Methods and Systems for Improved Document Processing and Information Retrieval
Disclosed are methods, systems, devices, apparatus, media, and other implementations for improved search-time content retrieval performed by an information retrieval platform. The implementations include a method including determining by a searching system, at a first time instance, one or more first search results for a first query comprising one or more query terms associated with a first concept, modifying the query, based on the determined one or more first search results, to include one or more modified query terms associated with one or more concepts hierarchically related to the first concept, and determining at a subsequent time instance one or more subsequent search results for the modified query comprising the one or more modified query terms.
1 . A method comprising:
determining by a searching system, at a first time instance, one or more first search results for a first query comprising one or more query terms associated with a first concept;
modifying the query, based on the determined one or more first search results, to include one or more modified query terms associated with one or more concepts hierarchically related to the first concept, including determining, based on a machine learning hierarchical concept-identifying model configured to generate resulting labels defined in a hierarchical ontology, the one or more hierarchical concepts from the hierarchical ontology in response to the first query; and
determining at a subsequent time instance one or more subsequent search results for the modified query comprising the one or more modified query terms.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first concept and the hierarchically related one or more concepts are arranged in an ontology.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein modifying the query comprises:
including in the modified query revised query terms to cause the searching system to search content directed to a broader concept that is at a parental hierarchical level in relation to the first concept.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein modifying the query comprises:
modifying the query to include the revised query terms directed to the broader concept in response to a determination that fewer than a threshold number of respective one or more answer scores computed for the one or more first search results exceed a score threshold representative of a satisfactory answer.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein modifying the query comprises:
including in the modified query revised one or more terms to cause the searching system to search for content directed to one or more child concepts that are at a child hierarchical level in relation to the first concept.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
presenting to a user multiple search results for the first query;
wherein modifying the query comprises modifying the query to include drilled-down query terms determined for one of the multiple search results selected by the user.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the drilled-down query terms are directed to concepts at a lower hierarchical level than the first concept.
8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining after obtaining the one or more subsequent search results for the modified query whether to re-present the multiple search results for the first query or to further modify the modified query based on further drilled down concepts at a child hierarchical level of the lower hierarchical level.
9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein presenting to the user the multiple search results for the first query comprises:
identifying multiple question-answer pairs relevant to the first query that are additionally associated with concepts at a next lower hierarchical level than the first concept; and
presenting to the user at least some of the multiple question-answer pairs;
wherein modifying the query to include drilled-down query terms comprises modifying the query based on a question portion of a question-answer pair selected from the at least some of the multiple question-answer pairs.
10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
iteratively repeating the modifying and determining of search results based on answer scores computed for respective search results in search iterations.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the one or more hierarchical concepts comprises:
generating, according to a machine learning concept-identifying model located upstream to the machine learning hierarchical concept-identifying model, one or more labels representative of the first concept associated with the query; and
processing the one or more generated labels using the machine learning hierarchical concept-identifying model to determine the one or more hierarchical concepts.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein modifying the query comprises:
identifying one or more ambiguity categories associated with multiple matches from the one or more first search results, at least one of the one or more identified ambiguity categories being associated with at least some of the multiple matches and including different respective values associated with the at least some of the multiple matches;
obtaining disambiguation information relevant to the at least one of the one or more identified ambiguity categories; and
selecting at least one of the multiple matches based on the obtained disambiguation information relevant to the at least one of the one or more identified ambiguity categories.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein obtaining the disambiguation information comprises one or more of:
obtaining query contextual information for the first query; or
generating prompt data to prompt a user to provide clarification information;
and wherein selecting at least one of the multiple matches comprises selecting at least one of the multiple matches based, at least in part, on the query contextual information and/or on the clarification information provided by the user in response to the generated prompt data.
14 . A method comprising:
determining by a searching system, at a first time instance, one or more first search results for a first query comprising one or more query terms associated with a first concept;
modifying the query, based on the determined one or more first search results, to include one or more modified query terms associated with one or more concepts hierarchically related to the first concept;
wherein modifying the query comprises
identifying one or more ambiguity categories associated with multiple matches from the one or more first search results, at least one of the one or more identified ambiguity categories being associated with at least some of the multiple matches and including different respective values associated with the at least some of the multiple matches,
obtaining disambiguation information relevant to the at least one of the one or more identified ambiguity categories, and
selecting at least one of the multiple matches based on the obtained disambiguation information relevant to the at least one of the one or more identified ambiguity categories; and
determining at a subsequent time instance one or more subsequent search results for the modified query comprising the one or more modified query terms.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the first concept and the hierarchically related one or more concepts are arranged in an ontology.
16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein modifying the query comprises:
including in the modified query revised query terms to cause the searching system to search content directed to a broader concept that is at a parental hierarchical level in relation to the first concept.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein modifying the query comprises:
modifying the query to include the revised query terms directed to the broader concept in response to a determination that fewer than a threshold number of respective one or more answer scores computed for the one or more first search results exceed a score threshold representative of a satisfactory answer.
18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein modifying the query comprises:
including in the modified query revised one or more terms to cause the searching system to search for content directed to one or more child concepts that are at a child hierarchical level in relation to the first concept.
19 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
presenting to a user multiple search results for the first query;
wherein modifying the query comprises modifying the query to include drilled-down query terms determined for one of the multiple search results selected by the user.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the drilled-down query terms are directed to concepts at a lower hierarchical level than the first concept.
21 . The method of claim 20 , further comprising:
determining after obtaining the one or more subsequent search results for the modified query whether to re-present the multiple search results for the first query or to further modify the modified query based on further drilled down concepts at a child hierarchical level of the lower hierarchical level.
22 . The method of claim 19 , wherein presenting to the user the multiple search results for the first query comprises:
identifying multiple question-answer pairs relevant to the first query that are additionally associated with concepts at a next lower hierarchical level than the first concept; and
presenting to the user at least some of the multiple question-answer pairs;
wherein modifying the query to include drilled-down query terms comprises modifying the query based on a question portion of a question-answer pair selected from the at least some of the multiple question-answer pairs.
23 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
iteratively repeating the modifying and determining of search results based on answer scores computed for respective search results in search iterations.
24 . The method of claim 14 , wherein modifying the query comprises:
determining, based on a machine learning hierarchical concept-identifying model configured to generate resulting labels defined in a hierarchical ontology, the one or more hierarchical concepts from the hierarchical ontology in response to the first query.
25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein determining the one or more hierarchical concepts comprises:
generating, according to a machine learning concept-identifying model located upstream to the machine learning hierarchical concept-identifying model, one or more labels representative of the first concept associated with the query; and
processing the one or more generated labels using the machine learning hierarchical concept-identifying model to determine the one or more hierarchical concepts.
26 . The method of claim 14 , wherein modifying the query comprises:
identifying one or more ambiguity categories associated with multiple matches from the one or more first search results, at least one of the one or more identified ambiguity categories being associated with at least some of the multiple matches and including different respective values associated with the at least some of the multiple matches;
obtaining disambiguation information relevant to the at least one of the one or more identified ambiguity categories; and
selecting at least one of the multiple matches based on the obtained disambiguation information relevant to the at least one of the one or more identified ambiguity categories.
27 . The method of claim 26 , wherein obtaining the disambiguation information comprises one or more of:
obtaining query contextual information for the first query; or
generating prompt data to prompt a user to provide clarification information;
and wherein selecting at least one of the multiple matches comprises selecting at least one of the multiple matches based, at least in part, on the query contextual information and/or on the clarification information provided by the user in response to the generated prompt data.