Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-23
2001-12-04
Amsbury, Wayne (Department: 2771)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06327593
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to an improved system and method for use in performing a concept-based search, and more specifically, to a system and method for allowing a user to modify a network of natural language concepts used in performing a search on a corpus of data items, wherein the network may be modified to associate search concepts provided by the user during one or more unsuccessful iterations of a search with those data items discovered during successful iterations of the search.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Today's data processing systems are capable of storing large volumes of data. The density of storage devices continues to increase at the same time the prices for such devices are falling. In addition, current networking capabilities allow multiple storage devices and file servers to be interconnected so that databases can be shared across systems. As a result, users of current computer systems are provided with access to an unprecedented amount of information.
The internet is a prime example of this information explosion. It is estimated that between 30 and 50 million pages are currently available to users of the internet. In addition to this publicly-available documentation, many users are also provided with other proprietary sources of information, such as those that are available via corporate intranet sites. Information may be obtained from still other sources, such as newsgroups.
To take advantage of the large amount of information made available by technological advances, the data must be readily accessible. Users must be able to locate and retrieve information that is needed in a timely manner. To do this, information retrieval systems must be developed that allow users to identify the best or most relevant data associated with a user request.
Many challenges exist when developing an information retrieval system that is capable of efficiently providing meaningful search results. One problem is that the cataloging of information is, at least to some extent, a subjective process. As a result, information may be indexed in a manner that is not intuitive to an end user. Additionally, a user drafting a search request may not have the knowledge necessary to specify terminology that will yield desired search results on the first search attempt. On the other hand, a user may fashion a query to include terms that are unique to a given industry, trade, or even business entity, and the query terminology and particular term-usage may not be reflected in the index of the information retrieval system. Other factors, for example regional dialects, may further influence the construction of a given search query. Any of these factors may result in a query that does not produce expected search results. As a result, a user is forced to refine the original query and initiate another search. Multiple iterations of a search may be necessary before adequate results are achieved. This wastes time, and may never sufficiently provide the user with desired information.
To improve efficiency, it is desirable to provide a search tool that may be modified throughout the life of the system to accurately reflect both the information being cataloged, and the search practices of the individual users. U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,829 to Kadashevich et al. describes a system for automatically managing a search index such that the index accurately reflects the information being classified. The system analyzes a corpus of information that is to be cataloged. The system generates a plurality of topic words from the corpus of information, wherein the topic words are to be added to the search index. The system ensures that the search index is updated to include additional search categories that accurately reflect new information being cataloged by the system. However, the system does not take into account user preferences or specific user knowledge in creating the additional index terms.
A search system that allows a user to update a search index to reflect search terminology preferred by the user is described in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/172,423 entitled, “System and Method for Developing a Selectably-Expandable Concept-Based Search”, filed on Oct. 14, 1998 by Goiffon et al., which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention. According to the described system, various tools are provided that allow a user to edit the contents of a search index to incorporate additional terms. The tools also allow a user to modify the organizational structure of the search index. However, the system does not provide an efficient means for allowing a user to associated search index terms with desired search results so that future searches may be accomplished without the need to perform multiple search iterations to obtain acceptable results.
What is needed is a system for managing a search index that allows the index and index organization to evolve by selectively creating associations between items of domain knowledge provided by the user as search criteria and items of information discovered during one or more iterations of the search and that were not previously associated with the specified search criteria. These newly-created associations may then be used to perform subsequent searches on the corpus of information being indexed.
OBJECTS
It is a primary object of the current invention to provide an improved system and method for managing a search index;
It is another object of the invention to provide a system that allows users to interactively modify a search index to include search terms not previously included in the index;
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a system wherein a user may perform a search during multiple search iterations, and wherein the search results obtained during any search iteration may be associated with the query terms provided during any other search iteration;
It is a further object of the invention to provide a hierarchical network of search terms for use in a search system, wherein the network of search terms may be selectively modified during the search process to reflect the vocabulary and linguistic patterns of any user of the search system;
It is another object of the invention to provide a system for allowing a user to create associations between various concepts that are organized within a network of natural language concepts, wherein the network of concepts is used to perform a concept-based search;
It is a further object of the invention to provide a system for allowing a user to selectively create associations between concepts included in a search index and selected items being cataloged using the search index;
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an efficient interactive interface for allowing a user to create associations between multiple items in a search index;
It is another object of the invention to provide an efficient interactive interface for allowing a user to easily create associations between concepts included in a search index and selected items being cataloged using the search index;
It is yet another object to utilize an object-oriented repository to implement a hierarchical concept tree for use in interactive query development, and wherein the hierarchical concept tree may be used to search for other objects storing information of interest to a user;
It is a still further object to utilize a hierarchical concept tree to interactively catalog objects storing meta-data, wherein each of the objects storing meta-data further catalogs and describes another group of information; and
It is a further object to provide a software management system for interactively managing and cataloging software constructs in a manner that allows user preferences to influence the indexing scheme of the system.
Still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the drawings, wherein only the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown, simply by way of illustrati
Amsbury Wayne
Johnson Charles A.
McMahon Beth L.
Starr Mark T.
Unisys Corporation
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