Patent ID: 8655866

Claim:
A method performed by data processing apparatus, the method comprising: receiving a fact query; determining an expected type of answer to the fact query, wherein a type refers to a pattern or a collection of phrases that includes a correct answer to the fact query; identifying one or more search results responsive to the fact query; identifying, from respective resources corresponding to the one or more search results, a first collection of phrases that match a form of the expected type; determining, from the first collection of phrases, a second collection of phrases, the second collection of phrases each corresponding to a canonical form of the expected type; determining, for each canonical phrase in the second collection of phrases, a respective score based on a count of resources corresponding to the one or more search results that include the canonical phrase or a phrase corresponding to the canonical phrase; identifying a particular phrase in the second collection of phrases as an answer to the fact query based on a score of the particular phrase; and providing the answer to the fact query.