Patents by Inventor Michael A. Barborak
Michael A. Barborak 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).
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Patent number: 11068794Abstract: A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for exploring knowledge. The mechanism receives a set of known facts. The mechanism traverses paths in an ontology for a domain of knowledge from known facts in the set of known facts to one or more hypotheses. The ontology includes a plurality of entity types and a plurality of relationships between the entity types. The mechanism presents one or more hypotheses to a user.Type: GrantFiled: March 2, 2018Date of Patent: July 20, 2021Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Sugato Bagchi, Michael A. Barborak, Kenneth J. Barker, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, James J. Fan, John M. Prager
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Publication number: 20180189663Abstract: A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for exploring knowledge. The mechanism receives a set of known facts. The mechanism traverses paths in an ontology for a domain of knowledge from known facts in the set of known facts to one or more hypotheses. The ontology includes a plurality of entity types and a plurality of relationships between the entity types. The mechanism presents one or more hypotheses to a user.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 2, 2018Publication date: July 5, 2018Inventors: Sugato Bagchi, Michael A. Barborak, Kenneth J. Barker, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, James J. Fan, John M. Prage
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Patent number: 9946763Abstract: According to an aspect, a processing system of a question answering computer system determines a first set of relations between one or more pairs of terms in a question. The processing system also determines a second set of relations between one or more pairs of terms in a candidate passage including a candidate answer to the question. The processing system matches the first set of relations to the second set of relations. A plurality of scores is determined by the processing system based on the matching. The processing system aggregates the scores to produce an answer score indicative of a level of support that the candidate answer correctly answers the question.Type: GrantFiled: November 5, 2014Date of Patent: April 17, 2018Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Michael A. Barborak, James J. Fan, Michael R. Glass, Aditya A. Kalyanpur, Adam P. Lally, James W. Murdock, IV, Benjamin P. Segal
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Patent number: 9946764Abstract: According to an aspect, a processing system of a question answering computer system determines a first set of relations between one or more pairs of terms in a question. The processing system also determines a second set of relations between one or more pairs of terms in a candidate passage including a candidate answer to the question. The processing system matches the first set of relations to the second set of relations. A plurality of scores is determined by the processing system based on the matching. The processing system aggregates the scores to produce an answer score indicative of a level of support that the candidate answer correctly answers the question.Type: GrantFiled: March 6, 2015Date of Patent: April 17, 2018Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Michael A. Barborak, James J. Fan, Michael R. Glass, Aditya A. Kalyanpur, Adam P. Lally, James W. Murdock, IV, Benjamin P. Segal
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Patent number: 9940584Abstract: A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for exploring knowledge. The mechanism receives a set of known facts. The mechanism traverses paths in an ontology for a domain of knowledge from known facts in the set of known facts to one or more hypotheses. The ontology includes a plurality of entity types and a plurality of relationships between the entity types. The mechanism presents one or more hypotheses to a user.Type: GrantFiled: February 13, 2015Date of Patent: April 10, 2018Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Sugato Bagchi, Michael A. Barborak, Kenneth J. Barker, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, James J. Fan, John M. Prager
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Publication number: 20160239745Abstract: A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for exploring knowledge. The mechanism receives a set of known facts. The mechanism traverses paths in an ontology for a domain of knowledge from known facts in the set of known facts to one or more hypotheses. The ontology includes a plurality of entity types and a plurality of relationships between the entity types. The mechanism presents one or more hypotheses to a user.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 13, 2015Publication date: August 18, 2016Inventors: Sugato Bagchi, Michael A. Barborak, Kenneth J. Barker, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, James J. Fan, John M. Prager
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Publication number: 20160124962Abstract: According to an aspect, a processing system of a question answering computer system determines a first set of relations between one or more pairs of terms in a question. The processing system also determines a second set of relations between one or more pairs of terms in a candidate passage including a candidate answer to the question. The processing system matches the first set of relations to the second set of relations. A plurality of scores is determined by the processing system based on the matching. The processing system aggregates the scores to produce an answer score indicative of a level of support that the candidate answer correctly answers the question.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 5, 2014Publication date: May 5, 2016Inventors: Michael A. Barborak, James J. Fan, Michael R. Glass, Aditya A. Kalyanpur, Adam P. Lally, James W. Murdock, IV, Benjamin P. Segal
