Apparatus, system, and method for natural language processing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11250072-B2
Application number	US-202017062752-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2020
Priority date	Sep 22, 2009
Publication date	Feb 15, 2022
Grant date	Feb 15, 2022

Abstract

Various embodiments are described for searching and retrieving documents based on a natural language input. A computer-implemented natural language processor electronically receives a natural language input phrase from an interface device. The natural language processor attributes a concept to the phrase with the natural language processor. The natural language processor searches a database for a set of documents to identify one or more documents associated with the attributed concept to be included in a response to the natural language input phrase. The natural language processor maintains the concepts during an interactive session with the natural language processor. The natural language processor resolves ambiguous input patterns in the natural language input phrase with the natural language processor. The natural language processor includes a processor, a memory and/or storage component, and an input/output device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
electronically receiving, by a computer-implemented natural language processor, a natural language input phrase from a user via an interface device;
associating, by the natural language processor, a primary goal with the natural language input phrase;
initiating an interactive dialogue with the user via the interface device to acquire information associated with the primary goal;
associating the natural language input to a tangential goal upon determining that information received from the interface device in the interactive dialogue is not related to the primary goal, the tangential goal based on the information that is not related to the primary goal; and
redirecting the interactive dialogue to a tangential request based on the tangential goal, by a context switching module, to acquire information responsive to the tangential goal;
upon completion of response to the tangential request, redirecting the interactive dialogue, by the context switching module, to the primary goal; and
wherein the acquire information responsive to the primary goal and the tangential goal comprise retrieving and returning relevant documents from one of a networks and a knowledge base.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary goal and the tangential goal are abstract representations of the user's intentions based on context derived from the interactive dialog.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising resolving ambiguous input patterns in the natural language input.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the documents comprise at least one of web pages, images, information, documents, and files.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the natural language processor comprises:
a processor circuit;
a memory and/or storage circuit; and
an input/output device circuit.

6. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, comprising:
electronically receiving, by a computer-implemented natural language processor, a natural language input phrase from a user via an interface device;
associating, by the natural language processor, a primary goal with the natural language input phrase;
initiating an interactive dialogue with the user via the interface device to acquire information associated with the primary goal;
associating the natural language input to a tangential goal upon determining that information received from the interface device in the interactive dialogue is not related to the primary goal, the tangential goal based on the information that is not related to the primary goal;
redirecting the interactive dialogue to a tangential request based on the tangential goal, by a context switching module, to acquire information responsive to the tangential goal;
upon completion of response to the tangential request, redirecting the interactive dialogue, by the context switching module, to the primary goal; and
wherein the acquire information responsive to the primary goal and the tangential goal comprise retrieving and returning relevant documents from one of a networks and a knowledge base.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , wherein the primary goal and the tangential goal are abstract representations of the user's intentions based on context derived from the interactive dialog.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , the operations further comprising resolving ambiguous input patterns in the natural language input.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , wherein the documents comprise at least one of web pages, images, information, documents, and files.

10. A system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory communicatively coupled to one or more processors and storing executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
electronically receiving, by a computer-implemented natural language processor, a natural language input phrase from a user via an interface device;
associating, by the natural language processor, a primary goal with the natural language input phrase;
initiating an interactive dialogue with the user via the interface device to acquire information associated with the primary goal;
associating the natural language input to a tangential goal upon determining that information received from the interface device in the interactive dialogue is not related to the primary goal, the tangential goal based on the information that is not related to the primary goal;
redirecting the interactive dialogue to a tangential request based on the tangential goal, by a context switching module, to acquire information responsive to the tangential goal
upon completion of response to the tangential request, redirecting the interactive dialogue, by the context switching module, to the primary goal; and
wherein the acquiring information responsive to the primary goal and the tangential goal comprise retrieving and returning relevant documents from one of a networks and a knowledge base.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the primary goal and the tangential goal are abstract representations of the user's intentions based on context derived from the interactive dialog.

12. The system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising resolving ambiguous input patterns in the natural language input.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the documents comprise at least one of web pages, images, information, documents, and tiles.

Assignees

• Verint Americas Inc

Inventors

• Brown Fred
• Zartler Mark
• Miller Tanya M

Classifications

• G06F40/232 Primary

  Orthographic correction, e.g. spell checking or vowelisation · CPC title

• G06F40/242

  Dictionaries · CPC title

• G10L17/22

  Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces · CPC title

• G06F16/2455

  Query execution · CPC title

• G06F16/3329

  Natural language query formulation · CPC title