CUBE FACETED DATA ANALYSIS

• US 20080243778A1
• Filed: 03/30/2007
• Published: 10/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Jin, Qi, Pfahl, Timo, Pirk, Holger, BEHNEN, Marion
• Granted Patent: US 7,730,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/956 Hierarchical
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/957 Multidimensional
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/958 Data cubes

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer readable medium for displaying results of a search query. In one implementation, the method includes receiving a query, obtaining documents that satisfy the query, constructing a facet hierarchy based on documents that satisfy the query, creating a cube structure based on the facet hierarchy, and displaying a multi-dimensional search interface based on the cube structure.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for displaying results of a search query, the method comprising:

receiving a query;

obtaining documents that satisfy the query;

constructing a facet hierarchy based on documents that satisfy the query;

creating a cube structure based on the facet hierarchy; and

displaying a multi-dimensional search interface based on the cube structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining documents that satisfy the query includes using a search index to obtain the documents, the search index storing information relating to a plurality of documents, the information including metadata describing a hierarchical relationship among the plurality of documents.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein constructing a facet hierarchy includes constructing a facet hierarchy based on the metadata describing the hierarchical relationship associated with the documents that satisfy the query.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein displaying the multi-dimensional search interface comprises displaying an OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) interface.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the facet hierarchy includes a plurality of facets; and

creating the cube structure comprises creating dimensions for the cube structure based on the plurality of facets.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein:

creating the cube structure further comprises populating the cube structure with a plurality of measures, each measure being categorized by one or more dimensions of the cube, wherein each measure of the cube structure is based on documents classified by facets that correspond to the one or more dimensions categorizing the measure.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein displaying the multi-dimensional search interface comprises constructing a multi-dimensional search query on the cube structure to select measures for display in the multidimensional search interface, the selected measures being based on the documents that satisfy the query.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising displaying a faceted search interface based on the facet hierarchy.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

receiving the query comprises receiving user input issuing a natural language word search through a user interface; and

the faceted search interface and the multi-dimensional search interface are displayed in the user interface.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a second query; and

responsive to receiving the second query updating or deleting the cube structure.

11. A computer-implemented method for displaying results of a search query, the method comprising:

receiving a query;

obtaining documents that satisfy the query using a search index, the search index storing information relating to a plurality of documents, the information including metadata describing a hierarchical relationship among the plurality of documents;

constructing a facet hierarchy based on the metadata describing the hierarchical relationship associated with the documents that satisfy the query;

determining whether a pre-defined cube structure corresponds to the facet hierarchy; and

responsive to pre-defined cube structure not corresponding to the facet hierarchy, modifying the pre-defined cube structure to correspond with the facet hierarchy and displaying a multi-dimensional search interface based on the modified cube structure.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

responsive to pre-defined cube structure corresponding to the facet hierarchy, displaying the multi-dimensional search interface based on the pre-defined cube structure.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein displaying the multi-dimensional search interface comprises displaying an OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) interface.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein:

the facet hierarchy includes a plurality of facets;

the pre-defined cube structure includes pre-defined dimensions; and

determining whether the pre-defined cube structure corresponds to the facet hierarchy comprises determining whether each facet of the facet hierarchy maps to a pre-defined dimension of the pre-defined cube structure.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the pre-defined cube structure further includes a plurality of pre-defined measures; and

modifying the pre-defined cube structure comprises re-calculating a pre-defined measure based on documents that satisfy the query.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising displaying a faceted search interface based on the facet hierarchy.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

receiving the query comprises receiving user input issuing a natural language word search through a user interface; and

the faceted search interface and the multi-dimensional search interface are displayed in the user interface.

18. A computer readable medium containing program instructions, tangibly stored thereon, for displaying results of a search query, the program instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving a query;

obtaining documents that satisfy the query;

constructing a facet hierarchy based on documents that satisfy the query;

creating a cube structure based on the facet hierarchy; and

displaying a multi-dimensional search interface based on the cube structure.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions for obtaining documents that satisfy the query include instructions for using a search index to obtain the documents, the search index storing information relating to a plurality of documents, the information including metadata describing a hierarchical relationship among the plurality of documents.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions for constructing a facet hierarchy include instructions for constructing a facet hierarchy based on the metadata describing the hierarchical relationship associated with the documents that satisfy the query.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions for displaying the multi-dimensional search interface comprise instructions for displaying an OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) interface.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein:

the facet hierarchy includes a plurality of facets; and

the instructions for creating the cube structure comprise instructions for creating dimensions for the cube structure based on the plurality of facets.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein:

the instructions for creating the cube structure further comprise instructions for populating the cube structure with a plurality of measures, each measure being categorized by one or more dimensions of the cube, wherein each measure of the cube structure is based on documents classified by facets that correspond to the one or more dimensions categorizing the measure.

24. A computer readable medium containing program instructions, tangibly stored thereon, for displaying results of a search query, the program instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving a query;

obtaining documents that satisfy the query using a search index, the search index storing information relating to a plurality of documents, the information including metadata describing a hierarchical relationship among the plurality of documents;

constructing a facet hierarchy based on the metadata describing the hierarchical relationship associated with the documents that satisfy the query;

determining whether a pre-defined cube structure corresponds to the facet hierarchy; and

responsive to pre-defined cube structure not corresponding to the facet hierarchy, modifying the pre-defined cube structure to correspond with the facet hierarchy and displaying a multi-dimensional search interface based on the modified cube structure.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, further comprising instructions for displaying the multi-dimensional search interface based on the pre-defined cube structure responsive to pre-defined cube structure corresponding to the facet hierarchy.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 25, wherein:

the facet hierarchy includes a plurality of facets;

the pre-defined cube structure includes pre-defined dimensions; and

the instructions for determining whether the pre-defined cube structure corresponds to the facet hierarchy include instructions for determining whether each facet of the facet hierarchy maps to a pre-defined dimension of the pre-defined cube structure.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein:

the pre-defined cube structure further includes a plurality of pre-defined measures; and

the instructions for modifying the pre-defined cube structure include instructions for re-calculating a pre-defined measure based on documents that satisfy the query.

28. A data processing system for displaying results of a search query, the data processing system comprising:

a user interface to receive a query;

a search engine to obtain documents that satisfy the query;

a facet service to construct a facet hierarchy based on documents that satisfy the query;

a cube service to create a cube structure based on the facet hierarchy; and

a multi-dimensional search interface to display data associated with the documents that satisfy the query, the data being displayed based on the cube structure.

29. A data processing system for displaying results of a search query, the data processing system comprising:

a user interface to receive a query;

a search engine to obtain documents that satisfy the query;

a facet service to construct a facet hierarchy based on documents that satisfy the query;

a cube service to determine whether a pre-defined cube structure corresponds to the facet hierarchy, wherein responsive to pre-defined cube structure not corresponding to the facet hierarchy, the cube service modifies the pre-defined cube structure to correspond with the facet hierarchy; and

a multi-dimensional search interface to display data associated with the documents that satisfy the query based on the modified cube structure.

30. The data processing system of claim 29, wherein responsive to pre-defined cube structure corresponding to the facet hierarchy, the multi-dimensional search interface displays data associated with the documents that satisfy the query based on the pre-defined cube structure.