Custom named entities and tags for natural language search query processing

US11222013B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• SAP SE · DE

Inventors

• Erika Fonseca de Lima · Heidelberg, DE
• Juergen Hofmann · Salzwedel, DE
• Thomas Finke · Gilching, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Nov 19, 2019
• Grant date: Jan 11, 2022
• Expiry date: Jun 8, 2040

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F40/295
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for building a library of custom named entities for a database environment and using the library for processing natural language search queries. At configuration time, custom named entities are extracted or derived from a search model or the database environment. Records for the custom entities with associated database unique identifiers and tags are stored in a library. Custom entities can be based on labels of database objects, variants thereof, or domain values. At search time, a natural language query is tokenized and matched with custom entities from the library, and with other predefined named entities, to obtained structured search descriptors. For more efficient search, compound entities can be identified in the search string, comprising a custom entity and a value, or a custom entity and another token sequence. Variations and examples are disclosed.