Method for structuring and searching information

• US 6,691,123 B1
• Filed: 11/13/2000
• Issued: 02/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: IMP Technology As
• Original Assignee: IMP Technology As
• Inventors: Gulliksen, Kenneth
• Primary Examiner(s): Mizrahi, Diane D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mofiz, Apu M
• Application Number:
  US09/709,279
• Time in Patent Office: 1,184 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/3, 707/5, 707/10, 707/9, 707/100, 707/101, 707/102, 707/200, 707/201, 382/195, 711/5, 717/117
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2237 Vectors, bitmaps or matrices
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

A system for structuring digitally stored information and methods for searching the resulting structure are described. The structuring system comprises a database comprising a number of cells arranged in rows and columns for holding pieces of data representing the information. Only one piece of data may be stored in each cell and the pieces of data contained in cells in one row of the database constitutes a certain information. This information may be files on a computer hard disk, pages on the www etc. An index for each unique piece of data occurring in the database, where each index table providing information concerning all locations of that unique piece of data in the database, a main index listing once all the unique pieces of data in the database together with a corresponding index table identifier, the index table identifier providing a link to the corresponding index table for that particular piece of data, are also necessary elements in the structuring system, The structure of the database/index system in itself provides fast and simple access to the information contained therein. The information structuring system and the methods for structuring and searching digitally stored information may e.g. be used in a search engine for the Internet, in a mobile phone, WAP or as a search system for retrieving files and controlling the information stored in a LAN or computer hard disk.

Claims

1. System for structuring digitally stored information, the system being included in a data processing system, the structuring system comprising:

a database comprising a number of cells arranged in rows and columns for holding pieces of data representing the information, wherein only one piece of data may be stored in each cell, the pieces of data contained in cells in one row of the database constituting a certain information;

an index table for each unique piece of data occurring in the database, each index table providing information concerning all locations of that unique piece of data in the database, wherein the locations are expressed by coordinates defining the cells in the database; and

a main index listing once all the unique pieces of data in the database together with a corresponding index table identifier, the index table identifier providing a link to the corresponding index table for that particular piece of data.

2. System according to claim 1, wherein the coordinates are (x, y) coordinate pairs representing respectively the columns, a position of the piece of data in said column, and rows in the database.

3. System according to claim 2, wherein the coordinate pairs in the index tables are first sorted according to the absolute value of the x coordinates and second according to the value of the y coordinate.

4. System according to claim 3, wherein the pieces of data with the highest absolute values of x have a higher relevance than pieces of data with lower absolute values of x.

5. System according to claim 1, wherein each row in the database comprises an address/link to the digitally stored information represented by the pieces of data contained therein.

6. System according to claim 1, wherein the pieces of data contained in cells in one row in the database represents a search string associated with a URL address.

7. System according to claim 1, wherein the pieces of data contained in cells in one row in the database are associated with a file path.

8. System according to claim 1, wherein the digitally stored information represent a telephone directory.

9. Method in a data processing system for searching digitally stored information, the information being structured in a system according to claim 1, the method comprising:

inputting a desired information through an interface;

searching the main index table selecting pieces of data corresponding to the desired information and thereby selecting index tables;

searching the selected index tables selecting at least one location of a cell in the database containing the desired information; and

selecting the row in the database in which the cell is located and retrieving the desired information.

10. Method according to claim 9, wherein the desired information being expressed in the form of a sequenced keyword search string, and

wherein the method further comprises determining the order of the keyword in the sequence of keywords, and selecting index tables corresponding both to the desired information and the order of the keyword in the input search string.

11. Method according to claim 9, comprising inputting the desired information through a search engine interface.

12. Method according to claim 9, comprising displaying the retrieved information in a display device.

13. Computer program product for a data processing system, comprising a computer readable medium, having thereon:

computer readable program means, which when loaded into an internal memory of a data processing system, makes the data processing system perform the method in one of claim 10 or 19.

22. Computer program product for a data processing system, comprising computer readable code means which, when loaded into an internal memory of a data processing system, makes the data processing system perform the method in one of claim 10 or 19.

14. Method in a data processing system for structuring digitally stored information, the method comprising:

processing the information in a data processing unit and storing pieces of data representative of the information in cells in a database, the cells in the database being arranged in rows and columns, all the cells in the same row in the database constituting a certain information;

creating at least one index for each unique piece of data occurring in the database comprising information of all locations of the unique piece of data in the database;

expressing the locations by coordinate values defining the cells in the database; and

creating a main index listing once all the unique pieces of data occurring in the database together with a corresponding index identifier providing a link to the corresponding index for a unique piece of data.

15. Method according to claim 14, wherein the processing comprises indexing the stored information by using an indexing agent.

16. Method according to claim 14, wherein the coordinate values are (x, y) coordinate pairs representing the columns and rows, respectively, in the database.

17. Method according to claim 16, further comprising first sorting the coordinate pairs in the index according to the absolute values of the x coordinates and second according the y coordinate values.

18. Method according to claim 14, wherein the processing the information and the arranging the pieces of data representative of the information in the database comprises processing and arranging such that pieces of data assigned high absolute values of the x coordinates are more descriptive for the represented information than pieces of data assigned lower absolute values of the x coordinates.

19. Method according to claim 14, wherein the pieces of data are keywords describing the digitally stored information.

20. Method according to claim 19, wherein the keywords contained in cells in each row in the database constitute a search string, and

wherein the method further comprises creating an index for each position a unique keyword occurs in the search strings, and creating a corresponding index identifier associated with the keyword in the main index.

21. Method according to claim 14, wherein a resource locator for the processed information is included in each row in the database, and

wherein each resource locator provides a link to its corresponding digitally stored information.