Automatically initiating a knowledge portal query from within a displayed document

• US 6,584,469 B1
• Filed: 03/16/2000
• Issued: 06/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chiang, Alice, Heumann, Brian Richard James
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Veillard, Jacques
• Application Number:
  US09/526,845
• Time in Patent Office: 1,195 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 707/6, 704/9, 345/804, 345/856, 345/781, 345/349, 345/356, 709/217, 709/218
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/332 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

A system for automatically initiating a query of a knowledge portal from within a displayed document includes a word designation module configured to receive a user designation of at least two words of the document; an object identification module configured to automatically identify at least two objects within the knowledge portal corresponding to the at least two designated words; a query formulation module configured to automatically formulate a query for identifying at least one relationship within the knowledge portal linking the at least two objects; and a query initiation module configured to automatically direct the knowledge portal to initiate the query.

Claims

1. A system for automatically initiating a query of a knowledge portal from within a displayed document, the knowledge portal storing a plurality of objects linked by one or more relationships, the document displayed by a document viewer and comprising one or more words, the system comprising:

a word designation module configured to receive a user designation of at least two words of the document;

an object identification module configured to automatically identify at least two objects within the knowledge portal corresponding to the at least two designated words;

a query formulation module configured to automatically formulate a query for identifying at least one relationship within the knowledge portal linking the at least two objects;

a query initiation module configured to automatically direct the knowledge portal to initiate the query; and

a connections display module configured to display to a user the relationship between the at least two objects.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the document viewer is selected from the group consisting of a Web browser, a knowledge portal client, a word processor, and a portable document format (PDF) reader.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the word designation module comprises:

a marking detection module configured to permit a user to designate the at least two words by marking two or more words of the document.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the word designation module comprises:

a click detection module configured to permit a user to designate the at least two words by clicking on two or more words of the document.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the document comprises an image, the word designation module comprising:

an image partitioning module configured to receive a user selection of at least at least two portions of the image; and

an optical character recognition (OCR) module configured to perform optical character recognition on the selected portions of the image to recognize therein the at least two designated words.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a context-sensitive menu generation module configured to display, in response to receiving a user designation of a word, a context-sensitive menu including a user selectable option for initiating the query.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the context-sensitive menu is displayed in response to a user designating at least two words of the document and clicking on a right mouse button.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the connections display module is configured to display a representation of the relationship between the at least two objects.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the relationships display module is further configured to display to a user a representation of the at least two objects.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the document viewer is configured to display the document in a first window and the connections display module is configured to display the representation of the relationship between the at least two objects in a second window on a common display device.

11. A computer-implemented method for automatically initiating a query of a knowledge portal from within a displayed document, the knowledge portal storing a plurality of objects linked by one or more relationships, the document displayed by a document viewer and comprising one or more words, the method comprising:

receiving a user designation of at least two words of the document;

automatically identifying at least two objects within the knowledge portal corresponding to the at least two designated words;

automatically formulating a query for identifying at least one relationship within the knowledge portal linking the at least two objects;

automatically directing the knowledge portal to initiate the query; and

displaying to a user the relationship between the at least two objects.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the document viewer is selected from the group consisting of a Web browser, a knowledge portal client, a word processor, and a portable document format (PDF) reader.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving a user designation of at least two words of the document comprises:

permitting a user to designate the at least two words by marking two or more words of the document.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein receiving a user designation of at least two words of the document comprises:

permitting a user to designate the at least two words by clicking on at least two words of the document.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the document comprises an image, and wherein receiving a user designation of at least two words of the document comprises:

receiving a user selection of at least two portions of the image; and

performing optical character recognition on the selected portions of the image to recognize therein the at least two designated words.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

displaying, in response to receiving a user designation of at least two words, a context-sensitive menu including a user selectable option for initiating the query.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the context-sensitive menu is displayed in response to a user designating at least two words of the document and clicking on a right mouse button.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein displaying the relationship comprises displaying a representation of the relationship between the at least two objects.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

displaying to a user a representation of the at least two objects.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein displaying to a user a representation of the relationship between the at least two objects comprises:

displaying the document in a first window; and

displaying the representation of the relationship between the at least two objects in a second window on a common display device.

21. An article of manufacture comprising a program storage medium readable by a processor and embodying one or more instructions executable by the processor to perform a computer-implemented method for automatically initiating a query of a knowledge portal from within a displayed document, the knowledge portal storing a plurality of objects linked by one or more relationships, the document displayed by a document viewer and comprising one or more words, the method comprising:

receiving a user designation of at least two words of the document;

automatically identifying at least two objects within the knowledge portal corresponding to the at least two designated words;

automatically formulating a query for identifying at least one relationship within the knowledge portal between the at least two objects;

automatically directing the knowledge portal to initiate the query; and

displaying to a user the relationship between the at least two objects.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the document viewer is selected from the group consisting of a Web browser, a knowledge portal client, a word processor, and a portable document format (PDF) reader.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein receiving a user designation of at least two words of the document comprises:

permitting a user to designate the at least two words by marking two or more words of the document.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein receiving a user designation of at least two words of the document comprises:

permitting a user to designate the at least two words by clicking on two or more words of the document.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the document comprises an image, and wherein receiving a user designation of at least two words of the document comprises:

receiving a user selection of at least two portions of the image; and

performing optical character recognition on the selected portions of the image to recognize therein the at least two designated words.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 21, further comprising:

displaying, in response to receiving a user designation of at least two words of the document, a context-sensitive menu including a user selectable option for initiating the query.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 26, wherein the context-sensitive menu is displayed in response to a user designating at least two words of the document and clicking on a right mouse button.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein displaying the relationship comprises displaying a representation of the relationship between the at least two objects.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 28, the method further comprising:

displaying to a user a representation of the at least two objects.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 28, wherein displaying to a user a representation of the relationship between the at least two objects comprises:

displaying the document in a first window; and

displaying the representation of the relationship between the at least two objects in a second window on a common display device.