System for generation of automated response follow-up

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a user, a response to a question at a response follow-up system;

analyzing, by the response follow-up system, the response using natural language processing to identify one or more response terms;

generating, by the response follow-up system, one or more follow-up questions based on the one or more response terms, the generating comprising:

analyzing a corpus of documents to produce a concept frequency-inverse document frequency for concepts in the corpus of documents; and

identifying concepts in the one or more response terms having a lower concept frequency-inverses document frequency in the corpus of documents as a bases for generating the one or more follow-up questions;

pre-fetching, based on the response, one or more follow-up responses to the one or more follow-up questions from one or more content provider systems comprising one or more content servers, wherein a question answering system comprising the response follow-up system is communicatively coupled to the one or more content provider systems through a network; and

modifying an aspect of a user interface displayed to the user based on the one or more follow-up questions and the one or more follow-up responses.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining one or more variants of the one or more response terms;

generating the one or more follow-up questions based on the one or more variants of the one or more response terms;

determining a response confidence of the one or more follow-up questions; and

filtering the one or more follow-up questions to remove at least one follow-up question having a lowest response confidence.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

searching for concepts in the one or more response terms across the corpus of documents to determine a usage context of the one or more response terms; and

applying the usage context in generating the one or more follow-up questions.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is modified by displaying the one or more follow-up questions.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is modified by displaying the one or more follow-up responses in combination with the response.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is modified by displaying a link to the one or more follow-up responses with the response.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving one or more additional responses to the question at the response follow-up system;

determining one or more additional follow-up questions based on the one or more additional responses; and

outputting the one or more additional follow-up questions in combination with the one or more follow-up questions to the user interface.

8. A system, comprising:

a memory having computer readable instructions; and

a processor for executing the computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions including:

receiving, from a user, a response to a question at a response follow-up system; analyzing, by the response follow-up system, the response using natural language processing to identify one or more response terms;

generating, by the response follow-up system, one or more follow-up questions based on the one or more response terms, the generating comprising:

analyzing a corpus of documents to produce a concept frequency-inverse document frequency for concepts in the corpus of documents; and

identifying concepts in the one or more response terms having a lower concept frequency-inverse document frequency in the corpus of documents as a basis for generating the one or more follow-up questions;

pre-fetching, based on the reponse, one or more follow-up responses to the one more follow-up questions form one or more content provider systems comprising one or more content servers, wherein a question answering system comprising the response follow-up system is communicatively coupled to the one or more content provider systems through a network; and

modifying an aspect of a user interface displayed to the user based on the one or more follow-up questions and the one or more follow-up responses.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computer readable instructions further comprise:

determining one or more variants of the one or more response terms;

generating the one or more follow-up questions based on the one or more variants of the one or more response terms;

determining a response confidence of the one or more follow-up questions; and

filtering the one or more follow-up questions to remove at least one follow-up question having a lowest response confidence.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the computer readable instructions further comprise:

searching for concepts in the one or more response terms across the corpus of documents to determine a usage context of the one or more response terms; and

applying the usage context in generating the one or more follow-up questions.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the user interface is modified by displaying the one or more follow-up questions.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the user interface is modified by displaying the one or more follow-up responses in combination with the response.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the user interface is modified by displaying a link to the one or more follow-up responses with the response.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the computer readable instructions further comprise:

receiving one or more additional responses to the question at the response follow-up system;

determining one or more additional follow-up questions based on the one or more additional responses; and

outputting the one or more additional follow-up questions in combination with the one or more follow-up questions to the user interface.

15. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the computer processor to perform:

receiving, from a user, a response to a question at a response follow-up system;

analyzing, by the response follow-up system, the response using natural language processing to identify one or more response terms;

generating, by the response follow-up system, one or more follow-up questions based on the one or more response terms, the generating comprising:

analyzing a corpus of documents to produce a concept frequency-inverse document frequency for concepts in the corpus of documents; and

identifying concepts in the one or more response terms having a lower concept frequency-inverse document frequency in the corpus of documents as a basis for generating the one or more follow-up questions;

pre-fetching, based on the response, one or more follow-up responses to the one or more follow-up questions from one or more content provider systems comprising one or more content servers, wherein a question answering system comprising the response follow-up system is communicatively coupled to the one or more content provider systems through a network; and

modifying an aspect of a user interface displayed to the user based on the one or more follow-up questions and the one or more follow-up responses.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the program instructions executable by the processor further cause the computer processor to perform:

determining one or more variants of the one or more response terms; generating the one or more follow-up questions based on the one or more variants of the one or more response terms;

determining a response confidence of the one or more follow-up questions; and

filtering the one or more follow-up questions to remove at least one follow-up question having a lowest response confidence.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 , wherein the program instructions executable by the processor further cause the computer processor to perform:

searching for concepts in the one or more response terms across the corpus of documents to determine a usage context of the one or more response terms; and

applying the usage context in generating the one or more follow-up questions.