Index for data retrieval and data structuring

• US 20050125395A1
• Filed: 12/02/2004
• Published: 06/09/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Boettiger, Volker
• Granted Patent: US 7,509,306 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/328 Management therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method and system of generating an index for a retrieval of data provided by at least one document is disclosed. The method and system comprise selecting data within the at least one document, assigning a category to the selected data, and assigning a timestamp to the selected data. The method and system further includes storing the selected data, the category, the timestamp and a location indication of the selected data as an entry of the index. The present invention therefore provides an effective and universally adaptive tool for contextual structuring and retrieval of data distributed over a plurality of electronic documents.

Claims

1. A method of generating an index for a retrieval of data provided by at least one document, the method comprising:

selecting data within the at least one document;

assigning a category to the selected data;

assigning a timestamp to the selected data; and

storing the selected data, the category, the timestamp and a location indication of the selected data as an entry of the index.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data is represented in textual and/or graphical form.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the location indication of the selected data either comprises a link or a path to the at least one document stored on a computer network or stored on a local file system of a computer system.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selected data is further assigned with a relevance indication.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the index is sorted according to the assigned category, the assigned timestamp, the assigned relevance indication or according to a user'"'"'s specification.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data and the document is provided in response to a selection of the corresponding entry of the index.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the data and the document is provided in response to a selection of the corresponding entry of the index.

8. The method according to claim 3, wherein the data and the document is provided in response to a selection of the corresponding entry of the index.

9. The method according to claim 4, wherein the data and the document is provided in response to a selection of the corresponding entry of the index.

10. The method according to claim 5, wherein the data and the document is provided in response to a selection of the corresponding entry of the index.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein one category of a provided set of categories is suggested to be assigned to the selected data.

12. The method according to claim 2, wherein one category of a provided set of categories is suggested to be assigned to the selected data.

13. The method according to claim 3, wherein one category of a provided set of categories is suggested to be assigned to the selected data.

14. The method according to claim 4, wherein one category of a provided set of categories is suggested to be assigned to the selected data.

15. The method according to claim 5, wherein one category of a provided set of categories is suggested to be assigned to the selected data.

16. The method according to claim 6, wherein one category of a provided set of categories is suggested to be assigned to the selected data.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising generating and providing a reminder of a corresponding index entry according to the timestamp of the index entry, the reminder being generated when a predefined time frame has passed.

18. A computer system for generating an index for a retrieval of data provided by at least one document, the computer system comprising:

means for selecting data within the at least one document;

means for assigning a category to the selected data;

means for assigning a timestamp to the selected data; and

means for storing the selected data, the category, the timestamp and a location indication of the selected data as an entry of the index.

19. The computer system according to claim 18, wherein the data is represented in textual and/or graphical form.

20. The computer system according to claim 18, wherein the location indication of the selected data either comprises a link or a path to the at least one document stored on a computer network or stored on a local file system of the computer system.

21. The computer system according to claim 19, wherein the location indication of the selected data either comprises a link or a path to the at least one document stored on a computer network or stored on a local file system of the computer system.

22. The computer system according to claim 18, further comprising means for providing the selected data and the corresponding document in response to a selection of the corresponding entry of the index.

23. The computer system according to claim 19, further comprising means for providing the selected data and the corresponding document in response to a selection of the corresponding entry of the index.

24. The computer system according to claim 20, further comprising means for providing the selected data and the corresponding document in response to a selection of the corresponding entry of the index.

25. The computer system according to claim 18, the means for assigning a category to selected being adapted to perform:

providing a set of categories in form of a context menu on a graphical user interface;

suggesting one category of the set of categories to be assigned to the selected data; and

assigning a category to the selected data in response to a user accepting or rejecting the suggested category.

26. The computer system according to claim 19, the means for assigning a category to selected being adapted to perform:

providing a set of categories in form of a context menu on a graphical user interface;

suggesting one category of the set of categories to be assigned to the selected data; and

assigning a category to the selected data in response to a user accepting or rejecting the suggested category.

27. The computer system according to claim 20, the means for assigning a category to selected being adapted to perform:

providing a set of categories in form of a context menu on a graphical user interface;

suggesting one category of the set of categories to be assigned to the selected data; and

assigning a category to the selected data in response to a user accepting or rejecting the suggested category.

