Structured natural language query and knowledge system

A computer system for translating an imperative natural language sentence into formal query text compatible for use in an object-relational database, the system comprising:

• an object-relational database comprising a plurality of data objects, the database further comprising a plurality of user-defined object-relational methods, a plurality of object-relational data source elements, and a plurality of user-defined conditions;
• a parsing module of executable program code running on the computer system, the parsing module configured to parse a natural language imperative sentence that expresses a request for information to identify one or more verb phrases of the sentence, one or more noun phases and an optional one or more adjective phases;
• and
• a translation module of executable program code running on the computer system in communication with the database, the translation module configured to (a) determine from a natural language verb phrase one or more defined object-relational methods, (b) determine from each noun phrase one or more object-relational data source elements, and (c) determine from each optional adjective phase one or more defined conditions, the translation module further configured to create formal query text in an object-relational algebra that is compatible for use in the object-relational database, wherein the formal query text is determined from the one or more determined object-relational methods, the one or more determined object-relational data source elements, and the optional one or more determined conditions.

A computer-implemented method of creating a query in an object-relational algebra, the method comprising:

• prompting, via a user interface provided by a computer system, a user to choose one or more previously defined object-relational methods and/or one or more object-relational algebra operators;
• prompting, via the user interface, the user to choose from a list of defined objected relational data source elements as one or more arguments to the one or more methods selected or the one or more operators selected;
• prompting, via the user interface, the user to choose an optional one or more conditions from at least a set of defined conditions, and prompting the user to specify one or more parameters for each selected condition;
• and
• using object-relational algebra to create an object-relational compatible query with the responses received from the user.

A computer system for creating a query in an object-relational algebra, the system comprising:

• a database comprising previously defined object-relational methods, object-relational algebra operators, defined object-relational data source elements, and defined conditions;
• a user interface, provided by the computer system, adapted to prompt a user to choose one or more previously defined object-relational algebra methods or one or more object-relational algebra operators;
• the user interface further adapted to prompt the user to choose from a list of defined data source elements as one or more arguments to the one or more object-relational methods selected or the one or more operators selected;
• the user interface further adapted to prompt the user to choose an optional one or more conditions from at least a set of defined conditions, and prompting the user to specify one or more parameters for each selected condition;
• and
• a query translation module of executable program code running on the computer system configured to use object-relational algebra to create an object-relational query with the responses received from the user.