US 9,542,441 B1 · Using web ranking to resolve anaphora

Abstract

The specification relates to a method of receiving a first query and a second query. The method analyzes the second query for a presence of anaphora. If anaphora is present, the method analyzes the first query for a presence of an entity that can be associated with the anaphora. If the analysis analyzing the first query returns two or more associated entities, the method forms a third query wherein the anaphora of the second query is replaced with one of the associated entities and forms a fourth query wherein the anaphora is replaced with the other of the associated entities. The third query and the fourth query are sent to a query-ranking engine. The third query and the fourth query receive a ranking and the higher-ranked query is sent to a search engine.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

receiving a first query;
receiving a second, follow-up query;
determining that a pronoun in the second, follow-up query is an anaphor by determining that the pronoun refers to an entity that is not present in the second, follow-up query;
in response to determining that the pronoun in the second, follow-up query is an anaphor, determining that the first query is associated with a plurality of possible entities;
generating a plurality of candidate queries, wherein each candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries is generated by replacing the pronoun in the second, follow-up query with a corresponding possible entity;
ranking, using at least past query logs stored in a data repository, the plurality of candidate queries;
and
providing a highest-ranked candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries to a search engine and obtaining search results for the highest-ranked candidate query from the search engine.

5 more elements

A system comprising one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that when executed by the one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first query;
receiving a second, follow-up query;
determining that a pronoun in the second, follow-up query is an anaphor by determining that the pronoun refers to an entity that is not present in the second, follow-up query;
in response to determining that the pronoun in the second, follow-up query is an anaphor, determining that the first query is associated with a plurality of possible entities;
generating a plurality of candidate queries, wherein each candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries is generated by replacing the pronoun in the second, follow-up query with a corresponding possible entity;
ranking, using at least past query logs stored in a data repository, the plurality of candidate queries;
and
providing a highest-ranked candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries to a search engine and obtaining search results for the highest-ranked candidate query from the search engine.

5 more elements

One or more non-transitory storage media encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first query;
receiving a second, follow-up query;
determining that a pronoun in the second, follow-up query is an anaphor by determining that the pronoun refers to an entity that is not present in the second, follow-up query;
in response to determining that the pronoun in the second, follow-up query is an anaphor, determining that the first query is associated with a plurality of possible entities;
generating a plurality of candidate queries, wherein each candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries is generated by replacing the pronoun in the second, follow-up query with a corresponding possible entity;
ranking, using at least past query logs stored in a data repository, the plurality of candidate queries;
and
providing a highest-ranked candidate query of the plurality of candidate queries to a search engine and obtaining search results for the highest-ranked candidate query from the search engine.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Using web ranking to resolve anaphora

Life of this patent

Using web ranking to resolve anaphora

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20