International information search and delivery system providing search results personalized to a particular natural language

• US 20040103075A1
• Filed: 11/22/2002
• Published: 05/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kim, Moom Ju, Nishikora, Mariao, Takamura, Bni, Taura, Atsushi
• Granted Patent: US 7,039,625 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/126 Character encoding
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/247 Thesauruses; Synonyms
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

Inputted data in various natural languages are passed through transitional translation layers which convert the data to a single computer language using a universal character set encompassing the character sets used in all supported natural languages. The data are stored in their original natural languages with documents segmented into components identified by search terms which components are arranged in a taxonomy tree based on types. In the case of a product database, these types could be various product types enabling quick keyword searches when the product name or number is known. A bi-directional inverted index is provided for access by the keyword search terms in which the keywords in all supported languages are stored and cross-referenced to documents in each of the natural languages. Keywords with the same meaning in different languages are accessible together when the keyword in one of the languages is queried. The search engine containing the table can identify pertinent documents either in the queried language, a second language or in all supported languages as determined by the user. Documents in selected languages are formulated from the stored segments and identified when requested by the searcher. The operated on documents are then outputted through transitional translation layers and provided in the desired format the same or different from the input form and language.

Claims

1. A search engine management system for searching for documents in multiple natural languages, the system comprising:

a format translational layer that receives one or more inputs in two or more of the natural languages, the inputs having an input format and input data, the format translational layer retaining the data in its natural language, converting the input format to a single kernal format, including a universal character set, using input adaptors, the translational layer further having one or more output adaptors; and

a kernal using the kernal format to operate on the input data with one or more kernal elements to product kernal results whereby the kernal results are sent to one or more of the network outputs through the translational layer where the output adaptors convert the kernal results to the output format in one or more of the natural languages.

2. A system as in claim 1, where the kernal format includes any one or more of the following formats:

XML, GML, and html, in Unicode character sets.

3. A system of the type claimed in claim 1 including:

a list of keywords in the kernel which includes, for each of a plurality of documents in a database of the kernel, keywords with synonymous meanings in at least a first and second of the natural languages;

an inverted index in the kernel for the plurality of documents of the database including the keywords with synonymous meanings in the list; and

a search engine in the kernel responsive to keywords in both the first and second languages, said search engine using the inverted index to obtain a set of results which include the documents which correspond to input keyword search terms in the first or input language and which includes documents which are in the second language.

4. A system of the type described in claim 3, wherein the list is a two-way list which is usable in converting a search term from a first language to a second language and from a second language to a first language.

5. A searching system of the type described in claim 4, wherein the converting of search terms uses the Unicode system for managing multiple languages.

6. A computer program product on a computer usable system for a search engine management system for searching for documents in multiple natural languages, comprising:

software for a format translational layer that receives one or more inputs in two or more of the natural languages, the inputs having an input format and input data, the format translational layer retaining data in its natural language but converting the input format to a single kernal format including a universal character set using input adaptors, the translational layer further having one or more output adaptors; and

software for a kernal using the kernal format to operate on the input data with one or more kernal elements to product kernal results whereby the kernal results are sent to one or more of the network outputs through the translational layer where the output adaptors convert the kernal results to the output format in a selected natural language.

7. A computer program product as in claim 6, where the kernal format includes any one or more of the following formats:

XML, GML, and html, in Unicode.

8. A computer program product as in claim 6, where the kernal elements include content repository and any one or more of the following:

Content Extraction Manager;

Searchable Content Manager;

Access Manager;

Index Manager;

Interface Manager;

Layout Manager; and

SM Engine.

9. A computer program product of claim 6, comprising:

software for a list of keywords which includes, for each of a plurality of documents in a database in the kernel, keywords with synonymous meanings in at least a first and a second of the natural languages;

software for an inverted index for the plurality of documents of the database including the keywords with synonymous meaning in the list; and

a search engine responsive to keywords in both the first and second languages, said search engine using the inverted index to obtain a set of results which include the documents which correspond to input keyword search terms in the first or input language and which includes documents which are in the second language.

10. A computer program product as in claim 9, wherein the list is a two-way list which is usable in converting a search term from a first language to a second language and from a second language to a first language.

11. A computer program product as in claim 7, wherein the converting of search terms uses the Unicode system for managing multiple languages.

12. A computer program product as in claim 6 including software for a universal taxonomy database containing product names in a plurality of natural languages.

13. A computer program product of claim 6 including the software for storing locate documents in a component format database system.