Patents by Inventor Sean L. Bethard

Sean L. Bethard 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).

  • Publication number: 20210149936
    Abstract: Embodiments can provide a computer implemented method, in a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory comprising instructions which are executed by the processor to cause the processor to implement an improved search query generation system, the method comprising inputting a natural language question; parsing the natural language question into a parse tree; identifying argument positions comprising one or more argument position terms, wherein each argument position term is a single word; for each argument position: comparing a head term's discriminator score against a threshold discriminator score; and if the head term surpasses the threshold discriminator score, adding the head term as a required term to an improved search query; and outputting the improved search query.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2020
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Inventors: Charles E. Beller, Sean L. Bethard, William G. Dubyak, Alexander C. Tonetti, Sean T. Thatcher, Julie T. Yu
  • Patent number: 10956463
    Abstract: Embodiments can provide a computer implemented method, in a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory comprising instructions which are executed by the processor to cause the processor to implement an improved search query generation system, the method comprising inputting a natural language question; parsing the natural language question into a parse tree; identifying argument positions comprising one or more argument position terms; for each argument position: comparing a head term's discriminator score against a threshold discriminator score; and if the head term surpasses the threshold discriminator score, adding the head term as a required term to an improved search query; and outputting the improved search query.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles E. Beller, Sean L. Bethard, William G. Dubyak, Alexander C. Tonetti, Sean T. Thatcher, Julie T. Yu
  • Patent number: 10394950
    Abstract: A grammatically diverse test set of natural language sentences for a deep question answering system is provided by analyzing a given sentence to characterize its syntactical classification, and adding the sentence to the test set if its classification is sufficiently different from other sentences already in the test set. A particular sentence may be selected for inclusion according to a desired syntactic distribution. Multiple sentences having the exact same classification may be allowed subject to a maximum number of such sentences. The test set is adapted to an element of interest by characterizing each syntactical classification relative to the element of interest. The analysis derives a parse tree, identifies a particular node of the tree corresponding to the element of interest, and extracts syntactic information by traversing the tree starting at the particular node and ending at the root node of the tree according to different traversal schemes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Sean L. Bethard, Edward G. Katz, Christopher Phipps
  • Publication number: 20190155828
    Abstract: Embodiments can provide a computer implemented method, in a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory comprising instructions which are executed by the processor to cause the processor to implement an improved search query generation system, the method comprising inputting a natural language question; parsing the natural language question into a parse tree; identifying argument positions comprising one or more argument position terms; for each argument position: comparing a head term's discriminator score against a threshold discriminator score; and if the head term surpasses the threshold discriminator score, adding the head term as a required term to an improved search query; and outputting the improved search query.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Publication date: May 23, 2019
    Inventors: Charles E. Beller, Sean L. Bethard, William G. Dubyak, Alexander C. Tonetti, Sean T. Thatcher, Julie T. Yu
  • Patent number: 10275514
    Abstract: Embodiments can provide a computer implemented method, in a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory comprising instructions which are executed by the processor to cause the processor to implement an improved search query generation system, the method comprising inputting a natural language question; parsing the natural language question into a parse tree; identifying argument positions comprising one or more argument position terms; for each argument position: comparing a head term's discriminator score against a threshold discriminator score; and if the head term surpasses the threshold discriminator score, adding the head term as a required term to an improved search query; and outputting the improved search query.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles E. Beller, Sean L. Bethard, William G. Dubyak, Alexander C. Tonetti, Sean T. Thatcher, Julie T. Yu
  • Patent number: 10133724
    Abstract: A grammatically diverse test set of natural language sentences for a deep question answering system is provided by analyzing a given sentence to characterize its syntactical classification, and adding the sentence to the test set if its classification is sufficiently different from other sentences already in the test set. A particular sentence may be selected for inclusion according to a desired syntactic distribution. Multiple sentences having the exact same classification may be allowed subject to a maximum number of such sentences. The test set is adapted to an element of interest by characterizing each syntactical classification relative to the element of interest. The analysis derives a parse tree, identifies a particular node of the tree corresponding to the element of interest, and extracts syntactic information by traversing the tree starting at the particular node and ending at the root node of the tree according to different traversal schemes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Sean L. Bethard, Edward G. Katz, Christopher Phipps
  • Publication number: 20180276301
    Abstract: Embodiments can provide a computer implemented method in a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory comprising instructions which are executed by the processor to cause the processor to implement a type-specific answer filtration system, the method comprising parsing, by the processor, one or more input questions; for each input question: attempting, by a number-subtype finder module, to identify one or more number-subtype head-nouns; attempting, by a number-subtype finder module, to identify one or more number-subtype verbs; attempting, by a number-subtype finder module, to identify one or more number-subtype adjectives; based on the presence of at least one number-subtype head-noun, number-subtype verb, or number-subtype adjective, determining, by a question classifier module, the number-subtype of the input questions; labelling the input question with the determined number-subtype; iterating through one or more answer candidates associated with the input question; for each answer candidat
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2017
    Publication date: September 27, 2018
    Inventors: Charles E. Beller, Sean L. Bethard, Edward G. Katz
  • Publication number: 20180144047
    Abstract: Embodiments can provide a computer implemented method, in a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory comprising instructions which are executed by the processor to cause the processor to implement an improved search query generation system, the method comprising inputting a natural language question; parsing the natural language question into a parse tree; identifying argument positions comprising one or more argument position terms; for each argument position: comparing a head term's discriminator score against a threshold discriminator score; and if the head term surpasses the threshold discriminator score, adding the head term as a required term to an improved search query; and outputting the improved search query.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2016
    Publication date: May 24, 2018
    Inventors: Charles E. Beller, Sean L. Bethard, William G. Dubyak, Alexander C. Tonetti, Sean T. Thatcher, Julie T. Yu
  • Publication number: 20180052817
    Abstract: A grammatically diverse test set of natural language sentences for a deep question answering system is provided by analyzing a given sentence to characterize its syntactical classification, and adding the sentence to the test set if its classification is sufficiently different from other sentences already in the test set. A particular sentence may be selected for inclusion according to a desired syntactic distribution. Multiple sentences having the exact same classification may be allowed subject to a maximum number of such sentences. The test set is adapted to an element of interest by characterizing each syntactical classification relative to the element of interest. The analysis derives a parse tree, identifies a particular node of the tree corresponding to the element of interest, and extracts syntactic information by traversing the tree starting at the particular node and ending at the root node of the tree according to different traversal schemes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2016
    Publication date: February 22, 2018
    Inventors: Sean L. Bethard, Edward G. Katz, Christopher Phipps
  • Publication number: 20180052818
    Abstract: A grammatically diverse test set of natural language sentences for a deep question answering system is provided by analyzing a given sentence to characterize its syntactical classification, and adding the sentence to the test set if its classification is sufficiently different from other sentences already in the test set. A particular sentence may be selected for inclusion according to a desired syntactic distribution. Multiple sentences having the exact same classification may be allowed subject to a maximum number of such sentences. The test set is adapted to an element of interest by characterizing each syntactical classification relative to the element of interest. The analysis derives a parse tree, identifies a particular node of the tree corresponding to the element of interest, and extracts syntactic information by traversing the tree starting at the particular node and ending at the root node of the tree according to different traversal schemes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2016
    Publication date: February 22, 2018
    Inventors: Sean L. Bethard, Edward G. Katz, Christopher Phipps