Methods and systems for generating and searching a cross-linked keyphrase ontology database

• US 20020059289A1
• Filed: 07/06/2001
• Published: 05/16/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Brant Gary Wenegrat, David B. Degraaff, Jeffrey E. Davitz, Jiye Yu, Mariya B. Orshansky
• Original Assignee: Brant Gary Wenegrat, David B. Degraaff, Jeffrey E. Davitz, Jiye Yu, Mariya B. Orshansky
• Inventors: DeGraaff, David B., Yu, Jiye, Wenegrat, Brant Gary, Davitz, Jeffrey E., Orshansky, Mariya B.
• Application Number:
  US09/900,306
• Publication Number:
  US 20020059289A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/367 Ontology

Abstract

The methods and systems of the invention involve the generation and use of a cross-linked keyphrase ontology database. The database is generated by defining at least one keyphrase, representing the keyphrase by a keyphrase node in an ontology, cross-linking the keyphrase node to a second keyphrase node, and then repeating the preceding steps for each keyphrase defined. A retrievable object can be indexed in a cross-linked keyphrase ontology database by representing the retrievable object by an object node in an ontology and then cross-linking the object node to a keyphrase node, where the keyphrase node represents a keyphrase in a second ontology and the keyphrase is related to the retrievable object. The cross-linked keyphrase ontology database can be searched by parsing a natural language statement into a structured representation and searching the cross-linked keyphrase ontology database. The cross-linked ontology database can be used for disambiguating syntactically ambiguous natural language statements.

Claims

1. A method of generating a cross-linked keyphrase ontology database comprising the steps of:

(a) defining at least one keyphrase;

(b) representing the keyphrase by a keyphrase node in an ontology;

(c) cross-linking the keyphrase node to at least one second keyphrase node, wherein the second keyphrase node represents a second keyphrase in a second ontology; and

(d) repeating steps (b)-(c) for each keyphrase defined in step (a).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the keyphrase in step (a) is generated by parsing a text.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the keyphrase in step (a) is selected from a group consisting of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the keyphrase in step (a) and the second keyphrase have at least one word in common.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the text is in the English language.

6. A method of indexing a retrievable object in a cross-linked keyphrase ontology database comprising the steps of:

(a) representing the retrievable object by an object node in an ontology; and

(b) cross-linking the object node to a keyphrase node, wherein the keyphrase node represents a keyphrase in a second ontology and the keyphrase is related to the retrievable object.

7. The method of indexing of claim 6, wherein the keyphrase is determined by parsing a text related to the retrievable object.

8. The method of indexing of claim 6, wherein the retrievable object is a document.

9. The method of indexing of claim 6, wherein the retrievable object is a web page.

10. The method of indexing of claim 6, wherein the retrievable object is a pointer.

11. The method of indexing of claim 6, wherein the retrievable object is an executable computer program.

13. The method of searching of claim 12, wherein the search result is displayed to a user in a list.

14. The method of searching of claim 12, wherein the retrievable object is an executable computer program.

15. The method of searching of claim 12, wherein the natural language statement is a query.

16. The method of searching of claim 12, wherein the keyphrase in step (a) and the second keyphrase are identical.

17. The method of searching of claim 12, wherein the keyphrase in step (a) and the second keyphrase are synonyms.

18. The method of searching of claim 12, wherein the keyphrase in step (a) and the second keyphrase are metonyms.

19. The method of searching of claim 12, wherein the natural language statement is in the English language.

12. The method of searching a cross-linked keyphrase ontology database comprising the steps of:

(a) parsing a natural language statement into a structured representation, wherein the structured representation comprises at least one keyphrase;

(b) searching the cross-inked keyphrase ontology database for at least one object node, wherein the object node is cross-linked to a keyphrase node representing a second keyphrase, wherein the second keyphrase matches the keyphrase parsed in step (a); and

(c) defining a search result as a retrievable object, wherein the retrievable object is represented by the object node.

20. A method of disambiguating a syntactically ambiguous natural language statement comprising the steps of:

(a) parsing the syntactically ambiguous natural language statement into at least two structured representations, wherein the first structured representation comprises at least one first keyphrase and the second structured representation comprises at least one second keyphrase;

(b) searching a cross-linked keyphrase ontology database for a keyphrase node representing a third keyphrase, wherein the third keyphrase matches the first keyphrase or the second keyphrase;

(c) if the first keyphrase matches the third keyphrase and the second keyphrase does not match the third keyphrase, designating the first structured representation as a first disambiguated statement interpretation;

(d) if the second keyphrase matches the third keyphrase and the first keyphrase does not match the third keyphrase, designating the second structured representation as a second disambiguated statement interpretation; and

(e) if the first keyphrase matches the third keyphrase and the second keyphrase matches the third keyphrase or the first keyphrase does not match the third keyphrase and the second keyphrase does not match the third keyphrase, determining that the syntactically ambiguous natural language statement cannot be disambiguated.

21. The method of disambiguation of claim 20, wherein the syntactically ambiguous natural language statement is a query.

22. The method of disambiguating of claim 20, wherein the third keyphrase is identical to the first keyphrase or the second keyphrase.

23. The method of disambiguating of claim 20, wherein the third keyphrase is a synonym of the first keyphrase or the second keyphrase.

24. The method of disambiguating of claim 20, wherein the third keyphrase is a metonym of the first keyphrase or the second keyphrase.

25. The method of disambiguating of claim 20, wherein the syntactically ambiguous natural language statement is in the English language.