Patent · US Active

Iterators for applying term occurrence-level constraints in natural language searching

US7984032B2 · kind B2 · utility

13Cited by
24References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 29, 2008
Grant dateJul 19, 2011
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 22, 2029

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F16/3344
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Tools and techniques are described that relate to iterators for applying term occurrence-level constraints in natural language searching. These tools may receive a natural language input query, and define term occurrence-level constraints applicable to the input query. The methods may also identify facts requested in the input query, and may instantiate an iterator to traverse a fact index to identify candidate facts responsive to the input query. This iterator may traverse through at least a portion of the fact index. The methods may receive candidate facts from this iterator, with these candidate facts including terms, referred to as term-level occurrences. The methods may apply the term occurrence-level constraints to the term-level occurrences. The methods may select the candidate fact for inclusion in search results for the input query, based at least in part on applying the term occurrence-level constraint.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.