Reward Based Ranker Array for Question Answer System

A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

• generate an initial configuration of a ranker array of the QA system, wherein the ranker array comprises a plurality of rankers, and wherein each ranker in the ranker array applies a statistical classification function to candidate answers generated by the QA system in response to an input question to generate a ranked listing of candidate answers;
• input a training question to the QA system to generate a training candidate answer set;
• apply the ranker array to the training candidate answer set to generate, for each ranker in the ranker array, a ranked listing of candidate answers in the training candidate answer set;
• determine, for each ranker in the ranker array, correctness of a corresponding ranked listing of candidate answers;
• and
• reconfigure the ranker array based on results of the determined correctness of the corresponding ranked listing of candidate answers for each ranker in the ranker array.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• generate an initial configuration of a ranker array of the QA system, wherein the ranker array comprises a plurality of rankers, and wherein each ranker in the ranker array applies a statistical classification function to candidate answers generated by the QA system in response to an input question to generate a ranked listing of candidate answers;
• input a training question to the QA system to generate a training candidate answer set;
• apply the ranker array to the training candidate answer set to generate, for each ranker in the ranker array, a ranked listing of candidate answers in the training candidate answer set;
• determine, for each ranker in the ranker array, correctness of a corresponding ranked listing of candidate answers;
• and
• reconfigure the ranker array based on results of the determined correctness of the corresponding ranked listing of candidate answers for each ranker in the ranker array.