Generation of a Categorization Scheme

• US 20070118541A1
• Filed: 11/22/2006
• Published: 05/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Nathoo, Amir
• Granted Patent: US 8,417,701 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A method for generating a categorization scheme including a set of one or more categories for a collection of data items, each data item including at least one data element having an element name and an element value, the method comprising the steps of: identifying a common data element for each one of the data items, each of the identified common data elements having equivalent element names; compiling a collection of element values comprising an element value for each of the common data elements; and defining the set of one or more categories to contain the different values in the collection of element values.

Claims

1. A method for generating a categorization scheme including a set of one or more categories for a collection of data items, each data item including at least one data element having an element name and an element value, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying a common data element for each one of the data items, each of the identified common data elements having equivalent element names;

compiling a collection of element values comprising an element value for each of the common data elements; and

defining the set of one or more categories to contain the different values in the collection of element values.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the identified data element for each one of the data items further comprises the steps of:

identifying a first common data element for each one of the data items, each of the first common data elements having an equivalent element name;

identifying a second common data element for each one of the data items each of the second common data elements having an equivalent element name;

compiling a first collection of element values comprising an element value for the first common data element in each data item of the collection of data items;

compiling a second collection of element values comprising an element value for the second common data element in each data item of the collection of data items;

defining a first set associated with the first common data element, the first set containing the different values in the first collection of element values;

defining a second set associated with the second common data element, the second set containing the different values in the second collection of element values;

identifying the common data element associated with the smaller of the first and second sets.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein equivalence of element names includes synonymous names.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein equivalence of element names is defined in a table of equivalences.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein an identified common data element for a data item is a leaf data element in the data item.

6. A system for generating a categorization scheme including a set of one or more categories for a collection of data items, each data item including at least one data element having an element name and an element value, the system comprising:

means for identifying a common data element for each one of the data items, each of the identified common data elements having equivalent element names;

means for compiling a collection of element values comprising an element value for each of the common data elements; and

means for defining the set of one or more categories to contain the different values in the collection of element values.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the identified data element for each one of the data items further comprises:

means for identifying a first common data element for each one of the data items, each of the first common data elements having an equivalent element name;

means for identifying a second common data element for each one of the data items, each of the second common data elements having an equivalent element name;

means for compiling a first collection of element values comprising an element value for the first common data element in each data item of the collection of data items;

means for compiling a second collection of element values comprising an element value for the second common data element in each data item of the collection of data items;

means for defining a first set associated with the first common data element, the first set containing the different values in the first collection of element values;

means for defining a second set associated with the second common data element, the second set containing the different values in the second collection of element values;

means for identifying the common data element associated with the smaller of the first and second sets.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein equivalence of element names includes synonymous names.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein equivalence of element names is defined in a table of equivalences.

10. The system of claim 6 wherein an identified common data element for a data item is a leaf data element in the data item.

11. A storage medium containing computer readable code instructions which when executed by a computer performs a method for generating a categorization scheme, including a set of one or more categories for a collection of data items, each data item including at least one data element having an element name and an element value, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying a common data element for each one of the data items, each of the identified common data elements having equivalent element names;

compiling a collection of element values comprising an element value for each of the common data elements; and

defining the set of one or more categories to contain the different values in the collection of element values.

12. The storage medium of claim 11 wherein the method identifying step for each one of the data items further comprises:

identifying a first common data element for each one of the data items each of the first common data elements having an equivalent element name;

identifying a second common data element for each one of the data items, each of the second common data elements having an equivalent element name;

compiling a first collection of element values comprising an element value for the first common data element in each data item of the collection of data items;

compiling a second collection of element values comprising an element value for the second common data element in each data item of the collection of data items;

defining a first set associated with the first common data element, the first set containing the different values in the first collection of element values;

defining a second set associated with the second common data element, the second set containing the different values in the second collection of element values;

identifying the common data element associated with the smaller of the first and second sets.

13. The storage medium of claim 11 wherein equivalence of element names includes synonymous names.

14. The storage medium of claim 11 wherein equivalence of element names is defined in a table of equivalences.

15. The storage medium of claim 11 wherein an identified common data element for a data item is a leaf data element in the data item.