Automated comprehension of natural language via constraint-based processing

A program product for processing a natural language communication, the program product comprising:

• a storage device;
• and
• program code stored within the storage device, wherein the program code, when executed by a processor of a data processing system, causes the data processing system to perform:
• prior to the data processing system receiving a natural language communication for processing, maintaining, in data storage of the data processing system, a consistent meaning framework (CMF) graph providing word meanings for various word spellings of a natural human language, wherein the CMF graph includes a plurality of nodes linked by a plurality of edges, and wherein the plurality of nodes includes:
• a plurality of meaning nodes each specifying a respective word spelling, wherein each of the plurality of meaning nodes is linked by a respective one of the plurality of edges to another meaning node serving as a parent node indicating what the word spelling means, wherein at least two of the plurality of meaning nodes correspond to different word meanings for a common word spelling of the natural human language, and wherein multiple of the word meanings are each associated by the CMF graph with a respective one of a plurality of constraints;
• and
• a plurality of sense nodes each linked to a respective one of the plurality of meaning nodes by one of the plurality of edges, each of the plurality of sense nodes having a respective associated sense defined by a natural language textual description indicating a word meaning to which the linked meaning node among the plurality of meaning nodes refers, such that different word meanings of the common word spelling can be disambiguated;
• in response to receipt by the data processing system of the natural language communication, processing the natural language communication by reference to the CMF graph, wherein:
• the processing includes parsing the natural language communication and selecting, for each of multiple word spellings in the natural language communication, a selected word meaning from among the word meanings provided by the CMF graph;
• the selecting includes selecting word meanings from among the word meanings provided by the CMF graph based on one or more of the plurality of associated constraints satisfied by the natural language communication;
• the parsing includes parsing the natural language communication in a direction of the natural human language until no additional constraints are satisfied and then parsing the natural language communication in a reverse direction;
• and
• recording, in the data storage, the selected word meaning for each of the multiple word spellings in the natural language communication.

A data processing system for processing a natural language communication, the data processing system comprising:

• a processor;
• a storage device coupled to the processor;
• and
• program code stored within the storage device, wherein the program code, when executed by the processor, causes the data processing system to perform:
• program code stored within the storage device, wherein the program code, when executed by a processor of a data processing system, causes the data processing system to perform:
• prior to the data processing system receiving a natural language communication for processing, maintaining, in data storage of the data processing system, a consistent meaning framework (CMF) graph providing word meanings for various word spellings of a natural human language, wherein the CMF graph includes a plurality of nodes linked by a plurality of edges, and wherein the plurality of nodes includes:
• a plurality of meaning nodes each specifying a respective word spelling, wherein each of the plurality of meaning nodes is linked by a respective one of the plurality of edges to another meaning node serving as a parent node indicating what the word spelling means, wherein at least two of the plurality of meaning nodes correspond to different word meanings for a common word spelling of the natural human language, and wherein multiple of the word meanings are each associated by the CMF graph with a respective one of a plurality of constraints;
• and
• a plurality of sense nodes each linked to a respective one of the plurality of meaning nodes by one of the plurality of edges, each of the plurality of sense nodes having a respective associated sense defined by a natural language textual description indicating a word meaning to which the linked meaning node among the plurality of meaning nodes refers, such that different word meanings of the common word spelling can be disambiguated;
• in response to receipt by the data processing system of the natural language communication, processing the natural language communication by reference to the CMF graph, wherein:
• the processing includes parsing the natural language communication and selecting, for each of multiple word spellings in the natural language communication, a selected word meaning from among the word meanings provided by the CMF graph;
• the selecting includes selecting word meanings from among the word meanings provided by the CMF graph based on one or more of the plurality of associated constraints satisfied by the natural language communication;
• the parsing includes applying multiple nested constraints to determine the selected word meaning for at least one word spelling in the natural language communication, wherein the applying includes applying a first constraint to a multi-word phrase of the natural language communication and applying a second constraint to an individual word spelling in the multi-word phrase;
• and
• recording, in the data storage, the selected word meaning for each of the multiple word spellings in the natural language communication.

A method for processing a natural language communication in a data processing system including a processor, the method comprising:

• prior to the data processing system receiving a natural language communication for processing, the processor maintaining, in data storage of the data processing system, a consistent meaning framework (CMF) graph providing word meanings for various word spellings of a natural human language, wherein the CMF graph includes a plurality of nodes linked by a plurality of edges, and wherein the plurality of nodes includes:
• a plurality of meaning nodes each specifying a respective word spelling, wherein each of the plurality of meaning nodes is linked by a respective one of the plurality of edges to another meaning node serving as a parent node indicating what the word spelling means, wherein at least two of the plurality of meaning nodes correspond to different word meanings for a common word spelling of the natural human language, and wherein multiple of the word meanings are each associated by the CMF graph with a respective one of a plurality of constraints;
• and
• a plurality of sense nodes each linked to a respective one of the plurality of meaning nodes by one of the plurality of edges, each of the plurality of sense nodes having a respective associated sense defined by a natural language textual description indicating a word meaning to which the linked meaning node among the plurality of meaning nodes refers, such that different word meanings of the common word spelling can be disambiguated;
• in response to receipt by the data processing system of the natural language communication, the processor processing the natural language communication by reference to the CMF graph, wherein:
• the processing includes parsing the natural language communication and selecting, for each of multiple word spellings in the natural language communication, a selected word meaning from among the word meanings provided by the CMF graph;
• the selecting includes selecting word meanings from among the word meanings provided by the CMF graph based on one or more of the plurality of associated constraints satisfied by the natural language communication;
• the parsing includes applying multiple nested constraints to determine the selected word meaning for at least one word spelling in the natural language communication, wherein the applying includes applying a first constraint to a multi-word phrase of the natural language communication and applying a second constraint to an individual word spelling in the multi-word phrase;
• and
• the processor recording, in the data storage, the selected word meaning for each of the multiple word spellings in the natural language communication.