U.S. patent application number 16/864973 was filed with the patent office on 2020-10-08 for searching restricted content on a network.
This patent application is currently assigned to Bampton Technologies. The applicant listed for this patent is Bampton Technology. Invention is credited to Richard Vandervoort COX, Hossein ESLAMBOLCHI, Behzad NADJI, Mazin G. RAHIM.
Application Number | 20200320144 16/864973 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000004905795 |
Filed Date | 2020-10-08 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20200320144 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
COX; Richard Vandervoort ;
et al. |
October 8, 2020 |
SEARCHING RESTRICTED CONTENT ON A NETWORK
Abstract
A method and system that comprises a first device and at least
one server is disclosed. The first device is configured to receive
a voice signal including a natural language query and to transmit
first information derived from the voice signal. The at least one
server is configured to determine search criteria from the first
information, to search at least one web service based on the search
criteria, and to transmit second information based on a result of
the searching. The first device is configured to receive the second
information and to output a voice response to the natural language
query and provide, using a display of the first device, a list of
selectable options, based on the second information. The first
device or the at least one server is configured to provide, using
machine learning, additional information based on natural language
queries outside of the natural language query.
Inventors: |
COX; Richard Vandervoort;
(Baltimore, MD) ; ESLAMBOLCHI; Hossein; (Los Altos
Hills, CA) ; NADJI; Behzad; (Los Gatos, CA) ;
RAHIM; Mazin G.; (Warren, NJ) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Bampton Technology |
Wilmington |
DE |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Bampton Technologies
Wilmington
DE
|
Family ID: |
1000004905795 |
Appl. No.: |
16/864973 |
Filed: |
May 1, 2020 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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15198885 |
Jun 30, 2016 |
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16864973 |
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14161820 |
Jan 23, 2014 |
9384280 |
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15198885 |
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13854582 |
Apr 1, 2013 |
8671088 |
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14161820 |
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13074419 |
Mar 29, 2011 |
8412693 |
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13854582 |
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11013836 |
Dec 16, 2004 |
7921091 |
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13074419 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06N 20/00 20190101;
G06F 16/951 20190101; G06F 16/3344 20190101; G10L 21/06 20130101;
G06F 16/3331 20190101; G10L 15/22 20130101; G06F 16/3334
20190101 |
International
Class: |
G06F 16/951 20060101
G06F016/951; G06N 20/00 20060101 G06N020/00; G06F 16/33 20060101
G06F016/33; G10L 15/22 20060101 G10L015/22; G10L 21/06 20060101
G10L021/06 |
Claims
1. A method comprising: receiving, by a first device, a voice
signal including a natural language query from a user;
transmitting, by the first device, first information derived from
the voice signal to at least one server; determining, by the at
least one server, search criteria from the first information;
searching, by the at least one server, at least one web service
based on the search criteria; transmitting, by the at least one
server to the first device, second information based on a result of
the searching; receiving, by the first device, the second
information; outputting, by the first device, a voice response to
the natural language query; and providing, using a display of the
first device, a list of selectable options, based on the second
information, wherein the selectable options include links to other
websites; and providing, using machine learning by the first device
or the at least one server, additional information based on natural
language queries outside of the natural language query.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising: receiving, by the
first device, a second voice signal including a second natural
language query, wherein the second natural language query is based
off of the list of selectable options; transmitting, by the first
device, third information derived from the second voice signal to
the at least one server; transmitting, by the at least one server,
fourth information in response to the second natural language query
and the second information; receiving, by the first device, the
fourth information; and outputting, by the first device, a voice
response and a displayed response to the second natural language
query.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the list of selectable options
includes graphics and text.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one server provides a
virtual agent service and provides a messaging mode based on voice
signals inputted into the first device.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one server searches a
plurality of web sites in response to a single natural language
query.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one server
pre-processes a response to a natural language query.
7. A system comprising: a first device; and at least one server,
wherein: the first device is configured to receive a voice signal
including a natural language query from a user; the first device is
further configured to transmit, to the at least one server, first
information derived from the voice signal; the at least one server
is configured to determine search criteria from the first
information; the at least one server is further configured to
search at least one web service based on the search criteria; the
at least one server is further configured to transmit, to the first
device, second information based on a result of the searching; the
first device is further configured to receive the second
information; the first device is further configured to output a
voice response to the natural language query and provide, using a
display of the first device, a list of selectable options, based on
the second information, wherein the selectable options include
links to other websites; and the first device or the at least one
server is further configured to provide, using machine learning,
additional information based on natural language queries outside of
the natural language query.
