Method and device for automatically issuing information using a search engine

• US 20040022372A1
• Filed: 06/05/2003
• Published: 02/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volt Delta International GmbH (Volt Information Sciences Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Volt Delta International GmbH (Volt Information Sciences Incorporated)
• Inventors: Dahmen, Michael, Wagner, Johannes, Heidenfelder, Klaus, Plannerer, Bernd
• Granted Patent: US 7,167,545 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a device for automatically providing information by means of a search engine, in which information sought, together with other associated attributes, is stored in the form of data records. The invention provides for inquiry of search arguments for several attributes stored in a data record; comparison of the search arguments which have been input with search arguments stored; selection of a number of hits of stored search arguments which correspond to, or most closely approximate, the respective search argument that has been input, for each of the search arguments input; weighting of the selected search arguments with scores, which weighting indicates the probability with which the respective selected stored search argument agrees with the actually input search argument; selection of suitable data records from the database by means of the selected number of hits; weighting of the selected data records with overall scores which indicate the probability of the respective selected data record agreeing with the actually input search arguments, depending on the scores of the individual selected search arguments; and output of the data record with the highest overall score.

Claims

1. A method for automatically providing information by means of a search engine (7), in which information sought, together with other associated attributes, is stored in the form of data records, involving the following steps:

a) inquiry of search arguments for several attributes stored in a data record;

b) comparison of the search arguments which have been input with search arguments stored;

c) selection of a number of hits of stored search arguments which correspond to, or most closely approximate, the respective search argument that has been input, for each of the search arguments input;

d) weighting of the selected search arguments with scores, which weighting indicates the probability with which the respective selected stored search argument agrees with the actually input search argument;

e) selection of suitable data records from the stored data records by means of the selected number of hits;

f) weighting of the selected data records with overall scores which indicate the probability of the respective selected data record agreeing with the actually input search arguments, depending on the scores of the individual selected search arguments; and

g) output of the data record with the highest overall score.

2. The method according to the preceding claim, with querying of the search arguments being carried out phonetically by means of a speech recognition device (4).

3. The method according to one of the preceding claims, with querying of the search arguments taking place step-by-step, for each attribute separately and/or by means of dialog control.

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, with several separate quantities of stored search arguments being provided according to various types of attributes, and with the comparison between input and stored search arguments for a respectively input search argument in each instance being carried out on the basis of only one of the quantities of stored search arguments.

5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the search arguments which have been selected are weighted with absolute scores, wherein, preferably, a score is specified and if the scores are outside this score range, steps a) to d) according to claim 1 are repeated in relation to the respective search argument.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein by way of suitable data records such data records are selected which contain attributes which correspond to one of the search arguments of each number of hits.

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein, by way of suitable data records, such data records are selected which comprise the largest number of attributes which correspond to a respective search argument of each number of hits.

8. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the overall scores are determined by multiplying the individual scores which were allocated to the attributes of the respective data record or the respective search arguments, wherein preferably scores for various attributes of the respective data record or the respective search arguments are weighted individually.

9. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein for selected search arguments for one or some of the attributes a check is generated which reproduces the selected search argument for the respective attribute with the best score, and the number of hits of the selected search arguments for the respective attribute during confirmation of the check or of the respective search argument is limited to this search argument with the best score.

10. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein output of the data record according to step g) in claim 1 takes place acoustically by means of a speech reproduction unit (8).

11. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein several data records are output according to their overall scores.

12. The method according to the preceding claim, wherein, for selecting a data record, a further attribute is queried, with preferably the entered search argument being only compared to the attribute values of the data records which have already been found.

13. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein it is used for announcing telephone numbers.

16. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein an inquiry device (13) is provided and configured such that the search arguments to be input are queried step-by-step, for each attribute separately, and/or by means of dialog control.

17. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a memory (5) which is connectable to the speech recognition device (4) is provided, in which several separate quantities of stored search arguments are stored according to various types of attributes, and with the comparison device (9) being configured such that the comparison between input and stored search arguments for a respectively input search argument is carried out on the basis of only one of the stored quantities of search arguments.

18. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the weighting device (11) is designed such that absolute scores are allocated to the selected search arguments.

19. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the selection device (12) is configured such that by way of suitable data records such data records are selected which contain attributes which correspond to one of the search arguments of each number of hits.

20. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the selection device (12) is configured such that by way of suitable data records such data records are selected which comprise the largest number of attributes which correspond to a respective search argument of each number of hits.

21. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the calculation device (6) is configured such that the overall scores are determined by multiplying the individual scores which were allocated to the attributes of the respective data record or the respective search arguments, wherein the calculation device (6) is preferably configured such that scores for various attributes are weighted individually and/or in groups.

22. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein a checking device (14) is provided for generating a check, which in relation to a group of selected search arguments returns the search argument with the best score, and in which the selection device (10) is configured such that during confirmation of the check or of the respective search argument with the best score, the selected number of hits is limited to this search argument with the best score.

23. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the output device (2) comprises a speech reproduction unit (8) for acoustic output of the data record.

24. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein it is a telephone-number information system.

25. A computer program product comprising program code means, stored on a computer-readable data carrier, for implementing the process steps according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

14. A device for automatically providing information by means of a search engine (7), in which information sought, together with other associated attributes, is stored in the form of data records, comprising an input device (2) for inputting search arguments for several of the attributes stored in a data record;

a comparison device (9) for comparing the input search arguments with stored search arguments;

a selection device (10) for selecting a number of hits of stored search arguments which correspond to, or most closely approximate, the respective search argument that has been input, for each of the search arguments that have been input;

a weighting device (11) for weighting the selected search arguments with scores, which weighting indicates the probability with which the respective selected stored search argument agrees with the search argument that has actually been input;

a selection device (12) for selecting data records from the stored data records by means of the selected number of hits;

a calculation device (6) for calculating overall scores for the selected data records, which scores indicate the probability of the respective selected data record agreeing with the actually input search arguments, depending on the scores of the individual selected search arguments; and

an output device (2) for outputting the data record with the highest overall score.

15. The device according to the preceding claim, wherein a speech recognition device (4) for speech recognition of spoken input search arguments is provided.