Dynamically updating a search engine's knowledge and process database by tracking and saving user interactions

• US 20040139107A1
• Filed: 12/31/2002
• Published: 07/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mazina, Dorothy Irene, Hoffman, Richard Dale, Bachman, Robert Edward, McDavid, Douglas Warren, Johnson, Verlyn Mark
• Application Number:
  US10/334,256
• Publication Number:
  US 20040139107A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A method and computer program product for enabling users of a search engine to utilize and create recipes for a knowledge database by tracking user responses. The user-entered query (goal or objective) is parsed and intelligent search techniques are utilized to provide a list of items, which are saved as the result set. If no hits occur, articles are returned from an external database, and the user is prompted to create a recipe from the returned articles. The created recipe becomes the user'"'"'s solution to the problem. The user-created recipe is saved and fed back to the database where an administrator eventually approves it if it provides a viable solution to the task. The user is then provided a reward for providing the recipe. In this manner, database updates are driven by what the user'"'"'s actually want and not what the system administrator thinks the users want.

Claims

1. A method for automatically updating a process and knowledge database of an electronic search facility based on user inputs and responses, said method comprising:

providing a graphical user interface (GUI) to receive user input of a task defined as one of a goal and an objective for which information is being requested from the knowledge database, wherein said task indicates a solution desired and said goal and objective provides general and specific information about said task;

searching within said database for solutions to similarly defined tasks, said solutions each comprising an ordered sequence of steps that accomplishes said similar defined task;

enabling user selection and modification of one or more of said solutions that conform to the task defined by said user; and

when said user indicates completion of the selection and modification of said solutions, automatically storing a resulting sequence of steps within said knowledge database as a recipe for completing said task defined by said goal and objective, wherein recipes stored within said knowledge database are accessible to other users of said database.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating one or more keywords with said recipe, said keywords identified from a parsing of said goal and said objective; and

enabling retrieval of said recipe in response to a later request by a user to accomplish a next task defined by one of a next goal and objective that is parsed to produce similar keywords.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a user workspace uniquely associated with said user and accessible via a login credential of said user; and

receiving user input and responses within said user workspace displayed within said GUI;

saving each incomplete user requests within said user workspace along with a progress indicator and a data and time stamp;

responsive to an initial request for access to said knowledge database, for prompting said user for entry of a login credential;

displaying said GUI with said user'"'"'s workspace when said login credential is verified as valid; and

displaying within said GUI a plurality of user selectable options including;

working on a saved task, creating a new goal, creating a new objective, and deleting one of an existing task, goal and objective.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

automatically providing a sequence of GUIs in which said user enters one of a description of a new goal and a description of a new objective and in which said user selects and modifies tasks associated with said new goal when said user selects the option of creating a new goal and in which said user selects and modifies tasks associated with said new objective when said user selects the option of creating a new objective; and

wherein, when said user selects the option of working on an existing task, a GUI for the stage in the process of resolving a result set of said task at which said user stopped working during a previous interaction with said task is opened.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

triggering a reward-issuing feature that results in a user receiving a reward for generating a new recipe that is accepted for publication within said knowledge database.

assigning a point to a recipe each time said recipe is utilized by a user;

responsive to a recipe being utilized more than a maximum threshold number of times, providing an additional reward to the user who generated said recipe; and

responsive to a recipe being utilized less than a minimum threshold number over a pre-determined period of time, scheduling said recipe for deletion from said knowledge database.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying knowledge information associated with each step of a process within a recipe when said recipe is outputted to a user, wherein said recipe is outputted with a toggle functions to enable said user to selectively toggle between a process step and associated knowledge for a more comprehensive understanding of the solution to a goal.

