The LanguageIdentifier is a WS which provides a single web method for the identification of the language of a given natural language text string. Its WSDL description can be found under src/main/net/sf/qallme/res/wsdl/languageidentification.wsdl. The system-wide framework implementation in Java is the class net.sf.qallme.LanguageIdentifierWSProvider.

The LanguageIdentifier has the following web methods:

The QAPlanner is a WS which encapsulates a complete QA system based on the QALL-ME Framework. Its main operation is the answerQuestion web method which returns an RDF answer graph for a given natural language question string with spatiotemporal context. The WSs which are used in the underlying QA subsystems can be exchanged at runtime. The QAPlanner’s WSDL description can be found under src/main/net/sf/qallme/res/wsdl/qaplanner.wsdl. The system-wide framework implementation in Java is the class net.sf.qallme.QAPlannerWSProvider.

The QAPlanner has the following web methods:

The answerQuestion web method is the main operation of the QAPlanner. It returns an RDF answer graph for a given inquiry consisting of a natural language question string and the spatiotemporal context of the question. If the question cannot be answered for some reason, then an empty RDF graph is returned.

Sample request (SOAP body):

<soapenv:Body xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
	<qap:inquiry xmlns:qap="http://qallme.sf.net/xsd/qaplanner.xsd"
	             xmlns:qal="http://qallme.sf.net/xsd/qallmeshared.xsd">
		<qap:question>Was für eine Art von Film ist Dreamgirls?</qap:question>
		<qal:spatiotemporalContext>
			<qal:location lat="49.256409" lon="7.042437">DE</qal:location>
			<qal:time>2007-03-18T12:58:21</qal:time>
		</qal:spatiotemporalContext>
	</qap:inquiry>
</soapenv:Body>

The setComponent web method tells the QAPlanner to use a given component implementation for QA. The method must be used for initializing the QAPlanner with all component implementations it shall manage. The method may be used again later to replace a certain component implementation with another one. If any part of the request is not valid or if the given WS implementation cannot be invoked, then an IllegalArgumentFault is thrown.

Each component implementation is specified by the URL of its WSDL description (cf. <wsdlURL> in the request). Additionally the caller has to specify which type of component shall be set with the given implementation (cf. <componentID>). This component type is determined by the namespace of the respective component’s WSDL definition. There are three possible ways for writing a request to the setComponent web method; the caller has to choose one of these three based on whether a system-wide component shall be set or a language or location specific component shall be set.

Sample request (SOAP body) for setting a language specific component implementation:

<soapenv:Body xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
	<qap:ComponentSetupRequest xmlns:qap="http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/qaplanner.wsdl">
		<componentID>http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/querygeneration.wsdl</componentID>
		<componentLang>de</componentLang>
		<wsdlURL>http://localhost:8080/qmfdemo/de-querygeneration/QueryGeneratorWS?wsdl</wsdlURL>
	</qap:ComponentSetupRequest>
</soapenv:Body>

The getSubsystemComponents web method returns all component WS implementations which are currently used in the QAPlanner for a given language/location subsystem or as system-wide components. A flag in the return result (cf. complete attribute) additionally shows whether all components for the given subsystem are already set or not. The identifier for the subsystem in a request to the method has the same form as the parameter of the setComponent web method.

If only a single WS implementation of a certain component type that is currently used in the QAPlanner shall be returned, then the getComponent web method can be used instead.

