Patents by Inventor William Brennan Dolan

William Brennan Dolan 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: 20230385320
    Abstract: Systems and methods are directed to generating content that is contextually relevant in a writing style of a user. In example embodiments, a plurality of logical inputs regarding a topic is received in bullet point format. A content generator generates draft content using machine learning (ML) models. The generating comprises identifying a writing style of the user by applying the plurality of logical inputs to a first ML model, determining a context and direction for the draft content using a second ML model, and based on the plurality of logical inputs, the identified writing style, and the context and direction, generating at least one paragraph of draft content in the writing style of the user that follows an outline associated with the bullet point format and comprises a same context and direction as the plurality of logical inputs. The draft content is then presented at a client device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2022
    Publication date: November 30, 2023
    Inventors: Weixin CAI, Si-Qing Chen, Michel Galley, William Brennan Dolan, Christopher J. Brockett, Zhang Li, Warren A. Aldred, Xinyu He, Jesse Alexander Freitas, Kaushik Ramaiah Narayanan
  • Publication number: 20230325603
    Abstract: A controllable grounded response generation framework includes a machine learning model, a grounding interface, and a control interface. The machine learning model is trained to output computer-generated text based on input text. The grounding interface is useable by the machine learning model to access a grounding source including information related to the input text. The control interface is useable by the machine learning model to recognize a control signal. The machine learning model is configured to include information from the grounding source in the computer-generated text and focus the computer-generated text based on the control signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2023
    Publication date: October 12, 2023
    Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Michel GALLEY, Christopher Brian QUIRK, William Brennan DOLAN, Zeqiu WU
  • Patent number: 11741306
    Abstract: A controllable grounded response generation framework includes a machine learning model, a grounding interface, and a control interface. The machine learning model is trained to output computer-generated text based on input text. The grounding interface is useable by the machine learning model to access a grounding source including information related to the input text. The control interface is useable by the machine learning model to recognize a control signal. The machine learning model is configured to include information from the grounding source in the computer-generated text and focus the computer-generated text based on the control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Michel Galley, Christopher Brian Quirk, William Brennan Dolan, Zeqiu Wu
  • Patent number: 11429779
    Abstract: A method and system for providing replacement text segments for a given text segment may include receiving a request to provide the replacement text segment for the text segment in the document, examining a content characteristic of the document, and examining at least one of user-specific information, organization-specific information, or non-linguistic features of the document, before identifying at least one replacement text segment for the text segment, via a machine translation system, based on the content characteristic of the document and at least one of the user-specific information, the organization-specific information, or the non-linguistic features of the document. The method and system may include providing the identified replacement text segment for display to a user, receiving an input indicating a user's selection of the identified replacement text segment, and upon receiving the input, replacing the text segment in the document with the identified replacement text segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Zhang Li, Domenic Joseph Cipollone, Maria Isabel Carpenter, Juhi Amitkumar Naik, Susan Michele Hendrich, Michael Wilson Daniels, William Brennan Dolan, Christopher Brian Quirk, Christopher John Brockett, Alice Yingming Lai
  • Patent number: 11126794
    Abstract: A method for providing targeted rewrites can include receiving a selection of text in a file; generating a set of target rewrites of the selection of text, the set of target rewrites comprising: at least one phrase or sentence having semantic similarity to a phrase or sentence of the selection of text; and a style that corresponds to a particular target style, wherein a target style is a representative style for a genre, profession, or environment; and providing for selection one or more of the target rewrites of the set of target rewrites.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Zhang Li, Christopher John Brockett, William Brennan Dolan, Christopher Brian Quirk, Alice Yingming Lai, Susan Michele Hendrich, Olivier Gauthier, Kaushik Ramaiah Narayanan, Maria Isabel Carpenter, Juhi Amitkumar Naik, Michael Wilson Daniels
  • Publication number: 20210192140
    Abstract: A controllable grounded response generation framework includes a machine learning model, a grounding interface, and a control interface. The machine learning model is trained to output computer-generated text based on input text. The grounding interface is useable by the machine learning model to access a grounding source including information related to the input text. The control interface is useable by the machine learning model to recognize a control signal. The machine learning model is configured to include information from the grounding source in the computer-generated text and focus the computer-generated text based on the control signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 12, 2020
    Publication date: June 24, 2021
    Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Michel GALLEY, Christopher Brian QUIRK, William Brennan DOLAN, Zeqiu WU
  • Publication number: 20210004432
