Method and apparatus for semantic token generation based on marked phrases in a content stream

• US 6,405,199 B1
• Filed: 10/30/1998
• Issued: 06/11/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Jensen, Delos C., Carter, Stephen R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Krisna
• Application Number:
  US09/183,340
• Time in Patent Office: 1,320 Days
• Field of Search: 704/4, 704/9, 704/2, 704/220, 707/6, 707/500
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

A content stream having a plurality of phrases is accessed. One or more phrases in the content stream are marked. For example, the phrases may be annotated and/or highlighted. The marked one or more phrases are extracted and are processed to determine semantic information. A token is created based on the semantic information. Such a token might be used as part of a method for assigning semantic characterization to a content stream. For example, the token could be associated with one or more profiles. At least a portion of the content stream could be represented in a semantic space corresponding to one or more profiles, and/or a semantic record might be instantiated from the profiles and compared with other semantic records.

Claims

1. A computer system for creating tokens based on markings, comprising:

a) a network having a plurality of principals;

b) a content stream in the network associated with at least one principal, said content stream having a plurality of phrases;

c) a marking tool having access to the content stream, said marking tool being adapted to mark phrases in the content stream;

d) a monitoring agent having access to the content stream, said monitoring agent being operative to extract the markings; and

e) a token creation module being operative to create tokens based on the extracted markings.

2. A computer system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a semantic extraction agent being operative to determine semantic content from the extracted markings.

3. A computer system as recited in claim 1, further comprising an agent being operative to direct the marking tool to mark additional phrases in conformance with the extracted markings.

4. A computer system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of profiles each associated with one or more tokens, and one or more semantic records each associated with a profile and a principal.

5. A method in a computer system for generating tokens based on marked phrases, the method comprising the steps of:

a) accessing a content stream having a plurality of phrases;

b) marking one or more phrases in the content stream;

c) extracting the marked one or more phrases;

d) processing the marked one or more phrases to determine semantic information; and

e) creating a token based on the semantic information.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the step of marking comprises annotating one or more phrases.

7. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the step of marking comprises highlighting one or more phrases.

8. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the step of marking comprises using discipline.

9. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the step of processing comprises evaluating the chronological order of marking.

10. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the step of processing comprises evaluating the locality of the marking in a semantic space.

11. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the step of processing comprises evaluating the type of marking.

12. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the step of processing comprises evaluating the attributes of the marking.

13. A method as recited in claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

f) associating one or more profiles with the token; and

g) representing at least a portion of the content stream in a semantic space corresponding to one or more profiles.

14. A method as recited in claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

f) associating one or more profiles with the token;

g) instantiating a semantic record from the profiles; and

h) comparing the semantic record with other semantic records.

15. A computer readable medium comprising instructions for performing the method recited in claim 5.

16. A computer system comprising a processor for receiving and executing the instructions from the computer readable medium recited in claim 15.

17. A computer system for creating a token based on marked phrases, comprising:

a) means for accessing a content stream having a plurality of phrases;

b) means for monitoring the content stream;

c) means for marking one or more phrases in the content stream;

d) means for processing the marked one or more phrases to determine semantic information; and

e) means for creating a token based on the extracted semantic information.

18. A computer system as recited in claim 17, further comprising means for using the created token.