Meta-document management system with user definable personalities

• US 6,732,090 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2001
• Issued: 05/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 6, LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Shanahan, James G., Grefenstette, Gregory T., Fernstrom, Christer, Hubert, Laurence
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Kim
• Assistant Examiner(s): WOO, ISAAC M
• Application Number:
  US09/683,236
• Publication Number:
  US 20030033287A1
• Time in Patent Office: 881 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/2, 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 707/6, 707/7, 707/100, 707/101, 707/102, 707/500, 715/515, 715/517, 715/526, 715/500.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

A system operates using meta-documents which include document content associated with one or more personalities. Each personality is associated with a set of document service requests. Users are provided different techniques for creating personalities and modifying existing personalities. These techniques include: the use of an algebra to tailor existing personalities, the use of a list of links or documents to create a personality, the use of predefined personalities and knowledge levels in a field to create new personalities, the use of question answering techniques, and the use of learning personalities. Specified personalities are then used to enrich document content by integrating into corresponding meta-documents the results received from their document service requests.

Claims

1. A system for enriching document content, comprising:

a user interface for specifying a personality defining a set of document service requests that identify enrichment themes for recognizing and annotating entities associated with the personality;

a user-manager for receiving document content and the personality;

the user-manager forming a meta-document with the document content and the personality;

a scheduler for selecting at least a first and a second document service request from the set;

the scheduler initiating and managing communication with a service provider to satisfy the selected document service request;

wherein the first selected document service request in the set recognizes entities in the document content, and the second selected document service request in the set uses the recognized entities to carry out the second document service request;

a content manager for integrating into the meta-document results received from carrying out the selected document service requests;

the content manager integrating the results into the meta-document as document markup;

wherein the user interface, the user-manager, the scheduler, and the content manager operate together to automatically generate or recommend new personalities or modify existing personalities using one or more in combination of;

a set of algebraic computations for combining two or more personalities,

an expanded document generated using a set of document references from document content for identifying entities and creating document service requests of personalities,

a knowledge level for identifying personalities associated with experts or novices in a field, and

a classification of personalities for associating a personality with document content based on extracted features.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the personalities are automatically generated, recommended or modified using a set of learning personalities that include services for annotating expressions identified in document content with translations, definitions, or tutorials.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for displaying at a user interface a personality that includes a set of one or more services;

each service in a personality having at least one of a set of service providers selected;

each selected service provider having associated therewith one or more types of entities; and

responsive to user input, means for modifying the personality to define one of a new personality and a modified personality by modifying the set of services.

4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for defining a first personality having a first set of services;

means for defining a second personality having a second set of services;

means for applying an operator to the first personality and the second personality to create a third personality having a set of services that includes one or more of the services from the first set of services and the second set of services;

wherein the third personality is a new personality.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein the operator performs one of adding, subtracting, merging, composition, and intersection to services in the first set of services and the second set of services.

6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an entity extractor for developing an expanded document with a set of identified documents and constructing an entity database with the expanded document; and

a service generator for creating a service request for each form identified in the expanded document and defining a new personality using the created service requests and the entity database.

7. The system according to claim 6, further comprising means for filtering the service request with no utility before defining the new personality using the entity database.

8. The system according to claim 6, wherein the set of documents is a set of links.

9. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for receiving a user defined question;

means for identifying lexicons in the user defined question;

means for replacing the identified lexicons with generic symbols to define a generic question;

means for adding the generic question to one of a new personality and an existing personality.

10. The system according to claim 9, further comprising:

means for searching for entities that satisfy the lexicons in the generic question to define a specific question; and

means for answering the specific question using the entities that satisfy the lexicons in the generic question;

wherein the lexicons are defined in an existing personality.

11. A method for enriching document content, comprising:

specifying at a user interface a personality defining a set of document service requests that identify enrichment themes for recognizing and annotating entities associated with the personality;

receiving at a user-manager document content and the personality;

the user-manager forming a meta-document with the document content and the personality;

selecting with a scheduler at least a first and a second document service request from the set to initiate and manage communication with a service provider and satisfy the selected document service request;

wherein the first selected document service request in the set recognizes entities in the document content, and the second selected document service request in the set uses the recognized entities to carry out to carry out the second document service request;

integrating with a content manager into the meta-document results received from carrying out the selected document service request;

the content manager integrating the results into the meta-document as document markup;

operating the user interface, the user-manager, the scheduler, and the content manager together to automatically generate or recommend new personalities or modify existing personalities using one or more in combination of;

a set of algebraic computations for combining two or more personalities,

an expanded document generated using a set of document references from document content for identifying entities and creating document service requests of personalities,

a knowledge level for identifying personalities associated with experts or novices in a field, and

a classification of personalities for associating a personality with document content based on extracted features.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the personalities are automatically generated, recommended or modified using a set of learning personalities that include services for annotating expressions identified in document content with translations, definitions, or tutorials.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

displaying at a user interface a personality that includes a set of one or more services;

each service in a personality having at least one of a set of service providers selected;

each selected service provider having associated therewith one or more types of entities; and

responsive to user input, modifying the personality to define one of a new personality and a modified personality by modifying the set of services.

14. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

defining a first personality having a first set of services;

defining a second personality having a second set of services;

applying an operator to the first personality and the second personality to create a third personality having a set of services that includes one or more of the services from the first set of services and the second set of services;

wherein the third personality is the new personality.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the operator performs one of adding, subtracting, merging, composition, and intersection to services in the first set of services and the second set of services.

16. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

identifying a set of documents;

developing an expanded document with the set of identified documents;

constructing an entity database with the expanded document;

creating a service request for each form identified in the expanded document;

defining the new personality using the created service requests and the entity database.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising filtering the service request with no utility before defining the new personality using the entity database.

18. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a user defined question;

identifying lexicons in the user defined question;

replacing the identified lexicons with generic symbols to define a generic question;

adding the generic question to one of a new personality and an existing personality.

19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising:

searching for entities that satisfy the lexicons in the generic question to define a specific question; and

answering the specific question using the entities that satisfy the lexicons in the generic question;

wherein the lexicons are defined in an existing personality.

20. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

extracting features from the document content;

categorizing the features into a class of enrichment themes; and

recommending one or more personalities associated with the class of enrichment themes to enrich the document content.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the features are categorized into a plurality of classes of enrichment themes that are ranked using a user profile.

22. The method according to claim 20, further comprising:

creating a profile of the document content by categorizing the document content; and

using the profile for identifying experts to enrich the document content.

23. The method according to claim 11, further comprising providing at the user interface selections for one of inserting enrichment in the document content and linking enrichment to the document content.

24. The method according to claim 11, further comprising providing at the user interface selections for specifying how frequently to enrich the document content.

25. The method according to claim 11, further comprising providing at the user interface selections for specifying one of an expert mode and a novice mode to enrich the document content.