System, method, and computer program product for finding web services using example queries

• US 20060149756A1
• Filed: 01/06/2005
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sabre GLBL Inc. (Sabre Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sabre Incorporated (Sabre Corp.)
• Inventors: Walker, Alan
• Granted Patent: US 8,041,727 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9532 Query formulation

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product allows a web service consumer to create an example query which illustrates the web service desired. The example query is compared, element by element, to potentially relevant web services. The difference between each element in the example query and any element in the web service being compared is quantified as a distance metric, based on the relationship between the elements. The relationships might be classified as: exact match, direct synonym, fuzzy synonym, hyponym, hypernym, or no match. The distance metric for each element in the example query is summed to calculate a total distance between the example query and the web service being compared. This sum is an expression of the difference between the example query and the web service being compared.

Claims

1. A method of finding a desired web service comprising:

creating an example query of the desired web service, the example query comprising a plurality of elements;

identifying a web service, the web service comprising a plurality of elements;

comparing each of the plurality of elements of the example query to the plurality of elements of the web service;

assigning a plurality of distance metrics to quantify differences between each of the plurality of elements of the example query and the plurality of elements of the web service; and

determining a relationship between the example query and the web service based on the plurality of distance metrics.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising summing the plurality of distance metrics.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of assigning a plurality of distance metrics comprises determining a relationship between each of the plurality of elements of the example query and the plurality of elements of the web service and assigning the distance metric based on the relationship.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the relationship is selected from the group consisting of exact match, direct synonym, field type conversion, fuzzy synonym, hyponym, hypernym, holonym, and no match.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising identifying synonyms, hyponyms, hypernyms, and holonyms for each of the plurality of elements of the example query using a lexical database.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of web services, the plurality of web services each comprising a plurality of elements;

comparing each of the plurality of elements of the example query to the plurality of elements of the plurality of web services;

assigning a plurality of distance metrics to quantify differences between each of the plurality of elements of the example query and the plurality of elements of the plurality of web services; and

determining a relationship between the example query and the plurality of web services based on the plurality of distance metrics.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising summing the plurality of distance metrics for each of the plurality of web services.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising assigning a rank to each of the plurality of web services based on the relationships of the plurality of web services to the example query.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising eliminating any web services where the respective sum of the distance metrics is greater than a predefined threshold.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising eliminating any web services having a respective rank that is above a predefined threshold.

11. A system for finding a desired web service comprising:

a processor comprising;

an identification element, for identifying a web service comprising a plurality of elements;

a comparison element, for comparing each of a plurality of elements of an example query of the desired web service to the plurality of elements of the web service and for assigning a plurality of distance metrics to quantify differences between each of the plurality of elements of the example query and the plurality of elements of the web service; and

a determination element, for determining a relationship between the example query and the web service based on the plurality of distance metrics

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a summation element, for summing the plurality of distance metrics.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the comparison element determines a relationship between each of the plurality of elements of the example query and the plurality of elements of the web service and assigning the distance metric based on the relationship.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the relationship is selected from the group consisting of exact match, direct synonym, field type conversion, fuzzy synonym, hyponym, hypernym, holonym, and no match.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the comparison element identifies synonyms, hyponyms, hypernyms, and holonyms for each of the plurality of elements of the example query using a lexical database.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein:

the identification element identifies a plurality of web services, the plurality of web services each comprising a plurality of elements;

the comparison element compares each of the plurality of elements of the example query of the web service desired to the plurality of elements of the plurality of web services and assigns a plurality of distance metrics to quantify differences between each of the plurality of elements of the example query and the plurality of elements of the plurality of web services; and

the determination element determines a relationship between the example query and the plurality of web services based on the plurality of distance metrics

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the summation element sums the plurality of distance metrics for each of the plurality of web services.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a ranking element to assign a rank to each of the plurality of web services based on the relationships of the plurality of web services to the example query.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising a discrimination element that eliminates any web services where the respective sum of the distance metrics is greater than a predefined threshold.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising a discrimination element that eliminates any web services having a respective rank that is above a predefined threshold.

21. A computer program product for finding a desired web services, the computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

a first executable portion capable of identifying a web service comprising a plurality of elements;

a second executable portion capable of comparing each of a plurality of elements of an example query of the desired web service to the plurality of elements of the web service and assigning a plurality of distance metrics to quantify differences between each of the plurality of elements of the example query and the plurality of elements of the web service; and

a third executable portion capable of determining a relationship between the example query and the web service based on the plurality of distance metrics.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising a fourth executable portion capable of summing the plurality of distance metrics.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the second executable portion assigns a plurality of distance metrics by determining a relationship between each of the plurality of elements of the example query and the plurality of elements of the web service and assigning the distance metric based on the relationship.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the second executable portion selects the relationship from the group consisting of exact match, direct synonym, field type conversion, fuzzy synonym, hyponym, hypernym, holonym, and no match.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the second executable portion is further capable of identifying synonyms, hyponyms, hypernyms, and holonyms for each of the plurality of elements of the example query using a lexical database.

26. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein:

the first executable portion is capable of identifying a plurality of web services, the plurality of web services each comprising a plurality of elements;

the second executable portion is capable of comparing each of the plurality of elements of the example query to the plurality of elements of the plurality of web services and assigning a plurality of distance metrics to quantify differences between each of the plurality of elements of the example query and the plurality of elements of the plurality of web services; and

the third executable portion is capable of determining a relationship between the example query and the plurality of web services based on the plurality of distance metrics.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, further comprising a fourth executable portion capable of summing the plurality of distance metrics for each of the plurality of web services.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, further comprising a fifth executable portion capable of assigning a rank to each of the plurality of web services based on the relationships of the plurality of web services to the example query.

29. The computer program product of claim 27, further comprising a fifth executable portion capable of eliminating any web services where the respective sum of the distance metrics is greater than a predefined threshold.

30. The computer program product of claim 28, further comprising a sixth executable portion capable of eliminating any web services having a respective rank above a predefined threshold.