Managing changes to a directory of electronic documents

• US 6,675,161 B1
• Filed: 05/04/1999
• Issued: 01/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Inktomi Corporation (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Suchter, Sean A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Homere, Jean R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wassum, Luke S
• Application Number:
  US09/305,684
• Time in Patent Office: 1,708 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-5, 707/10, 707/101, 707/102
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for managing changes to a directory of electronic documents. A custom directory is created and stored based on the contents of a master directory. The master directory comprises a taxonomy of categories. A plurality of electronic documents are classified in one or more of the categories. One or more mappings defines how the documents of categories of the master directory map to categories of the custom directory. Mappings may express merges or splits of categories. One or more judgements may be created and stored in the custom directory in association with documents in the categories of the custom directory. Each judgement expresses whether a document is in or not in a category, or locked out of all categories. Modifications to the master directory are automatically propagated to the custom directory, according to the mapping, but without overriding the judgements in the custom directory.

Claims

1. A method of providing electronic documents, the method comprising the steps of:

creating a second directory by mapping the second directory from at least a portion of a first directory of the electronic documents, wherein the first directory has a hierarchy of a first set of one or more categories into which one or more electronic documents are classified, and wherein the second directory has a hierarchy of a second set of one or more categories;

associating, with the second directory, one or more customizations that represent differences between the hierarchy of the first directory and the hierarchy of the second directory; and

associating, with the second directory, one or more judgements that indicate whether one or more of the electronic documents are properly classified in the second set of categories;

in response to the first directory being modified by changes to one or more of the first set of categories, automatically modifying the second directory by using at least some of the changes to the one or more categories of the first set of categories, without modifying the customizations or the judgements.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein creating a second directory includes:

identifying or more master judgements that indicate whether one or more of the electronic documents are properly classified in the first set of categories;

in response to the first directory being modified by changes to one or more of the master judgements, automatically propagating the changes to the second directory, without modifying the customizations or the judgements, to create a modified second directory.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

displaying a taxonomy of the second set of categories of the second directory;

receiving a selection of one of the second set of categories;

displaying one or more judgements associated with one of the electronic documents in the selected category; and

receiving and storing a quality value that indicates how closely the one of the electronic documents matches the selected category.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of creating a second directory includes the step of creating the second directory based at least partially on one or more customizations that reflect a merge of a plurality of the categories of the first set of categories of the first directory to one of the second set of categories of the second directory.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of creating a second directory includes the step of creating the second directory based at least partially on one or more customizations that reflect a split of one of the first set of categories of the first directory into a plurality of categories of the second set of categories of the second directory.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

creating a new judgement for the second directory, wherein the new judgement indicates that a particular electronic document is in one of the second set of categories of the second directory.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

marking the new judgement as un-reviewed; and

receiving an acceptance signal indicating that the new judgement is accepted, and in response thereto, persistently storing the new judgement in the second directory.

8. A method as recited in claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

marking the new judgement as un-reviewed; and

receiving a rejection signal indicating that the new judgement is rejected, and in response thereto, modifying the new judgement to indicate that the electronic document is not in the category.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

creating a new judgement for the second directory, wherein the new judgement indicates that a particular electronic document is not in one of the second set of categories of the second directory.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

creating a new judgement for the second directory, wherein the new judgement indicates that a particular electronic document is locked out of all categories of the second directory.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of integrating the customizations and judgements into the second directory by performing the steps of:

identifying each mapping of a source category in the first set of categories of the first directory to a destination category in the second set of categories of the second directory;

using the mapping to copy each judgement that is in the source category to the destination category; and

marking as un-reviewed, each judgement that is copied to the destination category and that originates from a split mapping of the source category.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising the step of:

marking as un-reviewed, each judgement that is copied to the destination category and that originates from an un-reviewed judgement in the source category.

13. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising.

creating one or more custom judgements that are associated with the second directory;

and

integrating each of the custom judgements into the second directory by overriding any conflicting judgement originating from the first directory.

14. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising the step of:

creating one or more custom judgements that are associated with the second directory, wherein the custom judgements have a judgement type value selected from among “

in category,”

“

not in category,”

“

exclude from all categories”

, and “

undo exclude from all categories”

; and

integrating each of the custom judgements into the second directory by overriding any conflicting judgement originating from the first directory.

15. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising the step of:

creating one or more custom judgements that are associated with the second directory, wherein the custom judgements have a judgement type value selected from among “

in category,”

“

not in category,”

“

exclude from all categories”

, and “

undo exclude from all categories”

; and

integrating each of the custom judgements into the second directory by overriding any conflicting judgement originating from the first directory, wherein the integrating is carried out such that;

judgements of lower priority cannot affect earlier judgements of higher priority;

“

in”

judgements override previous “

in” and

“

not in”

judgements;

“

not in”

judgements override previous “

in” and

“

not in”

judgements;

“

exclude from all categories”

judgements override previous “

in”

judgements; and

“

undo exclude from all categories”

judgements override previous “

exclude from all categories”

judgements.

16. A method of providing electronic documents, the method comprising:

creating a customized directory by mapping at least a portion of a master directory of the electronic documents into at least a portion of the customized directory, wherein the master directory is defined by a hierarchical taxonomy of a first set of categories into which one or more of the electronic documents are classified, and wherein the customized directory has a second set of categories;

associating, with the customized directory, one or more customizations that reflect differences between the master directory and the customized directory;

associating, with the customized directory, one or more judgements that indicate whether one or more of the electronic documents are properly classified in the second set of categories;

in response to the master directory being modified by changes to one or more of the categories, automatically propagating the changes in the master directory to the customized directory, without overriding the customizations or judgements of the customized directory.

17. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

identifying one or more master judgements that represent whether one or more of the electronic documents are properly classified in the first set of categories;

in response to the master directory being modified by changes to one or more of the master judgements, automatically propagating the changes to the customized directory, without modifying the customizations or the judgements, to create a modified customized directory.

18. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising the steps of creating and storing one or more judgements of the customized directory by the steps of:

displaying a taxonomy of the second set of categories of the customized directory;

receiving a selection of one of the second set of categories;

displaying one or more judgements associated with one of the electronic documents in the selected category; and

receiving and storing a quality value that indicates how closely the one of the electronic documents matches the selected category.

19. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein the step of creating the customized directory includes the step of creating the customized directory based at least partially on one or more customizations that reflect a merge of a plurality of the first set of categories of the master directory to one of the second set of categories of the customized directory.

20. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein the step of creating the customized directory includes the step of creating the customized directory based at least partially on one or more customizations that reflect a split of one of the first set of categories of the master directory into a plurality of categories in the second set of categories of the customized directory.

21. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising

creating a new judgement for the customized directory, wherein the new judgement indicates that a particular electronic document is in one of the second set of categories of the customized directory.

22. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

creating a new judgement for the customized directory, wherein the new judgement indicates that a particular electronic document is not in one of the second set of categories of the customized directory.

23. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

creating a new judgement for the customized directory, wherein the new judgement indicates that a particular electronic document is locked out of all categories of the customized directory.

24. A method as recited in claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

marking the new judgement as un-reviewed; and

receiving an acceptance signal indicating that the new judgement is accepted, and in response thereto, persistently storing the new judgement in the customized directory.

25. A method as recited in claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

marking the new judgement as un-reviewed; and

receiving a rejection signal indicating that the new judgement is rejected, and in response thereto, modifying the new judgement to indicate that the electronic document is not in the category.

26. A method as recited in claim 16, further comprising the step of integrating the customizations and judgements into the customized directory by performing the steps of:

identifying each mapping of a source category in the first set of categories of the master directory to a destination category in the second set of categories of the customized directory;

using the mapping to copy each judgement that is in the source category to the destination category; and

marking as un-reviewed, each judgement that is copied to the destination category and that originates from a split mapping of the source category.

27. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising the step of:

marking as un-reviewed, each judgement that is copied to the destination category and that originates from an un-reviewed judgement in the source category.

