In the past, there are techniques for providing function of question and answer (Q&A) for electronic document. For instance, Web site www.ask.com provided by Ask Jeeves® Company is a typical example. They compose questions and extract answers for existing electronic documents and provide Q&A service to users.
However, during implementing the traditional Q&A function, document writing tools are independent of Q&A service providing tools. When a writer is writing a document, he/she does not care how readers will leverage the content written by him/her; on the other hand, readers find it quite challenging to get the information he wants. Currently computer's capability of natural language understanding is still at word level understanding, while for the Q&A applications, there is a need of sentence and document level understanding together with semantic capabilities. Therefore, with the present speed in technology development, it is believed that in a near future it is impossible to meet the user requirements on Q&A function.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds