Logic checker using semantic links

• US 20070112819A1
• Filed: 11/17/2005
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dettinger, Richard, Kulack, Frederick, Paterson, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US11/282,078
• Publication Number:
  US 20070112819A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/35 Discourse or dialogue representation

Abstract

A semantic link is established in a document in connection with content being inserted into first and second portions of a document. Content in the first portion includes a linguistic expression, and is logically related to the content in the second portion. A semantic link is generated in the document that logically links the content of the first portion of the document to the content of the second portion of the document. The semantic link is configured to initiate performance of an action on content in either of the first or second portions of the document in response to a determination that a content modification made to content in the other of the first or second portions of the document is a semantic modification that creates a semantic inconsistency, based at least in part upon a meaning of the linguistic expression, between the first and second portions of the document.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for managing content in a document, the method comprising:

detecting a content modification to one of first and second portions of a document that are logically linked to one another by a semantic link, wherein the first portion of the document includes a linguistic expression;

analyzing the detected content modification to determine whether the content modification is a semantic modification that creates a semantic inconsistency between the first and second portions of the document, wherein the semantic inconsistency is based at least in part upon a meaning of the linguistic expression in the first portion of the document; and

acting on content in the other of the first and second portions of the document in response to determining that the content modification is a semantic modification.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the document further includes a third portion and a second semantic link defined between the third portion and at least one of the first and second portions of the document, the method further comprising acting on content in the third portion of the document in response to determining that the content modification creates a semantic inconsistency in the third portion of the document.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the detected content modification is performed using a text analysis engine that is configured to recognize a finite set of modifications that affect the semantic content of one of the first and second portions of the document.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein acting on the content in the other of the first and second portions of the document comprises highlighting the content to indicate a further action is necessary.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein acting on the content in the other of the first and second portions of the document comprises issuing a prompt to determine if further action is necessary.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein acting on the content in the other of the first and second portions of the document comprises automatically modifying the content of the other of the first and second portions of the document to overcome the semantic inconsistency.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein the content modification alters the meaning of the linguistic expression, and wherein automatically modifying the content in the other of the first and second portions of the document comprises automatically modifying a meaning of a second linguistic expression in the second portion of the document.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein automatically modifying the content in the other of the first and second portions of the document comprises automatically modifying the meaning of the linguistic expression.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the content modification negates the meaning of the linguistic expression, and wherein analyzing the detected content modification to determine whether the content modification is a semantic modification comprises detecting a negation of the linguistic expression.

10. A computer implemented method for managing logically-related content, the method comprising:

detecting a content modification to one of first and second portions of content that are logically linked to one another by a semantic link, wherein the first portion includes a linguistic expression;

analyzing the detected content modification to determine whether the content modification is a semantic modification that creates a semantic inconsistency between the first and second portions, wherein the semantic inconsistency is based at least in part upon a meaning of the linguistic expression in the first portion; and

acting on content in the other of the first and second portions in response to determining that the content modification is a semantic modification.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first and second portions are disposed in the same electronic document, whereby the semantic link is associated with the electronic document.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first and second portions are respectively disposed in first and second electronic documents, whereby the semantic link is associated with each of the first and second electronic documents.

13. A computer implemented method for establishing a semantic link in a document comprising:

inserting content in a first portion of a document, the content in the first portion of the document including a linguistic expression;

inserting content in a second portion of the document that is logically related to the content of the first portion of the document; and

generating a semantic link in the document that logically links the content of the first portion of the document to the content of the second portion of the document, wherein the semantic link is configured to initiate performance of an action on content in one of the first and second portions of the document in response to a determination that a content modification made to content in the other of the first and second portions of the document is a semantic modification that creates a semantic inconsistency between the first and second portions of the document, wherein the semantic inconsistency is based at least in part upon a meaning of the linguistic expression in the first portion of the document.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13, wherein generating the semantic link is performed in response to user input.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 13, wherein inserting content in the first and second portions of the document is performed in response to user input.

16. The computer implemented method of claim 13, further comprising analyzing the content in the first and second portions of the document to determine whether the content in the second portion of the document is logically related to the content of the first portion of the document.

17. The computer implemented method of claim 16, wherein analyzing the content in the first and second portions of the document is performed using a text analysis engine that is configured to recognize a finite set of linguistic expressions that affect the semantic content of the first and second portions of the document.

18. The computer implemented method of claim 16, wherein generating the semantic link is performed automatically in response to determining that the content in the second portion of the document is logically related to the content in the first portion of the document.

19. The computer implemented method of claim 16, further comprising prompting a user to create the semantic link in response to determining that the content in the second portion of the document is logically related to the content of the first portion of the document.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

program code configured to be executed by the processor to manage content in a document by detecting a content modification to one of first and second portions of a document that are logically linked to one another by a semantic link, wherein the first portion of the document includes a linguistic expression;

analyzing the detected content modification to determine whether the content modification is a semantic modification that creates a semantic inconsistency between the first and second portions of the document, wherein the semantic inconsistency is based at least in part upon a meaning of the linguistic expression in the first portion of the document; and

acting on content in the other of the first and second portions of the document in response to determining that the content modification is a semantic modification.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the program code is configured to analyze the detected content modification using a text analysis engine that is configured to recognize a finite set of modifications that affect the semantic content of one of the first and second portions of the document.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the program code is configured to act on the content in the other of the first and second portions of the document by performing an action selected from the group consisting of highlighting the content to indicate a further action is necessary, issuing a prompt to determine if further action is necessary, and automatically modifying the content of the other of the first and second portions of the document to overcome the semantic inconsistency.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the content modification alters the meaning of the linguistic expression, and wherein the program code is further configured to automatically modify a meaning of a second linguistic expression in the second portion of the document.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the program code is further configured to automatically modify the meaning of the linguistic expression.

25. A program product, comprising:

program code configured to manage content in a document by detecting a content modification to one of first and second portions of a document that are logically linked to one another by a semantic link, wherein the first portion of the document includes a linguistic expression;

analyzing the detected content modification to determine whether the content modification is a semantic modification that creates a semantic inconsistency between the first and second portions of the document, wherein the semantic inconsistency is based at least in part upon a meaning of the linguistic expression in the first portion of the document; and

acting on content in the other of the first and second portions of the document in response to determining that the content modification is a semantic modification; and

a computer readable medium bearing the program code.