Text searching and categorization tools

• US 20060218105A1
• Filed: 03/24/2005
• Published: 09/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Realm Licensing LLC (IP Edge LLC)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Martin, Nathaniel G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,996,356 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/12
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method is carried out. Text data to be mined is accessed. The text data includes text snippets. Rules are encoded in a rule base. A search request is submitted to a search request handler. A search request handler applies the rules from the rules base to the text and associates different labels to respective text snippets in the text data in accordance with the rule base.

Claims

1. Machine-readable media encoded with data, the data being interoperable with a machine to cause:

accessing text data to be mined, the text data including text snippets;

encoding rules in a rule base;

submitting a search request to a search request handler; and

the search request handler applying the rules from the rule base to the text data and associating different labels to respective text snippets in the text data in accordance with the rule base.

2. The machine-readable media according to claim 1, the data being interoperable with a machine to further cause:

presenting to a human user, on a computer screen display, text snippets and their associated different labels, and presenting to the human user a revise option that can be selected by the human user through a computer interface to indicate a need to further encode the rules in the rule base.

3. The machine-readable media according to claim 2, the data being interoperable with a machine to further cause:

after presenting the human user with text snippets and their associated different labels, in response to the human user'"'"'s selection of the revise option, further encoding rules in the rule base, the further encoding including one or both of modifying existing rules and adding rules.

4. The machine-readable media according to claim 3, the data being interoperable with a machine to further cause:

the encoding being in response to rule information input by a human user via a computer screen displayed rule selection interface; and

the rule information input by the user including information encoding a rule in the rule base to include a label and a corresponding set of match terms, where a mined text snippet containing each match term in the given set of match terms is associated with the label corresponding to the given set of match terms.

5. The machine-readable media according to claim 4, the data being interoperable with a machine to further cause:

the encoding being in response to rule information input by a human user via a computer screen displayed rule selection interface; and

the rule information input by the user including a textual language using a prescribed syntax, the textual language including a textual label separated from match terms and from negation terms with a prescribed symbol.

6. The machine-readable media according to claim 4, the data being interoperable with the machine to further cause:

a rule in the rule base being encoded in response to input by a human user by a computer screen displayed rule selection interface to also include a corresponding set of negation terms, and where a mined text snippet containing at least one negation term in a given set of negation terms is not associated with the label corresponding to the given set of negation terms.

7. The machine-readable media according to claim 6, the data being interoperable with the machine to further cause:

a rule in the rule base further including for respective terms of the rule corresponding sets of synonyms, and where a mined text snippet contains a term when it contains a string of characters matching the term'"'"'s string of characters or a corresponding synonym'"'"'s string of characters.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

a rule in the rule base being encoded in response to input by a human user by a computer screen displayed rule selection interface to also include a corresponding set of negation terms, and where a mined text snippet containing at least one negation term in a given set of negation terms is not associated with the label corresponding to the given set of negation terms.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

a rule in the rule base further including for respective terms of the rule corresponding sets of synonyms, and where a mined text snippet contains a term when it contains a string of characters matching the term'"'"'s string of characters or a corresponding synonym'"'"'s string of characters.

8. A method comprising:

accessing text data to be mined, the text data including text snippets;

encoding rules in a rule base;

submitting a search request to a search request handler; and

the search request handler applying the rules from the rule base to the text data and associating different labels to respective text snippets in the text data in accordance with the rule base.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

presenting to a human user, on a computer screen display, text snippets and their associated different labels, and presenting to the human user a revise option that can be selected by the human user through a computer interface to indicate a need to further encode the rules in the rule base.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

after presenting the human user with text snippets and their associated different labels, in response to the human user'"'"'s selection of the revise option, further encoding rules in the rule base, the further encoding including one or both of modifying existing rules and adding rules.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

the encoding being in response to rule information input by a human user via a computer screen displayed rule selection interface; and

the rule information input by the user including information encoding a rule in the rule base to include a label and a corresponding set of match terms, where a mined text snippet containing at least one match term in the given set of match terms is associated with the label corresponding to the given set of match terms.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

the encoding being in response to rule information input by a human user via a computer screen displayed rule selection; and

the rule information input by the user including a textual language using a prescribed syntax, the textual language including a textual label separated from match terms and from negation terms with a prescribed symbol.

15. Apparatus comprising:

a search request handler to access text data to be mined, the text data including text snippets;

a rule base including rules;

a rule selection interface to encode the rules in the rule base;

a search interface to submit a search request to the search request handler; and

an execution mechanism to apply the rules from the rule base to the text data and to associate different labels to respective text snippets in the text data in accordance with the rule base.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising:

a results display to present to a human user, on a computer screen display, text snippets and their associated different labels; and

a revise option interface that can be selected by the human user through a computer screen to indicate a need to further encode the rules in the rule base.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:

a rule modification interface to modify rules in the rule base and to add rules to the rule base.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein:

the rule selection interface includes a computer screen displayed rule selection interface to encode the rules in response to rule information input by a human user via a computer screen; and

a rule in the rule base includes a label and a corresponding set of match terms, where, when the rule is executed by the execution mechanism, a mined text snippet containing at least one match term in the given set of match terms is associated with the label corresponding to the given set of match terms.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein:

the rules stored in the rule base include textual language using a prescribed syntax, the textual language including a textual label separated from match terms and from negation terms with a prescribed symbol.

20. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein:

the rule in the rule base also includes a corresponding set of negation terms, and where, when the rule is executed by the execution mechanism, a mined text snippet containing at least one negation term in a given set of negation terms is not associated with the label corresponding to the given set of negation terms.

20-1. A system comprising data being interoperable with a machine permitting:

accessing text data to be mined, the text data including text snippets;

encoding rules in a rule base;

submitting a search request to a search request handler; and

the search request handler applying the rules from the rule base to the text data and associating different labels to respective text snippets in the text data in accordance with the rule base.