Word Association Method and Apparatus

• US 20100211567A1
• Filed: 05/03/2010
• Published: 08/19/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meaningful Machines LLC
• Original Assignee: Meaningful Machines LLC
• Inventors: ABIR, Eli
• Granted Patent: US 8,521,509 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/730
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/42 Data-driven translation

Abstract

A method for creating and using a cross-idea association database that includes a method for associating words and word strings in a language by analyzing word formations around a word or word string to identify other words or word strings that are equivalents or near equivalents semantically. One method for associating words and word strings includes querying a collection of documents with a user-supplied word or word string, determining a user-defined amount of words or word strings to the left and right of the query string, determining the frequency of occurrence of words or word strings located on the left and right of the query string, and ranking the located words.

Claims

1. A computer device including a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a program stored in the memory, wherein the computer is configured to execute the program and perform the steps of:

providing a collection of documents, wherein said collection includes at least one document;

receiving a word or word string query to be analyzed;

searching by a processor, said collection of documents for the query to be analyzed and returning documents containing the query to be analyzed;

determining a user-defined amount of words or word strings or both to the left of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents based on their frequency and creating a Left Signature List comprising each of said words and word strings to the left of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents;

searching said collection of documents for the words and word strings on the Left Signature List and returning documents containing said words or word strings on the Left Signature List;

determining a user-defined amount of words or word strings or both to the right of each of said words and word strings comprising said Left Signature List and creating a Left Anchor List comprising each of said words and word strings to the right of each of said words and word strings on the Left Signature List based on their frequency in a collection of documents;

determining a user-defined number of words or word strings or both to the right of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents and creating a Right Signature List comprising each of said words and word strings to the right of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents based on their frequency;

searching said collection of documents for each of said words and word strings on the Right Signature List and returning documents containing said words and word strings on the Right Signature List;

determining a user-defined number of words or word strings or both to the left of each of said words and word strings comprising said Right Signature List and creating a Right Anchor List comprising each of said words and word strings to the left of each of said words and word strings on the Right Signature List based on their frequency; and

ranking results based on the number of different Anchor Lists on which the result appears.

2. The computer device of claim 1, wherein said ranking results includes multiplying a total frequency of each word or word string occurring in said Left Anchor Lists by a total frequency of said word or word string occurring in said Right Anchor Lists.

3. The computer device of claim 1, wherein said ranking results includes adding a total frequency of each word or word string occurring in said Left Anchor Lists to a total frequency of said word or word string occurring in said Right Anchor Lists, for each word or word string occurring in both the Left Anchor List and the Right Anchor List.

4. The computer device of claim 1, wherein said ranking results are modified based on user defined criteria.

5. The computer device of claim 1, wherein said ranking results are used to aid a software application.

6. A computer device including a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a program stored in the memory, wherein the computer is configured to execute the program and perform the steps of:

providing a collection of documents, wherein said collection includes at least one document;

receiving a word or word string query to be analyzed;

searching by a processor, said collection of documents for the query to be analyzed and returning documents containing the query to be analyzed;

determining a user-defined number of words or word strings or both to the left and right of the query in said returned documents containing the query to be analyzed;

returning a list with an entry or plurality of entries, wherein said entry or said plurality of entries contain said determined words or word strings to the left and right of the query in said returned documents;

searching said collection of documents for said entry or plurality of entries in said returned list and returning documents containing said entry or said plurality of entries in said returned list; and

determining a user defined number of words or word strings that appear between words or word strings to the left and right of said query;

returning a list of words or word strings or both that occur between said determined words or word strings to the left and right of said query; and

ranking said returned list of words or word strings based on the number of different words or word strings to the left and right of said query that each returned word or word string appears between.

7. The computer device of claim 6, wherein said ranking is used to aid a software application.

8. The computer device of claim 6, wherein said ranking is modified based on user defined criteria.

9. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a program executable by a computer processor for performing the steps of:

providing a collection of documents, wherein said collection includes at least one document;

receiving a word or word string query to be analyzed;

searching by a processor, said collection of documents for the query to be analyzed and returning documents containing the query to be analyzed;

determining a user-defined amount of words or word strings or both to the left of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents based on their frequency and creating a Left Signature List comprising each of said words and word strings to the left of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents;

searching said collection of documents for the words and word strings on the Left Signature List and returning documents containing said words or word strings on the Left Signature List;

determining a user-defined amount of words or word strings or both to the right of each of said words and word strings comprising said Left Signature List and creating a Left Anchor List comprising each of said words and word strings to the right of each of said words and word strings on the Left Signature List based on their frequency in a collection of documents;

determining a user-defined number of words or word strings or both to the right of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents and creating a Right Signature List comprising each of said words and word strings to the right of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents based on their frequency;