8. The system of claim 7 wherein: the first device is further
configured to receive a second voice signal including a second
natural language query, wherein the second natural language query
is based off of the list of selectable options; the first device is
further configured to transmit, to the at least one server, third
information derived from the second voice signal; the at least one
server is further configured to transmit, to the first device,
fourth information in response to the second natural language query
and the second information; the first device is further configured
to receive the fourth information; and the first device is further
configured to output a voice response and a displayed response to
the second natural language query.
9. The system of claim 7 wherein the list of selectable options
includes graphics and text.
10. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one server is
further configured to provide a virtual agent service and provide a
messaging mode based on voice signals inputted into the first
device.
11. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one server is
further configured to search a plurality of web sites in response
to a single natural language query.
12. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one server is
further configured to pre-process a response to a natural language
query.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 15/198,885 filed on Jun. 30, 2016, which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/161,820, filed
Jan. 23, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,384,280, which is a continuation
of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/854,582, filed Apr. 1, 2013,
now U.S. Pat. No. 8,671,088, issued Mar. 11, 2014, which is a
continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/074,419, filed
Mar. 29, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,412,693, issued Apr. 2, 2013,
which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
11/013,836, filed Dec. 16, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,921,091,
issued Apr. 5, 2011, all of which are incorporated by reference as
if fully set forth.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a system and method of
providing a natural language interface to a database such as the
Internet.
2. Introduction
[0003] Recently, a large number of web based search engines, such
as Yahoo.RTM. and Google.RTM., have become widely available making
it easier to find information over the Internet. The operation of
these search engines is shown in FIG. 1 wherein a user with a
computing device 102, such as a desktop computer or wireless
handheld computing device, has client software such as a web
browser that receives text in an input field. The web browser is
directed to the website of the search engine (such as Google) which
is transmitted from a search engine server 104 to the computing
device 102. The search engine receives the query text and uses a
particular search algorithm to search billions of webpages within
the World-Wide-Web (WWW) 106.
[0004] These search engines came to organize the billions of pages
of information on the WWW 106 in such a way as to make them
accessible and useful for those who submit queries into the search
engine input field. The key technical innovation in the search
engines lies in the ability to index all words and phrases in the
WWW 106 and use an efficient information retrieval algorithm along
with many computers to be able to instantly find information per
the user's request.
[0005] Finding information about a subject is as simple as typing
keywords into an input field. This is illustrated in FIG. 2. For
example, if the user desired to learn information about hurricanes,
the user can simply type in the phrase "hurricane" into the search
engine input field (202). The query is submitted to a search engine
(204) which returns an ordered list of webpages according to the
particular search engine algorithm (206). Although searching and
mining the web has never been any easier, there still remains a
manual process for users need to examine the top five or ten pages
from the search to identify the answer to their query. Therefore,
if one is looking to find out what the wind speed is of Hurricane
Ivan, then typing this question into the Google input field for
example could provide an article that states "Hurricane Ivan is
gaining speed and power". While this is clearly relevant to the
question, and contains the correct key words, it does not answer
the query correctly. Although it is natural for humans to think in
terms of asking questions, and not merely keywords, and key
phrases, humans have certainly become accustomed to operating
differently when dealing with standard search engines.
[0006] Users typically type keywords such as Hurricane-speed and
then manually search through the relevant documents for the answer
to the original question. Finding the answer typically requires the
user to search manually through each page and look for the
appropriate answer. When an answer cannot be found, users would
normally provide alternative words in the hope of getting a
different ranking of Website.
[0007] Another search engine example will further illustrate the
problem of the types of responses delivered from the search query.
This example relates to a user who desires to find a specific type
of information on a technical computer question or error message.
On the WWW 106, many websites have developed to provide information
technology (IT) solutions to specific error messages. These
websites house a growing database of content generated by users
submitting questions and a technical community providing answers.
In this manner, threads of information develop on specific IT
problems. The websites then may present a large number of these
threads, where each thread includes a particular question or
technical issue and the various responses and attempted solutions
to the problem. Therefore, when others receive the same error
message, they can find the solution to the problem.
[0008] For example, a user may have the Microsoft.RTM. Word
application crash with the error message "Winword.exe requested the
runtime termination in an unusual way". The user may submit
keywords from this error message into the Google search engine and
get a response with a number of webpages that contain multiple
threads dealing with various Microsoft Word problems. The user is
then left to search multiple threads of information to find the
particular thread that relates to the particular error message. In
some cases, there may be hundreds of threads with no mechanism to
find the specific answer. Furthermore, access to the threads may be
obtained only via a password and subscription to the website. The
user can get to the certain website wherein the answer to the query
is found but then be faced with multiple interactive threads in
which one of the threads holds the answer to the question. But the
user cannot identify which is the appropriate thread within the
website that contains the answer to the question.
