Adding tag name to collection

• US 20070283252A1
• Filed: 06/01/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Stuhec, Gunther
• Granted Patent: US 7,856,597 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/36 Creation of semantic tools, e.g. ontology or thesauri

Abstract

Adding a new tag name to a collection of tag names includes receiving, in a computer system, a new tag name that is to be added to a collection of existing tag names that conform to a standardized protocol for defining semantics of contents in electronic communications, the new tag name including at least first and second terms. It is determined whether the collection already includes any of the first and second terms, wherein each term included in the existing tag names is associated with one of several unique identifiers. The method further includes selecting at least first and second unique identifiers for the new tag name, wherein, for any of the first and second terms that is already included in the collection, a corresponding one of the several unique identifiers associated therewith is selected. A data structure includes tag names and unique identifier codes for the several tag names.

Claims

1. A method to be performed when a new tag name is to be added to a collection of tag names, the method comprising:

receiving, in a computer system, a new tag name that is to be added to a collection of existing tag names that conform to a standardized protocol for defining semantics of contents in electronic communications, the new tag name including at least first and second terms;

determining whether the collection already includes any of the first and second terms, wherein each term included in the existing tag names is associated with one of several unique identifiers; and

selecting at least first and second unique identifiers for the new tag name, wherein, for any of the first and second terms that is already included in the collection, a corresponding one of the several unique identifiers associated therewith is selected.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection already includes the first term but not the second term, further comprising determining, in a synonym repository associated with the collection, whether the second term has been previously associated with any of the terms in the existing tag names.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second term is determined to have previously been associated with a third term of the existing tag names in the synonym repository, further comprising:

substituting the third term for the second term in the new tag name;

associating the first unique identifier with the first term, the first unique identifier having been associated with the first term in the collection before the new tag name was received; and

associating the second unique identifier with the third term, the second unique identifier having been associated with the third term in the collection before the new tag name was received.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the second term is determined not to have previously been associated with any of the existing tag names in the synonym repository, further comprising attempting to obtain at least one synonym for the second term from at least one dictionary.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one synonym for the second term is not obtained from the at least one dictionary, further comprising attempting to identify a word portion of the second term and, if successful, determining whether the collection already includes the word portion, and if so using the word portion for the new tag name.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the word portion of the second term is not identified, further comprising generating an output to a user to verify whether the second term is correct and, if the user so verifies, prompting the user to enter the at least one synonym for the second term.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one synonym for the second term is obtained from the at least one dictionary, further comprising:

substituting the synonym for the second term in the new tag name;

associating the first unique identifier with the first term; and

associating the second unique identifier with the synonym.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein several synonyms for the second term are obtained from the dictionary, further comprising selecting, among the several synonyms, the synonym that is to be substituted for the second term, the synonym being selected based on a usage frequency determined for the several synonyms.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising updating the synonym repository to indicate that the second term is associated with the synonym.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first unique identifier is associated with the first term and the second unique identifier is associated with the second term, and wherein the new tag name signifies that the second term is a qualifier for the first term in accordance with the standardized protocol.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the several unique identifiers and the first and second identifiers are assigned according to at least one rule selected from the group consisting of:

nouns are to be represented by number identifiers;

verbs are to be represented by capital letter identifiers; and

adjectives are to be represented by lowercase letter identifiers.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the new tag name to define the semantics of an electronic communication.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein using the new tag name comprises including the first and second unique identifiers in a tag to be associated with a portion of the contents of the electronic communication.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein using the new tag name comprises including the first and second terms in a tag to be associated with a portion of the contents of the electronic communication.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the new tag name signifies that the second term is a qualifier for the first term in accordance with the standardized protocol, and wherein using the new tag name comprises including the first term in a tag to be associated with a portion of the contents of the electronic communication, and including the second unique identifier as an attribute for the first term.

11. The method of claim I0, wherein the collection further includes a third term that is currently not qualified by the second term, further comprising updating the collection so that the second term qualifies also the third term, the second unique identifier being associated with the second term both for qualifying the first term and the third term.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the collection further includes fourth and fifth terms that are subqualifier terms for the second term, the fourth and fifth terms having associated therewith fourth and fifth unique identifiers, respectively, wherein the fourth and fifth unique identifiers are associated with the fourth and fifth terms both when the second term qualifies the first term and when the second term qualifies the third term.

18. A computer program product tangibly embodied in an information carrier, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed, cause a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, in a computer system, a new tag name that is to be added to a collection of existing tag names that conform to a standardized protocol for defining semantics of contents in electronic communications, the new tag name including at least first and second terms;

determining whether the collection already includes any of the first and second terms, wherein each term included in the existing tag names is associated with one of several unique identifiers; and

selecting at least first and second unique identifiers for the new tag name, wherein, for any of the first and second terms that is already included in the collection, a corresponding one of the several unique identifiers associated therewith is selected.

19. A data structure comprising:

several tag names that each includes at least one term, the tag names conforming to a standardized protocol for defining semantics of contents in electronic communications; and

several unique identifier codes, each associated with one of the several tag names and including a unique identifier for each term of the several tag names, wherein the semantics of any portion of the contents can be defined using either one of the several tag names or a corresponding one of the unique identifier codes.

20. The data structure of claim 19, wherein each of the unique identifiers is assigned according to at least one rule selected from the group consisting of:

nouns are to be represented by number identifiers;

verbs are to be represented by capital letter identifiers; and

adjectives are to be represented by lowercase letter identifiers.

21. The data structure of claim 19, wherein those of the several unique identifier codes whose tag name includes more than one of the terms includes the unique identifiers corresponding to the terms, the unique identifiers being concatenated.