SMARTER SEARCH

• US 20130031089A1
• Filed: 07/28/2011
• Published: 01/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Allen, Thomas B., D'Amico, Michael H., Macy, Brian E., Bowsher, Donald A. Jr., Curcio, Anthony D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,972,387 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web

Abstract

Provided are techniques to search for an entity in an entity resolution system. Search input comprising one or more attribute values of one or more attribute types is received. A resolution search is performed to generate a search result set comprising one or more entities and zero or more generic attribute values for generating additional entities. In response to determining that the resolution search generated at least two generic attribute values, one or more query searches are performed for a unique generic group by generic attribute type to identify the additional entities, wherein the unique generic group comprises a subset of the search input and includes at least two generic attribute types; the identified additional entities are combined with the entities in the search result set; and the search result set is returned.

Claims

1. A method to search for an entity in an entity resolution system, comprising:

receiving, using a processor of a computer, search input comprising one or more attribute values of one or more attribute types;

performing a resolution search to generate a search result set comprising one or more entities and zero or more generic attribute values for generating additional entities;

determining whether the resolution search generated one or more generic attribute values;

in response to determining that the resolution search generated zero generic attribute values, returning the search result set; and

in response to determining that the resolution search generated at least two generic attribute values,

performing one or more query searches for a unique generic group by generic attribute type to identify the additional entities, wherein the unique generic group comprises a subset of the search input and includes at least two generic attribute types;

combining the identified additional entities with the entities in the search result set; and

returning the search result set.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that the resolution search generated one generic attribute value, returning the search result set.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the search input,

determining whether to perform a query search based on the search input;

in response to determining that the query search is to be performed, performing the query search; and

returning a search result set from the query search.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein it is determined to perform the query search when the search input comprises at least one of a date range, a wildcard, and an incomplete attribute value.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein it is determined to perform the query search in response to receiving an explicit indication to perform a strict search.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein it is determined to perform the query search when the search input comprises a single attribute value.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether to perform a resolution search;

in response to determining that the resolution search is to be performed, performing the resolution search; and

in response to determining that the resolution search is not to be performed, performing a query search.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the resolution search further comprises:

retrieving one or more candidate entities for non-generic candidate keys;

performing similarity scoring of the candidate entities against the search input to determine a similarity score for each of the candidate entities; and

for each of the candidate entities, in response to a similarity score of that candidate entity exceeding a threshold, including that candidate entity in the search results set.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

de-duplicating the search result set; and

ranking search results in the search result set.

10. A computer system for an entity in an entity resolution system, comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device connected to the processor,

wherein the storage device has stored thereon a program, and

wherein the processor is configured to execute instructions of the program to perform operations, wherein the operations comprise;

receiving search input comprising one or more attribute values of one or more attribute types;

performing a resolution search to generate a search result set comprising one or more entities and zero or more generic attribute values for generating additional entities;

determining whether the resolution search generated one or more generic attribute values;

in response to determining that the resolution search generated zero generic attribute values, returning the search result set; and

in response to determining that the resolution search generated at least two generic attribute values,

performing one or more query searches for a unique generic group by generic attribute type to identify the additional entities, wherein the unique generic group comprises a subset of the search input and includes at least two generic attribute types;

combining the identified additional entities with the entities in the search result set; and

returning the search result set.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the resolution search generated one generic attribute value, returning the search result set.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to receiving the search input,

determining whether to perform a query search based on the search input;

in response to determining that the query search is to be performed, performing the query search; and

returning a search result set from the query search.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein it is determined to perform the query search when the search input comprises at least one of a date range, a wildcard, and an incomplete attribute value.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein it is determined to perform the query search in response to receiving an explicit indication to perform a strict search.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein it is determined to perform the query search when the search input comprises a single attribute value.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether to perform a resolution search;

in response to determining that the resolution search is to be performed, performing the resolution search; and

in response to determining that the resolution search is not to be performed, performing a query search.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations for the resolution search further comprise:

retrieving one or more candidate entities for non-generic candidate keys;

performing similarity scoring of the candidate entities against the search input to determine a similarity score for each of the candidate entities; and

for each of the candidate entities, in response to a similarity score of that candidate entity exceeding a threshold, including that candidate entity in the search results set.

18. A computer program product for an entity in an entity resolution system, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code, when executed by a processor of a computer, configured to perform;

receiving search input comprising one or more attribute values of one or more attribute types;

performing a resolution search to generate a search result set comprising one or more entities and zero or more generic attribute values for generating additional entities;

determining whether the resolution search generated one or more generic attribute values;

in response to determining that the resolution search generated zero generic attribute values, returning the search result set; and

in response to determining that the resolution search generated at least two generic attribute values,

performing one or more query searches for a unique generic group by generic attribute type to identify the additional entities, wherein the unique generic group comprises a subset of the search input and includes at least two generic attribute types;

combining the identified additional entities with the entities in the search result set; and

returning the search result set.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the computer readable program code, when executed by the processor of the computer, is configured to perform:

in response to determining that the resolution search generated one generic attribute value, returning the search result set.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the computer readable program code, when executed by the processor of the computer, is configured to perform:

in response to receiving the search input,

determining whether to perform a query search based on the search input;

in response to determining that the query search is to be performed, performing the query search; and

returning a search result set from the query search.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein it is determined to perform the query search when the search input comprises at least one of a date range, a wildcard, and an incomplete attribute value.

22. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein it is determined to perform the query search in response to receiving an explicit indication to perform a strict search.

23. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein it is determined to perform the query search when the search input comprises a single attribute value.

24. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein, for the resolution search, the computer readable program code, when executed by the processor of the computer, is configured to perform:

determining whether to perform a resolution search;

in response to determining that the resolution search is to be performed, performing the resolution search; and

in response to determining that the resolution search is not to be performed, performing a query search.

25. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the computer readable program code, when executed by the processor of the computer, is configured to perform:

retrieving one or more candidate entities for non-generic candidate keys;

performing similarity scoring of the candidate entities against the search input to determine a similarity score for each of the candidate entities; and

for each of the candidate entities, in response to a similarity score of that candidate entity exceeding a threshold, including that candidate entity in the search results set.