Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-03
2003-04-22
Breene, John E. (Department: 2177)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C709S223000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06553367
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to data retrieval and learning systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the context of distributed information systems (e.g. the Internet), there is a need to provide end users with a centralized access and search service to information residing in multiple heterogeneous on-line catalogs. These on-line catalogs should be viewed by the users as if they were using the very same access method, information classification and nomenclature. This concept is called “information integration” and is the subject of several research and development efforts. Among them are:
Stanford University Knowledge Systems Laboratory (KSL) Ontology Server Projects.
Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC)—InfoSleuth Project (MCC, Austin, Tex.).
The main problems associated with information integration include dealing with the different conceptualization systems and selecting resources.
Dealing with different conceptualization systems includes providing access to relevant information that is accessible through different classification methods and described using non-identical nomenclatures. This requires bridging the gap between the different conceptualization systems—the one used by the user to describe his query and those used by each of different information resources. These conceptualization differences range from different classification methods to different nomenclature. For example, consider a user searching for “RS232 Cable for Printer” which is listed in one on-line catalog under the name “RS232 cable” in the sub-section called “Accessories” in the super-section called “Printers” and in another on-line-catalog under the name “Printer cable” in the section “Hardware accessories.” This is a very tough task, since it involves the formalization of “knowledge.”
Dealing with resource selection includes deciding which one of the available information resources is relevant for a specific information request. For example, there is no point in accessing resources providing information about restaurants when the user is looking for an automobile. In the domain level, this is an easy task. However, in larger arrays of information resources from similar domains, the problem becomes harder.
The research projects listed above deal with different aspects of these problems and make different assumptions about the environment. However, prior to the present invention, there have been no general-purpose information integration systems. There are two main reasons for this:
1. There are no automatic mechanisms to “connect” to new information resources. Current solutions to the task of connecting to information resources are based on the assumption that “someone”—either the information requester or the information provider—provides an information source “wrapper” that enables “smooth” integration to the data.
2. There was no way to automatically create a large-scale conceptualization system. A current solution to the problem of creating a common unified conceptualization system is a manual solution provided by the Knowledge System Laboratory (KSL) at Stanford University. The KSL staff has developed a set of tools and services to support the process of manually building and achieving consensus on a common shared conceptualization system (termed “Ontology”).
It is only natural, then, that the lack of a real world conceptualization system adversely affects both the quality of the information being retrieved—recall and precision—and the quality of the user-computer interaction. That is, real world information integration requires the automatic acquisition of a conceptual knowledge base, i.e., a conceptualization system.
In recent years, the task of automatic knowledge acquisition was usually approached by corpus-based NLP. Free text documents were used as a source for learning different relations between words, e.g., by contextual similarity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The emergence of a global standard computer network, and more specifically, the Internet, has led to the proliferation of classified on-line catalogs. This enables use of information navigation systems. One of the innovations of the present invention is the usage of the knowledge embedded in these very navigation systems as a new source for the knowledge acquisition task in order to generate a so called unified classification information graph. Information navigation systems, by their nature, imply hierarchy relations between categories, hence they provide more precise category-relations information then free text does. The categories and the hierarchy relations between categories is utilized in the process of generating the unified classification information graph.
The present invention offers a solution to overcome the difficulties in the usage of multiple resources so as to generate the desired unified classification information graph. For example, the same piece of information may be expressed in different word order or levels of abstraction.
Since on-line catalogs are by nature subject to frequent (and occasionally also major) changes—e.g., new products/categories are added and/or others are deleted—it is important to assure that all or at least most of the modifications that occur in the on-line catalogs will be reflected in the resulting unified classification information graph. Accordingly, one of the important advantages of the system is the dynamic nature thereof, i.e., the ability to dynamically scan the multiple information resources and update, whenever required, the resulting unified information graph.
Thus the invention fulfills a long felt need by providing a system and method for obtaining and integrating multiple classification information resources using a single unified access interface.
One aspect of the invention provides for a method for dynamically obtaining a unified classification information graph that provides a navigation system for a user to access sought information. The method includes providing multiple information resources that include a respective hierarchy of categories each of which is associated with a category; leaf categories in said hierarchy being connected to information pages. The method also includes generating a unified classification information graph utilizing at least the hierarchy of categories and the categories of said multiple information resources; said unified classification graph includes a hierarchy of unified categories; leaf unified categories in said hierarchy being connected to information pages. Information pages accessible through the hierarchy of said multiple information resources are also accessible through the hierarchy of said unified classification information graph.
In one embodiment, the providing multiple information resources includes providing at least some of the multiple information resources that are located in sites of the Internet.
In another embodiment, the providing multiple information resources includes providing at least some of the multiple information resources that are located in databases.
In still another embodiment, the providing multiple information resources includes providing at least some of the multiple information resources that are located in an on-line catalog.
Still further, there is provided the step of associating categories in the hierarchy of categories in the multiple information resources with hyperlinks.
Yet still further, there is provided the step of associating categories in the hierarchy of categories in the multiple information resources with menus.
In one embodiment, the generating of a unified classification information graph includes:
initializing so as to generate a respective “link graph” that corresponds to each information resource. The link graph includes link graph categories.
normalizing the link graph categories so as to generate a classification graph that includes classification graph categories.
unifying the classification graph so as to generate the unified classification information graph.
In this embodiment there is further provided the step of providing URL pointers
Horovitz Oren
Karov Yael
Breene John E.
Dov Rosenfeld Inventek
Lewis Cheryl
Mercado Software, Ltd.
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