Systems and methods for providing personalized answers with learned user vocabulary for user queries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11675843-B2
Application number	US-201817253580-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2018
Priority date	Dec 10, 2018
Publication date	Jun 13, 2023
Grant date	Jun 13, 2023

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing personalized answers to a user's query using a learned user vocabulary. A natural-language user interface (NLUI) application tracks input terms in user queries and generates responses that incorporate those input terms. The NLUI application may modify stored response templates or may modify a response generated based on stored response templates, by replacing a template term with an input term that has a common definition.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing personalized answers to a user's query using a learned user vocabulary, the method comprising:
receiving a first query from a first user;
retrieving a stored response template from a database, wherein:
the stored response template comprises a plurality of terms including one or more dynamic terms and one or more non-dynamic terms; and
prior to customizing the stored response template for the first user, the stored response template is used to generate a plurality of responses to a plurality of previously received queries, and for each respective response of the plurality of responses:
the one or more dynamic terms of the stored response template are modified based on an answer to the corresponding query of the plurality of previously received queries, and the respective modified one or more dynamic terms are included in the respective responses and are different for each respective response of the plurality of responses; and
the one or more non-dynamic terms of the stored response template are included, without modification, in each of the plurality of responses, regardless of respective answers included in the plurality of responses;

determining that the first query comprises an input term that shares a definition with a non-dynamic term of the one or more dynamic terms in the stored response template;
in response to determining that the first query comprises the input term that shares the definition with the non-dynamic term in the stored response template, customizing the stored response template for the first user by:
generating, based on the stored response template, a modified response template in which the non-dynamic term is replaced with the input term;

generating a first response to the first query based on the modified response template, wherein the generated first response comprises the input term;
outputting the generated first response that comprises the input term and that does not comprise the non-dynamic term;
storing the modified response template in the database;
receiving a second query that does not comprise the input term;
generating a second response to the second query based on the modified response template, wherein the generated second response comprises the input term; and
outputting the generated second response.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating and storing the modified response template further comprises:
generating a copy of the stored response template;
identifying the non-dynamic term in the copy of the stored response template;
substituting the non-dynamic term in the copy of the stored response template with the input term; and
storing, in the database, the copy of the stored response template as the modified response template.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the first query comprises the input term that shares the definition with the non-dynamic term comprises:
in response to determining that a response to the first query cannot be generated, outputting an indication that a response cannot be generated;
receiving a modified version of the first query;
determining that the modified version of the first query comprises the non-dynamic term; and
in response to determining that the modified version of the first query comprises the non-dynamic term, determining that the input term shares the definition with the non-dynamic term.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the first query comprises the input term that shares the definition with the non-dynamic term comprises:
retrieving a first definition of the input term and a second definition of the non-dynamic term, wherein the first definition and the second definition are text strings;
comparing the first definition with the second definition; and
in response to determining, based on the comparing, that the first definition matches the second definition, determining that the input term shares the definition with the non-dynamic term.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a third query comprising a different input term that shares a definition with the non-dynamic term;
retrieving, from memory, the plurality of previously received queries;
determining a first amount of the plurality of previously received queries that comprise the input term and a second amount of the plurality of previously received queries that comprise the different input term;
determining whether the second amount is greater than the first amount; and
in response to determining that the second amount is greater than the first amount, replacing the non-dynamic term in the modified response template with the different input term.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a third query;
determining that the first query was received from a first user and that the third query was received from a second user different from the first user;
in response to determining that the third query was received from the second user, generating a response to the third query based on the stored response template, wherein the response to the third query comprises the non-dynamic term; and
outputting the response to the third query.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the first response to the first query based on the modified response template further comprises:
determining a search result for the first query; and
outputting the search result with the generated first response.

8. A method for providing personalized answers to a user's query using a learned user vocabulary, the method comprising:
receiving a first query from a first user;
retrieving a stored response template from a database, wherein:
the stored response template comprises a plurality of terms including one or more dynamic terms and one or more non-dynamic terms; and
prior to customizing a first response to the first query for the first user, the stored response template is used to generate a plurality of responses to a plurality of previously received queries, and for each respective response of the plurality of responses:
the one or more dynamic terms of the stored response template are modified based on an answer to the corresponding query of the plurality of previously received queries, and the respective modified one or more dynamic terms are included in the respective responses and are different for each respective response of the plurality of responses; and
the one or more non-dynamic terms of the stored response template are included, without modification, in each of the plurality of responses, regardless of respective answers included in the plurality of responses;

generating a first response to the first query based on the stored response template, wherein the first response comprises a non-dynamic term;
determining that the first query comprises an input term that shares a definition with the non-dynamic term in the first response;
storing the input term in a vocabulary database as a replacement term for the non-dynamic term;
in response to determining that the first query comprises the input term that shares the definition with the non-dynamic term in the stored response template, customizing the first response for the first user by:
modifying the first response to replace the non-dynamic term with the input term;

outputting the modified first response that comprises the input term and that does not comprise the non-dynamic term;
receiving a second query that does not comprise the input term;
generating a second response to the second query, wherein the second response comprises the non-dynamic term;
in response to determining that the vocabulary database comprises the input term as the replacement term for the non-dynamic term, modifying

Assignees

• Rovi Guides Inc
• Rovl Guides Inc

Inventors

• Aher Ankur Anil
• Kumar Harish Ashok

Classifications

• G06F40/157 Primary

  using dictionaries or tables · CPC title

• G06F16/90332 Primary

  Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems · CPC title

• G06F40/35

  Discourse or dialogue representation · CPC title

• G06F16/9574

  of access to content, e.g. by caching · CPC title

• G06F16/9038

  Presentation of query results · CPC title