Knowledge discovery system

• US 20080115082A1
• Filed: 11/13/2006
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Simmons, Hillery D., LaSalle, Ryan Matthew, Evans, Karoline, Martinsek, Emil Robert, Madigan, Daniel R., Spell, Rhazes
• Granted Patent: US 7,765,176 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/804
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation

Abstract

A knowledge model discovery system is configured to provide an interactive view having simultaneously displayed sub-views that include a relational data element view and a geophysical view. Using the interactive view, a user may perform search and analysis of information organized with a knowledge management tool in conjunction with geographic information. The relational data element view may provide a relational visualization that displays data elements provided with the knowledge management tool as narrowed by the context of a user analysis. The geophysical view may provide a geographically based depiction of the same data elements using a similar context. The relational data element view and the geophysical view may be operated in coordination to maintain cohesiveness and similar context of the information displayed in the views.

Claims

1. A knowledge discovery system operable on at least one computer that includes a display, the knowledge discovery system comprising:

a database that includes a plurality of data elements;

a relationship context tool operable to display in a first view on a display a context and relationships between at least some of a plurality of data element indicia representative of at least some of the data elements included in the database;

a geophysical context tool operable to generate a second view on the same display of a geographic map and at least some of the data element indicia displayed in the first view based on information extracted from the database; and

a visualization integration tool operable to cohesively maintain coordination between the first view and the second view, as one of the first view or the second view, or a combination thereof, is adjusted in response to a user input.

2. The knowledge discovery system of claim 1, wherein the database comprises a data element database and a geographic database that include a plurality of universal identifiers, each of the universal identifiers uniquely identifying one of the data elements.

3. The knowledge discovery system of claim 2, wherein the visualization integration tool is operable to cohesively maintain coordination based at least in part on the universal identifiers that are redundantly present in the data element database and the geographic database.

4. The knowledge discovery system of claim 1, wherein a data element indicium that is one of the data element indicia is displayable as a focus in the first view, the data element indicium also indicatable as the focus in the second view.

5. The knowledge discovery system of claim 1, wherein the second view is operable to display geographically adjacent data element indicia that are not displayed in the first view.

6. The knowledge discovery system of claim 2, wherein the visualization tool includes a global cache operable to store data associated with each of the data element indicia displayed in both the first view and the second view in association with respective universal identifiers.

7. The knowledge discovery system of claim 1, wherein the visualization tool is operable to adjust the second view in response to an adjustment in the first view that affects one or more of the data element indicia displayed in the first view and the second view.

8. The knowledge discovery system of claim 1, wherein the visualization tool is operable to update the first view to indicate a relationship between at least two data element indicia in response to a user input in the second view to create the relationship.

9. A method of displaying information interactively with a knowledge discovery system, the method comprising:

deriving a plurality of data elements from a plurality of sources;

storing the data elements and relationships between at least some of the data elements in a database;

associating at least some of the data elements with geographic information;

generating a first view within an interactive view to display a plurality of data element indicia representative of corresponding data elements and a plurality of relationship indicia representative of relationships between at least some of the data elements; and

generating a second view within the interactive view to display in a geographic context the data element indicia displayed in the first view in a geographic relationship with both related data elements and unrelated data elements.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising coordinating the first view and the second view so that adjustments to either the first view or the second view are reflected in both the first view and the second view.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising adjusting the first view to identify a relationship between two data element indicia displayed therein, and adjusting the second view to reflect the identified relationship.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising defining an implied geographic location of a first one of the data element indicia based on a second one of the data element indicia that is associated with a geographic location and a relationship with the first one of the data element indicia.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein defining an implied geographic location comprises calculating a confidence value for the relationship, and defining the implied geographic location only when the calculated confidence value is above a determined threshold.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising defining an additional relationship between a first data element and a second data element via the data element indicia displayed in the first view based on a nearness of the first data element with respect to the second data element.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein defining an additional relationship comprises determining geographic nearness of the first data element and the second data element with corresponding data element indicia displayed in the second view.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein defining an additional relationship comprises determining a semantic nearness based on the nearness of terms in a source from which the first data element and the second data element were derived.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein generating a first view comprises determining a confidence value of a relationship between a first data element indicium and a second data element indicium, and displaying the second data element indicium with the first data element indicium only if the confidence value is at or above a determined threshold.

