System for displaying concept networks

• US 5,553,226 A
• Filed: 10/30/1989
• Issued: 09/03/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/1985
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Wakabayashi, Minoru, Hatakeyama, Atsushi, Fujisawa, Hiromichi, Kiuchi, Itsuko
• Primary Examiner(s): Herndon, Heather R.
• Application Number:
  US07/430,241
• Time in Patent Office: 2,500 Days
• Field of Search: 364/518, 364/521, 364/419, 395/155, 395/161, 395/156, 395/157, 395/158, 395/159, 395/160
• US Class Current: 715/853
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/206 Drawing of charts or graphs

Abstract

When a network representing the relationship among immense concepts is indicated using a multi-window function, a concept network display system simultaneously displays a superconcept for a current concept in the network, a network representing the subsumption relation of the current concept, and a network representing generic and instance relations of the current concept in a dynamically linked relationship. The concept network display system also edits the displays of the networks by rewriting displayed networks in response to selection of a new current concept, and displays a history of the current concepts without repetition.

Claims

1. A concept network display system for representing knowledge-based information in a combination of concept nodes and relation links, comprising:

input means for inputting data to indicate a current concept;

knowledge base storage means for holding said knowledge-based information;

display means for displaying concepts stored in said knowledge base storage means;

first means for controlling said display means to display a concept tree window for showing concepts in a hierarchical tree arrangement including a current concept indicated by said input means;

second means for controlling said display means to display a superconcept window for showing a superconcept of said current concept;

third means for controlling said display means to display a subnetwork window for showing at least one concept combined with said current concept in any of instance relation and generic relation;

select means responding to an input of data via said input means for selecting a concept of said concepts displayed on one of said windows by said display means to designate the selected concept as a new current concept; and

rewrite means responsive to said new current concept for rewriting said concept tree window, said superconcept window and said subnetwork window based on said new current concept.

2. A concept network display system according to claim 1, said first means including means for changing the concepts displayed in the concept tree window to another hierarchical tree arrangement including said new current concept.

3. A concept network display system according to claim 1, further comprising:

holding means for holding a sequence of current concepts indicated sequentially without repeat of a concept in the sequence; and

means for controlling said display means for displaying the sequence of current concepts as a history of the current concepts.

4. A concept network display system according to claim 1, including means for rewriting a subconcept for the concept displayed in the concept tree window with a depth and a branching factor.

5. A concept network display system according to claim 1, including means responsive to an input via said input means for erasing a concept from said concepts displayed in the concept tree window.

6. A concept network display system according to claim 1, further including threshold means for briefly describing concepts at a distance less than a predetermined threshold from said current concept displayed in the concept tree window.

7. A query edition display system for expressing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations, comprising:

memory means for storing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations;

command input means for inputting a command and creating in response to said command, a complicated expression of a query edition on the basis of concepts by referring to said stored knowledge;

a controller for arranging said complicated expression of a query edition in an easily understandable form;

display means for displaying said easily understandable form of said query edition; and

means for allowing the same concept present in the created query edition to add restrictions to two or more concepts through relations.

8. A query edition display system for expressing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations, comprising:

memory means for storing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations;

command input means for inputting a command and creating, in response to said command, a complicated expression of a query edition on the basis of concepts by referring to said stored knowledge;

a controller for arranging said complicated expression of a query edition in an easily understandable form;

display means for displaying said easily understandable form of said query edition; and

means for effecting plural-sided retrieval on a single query edition when the user limits retrieval conditions to the created query edition or a concept in the query edition.

9. A query edition display system for expressing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations, comprising:

memory means for storing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations;

command input means for inputting a command and creating, in response to said command, a complicated expression of a query edition on the basis of concepts by referring to said stored knowledge;

a controller for arranging said complicated expression of a query edition in an easily understandable form;

display means for displaying said easily understandable form of said query edition; and

means for deleting unnecessary concepts and relations in the created query edition when designated with a mouse to thereby change the query edition.

10. A query edition display system for expressing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations, comprising:

memory means for storing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations;

command input means for inputting a command and creating, in response to said command, a complicated expression of a query edition on the basis of concepts by referring to said stored knowledge;

a controller for arranging said complicated expression of a query edition in an easily understandable form;

display means for displaying said easily understandable form of said query edition; and

means for displaying in the form of a menu changeable ones of relations among concepts present in the created query edition and for changing the changeable relations by selecting an appropriate item of the menu.

11. A query edition display system for expressing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations, comprising:

memory means for storing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations;

command input means for inputting a command and creating, in response to said command, a complicated expression of a query edition on the basis of concepts by referring to said stored knowledge;

a controller for arranging said complicated expression of a query edition in an easily understandable form;

display means for displaying said easily understandable form of said query edition, and

means for displaying a concept describable in parallel with a concept present in the created query edition, together with the clear designation of the parallel relationship therebetween.

