Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Specification
Content of Specification
(b) CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS: See 37 CFR 1.78 and MPEP § 211 et seq.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: The parent application, 18/518279, has now issued as an US Patent. Please update the information.
Appropriate correction is required.
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 08/21/2024 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of:
US Patent 11,587,347
has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over:
claims 1-10,12-20 of U.S.Patent No. 11,869,264; and,
claims 1,3-11,13,15,16,17 of U.S. Patent No. 12,111,562.
Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the extra and alternate steps in the ‘264, and ‘562 patent are not necessary to realize the functional of the claims in the instant invention. Examiner notes that the claim feature in the instant claims toward updating the set/information is equivalent to the modification data steps in the patents.
Furthermore,
There are two mappings below.
The first table maps, claim numbers of the issued US Patents that contain the features
found in the claims of the current patent application.
The second table contains the claims for all applications involved; use the first table as a
reference lookup to the second table. See mapping below.
18/806632
12,111,562
11,869,264
*** APPROVED TERMINAL DISCLAIMER OVERCOMES **
11,587,347
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
1
1
3
4
5
6
7
***
8
8
9
10
11
***
13
13
15
16
17
***
1,2,3
5
5,4
6
7
8
1
1,7
9,10
12
12
13
13
9,14
15,16
17
18
19
20
15,20
1,2,3
6
6,4
7
7,8
9
7
1,7
10,11,12
14
14
15
15
10,14
16,17,18
19
19
20
20
15,20
18/806632
12,112,562
11,869,264
*** APPROVED TERMINAL DISCLAIMER OVERCOMES ***
11,587,347
1. A computer program product for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, wherein the computer program product comprises a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program instructions executed by a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: generating a graphical user interface (GUI) providing a representation of table items in a table in a document including a set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity; rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select element an from the table to be the main element, conditional element, and value element; updating the set of the main element, conditional element, and value element with the user selected element to be one of the main element, conditional element, and value element to form a modified set; and providing the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table.
2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select a lexical connector between any pair of conditional elements and between a conditional element and a value element; and updating the set to include in the updated set the user selected lexical connector.
3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to add a conditional element and a lexical connector for the added conditional element; and updating the set to include in the updated set the added conditional element and the lexical connector for the added conditional element.
4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determining, from the display screen coordinate mapping, document coordinates mapping to the user selected area in the display screen; determining a table item in the document that maps to the determined document coordinates; rendering, in the GUI, a highlighting of the determined table item in the display screen; and indicating the determined table item as one of a main element, conditional element or value element in the updated set.
5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determining, from the display screen coordinate mapping, document coordinates mapping to display screen coordinates of the user selected area in the display screen; determining a table item in the document that maps to the document coordinates; and receiving user selection to designate the determined table item as one of a main element, conditional element or value element in the updated set.
6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the operations further comprise: updating the set to include in the updated set the determined table item as the main element, conditional element or value element the user selected.
7. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the operations further comprise: in response to the determined table item contributing to a value, locating and rendering the value recognized by the NLP engine.
8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; and in response to receiving a resizing of the GUI changing dimensions of the table displayed in the GUI, remapping the display screen coordinates to the document coordinates based on the resizing.
9. A system for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program instructions executed by a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: generating a graphical user interface (GUI) providing a representation of table items in a table in a document including a set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity; rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select element an from the table to be the main element, conditional element, and value element; updating the set of the main element, conditional element, and value element with the user selected element to be one of the main element, conditional element, and value element to form a modified set; and providing the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select a lexical connector between any pair of conditional elements and between a conditional element and a value element; and updating the set to include in the updated set the user selected lexical connector.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to add a conditional element and a lexical connector for the added conditional element; and updating the set to include in the updated set the added conditional element and the lexical connector for the added conditional element.
12. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determining, from the display screen coordinate mapping, document coordinates mapping to the user selected area in the display screen; determining a table item in the document that maps to the determined document coordinates; rendering, in the GUI, a highlighting of the determined table item in the display screen; and indicating the determined table item as one of a main element, conditional element or value element in the updated set.
13. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determining, from the display screen coordinate mapping, document coordinates mapping to display screen coordinates of the user selected area in the display screen; determining a table item in the document that maps to the document coordinates; and receiving user selection to designate the determined table item as one of a main element, conditional element or value element in the updated set.
14. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; and in response to receiving a resizing of the GUI changing dimensions of the table displayed in the GUI, remapping the display screen coordinates to the document coordinates based on the resizing.
