Abstract: A method and apparatus for the recording and maintenance of semantic elements in electronically-held information objects provide for grounding semantic objects in an ontology, such that inheritance and other relations between concepts are preserved in persistent storage. The disclosed method and apparatus provide semantic document authors with a means to anchor concept references to specific, persistent, semantic objects, thereby providing the system with access to all properties of the underlying data model of the semantic objects being referenced, while also specifying the type and scope of their relations, as well as behavioral aspects of the visual and editing environment.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for performing an informed semantic merge operation comprises selecting a source region in a document and a target region in the same or a different document. A bi-directionally coupled surface region is identified in the source region and a bi-directionally coupled surface region is identified in the target region. A first semantic object coupled to the surface region in the source region is identified and a second semantic object coupled to the surface region in the target region is identified. The subcomponents of the first semantic object are combined with the subcomponents of the second semantic object by merging.

Abstract: A method of automatically constructing a model of an activity from an unsupervised examination of a plurality of textual documents describing the activity is comprised of: extracting prototypical steps from the plurality of textual documents; sequencing the extracted steps; aligning the sequenced steps; and constructing the model based on the aligned steps. The model may take the form of a step vs. position matrix which identifies the prototypical steps that make up the activity and provides the probability of each step occupying each position within the activity. The model thus constitutes common sense knowledge that encodes the stereotypical steps of an activity and the stereotypical sequencing of the steps.

Abstract: One example of a semantically informed text operation comprises selecting a source region of a document and determining if the source region has a surface region bi-directionally coupled to a semantic object. The coupled semantic object is identified as are the presentation(s) associated with the semantic object. A target region of the same or anther document is selected. Any of the presentations that cannot be expressed in the target region are eliminated to identify a set of remaining presentations. A set of semantic choices based on the remaining presentations is determined. One of the semantic choices is selected and executed in the target region.

Abstract: A method of changing semantic information comprises changing a first bi-directional coupling between a surface region in a document and a first semantic object to a second bi-directional coupling between the surface region and a second semantic object. More particularly, the method may be comprised of identifying an occurrence of a surface region in a document, the surface region having a first link for coupling the surface region to a first semantic object, and the first semantic object having a first association for coupling the first semantic object with the surface region. The first link is replaced with a second link for coupling the surface region to a second semantic object. The first association is changed to a second association for coupling the second semantic object with the surface region. Another method for changing semantic information comprising selecting a semantic object stored in a data repository and changing the selected semantic object.