Database analysis using a probabilistic ontology

• US 6,094,650 A
• Filed: 03/11/1998
• Issued: 07/25/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Manning & Napier Information Services LLC
• Original Assignee: Manning & Napier Information Services LLC
• Inventors: Stoffel, Killian, Wood, Robert L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Choules, Jack M.
• Application Number:
  US09/038,808
• Time in Patent Office: 867 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/2, 707/100, 707/102, 707/3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 22/00 Arrangements for measuring time integral of electric power or current, e.g. electricity meters
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A method and system for efficiently analyzing databases. In one embodiment, the invention is used to analyze data represented in the form of attribute-value (a-v) pairs. A primary step in building the ontology is to identify parent, child and related a-v pairs of each given a-v pair in the database. A parent is an a-v pair that is always present whenever a given a-v pair is present. A child is an a-v pair that is never present unless the given a-v pair is present. Related pairs of a given a-v pair are those a-v pairs present some of the time when a given a-v pair is present. The system calculates relationships between a-v pairs to produce tables of a-v pairs presented according to the relationships. The user performs additional analysis by investigating the a-v pair relationships through a graphical user interface. Additional visualizations of the data are possible such as through Venn diagrams and animations. Plain-text data documents collected, for example, from the Internet can be analyzed. In this case, the system pre-processes the text data to build a-v pairs based on sentence syntax.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing a database, the database including a plurality of records having attribute-value (a-v) pairs, the method executing on a computer system including a processor, user input device and display screen, the method comprising the following steps:

determining, by using the processor, two or more parents of a given a-v pair, wherein a parent of an a-v pair is another a-v pair that exists within every record that the given a-v pair exists;

displaying the two or more parents on the display screen along with an indication that the two or more parents are associated with the given a-v pair;

accepting signals from the user input device to select one or more of the parents;

determining a second set of parents for the selected parent; and

displaying the second set of parents on the display screen.

12. One or more computer instructions stored in a computer-readable medium for performing the steps of claim 1.

2. A method for analyzing a database, the database including a plurality of records having attribute-value (a-v) pairs, the method executing on a computer system including a processor, user input device and display screen, the method comprising the following steps:

determining, by using the processor, a probable parent of a given a-v pair, wherein a probable parent of an a-v pair is another a-v pair that exists within at least a predetermined subset of the records that the given a-v pair exists;

displaying the probably parent on the display screen along with an indication that the probable parent is associated with the given a-v pair;

accepting signals from the user input device to select one or more of the probable parents;

determining a second set of probable parents for the selected parent; and

displaying the second set of probable parents on the display screen.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of

using a threshold value to determine the frequency of co-occurrence of a candidate parent with an a-v pair that is necessary before the candidate parent is displayed as a probable parent.

4. The method of claim 3, the computer system coupled to a user input device, the method further comprising the step of

accepting signals from the user input device to specify the threshold value.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of

precomputing parent and child relationships.

6. The method of claim 2, the computer system coupled to a user input device, the method further comprising the steps of

displaying a plurality of a-v pairs on the screen;

accepting signals from the user input device to select an a-v pair; and

displaying parent and child relationships with respect to the selected a-v pair.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising

displaying an a-v pair of interest;

displaying co-occurring a-v pairs in a first window;

displaying parent a-v pairs in a second window; and

displaying child a-v pairs in a third window.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each window is columnar.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first window is a central column, wherein the second window is a left column and wherein the third window is a right column.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of

displaying the number of times that the a-v pair of interest occurs in the database.

11. An apparatus for analyzing a database, the apparatus comprising:

a computer system including a display coupled to a user input device and a processor;

a database coupled to the computer system, the database including a plurality of records having attribute-value (a-v) pairs;

one or more computer instructions for determining two or more parents of a given a-v pair, wherein a parent of an a-v pair is another a-v pair that exists within every record that the given a-v pair exists; and

one or more computer instructions for displaying the two or more parents on the display along with an indication that the two or more parents are associated with the given a-v pair;

one or more computer instructions for accepting signals from the user input device to select one or more displayed parents; and

one or more computer instructions for determining and displaying parents of the selected parents.