Database analysis using a probabilistic ontology
First Claim
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.
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
12 Claims
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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:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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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:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for analyzing a database, the apparatus comprising:
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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.
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Specification