Methods and Systems for Categorizing Data in an On-Demand Database Environment

• US 20110282872A1
• Filed: 05/11/2011
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Oksman, Eugene, Hersans, Alexandre
• Granted Patent: US 9,141,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/727
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536

Abstract

Categorizing data in an on-demand database environment is provided. The categorized data is accessed to provide results based on statistical likelihood that records provide a desired result of a query. The categorization of the data includes organizing queries based on semantic terms, with categorization based on a multidimensional categorization of data in the database environment. The generating of results includes accessing relationship metadata both for individual records and for categories. Relationships along the same category, or among categories can provide records that may answer the query. The relationships and statistics are updated based on usage of the results data. Records and relationships identified as being used to solve the query, or being a desired solution to the query, can be weighted more heavily, thus increasing the likelihood of providing the most relevant data for subsequent queries.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a database system including hardware and software components to implement a multitenant database system (MTS), wherein the MTS stores data for multiple client organizations each identified by a tenant identifier (ID) and one or more users are associated with the tenant ID, wherein the one or more users of each client organization access data identified by the tenant ID associated with the respective client organization, and wherein the multitenant database is hosted by an entity separate from the client organization;

a server implemented on hardware components of the database system to receive a query from a client device;

access relationship metadata of records for a categorization of semantic terms of the query, the categorization based on a multidimensional categorization of data stored in the MTS associated with a tenant ID of the client device, to access including access metadata of categorizations that indicate relationships to other categorizations, and access relationship metadata of records that indicate relationships to other records;

compute statistical likelihood of each record as a result for the query, indicated by categorization and by relationship of each record; and

update statistics based on user access to a results group, including weighting more heavily records and relationships indentified as being a desired solution to the query.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising the server to

store the query as a new record in the MTS, in accordance with categories identified by the categorization.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising the server to

exclude records from a result set based on the computing.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising the server to

cluster data based on relationships of records.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising the server to

send the query to a human agent if none of the computed results is used as a solution to the query;

and

update the statistics responsive to a solution provided by the human agent.

6. A method comprising:

receiving a query at a multitenant database system (MTS), wherein the MTS stores data for multiple client organizations each identified by a tenant identifier (ID) and one or more users are associated with the tenant ID, wherein the one or more users of each client organization access data identified by the tenant ID associated with the respective client organization, and wherein the multitenant database is hosted by an entity separate from the client organization;

categorizing the semantic terms of the query based on a multidimensional categorization of data stored in the MTS associated with a tenant ID;

accessing relationship metadata of records for each categorization, including accessing metadata of categorizations that indicate relationships to other categorizations, and accessing relationship metadata of records that indicate relationships to other records;

computing statistical likelihood of each record as a result for the query, indicated by categorization and by relationship of each record; and

updating statistics based on user access to a results group, including weighting more heavily records and relationships indentified as being a desired solution to the query.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein categorizing comprises:

receiving an indication of a first category in a first category dimension; and

retrieving one or more data items categorized along the first category dimension.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein categorizing the semantic terms of the query comprises:

parsing the query into semantic terms; and

matching the parsed semantic terms to categories stored in a categorization table for the tenant ID.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein accessing relationship metadata further includes accessing a record used as a solution to multiple different queries, each query having a different categorization.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

storing the query as a new record in the MTS, in accordance with categories identified by the categorization.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

excluding records from a result set based on the computing.

12. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

clustering data based on relationships of the records.

13. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

sending the query to a human agent if none of the computed results is used as a solution to the query; and

updating the statistics responsive to a solution provided by the human agent.

14. An article of manufacture comprising a computer readable storage medium having content stored thereon, which when executed, cause a machine to perform operations including:

receiving a query at a multitenant database system (MTS), wherein the MTS stores data for multiple client organizations each identified by a tenant identifier (ID) and one or more users are associated with the tenant ID, wherein the one or more users of each client organization access data identified by the tenant ID associated with the respective client organization, and wherein the multitenant database is hosted by an entity separate from the client organization;

categorizing, the semantic terms of the query based on a multidimensional categorization of data stored in the MTS associated with a tenant ID;

accessing relationship metadata of records for each categorization, including accessing metadata of categorizations that indicate relationships to other categorizations, and accessing relationship metadata of records that indicate relationships to other records;

computing statistical likelihood of each record as a result for the query, indicated by categorization and by relationship of each record; and

updating statistics based on user access to a results group, including weighting more heavily records and relationships indentified as being a desired solution to the query.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the content to provide instructions for categorizing comprises content to provide instructions for

receiving an indication of a first category in a first category dimension;

and

retrieving one or more data items categorized along, the first category dimension.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the content to provide instructions for categorizing the semantic terms of the query comprises content to provide instructions for

parsing the query into semantic terms;

and

matching the parsed semantic terms to categories stored in a categorization table for the tenant ID.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 14, further comprising content to provide instructions for

storing the query as a new record in the MTS, in accordance with categories identified by the categorization.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 14, further comprising content to provide instructions for

excluding records from a result set based on the computing.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 14, further comprising content to provide instructions for

clustering data based on relationships of the records.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 14, further comprising content to provide instructions for

sending the query to a human agent if none of the computed results is used as a solution to the query;

and

updating the statistics responsive to a solution provided by the human agent.