System and method for representing related concepts

• US 6,519,588 B1
• Filed: 04/03/2000
• Issued: 02/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: MRO Software, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Leschner, Jurgen
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Kim
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRUONG, CAM Y T
• Application Number:
  US09/541,335
• Time in Patent Office: 1,044 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/10, 707/100, 707/1, 707/2, 707/6, 706/55, 706/56, 705/27
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

A system and method for storing related data is disclosed, which receives a number of concepts related to the data to be stored, forms a number of relationships linking the concepts together, and which then represents the data in a way reflecting both the concepts and the relationships between the concepts. The relationships formed by the disclosed system include a number of independent aspects which add useful levels of meaning to the way the information is organized. One aspect of the relationships formed between concepts reflects predetermined application specific meanings that may be applied to individual relationships. Accordingly, the relationships provided in any specific embodiment of the disclosed system are defined to reflect a specific application of the system, such as, for example, a catalog service for receiving, storing, and publishing product-related information.

Claims

1. A method for storing related data, comprising:

establishing a plurality of predetermined application specific meanings, wherein said application specific meanings include product category, product, product characteristic, and possible value meanings, and wherein each of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings is associated with a corresponding input context;

establishing, subsequent to said establishment of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings, an account with an information provider;

receiving a plurality of concepts from said information provider through said account;

forming a plurality of relationships between pairs of said plurality of concepts, wherein each one of said relationships indicates a first one of said plurality of concepts as a first related concept, a second one of said plurality of concepts as a second related concept, a third one of said plurality of concepts as a relating concept, and one of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings as an application specific meaning aspect, and wherein each of said application specific meanings indicated by corresponding ones of said relationships is selected from said plurality of application specific meanings responsive to an input context in which one of said pair of concepts between which said relationship is formed is received; and

wherein said forming each of said plurality of relationships includes storing said relationship in an entry in a relationships table, such that said entry refers to said first related concept, said second related concept, and said relating concept, using corresponding ones of a plurality of unique identifiers associated with respective ones of said plurality of concepts, and storing indication of said application specific meaning aspect of said relationship in said entry.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a translation copy of said plurality of concepts, where each concept in said translation copy includes a natural language translation of an aspect of a corresponding one of said plurality of concepts.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said storing said natural language translation of said aspect of said corresponding one of said plurality of concepts comprises storing a natural language translation of a concept name associated with said corresponding one of said plurality of concepts.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing an associated programmatic representation for each one of said concepts in said plurality of concepts.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said storing of said programmatic representation comprises storing a standard, text-based computer readable format that is sharable across different computers.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said storing each one of said programmatic representations comprises storing an Extensible Markup Language (XML) representation of said associated one of said plurality of concepts.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

forming an independent ordering aspect for each of a first one of said plurality of relationships and a second one of said plurality of relationships, wherein said first one of said plurality of relationships and said second one of said plurality of relationships have the same first related concept, and wherein said ordering aspect for each of said first one of said plurality of relationships and said second one of said plurality of relationships provides indication of an order between said second related concept of said first one of said plurality of relationships and said second related concept of said second one of said plurality of relationships.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

forming an independent ordering aspect for each of a third one of said plurality of relationships and a fourth one of said plurality of relationships, wherein said third one of said relationships and said fourth one of said relationships have the same second related concept, and wherein said ordering aspect for each of said third one of said plurality of relationships and said fourth one of said plurality of relationships provides indication of an order between said first related concept of said third one of said plurality of relationships and said first related concept of said fourth one of said plurality of relationships.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said first one of said plurality of relationships and said second one of said plurality of relationships both have one of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings as an application specific meaning aspect, and wherein said first related concept of said first one of said plurality of relationships is the same as said first related concept of said second one of said plurality of relationships, and wherein said one of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings further indicates that said first one of said plurality of relationships is a parent concept to both said second related concept of said first one of said plurality of relationships, and said second related concept of said second one of said plurality of relationships.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said application specific meaning aspect of said relationship further indicates that said first one of said plurality of concepts is a parent concept to said second one of said plurality of concepts.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving said plurality of concepts includes receiving at least one shared concept and at least one private concept.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said input context comprises a graphical user interface (GUI) context.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said input context comprises a context within an import file, and wherein said context within said import file is defined by one or more tags.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said input context comprises a position within an input stream.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing said plurality of concepts in a first, relatively low speed storage device, and storing said relationships table in a second, relatively high speed storage device.

