Constraint logic programming for resolution of relative time expressions

Abstract

Translating time expression into absolute time points or durations is a challenge for natural languages processing such as text mining and text understanding in general. We present a constraint logic language CLP(Time) tailored to text usages concerned with time and calendar. It provides a simple and flexible formalism to express relationships between different time expressions in a text, thereby giving a recipe for resolving them into absolute time. A constraint solver is developed which, as opposed to some earlier approaches, is independent of the order in which temporal information is introduced, and it can give meaningful output also when no exact reference time is available. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.