Method and system for threading documents

• US 6,311,198 B1
• Filed: 08/06/1998
• Issued: 10/30/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Takeda, Koichi, Uramoto, Naohiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUYNH, CONG LAC T
• Application Number:
  US09/130,503
• Time in Patent Office: 1,181 Days
• Field of Search: 707/530, 707/5, 707/538
• US Class Current: 715/251
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3347 using vector based model
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/353 into predefined classes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

In order to efficiently thread n chronologically ordered documents, a similarity among the n documents is calculated and the similarity is employed to create a similarity matrix using time constraints, and is converted into an adjacency matrix for identifying a relationship among the n documents. By applying this threading method that employs the time constraints, a large quantity of article data can be efficiently threaded in the O(n) order. Users can easily access a large quantity of data and can understand the contents.

Claims

1. A method for threading n chronologically ordered documents, said method comprising the steps of:

(1) calculating a similarity only between pairs of said n documents which satisfy a time constraint, said time constraint being that the documents of a pair are chronologically separated from each other by no more than a predetermined extent;

(2) creating a similarity matrix from said calculated similarities; and

(3) converting said similarity matrix into an adjacency matrix for identifying a relationship existing among said n documents,

whereby a set V of said n chronologically ordered documents is represented as

2. A system for threading n chronologically ordered documents, said system comprising:

(1) means for calculating a similarity only between pairs of said n documents which satisfy a time constraint, said time constraint being that the documents of a pair are chronologically separated from each other by no more than a predetermined extent;

(2) means for creating a similarity matrix from said calculated similarities; and

(3) means for converting said similarity matrix into an adjacency matrix for identifying a relationship existing among said n documents,

wherein a set V of said n chronologically ordered documents is represented as

3. A system for threading n chronologically ordered documents and for displaying said threaded n documents, said system comprising:

(1) means for calculating a similarity only between pairs of said n documents which satisfy a time constraint, said time constraint being that the documents of a pair are chronologically separated from each other by no more than a redetermined extent;

(2) means for creating a similarity matrix from said calculated similarities;

(3) means for converting said similarity matrix into an adjacency matrix for identifying a relationship existing among said n documents; and

(4) means for displaying said relationship as one or more threads, one part or all of said documents represented by said threads being related based on said adjacency matrix,

wherein a set V of said n chronologically ordered documents is represented as

4. The system according to claim 3, further comprising:

(5) means for altering display forms of said threads in accordance with a number of connections with other threads, and for displaying said relationship among said threads.

5. The system according to claim 3, further comprising

(5) means for, during a display of said relationship among said threads, displaying a new topic, appearing in said threads, in a display form differing from other topics.

6. The system according to claim 3, further comprising

(5) means for, during a display of said relationship among said threads, displaying a thread including a new topic, appearing in said threads, in a display form differing from that of other threads.

7. The system according to claim 3, further comprising:

(5) means for displaying a document in accordance with a specific thread selected for a display of said relationship among said threads.

8. A memory medium including a program for threading n chronologically ordered documents, said program comprising:

(1) a function for calculating a similarity only between pairs of said n documents which satisfy a time constraint, said time constraint being that the documents of a pair are chronologically separated from each other by no more than a predetermined extent;

(2) a function for creating a similarity matrix from said calculated similarities; and

(3) a function for converting said similarity matrix into an adjacency matrix for identifying a relationship existing among said n documents,

wherein a set V of said n chronologically ordered documents is represented as

9. A memory medium including a program for threading n chronologically ordered documents and for displaying said threaded documents, said program comprising:

(1) a function for calculating a similarity only between pairs of said n documents which satisfy a time constraint, said time constraint being that the documents of a pair are chronologically separated from each other by no more than a predetermined extent;

(2) a function for creating a similarity matrix from said calculated similarities;

(3) a function for converting said similarity matrix into an adjacency matrix for identifying a relationship existing among said n documents; and

(4) a function for displaying said relationship as one or more threads, one part or all of said documents represented by said threads being related based on said adjacency matrix,

wherein a set V of said n chronologically ordered documents is represented as

10. The memory medium according to claim 9, wherein said program further comprises:

(5) a function for altering display forms of said threads in accordance with a number of connections with other threads, and for displaying said relationship among said threads.

11. The memory medium according to claim 9, wherein said program further comprises:

(5) a function for, during a display of said relationship among said threads, displaying a new topic, appearing in said threads, in a display form differing from other topics.

12. A memory medium according to claim 9, wherein said program further comprises:

(5) a function for, during a display of said relationship among said threads, displaying a thread including a new topic, appearing in said threads, in a display form differing from that of other threads.

13. The memory medium according to claim 9, said program further comprising:

(5) a function for displaying a document in accordance with a specific thread that is selected for a display of said relationship among said threads.