Portable browsing interface for information retrieval

• US 6,418,429 B1
• Filed: 10/21/1998
• Issued: 07/09/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Borovoy, Richard Daniel, Hanson, Michael Robert, Graves, Michael, Machiraju, Nagabhushan Rao
• Primary Examiner(s): Mizrahi, Diane D.
• Application Number:
  US09/176,116
• Time in Patent Office: 1,357 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/5, 707/3, 707/6, 707/103, 707/104, 707/4
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

An integrated searching/browsing mechanism employs user-constructed information hierarchies that represent a cognitive framework for the organization of information. The hierarchies are independent of the information itself. This feature permits them to be shared among multiple users, and applied to any of a variety of different sources of information. The hierarchical organization that is provided by the framework gives the user the ability to browse around any available document database in a manner that is intuitive to the user. Two or more hierarchies can be combined to locate documents which match the criteria of both hierarchies, and thereby refine search results to an appropriate level. A relevance feedback mechanism further enhances the browsing experience, by concentrating the search results in areas that are most relevant to documents selected as being of particular interest.

Claims

1. An information retrieval system, comprising:

at least one file stored in a memory which defines a hierarchical relationship of terms describing an organizational framework for information;

a user interface mechanism via which a user selects a level within said hierarchical relationship;

a search query generator responsive to the selection of a level within said hierarchical relationship for constructing a search query of terms that are based upon the selected level;

a search engine which searches a source of information to locate documents which correspond to the search query; and

a display mechanism which displays information about the located documents to a user.

2. The information retrieval system of claim 1, wherein said search query contains the term at the selected level of the hierarchical relationship and terms from lower levels of the hierarchical relationship which depend from the selected level.

3. The information retrieval system of claim 2, wherein said terms are combined by boolean “

OR”

operators to form said search query.

4. The information retrieval system of claim 1, wherein said user interface mechanism also permits a user to select one or more sources of information to be searched.

5. The information retrieval system of claim 1, wherein said memory stores multiple files each defining a different respective hierarchical relationship of terms, and wherein said user interface permits plural hierarchical relationships to be selected for concurrent use in constructing a search query.

6. The information retrieval system of claim 5, wherein said search query generator constructs an individual query for each selected hierarchy, and combines the individual queries to form a search query that is provided to the search engine.

7. The information retrieval system of claim 6, wherein said individual queries are combined by boolean “

AND”

operators to form said search query.

8. The information retrieval system of claim 1, wherein said search engine includes means for analyzing a selected document among said located documents to determine which of the terms in a hierarchy said selected document most closely relates to.

9. The information retrieval system of claim 8, wherein said display mechanism displays values which identify the relevance of the selected document to levels in the selected hierarchy.

10. The information retrieval system of claim 8, wherein said user interface automatically selects a level within said hierarchy in accordance with the analysis of a selected document.

11. A method for locating documents within a source of information, comprising the steps of:

defining a hierarchical relationship of terms describing an organizational framework for information;

selecting a level within said hierarchical relationship;

constructing a search query of terms that are based upon the selected level;

searching a source of information to locate documents which correspond to the search query; and

displaying information about the located documents to a user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said search query contains the term at the selected level of the hierarchical relationship and terms from lower levels of the hierarchical relationship which depend from the selected level.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said terms are combined by boolean “

OR”

operators to form said search query.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein plural sources of information are searched in response to said query.

15. The method of claim 11, further including the steps of defining multiple different hierarchical relationships of terms, and selecting plural hierarchical relationships for concurrent use in constructing a search query.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein an individual query is constructed for each selected hierarchy, and the individual queries are combined to form said search query.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said individual queries are combined by boolean “

AND”

operators to form said search query.

18. The method of claim 11, further including the step of analyzing a selected document among said located documents to determine which of the terms in a hierarchy said selected document most closely relates to.

19. The method of claim 18, further including the step of displaying values which identify the relevance of the selected document to levels in the selected hierarchy.

20. The method of claim 18, further including the step of automatically selecting a level within said hierarchy in accordance with the analysis of a selected document.

21. A computer-readable medium containing a program which executes the steps of:

storing a hierarchical relationship of terms describing an organizational framework for information;

identifying a level within said hierarchical relationship;

constructing a search query of terms that are based upon the identified level;

searching a source of information to locate documents which correspond to the search query; and

displaying information about the located documents to a user.