User-Adaptive System For Document Authoring
1 AUTOPAT OVERVIEW
AutoPat is an NLP application and consists of an interactive
technical knowledge elicitation module and fully automatic text
generation module. The input to the system is natural language
phrases. Apart from automatic generator AutoPat includes
morphological and semantico-syntactic analyzers that convert
natural language input into a shallow knowledge representation.
The two stages of AutoPat are not strictly pipelined. Lexical
selection and some other text planning tasks are interleaved with
the process of content specification. The latter results in the
production of a "draft" claim. This draft, while not yet an English
text, is a list of proposition-level structures ("templates")
specifying the proposition head and case role values filled by POS-tagged
word strings. The draft is then submitted to an automatic
text planner which using week methods outputs an hierarchical
structure of templates which is ordered according to rhetorical and
stylistic requirements.
The analysis and generation algorithms are programmed as a
dynamic link library while the user interface is an executable
module that uses the functions of this library. Hash tables and
cashing are used to speed up data access and processing that
otherwise would be rather slow due to the complexity of
processing algorithms. The knowledge supplied by the user is
saved in a special *.pcp file format which stores both the internal
representation of the elicited knowledge and its "human" image on
the interface screen. The user can quit the program
at any moment of elicitation session so that next time she starts it
she can resume her work where she left off. The selection is
reproduced exactly as it was and it is possible to continue the
session without delay.
The AutoPat knowledge base is corpus-based and draws heavily
on the sublanguage. It contains AutoPat inherent knowledge and
authoring memory (cf. "translation memory"). The inherent
knowledge includes a shallow lexicon of lexical units simply listed
with their class membership that is a morpho-semantic
classification of words and phrases (this lexicon is used for content
support in claim composition and for morphological analysis of the
input). And a deep (information-rich) lexicon of predicates (heads
of predicative phrases describing essential features of an invention).
This lexicon is the main part of the AutoPat static knowledge
and covers both the lexical and, crucially for our system, the
syntactic knowledge. It is used both to provide content support for
technical knowledge elicitation and for generation heuristics. The
user can automatically customize this lexicon.
The AutoPat authoring memory contains lists of terminological
units (words and phrases) that were used during AutoPat sessions.
It is annotated with document(s) it was used in. This supports
content specification and terminology consistency.
Other characteristic features of the AutoPat are Developer's tool
kit (hidden from the user) for knowledge acquisition and testing
rules for different levels of linguistic analysis and generation (It
includes a number of convenient interfaces and compilers which
make it possible for a linguist to improve AutoPat output without
programmers' help. It will be described in a separate paper) and an
intelligent user-adapted interface for eliciting technical knowledge
from the user, - the main subject of the present paper.
2 USERS INTERFACE
2.1 Interface overview
Our elicitation technique is a domain-dependent automated mixed-initiative
interview. All user-computer communication is done in a
natural language (English in our case). The knowledge elicitation
scenario consists of the system requesting the user, in English, to
supply information about the invention. Using common graphical
interface tools (mouse support, dialogue boxes, menus, templates
and slide bars) the interface draws the user through a step-by step
procedure of describing every essential feature of the invention. It
provides content, composition and terminology maintenance
support through choices of standing and pull-down menus. These
menus supply access to words and phrases required in a claim.
Though the user is encouraged to use the AutoPat controlled
language given in the menus the user has always a choice to type in
active text areas of interface windows. If a word is in a menu it will
be automatically completed right after the first characters are
typed. In case the word cannot be found in the inherent knowledge
of the system the user will be asked to add it through an easy-to-use
pop-up entry box. To add a new word to the dictionary the user
is presented with a word template where the slots are automatically
filled out with the semantic class of the word and its grammatical
forms required by the generator. The user is only supposed to
check the fillers and correct them if necessary. All the new words
thus added will further be found in the interface menus. Phrases
constructed by the user are put in the authoring memory and stay
displayed in the "Your terminology" screen area through the end of
the session. These and some other lexical units displayed on the
screen can be transferred to a new text area if the user clicks on
them. All transferred phrases can be edited. The user can check the
content elicited so far in an output window where the immediate
results of each quantum of acquisition are displayed. If the content
appears incorrect, the user can undo the latest quantum of
acquisition and do it again correctly. The interface has two main
components, -the background window were the results of
elicitation procedure stay displayed through the whole session and
a set of pop-up windows corresponding to elicitations steps. The
two modes of the interface share the background window while the
sets of pop-up windows are mainly different. All pop-up windows
in both modes can be moved freely around the screen to allow the
user to see any part of the background window at any time.
