METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING RANKED SEARCH RESULTS

• US 20080301111A1
• Filed: 05/29/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Cognos Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Statchuk, Craig
• Granted Patent: US 7,792,826 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence

Abstract

Subject ranking management system provides a ranked search result for a given set of one or more search terms. The subject ranking management system determines, using a taxonomy, one or more parent subject items related to one or more matching subject items that match a given set of search terms. The system statistically ranks relevant subject items including the matching subject items and the parent subject items, and organizes the relevant subject items as ranked by the item ranking calculation unit. Ranked subjects can then be presented to an operator to assist with further refinement or used to automatically produce a better search without further operator invention.

Claims

1. A subject ranking management system for providing ranked search results, the subject ranking management system comprising:

a subject hierarchy managing unit for determining, using a taxonomy, one or more parent subject items for one or more matching subject items that match a given set of one or more search terms;

a ranking calculation unit for statistically ranking relevant subject items including the matching subject items and the parent subject items; and

a result organizing unit for organizing the relevant subject items as ranked by the item ranking calculation unit.

2. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ranking calculation unit comprises:

a relevance handler for determining hierarchy scores of the relevant subject items based on hierarchy relationship to other subject items and a number of references to one of the matching subject items in original data that is being searched.

3. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 2, wherein

the ranking calculation unit has a child aggregation handler for aggregating child subject items under a matching subject item to calculate a ranking score of the matching subject item.

4. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 2, wherein

the ranking calculation unit has a hierarchical distance handler for determining a hierarchical distance from a matching subject item to calculate a ranking score of a relevant subject item.

5. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 2, wherein

ranking calculation unit has a reference aggregation handler for counting references to the relevant subject items in the original data.

6. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the relevance aggregation handler combines relevant subject items with a same name into a single result item.

7. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the subject hierarchy managing unit has an augmentation limiter for limiting augmentation of the parent or child subject items.

8. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the subject hierarchy managing unit has a parent identification handler for providing to each subject item in an index corpus an identification of a parent subject item using the taxonomy.

9. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the result organizing unit has a list generator for generating a list of relevant subjects based on the ranking calculated by the item ranking calculation unit.

10. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the subject hierarchy managing unit receives a search result from a full-text search engine having the taxonomy implemented.

11. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the subject hierarchy managing unit comprises a taxonomy handler for providing parent information for each subject item in the taxonomy.

12. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a taxonomy managing unit for generating the taxonomy from one or more metadata sources, the taxonomy managing unit having a parent information handler for providing parent information for each subject item in the taxonomy.

13. The subject ranking management system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a search query building unit for building a search query based on the ranking of the relevant subject items.

14. A method of providing a ranked search result, the method comprising the steps of:

determining, using a taxonomy, one or more parent subject items of one or more matching subject items that match a given set of one or more search terms;

statistically ranking relevant subject items including the matching subject items and the parent subject items; and

organizing the relevant subject items based on the ranking.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the ranking step comprises the steps of:

determining hierarchy scores for the relevant subject items based on hierarchy relationship to other subject items and a number of references to one of the matching subject items in original data that is being searched;

calculating ranking scores of the relevant subject items based on the hierarchy scores; and

ranking the subjects based on the ranking scores.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the calculating step comprises the steps of:

aggregating child subject items under a matching subject item; and

calculating a ranking score of the matching subject item based on hierarchy scores of the aggregated child subject items.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the calculating step comprises the steps of:

determining for each of the relevant subject items a hierarchical distance from a matching subject item; and

calculating a ranking score of each of the relevant subject items based on the hierarchical distance.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the calculating step comprises the steps of:

determining the number of references to the relevant subject items in original data to be searched, and

calculating a ranking score based on the number of the references.

19. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the parent determining step comprises the step of:

limiting augmentation of the parent or child subject items.

20. The method as claimed in claim 14 further comprising the step of:

organizing a list of the relevant subjects based on the ranking.

21. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the parent determining step comprises the step of receives a search result from a full-text search engine having the taxonomy.

22. The method as claimed in claim 20 further comprising the step of:

providing parent information for each subject item in the taxonomy.

23. The method as claimed in claim 14 further comprising the steps of:

generating the taxonomy from one or more metadata sources; and

providing parent information for each subject item in the taxonomy.

24. The method as claimed in claim 14 further comprising the step of:

building a search query based on the ranking of the relevant subject items.

25. A computer readable medium storing computer readable code having instructions or statements for use in the execution in a computer of a method of providing a ranked search result, the method comprising the steps of:

determining, using a taxonomy, one or more parent subject items of one or more matching subject items that match a given set of one or more search terms;

statistically ranking relevant subject items including the matching subject items and the parent subject items; and

organizing the relevant subject items based on the ranking.

26. A computer program product for use in a subject ranking management system for providing ranked search results, the computer program product having computer program code embodied in a machine readable medium, the computer program product comprising:

a module for determining, using a taxonomy, one or more parent subject items of one or more matching subject items that match a given set of one or more search terms;

a module for statistically ranking relevant subject items including the matching subject items and the parent subject items; and

a module for organizing the relevant subject items based on the ranking.