28. The computer system according to claim 21, the means for assigning a category to selected being adapted to perform:

providing a set of categories in form of a context menu on a graphical user interface;

suggesting one category of the set of categories to be assigned to the selected data; and

assigning a category to the selected data in response to a user accepting or rejecting the suggested category.

29. The computer system according to claim 22, the means for assigning a category to selected being adapted to perform:

providing a set of categories in form of a context menu on a graphical user interface;

suggesting one category of the set of categories to be assigned to the selected data; and

assigning a category to the selected data in response to a user accepting or rejecting the suggested category.

30. The computer system according to claim 18, further comprising scanning means for performing querying the index using the location indication of the selected document as a key in order to provide a category assigned to the selected document.

31. The computer system according to claim 19, further comprising scanning means for performing querying the index using the location indication of the selected document as a key in order to provide a category assigned to the selected document.

32. The computer system according to claim 20, further comprising scanning means for performing querying the index using the location indication of the selected document as a key in order to provide a category assigned to the selected document.

33. The computer system according to claim 21, further comprising scanning means for performing querying the index using the location indication of the selected document as a key in order to provide a category assigned to the selected document.

34. The computer system according to claim 22, further comprising scanning means for performing querying the index using the location indication of the selected document as a key in order to provide a category assigned to the selected document.

35. The computer system according to claim 23, further comprising scanning means for performing querying the index using the location indication of the selected document as a key in order to provide a category assigned to the selected document.

36. The computer system according to claim 24, further comprising scanning means for performing querying the index using the location indication of the selected document as a key in order to provide a category assigned to the selected document.

37. A computer readable medium containing program instructions for generating an index for a retrieval of data provided by at least one document, the generation of an index entry, the program instructions for:

selecting data within the at least one document;

assigning a category to the selected data;

assigning a timestamp to the selected data; and

storing the selected data, the category, the timestamp and a location indication of the selected data as an entry of the index.

38. The computer readable medium containing program instructions according to claim 37, wherein the data is represented in textual and/or graphical form.

39. The computer readable medium containing program instructions according to claim 37, wherein the location indication of the selected data either comprises a link or a path to the at least one document stored on a computer network or stored on a local file system of a computer system.

40. The computer readable medium containing program instructions according to claim 38, wherein the location indication of the selected data either comprises a link or a path to the at least one document stored on a computer network or stored on a local file system of a computer system.

41. The computer readable medium containing program instructions according to claim 37, the computer program product further comprising program means for sorting the index according to the assigned category, the assigned timestamp or according to a user'"'"'s specification.

42. The computer readable medium containing program instructions according to claim 38, further comprising program means for sorting the index according to the assigned category, the assigned timestamp or according to a user'"'"'s specification.

43. The computer readable medium containing program instructions according to claim 39, further comprising program means for sorting the index according to the assigned category, the assigned timestamp or according to a user'"'"'s specification.

44. The computer readable medium containing program instructions according to claim 40, further comprising program means for sorting the index according to the assigned category, the assigned timestamp or according to a user'"'"'s specification.

45. The computer readable medium according to claim 37, the assigning of a category to selected data further comprising program means for:

providing a set of categories in form of a context menu on a graphical user interface;

suggesting one of the set of categories to be assigned to the selected data; and

assigning a category to the selected data in response to a user accepting or rejecting the suggested category.

46. The computer readable medium according to claim 38, the assigning of a category to selected data further comprising program means for:

providing a set of categories in form of a context menu on a graphical user interface;

suggesting one of the set of categories to be assigned to the selected data; and

assigning a category to the selected data in response to a user accepting or rejecting the suggested category.

47. The computer readable medium according to claim 39, the assigning of a category to selected data further comprising program means for:

providing a set of categories in form of a context menu on a graphical user interface;

suggesting one of the set of categories to be assigned to the selected data; and

assigning a category to the selected data in response to a user accepting or rejecting the suggested category.

48. The computer readable medium according to claim 40, the assigning of a category to selected data further comprising program means for:

providing a set of categories in form of a context menu on a graphical user interface;

suggesting one of the set of categories to be assigned to the selected data; and

assigning a category to the selected data in response to a user accepting or rejecting the suggested category.

49. The computer readable medium according to claim 41, the assigning of a category to selected data further comprising program means for:

providing a set of categories in form of a context menu on a graphical user interface;

suggesting one of the set of categories to be assigned to the selected data; and

assigning a category to the selected data in response to a user accepting or rejecting the suggested category.