searching said collection of documents for each of said words and word strings on the Right Signature List and returning documents containing said words and word strings on the Right Signature List;

determining a user-defined number of words or word strings or both to the left of each of said words and word strings comprising said Right Signature List and creating a Right Anchor List comprising each of said words and word strings to the left of each of said words and word strings on the Right Signature List based on their frequency; and

ranking results based on the number of different Anchor Lists on which the result appears.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein said ranking results includes multiplying a total frequency of each word or word string occurring in said Left Anchor Lists by a total frequency of said word or word string occurring in said Right Anchor Lists.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein said ranking results includes adding a total frequency of each word or word string occurring in said Left Anchor Lists to a total frequency of said word or word string occurring in said Right Anchor Lists, for each word or word string occurring in both the Left Anchor List and the Right Anchor List.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein said ranking results are modified based on user defined criteria.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein said ranking results are used to aid a software application.

14. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a program executable by a computer processor for performing the steps of:

providing a collection of documents, wherein said collection includes at least one document;

receiving a word or word string query to be analyzed;

searching by a processor, said collection of documents for the query to be analyzed and returning documents containing the query to be analyzed;

determining a user-defined number of words or word strings or both to the left and right of the query in said returned documents containing the query to be analyzed;

returning a list with an entry or plurality of entries, wherein said entry or said plurality of entries contain said determined words or word strings to the left and right of the query in said returned documents;

searching said collection of documents for said entry or plurality of entries in said returned list and returning documents containing said entry or said plurality of entries in said returned list; and

determining a user defined number of words or word strings that appear between words or word strings to the left and right of said query;

returning a list of words or word strings or both that occur between said determined words or word strings to the left and right of said query; and

ranking said returned list of words or word strings based on the number of different words or word strings to the left and right of said query that each returned word or word string appears between.

15. The computer device of claim 14, wherein said ranking is used to aid a software application.

16. The computer device of claim 14, wherein said ranking is modified based on user defined criteria.

17. A method for associating words and word strings in a language comprising:

providing a collection of documents, wherein said collection includes at least one document;

receiving a word or word string query to be analyzed;

searching by a processor, said collection of documents for the query to be analyzed and returning documents containing the query to be analyzed;

determining a user-defined amount of words or word strings or both to the left of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents based on their frequency and creating a Left Signature List comprising each of said words and word strings to the left of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents;

searching said collection of documents for the words and word strings on the Left Signature List and returning documents containing said words or word strings on the Left Signature List;

determining a user-defined amount of words or word strings or both to the right of each of said words and word strings comprising said Left Signature List and creating a Left Anchor List comprising each of said words and word strings to the right of each of said words and word strings on the Left Signature List based on their frequency in a collection of documents;

determining a user-defined number of words or word strings or both to the right of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents and creating a Right Signature List comprising each of said words and word strings to the right of said query to be analyzed in said returned documents based on their frequency;

searching said collection of documents for each of said words and word strings on the Right Signature List and returning documents containing said words and word strings on the Right Signature List;

determining a user-defined number of words or word strings or both to the left of each of said words and word strings comprising said Right Signature List and creating a Right Anchor List comprising each of said words and word strings to the left of each of said words and word strings on the Right Signature List based on their frequency; and

ranking results based on the number of different Anchor Lists on which the result appears.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said ranking results includes multiplying a total frequency of each word or word string occurring in said Left Anchor Lists by a total frequency of said word or word string occurring in said Right Anchor Lists.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said ranking results includes adding a total frequency of each word or word string occurring in said Left Anchor Lists to a total frequency of said word or word string occurring in said Right Anchor Lists, for each word or word string occurring in both the Left Anchor List and the Right Anchor List.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein said ranking results are modified based on user defined criteria.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein said ranking results are used to aid a software application.

22. A method for associating words and word strings in a language comprising:

providing a collection of documents, wherein said collection includes at least one document;

receiving a word or word string query to be analyzed;

searching by a processor, said collection of documents for the query to be analyzed and returning documents containing the query to be analyzed;

determining a user-defined number of words or word strings or both to the left and right of the query in said returned documents containing the query to be analyzed;

returning a list with an entry or plurality of entries, wherein said entry or said plurality of entries contain said determined words or word strings to the left and right of the query in said returned documents;

searching said collection of documents for said entry or plurality of entries in said returned list and returning documents containing said entry or said plurality of entries in said returned list; and

determining a user defined number of words or word strings that appear between words or word strings to the left and right of said query;

returning a list of words or word strings or both that occur between said determined words or word strings to the left and right of said query; and

ranking said returned list of words or word strings based on the number of different words or word strings to the left and right of said query that each returned word or word string appears between.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said ranking is used to aid a software application.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein said ranking is modified based on user defined criteria.