AUTOMATED ONTOLOGY GENERATION SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20110004628A1
• Filed: 02/22/2008
• Published: 01/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Lead Horse Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Lead Horse Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Armstrong, John M., Leibnitz, Ramona R.
• Application Number:
  US12/918,454
• Publication Number:
  US 20110004628A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/778
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3338 Query expansion
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 70/40 relating to drugs, e.g. their side effects or intended usage

Abstract

An automated method for ontology generation is provided. In one embodiment, a user inputs a single clinical term or portion of a clinical term representing an adverse event that a patient has experienced. In response, the system causes a list of conceptually related terms to be generated.

Claims

1. A method for generating medical assessment query terms in a medical assessment support system comprising:

receiving a search term describing an adverse event experienced by a patient;

identifying a plurality of clinical terms that are functionally related to said search term; and

providing a medical assessment query to database search in a medical assessment support system, said query comprising said plurality of clinical terms.

2. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said medical assessment query further comprising an identification of a drug/treatment having been applied to the patient.

3. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said medical assessment query further comprising an identification of a condition/symptom of the patient.

4. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said medical assessment query further comprising an identification of a drug/treatment having been applied to the patient and a condition/symptom of the patient.

5. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein said receiving a search term comprises:

receiving a portion of a search term; and

providing a suggested search term based on said received portion of a search term.

6. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein identifying said plurality of clinical terms comprises:

determining an ontology that includes said search term, said ontology comprising a plurality of groups of related terms; and

identifying said plurality of clinical terms based on predetermined rules related to said plurality of groups of related terms.

7. A method, as claimed in claim 6, wherein:

at least one of said plurality of groups of related terms comprises a hierarchy of terms that include directly related terms and indirectly related terms, and said plurality of clinical terms comprises each combination of directly related terms of said hierarchy.

8. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein identifying said plurality of clinical terms comprises:

establishing, using an electronic communication device, a communication link with a systemized nomenclature database that provides a database search based upon a query and identifies synonyms, if any, for the query;

sending a query to a systemized nomenclature database using said electronic communication device, said query comprising at least a portion of said search term; and

receiving, in response to said step of sending, results of a database search conducted by a systemized nomenclature database based upon said query and identifying any synonyms of said query term(s).

9. A method, as claimed in claim 8, further comprising, for each synonym identified by the database search:

sending a query to a systemized nomenclature database using said electronic communication device, said query comprising a synonym; and

receiving, in response to said step of sending, results of a database search conducted by a systemized nomenclature database based upon said query and identifying any synonyms of said search term.

10. A method, as claimed in claim 9, wherein identifying said plurality of clinical terms further comprises removing any redundant clinical terms identified in results of the database searches.

11. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein identifying said plurality of clinical terms comprises:

determining an ontology that includes said search term, said ontology comprising a plurality of groups of related terms;

identifying a plurality of query terms based on predetermined rules related to said plurality of groups of related terms;

establishing, using an electronic communication device, a communication link with a systemized nomenclature database that provides a database search based upon a query and identifies synonyms, if any, for the query;

sending a query, for each identified query term, to a systemized nomenclature database using said electronic communication device, said query comprising at least a portion of an identified query term; and

receiving, in response to said step of sending, results of a database search conducted by a systemized nomenclature database based upon said query and identifying any synonyms of said query term(s).

12. A method, as claimed in claim 11, further comprising, for each synonym identified by the database search:

sending a query to a systemized nomenclature database using said electronic communication device, said query comprising a synonym; and

receiving, in response to said step of sending, results of a database search conducted by a systemized nomenclature database based upon said query and identifying any synonyms of said search term.

13. A method, as claimed in claim 12, wherein identifying said plurality of clinical terms further comprises removing any redundant clinical terms identified in results of the database searches.

14. A method, as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

providing said plurality of clinical terms to a third party for review;

storing said reviewed clinical terms; and

providing said reviewed clinical terms as said plurality of clinical terms in response to receiving said search term.

15. A method, as claimed in claim 14, wherein said identifying a plurality of clinical terms that are functionally related to said search term comprises providing said reviewed clinical terms, and further providing said reviewed clinical terms to a user for review and modification.

16. A method for providing an ontology-based search term expansion, comprising:

establishing a communication link with an automated ontology generation system using an electronic communication device;

sending a query to an automated ontology generation system using said electronic communication device, said query comprising a search term;

receiving, in response to said step of sending, a plurality of related search terms from an automated ontology generation system and from a database search conducted by a systemized nomenclature database based upon said query and identifying at least one synonym of said query term.

17. A method, as claimed in claim 16, wherein:

said plurality of related search terms being determined from an ontology that includes said search term, said ontology comprising a plurality of groups of related terms, and being based on predetermined rules related to said plurality of groups of related terms.

18. A method, as claimed in claim 17, wherein:

at least one of said plurality of groups of related terms comprises a hierarchy of related terms including directly related terms and indirectly related terms, and said plurality of clinical terms comprises each combination of directly related terms of said hierarchy.

19. A system for providing an ontology-based search term expansion comprising:

an user interface for receiving a query from an electronic communication device associated with a user and sending the results of a search term expansion based on said query to an electronic communication device associated with the user;

a processing engine for determining an ontology based upon a query received by said input interface and providing a plurality of search terms to said user interface for subsequent transmission to an electronic communication device associated with the user;

wherein said processing engine comprises an ontology processor for processing at least a portion of said query to produce additional search terms based on an ontology of a plurality of ontologies that includes said search term, said ontology comprising a plurality of groups of related terms; and

a data interface for conducting communications with an external data source that may be able to provide one or more synonyms relevant to said query.

20. A system, as claimed in claim 19, wherein:

said plurality ontologies comprise groups of related terms, at least one ontology comprising a hierarchy of related terms; and

said ontology processor produces said additional search terms based on predetermined rules corresponding to relationships of terms of said hierarchy.

21. A system, as claimed in claim 19, wherein:

said query is a repeating query that identifies one or more additional search terms based on synonyms provided from said external data source;

said processing engine repeatedly searching for additional search terms based on said repeating query.

22. A system, as claimed in claim 21, wherein said processing engine removes any redundant clinical terms identified in said queries.