    Abstract: A method and system for providing replacement text segments for a given text segment may include receiving a request to provide the replacement text segment for the text segment in the document, examining a content characteristic of the document, and examining at least one of user-specific information, organization-specific information, or non-linguistic features of the document, before identifying at least one replacement text segment for the text segment, via a machine translation system, based on the content characteristic of the document and at least one of the user-specific information, the organization-specific information, or the non-linguistic features of the document. The method and system may include providing the identified replacement text segment for display to a user, receiving an input indicating a user's selection of the identified replacement text segment, and upon receiving the input, replacing the text segment in the document with the identified replacement text segment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2019
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Applicant: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Zhang LI, Domenic Joseph CIPOLLONE, Maria Isabel CARPENTER, Juhi Amitkumar NAIK, Susan Michele HENDRICH, Michael Wilson DANIELS, William Brennan DOLAN, Christopher Brian QUIRK, Christopher John BROCKETT, Alice Yingming LAI
  • Publication number: 20200327189
    Abstract: A method for providing targeted rewrites can include receiving a selection of text in a file; generating a set of target rewrites of the selection of text, the set of target rewrites comprising: at least one phrase or sentence having semantic similarity to a phrase or sentence of the selection of text; and a style that corresponds to a particular target style, wherein a target style is a representative style for a genre, profession, or environment; and providing for selection one or more of the target rewrites of the set of target rewrites.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2019
    Publication date: October 15, 2020
    Inventors: Zhang LI, Christopher John BROCKETT, William Brennan DOLAN, Christopher Brian QUIRK, Alice Yingming LAI, Susan Michele HENDRICH, Olivier GAUTHIER, Kaushik Ramaiah NARAYANAN, Maria Isabel CARPENTER, Juhi Amitkumar NAIK, Michael Wilson DANIELS
  • Patent number: 10536402
    Abstract: Examples are generally directed towards context-sensitive generation of conversational responses. Context-message-response n-tuples are extracted from at least one source of conversational data to generate a set of training context-message-response n-tuples. A response generation engine is trained on the set of training context-message-response n-tuples. The trained response generation engine automatically generates a context-sensitive response based on a user generated input message and conversational context data. A digital assistant utilizes the trained response generation engine to generate context-sensitive, natural language responses that are pertinent to user queries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Michel Galley, Alessandro Sordoni, Christopher John Brockett, Jianfeng Gao, William Brennan Dolan, Yangfeng Ji, Michael Auli, Margaret Ann Mitchell, Jian-Yun Nie
  • Publication number: 20190354594
    Abstract: Conversations can be generated automatically based on any given persona. The conversations can be produced by a language generation model that automatically generates persona-based language in response to a message, wherein a persona identifies a type of person with role specific characteristics. After a language generation model is acquired, for example by identifying a predefined model or generating a new model, the language generation model can be provisioned for use by a conversational agent, such as a chatbot, to enhance the functionality of the conversational agent.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 20, 2018
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Inventors: Jonathan Burgess Foster, Tulasi Menon, William Brennan Dolan, Radhakrishnan Srikanth, Sai Tulasi Neppali, Michel Galley, Christopher John Brockett, Parag Agrawal, Rohan Kulkarni, Ronald Kevin Owens, Deborah Briana Harrison
  • Publication number: 20180367475
    Abstract: Examples are generally directed towards context-sensitive generation of conversational responses. Context-message-response n-tuples are extracted from at least one source of conversational data to generate a set of training context-message-response n-tuples. A response generation engine is trained on the set of training context-message-response n-tuples. The trained response generation engine automatically generates a context-sensitive response based on a user generated input message and conversational context data. A digital assistant utilizes the trained response generation engine to generate context-sensitive, natural language responses that are pertinent to user queries.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Publication date: December 20, 2018
    Inventors: Michel GALLEY, Alessandro SORDONI, Christopher John BROCKETT, Jianfeng GAO, William Brennan DOLAN, Yangfeng JI, Michael AULI, Margaret Ann MITCHELL, Jian-Yun NIE
  • Patent number: 10091140
    Abstract: Examples are generally directed towards context-sensitive generation of conversational responses. Context-message-response n-tuples are extracted from at least one source of conversational data to generate a set of training context-message-response n-tuples. A response generation engine is trained on the set of training context-message-response n-tuples. The trained response generation engine automatically generates a context-sensitive response based on a user generated input message and conversational context data. A digital assistant utilizes the trained response generation engine to generate context-sensitive, natural language responses that are pertinent to user queries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Michel Galley, Alessandro Sordoni, Christopher John Brockett, Jianfeng Gao, William Brennan Dolan, Yangfeng Ji, Michael Auli, Margaret Ann Mitchell, Jian-Yun Nie
  • Patent number: 9967211
    Abstract: Examples are generally directed towards automatic assessment of machine generated conversational responses. Context-message-response n-tuples are extracted from at least one source of conversational data to generate a set of multi-reference responses. A response in the set of multi-reference responses includes it context-message data pair and rating. The rating indicates a quality of the response relative to the context-message data pair. A response assessment engine generates a metric score for a machine-generated response based on an assessment metric and the set of multi-reference responses. The metric score indicates a quality of the machine-generated conversational response relative to a user-generated message and a context of the user-generated message. A response generation system of a computing device, such as a digital assistant, is optimized and adjusted based on the metric score to improve the accuracy, quality, and relevance of responses output to the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Michel Galley, Alessandro Sordoni, Christopher John Brockett, Jianfeng Gao, William Brennan Dolan, Yangfeng Ji, Michael Auli, Margaret Ann Mitchell, Christopher Brian Quirk
