INFORMATION EXTRACTION USING ALTERNATIVE VARIANTS OF SYNTACTICO-SEMANTIC PARSING

1 . A method, comprising:

performing, by a computer system, a syntactico-semantic analysis of at least part of a natural language text to produce a plurality of syntactico-semantic structures representing the part of the natural language text, wherein the plurality of syntactico-semantic structures comprises a first alternative syntactico-semantic structure and a second alternative syntactico-semantic structure;

merging the plurality of syntactico-semantic structures to produce a merged syntactico-semantic structure; and

identifying, within the part of the natural language text, one or more information objects by interpreting the merged syntactico-semantic structure to associate one or more tokens comprised by the part of the natural language text with a category of information objects.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein interpreting the merged syntactico-semantic structure produces a degree of association of a token with a corresponding category of information objects.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein merging the plurality of syntactico-semantic structures further comprises:

excluding duplicate sub-structures from the merged syntatico-semantic structure.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each syntatico-semantic structure of the plurality of syntactico-semantic structures is represented by a graph comprising a plurality of nodes corresponding to a plurality of semantic classes and a plurality of edges corresponding to a plurality of semantic relationships.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein interpreting the merged syntactico-semantic structure further comprises:

applying, to the merged syntactico-semantic structure, a set of production rules.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein interpreting the merged syntactico-semantic structure further comprises:

applying, to the merged syntactico-semantic structure, a production rule taking into account a value of a quality metric associated with at least part of the first alternative syntactico-semantic structure.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein interpreting the merged syntactico-semantic structure further comprises:

applying a classifier function to one or more values of the lexical, grammatical, syntactic or semantic attributes.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying one or more relationships between the identified information objects to extract one or more facts represented by the natural language text.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein identifying the relationships further comprises:

interpreting the syntactico-semantic structures using a set of production rules.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein identifying the relationships further comprises:

applying a classifier function to one or more values of the lexical, grammatical, syntactic and semantic attributes.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting, among two or more information objects extracted from a same portion of the natural language text, an information objects associated with an optimal value of a quality metric.

12 . A system, comprising:

a memory;

a processor, coupled to the memory, the processor configured to:

performing a syntactico-semantic analysis of at least part of a natural language text to produce a plurality of syntactico-semantic structures representing the part of the natural language text, wherein the plurality of syntactico-semantic structures comprises a first alternative syntactico-semantic structure and a second alternative syntactico-semantic structure;

merging the plurality of syntactico-semantic structures to produce a merged syntactico-semantic structure; and

identifying, within the part of the natural language text, one or more information objects by interpreting the merged syntactico-semantic structure to associate one or more tokens comprised by the part of the natural language text with a category of information objects.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein interpreting the merged syntactico-semantic structure produces a degree of association of a token with a corresponding category of information objects.

14 . The system of claim 12 , wherein merging the plurality of syntactico-semantic structures further comprises:

excluding duplicate sub-structures from the merged syntatico-semantic structure.

15 . The system of claim 12 , wherein each syntatico-semantic structure of the plurality of syntactico-semantic structures is represented by a graph comprising a plurality of nodes corresponding to a plurality of semantic classes and a plurality of edges corresponding to a plurality of semantic relationships.

16 . The system of claim 12 , wherein interpreting the merged syntactico-semantic structure further comprises:

applying, to the merged syntactico-semantic structure, a set of production rules.

17 . The system of claim 12 , wherein interpreting the merged syntactico-semantic structure further comprises:

applying, to the merged syntactico-semantic structure, a production rule taking into account a value of a quality metric associated with at least part of the first alternative syntactico-semantic structure.

18 . The system of claim 12 , wherein interpreting the merged syntactico-semantic structure further comprises:

applying a classifier function to one or more values of the lexical, grammatical, syntactic or semantic attributes.

19 . The system of claim 12 , further comprising:

identifying one or more relationships between the identified information objects to extract one or more facts represented by the natural language text.

20 . A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to:

performing a syntactico-semantic analysis of at least part of a natural language text to produce a plurality of syntactico-semantic structures representing the part of the natural language text, wherein the plurality of syntactico-semantic structures comprises a first alternative syntactico-semantic structure and a second alternative syntactico-semantic structure;

merging the plurality of syntactico-semantic structures to produce a merged syntactico-semantic structure; and

identifying, within the part of the natural language text, one or more information objects by interpreting the merged syntactico-semantic structure to associate one or more tokens comprised by the part of the natural language text with a category of information objects.