[0009] This illustrates a basic problem with search engines in that
they do not provide specific answers to user's questions and are
based on non-natural language keyword searching. In this regard the
standard search engines in some cases are not useful because they
only identify Websites containing many links to other webpages and
may not provide controlled access to a deeper layer of information
which may hold a specific answer to the user's question.
[0010] Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a system and
method of enabling a user to query a data base such as the WWW and
obtain a precise answer to a question.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] Additional features and advantages of the invention will be
set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be
obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the
invention. The features and advantages of the invention may be
realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations
particularly pointed out in the appended claims These and other
features of the present invention will become more fully apparent
from the following description and appended claims, or may be
learned by the practice of the invention as set forth herein.
[0012] A system, method and tangible computer-readable media for
providing a natural language interface to a database or the
Internet are disclosed. The method provides a response from a
database to a natural language query. The method comprises
receiving a user query, extracting key data from the user query,
submitting the extracted key data to a data base search engine to
retrieve a top n pages from the data base, processing of the top n
pages through a natural language dialog engine and providing a
response based on processing the top n pages.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited
and other advantages and features of the invention can be obtained,
a more particular description of the invention briefly described
above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof
which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Understanding that
these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and
are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope, the
invention will be described and explained with additional
specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings
in which:
[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates the basic architecture for searching the
Internet;
[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates the prior art method of entering a query
to a search engine and receiving an ordered response of web
pages;
[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates the basic architecture according to an
embodiment of the present invention; and
[0017] FIG. 4 illustrates a method embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0018] Various embodiments of the invention are discussed in detail
below. While specific implementations are discussed, it should be
understood that this is done for illustration purposes only. A
person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other
components and configurations may be used without parting from the
spirit and scope of the invention.
[0019] The present invention relates to systems, methods and
computer-readable media for providing a natural language dialog to
a database such as the WWW 106, a corporate database, a private
database or any other database. As can be appreciated, the primary
benefit of the invention will be to search the WWW 106 but there is
no restriction unless specifically claimed to that as the searched
database. FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary architecture for the
invention. The computing devices and servers shown may include such
known hardware components as a central processor, a bus connecting
various hardware components, memory, storage means such as a hard
disk, random access memory, means for communicating and networking
with other computers, and so forth. These components, improvements
and variations thereof based on different devices are known to
those of skill in the art.
[0020] As shown in FIG. 3, a computing device 302 enables a user to
interact with the computing device 302 as well as other databases
such as the WWW 106. The computing device 302 may be, for example,
a desktop or laptop computer or a handheld wireless device. There
is no restriction on the particular configuration of the computing
device 302 hardware or the particular means with which it
communicates with other computing devices for searching the WWW 106
or any other database. The computing device 302 runs software that
provides a user interface for interacting with the device. In one
example, the client software is a web browser 314 such as Internet
Explorer.RTM. or Mozilla.RTM. wherein a user can direct the web
browser 314 to a search engine website such as Google. The search
engine server 312 serves the webpage to the user on the computing
device 302 and when the user inputs a text search, the search
engine server 312 uses an algorithm to search billions of webpages
from the database and presents an ordered list to the user's web
browser 314.
[0021] The invention provides for a natural language dialog
approach to searching a database. In one aspect of the invention,
the computing device 302 includes a microphone 306 for receiving
voice input from the user. An automatic speech recognition (ASR)
engine or module 308 converts the speech into text 310. While the
ASR engine 308 is shown as part of the computing device 302, there
is no restriction on where any particular hardware or software
component resides. For example, the microphone 306 may be separate
from the computing device 302 and the ASR module may run on the
dialog server 304 instead of the computing device 302. Those of
skill in the art will understand the variations that are possible
and contemplated while maintaining the core principles of the
invention. It is preferably that a large vocabulary speech
recognizer be used as the front-end to the user's request.
[0022] The text is transmitted to a dialog server 304 that extracts
key data from the user query. Various modules may be programmed to
perform the steps set forth herein for practicing the invention.
Those of skill in the art will understand the programming language
and means for creating these various modules. Reference is also
made to FIG. 4 as the steps of the method embodiment of the
invention are discussed. A benefit from this invention is that the
user can provide a natural language speech query that he or she
would not otherwise input into a search engine such as Google. The
user may say, for example, "what was the top speed of Hurricane
Ivan?". The system receives the user query (402). The extracted key
data (404) is preferably key phrases and keywords from the natural
language query. This key data may be extracted from various
algorithms known to those of skill in the art, such as a variation
of Information Retrieval-based methods with TFIDF (Term-frequency
Inverse document frequency measure). Examples of the key data in
this query could be "top speed" and "Hurricane Ivan".
