49529results about "Natural language data processing" patented technology

A system, method, apparatus and computer program product for providing location based functions and mobile e-commerce comprising a central processing unit including a processor, a storage device, and programming stored in the storage device, a display device, an audio input device, an audio output device, a communications module, a commerce module, an image module, and a location module. The programming controls the operation of the present invention to provide functions based on location data, to facilitate commercial exchanges by wirelessly exchanging payment and product information with venders, to identify services such as venders meeting selection criteria, to wirelessly exchange select information with other users and systems, to restrict and / or monitor the use of the device based on authorized user parameters, selecting one of a plurality networks through which to communicate, detecting a trigger for performing an action based on a change in location and sensed data, storing a voice annotation with a computer data file, determining service providers and associated communication parameters, contemporaneously maintaining a wireless voice and data link, providing a system for selecting and delivering mobile advertisements, and many other functions and services that are described herein.

A virtual assistant uses context information to supplement natural language or gestural input from a user. Context helps to clarify the user's intent and to reduce the number of candidate interpretations of the user's input, and reduces the need for the user to provide excessive clarification input. Context can include any available information that is usable by the assistant to supplement explicit user input to constrain an information-processing problem and / or to personalize results. Context can be used to constrain solutions during various phases of processing, including, for example, speech recognition, natural language processing, task flow processing, and dialog generation.

A document similarity detection and classification system is presented. The system employs a case-based method of classifying electronically distributed documents in which content chunks of an unclassified document are compared to the sets of content chunks comprising each of a set of previously classified sample documents in order to determine a highest level of resemblance between an unclassified document and any of a set of previously classified documents. The sample documents have been manually reviewed and annotated to distinguish document classifications and to distinguish significant content chunks from insignificant content chunks. These annotations are used in the similarity comparison process. If a significant resemblance level exceeding a predetermined threshold is detected, the classification of the most significantly resembling sample document is assigned to the unclassified document. Sample documents may be acquired to build and maintain a repository of sample documents by detecting unclassified documents that are similar to other unclassified documents and subjecting at least some similar documents to a manual review and classification process. In a preferred embodiment the invention may be used to classify email messages in support of a message filtering or classification objective.

In a collaborative computing environment, a method and system for displaying revisions associated with a hosted electronic document are disclosed. In accordance with the disclosed method and system, select revisions of an electronic document may be displayed to a user, recreating a visual history play-back of the evolution of the electronic document. The electronic document may be displayed in a web-browsing application, utilizing a Document Object Model (“DOM”) retrieving the select revisions via Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (“AJAX”) calls to a remote device / server.

In a collaborative computing environment, a method and system for displaying revisions associated with a hosted electronic document are disclosed. In accordance with the disclosed method and system, select revisions of an electronic document may be displayed to a user as media (e.g. Flash™ animation, QuickTime™, MPEG, Windows™ Media Video, RealMedia™, DivX™, DHTML, etc.) in which the revisions are animated, recreating a visual history play-back of the evolution of the document. The animation may include an image of each selected revision, morphing into another image of another revision. The animation may be displayed in various orders (e.g. chronologically, by user, etc.) The user may use an application on a client device (e.g. a web-browser, a web-browser with a media plug-in, a media players, etc.) to view the media file and control various properties of the animation playback (e.g. speed, direction, pausing, skipping forward or back, etc.).

A system, method, apparatus and computer program product for providing location based functions and mobile e-commerce comprising a central processing unit including a processor, a storage device, and programming stored in the storage device, a display device, an audio input device, an audio output device, a communications module, a commerce module, an image module, and a location module. The programming controls the operation of the present invention to provide functions based on location data, to facilitate commercial exchanges by wirelessly exchanging payment and product information with venders, to identify services such as venders meeting selection criteria, to wirelessly exchange select information with other users and systems, to restrict and / or monitor the use of the device based on authorized user parameters, to select one of a plurality networks through which to communicate, to detect a trigger for performing an action based on a change in location and sensed data, to store a voice annotation with a computer data file, to determine service providers and associated communication parameters, to contemporaneously maintain a wireless voice and data link, to provide a system for selecting mobile advertisements, and many other functions and services that are described herein.