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Publication number: 20160125013Abstract: According to an aspect, a processing system of a question answering computer system determines a first set of relations between one or more pairs of terms in a question. The processing system also determines a second set of relations between one or more pairs of terms in a candidate passage including a candidate answer to the question. The processing system matches the first set of relations to the second set of relations. A plurality of scores is determined by the processing system based on the matching. The processing system aggregates the scores to produce an answer score indicative of a level of support that the candidate answer correctly answers the question.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 6, 2015Publication date: May 5, 2016Inventors: Michael A. Barborak, James J. Fan, Michael R. Glass, Aditya A. Kalyanpur, Adam P. Lally, James W. Murdock, IV, Benjamin P. Segal
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Patent number: 9165252Abstract: A computerized device for enhancing the accuracy of a question-answer system is disclosed. The computerized device comprises a question-answer system comprising software for performing a plurality of question answering processes. A receiver receives a question into the question-answer system. A processor that generates a plurality of candidate answers to the question is connected to the question-answer system. The processor determines a confidence score for each of the plurality of candidate answers. The processor evaluates sources of evidence used to generate the plurality of candidate answers. The processor identifies missing information from a corpus of data. The missing information comprises any information that improves a confidence score for a candidate answer. The processor generates at least one follow-on inquiry based on the missing information. A network interface outputs the at least one follow-on inquiry to external sources separate from the question-answer system.Type: GrantFiled: March 13, 2015Date of Patent: October 20, 2015Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Michael A. Barborak, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, David A. Ferrucci, James W. Murdock, IV, Wlodek W. Zadrozny
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Patent number: 9153142Abstract: Systems and methods display at least one subject, and display a location for at least one user to enter at least one problem related to the subject. The problem comprises unknown items to which the user would like more information. In response to the problem, such systems and methods automatically generate evidence topics related to the problem, and automatically generate questions related to the problem and the evidence topics. Further, such systems and methods can receive additional questions from the user. In response to the questions, such systems and methods automatically generate answers to the questions by referring to sources, automatically calculate confidence measures of each of the answers, and then display the questions, the answers, and the confidence measures. When the user identifies one of the answers as a selected answer, such systems and methods display details of the sources and the factors used to generate the selected answer.Type: GrantFiled: April 17, 2012Date of Patent: October 6, 2015Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Sugato Bagchi, Michael A. Barborak, Steven D. Daniels, David A. Ferrucci, Anthony T. Levas
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Patent number: 9146917Abstract: A method of validating that a user is human. A user question is generated using a computerized device. The user question is output to a user. A user response to the user question is received from the user. The user response is validated as having been provided by a human.Type: GrantFiled: July 12, 2012Date of Patent: September 29, 2015Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Michael A. Barborak, David A. Ferrucci, James W. Murdock, IV, Wlodek W. Zadrozny
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Publication number: 20150186784Abstract: A computerized device for enhancing the accuracy of a question-answer system is disclosed. The computerized device comprises a question-answer system comprising software for performing a plurality of question answering processes. A receiver receives a question into the question-answer system. A processor that generates a plurality of candidate answers to the question is connected to the question-answer system. The processor determines a confidence score for each of the plurality of candidate answers. The processor evaluates sources of evidence used to generate the plurality of candidate answers. The processor identifies missing information from a corpus of data. The missing information comprises any information that improves a confidence score for a candidate answer. The processor generates at least one follow-on inquiry based on the missing information. A network interface outputs the at least one follow-on inquiry to external sources separate from the question-answer system.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 13, 2015Publication date: July 2, 2015Inventors: Michael A. Barborak, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, David A. Ferrucci, James W. Murdock, IV, Wlodek W. Zadrozny
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Patent number: 9053425Abstract: A computerized device for enhancing the accuracy of a question-answer system. The computerized device comprises a question-answer system comprising software for performing a plurality of question answering processes. A receiver receives a question into the question-answer system. A processor that generates a plurality of candidate answers to the question is connected to the question-answer system. The processor determines a confidence score for each of the plurality of candidate answers. The processor evaluates sources of evidence used to generate the plurality of candidate answers. The processor identifies missing information from a corpus of data. The missing information comprises any information that improves a confidence score for a candidate answer. The processor generates at least one follow-on inquiry based on the missing information. A network interface outputs the at least one follow-on inquiry to external sources separate from the question-answer system.Type: GrantFiled: August 1, 2012Date of Patent: June 9, 2015Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Michael A. Barborak, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, David A. Ferrucci, James W. Murdock, IV, Wlodek W. Zadrozny
