Code, method, and system for manipulating texts

• US 20050120011A1
• Filed: 11/18/2004
• Published: 06/02/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Word Data Corporation
• Original Assignee: Word Data Corporation
• Inventors: Chin, Shao, Dehlinger, Peter J.
• Application Number:
  US10/993,462
• Publication Number:
  US 20050120011A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/205 Parsing

Abstract

Disclosed are a computer-readable code, system and method for combining texts to form novel combinations of texts related to a desired target concept, where the concept is represented in the form of a natural-language text or a list of descriptive word and/or word-group terms. The system operates to find primary and secondary groups of texts having highest term match scores with a first and second subset of terms in the concept, respectively. It then generates pairs of texts containing a text from each of the primary and secondary groups of database texts, and selects for presentation to the user, those pairs of texts having highest overlap scores as determined from one or more of (i) term overlap, (ii) term coverage, (iii) feature-specific cross-correlation, (iv) attribute-specific correlation, and (v) citation score of one or both texts in the pair.

Claims

1. A computer-assisted method for combining texts to form novel combinations of texts related to a desired target concept that is represented in the form of a natural-language text or a list of descriptive terms that include words and, optionally, word groups, said method comprising

(A) if the target concept is represented in the form of a natural-language text, extracting descriptive word and, optionally, word-group terms from the text, to form a list of descriptive terms,

(B) searching a database of target-related texts, to identify a primary group of texts having highest term match scores with a first subset of said terms,

(C) searching a database of target-related texts, to identify a secondary group of texts having the highest term match scores with a second subset of said terms, where said first and second subsets are at least partially complementary with respect to the terms in said list,

(D) generating pairs of texts containing a text from the primary group of texts and a different text from the secondary group of texts, and

(E) selecting for presentation to the user, those pairs of texts that have highest overlap scores as determined from one or more of:

(E1) overlap between descriptive terms in one text in the pair with descriptive terms in the other text in the pair;

(E2) overlap between descriptive terms present in both texts in the pair and said list of descriptive terms;

(E3) for one or more terms in one of the pairs of texts identified as feature terms, the presence in the other pair of texts of one or more feature-specific terms defined as having a substantially higher rate of occurrence in a feature library composed in texts containing that feature term,

(E4) for one or more attributes associated with the target invention, the presence in at least one text in the pair of attribute-specific terms defined as having a substantially higher rate of occurrence in an attribute library composed in texts containing a word-and/or word-group term that is descriptive of that attribute, and

(E5) a citation score related to the extent to which one or both texts in the pair are cited by later texts.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein descriptive terms in the target concept are identified as non-generic terms that have a selectivity value, calculated as the frequency of occurrence of that term in a library of texts in one field, relative to the frequency of occurrence of the same term in one or more other libraries of texts in one or more other fields, respectively, above a given threshold value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the target concept is represented in the form of a natural-language text, and step (A) includes

(A1) for each of a plurality of terms selected from one of (i) non-generic words in the text, (ii) proximately arranged word groups in the document, and (iii) a combination of (i) and (ii), determining a selectivity value calculated as the frequency of occurrence of that term in a library of texts in one field, relative to the frequency of occurrence of the same term in one or more other libraries of texts in one or more other fields, respectively, and

(A2) selecting as descriptive terms, those terms that have a selectivity value above a selected threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (B) includes

(B1) representing the list of terms as a first vector of terms,

(B2) determining for each of a plurality of database texts, a match score related to the number of terms present in or derived from that text that match those in the first vector, and

(B3) selecting one or more of the texts having the highest primary-vector match scores, where the first subset of terms includes terms present in at least one of the selected, highest match score texts in the first group of texts.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the coefficients assigned to each term in the first vector is related to the selectivity value determined for that term, calculated as the frequency of occurrence of that term in a library of texts in one field, relative to the frequency of occurrence of the same term in one or more other libraries of texts in one or more other fields, respectively, above a given threshold value.