15. A computer implemented method for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, comprising: generating a graphical user interface (GUI) providing a representation of table items in a table in a document including a set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity; rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select element an from the table to be the main element, conditional element, and value element; updating the set of the main element, conditional element, and value element with the user selected element to be one of the main element, conditional element, and value element to form a modified set; and providing the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select a lexical connector between any pair of conditional elements and between a conditional element and a value element; and updating the set to include in the updated set the user selected lexical connector.
17. The method of claim 15, further comprising: rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to add a conditional element and a lexical connector for the added conditional element; and updating the set to include in the updated set the added conditional element and the lexical connector for the added conditional element.
18. The method of claim 15, further comprising: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determining, from the display screen coordinate mapping, document coordinates mapping to the user selected area in the display screen; determining a table item in the document that maps to the determined document coordinates; rendering, in the GUI, a highlighting of the determined table item in the display screen; and indicating the determined table item as one of a main element, conditional element or value element in the updated set.
19. The method of claim 15, further comprising: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determining, from the display screen coordinate mapping, document coordinates mapping to display screen coordinates of the user selected area in the display screen; determining a table item in the document that maps to the document coordinates; and receiving user selection to designate the determined table item as one of a main element, conditional element or value element in the updated set.
20. The method of claim 15, further comprising: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; and in response to receiving a resizing of the GUI changing dimensions of the table displayed in the GUI, remapping the display screen coordinates to the document coordinates based on the resizing.
1. A computer program product for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, wherein the computer program product comprises a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program instructions executed by a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: generating a graphical user interface (GUI) providing a representation of table items in a table in a document including a set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity; rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select an element from the table to be the main element, the conditional element, and the value element; updating the set of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element with the user selected element to be one of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element to form a modified set; providing the modified set of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table; rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select a lexical connector between the main element and one of conditional elements; and updating the set to include in the updated set the user selected lexical connector.
2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the graphical controls enable the user to select the lexical connector between any pair of conditional elements and between a conditional element and a value element.
3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to add a conditional element and a lexical connector for the added conditional element; and updating the set to include in the updated set the added conditional element and the lexical connector for the added conditional element.
4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determine, from the display screen coordinate mappings, document coordinates mapping to the user selected area in the display screen; determining a table item in the document that maps to the determined document coordinates; rendering, in the GUI, a highlighting of the determined table item in the display screen; and indicating the determined table item as one of a main element, a conditional element or a value element in the updated set.
5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determine, from the display screen coordinate mappings, document coordinates mapping to the display screen coordinates; determining a table item in the document that maps to the document coordinates; and receiving user selection to designate the determined table item as one of a main element, a conditional element or a value element in the updated set.
6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the operations further comprise: updating the set to include in the updated set the determined table item as the main element, conditional element or value element the user selected.
7. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the operations further comprise: in response to the determined table item contributing to a value, locating and rendering the value recognized by the NLP engine.
8. A system for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program instructions executed by a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: generating a graphical user interface (GUI) providing a representation of table items in a table in a document including a set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity; rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select an element from the table to be the main element, the conditional element, and the value element; updating the set of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element with the user selected element to be one of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element to form a modified set; providing the modified set of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table; rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select a lexical connector between the main element and one of conditional elements; and updating the set to include in the updated set the user selected lexical connector.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the graphical controls enable the user to select the lexical connector between any pair of conditional elements and between a conditional element and a value element.
10. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to add a conditional element and a lexical connector for the added conditional element; and updating the set to include in the updated set the added conditional element and the lexical connector for the added conditional element.
11. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determine, from the display screen coordinate mappings, document coordinates mapping to the user selected area in the display screen; determining a table item in the document that maps to the determined document coordinates; rendering, in the GUI, a highlighting of the determined table item in the display screen; and indicating the determined table item as one of a main element, a conditional element or a value element in the updated set.
12. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determine, from the display screen coordinate mappings, document coordinates mapping to the display screen coordinates; determining a table item in the document that maps to the document coordinates; and receiving user selection to designate the determined table item as one of a main element, a conditional element or a value element in the updated set.
13. A computer implemented method for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, comprising: generating a graphical user interface (GUI) providing a representation of table items in a table in a document including a set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity; rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select an element from the table to be the main element, the conditional element, and the value element; updating the set of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element with the user selected element to be one of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element to form a modified set; providing the modified set of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table; rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select a lexical connector between the main element and one of conditional elements; and updating the set to include in the updated set the user selected lexical connector.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the graphical controls enable the user to select the lexical connector between any pair of conditional elements and between a conditional element and a value element.
