International Business Machines Corporation

Elizabeth Merckel Valletti

Aaron K Baughman

Mauro Marzorati

Gary Francis Diamanti

A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for question answering using time weighted evidence. The mechanism receives an input question. The mechanism determines a time focus for the input question and defines a weighting function. The weighting function is a bell curve having a peak at the time focus on a time axis. The mechanism decomposes the input question into one or more queries and applies the one or more queries to a corpus of information to obtain a set of hypothesis evidence. Each item of information within the hypothesis evidence has an associated time value. The mechanism weights the set of hypothesis evidence based on the associated time values according to the weighting function to form time weighted evidence and generates hypotheses for answering the input question based on the time weighted evidence.

Question answering with time-based weighting

A mechanism is provided in a data processing system for question answering using context features in closure form. The mechanism receives a function call comprising an input question and a set of non-local context evidence in closure form. The mechanism decomposes the input question into one or more queries and applies the one or more queries to a corpus of information to obtain a set of local hypothesis evidence. The mechanism generates hypotheses for answering the input question based on the local hypothesis evidence and the set of non-local context evidence.

Iterative deepening knowledge discovery using closure-based question answering

An edge device is dynamically reconfigured to block undesired traffic using control information that originates in a core network. The control information is delivered to the device indirectly and, in particular, by a core appliance (e.g., an intrusion prevention system) setting and returning an HTTP cookie to a requesting client. The edge device is pre-configured to respond to HTTP cookies that have (or that are) control information. When the receiving client later returns that cookie to the edge device to obtain subsequent service, the control information that originated at the core is used by the device to deny that service. This indirect method of communicating the control information (from the core to the requesting client and then back to the device) enables the device to be reconfigured dynamically as needed to address network exploits or other threats.

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Palm Harbor, FL, United States of America

Elizabeth Merckel Valletti