US 7,599,831 B2 · Multi-stage pattern reduction for natural language processing

Abstract

A computer program product for controlling the computer's processor to perform responsive actions a natural language input has: (1) vocabulary, phrase and concept databases of words, phrase and concepts, respectively, that can be recognized in the inputted communication, wherein each of these database elements is representable by a designated semantic symbol, (2) means for searching the inputted communication to identify the words in the communication that are contained within the vocabulary database, (3) means for expressing the communication in terms of the word semantic symbols that correspond to each of the words identified in the inputted communication, (4) means for searching the communication when expressed in terms of its corresponding word semantic symbols so as to identify the phrases in the communication that are contained within the phrase database, (5) means for expressing the communication in terms of the phrase semantic symbols that correspond to each of the phrases identified in the communication, (6) means for searching the communication when expressed in terms of its corresponding phrase semantic symbols so as to identify the concepts in the communication that are contained within the concept database, and (7) means for expressing the communication in terms of the concept semantic symbols that correspond to each of the concepts identified in the inputted communication, wherein these concept semantic symbols are recognizable by the processor and can cause the processor to take action responsive to the inputted communication.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A method for converting a natural language communication, said method comprising:

a computer processor searching a natural language communication to identify words in said communication contained in a vocabulary database of words, wherein each of said database words is representable by a designated word semantic symbol and multiple different words in the vocabulary database determined to have a similar meaning are represented by the same semantic symbol in the vocabulary database;
expressing said communication in terms of word semantic symbols from the vocabulary database that correspond to each of said words identified in said communication;
searching said communication when expressed in terms of word semantic symbols so as to identify phrases in said communication contained in a phrase database of phrases, wherein each of said database phrases is representable by a designated phrase semantic symbol and multiple different phrases in the phrase database determined to have a similar meaning are represented by the same semantic symbol in the phrase database;
expressing said communication in terms of phrase semantic symbols from the phrase database that correspond to each of said phrases identified in said communication;
searching said communication when expressed in terms of the phrase semantic symbols so as to identify concepts in said communication;
and
expressing said communication in terms of concept semantic symbols that correspond to each of said concepts identified in said communication.

4 more elements

A method for performing a multistage reduction of a communication, the method comprising:

receiving the communication at a computer, wherein the communication includes at least one concept expressed in words;
performing a multistage reduction of the communication to determine a semantic representation of the communication, wherein the multistage reduction includes at least using stored words, phrases, and concepts and corresponding semantic representations to semantically represent the communication
wherein each of said stored words is represented by one of the stored semantic representations and multiple different words determined to have similar meanings are represented by the same stored semantic representation, and each of said stored phrases is represented by one of the stored semantic representations and multiple different phrases determined to have similar meanings are represented by the same stored semantic representation;
and
using the semantic representation of the communication to identify a proper action to be taken by the computer.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Multi-stage pattern reduction for natural language processing

Life of this patent

Multi-stage pattern reduction for natural language processing

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims17