Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-27
2003-05-27
Metjahic, Safet (Department: 2171)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06571249
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to managing query results. More particularly, the invention relates to a method, system, computer program product, server, and interface for managing query results.
2. Discussion of Related Work
FIG. 1
shows an example of a computer display
100
. The computer display has a status area
110
, various program icons
120
, an active window
130
, a title bar
140
for the active window
130
, a toolbar
150
with tool buttons
160
, and a window area
200
for the active window
130
.
A user interface appearing in the window area
200
may accept inputs from a user relating to query search terms. The query search terms may be provided as an input to an Internet search engine or the like. Typically, the Internet search engine will respond to a query by returning between 0 and several million query results.
FIG. 2
shows an example of how query results are typically presented. The query results appear in the window area
200
of the active window. In the particular example shown in
FIG. 2
, there is an indicator of the number of hits. The indicator
955
shows that there are 382 results in the query results corresponding to the query search terms provided as a user input. Each query result is provided as a pointer
950
. The pointer
950
may be an HTML link. The pointer
950
may also include supplemental information, such as information relating to the content of the Web page indicated by the pointer. There also may be a relevance ranking (not shown). Whether or not the relevance ranking is shown, the relevance ranking is typically used to order the presentation of the query results.
Thus, the conventional approach to managing query result complexity is to determine a relevance ranking for each of the query results, and to order the query results based on the relevance ranking. Where two query results have an identical relevance ranking, it is conventional to present the results in alphabetical order.
The First Related Application
In the first related application “MANAGEMENT OF QUERY RESULT COMPLEXITY USING WEIGHTED CRITERIA FOR HIERARCHICAL DATA STRUCTURING” described above, there is described an improved and novel tool for the collection and ordering of data from heterogeneous sources, including structured and unstructured data.
FIG. 3
shows a set of user interface objects which may be used to obtain user inputs for the improved and novel tool described in this related application. In particular, a plurality of user activatable regions
210
permit a user to enter various categories for a search. In the example shown in
FIG. 3
, the categories “animal”, “usage”, and “material” have been entered into the category entry regions
210
.
The user activatable regions
220
include slider bars
230
which are used to provide a priority or weighting of the different categories entered into the category entry regions
210
. In the example shown in
FIG. 3
, the further to the right a slider bar
230
is placed, the higher the priority of the corresponding search parameter.
The user activatable regions
240
are value entry regions. These regions are used to provide specific values for searching, each value corresponding to one of the categories. In the example shown in
FIG. 3
, the categories “ostrich”, and “eagle” have been entered in a value entry region
240
that corresponds to the category entry region
210
containing the category “animal”.
Together, the information included in the category entry regions
210
, the weighting regions
220
, and the value entry regions
240
may be referred to as semantic structuring information. In other words, semantic structuring information includes categories, each with a corresponding category weight, each category having corresponding values. The categories are ordered in a category order based on the corresponding category weight. The categories could be ordered on some further basis, of course, but it is sufficient for the present explanation that the categories be ordered on at least the category weight.
Now an explanation will be given of how the semantic structuring information may be used to represent a set of query results as a tree shaped hierarchy, as in the above-identified co-pending application. This is not a conventional approach, but the subject of another patent application. The explanation of producing a tree-shaped hierarchy from semantic structuring information presented here is not as detailed as in the co-pending application, and is not meant in any way to limit the description presented therein.
FIG. 4
shows a set of
16
query results
900
-
915
. Each of the query results
900
-
915
represents a Web page that is a member of the query results set for the query represented by the semantic structuring information as shown in FIG.
3
. In
FIG. 4
, the information relating to each of the query results is information that may come from the meta tags, the content of the Web page, or the like.
FIG. 5
shows a larger set of query results
900
-
931
to be discussed shortly.
FIG. 6
shows a tree shaped hierarchy that may be built for the query results
900
-
915
of FIG.
4
. Some terminology relating to the tree-shaped hierarchy will now be discussed, as the terminology is relevant also to the discussion of the preferred embodiments of the invention.
In
FIG. 6
, the tree shaped hierarchy has a root node or control node
0
. This root node may be referred to as a query root node QRN. The tree also has intermediate nodes
1
.
0
-
3
.
9
. The tree also has leaf nodes
4
.
0
-
4
.
15
. The query results
900
-
915
are not part of the tree, but are merely shown for their correspondence to the leaf nodes
4
.
0
-
4
.
15
.
The nodes in this tree-shaped hierarchy are arranged in levels. At the very highest level
710
is the root node
0
. The root node
0
represents the query itself. The first level
720
of intermediate nodes has intermediate nodes that are connected directly to the root node
0
. That is, intermediate nodes
1
.
0
-
1
.
1
have, as their immediately upward node, the root node
0
. It may also be expressed by saying that the first level of intermediate nodes has an immediately upward node (IUN) set of just the query root node QRN.
This first level
720
in the tree-shaped hierarchy of
FIG. 6
corresponds to the category having the heaviest weight (in this example, the category “animal”). While the level corresponds to the category, the intermediate nodes in this tree-shaped hierarchy correspond to the particular values that relate to the category. In this example, node
1
.
0
corresponds to the value “ostrich” of the category “animal”; node
1
.
1
corresponds to the value “eagle” of the category “animal”.
The second level
730
of intermediate nodes corresponds to the category that is second according to the category order (i.e. based on the weighting given the category by the user). The category that is second according to the category order is “material.” The second level
730
thus corresponds to the category “material”. The intermediate nodes in this level correspond to the values that relate to the category “material”: “feather”, “plume”, and “quill”. More particularly, node
2
.
0
corresponds to the value “feather” and so does node
2
.
3
. Nodes
2
.
1
and
2
.
4
correspond to the value “quill”. Node
2
.
2
corresponds to the value “plume”.
It will be appreciated that nodes
2
.
0
and
2
.
3
differ semantically. In particular, node
2
.
0
represents any hits that relate to the value “feather” of the category “material” and also to the value “ostrich” of the category “animal”. Node
2
.
3
represents any hits that relate to the value “feather” of the category “material” and also to the value “eagle” of the category “animal”. Likewise, the relevance of node
2
.
1
is to those hits relating to “quill” and “ostrich”, while the relevance of node
2
.
4
is to those hits relating to “quill” and also “eagle”.
The absence of a node relating to the value “plume” for the category “material” connected to node
1
.
1
indic
Garrecht Thomas
Loritz Axel
Weiss Anton
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