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Patent number: 9047567Abstract: A method of enhancing the accuracy of a question-answer system. Missing information from a corpus of data is identified. The missing information is any information that improves a confidence for a candidate answer to a question. A follow-on inquiry is generated. The follow-on inquiry prompts for the missing information to be provided. The follow-on inquiry is output to an external source. A response to the follow-on inquiry is received from the external source. The response is added to the corpus of data.Type: GrantFiled: July 12, 2012Date of Patent: June 2, 2015Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Michael A. Barborak, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, David A. Ferrucci, James W. Murdock, IV, Wlodek W. Zadrozny
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Publication number: 20130017524Abstract: A computerized device for enhancing the accuracy of a question-answer system. The computerized device comprises a question-answer system comprising software for performing a plurality of question answering processes. A receiver receives a question into the question-answer system. A processor that generates a plurality of candidate answers to the question is connected to the question-answer system. The processor determines a confidence score for each of the plurality of candidate answers. The processor evaluates sources of evidence used to generate the plurality of candidate answers. The processor identifies missing information from a corpus of data. The missing information comprises any information that improves a confidence score for a candidate answer. The processor generates at least one follow-on inquiry based on the missing information. A network interface outputs the at least one follow-on inquiry to external sources separate from the question-answer system.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 1, 2012Publication date: January 17, 2013Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Michael A. Barborak, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, David A. Ferrucci, James W. Murdock, IV, Wlodek W. Zadrozny
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Publication number: 20130019286Abstract: A method of validating that a user is human. A user question is generated using a computerized device. The user question is output to a user. A user response to the user question is received from the user. The user response is validated as having been provided by a human.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 1, 2012Publication date: January 17, 2013Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Michael A. Barborak, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, David A. Ferrucci, James W. Murdock, IV, Wlodek W. Zadrozny
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Publication number: 20130019285Abstract: A method of validating that a user is human. A user question is generated using a computerized device. The user question is output to a user. A user response to the user question is received from the user. The user response is validated as having been provided by a human.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 12, 2012Publication date: January 17, 2013Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Michael A. Barborak, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, David A. Ferrucci, James W. Murdock, IV, Wlodek W. Zadrozny
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Publication number: 20130017523Abstract: A method of enhancing the accuracy of a question-answer system. Missing information from a corpus of data is identified. The missing information is any information that improves a confidence for a candidate answer to a question. A follow-on inquiry is generated. The follow-on inquiry prompts for the missing information to be provided. The follow-on inquiry is output to an external source. A response to the follow-on inquiry is received from the external source. The response is added to the corpus of data.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 12, 2012Publication date: January 17, 2013Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Michael A. Barborak, Jennifer Chu-Carroll, David A. Ferrucci, James W. Murdock, IV, Wlodek W. Zadrozny
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Publication number: 20120301864Abstract: Systems and methods display at least one subject, and display a location for at least one user to enter at least one problem related to the subject. The problem comprises unknown items to which the user would like more information. In response to the problem, such systems and methods automatically generate evidence topics related to the problem, and automatically generate questions related to the problem and the evidence topics. Further, such systems and methods can receive additional questions from the user. In response to the questions, such systems and methods automatically generate answers to the questions by referring to sources, automatically calculate confidence measures of each of the answers, and then display the questions, the answers, and the confidence measures. When the user identifies one of the answers as a selected answer, such systems and methods display details of the sources and the factors used to generate the selected answer.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 17, 2012Publication date: November 29, 2012Applicant: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Sugato Bagchi, Michael A. Barborak, Steven D. Daniels, David A. Ferrucci, Anthony T. Levas