Semantic Search System Interface and Method

• US 20150039581A1
• Filed: 07/31/2013
• Published: 02/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innography (Clarivate Plc)
• Original Assignee: Innography (Clarivate Plc)
• Inventors: John, Roji, Steiger, Carl L. Jr., Herrick, Clifford Scott, Fisher, David Martin, Liechty, Paul Spencer
• Granted Patent: US 10,235,455 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

A method for semantic searching includes receiving a user input including seed data and a semantic input at a search system. The method further includes automatically generating a filter set based on the user input, where the filter set including a plurality of documents that correspond to the seed data, and includes providing the filter set and the semantic input to a semantic search engine. The method also includes receiving a set of semantic search results from the semantic search engine based on the filter set and the semantic input. The set of semantic search results corresponds to a sub-set of the filter set that is semantically similar to the semantic input.

Claims

1. A method for semantic searching comprises:

receiving a user input including seed data and a semantic input at a search system from a user device;

automatically generating a filter set based on the user input, the filter set including a plurality of documents that correspond to the seed data;

providing the filter set and the semantic input to a semantic search engine; and

receiving a set of semantic search results from the semantic search engine based on the filter set and the semantic input, the set of semantic search results corresponding to a sub-set of the filter set that is semantically similar to the semantic input.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the user input including the seed data and the semantic input comprises:

providing a graphical user interface including a plurality of user-selectable elements accessible by a user to select a searchable attribute and including text inputs for receiving the seed data and the semantic input, the graphical user interface further including a selectable button accessible by the user to submit the user input; and

receiving the user input in response to user selection of the selectable button.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein automatically generating the filter set comprises searching the searchable attribute of one or more data sources using the seed data to retrieve a set of documents defining the filter set.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the seed data comprises at least one of a date range, a company name, a revenue range, a number of employees, and an industry code.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the seed data comprises a list of documents;

and

wherein the filter set comprises a set of document data pre-computed from the list of documents.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a graphical user interface including the set of semantic search results and including at least one user-selectable element accessible by the user to switch from a first visualization of the set of semantic search results to a second visualization of the set of semantic search results.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the semantic search engine searches within the filter set using the semantic input to find the set of semantic search results without rebuilding a semantic index.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the seed data comprises a set of products; and

the semantic search engine searches within the set of products to find the set of semantic search results without rebuilding a semantic index.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

extracting data from at least one of the user input and the set of semantic search results;

searching the one or more data sources using the extracted data to retrieve ancillary search results;

correlating the ancillary search results with the set of semantic search results to produce an output data set; and

providing a graphical user interface that includes the output data set to the user device.

10. A search system comprising:

a network interface configured to communicate with a remote device through a network;

a processor coupled to the network interface; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to store instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to;

receive a user input including seed data, a search attribute, and a semantic input;

automatically generate a filter set based on the search attribute and the seed data;

provide the filter set and the semantic input to a semantic search engine; and

receive search results from the semantic search engine that correspond to the filter set and that are semantically similar to the semantic input.

11. The search system of claim 10, wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:

correlate the search results to a set of ancillary data to produce output data; and

provide a user interface including the output data to the remote device.

12. The search system of claim 10, wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to provide a user search interface including at least one user-selectable element to select a predetermined attribute and an associated text input to receive the seed data.

13. The search system of claim 10, wherein the predetermined attribute comprises a corporate name field and wherein the seed data comprises a company name.

14. The search system of claim 10, wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to provide a user search interface including at least one user-selectable element to select a predetermined document set that represents the seed data.

15. The search system of claim 10, wherein the memory further includes instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to provide a user search interface including at least one user-selectable element to browse to a file and to attach the file to provide the seed data.

16. The search system of claim 10, wherein the filter set comprises a set of documents corresponding to a patent portfolio of a company.

17. The search system of claim 10, wherein the seed data comprises at least one of a list of identifiers associated with documents, a company name, a date range, a revenue range, a number of employees, and an industry code.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the semantic search engine searches within a subset of a document space corresponding to the filter set without rebuilding a semantic index.

19. A search system comprising:

a semantic search engine configured to search a document space based on a semantic input to identify semantic search results having a semantic similarity to the semantic input; and

a search interface coupled to the semantic search engine, the search interface configured to receive a user input including seed data, a search attribute, and a semantic input, the search interface configured to retrieve a set of data based on the seed data using the search attribute and to automatically generate a filter set based on the set of data, the search interface configured to provide the filter set and the semantic input to the semantic search engine and to receive the semantic search results limited to the filter set from the semantic search engine.

20. The search system of claim 19, wherein the search interface is further configured to:

correlate the search results to a set of ancillary data to produce output data; and

provide a user interface including the output data to the remote device.

21. The search system of claim 19, wherein the search interface is configured to provide a user search interface to a user device through a network, the user search interface including at least one user-selectable element to select a predetermined attribute, an associated text input to receive the seed data, and a text input to receive the semantic input.