Systems and methods for interactive disambiguation of data

• US 20100287210A1
• Filed: 05/08/2009
• Published: 11/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Refinitiv US Organization, LLC (Refinitiv US Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Reuters Global Resources
• Inventors: Olof-Ors, Mans Anders, Houminer, Doron T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,949,241 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/295 Named entity recognition

Abstract

Systems, methods and computer program products residing on a computer readable medium for use in and capable of storing computer instructions therein for enabling a computer to perform a computer-implemented and user assisted process for disambiguating entities in an electronic document that includes: (a) creating, by the user, an electronic document; (b) providing, by the computer, a list to the user of potential entities related to an entity provided by the user in the electronic document; and (c) selecting, by the user, an entity provided in the computer provided list.

Claims

1. A computer program product residing on a computer readable medium for storing computer instructions therein for enabling a computer to perform a computer-implemented and user assisted process for disambiguating entities in an electronic document, the computer program product comprising instructions for enabling a computer to:

(a) create, by the user, an electronic document;

(b) provide, by the computer, a list to the user of potential entities related to an entity provided by the user in the electronic document; and

(c) select, by the user, an entity provided in the computer provided list.

2. The computer program product according to claim 1, further comprising storing the list of entities in a data repository.

3. The computer program product according to claim 1, further comprising incorporating metadata associated with the user selected entity into the electronic document.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the list comprises at least one person.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the list comprises at least one geographic location.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the list comprises at least one commercial enterprise.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising instructions for enabling a user to add a new entity to a data repository.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising instructions that allow the user to add to the data repository additional data associated with a particular entity.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising instructions for assigning a unique identifier to each entity stored in the data repository.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising logic to provide the list of potential entities to the user.

11. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computer provides the list of entities to the user by taking into account entities contained in other electronic documents created by the user.

12. A computer, comprising:

(a) a memory; and

(b) a program resident in the memory and configured to facilitate disambiguation of entities within a user-created electronic document by (i) presenting to a user a list of entities related to an entity provided by the user in the electronic document, and (ii) enabling the user to select one of the disambiguated entities.

13. The computer according to claim 12, wherein the program is configured to incorporate metadata pertaining to the user selected entity into the electronic document.

14. The computer according to claim 12, wherein the program accepts as an input from a user a selection of one of the entities presented to the user.

15. The computer according to claim 14, wherein the program associates metadata from the user selected entity with the entity provided by the user in the electronic document.

16. The computer according to claim 15, wherein the program incorporates metadata associated with the user selected entity into the electronic document.

17. A system for facilitating the disambiguation of entities in an electronic document, comprising:

one or more input devices;

one or more output devices; and

a computer comprising at least one of memory and a storage medium, for storing a program that facilitates the disambiguation of entities in the electronic document, wherein the program (i) receives data from the at least one input device, (ii) provides to the at least one output device a list of entities related to or potentially related to an entity provided via the at least one input device, and (iii) receives via the at least one input device a selection, by a user, of one of the entities from the list of entities.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein metadata pertaining to the selected entity is stored in a data repository.

19. The system according to claim 17, wherein metadata pertaining to the selected entity is stored in the electronic document.

20. The system according to claim 17, wherein the program provides the list of entities to the user by taking into account entities contained in other electronic documents created by the user.