Clarification of Submitted Questions in a Question and Answer System

摘要

Mechanisms for clarifying an input question are provided. A question is received for generation of an answer. A set of candidate answers is generated based on an analysis of a corpus of information. Each candidate answer has an evidence passage supporting the candidate answer. Based on the set of candidate answers, a determination is made as to whether clarification of the question is required. In response to a determination that clarification of the question is required, a request is sent for user input to clarify the question. User input is received from the computing device in response to the request and at least one candidate answer in the set of candidate answers is selected as an answer for the question based on the user input.

主权项

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:
identifying, by the data processing system, a differentiating factor in evidence passage of at least two candidate answers in the set of candidate answers;outputting, by the data processing system, a request for user input to clarify the input question, wherein the request for user input is generated based on the identified differentiating factor;andselecting, by the data processing system, at least one candidate answer in the set of candidate answers as an answer for the input question based on a user input in response to the request.