Search engine with natural language-based robust parsing of user query and relevance feedback learning

Abstract

A search engine architecture is designed to handle a full range of user queries, from complex sentence-based queries to simple keyword searches. The search engine architecture includes a natural language parser that parses a user query and extracts syntactic and semantic information. The parser is robust in the sense that it not only returns fully-parsed results (e.g., a parse tree), but is also capable of returning partially-parsed fragments in those cases where more accurate or descriptive information in the user query is unavailable. A question matcher is employed to match the fully-parsed output and the partially-parsed fragments to a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) stored in a database. The question matcher then correlates the questions with a group of possible answers arranged in standard templates that represent possible solutions to the user query. The search engine architecture also has a keyword searcher to locate other possible answers by searching on any keywords returned from the parser. The answers returned from the question matcher and the keyword searcher are presented to the user for confirmation as to which answer best represents the user's intentions when entering the initial search query. The search engine architecture logs the queries, the answers returned to the user, and the user's confirmation feedback in a log database. The search engine has a log analyzer to evaluate the log database to glean information that improves performance of the search engine over time by training the parser and the question matcher.

1 . Canceled  
     
     
         2 . Canceled  
     
     
         3 . Canceled  
     
     
         4 . Canceled  
     
     
         5 . Canceled  
     
     
         6 . Canceled  
     
     
         7 . Canceled  
     
     
         8 . Canceled  
     
     
         9 . Canceled  
     
     
         10 . Canceled  
     
     
         11 . Canceled  
     
     
         12 . Canceled  
     
     
         13 . Canceled  
     
     
         14 . Canceled  
     
     
         15 . Canceled  
     
     
         16 . Canceled  
     
     
         17 . Canceled  
     
     
         18 . Canceled  
     
     
         19 . Canceled  
     
     
         20 . Canceled  
     
     
         21 . Canceled  
     
     
         22 . Canceled  
     
     
         23 . Canceled  
     
     
         24 . Canceled  
     
     
         25 . Canceled  
     
     
         26 . Canceled  
     
     
         27 . Canceled  
     
     
         28 . Canceled  
     
     
         29 . Canceled  
     
     
         30 . Canceled  
     
     
         31 . Canceled  
     
     
         32 . Canceled  
     
     
         33 . Canceled  
     
     
         34 . Canceled  
     
     
         35 . Canceled  
     
     
         36 . Canceled  
     
     
         37 . A method comprising: 
 receiving a query;    mapping the query to from a query space to a question space to identify associated frequently asked questions;    mapping the questions from the question space to a template space to identify associated templates;    mapping the templates from the template space to an answer space to identify associated answers; and    returning the answers in response to the query.    
     
     
         38 . A method as recited in  claim 37 , wherein the mapping from the query space to the question space comprises: 
 parsing the query to identify at least one associated concept; and    correlating the concept to one or more frequently asked questions.    
     
     
         39 . A method as recited in  claim 37 , wherein the mapping from the question space to the template space comprises cross-indexing from a first table containing question identifications to a second table containing templates identifications.  
     
     
         40 . A method as recited in  claim 39 , wherein the mapping from the template space to the answer space comprises cross-indexing from the second table to a third table containing answer identifications.  
     
     
         41 . A method as recited in  claim 37 , further comprising: 
 presenting the answers to a user for confirmation as to which of the answers represent the user's intentions in the query;    analyzing the query and the answers confirmed by the user; and    modifying the answers that are returned in response to the query based on information gleaned from the analyzing.    
     
     
         42 . Canceled  
     
     
         43 . Canceled  
     
     
         44 . Canceled  
     
     
         45 . Canceled  
     
     
         46 . Canceled  
     
     
         47 . Canceled  
     
     
         48 . Canceled  
     
     
         49 . Canceled  
     
     
         50 . Canceled  
     
     
         51 . Canceled  
     
     
         52 . Canceled  
     
     
         53 . Canceled  
     
     
         54 . Canceled  
     
     
         55 . Canceled  
     
     
         56 . Canceled  
     
     
         57 . Canceled  
     
     
         58 . Canceled  
     
     
         59 . Canceled  
     
     
         60 . Canceled  
     
     
         61 . Canceled  
     
     
         62 . Canceled  
     
     
         63 . Canceled  
     
     
         64 . Canceled  
     
     
         65 . Canceled  
     
     
         66 . Canceled  
     
     
         67 . Canceled  
     
     
         68 . Canceled  
     
     
         69 . Canceled  
     
     
         70 . Canceled  
     
     
         71 . Canceled  
     
     
         72 . A method of parsing a search query, comprising: 
 segmenting the search query into individual character strings;    producing a parse tree from at least one parsable character string of the search query; and    generating at least one keyword based at least one non-parsable character string of the search query.    
     
     
         73 . The method of  claim 72 , further comprising: 
 conducting keyword searching using the at least once keyword.    
     
     
         74 . The method of  claim 72 , wherein the parse tree represents a collection of concepts related to the search query.  
     
     
         75 . The method of  claim 74 , further comprising matching the parsed concepts to a list of frequently asked questions.  
     
     
         76 . The method of  claim 75 , further comprising: 
 identifying at least one answer associated with the list of frequently asked questions that match the parsed concepts and keywords; and    presenting the at least one answer to a user in a user interface that permits a user to select a desired answer from the one or more answers.    
     
     
         77 . The method of  claim 76 , further comprising: 
 logging the search query and at least one answer selected by the user in a log database; and    analyzing the log database to derive at least one weighting factor indicating how relevant the frequently asked questions are to the parsed concepts and keywords.    
     
     
         78 . A parser for a search engine, comprising: 
 a segmentation module that segments a search query into one or more individual character strings;    a natural language parser module that produces a parse tree from one or more parsable character strings of the search query; and    a keyword searcher to identify one or more keywords in the search query and to output the keywords.    
     
     
         79 . The parser of  claim 78 , wherein the parse tree represents a collection of concepts related to the search query.  
     
     
         80 . The parser of  claim 78 , further comprising a search module that matches the parsed concepts to a list of frequently asked questions.  
     
     
         81 . The parser of  claim 80 , wherein the search module: 
 identifies at least one answer associated with the list of frequently asked questions that match the parsed concepts and keywords; and    presents the at least one answer to a user in a user interface that permits a user to select a desired answer from the one or more answers.    
     
     
         82 . The parser of  claim 81 , wherein the search module: 
 logs the search query and at least one answer selected by the user in a log database; and    analyzes the log database to derive at least one weighting factor indicating how relevant the frequently asked questions are to the parsed concepts and keywords.