[0023] Once the key data is extracted from the user query, the data
(words and/or phrases) are used as input to at least one search
engine such as Google (406). In one aspect of the invention, the
data is submitted to a plurality of search engines simultaneously
or in a particular order or a random order. The results from the
search engine search (or search from multiple search engines)
identify a top n pages.
[0024] The top n pages may be organized or pre-processed by the
dialog server 304 to prepare the n pages for processing through a
natural language dialog engine (408). One example of such
preprocessing would be to automatically manage entry of a user's
login name and password to entry fields associated with a website
(such as the IT help website discussed above) which enable the
system to process the pages viewable by registration only or where
any kind of security, restrictions or access steps need to be taken
for viewing. This may be an entry based on a previous manual
registration by the user or may be an automatic negotiation between
the dialog server 304 and the particular website unknown to the end
user or as part of a subscription plan in which the user may be
automatically charged a certain fee to obtain the one-time access
to the data in the website. Websites with restricted or
registration-only access may need to be modified to enable
negotiation based on a pre-registration or dynamically at the time
of the search and response. In other words, some of the top n pages
may require some password or other steps necessary to view and gain
access to that data for processing and preparing the response.
[0025] A dialog engine as used in the invention may be based on,
for example, question and answer technology and is able to process
the pages and provide a natural language response to the question
asked. Those of skill in the art are aware of such engines in that
they are available from such companies as IBM and AT&T Corp.
The natural language response may be based, for example, on
particular text found within the top n pages. Taking the IT support
example above where the user is presented with hundreds of threads
of conversations, a benefit of processing the webpages and links
from those webpages as well is that a natural language result can
be presented to the user without the need for the user to cull
through so many threads to find their answer.
[0026] From the dialog engine processing, a natural language
response is generated (410). At this point, there are a number of
technologies for presenting that response to the user. For example,
the response may be generated as text in which case a
text-to-speech module running on any computing device within the
architecture can "speak" the answer to the user. Or, the user may
be presented with the text of the answer in a browser with further
organized options to click on the underlying pages where the
information was retrieved or to view other websites and so
forth
[0027] In the hurricane example, the user may be presented with the
answer either as text or audibly: "The top speed of Hurricane Ivan
was 155 miles per hour, more information may be found at this
link."
[0028] The invention may operate in both a text-based mode and a
speech-based mode. It is further contemplated that a multi-media
presentation may be used to enhance the interaction. For example, a
virtual agent may be the interactive means by which the user speaks
to provide the query and from which the response received. In this
regard, an aspect of the invention is that it can operate in a
dialog mode or an instant messaging mode where the user can chat
with a virtual agent to get information or to provide subsequent
relates questions on the same topic. The invention improves the
user's ability to receive a specific response to a natural language
query that is not possible from the known search engine approach
that presents a plurality of webpages that may or may not contain
the answer to the user's query.
[0029] In another aspect of the invention, a machine learning
algorithm continues to find related documents from the database
related to the input query and can expand the search accordingly.
For example, after the system response is provided, the machine
learning process can continue to find related information and can
then present the user with an option to review the related
information separate from the first provided response. The option
to search through these additional documents may be presented to
the user via a graphical user interface such as the browser or
through a virtual agent.
[0030] Embodiments within the scope of the present invention may
also include non-transitory computer-readable media for carrying or
having computer-executable instructions or data structures stored
thereon. Such computer-readable media can be any available media
that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose
computer. Computer-readable media comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM
or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other
magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transitory medium which
can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the
form of computer-executable instructions or data structures. When
information is transferred or provided over a network or another
non-transitory communications connection to a computer, the
computer properly views the connection as a computer-readable
medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed a
computer-readable medium. Combinations of the above should also be
included within the scope of the computer-readable media.
[0031] Computer-executable instructions include, for example,
instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer,
special purpose computer, or special purpose processing device to
perform a certain function or group of functions.
Computer-executable instructions also include program modules that
are executed by computers in stand-alone or network environments.
Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,
components, and data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks
or implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executable
instructions, associated data structures, and program modules
represent examples of the program code means for executing steps of
the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequence of such
executable instructions or associated data structures represents
examples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions
described in such steps.
[0032] Those of skill in the art will appreciate that other
embodiments of the invention may be practiced in network computing
environments with many types of computer system configurations,
including personal computers, hand-held devices, multi-processor
systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,
network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like.
Embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing
environments where tasks are performed by local and remote
processing devices that are linked (either by hardwired links,
wireless links, or by a combination thereof) through a
communications network. In a distributed computing environment,
program modules may be located in both local and remote memory
storage devices.
[0033] Although the above description may contain specific details,
they should not be construed as limiting the claims in any way.
Other configurations of the described embodiments of the invention
are part of the scope of this invention. Accordingly, the appended
claims and their legal equivalents should only define the
invention, rather than any specific examples given.
* * * * *