Patents by Inventor James C. Murdock, IV

James C. Murdock, IV has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Providing answers to questions using hypothesis pruning
    Patent number: 10216804
    Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for generating answers to questions. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving a query, conducting a search through one or more data sources to identify candidate answers to the query, and providing each of the candidate answers with a preliminary score. The method further comprises filtering out any of the candidate answers with a preliminary score that does not satisfy a defined condition. The candidate answers having preliminary scores that satisfy this condition form a subset of the candidate answers. Each of the candidate answers in this subset is processed to produce further scores. A ranking function is applied to these further scores to determine a ranking for each of the candidate answers in the subset; and after this ranking function is applied, one or more of the candidate answers are selected as one or more final answers to the query.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jennifer Chu-Carroll, David A. Ferrucci, David C. Gondek, Adam P. Lally, James C. Murdock, IV
  • PROVIDING ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS USING HYPOTHESIS PRUNING
    Publication number: 20160232165
    Abstract: A method, system and computer program product for generating answers to questions. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving a query, conducting a search through one or more data sources to identify candidate answers to the query, and providing each of the candidate answers with a preliminary score. The method further comprises filtering out any of the candidate answers with a preliminary score that does not satisfy a defined condition. The candidate answers having preliminary scores that satisfy this condition form a subset of the candidate answers. Each of the candidate answers in this subset is processed to produce further scores. A ranking function is applied to these further scores to determine a ranking for each of the candidate answers in the subset; and after this ranking function is applied, one or more of the candidate answers are selected as one or more final answers to the query.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2016
    Publication date: August 11, 2016
    Inventors: Jennifer Chu-Carroll, David A. Ferrucci, David C. Gondek, Adam P. Lally, James C. Murdock, IV