Systems and methods for associating system entities with descriptions

• US 20040122817A1
• Filed: 12/23/2002
• Published: 06/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Kaiser, Matthias
• Granted Patent: US 7,165,066 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/914 Video
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/915 Image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/916 Audio
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/917 Text
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and systems that provide users with the ability to navigate through information systems using natural language descriptions. In accordance with at least one embodiment, the navigation tool can be personalized and can adaptively and dynamically associate descriptions provided by users with various entities, thereby acquiring utility from increased use. In another embodiment, the navigation tool enables associations to be modified using feedback obtained from a user and utilizes such modifications to provide users with useful results.

Claims

1. A method for associating descriptions with information system entities comprising the steps of:

establishing a communications gateway with an information system;

obtaining, via the communications gateway, at least one descriptive element from a user of the information system;

using the at least one descriptive element to identify, via a lexicon of associations, an entity related to the information system having an association with said descriptive element;

providing, to the user, the entity without the user interacting with the information system; and

updating the lexicon using feedback obtained from the user after providing the entity to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing a communications gateway comprises establishing an interface with a computer application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein enabling a user to input the descriptive element comprises enabling the user input at least one of an alphanumeric character, an audio signal, and a visual signal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the lexicon using feedback comprises reinforcing the association between the entity and the descriptive element in response to the user selecting the entity.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the lexicon comprises weakening the association between the entity and the descriptive element in response to lack of use by the user.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the lexicon by weakening the association between at least one entity and its associated descriptive element based on time since first use of the associated descriptive element.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of enabling the user to manually retrieve an entity associated with the information system not having an association with the descriptive element inputted by the user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein updating the lexicon using feedback comprises adding to the lexicon a new association between the descriptive element inputted by the user and the entity manually retrieved by the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing step comprises at least one of providing access to the system entity, presenting the system entity, and routing the user to the system entity.

10. A method for dynamically associating system entities with descriptions comprising the steps of:

receiving, from a user, a description including at least one descriptive element related to a system entity;

enabling the user to select the system entity; and

establishing an association between the at least one descriptive element and the system entity in response to the user manually selecting said system entity;

receiving the descriptive element in a subsequent query from the user;

presenting, in response to the subsequent query, the system entity to the user without the user interacting with the system; and

reinforcing the association between the descriptive element and the system entity in response to the user selecting the system entity after it is presented to the user.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

weakening the association between the descriptive element and the system entity based on time.

12. A system comprising:

an information system;

a storage mechanism;

an interface coupled to the information system; and

navigation means, coupled to the interface and the storage mechanism for;

receiving, via the interface, a description provided by a user of the information system, the description including at least one descriptive element;

extricating the at least one descriptive element from the description;

retrieving from the storage mechanism at least one entity related to the information system and having an association with the at least one descriptive element; and

prioritizing the at least one entity by computing a score that reflects a correlation between the description and the at least one entity.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the description is a plurality of words and each of said plurality of words is a descriptive element.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the navigation means extricates the descriptive element by way of separating each of the plurality of words.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the navigation means extricates by discarding at least one of the words in the description.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the description includes at least one of textual data, video data, and audio data.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the information system is at least one computer application.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one entity related to the information system includes at least one of a file, a directory, a link, a menu item, an image, audio data, and a system action.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the interface is an application interface.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the storage mechanism includes a database.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the information system resides in a first location and the navigation means resides in a second location.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the second location is remotely located with respect to the first location.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the first location and the second location are both located in a single computer.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the first location is a client and the second location is server.

25. The system of claim 12, wherein the user of the information system accesses the information system via a computer coupled to a network.

26. The system of claim 12, wherein the score includes a bias weight corresponding to the association between the at least one descriptive element included in the description and the system entity.

27. The system of claim 13, wherein the score is sum of bias weights corresponding to associations between each of the words included in the description and the system entity.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the navigation means causes the at least one entity having an association with the at least one descriptive element to be presented to the user and, in response to the user selecting said entity, increments the bias weight corresponding to the association between the descriptive element and the system entity.

29. The system of claim 12, wherein the navigation means creates, and stored in the storage mechanism, a new association between the at least one descriptive element and an unrecognized system entity in response to the user selecting the unrecognized system entity.

30. A system comprising:

an information system;

a communications interface coupled to the information system; and

association means for;

receiving, from a first user via the communications interface, a first description of an entity associated with the information system and establishing a first association between said entity and the first description; and

receiving, from at least a second user via the communications interface, a second description of the entity associated with the information system and establishing a second association between said entity and the second description.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the association means retrieves the entity for the first user in response to receiving the first description from the first user after the first association is established.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the association means retrieves the entity for the second user in response to receiving the second description from the second user after the second association is established.

33. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a computer system coupled to a network to perform a method, the computer system having a processor for executing the instructions, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a description provided by a user of an information system that is coupled to the network, the description including at least one descriptive element;

extricating the at least one descriptive element from the description;

retrieving from a storage mechanism, coupled to the network, at least one entity related to the information system and having an association with the at least one descriptive element; and

prioritizing the at least one entity by computing a score that reflects a correlation between the description and the at least one entity.