12. A query edition display system for expressing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations, comprising:

memory means for storing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations;

command input means for inputting a command and creating, in response to said command, a complicated expression of a query edition on the basis of concepts by referring to said stored knowledge;

a controller for arranging said complicated expression of a query edition in an easily understandable form;

display means for displaying said easily understandable form of said query edition; and

means for automatically allocating a relation to thereby make a retrieval, in response to the designation of the relation among the concepts with a depth by the user if the relation among the concepts is unclear when the query edition is created.

13. A query edition display system for expressing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations, comprising:

memory means for storing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations;

command input means for inputting a command and creating, in response to said command, a complicated expression of a query edition on the basis of concepts by referring to said stored knowledge;

a controller for arranging said complicated expression of a query edition in an easily understandable form;

display means for displaying said easily understandable form of said query edition; and

means for eliminating a particular concept from other concepts as an object in the query edition.

14. A query edition display system for expressing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations, comprising:

memory means for storing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations;

command input means for inputting a command and creating, in response to said command, a complicated expression of a query edition on the basis of concepts by referring to said stored knowledge;

a controller for arranging said complicated expression of a query edition in an easily understandable form;

display means for displaying said easily understandable form of said query edition, and

means for briefly indicating a query edition using the indication of a concept in the query edition in a nominal compound or in an icon.

15. A query edition display system for expressing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations, comprising:

.

memory means for storing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations;

command input means for inputting a command and creating, in response to said command, a complicated expression of a query edition on the basis of concepts by referring to said stored knowledge;

a controller for arranging said complicated expression of a query edition in an easily understandable form;

display means for displaying said easily understandable form of said query edition; and

means for displaying an icon and holding a concept in the query edition and the result of retrieval of the concept and for using the held concept and result for later retrieval and creation of a query edition.

16. A query edition display system for expressing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations, comprising:

memory means for storing knowledge in a combination of concepts and relations;

command input means for inputting a command and creating in response to said command, a complicated expression of a query edition on the basis of concepts by referring to said stored knowledge;

a controller for arranging said complicated expression of a query edition in an easily understandable form;

display means for displaying said easily understandable form of said query edition; and

means for designating a concept displayed in a superconcept display window and rewriting the display of a concept tree window with subconcepts thereof and others, and means for emphatically displaying only a range in which a current concept is rewritable.

17. A graphical query editing system for formulating query conditions represented in terms of concepts and their relations defined between said concepts comprising:

storage means for storing information to be retrieved and knowledge, said knowledge being represented in terms of concepts, each of which has a string of characters as a name, and relations each of which connects two of said concepts, at least some of said relations being subsumption relations which define taxonomical hierarchy of said concepts;

first display means for displaying a window of concepts on a screen of a system, centered around a current concept specified by the user of the system, said concepts being displayed in a form of a hierarchical tree;

second display means for displaying on said screen a window of superclass concepts of said current concept, said superclass concepts subsuming said current concept directly or indirectly;

third display means for displaying a window of a query condition being formulated in a graphical manner, said query condition being represented in terms of concepts and relations connecting any two of said concepts, wherein a pair of a relation and a concept constitutes a conditional phrase;

fourth display means for displaying a menu of query editing functions available in the system in a graphical manner, said editing functions including adding to a query condition being formulated a new conditional phase and deleting a conditional phase;

selection means for allowing said user to input character strings and data;

query editing means for creating a query condition, which changes the internal representation of a query condition in response to said user'"'"'s selection of concepts and relation displayed by said third display means, and in response to said user'"'"'s selection of query editing functions displayed by said fourth display means, said selection being carried out by said selection means;

information retrieval means for retrieving information from said storage means based on a query condition created and stored internally by said query editing means; and

fifth display means for displaying the result of the retrieval done by said information retrieval means.

18. A graphical query editing system according to claim 17, further comprising query reservation means for reserving formulated query conditions for later reuse, associated with a name in terms of a string of characters.

19. A graphical query editing system according to claim 18, wherein said query editing means allows said user to search and to reuse any of said reserved query conditions by appending said reserved query condition to a query condition to be formulated.

20. A graphical query editing system according to claim 17, further comprising sixth display means for displaying the history of said user'"'"'s concept in said window of concepts displayed by said first display means.

21. A graphical query editing system according to claim 17, wherein said editing functions further include changing a concept in said query condition, and changing a relation in said query condition.

22. A graphical query editing system according to claim 21, wherein said editing functions further include adding a concept that is to be conditioned by said query condition.