  • Patent number: 9754585
    Abstract: Different advantageous embodiments provide a crowdsourcing method for modeling user intent in conversational interfaces. One or more stimuli are presented to a plurality of describers. One or more sets of describer data are captured from the plurality of describers using a data collection mechanism. The one or more sets of describer data are processed to generate one or more models. Each of the one or more models is associated with a specific stimulus from the one or more stimuli.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Christopher John Brockett, Piali Choudhury, William Brennan Dolan, Yun-Cheng Ju, Patrick Pantel, Noelle Mallory Sophy, Svitlana Volkova
  • Publication number: 20160352657
    Abstract: Examples are generally directed towards automatic assessment of machine generated conversational responses. Context-message-response n-tuples are extracted from at least one source of conversational data to generate a set of multi-reference responses. A response in the set of multi-reference responses includes it context-message data pair and rating. The rating indicates a quality of the response relative to the context-message data pair. A response assessment engine generates a metric score for a machine-generated response based on an assessment metric and the set of multi-reference responses. The metric score indicates a quality of the machine-generated conversational response relative to a user-generated message and a context of the user-generated message. A response generation system of a computing device, such as a digital assistant, is optimized and adjusted based on the metric score to improve the accuracy, quality, and relevance of responses output to the user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2015
    Publication date: December 1, 2016
    Inventors: Michel GALLEY, Alessandro SORDONI, Christopher John BROCKETT, Jianfeng GAO, III, William Brennan DOLAN, Yangfeng JI, Michael AULI, Margaret Ann MITCHELL, Christopher Brian QUIRK
  • Publication number: 20160352656
    Abstract: Examples are generally directed towards context-sensitive generation of conversational responses. Context-message-response n-tuples are extracted from at least one source of conversational data to generate a set of training context-message-response n-tuples. A response generation engine is trained on the set of training context-message-response n-tuples. The trained response generation engine automatically generates a context-sensitive response based on a user generated input message and conversational context data. A digital assistant utilizes the trained response generation engine to generate context-sensitive, natural language responses that are pertinent to user queries.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2015
    Publication date: December 1, 2016
    Inventors: Michel GALLEY, Alessandro SORDONI, Christopher John BROCKETT, Jianfeng GAO, III, William Brennan DOLAN, Yangfeng JI, Michael AULI, Margaret Ann MITCHELL, Jian-Yun NIE
  • Patent number: 8972240
    Abstract: An “Interactive Word Lattice” provides a user interface for interacting with and selecting user-modifiable paths through a lattice-based representation of alternative suggested text segments in response to a user's text segment input, such as phrases, sentences, paragraphs, entire documents, etc. More specifically, the user input is provided to a trained paraphrase generation model that returns a plurality of alternative text segments having the same or similar meaning as the original user input. An interactive graphical lattice-based representation of the alternative text segments is then presented to the user. One or more words of each alternative text segment represents a “node” of the lattice, while each connection between nodes represents a lattice “edge. Both nodes and edges are user modifiable. Each possible path through the lattice corresponds to a different alternative text segment. Users select a path through the lattice to select an alternative text to the original input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher John Brockett, William Brennan Dolan
  • Publication number: 20130262114
    Abstract: Different advantageous embodiments provide a crowdsourcing method for modeling user intent in conversational interfaces. One or more stimuli are presented to a plurality of describers. One or more sets of describer data are captured from the plurality of describers using a data collection mechanism. The one or more sets of describer data are processed to generate one or more models. Each of the one or more models is associated with a specific stimulus from the one or more stimuli.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 3, 2012
    Publication date: October 3, 2013
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christopher John Brockett, Piali Choudhury, William Brennan Dolan, Yun-Cheng Ju, Patrick Pantel, Noelle Mallory Sophy, Svitlana Volkova
  • Publication number: 20120296635
    Abstract: An “Interactive Word Lattice” provides a user interface for interacting with and selecting user-modifiable paths through a lattice-based representation of alternative suggested text segments in response to a user's text segment input, such as phrases, sentences, paragraphs, entire documents, etc. More specifically, the user input is provided to a trained paraphrase generation model that returns a plurality of alternative text segments having the same or similar meaning as the original user input. An interactive graphical lattice-based representation of the alternative text segments is then presented to the user. One or more words of each alternative text segment represents a “node” of the lattice, while each connection between nodes represents a lattice “edge. Both nodes and edges are user modifiable. Each possible path through the lattice corresponds to a different alternative text segment. Users select a path through the lattice to select an alternative text to the original input.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2011
    Publication date: November 22, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher John Brockett, William Brennan Dolan