Business intelligence (BI) query and answering using full text search and keyword semantics

• US 10,380,144 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2015
• Issued: 08/13/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Business Objects Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Vermeulen, Florent, Dumant, Bruno, Bournat, Mathieu, Boixel, Rodolphe, Naibo, Alexis
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Morris, John J
• Application Number:
  US14/856,984
• Publication Number:
  US 20160373456A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,426 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2465 Query processing support for facilitating data mining operations in structured databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/322 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3329 Natural language query formulation or dialogue systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9024 Graphs; Linked lists G06F16/9027 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/284 Lexical analysis, e.g. tokenisation or collocates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for initiating, at a user interface, execution of a software application implementing a plurality of business processes associated with a plurality of business objects, and displaying, in the user interface, a query box and a plurality of visualizations depicting data corresponding to at least a portion of the plurality of business objects. The method includes receiving and parsing a free text input, generating and executing a search using a plurality of keyword search queries based on one or more keyword tokens. The method also includes applying grammar rules, generating query trees, and generating a number of search suggestions using the query trees.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating a plurality of search query suggestions, the method comprising:

initiating, at a user interface, execution of a software application implementing a plurality of processes associated with a plurality of data objects;

displaying, in the user interface, a query box and a plurality of visualizations depicting data corresponding to at least a portion of the plurality of data objects;

receiving a free text input in the query box;

parsing the free text input into one or more keyword tokens;

generating a plurality of keyword search queries based on the one or more keyword tokens;

executing the plurality of keyword search queries against a metadata repository;

obtaining a plurality of search results responsive to the plurality of keyword search queries, the search results including system data, and for each of the plurality of search results;

retrieving grammar rules associated with the system data, wherein the grammar rules enable identifying at least a partial match between a keyword and a portion of the system data;

determining security rules based, at least in part, on credentials of a user and a category of one or more portions of the system data;

applying the grammar rules to determine whether combining content associated with the one or more keyword tokens and the system data associated with one or more of the plurality of search results complies with the grammar rules;

filtering at least a portion of the content determined to be noncompliant with the grammar rules;

generating a query tree that connects a first node representing the one or more keyword tokens to a second node representing the system data associated with one or more of the plurality of search results, in response to determining that combining the content and the system data complies with the grammar rules;

generating a plurality of search query suggestions using the query tree to retrieve data corresponding to one or more data paths compliant with the grammar rules, wherein the data paths are defined in the query tree by one or more connected nodes; and

providing one or more of the plurality of search query suggestions, compliant with the security rules, for display in the user interface adjacent to the plurality of visualizations.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, in the query tree, a node that prohibits connection between the first node and the second node, in response to determining a noncompliance with one or more of the grammar rules.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

iteratively adding one or more nodes to each generated query tree until exhausting the keyword tokens;

assigning a score to each generated query tree; and

generating the plurality of search query suggestions and providing the search query suggestions for display in the user interface in a ranked order, according to the score associated with each generated query tree.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising providing, in the user interface, a fixed number of search query suggestions based at least in part on the score and on a predefined time constraint.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata repository is configured to store metadata about the plurality of data objects and relationships between one or more of the plurality of data objects.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the grammar rules are retrieved from a knowledge graph configured to include contextual knowledge data between data objects, relationship knowledge data between data objects, and behavioral knowledge data between data objects.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the grammar rules are configured to invoke a soft keyword grammar configured to generate a set of ranked search queries.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of search query suggestions is translated into graphical data and presented to the user in the user interface, in response to the user selecting the at least one search query suggestion, the translation including accessing one or more repositories of data to generate sales data associated with at least one data object in the plurality of data objects.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, limiting each generated query tree to fifty nodes, and adding each generated tree to a knowledge graph to provide search functionality to other users accessing the software application.

10. A query management system including instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the system comprising:

a query engine configured to generate a plurality of keyword search queries using one or more keyword tokens, execute the plurality of keyword search queries against a metadata repository, obtain a plurality of search results responsive to the plurality of keyword search queries, generate a plurality of query trees, and from the plurality of query trees, generate a plurality of search query suggestions to retrieve data corresponding to one or more rule compliant data paths defined by the plurality of query trees, and provide query suggestions for display in a user interface;

a knowledge graph including a plurality of query trees configured to connect a plurality of nodes representing data objects associated with keyword tokens and system data in response to determining compliance with grammar rules and to filter the nodes determined to be noncompliant with the system data; and

a security engine configured to implement security rules to allow or deny presentation of query suggestions to a user of the user interface, the security rules being based on user usage data, knowledge graph rules, and the grammar rules.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the security engine is configured to deny access to one or more query suggestions by removing the one or more query suggestions from a list of generated query suggestions before providing the list to a user, the denied access based at least in part on determining that user credentials, associated with the user accessing the user interface, are insufficient.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the knowledge graph includes a plurality of nodes and edges, the nodes representing data objects having a plurality of functions and variables, and the edges represent similarities between one or more function or variable associated with at least two data objects connected by at least one edge.

13. A non-transitory recordable storage medium having recorded and stored thereon instructions that, when executed, perform at least actions of:

receiving a free text input;

parsing the free text input into one or more keyword tokens;

generating a plurality of keyword search queries based on the one or more keyword tokens;

executing the plurality of keyword search queries against a metadata repository;

obtaining a plurality of search results responsive to the plurality of keyword search queries, the search results including system data, and for each of the plurality of search results;

retrieving grammar rules associated with the system data, wherein the grammar rules enable identifying at least a partial match between a keyword and a portion of the system data;

determining security rules based, at least in part, on credentials of a user and a category of one or more portions of the system data;

applying the grammar rules to determine whether combining content associated with the one or more keyword tokens and the system data associated with one or more of the plurality of search results complies with the grammar rules;

filtering at least a portion of the content determined to be noncompliant with the grammar rules;

generating a query tree that connects a first node representing the one or more keyword tokens to a second node representing the system data associated with one or more of the plurality of search results, in response to determining that combining the content and the system data complies with the grammar rules; and

generating a plurality of search query suggestions using the query tree to retrieve data corresponding to one or more data paths compliant with the grammar rules, wherein the data paths are defined in the query tree by one or more connected nodes; and

providing one or more of the plurality of search query suggestions, compliant with the security rules, for display in a user interface adjacent to a plurality of visualizations.

14. The non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise generating, in the query tree, a node that prohibits connection between the first node and the second node, in response to determining a noncompliance with one or more of the grammar rules.

15. The non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise:

iteratively adding one or more nodes to each generated query tree until exhausting the keyword tokens;

assigning a score to each generated query tree; and

generating the plurality of search query suggestions and providing the search query suggestions for display in the user interface in a ranked order, according to the score associated with each generated query tree.

16. The non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the metadata repository is configured to store metadata about system data and relationships between the system data.

17. The non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the grammar rules are retrieved from a knowledge graph configured to include contextual knowledge data between data objects, relationship knowledge data between data objects, and behavioral knowledge data between data objects.

18. The non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the grammar rules are configured to invoke a soft keyword grammar configured to generate a set of ranked search queries.

19. The non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 13, wherein at least one of the plurality of search query suggestions is translated into graphical data and presented in the user interface, in response to the user selecting the at least one search query suggestion, the translation including accessing one or more repositories of data to generate sales data.

20. The non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise limiting each generated query tree to fifty nodes, and adding each generated tree to a knowledge graph to provide search functionality.