Question answer system using physical distance data

• US 9,740,746 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2014
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Clifford, Emmet R., Clifford, Stuart J., Loredo, Robert E., Lu, Fang, Quinn, William M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ortiz Ditren, Belix M
• Application Number:
  US14/338,406
• Publication Number:
  US 20160026629A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,126 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24522 Translation of natural language queries to structured queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/60 relating to pathologies

Abstract

A question relating to an individual is received and context from the question is extracted. Subject matter criteria can be identified from the context of the question. A database containing history data that includes recorded positional data for physical objects relative to the location of the individual at the time of recording can be accessed and relevant physical objects from the history data can be identified based upon the subject matter criteria. A set of answers can be generated for the question from a corpus of data and ranked based upon the identified physical objects and physical distance between the individual and the relevant physical objects.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a question relating to an individual;

extracting context from the question;

identifying subject matter criteria from the context of the question;

accessing a database containing history data that includes recorded multimedia data that contains positional data for physical objects relative to a location of a wearable device worn by the individual and over a period of time during which the multimedia data was recorded;

identifying, based upon the subject matter criteria, relevant physical objects from the recorded multimedia of the history data;

generating a set of answers for the question from a corpus of data;

ranking the set of answers based upon the relevant physical objects and physical distance, at the time the multimedia data was recorded, between the wearable device worn by the individual and the relevant physical objects; and

providing the ranked set of answers such that answers associated with a respective physical object having the smallest physical distance, at the time the multimedia data was collected, between the wearable device and the respective physical object are displayed first;

wherein ranking the set of answers further comprises ranking the set of answers based upon respective total amount of time each respective physical object was proximal to the wearable device and respective frequency each respective physical object was proximal to the wearable device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the set of answers for the question includes generating a query that is based upon the relevant physical objects.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the set of answers includes using a search query to data stored on the Internet.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the history data using the wearable device, the wearable device having at least one of video recording capabilities and audio recording capabilities.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying relevant objects includes using image processing to search stored image data for physical objects relating to the subject matter criteria.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein ranking the set of answers includes ranking based upon an amount of time that a physical distance between the individual and a particular physical object is within a threshold distance.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the history data includes image data recorded over a period of days using the wearable device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the subject matter criteria includes medical condition and wherein the relevant physical objects are identified based upon known causes for the medical condition.

9. A computer system comprising:

a network interface;

a display; and

one or more processing units coupled to the display and to the network interface, the one or more processing units configured to;

receive a question relating to an individual;

extract context from the question;

identify subject matter criteria from the context of the question;

access, via the network interface, a database containing history data that includes recorded positional data for physical objects relative to a location of a wearable device worn by the individual at a time of recording;

identify relevant physical objects from the history data based upon the subject matter criteria;

generate a set of answers for the question from a corpus of data;

rank the set of answers based upon the relevant physical objects and physical distance, at the time the multimedia data was recorded, between the wearable device worn by the individual and the relevant physical objects; and

provide the ranked set of answers to the display such that answers associated with a respective physical object having the smallest physical distance, at the time the multimedia data was collected, between the wearable device and the respective physical object are displayed first;

wherein the one or more processing units are further configured to rank the set of answers based upon respective total amount of time each respective physical object was proximal to the wearable device and respective frequency each respective physical object was proximal to the wearable device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to generate the set of answers for the question by generating a query that is based upon the relevant physical objects.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to generate the set of answers by using a search query to data stored on the Internet.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the wearable device has at least one of video recording capabilities and audio recording capabilities.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processing units are further configured to identify relevant physical objects using image processing to search image data for physical objects relating to the subject matter criteria.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to rank the set of answers by ranking based upon an amount of time that a physical distance between the individual and a particular physical object is within a threshold distance.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the history data includes image data recorded over a period of days using the wearable device.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the subject matter criteria includes a medical condition and wherein the relevant physical objects are identified as being associated with known causes for the medical condition.

17. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving a question relating to an individual;

extracting context from the question;

identifying subject matter criteria from the context of the question;

accessing a database containing history data that includes recorded positional data for physical objects relative to a location of a wearable device worn by the individual at a time of recording;

identifying relevant physical objects from the history data based upon the subject matter criteria;

generating a set of answers for the question from a corpus of data;

ranking the set of answers based upon the relevant physical objects and physical distance, at the time the multimedia data was recorded, between the wearable device worn by the individual and the relevant physical objects; and

providing the ranked set of answers such that answers associated with a respective physical object having the smallest physical distance, at the time the multimedia data was collected, between the wearable device and the respective physical object are displayed first;

wherein the program instructions are further executable by the computer to cause the computer to rank the set of answers based upon respective total amount of time each respective physical object was proximal to the wearable device and respective frequency each respective physical object was proximal to the wearable device.