The invention can enable monitoring of the display of content by a computer system. Moreover, the invention can enable monitoring of the displayed content to produce monitoring information from which conclusions may be deduced regarding the observation of the displayed content by an observer. The invention can also enable monitoring of the display at a content display site of content that is provided by a content provider site over a network to the content display site. Additionally, the invention can enable the expeditious provision of updated and / or tailored content over a network from a content provider site to a content display site so that the content provider's current and appropriately tailored content is always displayed at the content display site. Aspects of the invention related to transfer of content over a network are generally applicable to any type of network. However, it is contemplated that the invention can be particularly useful with a computer network, including private computer networks (e.g., America Online TM ) and public computer networks (e.g., the Internet). In particular, the invention can be advantageously used with computer networks or portions of computer networks over which video and / or audio content are transferred from one network site to another network site for observation, such as the World Wide Web portion of the Internet.

A process is described for assessing the suitability of particular keyword phrases for use in serving contextually relevant content for display on particular web pages. In one embodiment, the process involves determining frequencies of occurrence of particular keyword phrases within a peer group of pages associated with a target URL. Popularity levels of the phrases, as assessed using other sources of information, may also be considered. A process is also disclosed in which selected keyword phrases on a web page are transformed into links that can be selected by a user to view bundled content that is related to such keyword phrases.

An ontology-based parser incorporates both a system and method for converting natural-language text into predicate-argument format that can be easily used by a variety of applications, including search engines, summarization applications, categorization applications, and word processors. The ontology-based parser contains functional components for receiving documents in a plurality of formats, tokenizing them into instances of concepts from an ontology, and assembling the resulting concepts into predicates. The ontological parser has two major functional elements, a sentence lexer and a parser. The sentence lexer takes a sentence and converts it into a sequence of ontological entities that are tagged with part-of-speech information. The parser converts the sequence of ontological entities into predicate structures using a two-stage process that analyzes the grammatical structure of the sentence, and then applies rules to it that bind arguments into predicates.

A user interface for a system such as a virtual assistant is automatically adapted for hands-free use. A hands-free context is detected via automatic or manual means, and the system adapts various stages of a complex interactive system to modify the user experience to reflect the particular limitations of such a context. The system of the present invention thus allows for a single implementation of a complex system such as a virtual assistant to dynamically offer user interface elements and alter user interface behavior to allow hands-free use without compromising the user experience of the same system for hands-on use.

A system and a method are disclosed for adding linked content to text messages. Messages are analyzed to determine the context and meaning of a conversation between users, and linked content relevant to the conversation is selected and associated with certain words or phrases in the messages. This process for enhancing text messages beneficially provides users with additional information related to the meaning of their conversation, and also provides advertisers with a valuable new way of delivering highly relevant advertisements to a precise group of users.

A method for creating and editing a Web site in a client-server computer network using customizable templates is provided. To create a Web site, the present embodiment first stores a plurality of templates in a storage device coupled to the client-server computer network. When a client computer generates a request to create a new Web site, the server computer transmits a list of templates to the client for display. The templates contain a multitude of editable objects or elements. A template is then selected upon which the new Web site will be based on. The new site is then customized according to a user's preference by editing the objects or elements. The customized site is then published as a new Web site. To edit a Web site, a client computer generates a request to edit a Web site and passes the request on to the server computer. The server computer transmits the Web site to the client for display. The Web site contains a multitude of editable objects or elements. The elements of the Web site are then customized according to a user's preference. The Web site with the customized elements is then published as a Web site.

A method on an information processing unit performing steps for creating a user interface (UI) to assemble a document that conforms to a particular document type definition. The method hides the specific syntax of document type definitions such as DTDs and schemas from the user. The method begins with a selection from a user for a document type or an existing document. Once the document type is selected or determined from the existing document the document type definitions are retrieved. The document type definitions include one or more elements. The method parses the elements which are subsequently mapped to one or more interface controls such as icons, pull-down menus, buttons, selection boxes, progress indicators, on-off checkmarks, scroll bars, windows, window edges for resizing the window, toggle buttons, forms, and UI widgets. UI can be GUIs or interactive voice response systems. A UI editor is presented by assembling the one or more interface controls without presenting specific document type definition syntax to a user. The UI editor permits the user to create and edit the content objects that are associated with the interface controls. The content objects are aggregated in an XML compatible format and ready to be checked in for further processing. The method permits specific UI interfaces to be created for specific publishing environments and at the same time permit the creation of reusable content objects.