6. The method of claim 3, which further includes adjusting the effective coefficients assigned to selected terms in said first vector, based on user input related to one or more user-selected terms, and the system carries out or repeats step (B) with the adjusted-value vector, thereby to increase the probability that the selected term(s) in said list will be present in said first group of texts.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein step (C) includes

(C1) forming a second vector of terms that are unrepresented or underrepresented in the highest ranked primary texts,

(C2) determining for each of a plurality of sample texts, a match score related to the number of terms present in or derived from that text that match those in the second vector, and

(C3) selecting one or more of the secondary texts having the highest secondary-vector match scores, where the second subset of terms includes terms present in at least one of the selected, highest match score texts in the second group of texts.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the coefficients assigned to each term in the second vector is related to the selectivity value determined for that term, calculated as the frequency of occurrence of that term in a library of texts in one field, relative to the frequency of occurrence of the same term in one or more other libraries of texts in one or more other fields, respectively.

9. The method of claim 7, which further includes adjusting the effective coefficients assigned to selected terms in said second vector, based on user-input related to one or more user-selected terms, and the system carries out or repeats step (C) with the adjusted-value vector, thereby to increase the probability that the selected term(s) in said list will be present in said second group of texts.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (E) includes selecting for presentation to the user, those pairs of database texts that have the highest overlap scores as determined from one or both of:

(E1) overlap between descriptive terms in one text in the pair with descriptive terms in the other text in the pair; and

(E2) overlap between descriptive terms present in at least one text in the pair and said list of descriptive terms;

11. The method of claim 1, wherein step (E) includes selecting for presentation to the user, those pairs of database texts that have the highest overlap scores as determined from one or both of:

(E3) for one or more terms in one of the pairs of texts identified as feature terms, the presence in the other pair of texts of one or more feature-specific terms defined as having a substantially higher rate of occurrence in a feature library composed in texts containing that feature term,

(E4) for one or more attributes associated with the target invention, the presence in at least one text in the pair of attribute-specific terms defined as having a substantially higher rate of occurrence in an attribute library composed in texts containing a word-and/or word-group term that is descriptive of that attribute, and

12. The method of claim 11, wherein step (E3) includes

(E3a) user-selection of one or more non-generic terms in said list of terms as feature terms,

(E3b) for each feature term selected in (E3a), determining a feature-term selectivity value related to the occurrence of that term in the texts of the associated feature library relative to the occurrence of the same term in one or more different libraries of texts,

(E3c) using the feature-term selectivity values determined in (E3b) to identify terms that are feature specific for the associated feature.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein step (E4) includes

(E4a) user selection of one or more attribute terms desired in the concept,

(E4b) for each attribute term selected in (E4a), determining an attribute-specific selectivity value related to the occurrence of that attribute term in the texts of the associated attribute library relative to the occurrence of the same term in one or more different libraries of texts,

(E4c) using the attribute-term selectivity values determined in (E4b) to identify terms that are attribute specific for the associated attribute.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein step (E) includes selecting for presentation to the user, those pairs of database texts that have the highest overlap scores as determined from a citation score related to the extent to which one or both texts in the pair are cited by later texts.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the target concept and the associated database searched is selected from

(1) a novel combination of existing inventions, wherein the database searched in steps (B) and (C) is a database of patent abstracts or claims;

(2) a discovery and one or more potential applications of the discovery, wherein the database searched in steps (B) and (C) is a database of patent abstracts or claims;

(3) a novel combination of storylines, wherein the database searched in steps (B) and (C) is a database of abstracts of stories.

16. An automated system for combining texts to form novel combinations of texts related to a desired target concept that is represented in the form of a natural-language text or a list of descriptive terms that include words and, optionally, word groups, comprising

(1) a computer,

(2) accessible by said computer, a database of texts that include texts related to the selected concept, and

(3) a computer readable code which is operable, under the control of said computer, to perform the steps of claim 1.

17. Computer readable code for use with an electronic computer and a database a of texts that include texts related to a selected concept, for combining texts to form novel combinations of texts related to the selected concept, where the concept is represented in the form of a natural-language text or a list of descriptive terms that include words and, and said code is operable, under the control of said computer, to perform the steps of claim 1.

18. A feature or attribute descriptor dictionary comprising

a list of feature and/or attribute descriptors, and

for each descriptor, a list of word and/or word-group terms that are that are descriptor specific for that descriptor, where a term is descriptor specific for a given descriptor if the term has a substantially higher rate of occurrence in a descriptor library composed in texts containing a word-and/or word-group term that is the same as or descriptive of that descriptor than the same term has in a library of texts unrelated to that descriptor.