15. The method of claim 13, further comprising: rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to add a conditional element and a lexical connector for the added conditional element; and updating the set to include in the updated set the added conditional element and the lexical connector for the added conditional element.
16. The method of claim 13, further comprising: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determine, from the display screen coordinate mappings, document coordinates mapping to the user selected area in the display screen; determining a table item in the document that maps to the determined document coordinates; rendering, in the GUI, a highlighting of the determined table item in the display screen; and indicating the determined table item as one of a main element, a conditional element or a value element in the updated set.
17. The method of claim 13, further comprising: providing display screen coordinate mappings mapping display screen coordinates of a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table; in response to receiving user selection of an area in the display screen, determine, from the display screen coordinate mappings, document coordinates mapping to the display screen coordinates; determining a table item in the document that maps to the document coordinates; and receiving user selection to designate the determined table item as one of a main element, a conditional element or a value element in the updated set.
1. A computer program product for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, wherein the computer program product comprises a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program instructions executed by a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: processing table items in a table in a document to determine an initial set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity from the processed table items; producing a modified set of the main element, conditional element, and value element from the initial set; and providing the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table.
2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the table items comprise column headers, row headers, and data cells of the table.
3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: generating a graphical user interface to render, on a display screen of a computer monitor, user graphical controls to enable user selection of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element from the table items to produce the modified set.
4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: generating first flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element in the initial set; and generating second flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element in the modified set in response to receiving user selection of at least one of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element.
5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving lexical connectors to use between the main element and the conditional element and between the conditional element and the value element in the modified set; and generating flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element connected with the lexical connectors in the modified set.
6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: mapping display screen coordinates in a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table items; determining the document coordinates of table item boundaries of the table items in the table comprising the main element, conditional element, and the value element in one of the initial set and the modified set; determining the display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries; and highlighting in the display screen the determined display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries to highlight the main element, the conditional element, and the value element.
7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: mapping display screen coordinates in a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including table items; in response to receiving user selection of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element from the table items, determining document coordinates mapping to user selected display screen coordinates; determining a table item of the table items including the determined document coordinates; determining display screen coordinates mapping to document coordinates of a table item boundary of the determined table item; and highlighting the table item boundary on the display screen including the user selected display screen coordinates.
8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving user selection of a table item highlighted on a display screen as one of the main element, conditional element, and value element to include in the modified set.
9. A system for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program instructions executed by a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: processing table items in a table in a document to determine an initial set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity from the processed table items; producing a modified set of the main element, conditional element, and value element from the initial set; and providing the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: generating a graphical user interface to render, on a display screen of a computer monitor, user graphical controls to enable user selection of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element from the table items to produce the modified set.
11. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: generating first flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element in the initial set; and generating second flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element in the modified set in response to receiving user selection of at least one of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element.
12. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving lexical connectors to use between the main element and the conditional element and between the conditional element and the value element in the modified set; and generating flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element connected with the lexical connectors in the modified set.
13. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: mapping display screen coordinates in a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table items; determining the document coordinates of table item boundaries of the table items in the table comprising the main element, conditional element, and the value element in one of the initial set and the modified set; determining the display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries; and highlighting in the display screen the determined display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries to highlight the main element, the conditional element, and the value element.
14. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: mapping display screen coordinates in a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including table items; in response to receiving user selection of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element from the table items, determining document coordinates mapping to user selected display screen coordinates; determining a table item of the table items including the determined document coordinates; determining display screen coordinates mapping to document coordinates of a table item boundary of the determined table item; and highlighting the table item boundary on the display screen including the user selected display screen coordinates.
15. A computer implemented method for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, comprising: processing table items in a table in a document to determine an initial set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity from the processed table items; producing a modified set of the main element, conditional element, and value element from the initial set; and providing the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table.
16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: generating a graphical user interface to render, on a display screen of a computer monitor, user graphical controls to enable user selection of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element from the table items to produce the modified set.
17. The method of claim 15, further comprising: generating first flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element in the initial set; and generating second flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element in the modified set in response to receiving user selection of at least one of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element.
18. The method of claim 15, further comprising: receiving lexical connectors to use between the main element and the conditional element and between the conditional element and the value element in the modified set; and generating flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element connected with the lexical connectors in the modified set.