18. The method of claim 9, further comprising defining a relationship with one of the unrelated data elements based on a geographic location of an indicium of the one of the unrelated data elements on the second display.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein generating a second view comprises displaying other data element indicia representative of data elements other than those represented in the first view that are geographically proximate to the data elements represented in the first view.

20. A method of displaying information interactively with a knowledge discovery system, the method comprising:

selecting a search result of a search for information;

displaying a data element indicium representative of a data element identified by the search result in a first view of a display;

displaying in the first view a plurality of data element indicia each representative of data elements with a relationship to the displayed data element indicium;

displaying a geographic location of the data element indicium and the data element indicia with a relationship to the data element indicium on a geographic map in a second view of the same display; and

adjusting both the first view and the second view cohesively in response to an adjustment of the data element indicium, or the data element indicia in one of the first view or the second view.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising establishing an additional relationship between at least some of the data element indicia based on the geographic location of each of the data element indicia with respect to each other in the second view.

22. A knowledge discovery system operable on at least one computer that includes a display, the knowledge discovery system comprising:

a relationship context tool that is operable to generate on a display a relational data element view that includes display of a data element indicium of interest and a visual relationship with at least one other data element indicium also displayed on the display; and

a geophysical context tool operable in response to generation of the relational data element view to generate a visualization on the same display of a geographic map that includes display of the data element indicium of interest positioned on the geographic map and the at least one other data element indicium positioned on the geographic map.

23. The knowledge discovery system of claim 22, further comprising a master visual controller coupled with the relationship context tool and the geophysical context tool, the master visual controller operable to coordinate adjustments to the display of the data element indicium of interest or the at least one other data element indicium between the relational data element view and the visualization of the geographic map.

24. The knowledge discovery system of claim 22, wherein the geographic map is generated based on geographic location information associated with a data element represented with the data element indicium of interest.

25. The knowledge discovery system of claim 22, wherein the geophysical context tool is further operable to generate a visualization of a plurality of data element indicia that are geographically proximate to the data element indicium of interest, but are not displayed on the relational data element view.

26. A method of operating a knowledge discovery system on at least one computer that includes a display, the method comprising:

displaying an interactive view;

displaying a plurality of data element indicia in a first sub-view included in the interactive view, in which one of the data element indicia is a focus indicium, and the remaining data element indicia are displayed to be representative of a context of the one of the data element indicia;

displaying in the first sub-view a plurality of relationship indicia indicative of relationships between at least some of the data element indicia;

displaying in a second sub-view included in the interactive view a geographic map and a geographic location on the geographic map of a data element indicium that corresponds to the display of the one of the data element indicia displayed in the first sub-view;

receiving an instruction to adjust the display of the one of data element indicia in the first sub-view; and

adjusting in the second sub-view at least one of the geographical map or the one of the data element indicia, or a combination thereof, to maintain correspondence with the first sub-view.

27. A computer program embodied in a computer readable medium to be executed by a computer that includes a display, the computer program embodied in a computer readable medium comprising:

instructions to display a data element indicium representative of a data element in a first view of a display in response to selection of the data element by a user;

instructions to display in the first view a plurality of data element indicia each representative of data elements with a defined relationship to the displayed data element indicium;

instructions to display a geographic location of the data element indicium and the data element indicia with the defined relationship to the data element indicium on a geographic map in a second view of the same display; and

instructions to automatically perform coordinated adjustment of both the first view and the second view in response to an adjustment of the data element indicium, the data element indicia, or information related thereto, in one of the first view or the second view.

28. The computer program of claim 27, further comprising instructions to enable assignment of a predetermined semantic geographical descriptor that is descriptive of the geographic proximity of the displayed data element indicium and one of the data element indicia with the defined relationship to the displayed data element indicium.

29. The computer program of claim 27, further comprising instructions to enable generation of a geographic boundary indicator on the second view, and instructions to add an additional data element indicium to the second view that is representative of an additional data element without a defined relationship to the data element represented with the defined data element indicium displayed in the first view and the second view.

30. The computer program of claim 27, further comprising instructions to determine a confidence value of the relationship of each of the data elements to the displayed data element indicia, and instructions to update both the first view and the second view to display only those data element indicium with a relationship to the data element indicia that is above a user settable confidence value threshold level.