wherein each step of said recipe is accompanied by additional data, which provides information from a pre-established classification system that comprises knowledge and skill, evaluation and comprehension, and analysis and synthesis.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to said knowledge data not containing a recipe that is suitable for accomplishing said goal and objective, completing a search on an external database, wherein said search retrieves information in a different format from that of said knowledge database;

enabling user creation of a recipe for said goal and objectives from said information retrieved;

temporarily storing the created recipe within the knowledge database including all annotations and modifications made by said user to temporary storage, wherein a system administrator is provided access to check a validity and usefulness of said completed recipe; and

when an approval is received from said system administrator, automatically storing said recipe within said knowledge database.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said enabling step includes:

storing said retrieved information as a set of links;

tracking a completion of user analysis of said set of links via said progress indicator, wherein a completion score is calculated as the number of completed links versus a total number of links in said set;

enabling said user to access each link and delete links from said set;

classifying remaining articles according to the a pre-established classification system, which includes knowledge and skill, evaluation and comprehension, and analysis and synthesis;

splitting said remaining articles into smaller chunks;

assimilating a recipe for the goal and objective from said chunks of articles based on tasks identified by said user, wherein said recipe is assimilated in a pre-set format utilized for said knowledge database; and

linking said assimilated recipe to keywords initially specified by user along with additional keywords said user inputs as relevant.

9. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer readable medium; and

program code on said computer readable medium for automatically updating a process and knowledge database of an electronic search facility based on user interactions and selections, said program code including code for;

providing a graphical user interface (GUI) to receive user input of a goal and a objective for which information is being requested from the knowledge database, wherein said goal indicates a solution desired and said objective indicates why said solution is desired;

searching within said database for defined tasks related to a similar objective, said defined tasks comprising an ordered sequence of steps that accomplishes said similar objective;

enabling user selection and modification of one or more of said defined tasks to conform to the objective and goal of said user;

when said user indicates completion of the selection and modification of tasks, automatically storing said sequence of steps within said knowledge database as a recipe for completing said goal and objective, wherein recipes stored within said knowledge database are accessible to other users of said database.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, said program code further comprising code for:

associating one or more keywords with said recipe, said keywords identified from a parsing of said goal and said objective; and

enabling retrieval of said recipe in response to a later request by a user to accomplish a next goal and objective parsed to produce similar keywords.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, said program code further comprising code for:

establishing a user workspace uniquely associated with said user and accessible via a login credential of said user;

receiving user interaction within said user workspace displayed within said GUI;

saving each incomplete user requests within said user workspace along with a progress indicator and a data and time stamp;

responsive to an initial request for access to said knowledge database, prompting said user for entry of a login credential;

displaying said GUI with said user'"'"'s workspace when said login credential is verified as valid; and

displaying within said GUI a plurality of user selectable options including;

working on a saved goal, creating a new goal, and deleting an existing goal.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising program code for:

automatically providing a sequence of GUIs in which said user enters a name of a new goal and the objectives and selects and modifies tasks associated with said new goal and objectives when said user selects the option of creating a new goal; and

wherein, when said user selects the option of working on an existing goal, a GUI for the stage in the process of resolving a goal at which said user stopped working during a previous interaction with said goal is opened.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising:

displaying knowledge information associated with each step of a process within a recipe when said recipe is outputted to a user, wherein said recipe is outputted with a toggle functions to enable said user to selectively toggle between a process step and associated knowledge for a more comprehensive understanding of the solution to a goal.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising program code for:

responsive to said knowledge data not containing a recipe that is suitable for accomplishing said goal and objective, completing a search on an external database, wherein said search retrieves information in a different format from that of said knowledge database;

storing said retrieved information as a set of links within said workspace;

enabling said user to access each link and delete links from said set;

enabling said user to classify remaining articles according to the a pre-established classification system, which includes knowledge and skill, evaluation and comprehension, and analysis and synthesis;

enabling said user to split said remaining articles into smaller chunks;

assimilating a recipe for the goal and objective from said chunks of articles based on tasks identified by said user, wherein said recipe is assimilated in a pre-set format utilized for said knowledge database;

linking said assimilated recipe to keywords initially specified by user along with additional keywords said user inputs as relevant;

tracking a completion of user analysis of and modification to said set of links via said progress indicator, wherein a completion score is calculated as the number of completed links versus a total number of links in said set;

when said user completes his analysis and modification, temporarily storing said created recipe including all annotations and modifications made by said user to temporary storage, wherein a system administrator is provided access to check a validity and usefulness of said completed recipe; and

when an approval is received from said system administrator, automatically storing said created recipe within said knowledge database, wherein said created recipe is made available to other users of said knowledge database.

