User interface for information retrieval system

• US 5,768,578 A
• Filed: 02/27/1995
• Issued: 06/16/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nokia of America Corporation (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Kirk, Thomas, Levy, Alon Yitzchak
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEWIS, CHERYL RENEA
• Application Number:
  US08/394,867
• Time in Patent Office: 1,205 Days
• Field of Search: 395/600, 395/611, 395/603, 395/614, 395/615, 395/777, 395/793, 364/900, 364/523
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24524 Access plan code generation and invalidation; Reuse of access plans
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2471 Distributed queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

An improved information retrieval system user interface for retrieving information from a plurality of sources and for storing information source descriptions in a knowledge base. The user interface includes a hypertext browser and a knowledge base browser/editor. The hypertext browser allows a user to browse an unstructured information space through the use of interactive hypertext links. The knowledge base browser/editor displays a directed graph representing a generalization taxonomy of the knowledge base, with the nodes representing concepts and edges representing relationships between concepts. The system allows users to store information source descriptions in the knowledge base via graphical pointing means. By dragging an iconic representation of an information source from the hypertext browser to a node in the directed graph, the system will store an information source description object in the knowledge base. The knowledge base browser/editor is also used to browse the information source descriptions previously stored in the knowledge base. The result of such browsing is an interactive list of information source descriptions which may be used to retrieve documents into the hypertext browser. The system also allows for querying a structured information source and using query results to focus the hypertext browser on the most relevant unstructured data sources.

Claims

1. An information retrieval apparatus for retrieving information and for managing said retrieved information, the apparatus comprising:

a structured database;

a document browser for displaying retrieved information;

a database browser for displaying a visual representation of the structure of said database;

means for requesting a transfer of information from said document browser to said database; and

storage means responsive to said means for requesting for storing information source descriptions in said database, said information source descriptions including at least an access path description and a content description of said retrieved information.

2. The information retrieval apparatus of claim 1 wherein said visual representation of the structure of said database is a directed graph including nodes and edges, said nodes representing classes and said edges representing relationships between said classes and wherein,

said means for requesting further comprises means for graphically representing a transfer of information from said document browser to a particular node in said directed graph;

and

said storage means further comprises means for storing said information source descriptions in said database based upon said particular node.

3. The information retrieval apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

information retrieval means for retrieving information;

query generation means responsive to said database browser for generating a database query; and

query execution means responsive to said query for retrieving information source descriptions from said database and for displaying an interactive list of said information source descriptions in said database browser;

wherein said information retrieval means is responsive to said interactive list of information source descriptions for retrieving information.

4. The information retrieval apparatus of claim 3 further comprising:

a textual query editor for modifying the query generated by said query generation means.

5. The information retrieval apparatus of claim 1 wherein said information source descriptions further include information access attributes, said apparatus further comprising:

information retrieval means for retrieving information; and

attribute update means responsive to said document browser for updating said information access attributes in the database when information is retrieved by said information retrieval means.

6. The information retrieval apparatus of claim 1 wherein said document browser is a hypertext browser.

7. The information retrieval apparatus of claim 1 wherein said database is a knowledge base.

8. A user interface for an information retrieval system for managing information retrieved from a plurality of information sources, said information retrieval system including storage means for storing information source descriptions in a structured database, said user interface comprising:

a hypertext browser for displaying a retrieved document and an iconic representation of said document on a computer display screen;

a database browser for displaying a visual representation of said database on said computer display screen; and

graphical pointing means for graphically representing a transfer of said iconic representation of said document from said hypertext browser to said visual representation of said database in said database browser;

wherein said storage means is responsive to said graphical pointing means for storing an information source description as an object in said database.

9. The user interface apparatus of claim 8 further comprising:

an object editor for textually editing said information source description object prior to storing it in said database.

10. The user interface apparatus of claim 9 further wherein said information source description object comprises attributes, the apparatus further comprising:

an automatic information extractor for automatically extracting information source description attributes from said retrieved document and for populating the object editor with said attributes.

11. The user interface apparatus of claim 8 wherein said database is a knowledge base including concepts relating to the information in said information sources, and wherein said visual representation displayed by said database browser is a directed graph with the nodes representing concepts and the edges representing relationships between said concepts, wherein:

said graphical pointing means further comprises means for graphically representing a transfer of said iconic representation of said document from said hypertext browser to a particular node in said directed graph;

wherein said storage means is responsive to said graphical representation of a transfer of said iconic representation to a particular node, for storing an information source description related to the concept represented by said particular node.

12. The user interface apparatus of claim 8 wherein said iconic representation is a hypertext link.

13. The user interface of claim 12 further comprising:

a scratchpad area for storing copies of original interactive screen objects, wherein said copies retain the interactive properties of the original objects.

14. The user interface of claim 8 further comprising:

query generation means responsive to said graphical pointing means for generating a database query in response to a user pointing to a portion of said visual representation of said database using said graphical pointing means;

query execution means for executing said generated query and for displaying query results on said computer display screen as an interactive list of information source descriptions,

wherein said information retrieval system is responsive to a user pointing to one of said information source descriptions displayed in said interactive list for retrieving the information relating to said information source description and for displaying said retrieved information in said hypertext browser.

15. An information retrieval apparatus for satisfying a request for information by retrieving information from a set of unstructured data sources and a set of structured data sources, the apparatus comprising:

query execution means including

query plan generating means responsive to a first query for generating a query plan and

query plan execution means responsive to the query plan for retrieving query result information from at least one structured data source from said set of structured data sources;

pruning means for identifying a subset of said unstructured data sources using said query result information; and

a text browser responsive to said pruning means for browsing said subset of unstructured data sources and for retrieving information responsive to said first query.

16. A method of organizing retrieved information in an information retrieval system, said method comprising the steps:

displaying a retrieved document and an iconic representation of said document in a text browser on a computer display screen;

displaying a graphical representation of a structured database in a database browser on said computer display screen;

storing an information source description of said document in said structured database in response to a user request, said structured information source description including at least an access path description and a content description.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein said database is a knowledge base including concepts relating to the semantic content of the retrieved document, and wherein said graphical representation displayed by said database browser is a directed graph with the nodes representing concepts and the edges representing relationships between said concepts, further comprising the steps of:

dragging said iconic representation from said text browser to a particular node in said directed graph,

wherein said step of storing further comprises the step of storing an information source description of said document related to the concept represented by said particular node.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising the steps:

pointing to a particular node in said directed graph;

displaying in said database browser an interactive list of the information source descriptions which are instances of the concept represented by said particular node;

pointing to a particular information source descriptions in said interactive list;

retrieving a document represented by said particular information source description; and

displaying said document in said text browser.

19. An information retrieval method for satisfying a request for information using a set of unstructured data sources and a set of structured data sources, the method comprising the steps:

generating a first query;

executing said first query and retrieving query result information from a structured data source;

pruning said set of unstructured data sources using said query result information to identify a subset of said unstructured data sources;

browsing said subset of said unstructured data sources with a text browser to retrieve information responsive to said first query.

20. Apparatus for adding information retrieved from a communications network to a body of information having an organization, the apparatus comprising:

a display of a representation of the retrieved information;

a display of a non-textual representation of the organization;

interactive means for moving the representation of the retrieved information to a portion of the non-textual representation; and

means responsive to the interactive means for incorporating an information source description of the retrieved information into the body of information as specified by the portion of the non-textual representation to which the representation of the retrieved information was moved.