein the data source includes structured data sources, unstructured data sources, and semistructured data sources.

14. The media of claim 13, wherein the structured data sources are queried using one of:

Structured Query Language (SQL) or SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language (SPARQL).

15. The media of claim 13, wherein the unstructured or semistructured data sources are queried using textual keyword queries.

16. The media of claim 10, wherein some filters include mathematical operators that are associated with the one or more applications operated by the user during the session.

17. The media of claim 10, wherein application contexts for the one or more applications are selected from the domain ontologies when generating the semantic query representation.

18. A computer system having processors and memories configured to generate contextual queries, the system further comprising:

a search engine configured to receive user queries and contexts;

a query understanding component configured to store ontologies that identify the query type and application type, the query type identifies one or more input types and one or more output types, wherein the input and output types correspond to concepts, instances, properties, or relations in a domain ontology or an application ontology; and

a data source command generator communicatively connected to the query understanding component, wherein the data source command generator is configured to transform a semantic representation provided by the query understanding component into contextual queries that are applied across multiple data sources using data source commands selected based on lexical information associated with each data source.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the ontologies provide rules that expand the semantic query representation and identify methods that access or compute relevant information from data sources based on a semantic description of concepts, properties, and relations expressed in the ontologies.

20. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the data sources include unstructured, structured, or semistructured data sources and are queried using one of:

Structured Query Language (SQL), SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language (SPARQL), or textual keyword queries.