Background Window (see AutoPat screen shots). The left pane of this
window is headed "Your invention comprises" and displays a
graphical representation of the hierarchy of all main elements and
sub-elements after the user supplies the knowledge about them into
the system. The names of the elements at its nodes can be
transferred to any of pop-up windows by simply clicking on them.
The right pane is headed "Essential features of your invention". It
displays the title of the invention and every essential feature of the
invention in the form of a simple sentence that is generated every
time the user supplies a quantum of technical knowledge.
Visualization of the results of the elicitation procedure is only done
to make it possible and convenient for the user to control the
results of her session. The simple sentences correspond to
statements in the system's internal knowledge representation
language that are created from the knowledge elicitation
procedures. At the stage of eliciting knowledge about relations of
invention elements a new section headed "Your terminology"
appears in the bottom of the left pane. Form now on all phrases
used in relation descriptions stay displayed and "click able" there
for further reuse.
2.2 Wizard Guide mode
This mode of the interface is highly recommended for a beginner.
It guides a user through a step-by step procedure of describing
essential features of invention. The main screen elements of the
interface are the background window and Wizard windows that
contain detailed instructions, the "Help" button and the "Back"
button. A brief description of Wizard windows and functionalities
is given below.
Title. Helps the user to select the most appropriate title for the
invention. This window contains a title template. The slots of this
template contain menus of words and phrases for optional inclusion
in the title. To compose the title of an invention the user can either
select words from the template slot menus or type them in.
Main Elements. Prompts the user to describe the main elements
of the prototype of the invention. This window displays a template
of menus similar to that in the Title window.
Complex Element. Makes the user specify (by highlighting it in the
element tree in the background window) the element whose sub-elements
it is necessary to include in the claim. The name of the
selected element is transferred to the next window to help the user
keep in mind what she is working on.
Sub-Elements. Prompts the user to describe parts of the element
selected at the previous step. This window displays a template of
menus similar to that in the Title window.
Element with Novel Characteristics. Makes the user specify
(Highlight in the element tree) the element whose novel properties
(that, according to Patent Law, can only be its shape or material) it
is necessary to include in the claim. After an element is selected in
the tree it appears in the active text area of this window and it is
possible to edit it. For example, the user selects, say, the node "four
doors" in the element tree and it appears in the text area of the
window. The user may now edit into, say, "one of the doors", and
this new phrase will appear in the next window to describe its
shape or material.
Shape/Material. Prompts the user to describe novel shapes of
materials of the elements specified in the previous window. This
window is divided into parts. One part contains two menus of
shapes and another displays two menus of materials. This gives the
user two ways to describe an element. If the word is selected from
the pop-up menus in the "shape" or "material" part of the window
AutoPat generates sentences as follows: "An element is in the
shape of a circle." If the word is selected from one of the standing
menus the user gets the description as follows: "An element is
round". The knowledge about shape and material of one element
can be elicited in one take by just selecting the words in the shape
and material menus. This window has an area where the sentences
following the elicitation step are generated (apart from being
generated in the background window). This makes it more
convenient for the user to control her input.
Relations. Within the procedure the user selects two or more
objects in the element tree then specify the relation between them.
The initial setup in this window involves two menus, one listing
names of relation types (semantic classes) and another listing
words (predicates) that can describe these relations. One can start
by first selecting a relation type and then, after a semantic class is
selected the second menu displays predicates which belong to this
class for further selection. By checking a corresponding radio
button it is possible to start directly with selecting a predicate
among all the predicates included in the AutoPat knowledge base
and listed in the predicate menu. In case the selected predicate is
polysemantic, i.e. belongs to more than one semantic classes, these
classes appear in the semantic class menu and the user is asked to
select one of them to specify the meaning of the predicate. The user
can also type in a new predicate if she does not find the word in the
menu. In such a case she is guided through a semi-automated and
extremely easy procedure of introducing a new word in the
underlying predicate dictionary. Selecting a
predicate constitutes lexical selection, whereupon the system
determines the roles played by the highlighted elements.
