Microsoft patents system to find answers in long documents
Microsoft describes a system that breaks large documents into smaller sections to answer questions. It scores each section for relevance and then analyzes only the top-ranked parts to find the final answer.
In the filing’s own words
A machine reading comprehension system (MRCS) can analyze a larger-sized document that includes multiple pages to predict an answer to a query. For example, the document can have two, five, tens, or hundreds of pages. The MRCS divides the document into multiple sections with each section including a portion of the document. Each section is processed separately by one or more processing circuitries to determine a score for that section. The score indicates how related the section is to the query and/or a probability that the section provides a possible answer to the query. Once all of the sections have been analyzed, the sections are ranked by their scores and a subset of the ranked sections are processed again to determine a predicted answer to the query.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1 - 20. (canceled)
Facts
- Company
- Microsoft (Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC)
- Official title
- MACHINE READING COMPREHENSION SYSTEM FOR ANSWERING QUERIES RELATED TO A DOCUMENT
- Publication number
- US20260259884A1
- Application number
- 19432781
- Filed
- Dec 24, 2025
- Published
- Sep 3, 2026
- Inventors
- 5
- Claims
- 21
Classified under
G06F 16/24578 Physics & computingG06F 16/3329 Physics & computingG06F 16/93 Physics & computingG06F 16/951 Physics & computingG06F 40/205 Physics & computingG06F 40/258 Physics & computingMore from Microsoft in AI & software
- Microsoft patents method to check AI answers against verified facts Oct 20, 2026
- Microsoft patents AI that presents PowerPoint slides for you Sep 3, 2026
- Microsoft patents method to check if LLM answers are based on real data Sep 10, 2026
- Microsoft patents system to blend multiple AI agents into one chat Oct 1, 2026
- Microsoft patents system that answers questions using your screen history Oct 15, 2026
Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.