Object selection based on natural language queries

A selection engine for selecting an object out of a group of objects belonging to a category, the selection engine comprising:

• a receiving unit for receiving object-related information indicative of properties of objects of the category by using network connected databases;
• a generating unit for generating an extended profile for at least one of the objects based on the received object-related information and object-specific information indicative of properties of the at least one of the objects, such that the extended profile comprises the object-specific information as well as object-related information that is related to the object-specific information, and wherein the generating unit uses at least one out of the group consisting of a predefined dictionary, a predefined ontology, predefined system rules, and a predefined regular expression, when generating the extended profile;
• a user interface for receiving natural language input;
• a determining unit for determining a data structure of weighted keywords based on the natural language input using at least one out of the group consisting of a predefined dictionary, a predefined ontology, predefined system rules;
• and
• a selecting unit for selecting the object out of the group of objects based on a mapping of the extended profile and the data structure of weighted keywords resulting in a preference fit score for the selected object, wherein the mapping comprises using at least one out of the group consisting of an N-Gram distance function between data elements of the extended profile and data elements of the data structure of weighted keywords, thresholds specified in the extended profile, and weights of rules.

A computer program product, provided on a computer usable medium, comprising a computer readable program for performing a method for selecting an object out of a group of objects belonging to a category when executed on a computer device, the method comprising:

• receiving object-related information indicative of properties of objects of the category by using network connected databases;
• generating an extended profile for at least one of the objects based on the received object-related information and object-specific information indicative of properties of the at least one of the objects, such that the extended profile comprises the object-specific information as well as object-related information that is related to the object-specific information, and wherein the generating the extended profile comprises using at least one out of the group consisting of a predefined dictionary, a predefined ontology, predefined system rules, and a predefined regular expression;
• providing a user interface adapted for receiving natural language input;
• determining a data structure of weighted keywords based on the natural language input using at least one out of the group consisting of the predefined dictionary, the predefined ontology, predefined system rules, and a predefined regular expression;
• and
• selecting the object out of the group of objects based on a mapping of the extended profile and the data structure of weighted keywords resulting in a preference fit score for the selected object, wherein the mapping comprises using at least one out of the group consisting of an N-Gram distance function between data elements of the extended profile and data elements of the data structure of weighted keywords, thresholds specified in the extended profile, and weights of rules.