Patent Document ID: 9600601
Application ID: 13244350
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A system for generating a score for a candidate answer to a question, comprising: a computer device comprising at least one distinct software module, each distinct software module being embodied on a tangible computer-readable medium; a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and operative for: receiving an input query; conducting a search in a data source to identify a candidate answer to the input query; after the candidate answer is identified, identifying a logical proof of the candidate answer, including using the candidate answer as a conclusion of the logical proof, and identifying a sequence of premises of the logical proof that logically prove said conclusion, said sequence of premises comprising a plurality of premises; searching through the data source for documents establishing said sequence of premises of the logical proof, and identifying documents in the data source that establish said sequence of premises of the logical proof, each of said identified documents establishing one or more of said premises of the sequence of premises; selecting a set of the identified documents that establishes all of the premises of the sequence of premises of the logical proof, said set of the identified documents including at least a plurality of the identified documents, and wherein different ones of said plurality of the identified documents establish different ones of said premises of the sequence of premises, and wherein the different ones of the premises of the sequence of premises established by the different ones of the identified documents are combined to establish the conclusion of the logical proof; and using the selected set of the identified documents to generate a score for the candidate answer.