Semantic search system interface and method

• US 10,235,455 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2013
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innography (Clarivate Plc)
• Original Assignee: Innography (Clarivate Plc)
• Inventors: John, Roji, Steiger, Jr., Carl L., Herrick, Clifford Scott, Fisher, David Martin, Liechty, Paul Spencer
• Primary Examiner(s): Bibbee, Jared M
• Application Number:
  US13/956,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20150039581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,057 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A method for semantic searching includes receiving a user input including seed data and a semantic input at a search system. The method further includes automatically generating a filter set based on the user input, where the filter set including a plurality of documents that correspond to the seed data, and includes providing the filter set and the semantic input to a semantic search engine. The method also includes receiving a set of semantic search results from the semantic search engine based on the filter set and the semantic input. The set of semantic search results corresponds to a sub-set of the filter set that is semantically similar to the semantic input.

Claims

1. A method for semantic searching comprises:

providing a graphical user interface from a search system to a computing device through a network, the graphical user interface including a plurality of user-selectable elements accessible by a user to provide user input, the plurality of user-selectable elements including a searchable attribute and including text inputs;

receiving the user input including seed data and a semantic input at the search system from the computing device;

in response to receiving the user input, automatically searching one or more data sources based on the seed data to identify a plurality of documents corresponding to the seed data to produce a filter set, the filter set including data corresponding to the user input;

automatically providing the filter set and the semantic input to a semantic search engine;

receiving a set of semantic search results from the semantic search engine based on the filter set and the semantic input, the set of semantic search results corresponding to a sub-set of the filter set that is semantically similar to the semantic input;

extracting data from the set of semantic search results;

searching the one or more data sources using the extracted data to retrieve ancillary search results;

correlating the ancillary search results with the set of semantic search results to produce an output data set; and

sending a search results interface to the computing device through the network, the search results interface including a plurality of user-selectable elements and including data related to the set of semantic search results and the output data set.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the user input including the seed data and the semantic input comprises receiving the user input in response to user selection of a selectable button of the plurality of user-selectable elements of the graphical user interface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein automatically generating the filter set comprises searching the searchable attribute of one or more data sources using the seed data to retrieve a set of documents defining the filter set.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the seed data comprises at least one of a date range, a company name, a revenue range, a number of employees, and an industry code.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the seed data comprises a list of documents;

and wherein the filter set comprises a set of document data pre-computed from the list of documents.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one user-selectable element of the plurality of user-selectable elements of the search results interface accessible by the user to switch from a first visualization of the set of semantic search results to a second visualization of the set of semantic search results.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the semantic search engine searches within the filter set using the semantic input to find the set of semantic search results without rebuilding a semantic index.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the seed data comprises a set of products; and

the semantic search engine searches within the set of products to find the set of semantic search results without rebuilding a semantic index.

9. A search system comprising:

a network interface configured to communicate with a remote device through a network;

a processor coupled to the network interface; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to store instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to;

receive a user input including seed data, a search attribute, and a semantic input;

automatically search one or more data sources based on at least one of the seed data and the search attribute to generate a filter set including a plurality of documents;

automatically provide the filter set and the semantic input to a semantic search engine;

receive semantic search results from the semantic search engine that correspond to a subset of the filter set and that are semantically similar to the semantic input

automatically determine ancillary data based on data extracted from the semantic search results; and

provide a results interface including the semantic search results and the ancillary data to the remote device.

10. The search system of claim 9, wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

correlate the search results to a set of ancillary data from the determined ancillary data to produce output data; and

provide the output data to the remote device within the results interface.

11. The search system of claim 9, wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to provide a user search interface including at least one user-selectable element to select a predetermined attribute and including an associated text input to receive the seed data.

12. The search system of claim 9, wherein the predetermined attribute comprises a corporate name field and wherein the seed data comprises a company name.

13. The search system of claim 9, wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to provide a search interface including at least one user-selectable element accessible by a user to select a predetermined document set that represents the seed data.

14. The search system of claim 9, wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to provide a search interface including at least one user-selectable element accessible by a user to browse to a file and to attach the file to provide the seed data.

15. The search system of claim 9, wherein the filter set comprises a set of documents corresponding to a patent portfolio of a company.

16. The search system of claim 9, wherein the seed data comprises at least one of a list of identifiers associated with documents, a company name, a date range, a revenue range, a number of employees, and an industry code.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the semantic search engine searches within a subset of a document space corresponding to the filter set without rebuilding a semantic index.

18. A search system comprising:

a semantic search engine configured to search a document space based on a semantic input to identify semantic search results having a semantic similarity to the semantic input; and

a search interface coupled to the semantic search engine, the search interface configured to;

receive a user input from a computing device through a network, the user input including seed data, a search attribute, and a semantic input;

retrieve a plurality of documents based on the seed data and the search attribute;

automatically generate a filter set including data corresponding to the plurality of documents;

automatically provide the filter set and the semantic input to the semantic search engine;

receive the semantic search results from the semantic search engine, the semantic search results comprising a subset of the filter set;

extract data from the semantic search results;

search the one or more data sources using the extracted data to retrieve ancillary search results;

correlate the ancillary search results with the semantic search results to produce an output data set; and

provide a graphical user interface to the computing device, the graphical user interface including data related to the output data set and including a plurality of user-selectable elements accessible by a user to interact with the data.

19. The search system of claim 18, wherein the search interface is configured to provide a user search interface to the computing device through a network, the user search interface including at least one user-selectable element accessible by a user to select a predetermined attribute, an associated text input to receive the seed data, and a text input to receive the semantic input.