US Patent 9081814 Using an entity database to answer entity-triggering questions

An embodiment may receive a question at a computing device; obtain a search result set in response to the question; identify, using the computing device, one or more entities that are associated with at least one document referenced by the search result set; select, using the computing device, one or more relevant entities identified as being associated with (i) documents referenced by the search result set and (ii) the question; and output, using the computing device, an answer to the question based at least on the selected one or more entities.