An apparatus and method are disclosed for providing feedback and guidance to touch screen device users to improve the text entry user experience and performance through the use of indicators such as feedback semaphores. Also disclosed are suggestion candidates, which allow a user to quickly select next words to add to text input data, or replacement words for words that have been designated as incorrect. According to one embodiment, a method comprises receiving text input data, providing an indicator for possible correction of the text input data, displaying suggestion candidates associated with alternative words for the data, receiving a single touch screen input selecting one of the suggestion candidates, and modifying the input data using the word associated with the selected suggestion candidate.

Embodiments of the invention address the deficiencies of the prior art by providing a method, apparatus, and program product to of converting components of a web page to voice prompts for a user. In some embodiments, the method comprises selectively determining at least one HTML component from a plurality of HTML components of a web page to transform into a voice prompt for a mobile system based upon a voice attribute file associated with the web page. The method further comprises transforming the at least one HTML component into parameterized data suitable for use by the mobile system based upon at least a portion of the voice attribute file associated with the at least one HTML component and transmitting the parameterized data to the mobile system.

In accordance with some embodiments, a computer-implemented text selection method is performed using an electronic device having a touch-sensitive display. The method can include displaying text on the touch screen display; detecting a text selection initiation gesture with the touch screen display; and in response to the text selection initiation gesture, inserting a text selection area bounded by a first endpoint located in the text at a first location and a second endpoint in the text at a second location. First and second endpoints can be moved by performing further gestures on the touch-sensitive display. Furthermore, word processing functions can be performed on the on the text located in the text selection area.

A conversational computing system that provides a universal coordinated multi-modal conversational user interface (CUI) (10) across a plurality of conversationally aware applications (11) (i.e., applications that “speak” conversational protocols) and conventional applications (12). The conversationally aware maps, applications (11) communicate with a conversational kernel (14) via conversational application APIs (13). The conversational kernel (14) controls the dialog across applications and devices (local and networked) on the basis of their registered conversational capabilities and requirements and provides a unified conversational user interface and conversational services and behaviors. The conversational computing system may be built on top of a conventional operating system and APIs (15) and conventional device hardware (16). The conversational kernel (14) handles all I / O processing and controls conversational engines (18). The conversational kernel (14) converts voice requests into queries and converts outputs and results into spoken messages using conversational engines (18) and conversational arguments (17). The conversational application API (13) conveys all the information for the conversational kernel (14) to transform queries into application calls and conversely convert output into speech, appropriately sorted before being provided to the user.

Computer systems and methods incorporate user annotations (metadata) regarding various pages or sites, including annotations by a querying user and by members of a trust network defined for the querying user into search and browsing of a corpus such as the World Wide Web. A trust network is defined for each user, and annotations by any member of the querying user's trust network are made visible to the querying user during search and / or browsing of the corpus if the querying user and trust network members use similar queries to identify documents in the corpus. Users can also limit searches to content annotated by members of their trust networks or by members of a community selected by the user.

The invention provides a system and method for recognizing different hand gestures made by touching a touch sensitive surface. The gestures can be made by one finger, two fingers, more than two fingers, one hand and two hands. Multiple users can simultaneously make different gestures. The gestures are used to control computer operations. The system measures an intensity of a signal at each of an mxn array of touch sensitive pads in the touch sensitive surface. From these signal intensities, a number of regions of contiguous pads touched simultaneously by a user is determined. An area of each region is also determined. A particular gesture is selected according to the number of regions and the area of each region.

Systems and methods for receiving natural language queries and / or commands and execute the queries and / or commands. The systems and methods overcomes the deficiencies of prior art speech query and response systems through the application of a complete speech-based information query, retrieval, presentation and command environment. This environment makes significant use of context, prior information, domain knowledge, and user specific profile data to achieve a natural environment for one or more users making queries or commands in multiple domains. Through this integrated approach, a complete speech-based natural language query and response environment can be created. The systems and methods creates, stores and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command.

