Federated queries and combined text and relational data

• US 20060265362A1
• Filed: 05/17/2006
• Published: 11/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Content Analyst Company, LLC (Relativity ODA LLC)
• Original Assignee: Content Analyst Company, LLC (Relativity ODA LLC)
• Inventors: Bradford, Roger Burrowes
• Application Number:
  US11/434,749
• Publication Number:
  US 20060265362A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence

Abstract

A method for ranking data-objects retrieved from a plurality of databases is provided. First, data-objects are retrieved from a plurality of databases, wherein each database is accessed using a retrieval product. Second, a representation of each of the data-objects retrieved from the plurality of databases is generated in a conceptual representation space. Third, a representation of a query is generated in the conceptual representation space. Then, the data-objects are ranked with respect to the query based on a similarity between the representation of each data-object and the representation of the query.

Claims

1. A method for ranking data-objects retrieved from a plurality of databases, comprising:

(a) retrieving the data-objects from a plurality of databases, wherein each database is accessed using a retrieval product;

(b) generating a representation of each of the data-objects retrieved from the plurality of databases in a conceptual representation space;

(c) generating a representation of a query in the conceptual representation space; and

(d) ranking the data-objects with respect to the query based on a similarity between the representation of each data-object and the representation of the query.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises:

generating a representation of each of the data-objects retrieved from the plurality of databases in a Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) space.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) comprises:

ranking the data-objects with respect to the query based on a cosine measure between the representation of each data-object and the representation of the query.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) comprises:

generating a representation of each of the data-objects retrieved from the plurality of databases in a conceptual representation space, wherein the data-objects comprise at least one of text data, relational data, image data, audio data, video data, or measurement data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(e) presenting the ranking from step (d) to a user.

6. A method for ranking data-objects retrieved from a plurality of databases, comprising:

(a) generating a conceptual representation space based on a first plurality of data-objects and a second plurality of data-objects, wherein the first plurality of data-objects comprises data-objects of a first data type and the second plurality of data-objects comprises data-objects of a second data type, and wherein each data-object in the first plurality of data-objects corresponds to a data-object in the second plurality of data-objects;

(b) retrieving a third plurality of data-objects, wherein each data-object in the third plurality of data-objects comprises a data-object of the first data type or a data-object of the second data type;

(c) generating a representation of each data-object in the third plurality of data-objects in the conceptual representation space;

(d) generating a representation of a query in the conceptual representation space; and

(e) ranking the data-objects in the third plurality of data-objects with respect to the query based on a similarity between the representation of the query and the representation of each data-object in the third plurality of data-objects.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein step (a) comprises:

generating a Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) space.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein step (e) comprises:

ranking the data-objects in the third plurality of data-objects with respect to the query based on a cosine measure between the representation of the query and the representation of each data-object in the third plurality of data-objects.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein step (a) comprises:

generating a conceptual representation space based on a first plurality of data-objects and a second plurality of data-objects, wherein the first plurality of data-objects comprises data-objects of a first data type and the second plurality of data-objects comprises data-objects of a second data type, wherein each data-object in the first plurality of data-objects corresponds to a data-object in the second plurality of data-objects, and wherein the first data type and the second data type comprise at least one of text data, relational data, image data, audio data, video data, or measurement data.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

(f) presenting the ranking from step (e) to a user.

11. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code stored therein that causes an application program for ranking data-objects retrieved from a plurality of databases to execute on an operating system of a computer, the computer readable program code comprising:

computer readable first program code that causes the computer to retrieve the data-objects from a plurality of databases, wherein each database is accessed using a retrieval product;

computer readable second program code that causes the computer to generate a representation of each of the data-objects retrieved from the plurality of databases in a conceptual representation space;

computer readable third program code that causes the computer to generate a representation of a query in the conceptual representation space; and

computer readable fourth program code that causes the computer to rank the data-objects with respect to the query based on a similarity between the representation of each data-object and the representation of the query.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the conceptual representation space comprises a Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) space.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable fourth program code comprises:

code that causes the computer to rank the data-objects with respect to the query based on a cosine measure between the representation of each data-object and the representation of the query.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable second program code comprises:

code that causes the computer to generate a representation of each of the data-objects retrieved from the plurality of databases in a conceptual representation space, wherein the data-objects comprise at least one of text data, relational data, image data, audio data, video data, or measurement data.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising:

computer readable fifth program code that causes the computer to display the ranking from the computer readable third program code on a display unit.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code stored therein that causes an application program for ranking data-objects retrieved from a plurality of databases to execute on an operating system of a computer, the computer readable program code comprising:

computer readable first program code that causes the computer to generate a conceptual representation space based on a first plurality of data-objects and a second plurality of data-objects, wherein the first plurality of data-objects comprises data-objects of a first data type and the second plurality of data-objects comprises data-objects of a second data type, and wherein each data-object in the first plurality of data-objects corresponds to a data-object in the second plurality of data-objects;

computer readable second program code that causes the computer to retrieve a third plurality of data-objects, wherein each data-object in the third plurality of data-objects comprises a data-object of the first data type or a data-object of the second data type;

computer readable third program code that causes the computer to generate a representation of each data-object in a third plurality of data-objects in the conceptual representation space;

computer readable fourth program code that causes the computer to generate a representation of a query in the conceptual representation space; and

computer readable fifth program code that causes the computer to rank the data-objects in the third plurality of data-objects with respect to the query based on a similarity between the representation of the query and the representation of each data-object in the third plurality of data-objects.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the conceptual representation space comprises a Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) space.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer readable fifth program code comprises:

code that causes the computer to rank the data-objects in the third plurality of data-objects with respect to the query based on a cosine measure between the representation of the query and the representation of each data-object in the third plurality of data-objects.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer readable first program code comprises:

code that causes the computer to generate a conceptual representation space based on a first plurality of data-objects and a second plurality of data-objects, wherein the first plurality of data-objects comprises data-objects of a first data type and the second plurality of data-objects comprises data-objects of a second data type, wherein each data-object in the first plurality of data-objects corresponds to a data-object in the second plurality of data-objects, and wherein the first data type and the second data type comprise at least one of text data, relational data, image data, audio data, video data, or measurement data.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

computer readable sixth program code that causes the computer to display the ranking provided by the fifth computer readable program code.