Sample request (SOAP body) for getting all component implementations of a certain language subsystem:

<soapenv:Body xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
	<qap:ComponentSetupRequest xmlns:qap="http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/qaplanner.wsdl">
		<componentLang>de</componentLang>
	</qap:ComponentSetupRequest>
</soapenv:Body>

Sample response (SOAP body):

<soapenv:Body xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
	<ns2:SubsystemComponentSetup complete="false" xmlns:ns2="http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/qaplanner.wsdl">
		<component id="http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/termannotation.wsdl">http://localhost:8080/qmfdemo/de-termannotation/TermAnnotatorWS?wsdl</component>
		<component id="http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/timeannotation.wsdl">http://localhost:8080/qmfdemo/de-timeannotation/TimeAnnotatorWS?wsdl</component>
	</ns2:SubsystemComponentSetup>
</soapenv:Body>

The getComponent web method returns the URL of the WSDL document of a certain component implementation which is currently used in the QAPlanner. The desired component is identified by its WSDL namespace and a marker for the language/location subsystem or a flag for system-wide components. This identifier has the same form as the parameter of the setComponent web method.

Sample request (SOAP body) for getting a certain language specific component implementation:

<soapenv:Body xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
	<qap:ComponentSetupRequest xmlns:qap="http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/qaplanner.wsdl">
		<componentID>http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/querygeneration.wsdl</componentID>
		<componentLang>de</componentLang>
	</qap:ComponentSetupRequest>
</soapenv:Body>

Sample response (SOAP body):

<soapenv:Body xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
	<ns5:uri xmlns:ns5="http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/qallmeshared.wsdl">http://localhost:8080/qmfdemo/de-querygeneration/QueryGeneratorWS?wsdl</ns5:uri>
</soapenv:Body>

The convert web method converts the temporal information from a piece of text which is annotated in the extended TIMEX2 format to a SPARQL “FILTER” expression. Standard TIMEX2 annotations will result in a time point disjunction SPARQL filter and two annotations with extended TIMEX2 annotations are considered to be start and end points of a time interval.

Sample request (SOAP body) for a simple standard TIMEX2 annotation:

<soapenv:Body xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
	<tim:ConversionRequest xmlns:tim="http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/timex2sparqlconversion.wsdl"
	                       xmlns:tim1="http://qallme.sf.net/xsd/timex2.xsd">
		<tim:TIMEX2AnnotatedText>
			<tim1:TIMEX2 VAL="2008-02-12T10:15">heute um 10:15 Uhr</tim1:TIMEX2>
		</tim:TIMEX2AnnotatedText>
		<tim:temporalContext>2008-02-12T12:56:23</tim:temporalContext>
	</tim:ConversionRequest>
</soapenv:Body>

Sample request (SOAP body) for an extended TIMEX2 annotation:

<soapenv:Body xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
	<tim:ConversionRequest xmlns:tim="http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/timex2sparqlconversion.wsdl">
		<tim:TIMEX2AnnotatedText>
			<tim:TIMEX2 VAL="2008-02-12T14:00" function="FROM">heute von 14</tim:TIMEX2>
			<tim:TIMEX2 VAL="2008-02-12T18:30" function="TO">bis 18:30 Uhr</tim:TIMEX2>
		</tim:TIMEX2AnnotatedText>
		<tim:temporalContext>2008-02-12T12:56:23</tim:temporalContext>
	</tim:ConversionRequest>
</soapenv:Body>

Sample response (SOAP body):

<soapenv:Body xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
	<string xmlns="http://qallme.sf.net/wsdl/qallmeshared.wsdl"
		>FILTER (((xsd:dateTime("2008-02-12T13:45:00") &lt;= xsd:dateTime(fn:string-join(fn:string-join(xsd:string(?date),"T"),xsd:string(?time)))) &amp;&amp; (xsd:dateTime("2008-02-12T19:15:00") >= xsd:dateTime(fn:string-join(fn:string-join(xsd:string(?date),"T"),xsd:string(?time)))))).</string>
</soapenv:Body>

In the system-wide implementation of the Timex2SparqlConverter for the QALL-ME Framework the created SPARQL filter is usually a bit less strict than the temporal expressions that it was created for, i.e., the times that the created filters will match are the times given by the temporal expressions plus a bit more. As the filters are intended for a QA system it is usually a good idea to do this. For example, if someone asks “Which movies can I see in Schmelz today at 8 p.m.?”, then he is probably also interested in the movies at 20:25 or 19:50.