A system and method are provided for receiving speech and / or non-speech communications of natural language questions and / or commands and executing the questions and / or commands. The invention provides a conversational human-machine interface that includes a conversational speech analyzer, a general cognitive model, an environmental model, and a personalized cognitive model to determine context, domain knowledge, and invoke prior information to interpret a spoken utterance or a received non-spoken message. The system and method creates, stores and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context of the speech or non-speech communication and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command.

A system and method are provided for receiving speech and / or non-speech communications of natural language questions and / or commands and executing the questions and / or commands. The invention provides a conversational human-machine interface that includes a conversational speech analyzer, a general cognitive model, an environmental model, and a personalized cognitive model to determine context, domain knowledge, and invoke prior information to interpret a spoken utterance or a received non-spoken message. The system and method creates, stores and uses extensive personal profile information for each user, thereby improving the reliability of determining the context of the speech or non-speech communication and presenting the expected results for a particular question or command.

A method includes outputting an alert corresponding to an information item. In some implementations, the alert is a sound. In some implementations, the alert is ambiguous (e.g., the sound indicates several possible information items). The method further includes receiving a speech input after outputting the alert. The method further includes determining whether the speech input includes a request for information about the alert. The method further includes, in response to determining that the speech input includes a request for information about the alert, providing a first speech output including information about the alert.

An Internet-based server with speech support for enhanced interactivity is disclosed. This server hosts a server-side speech recognition engine and additional linguistic and database functions that cooperate to provide enhanced interactivity for clients so that their browsing experience is more satisfying, efficient and productive. This human-like interactivity which allows the user to ask queries about topics that range from customer delivery, product descriptions, payment details, is facilitated by the allowing the user to articulate the his or her questions directly in his or her natural language. The answer typically provided in real-time, can also be interfaced and integrated with existing telephone, e-mail and other mixed media services to provide a single point of interactivity for the user when browsing at a web-site.

A system and method for selecting and presenting advertisements based on natural language processing of voice-based inputs is provided. A user utterance may be received at an input device, and a conversational, natural language processor may identify a request from the utterance. At least one advertisement may be selected and presented to the user based on the identified request. The advertisement may be presented as a natural language response, thereby creating a conversational feel to the presentation of advertisements. The request and the user's subsequent interaction with the advertisement may be tracked to build user statistical profiles, thus enhancing subsequent selection and presentation of advertisements.

Page layout of content items from a variety of sources is performed. A content processing system queues content items, such as user-generated blogs, tweets, social networking status updates and other postings, received from a variety of sources. Each content item comprises one or more assets from one or more asset types. The asset types include text, images, and video. A page builder retrieves items from the queue and determines the item's size constraints. A template is selected from a template database to use as a layout for the items on a page; each template has a number of slots into which content can be placed. A layout module lays out the items into the slots of the selected template based on the respective size and aspect ratio constraints of the items, in order to build a page to serve a client device.

The disclosure describes systems for creating and authenticating printed objects using authentication information. Techniques for incorporating authentication information into digital representations of objects and using the authentication information to authenticate the objects are also provided.

A text input method is described for an electronic apparatus having a user interface with text input means and a display screen. Word completion functionality is provided for predicting word candidates for partial word inputs made by the user with the text input means. The method involves receiving a partial word input from the user and deriving a set of word completion candidates using the word completion functionality. Each of the word completion candidates in the set has a prefix and a suffix, wherein the prefix corresponds to the partial word input. The method also involves presenting the suffices for at least a sub set of the word completion candidates in a predetermined area on the display screen, wherein each of the presented suffices is made selectable for the user.

A system and method to interactively converse with a cognitively overloaded user of a device, includes maintaining a knowledge base of information regarding the device and a domain, organizing the information in at least one of a relational manner and an ontological manner, receiving speech from the user, converting the speech into a word sequence, recognizing a partial proper name in the word sequence, identifying meaning structures from the word sequence using a model of the domain information, adjusting a boundary of the partial proper names to enhance an accuracy of the meaning structures, interpreting the meaning structures in a context of the conversation with the cognitively overloaded user using the knowledge base, selecting a content for a response to the cognitively overloaded user, generating the response based on the selected content, the context of the conversation, and grammatical rules, and synthesizing speech wave forms for the response.