16. A system for storing related data, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one memory, said memory storing a computer program executable on said at least one processor, said computer program operable to

establish a plurality of predetermined application specific meanings, wherein said application specific meanings include product category, product, product characteristic, and possible value meanings, and wherein each of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings is associated with a corresponding input context;

establish, subsequent to said establishment of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings, an account with an information provider;

receive a plurality of concepts from said information provider through said account;

form a plurality of relationships between pairs of said plurality of concepts, wherein each one of said relationships indicates a first one of said plurality of concepts as a first related concept, a second one of said plurality of concepts as a second related concept, a third one of said plurality of concepts as a relating concept, and one of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings as an application specific meaning aspect, and wherein each of said application specific meanings indicated by corresponding ones of said relationships is selected from said plurality of application specific meanings responsive to an input context in which one of said pair of concepts between which said relationship is formed is received; and

wherein said computer program is operable to form each of said plurality of relationships includes by storing said relationship in an entry in a relationships table, such that said entry refers to said first related concept, said second related concept, and said relating concept, using corresponding ones of a plurality of unique identifiers associated with respective ones of said plurality of concepts, and by storing indication of said application specific meaning aspect of said relationship in said entry.

17. A computer program product including a computer readable medium, said computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon, said computer program comprising:

program code for establishing a plurality of predetermined application specific meanings, wherein said application specific meanings include product category, product, product characteristic, and possible value meanings, and wherein each of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings is associated with a corresponding input context;

program code for establishing, subsequent to said establishment of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings, an account with an information provider;

program code for receiving a plurality of concepts from said information provider through said account;

program code for forming a plurality of relationships between pairs of said plurality of concepts, wherein each one of said relationships indicates a first one of said plurality of concepts as a first related concept, a second one of said plurality of concepts as a second related concept, a third one of said plurality of concepts as a relating concept, and one of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings as an application specific meaning aspect, and wherein each of said application specific meanings indicated by corresponding ones of said relationships is selected from said plurality of application specific meanings responsive to an input context in which one of said pair of concepts between which said relationship is formed is received; and

wherein said program code for forming each of said plurality of relationships includes program code for storing said relationship in an entry in a relationships table, such that said entry refers to said first related concept, said second related concept, and said relating concept, using corresponding ones of a plurality of unique identifiers associated with respective ones of said plurality of concepts, and storing indication of said application specific meaning aspect of said relationship in said entry.

18. A system for storing related data, comprising:

means for establishing a plurality of predetermined application specific meanings, wherein said application specific meanings include product category, product, product characteristic, and possible value meanings, and wherein each of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings is associated with a corresponding input context;

means for establishing, subsequent to said establishment of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings, an account with an information provider;

means for receiving a plurality of concepts from said information provider through said account;

means for forming a plurality of relationships between pairs of said plurality of concepts, wherein each one of said relationships indicates a first one of said plurality of concepts as a first related concept, a second one of said plurality of concepts as a second related concept, a third one of said plurality of concepts as a relating concept, and one of said plurality of predetermined application specific meanings as an application specific meaning aspect, and wherein each of said application specific meanings indicated by corresponding ones of said relationships is selected from said plurality of application specific meanings responsive to an input context in which one of said pair of concepts between which said relationship is formed is received; and

wherein said means for forming each of said plurality of relationships includes means for storing said relationship in an entry in a relationships table, such that said entry refers to said first related concept, said second related concept, and said relating concept, using corresponding ones of a plurality of unique identifiers associated with respective ones of said plurality of concepts, and storing indication of said application specific meaning aspect of said relationship in said entry.