15. A system for automatically updating a process and knowledge database of an electronic search facility of a data processing system based on user inputs and response, said facility comprising:

means for providing a graphical user interface (GUI) to receive user input of a goal and a objective for which information is being requested from the knowledge database, wherein said goal indicates a solution desired and said objective indicates why said solution is desired;

means for searching within said database for defined tasks related to a similar objective, said defined tasks comprising an ordered sequence of steps that accomplishes said similar objective;

means for enabling user selection and modification of one or more of said defined tasks to conform to the objective and goal of said user;

when said user indicates completion of the selection and modification of tasks, means for automatically storing said sequence of steps within said knowledge database as a recipe for completing said goal and objective, wherein recipes stored within said knowledge database are accessible to other users of said database.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

means for associating one or more keywords with said recipe, said keywords identified from a parsing of said goal and said objective; and

means for enabling retrieval of said recipe in response to a later request by a user to accomplish a next goal and objective parsed to produce similar keywords.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

means for establishing a user workspace uniquely associated with said user and accessible via a login credential of said user;

means for receiving user interaction within said user workspace displayed within said GUI;

means for saving each incomplete user requests within said user workspace along with a progress indicator and a data and time stamp;

means responsive to an initial request for access to said knowledge database, for prompting said user for entry of a login credential;

means for displaying said GUI with said user'"'"'s workspace when said login credential is verified as valid; and

means for displaying within said GUI a plurality of user selectable options including;

working on a saved goal, creating a new goal, and deleting an existing goal.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

means for automatically providing a sequence of GUIs in which said user enters a name of a new goal and the objectives and selects and modifies tasks associated with said new goal and objectives when said user selects the option of creating a new goal; and

means wherein, when said user selects the option of working on an existing goal, a GUI for the stage in the process of resolving a goal at which said user stopped working during a previous interaction with said goal is opened.

19. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

means for displaying knowledge information associated with each step of a process within a recipe when said recipe is outputted to a user, wherein said recipe is outputted with a toggle functions to enable said user to selectively toggle between a process step and associated knowledge for a more comprehensive understanding of the solution to a goal.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

means, responsive to said knowledge data not containing a recipe that is suitable for accomplishing said goal and objective, for completing a search on an external database, wherein said search retrieves information in a different format from that of said knowledge database;

means for storing said retrieved information as a set of links within said workspace;

means for enabling said user to access each link and delete links from said set;

means for enabling said user to classify remaining articles according to the a pre-established classification system, which includes knowledge and skill, evaluation and comprehension, and analysis and synthesis.

means for enabling said user to split said remaining articles into smaller chunks;

means for assimilating a recipe for the goal and objective from said chunks of articles based on tasks identified by said user, wherein said recipe is assimilated in a pre-set format utilized for said knowledge database;

means for linking said assimilated recipe to keywords initially specified by user along with additional keywords said user inputs as relevant;

means for tracking a completion of user analysis of and modification to said set of links via said progress indicator, wherein a completion score is calculated as the number of completed links versus a total number of links in said set;

means, when said user completes his analysis and modification, for temporarily storing said created recipe including all annotations and modifications made by said user to temporary storage, wherein a system administrator is provided access to check a validity and usefulness of said completed recipe; and

means, when an approval is received from said system administrator, for automatically storing said created recipe within said knowledge database, wherein said created recipe is made available to other users of said knowledge database.