Relation Specification. Presents the user with a predicate
(sentence) template based on knowledge about the case-roles
(semantic arguments) of the semantic class underlying the selected
dictionary item. The user fills appropriate slots - "What",
"Where", "How", and so forth (see AutoPat screen shots). (The system records the
boundaries of the fillers and their case-role status to be used later
for morphological disambiguation, and syntactic analysis and
applied to AutoPat's automatic components). To make this easier
apart from clickable nodes in the element tree and in phrases in
"You terminology" section every template slot has a pop-up menu
of auxiliary phrases from the underlying predicate dictionary entry.
Co-reference. Highlights coreference candidates and ask to mark
any elements that are coreferential among them. The coreference
candidates are searched by morphosyntactic analyzer and are noun
lexemes regardless of their grammatical form.
Main Claim Format-All. Presents a "checkable" menu of all
generated sentences-features. The user can either check the novel
features of the invention to thus have a final claim text containing
generic and difference parts with the "characterized in that"
expression between them, which is a must according to the
European Patent Office, or skip this stage. In the latter case the
final claim text will be generated without generic and difference
parts in the format accepted by the US Patent Office.
Main Claim Format-Generic and Main Claim Format-Difference.
Appear only if underlying meaning representation
(hidden from the user) of the generic or difference part of the claim
built by the generator exceeds a given threshold of complexity. It
presents a "checkable" menu of generic/difference sentences-features
for the user to check those features of the invention that
are closer related. This breaks the corresponding knowledge
representation into two parts thus improving the quality of the
generator output.
Main Claim Text. Presents the output of the Auto generator, - the
main claim text in legally acceptable format (see AutoPat screen shots).
If necessary the user may edit the text right in this interface
window.
The initiative in the Wizard scenario is mixed: the human can use
any number of iterations working with windows eliciting elements,
shapes, materials or relations but the order in which the user is
guided from window to window and, in the case of eliciting
coreferences, the order of the presentation of candidates is
controlled by the interface.
2.3 Professional Mode
Professional interface mode is designed for a trained user who is
instructed by window buttons. The initiative in Professional
scenario is mainly for the human. The content of knowledge
elicitation and its output are the same as in Wizard Guide. But
Professional allows for more speed and flexibility when authoring
a claim, - the user may freely navigate among the stages of claim
composition, authoring them in any order. In case of coreferences,
for example, the user is presented with a list of coreference
candidates and is free to decide whether and which of them to
check if at all. The user can also see a generated claim part at any
authoring stage. Professional is especially convenient when
editing a claim draft but can also be used for composing a claim
from scratch. This mode of interface keeps the standing
background window while elicitation windows change each other.
The difference is that they do not appear after the user fulfills a
certain part of the interview as in Wizard but are called through
the Main Menu in any order. The setups of changeable windows
are mainly different from those of Wizard Guide. They are
augmented with extra buttons and functionalities and different
menus. For example, the Elements window is a merger of the four
Wizard windows designed to elicit knowledge about elements and
sub-elements. In this window an element tree can easily be
restructured; the names of elements can be edited. All changes
done at any stage of authoring propagate through the rest of the
draft. Deletion of an element in the element tree automatically
deletes all invention features-sentences with this element. Change
of an element name in the tree automatically changes its name in
all corresponding sentences. Using this mode of interface it is
possible to delete/add/edit any essential feature in a claim draft
keeping the rest of the content intact. Pop-up dialogue boxes for
dictionary customizing and content support through the menus of
words and phrases are provided in the same way as in Wizard.
Professional has two extra windows: Dependent Claims and
Dependent Claim Text. The former appears only if called by the
user who wants to compose a dependent claim, it elicits
information upon which of other claims the current one depends
and lets the user return to feature elicitation pages. The latter
presents the text of the main claim and all dependent claims.
>>> see AutoPat screen shots