System and method for maintaining a knowledge base and evidence set

• US 6,457,002 B1
• Filed: 04/11/2001
• Issued: 09/24/2002
• 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, McGuiness, Deborah L., Beattie, Thomas W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mizrahi, Diane D.
• Application Number:
  US09/832,221
• Time in Patent Office: 531 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/3, 707/5, 707/6, 707/10, 707/500
• US Class Current: 707/765
• 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 mechanism 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 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 computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a query;

comparing the number of matching documents corresponding to the query and a predetermined number;

determining that the query should be modified based on the comparison; and

automatically modifying the query using an evidence set, wherein the evidence set has a topic that corresponds to a first tern, and wherein the evidence set also has a second term, the topic being a parent to the second term.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of modifying a query comprises:

receiving the query including the second term;

receiving a number of matching documents corresponding to the query;

replacing the second term with the first term in the query if the number of matching documents is less than a predetermined number; and

submitting the query.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the evidence set includes one of “

access devices,”

“

application services/content,”

“

physical network and access,”

“

platform services,”

or “

technologies tools and languages”

top-level topics.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of modifying a query comprises:

receiving the query including the first term;

receiving a number of matching documents corresponding to the query;

replacing the first term with the second term in the query if the number of matching documents Is greater than a predetermined number; and

submitting the query.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the evidence set further includes a third term, the topic is a parent to the third term, the method further comprising the steps of:

presenting the third term and the second term to a user; and

receiving a selection from the user.

6. An apparatus comprising:

a means for receiving a query;

a means for comparing the number of matching documents corresponding to the query and a predetermined number;

a means for determining that the query should be modified based on the comparison; and

a means for automatically modifying a query using an evidence set, wherein the evidence set has a topic that corresponds to a first term, and wherein the evidence set also has a second term, the topic being a parent to the second term.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein modifying a query comprises:

receiving the query including the second term;

receiving a number of matching documents corresponding to the query;

replacing the second term with the first term in the query if the number of matching documents is less than a predetermined number; and

submitting the query.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein modifying a query comprises:

receiving the query including the firm term;

receiving a number of matching documents corresponding to the query;

replacing the first term with the second term in the query if the number of matching documents is greater than a predetermined number; and

submitting the query.

9. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a query at a server;

receiving a number of matching documents corresponding to the query;

deciding whether to expand a query restriction by comparing the number of matching documents to a predetermined number; and

automatically expanding the query restriction if a decision was made to expand the query in said deciding step.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a decision is made to expand the query if the number of matching documents is greater than the predetermined number.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein a decision is made to expand the query if the number of matching documents is less than the predetermined number.

12. An apparatus comprising:

a means for receiving a query from a network;

a means for receiving a number of matching documents corresponding to the query;

a means for deciding whether to expand the query restriction by the number of matching documents to a predetermined number; and

a means for automatically expanding a query restriction if a decision was made to expand the query in said deciding step.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein a decision is made to expand the query if the number of matching documents is greater than the predetermined number.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein a decision is made to expand the query if the number of matching documents is less than the predetermined number.