System and method for maintaining a knowledge base and evidence set

• US 6,256,627 B1
• Filed: 06/23/1998
• Issued: 07/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Resnick, Lori Alperin, Manning, Harley, McGuinness, Deborah L., Beattie, Thomas W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mizrahi, Diane D.
• Application Number:
  US09/102,751
• Time in Patent Office: 1,106 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/5, 707/6, 707/500, 706/45, 706/50, 702/184, 703/6
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for maintaining a knowledge base and an evidence set derived from the knowledge base. The knowledge base has a relationship, which exists between a first object and a second object. A request is specified, the knowledge base is modified in accordance with the request and the relationship, and an evidence set is derived from the knowledge base.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining a knowledge base and an evidence set derived from the knowledge base, the knowledge base having a relationship existing between a first object and a second object, comprising the steps of:

specifying a request by identifying a query relationship between a first query log parameter and a second query log parameter;

modifying the knowledge base in accordance with the request and the query relationship; and

deriving the evidence set from the knowledge base.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said specifying step further includes the step of receiving the request from the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said specifying step further includes the step of presenting a portion of the evidence set to the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request includes a system-specified parameter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said specifying step further comprises the step of:

storing said first query log parameter received from a user;

storing said second query log parameter; and

formulating the request in accordance with the relationship.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first query log parameter is a search query received from a user.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the second query log parameter is an indicator of an accessed document.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the second query log parameter is a source indicator.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the second query log parameter is an indicator of a matching document.

10. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of:

sending the request to an administrator; and

receiving an approval from the administrator.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first object includes a first entity, the second object includes a second object, and the relationship includes a description logic relationship existing between the first entity and the second entity.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first object includes a first class, the second object includes a second class, and the relationship includes a rule-based relationship existing between the first class expression and the second class expression.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said deriving step is subsequent to said modifying step.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the knowledge base includes a class, the evidence set includes a topic and a term, said deriving step includes the step of:

identifying a first relationship between the class and the topic and a second relationship between the first object and the term;

ordering the topic and the term in a hierarchical structure in the evidence set.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

performing a search using the evidence set.

15. The method of 1, wherein the request includes an operation in which an operand is a term.

17. A method for modifying an evidence set, comprising the steps of:

storing a first query log parameter;

storing a second query log parameter;

identifying a relationship between the first query log parameter and the second query log parameter; and

modifying the evidence set in accordance with the relationship.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first query log parameter is a search query received from a user.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the second query log parameter is an indicator of an accessed document.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the second query log parameter is an indicator of a matching document.

21. An apparatus for maintaining an evidence set and a knowledge base, the evidence set being derived from the knowledge base, the knowledge base having a first object and a second object, a relationship existing between the first object and the second object, comprising:

a processor;

a memory that stores instructions adapted to be executed by said processor to perform the steps of;

specifying a request by identifying a query relationship between a first query log parameter and a second query log parameter;

modifying a knowledge base in accordance with the request and the relationship; and

deriving an evidence set based on the knowledge base; and

a port adapted to be coupled to the network, said port and said memory coupled to said processor.

22. An apparatus for maintaining an evidence set and a knowledge base, the evidence set being derived from the knowledge base, the knowledge base having a first object and a second object, a relationship existing between the first object and the second object, comprising:

means for specifying a request including

means for identifying a query relationship between a first query log parameter and a second query log parameter;

means for modifying the knowledge base in accordance with the request and the relationship; and

means for deriving the evidence set based on the knowledge base.

23. A medium that stores instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform the steps of:

specifying a request by identifying a query relationship between a first query log parameter and a second query log parameter;

modifying the knowledge base in accordance with the request and the relationship; and

deriving the evidence set based on the knowledge base.