Patent ID: 9633138
Date: 2017-04-25
CPC Classifications: G06F,G06N

Claim:
1. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: receive an input question, wherein the input question is associated with a particular product, and wherein the product is a physical product having multiple different generations; determine, by analyzing the input question, a set of answer-types which includes a temporally-related answer-type; determine the set of answer-types has a major characteristic definition, wherein the major defining characteristic is a time span dependent feature of the product, and wherein the time span dependent feature of the product is different for each different generation; prompt for major characteristic information clarifying the input question; determine, using received major characteristic information, a set of candidate answers of the temporally-related answer-type; prompt for temporally-related data clarifying the input question; determine, using received temporally-related data, a set of confidence ratings for at least a portion of the set of candidate answers of the temporally-related answer-type; and provide, using the set of confidence ratings for at least the portion of the set of candidate answers of the temporally-related answer-type, at least one candidate answer of the set of candidate answers of the temporally-related answer-type, wherein prompting for temporally-related data clarifying the input question includes generating a natural language clarifying question configured to stimulate temporally-related data which clarifies the input question.