Method and apparatus for concept-based visual

• US 20070282809A1
• Filed: 09/25/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blackbird Tech LLC
• Original Assignee: University of Regina
• Inventors: Hoeber, Orland, Yang, Xue-Dong, Yao, Yiyu
• Granted Patent: US 7,809,717 B1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A method and apparatus is provided for visually coding or sorting search results based on the similarity of the search results to one or more concepts. A search query containing search terms is used to conduct a web search and obtain search results comprising a number of document surrogates describing the located web pages. Concepts are obtained using the search terms and the similarities between the obtained concepts and the search results are evaluated. The search results are then displayed in a manner that indicates the relative similarity of search results to one or more of the determined concepts, such as by sorting the search results based on the level of similarity of the search results to one or more concepts or by providing an accordance indicator with each displayed search result the accordance indicators indicating the similarity of the corresponding search result with one ore more of the concepts.

Claims

1. A method of visually coding search results based on at least one concept, the method comprising:

using a search query containing a plurality of search terms to conduct a search of a plurality of computer readable documents and obtain the search results, the search results comprising at least one returned documents;

obtaining the at least one concept by matching the plurality of search terms to the at least one concept;

evaluating the similarity between the at least one returned document and the at least one concept; and

displaying the at least one returned document with an accordance indicator, the accordance indicator indicating the similarity between the at least one returned document and the at least one concept.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one concept is matched to the plurality of search terms by:

accessing a concept knowledge base data structure having a plurality of concept data objects and a plurality of term data objects, each term data object defining a term and associated with at least one of the concept data objects and each concept data object defining an object;

generating a first term set containing term data objects from the concept knowledge base data structure wherein each term data object in the first term set matches at least one of the plurality of search terms; and

generating a concept set containing concept data objects from the concept knowledge base data structure wherein each concept data object in the concept set is associated with one or more of the term data objects in the first term set.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein a concept vector is generated for each concept in the concept set and a document vector is generated for the at least one returned document and wherein the accordance indicator is based on a fuzzy membership score determined by comparing the concept vector to the document vector.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising allowing a user to select more than one concept from the concept set and having the accordance indicator based on the combined fuzzy membership scores determined for the at least one returned document and the selected concepts.

5. The method of claim 3 her comprising displaying at least two accordance indicators with the at least one returned document, each of the at least two accordance indicators corresponding to one of the concepts in the concept set.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the accordance indictors consist of a color shade.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the returned documents of the search results are ordered in a list and wherein the at least one returned document is displayed in a first portion of the list of returned documents and simultaneously displayed in a second portion of the list of returned documents on a display screen, and wherein the number of returned documents displayed in the second portion is greater than the number of returned documents displayed in the first portion.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the returned documents are ordered in the list based on the similarity between the at least one returned document and the at least one concept.

9. The method of claim 3 wherein the returned document is a document surrogate.

19. A computer readable memory having recorded thereon statements and instructions for execution by a computer to carry out the method of claim 1.

10. A data processing system for visually coding search results based on at least one concept, the data precessing system comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor;

a display device operative to display data; and

a program module stored in the memory and operative for providing instructions to the at least one processor, the at least one processor responsive to the instructions of the program module, the program module operative for;

using a search query containing at least one search term to conduct a search of a plurality of computer readable documents and obtain search results comprising a plurality of returned documents;

obtaining the at least one concept by matching the at least one search term to the at least one concept;

evaluating the similarity between a returned document and the at least one concept; and

displaying on the display device the returned document with an accordance indicator, the accordance indicator indicating the similarity between the returned document and the at least one concept.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the at least one concept is matched to the at least one search term by:

accessing a concept knowledge base data structure having a plurality of concept data objects and a plurality of term data objects, each term data object defining a term and associated with at least one of the concept data objects, each concept data object defining an object;

generating a first term set containing term data objects from the concept knowledge base data structure wherein each term data object in the first term set matches at least one of the plurality of search terms; and

generating a concept set containing concept data objects from the concept knowledge base data structure wherein each concept data object in the concept set is associated with one or more of the term data objects in the first term set.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein a concept vector is generated for each concept in the concept set and a document vector is generated for the at least one returned document and wherein the accordance indicator is based on a fuzzy membership score determined by comparing the concept vector to the document vector.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising allowing a user to select more than one concept from the concept set and having the accordance indicator based on the combined the fuzzy membership scores determined for the at least one returned document and the selected concepts.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising displaying at least two accordance indicators with the at least one returned document, each of the at least two accordance indicators corresponding to one of the concepts in the concept set.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the accordance indictors consist of a color shade.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the returned documents of the search results are ordered in a list and wherein the at least one returned document is displayed in a first portion of the list of returned documents and simultaneously displayed in a second portion of the list of returned documents on a display screen, and wherein the member of returned documents displayed in the second portion is greater than the number of returned documents displayed in the first portion.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the returned documents are ordered in the list based on the similarity between the at least one returned document and the at least one concept.

18. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the returned document is a document surrogate.

20. A method of visually sorting search results based on at least one concept, the method comprising:

using a search query containing a plurality of search terms to conduct a search of a plurality of computer readable documents and obtain the search results, the search results comprising a first returned document and a second returned document;

obtaining the least one concept by matching the plurality of search terms to the at least one concept;

determining a first accordance value by evaluating the similarity between the first returned document and the at least one concept and a second accordance value by evaluating the similarity between the second returned document aid the at least one concept; and

displaying the first returned document and second returned document sorted in an order based on the first accordance value and the second accordance value.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the at least one concept is matched to the plurality of search terms by:

accessing a concept knowledge base data structure having a plurality of concept data objects and a plurality of term data objects, each term data object defining a term and associated with at least one of the concept data objects and each concept data object defining an object;

generating a first term set containing term data objects from the concept knowledge base data structure wherein each term data object in the first term set matches at least one of the plurality of search terms; and

generating a concept set containing concept data objects from the concept knowledge base data structure wherein each concept data object in the concept set is associated with one or more of the term data objects in the first term set.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein a concept vector is generated for each concept in the concept set, a first document vector is generated for the first returned document, and a second document vector for the second returned document, and wherein the first accordance indicator is based on a fuzzy membership score determined by comparing the concept vector of the at least one concept to the first document vector and the second accordance indicator is based on a fuzzy membership score determined by comparing the concept vector of the at least one concept to the second document vector.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising displaying the first returned document with a first accordance indicator based on the first accordance value and the second returned document with a second accordance indicator based on the second accordance value.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising displaying at least two accordance indicators with the first returned document, each of the at least two accordance indicators corresponding to one of the concepts in the concept set.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the accordance indictors consist of a color shade.

26. The method of claim 22 wherein the search results comprise of list of returned documents containing the first returned document and second returned document and wherein the first returned document and second returned document are displayed in a first portion of the list of returned documents and simultaneously displayed in a second portion of the list of returned documents, and wherein the number of returned documents displayed in the second portion is greater than the number of returned documents displayed in the first portion.

27. The method of claim 20 wherein the first returned document and second returned document are document surrogates.

36. A computer readable memory having recorded thereon statements and instructions for execution by a computer to carry out the method of claim 20.

28. A data processing system for visually sorting search results based on at least one concept, the data processing system comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor;

a display device operative to display data; and

a program module stored in the memory and operative for providing instructions to the at least one processor, the at least one processor responsive to the instructions of the program module, the program module operative for;

using a search query containing a plurality of search terms to conduct a search of a plurality of computer readable documents and obtain the search results, the search results comprising a first returned document and a second returned document;

obtaining the least one concept by matching the plurality of search terms to the at least one concept;

determining a first accordance value by evaluating the similarity between the first returned document and the at least one concept and a second accordance value by evaluating the similarity between the second returned document and the at least one concept; and

displaying the first returned document and second returned document sorted in an order based on the first accordance value and the second accordance value.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein the at least one concept is matched to the plurality of search terms by:

accessing a concept knowledge base data structure having a plurality of concept data objects and a plurality of term data objects, each term data object defining a term and associated with at least one of the concept data objects and each concept data object defining an object;

generating a first term set containing term data objects from the concept knowledge base data structure wherein each term data object in the first term set matches at least one of the plurality of search terms; and

generating a concept set containing concept data objects from the concept knowledge base data structure wherein each concept data object in the concept set is associated with one or more of the term data objects in the first term set.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 wherein a concept vector is generated for each concept in the concept set, a first document vector is generated for the first returned document, and a second document vector for the second returned document, and wherein the first accordance indicator is based on a fuzzy membership score determined by comparing the concept vector of the at least one concept to the first document vector and the second accordance indicator is based on a fuzzy membership score determined by comparing the concept vector of the at least one concept to the second document vector.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 further comprising displaying the first returned document with a first accordance indicator based on the first accordance value and the second returned document with a second accordance indicator based on the second accordance value.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising displaying at least two accordance indicators with the first returned document, each of the at least two accordance indicators corresponding to one of the concepts in the concept set.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein the first accordance indictor and second accordance indicator consist of a color shade.

34. The method of claim 30 wherein the search results comprise of list of returned documents containing the first returned document an second returned document and wherein the first returned document and second returned document are displayed in a rust portion of the list of returned documents and simultaneously displayed in a second portion of the list of returned documents, and wherein the number of returned documents displayed in the second portion is greater than the number of returned documents displayed in the first portion.

35. The method of claim 28 wherein the first returned document and second returned document are document surrogates.