Patent ID: 9721205
Date: 2017-08-01
CPC Classifications: G06F,G06N

Claim:
1. A method, in a data processing system comprising a processor and a memory, for clarifying an input question, the method comprising: generating, in the data processing system, a set of candidate answers for an input question, wherein each candidate answer in the set of candidate answers corresponds to an evidence passage supporting the candidate answer as answering the input question; determining, in the data processing system, based on the set of candidate answers, whether clarification of the input question is required; and in response to a determination that clarification of the input question is required: determining whether the set of candidate answers comprises more than one candidate answer with a corresponding confidence score equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold confidence score; and determining that clarification of the input question is required in response to determining that the set of candidate answers comprises more than one candidate answer with a corresponding confidence score equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold confidence score.