System for interpreting and managing imprecise temporal expressions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11562199-B2
Application number	US-202016897590-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 10, 2020
Priority date	Dec 2, 2016
Publication date	Jan 24, 2023
Grant date	Jan 24, 2023

Abstract

Disclosed are techniques for extracting, identifying, and consuming imprecise temporal elements (“ITEs”). A user input may be received from a client device. A prediction may be generated of one or more time intervals to which the user input refers based upon an ITE model. The user input may be associated with the prediction, and provided to the client device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a memory for storing an imprecise temporal expression model, wherein the imprecise temporal expression model is trained using one or both of classification analysis and regression analysis to indicate times an imprecise temporal expression corresponds based on a type of activity associated with the imprecise temporal expression; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, and configured to:
receive a user input;
generate a prediction of one or more intervals of time to which the user input refers based upon the imprecise temporal expression model in the memory, wherein the user input comprises of an imprecise temporal element, a type of activity associated with the imprecise temporal expression, and a time of interaction;

associate the user input with the prediction; and
provide the prediction in response to the user input.

2. The system of claim 1 , the processor further configured to display the prediction at a time corresponding to the user input.

3. The system of claim 1 , the processor further configured to:
present the prediction; and
generate a request to receive a second user input to confirm the prediction.

4. The system of claim 3 , the processor further configured to:
receive an indication to modify the prediction; and
update the imprecise temporal expression model in the memory based upon the indication.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user input is received in a form selected from the group consisting of a voice input and a text input.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein providing the prediction in response to the user input includes providing one or more of: a reminder, a notification, an auto-completion of text, a timeline, a task list, a calendar scheduling, a time interval, a ranked list of time intervals, and a probability distribution.

7. The system of claim 1 , the processor further configured to generate the imprecise temporal expression model.

8. The system of claim 1 , the processor further configured to detect an imprecise temporal expression in the user input.

9. A method, comprising:
receiving, at a client device, a user input;
generating, on the client device a prediction of one or more intervals of time to which the user input refers based upon an imprecise temporal expression model, wherein the user input comprises at least one of an imprecise temporal element, a type of activity associated with the imprecise temporal expression, and a time of interaction, and wherein the imprecise temporal expression model is trained using one or both of classification analysis and regression analysis to indicate times an imprecise temporal expression corresponds based on a type of activity associated with the imprecise temporal expression;
associating the user input with the prediction; and
providing the prediction.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising displaying the prediction on the client device at a time corresponding to the user input.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
presenting the prediction on the client device; and
generating a request to receive a second user input to confirm the prediction.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving an indication to modify the prediction; and
updating the imprecise temporal expression model in a memory of the client device based upon the indication.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the user input is received in a form selected from the group consisting of a voice input and a text input.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein providing the prediction in response to the user input includes providing one or more of: a reminder, a notification, an auto-completion of text, a timeline, a task list, a calendar scheduling, a time interval, a ranked list of time intervals, and a probability distribution.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising generating the imprecise temporal expression model.

16. The method of claim 9 , further comprising detecting the imprecise temporal element in the user input.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer readable instructions that are executable to cause one or more processors to perform operations, comprising:
receiving, at a client device, a user input;
generating, on the client device, a prediction of one or more intervals of time to which the user input refers based upon an imprecise temporal expression model, wherein the user input comprises an imprecise temporal element, a type of activity associated with the imprecise temporal expression, and a time of interaction, and wherein the imprecise temporal expression model is trained using one or both of classification analysis and regression analysis to indicate times an imprecise temporal expression corresponds based on a type of activity associated with the imprecise temporal expression;
associating the user input with the prediction; and
providing the prediction.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , the processor further configured to perform the operation comprising displaying the prediction on the client device at a time corresponding to the user input.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , the processor further configured to perform the operations comprising:
presenting the prediction on the client device; and
generating a request to receive a second user input to confirm the prediction.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , the processor further configured to perform the operations comprising detecting an imprecise temporal expression in the user input.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Fourney Adam
• Bennett Paul Nathan
• White Ryen
• Horvitz Eric
• Rong Xin
• Graus David

Classifications

• G06N5/04

  Inference or reasoning models · CPC title

• G06Q10/06311

  Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group · CPC title

• G06F16/3322

  using system suggestions (G06F16/3325 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F40/289

  Phrasal analysis, e.g. finite state techniques or chunking · CPC title

• G06F40/00

  Handling natural language data (speech analysis or synthesis, speech recognition G10L) · CPC title