19. The method of claim 15, further comprising: mapping display screen coordinates in a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including the table items; determining the document coordinates of table item boundaries of the table items in the table comprising the main element, conditional element, and the value element in one of the initial set and the modified set; determining the display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries; and highlighting in the display screen the determined display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries to highlight the main element, the conditional element, and the value element.
20. The method of claim 15, further comprising: mapping display screen coordinates in a display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including table items; in response to receiving user selection of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element from the table items, determining document coordinates mapping to user selected display screen coordinates; determining a table item of the table items including the determined document coordinates; determining display screen coordinates mapping to document coordinates of a table item boundary of the determined table item; and highlighting the table item boundary on the display screen including the user selected display screen coordinates.
1. A computer program product for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, wherein the computer program product comprises a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program instructions executed by a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: parsing a table in a document to extract column headers, row headers, and data cells; processing the column headers, row headers, and data cells to determine an initial set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity from the processed column headers, row headers, and data cells; receiving a user selection of at least one of the column headers, row headers, and data cells for at least one of the main element, conditional element, and the value element in the initial set to produce a modified set of the main element, conditional element, and value element; and providing the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table.
2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: generating a graphical user interface to render, on a display screen of a computer monitor, user graphical controls to enable the user selection of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element from the column headers, row headers, and data cells.
3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the graphical user interface includes an add graphical control to enable the user to add an additional conditional element and select one of the column headers, row headers, and data cells to be the additional conditional element to include in the modified set.
4. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the graphical user interface, first flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element in the initial set; and rendering, in the graphical user interface, second flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element in the modified set in response to receiving the user selection for at least one of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element.
5. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the graphical user interface, the table with the column headers, the row headers, and the data cells; highlighting in the table, rendered in the graphical user interface, the column headers, row headers, and data cells as the main element, conditional element, and the value element in the initial set; and highlighting in the table, rendered in the graphical user interface, the column headers, row headers, and data cells comprising the main element, the conditional element, and the value element in the modified set in response to receiving the user selection.
6. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the graphical user interface, a graphical selection control to enable the user to select lexical connectors to use between the main element and the conditional element and between the conditional element and the value element in the modified set; and rendering, in the graphical user interface, flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element connected with the lexical connectors in the modified set.
7. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the graphical user interface, table items of the table comprising the column headers, the row headers, and the data cells; for each extracted table item comprising one of the extracted column headers, row headers, and data cells, saving coordinates of a region in the document including the extracted table item; mapping display screen coordinates of the display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including table items; determining document coordinates of table item boundaries in the table comprising the main element, conditional element, and the value element in one of the initial set and the modified set; determining the display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries; and highlighting the determined display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries to highlight the main element, the conditional element, and the value element.
8. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise: mapping display screen coordinates of the display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including table items comprising the column headers, the row headers, and the data cells; in response to receiving the user selection, determining document coordinates mapping to user selected display screen coordinates; determining a table item including the determined document coordinates; determining display screen coordinates mapping to document coordinates of a table item boundary of the determined table item; and highlighting the table item boundary on the display screen including the user selected display screen coordinates.
9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving user selection of the table item highlighted on the display screen as one of the main element, conditional element, and value element to include in the modified set.
10. A system for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, comprising: a processor; and a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program instructions executed by a processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: parsing a table in a document to extract column headers, row headers, and data cells; processing the column headers, row headers, and data cells to determine an initial set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity from the processed column headers, row headers, and data cells; receiving a user selection of at least one of the column headers, row headers, and data cells for at least one of the main element, conditional element, and the value element in the initial set to produce a modified set of the main element, conditional element, and value element; and providing the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table.
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise: generating a graphical user interface to render, on a display screen of a computer monitor, user graphical controls to enable the user selection of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element from the column headers, row headers, and data cells.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the graphical user interface includes an add graphical control to enable the user to add an additional conditional element and select one of the column headers, row headers, and data cells to be the additional conditional element to include in the modified set.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the graphical user interface, first flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element in the initial set; and rendering, in the graphical user interface, second flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element in the modified set in response to receiving the user selection for at least one of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element.
14. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the graphical user interface, a graphical selection control to enable the user to select lexical connectors to use between the main element and the conditional element and between the conditional element and the value element in the modified set; and rendering, in the graphical user interface, flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element connected with the lexical connectors in the modified set.
15. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise: rendering, in the graphical user interface, table items of the table comprising the column headers, the row headers, and the data cells; for each extracted table item comprising one of the extracted column headers, row headers, and data cells, saving coordinates of a region in the document including the extracted table item; mapping display screen coordinates of the display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including table items; determining document coordinates of table item boundaries in the table comprising the main element, conditional element, and the value element in one of the initial set and the modified set; determining the display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries; and highlighting the determined display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries to highlight the main element, the conditional element, and the value element.
16. A computer implemented method for natural language processing (NLP) of a document including a table, comprising: parsing a table in a document to extract column headers, row headers, and data cells; processing the column headers, row headers, and data cells to determine an initial set of a main element comprising an entity whose value is to be extracted, a conditional element that refines the entity, and a value element comprising a value for the entity from the processed column headers, row headers, and data cells; receiving a user selection of at least one of the column headers, row headers, and data cells for at least one of the main element, conditional element, and the value element in the initial set to produce a modified set of the main element, conditional element, and value element; and providing the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: generating a graphical user interface to render, on a display screen of a computer monitor, user graphical controls to enable the user selection of the main element, the conditional element, and the value element from the column headers, row headers, and data cells.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the graphical user interface includes an add graphical control to enable the user to add an additional conditional element and select one of the column headers, row headers, and data cells to be the additional conditional element to include in the modified set.
19. The method of claim 17, further comprising: rendering, in the graphical user interface, a graphical selection control to enable the user to select lexical connectors to use between the main element and the conditional element and between the conditional element and the value element in the modified set; and rendering, in the graphical user interface, flattened text comprising a sentence constructed with the main element, the conditional element, and the value element connected with the lexical connectors in the modified set.
20. The method of claim 17, further comprising: rendering, in the graphical user interface, table items of the table comprising the column headers, the row headers, and the data cells; for each extracted table item comprising one of the extracted column headers, row headers, and data cells, saving coordinates of a region in the document including the extracted table item; mapping display screen coordinates of the display screen in which the table is displayed to document coordinates in the document including table items; determining document coordinates of table item boundaries in the table comprising the main element, conditional element, and the value element in one of the initial set and the modified set; determining the display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries; and highlighting the determined display screen coordinates mapping to the determined document coordinates of the table item boundaries to highlight the main element, the conditional element, and the value element.
Reasons for Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 1-20 are allowable over the prior art of record.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: As per the independent claims, the claim limitations toward, rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select an element from the table to be the main element, conditional element, and value element;updating the set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to an NLP engine to perform natural language processing of the document including the table, using the modified set of the main element, conditional element, and the value element to interpret the table; rendering, in the GUI, graphical controls to enable a user to select main elements/conditional elements; and updating the set to include in the updated set the user selected information, when the limitation(s) are read in combination with the additional respective claimed limitations of each independent claim in its entirety.
With respect to the prior art, Guggilla (U.S. Patent 11,010,546 B2) discloses table narration using narration templates. Green (U.S. Patent 9,201,853 B2) discloses frame-slot architecture for data conversion. Allen (U.S. Publication 2020/0302114 A1) discloses information extraction from open-ended schema-less tables. Danielyan (U.S. Publication 2017/0052950 A1) discloses extracting information from structured documents comprising natural language text. Bahrami (U.S. Publication 2018/0260389 A1) discloses electronic document segmentation and relation discovery between elements for natural language processing. Tiyyagura (U.S. Publication 2021/0240976 A1) discloses machine-learning based end-to-end extraction of tables from electronic documents. Hunt (U.S. Publication 2017/0286398 A1) discloses resolving the meaning of a body of natural language text using artificial intelligence analysis in combination with semantic and contextual analysis. Abraido-Fandino (U.S. Publication 2006/0004725 A1) discloses automatic generation of a search engine for a structured document. Buisson (U.S. Publication 2019/0171704 A1) discloses heuristic domain targeted table detection and extraction techniques. Asplund (U.S. Publication 2020/0034481 A1) discloses language agnostic data insight handling for user application data. Hunter (U.S. Publication 2021/0383070 A1) discloses semantic map generation from natural language text documents. Feller (U.S. Publication 2015/0347387 A1) discloses adjusting ranges of directed graph ontologies across multiple dimensions.
However, none of the above mentioned prior art, explicitly teaches the claim limitations of the independent claims, as noted above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see related art listed on the PTO-892 form.
Furthermore, the pertinent features, found in the prior art, that is applicable to applicants specification and some claim features, have been included above, in the section of “Reasons for Indicating Allowable Subject Matter”.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Mr. Richemond Dorvil, can be reached at (571)272-7602. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Michael N Opsasnick/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2658 04/01/2026