Method and apparatus for processing free-format data
DCFirst Claim
1. A method of processing free-format data stored in a computing system, comprising the steps of examining elements of the data to determine attributes of the data, by examining the content of the elements and the contextual relationships of elements to each other, to determine semantic and syntactic information about the data, producing additional data relating to this information, in the form of a text object which includes pointer means enabling access to the elements of the free-format data, and the additional data being accessible by a query processing means to provide at least one of answers to queries relating to the semantic and syntactic information about the data and to access the data to manipulate the data;
- and arranging the text object to act as a layer, between the free-format data and the query processing means, for at least one of interpretation and manipulation of the dataprocessing a plurality of free-format data records and producing a text object associated with each free-format data record; and
producing a text object index including attribute type identifiers for elements of each data record and pointers to each data record, whereby the index may be queried by queries relating to semantic and syntactic-information about the data and the data may be accessed via the index.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for processing free-format data (301) to produce a “text object” associated with the free-format data. The text object comprises a plurality of “component nodes” (302-312) containing attribute-type identifiers for elements of the free-format text and other data facilitating access to the text object to obtain information and/or change or add the free-format data. This arrangement obviates the need for the provision of separate database fields for each element of the information. Free-format data can therefore be processed in a similar manner to the way a human being processes free-format data. All elements can be accessed via the constructed text object.
176 Citations
39 Claims
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1. A method of processing free-format data stored in a computing system, comprising the steps of examining elements of the data to determine attributes of the data, by examining the content of the elements and the contextual relationships of elements to each other, to determine semantic and syntactic information about the data, producing additional data relating to this information, in the form of a text object which includes pointer means enabling access to the elements of the free-format data, and the additional data being accessible by a query processing means to provide at least one of answers to queries relating to the semantic and syntactic information about the data and to access the data to manipulate the data;
- and arranging the text object to act as a layer, between the free-format data and the query processing means, for at least one of interpretation and manipulation of the data
processing a plurality of free-format data records and producing a text object associated with each free-format data record; and
producing a text object index including attribute type identifiers for elements of each data record and pointers to each data record, whereby the index may be queried by queries relating to semantic and syntactic-information about the data and the data may be accessed via the index. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
- and arranging the text object to act as a layer, between the free-format data and the query processing means, for at least one of interpretation and manipulation of the data
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19. A process system for processing free-format data stored in a computing system, the apparatus including means for examining elements of the data to determine attributes of the data, by examining the content of the elements and the contextual relationships of elements to each other, to determine semantic and syntactic information about the data, means for producing additional data relating to this information, in the form of a text object which includes pointer means enabling access to the elements of the free-format data, and a query processing means which is arranged to access the additional data to provide at least one of answers to queries relating to the semantic and syntactic information about the data and access the data to manipulate the data;
- and arranging the text object to act as a layer, between the free-format data and the query processing means, for at least one of interpretation and manipulation of the data;
arranging the system is arranged to process a plurality of free-format data records and produce a text object associated with each free-format data record; and
arranging the means for producing additional data to produce a text object index including attribute-type identifiers for elements of each data record and pointers to each data record and arranging the query processing means to access the text object index to provide answers to queries relating to the semantic and the syntactic information about the data and to access the data to manipulate the data. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
- and arranging the text object to act as a layer, between the free-format data and the query processing means, for at least one of interpretation and manipulation of the data;
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38. A method of enabling access to free-format data stored in a computer system, including a plurality of free-format data records, comprising the steps of storing additional data relating to semantic and syntactic information about the data of each data record, the additional data being in the form of a text object index which includes attribute—
- type identifiers for elements of each data record and pointers to each data record, the text object index being accessible by a query processing means to provide at least one of answers to queries relating to the semantic and syntactic information about the data and access the data to manipulate the data; and
arranging the text object index to act as a layer, between the free-format data and the query processing means, for at least one of interpretation and manipulation of the data.
- type identifiers for elements of each data record and pointers to each data record, the text object index being accessible by a query processing means to provide at least one of answers to queries relating to the semantic and syntactic information about the data and access the data to manipulate the data; and
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39. A processing system for enabling access to free-format data stored in a computing system, including a plurality of free-format data records, the processing system comprising the additional data relating to semantic and syntactic information about the free-format data for each data record, the additional data being in the form of a text object index which includes attribute—
- type identifiers for elements of each data record and pointers to each data record, and a query processing means arranged to access the additional data to provide at least one of answers to queries relating to the semantic and syntactic information about the data and access the data to manipulate the data; and
arranging the text object index to act as a layer, between the free-format data and the query processing means, for at least one of interpretation and manipulation of the data.
- type identifiers for elements of each data record and pointers to each data record, and a query processing means arranged to access the additional data to provide at least one of answers to queries relating to the semantic and syntactic information about the data and access the data to manipulate the data; and
Specification