28. A method as recited in claim 27, further comprising:

creating one or more custom judgements that are associated with the customized directory; and

integrating each of the custom judgements into the customized directory by overriding any conflicting judgement originating from the master directory.

29. An apparatus for providing electronic documents, comprising:

a second directory of the electronic documents that is based on a first directory of the electronic documents, wherein the first directory is at least partially defined by a hierarchy of a first set of one or more categories into which one or more of the electronic documents are classified, wherein the second directory has a hierarchy of a second set of one or more categories;

wherein the second directory is associated with one or more customizations that indicate differences between the first directory and the second directory, and with one or more judgements that indicate whether one or more of the electronic documents are properly classified in the second set of categories; and

a directory application software element that is capable of performing the steps of modifying the first directory by changes to one or more of the categories;

and automatically propagating the changes to the second directory, without modifying the customizations or the judgements, to create and store a modified second directory.

30. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for providing electronic documents, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

creating a second directory by mapping at least a portion of a first directory of the electronic documents into at least a portion of the second directory, wherein the first directory has a hierarchy of a first set of categories into which one or more of the electronic documents are classified, and wherein the second directory has a hierarchy of a second set of categories;

associating, with the second directory, one or more customizations that indicate differences between the first directory and the second directory;

associating, with the second directory, one or more judgements that indicate whether one or more of the electronic documents are properly classified in the second set of categories;

in response to the first directory being modified by changes to one or more of the first set of categories, automatically propagating the changes to the second directory, without modifying the customizations or the judgements, to create a modified second directory.

31. A computer-implemented method for re-categorizing documents that have been categorized in a first directory based on a first hierarchy of categories, the method comprising the steps of:

associating judgement data with sets of one or more of said documents;

wherein said judgement data represents whether said sets of one or more of said documents are properly classified within a second hierarchy of categories;

generating a second directory based on the first directory;

wherein the second directory categorizes said documents based on the second hierarchy of categories; and

wherein the step of generating said second directory based on said first directory is performed based on;

a mapping between the documents and the categories of the second hierarchy of categories, and

said judgement data.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of, after generating the second directory, automatically propagating a change to one or more of the categories in the first hierarchy to the second hierarchy.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein propagating a change includes propagating the change without modifying said judgement data.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein associating judgement data with sets of one or more of said documents includes associating a first judgement data that indicates the one or more documents belong to a category in at least one of the first hierarchy and the second hierarchy.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein associating judgement data with sets of one or more of said documents includes associating a first judgement data that indicates the one or more documents do not belong to a category in at least one of the first hierarchy and the second hierarchy.

36. The method of claim 31, wherein associating judgement data with sets of one or more of said documents includes associating a first judgement data that indicates the one or more documents do not belong to any category in at least one of the first hierarchy and the second hierarchy.

37. The method of claim 31, wherein associating judgement data with sets of one or more of said documents includes associating a first judgement data with a first set of one or more documents in the first directory, and associating a second judgement data with a second set of one or more documents in the second directory, wherein the first judgement data is different than the second judgement data.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the step of generating said second directory is performed at least in part by mapping one or more documents to categories in said second hierarchy based, at least in part, on said second judgement data when said second judgement data conflicts with said first judgement data for said one or more documents.

39. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of assigning a priority value to at least some of said judgement data that is assigned to different documents.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the step of associating judgement data with sets of one or more of said documents includes selecting a first judgement data over a second judgement data to be associated with one of said sets based on the priority value of the first judgement data relative to the second judgement data.

41. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

generating a third directory created based on the first directory;

wherein the third directory categorizes said documents based on a third hierarchy of categories; and

wherein the step of generating said third directory based on the first directory is performed by mapping said documents to categories in said third hierarchy based, at least in part, on said judgement data;

wherein the judgement data for generating said third directory is different than the judgement data for generating said second directory.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein in response one or more changes being made to the first directory, the method further comprises automatically propagating said changes from the first directory to the second directory and to the third directory.