Self-learning ontology-based cognitive assignment engine

Abstract

A cognitive assignment engine (CAE) system attempts to infer semantic meaning from textual content of an incoming message in order to use the inferred meaning to assign the message to an appropriate responder. If the message contains insufficient textual content, the system identifies ontological structures comprised by the message's graphical content and classifies each structure as a function of the structure's location within the graphical content or of an intrinsic characteristic of the structure. The system then generates a message identifier by performing a computation on these classifications and uses the identifier to retrieve a previously stored graphical template that comprises ontological structures similar to those of the incoming message. The system associates the incoming message with a semantic meaning previously associated with the template, enabling the system to classify the message and to assign the message to the correct responder.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A self-learning ontology-based cognitive assignment engine (CAE) system, comprising:
 a processor device operatively coupled to a memory, the processor device being configured for:   intercepting an incoming message that comprises graphical content;   identifying characteristics of one or more ontological structures from the graphical content;   associating one or more numeric values with each of the identified characteristics;   computing a hash code of the incoming message by performing a hash function upon a subset of the numeric values;   retrieving, as a function of the hash code, one or more matching templates of a set of previously stored templates;   organizing the matching templates into a hierarchical structure as a function of the ontological structures; and   assigning the incoming message to an appropriate responder of a plurality of responders as a function of a semantic meaning associated with the matching templates.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the hash codes are retrieved from a distributed hash table. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the retrieving further comprises:
 retrieving from the distributed hash table a matching value that most closely matches a value of the hash code; and   determining that the matching value is an index value capable of enabling the system to retrieve the matching template.   
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the incoming message reports an occurrence of an error condition that affects a computerized system;
 the semantic meaning comprises information from which the reporting of the error condition can be inferred; and   the responder is a technical-support resource configured to respond to the error condition.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the identified characteristics comprise an absolute location, within the graphical content, of a first structure of the one or more ontological structures. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the identified characteristics comprise a set of relative locations, within the graphical content, of a plurality of structures of the one or more ontological structures. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the identified characteristics characterize a graphical element comprised by a first structure of the one or more ontological structures. 
     
     
         8 . A computer-implemented method for a self-learning ontology-based cognitive assignment engine, comprising:
 intercepting an incoming message that comprises graphical content;   identifying characteristics of one or more ontological structures from the graphical content,   associating one or more numeric values with each of the identified characteristics;   computing a hash code of the incoming message by performing a hash function upon a subset of the numeric values;   retrieving, as a function of the hash code, one or more matching templates of a set of previously stored templates;   organizing the matching templates into a hierarchical structure as a function of the ontological structures; and   assigning the incoming message to an appropriate responder of a plurality of responders as a function of a semantic meaning associated with the matching templates.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 retrieving from a distributed hash table a matching value that most closely matches a value of the hash code; and   determining that the matching value is an index value capable of enabling the system to retrieve the matching template.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the incoming message reports an occurrence of an error condition that affects a computerized system;
 the semantic meaning comprises information from which the reporting of the error condition can be inferred; and   the responder is a technical-support resource configured to respond to the error condition.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the identified characteristics comprise an absolute location, within the graphical content, of a first structure of the one or more ontological structures. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the identified characteristics comprise a set of relative locations, within the graphical content, of a plurality of structures of the one or more ontological structures. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the identified characteristics characterize a graphical element comprised by a first structure of the one or more ontological structures. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 providing at least one support service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deploying computer-readable program code in the computer system, wherein the computer-readable program code in combination with the computer system is configured to implement the intercepting, the identifying, the associating, the computing, the retrieving, and the assigning.   
     
     
         15 . A computer program product including one or more computer readable storage mediums collectively storing program instructions for a self-learning ontology-based cognitive assignment engine that are executable by a processor or programmable circuitry to cause the processor or programmable circuitry to perform operations comprising:
 intercepting an incoming message that comprises graphical content;   identifying characteristics of one or more ontological structures from the graphical content;   associating one or more numeric values with each of the identified characteristics;   computing a hash code of the incoming message by performing a hash function upon a subset of the numeric values;   retrieving, as a function of the hash code, one or more matching templates of a set of previously stored templates;   organizing the matching templates into a hierarchical structure as a function of the ontological structures; and   assigning the incoming message to an appropriate responder of a plurality of responders as a function of a semantic meaning associated with the matching templates.   
     
     
         16 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the incoming message reports an occurrence of an error condition that affects a computerized system;
 the semantic meaning comprises information from which the reporting of the error condition can be inferred; and   the responder is a technical-support resource configured to respond to the error condition.   
     
     
         17 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the identified characteristics comprise an absolute location, within the graphical content, of a first structure of the one or more ontological structures. 
     
     
         18 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the identified characteristics comprise a set of relative locations, within the graphical content, of a plurality of structures of the one or more ontological structures. 
     
     
         19 . The computer program product of  claim 15 , wherein the identified characteristics characterize a graphical element comprised by a first structure of the one or more ontological structures. 
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 providing at least one support service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deploying computer-readable program code in the computer system, wherein a computer-readable program code in combination with the computer system is configured to implement the intercepting, the identifying, the associating, the computing, the retrieving, and the assigning.