Abstract: Cross-lingual automatic query annotation technique is described, for example, to classify online search queries in Arabic as being of commercial intent, without the need to use human judged Arabic queries. In examples, a query classifier available for a source language (such as English) is used to produce a query classifier for a target language (such as Arabic, German, French). In various examples, a target language query log and target language documents may be used to enable target language and target culture dependent queries to be classified. In various examples a click graph with edges weighted by click frequency is used to infer class membership of unlabeled target language queries from target language documents. In examples the target language documents may be classified using a supervised or semi-supervised classifier. In various examples the automatically labeled target language queries are used to train a target language query classifier for information retrieval and/or advertising.

Abstract: Named entity recognition is described, for example, to detect an instance of a named entity in a web page and classify the named entity as being an organization or other predefined class. In various examples, named entity recognition results are used to augment text from which the named entity was recognized; the augmentation may comprise information retrieval results about the named entity mention. In various embodiments, labeled training sentences in many different languages and for many different classes, are obtained to train machine learning components of a multi-lingual, multi-class, named entity recognition system. In examples, labeled training sentences are obtained from at least two sources, a first source using a multi-lingual or monolingual corpus of inter-linked documents and a second source using machine translation training data. In examples, labeled training sentences from the two sources are selectively sampled for training the named entity recognition system.

Abstract: Retrieving and/or storing images associated with events is described. For example, streams of event data comprising text are analyzed to detect an event and a language component builds an event language model for the event, comprising a plurality of words. In various examples, images extracted from web or other sources have associated text. In examples, images with associated text that is similar to the event language model are identified as images of the event. In various examples, associations between images and events are used to update an image retrieval system and/or an image storage system. In various examples, query terms about an event are received at an image retrieval system which returns images related to the event on the basis of associations between image text and event language models.

Abstract: Named entity recognition is described, for example, to detect an instance of a named entity in a web page and classify the named entity as being an organization or other predefined class. In various examples, named entity recognition results are used to augment text from which the named entity was recognized; the augmentation may comprise information retrieval results about the named entity mention. In various embodiments, labeled training sentences in many different languages and for many different classes, are obtained to train machine learning components of a multi-lingual, multi-class, named entity recognition system. In examples, labeled training sentences are obtained from at least two sources, a first source using a multi-lingual or monolingual corpus of inter-linked documents and a second source using machine translation training data. In examples, labeled training sentences from the two sources are selectively sampled for training the named entity recognition system.

Abstract: Cross-lingual automatic query annotation technique is described, for example, to classify online search queries in Arabic as being of commercial intent, without the need to use human judged Arabic queries. In examples, a query classifier available for a source language (such as English) is used to produce a query classifier for a target language (such as Arabic, German, French). In various examples, a target language query log and target language documents may be used to enable target language and target culture dependent queries to be classified. In various examples a click graph with edges weighted by click frequency is used to infer class membership of unlabeled target language queries from target language documents. In examples the target language documents may be classified using a supervised or semi-supervised classifier. In various examples the automatically labeled target language queries are used to train a target language query classifier for information retrieval and/or advertising.