System and method for determining numerical representations for categorical data fields and data processing system

• US 20030163462A1
• Filed: 02/14/2003
• Published: 08/28/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kawamura, Tateo
• Granted Patent: US 7,110,996 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A system and method execute search and retrieval techniques relative to previously stored documents or other objects. The system generally comprises a terminal and a server. The terminal requests the server to perform a preparation search based on a search term before requesting the extended search. The designated document is a document selected from a result of the preparation search. The server stores as a selection history the search term used in the preparation search along with the retrieval result. In addition, the system determines a selection frequency for each document that is measured with respect to selected documents with which it is retrieved. The present method conducts a first search based on key words or phrases, receives the selection of a given document relative to a result of the first search, and then conducts a second search based on the selected given document. If in the second search the given document was extracted in a previous retrieval process made by a user, a document having a history of being selected concurrently with the given document is extracted. Any document concurrently selected by the user with respect to the document extracted in the second search is automatically stored and noted as being associated with the search request.

Claims

1. A method for retrieving a stored target document, comprising:

conducting an initial search;

receiving a user selection of a document from a result of the initial search;

conducting an extended search based on the document that has been selected by the user;

extracting a group to which the selected document belongs, from a plurality of groups each including associated documents that have been concurrently selected in response to previous retrieval requests;

determining a frequency of co-occurrence between the selected document and the associated documents;

identifying an associated document having a frequency of co-occurrence exceeding a predetermined threshold;

designating the associated document as the target document; and

extracting the target document.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the target document.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the selected document to a server.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the server generating a new group based on the selected document.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising storing the new group.

6. A computer program product having instruction codes for retrieving a stored target document, comprising:

a first set of instruction codes for conducting an initial search based on a keyword;

a second set of instruction codes for conducting an extended search based on a document selected by a user;

a third set of instruction codes for extracting a group to which the selected document belongs, from a plurality of groups each including associated documents that have been concurrently selected in response to previous retrieval requests;

the third set of instruction codes determining a frequency of co-occurrence between the selected document and the associated documents;

a fourth set of instruction codes for identifying an associated document having a frequency of co-occurrence exceeding a predetermined threshold; and

the fourth of instruction codes further designating the associated document as the target document and extracting the target document.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising a storage for storing the target document.

8. The computer program product of claim 6, further comprising a fifth set of instruction codes for transmitting the selected document to a server.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the server generates a new group based on the selected document.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the new group is stored in the storage.

11. A system for retrieving a stored target document, comprising:

means for conducting an initial search based on a keyword;

means for conducting an extended search based on a document selected by a user;

means for extracting a group to which the selected document belongs, from a plurality of groups each including associated documents that have been concurrently selected in response to previous retrieval requests;

means for determining a frequency of co-occurrence between the selected document and the associated documents;

means for identifying an associated document having a frequency of co-occurrence exceeding a predetermined threshold; and

means for designating the associated document as the target document and extracting the target document.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a storage for storing the target document.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising means for transmitting the selected document to a server.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the server generates a new group based on the selected document.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the new group is stored in the storage.