Hypertext analyzing system and method

• US 6,782,423 B1
• Filed: 09/05/2000
• Issued: 08/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Nakayama, Takehiro, Kato, Hiroki, Yamane, Yohei
• Primary Examiner(s): EL HADY, NABIL M
• Application Number:
  US09/655,063
• Time in Patent Office: 1,449 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 707/500, 707/526, 707/513, 707/530, 706/59
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

For each page set contained in a hypertext and with reference to access history information, a hyperlink transition frequency acquiring unit calculates a transition frequency between the pages (i.e., a hyperlink) of the page set. An attribute extracting unit extracts an attribute from each page in the hypertext. In a correlation analyzing unit there is calculated a correlation between the transition frequency of the hyperlink and the attribute. When a predetermined page set is given as an object of analysis, the attribute extracting unit extracts an attribute, and in an attribute analyzing unit the attribute is compared with a multiple regression expression stored in a correlation data storing unit. The resulting correlation expression is displayed in a display unit. According to this configuration it is possible to show a cause of a problem involved in the page configuration of a hypertext system, present a remedial measure, and improve the page configuration easily.

Claims

1. A hypertext analyzing system comprising:

a hyperlink transition frequency acquiring unit for analyzing access history information on the access to a hypertext system, also analyzing a hyperlink structure, and calculating a hyperlink transition frequency between pages linked together by a hyperlink;

an attribute extracting unit for extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from a page set linked by a hyperlink;

a correlation analyzing unit for calculating a correlation between the hyperlink transition frequency and each of the at least two attributes;

a correlation data storing unit for storing data obtained by the correlation analyzing unit;

an attribute analyzing unit for comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from a designated page set using the correlation data stored in the correlation data storing unit and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree the chosen attribute should be modified, and predicting what effect on the hyperlink transition frequency between the pages of the page set will be obtained when the chosen attribute is so modified, on the assumption that the hyperlink transition frequency between the pages of the page set is to be changed; and

a display unit for displaying the result obtained by the attribute analyzing unit.

2. A hypertext analyzing system according to claim 1, wherein the correlation analyzing unit has a function of selecting attributes not considered to be effective at the time of calculating a correlation between the hyperlink transition frequency and the attributes, and the thus-selected attributes are ignored in the processing which follows.

3. A hypertext analyzing system according to claim 1, further comprising a to-be-analyzed object designating unit for designating via a network a hypertext system to be analyzed.

4. A hypertext analyzing system comprising:

a hyperlink transition frequency acquiring unit for analyzing access history information on the access to a hypertext system, also analyzing a hyperlink structure, and calculating a hyperlink transition frequency between pages linked together by a hyperlink;

an attribute extracting unit for extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from a page set linked by a hyperlink;

a correlation analyzing unit for calculating a correlation between the hyperlink transition frequency and each of the at least two attributes;

a correlation data storing unit for storing data obtained by the correlation analyzing unit;

a to-be-analyzed page set acquiring unit for calculating, using the hyperlink transition frequency acquiring unit, a hyperlink transition frequency between pages linked together by a hyperlink in a designated page group and acquiring a smaller page set with a hyperlink transition frequency that falls below a predetermined threshold;

an attribute analyzing unit for comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from the page set acquired by the to-be-analyzed page set acquiring unit using the correlation data stored in the correlation data storing unit and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree the chosen attribute should be modified, and predicting what effect on the hyperlink transition frequency between the pages of the page set will be obtained when the chosen attribute is so modified, on the assumption that the hyperlink transition frequency between the pages of the page set is to be changed; and

a display unit for displaying the result obtained by the attribute analyzing unit.

5. A hypertext analyzing system comprising:

a hyperlink transition frequency acquiring unit for analyzing access history information on the access to a hypertext system, also analyzing a hyperlink structure, and calculating a hyperlink transition frequency between pages linked together by a hyperlink;

an attribute extracting unit for extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from a page set linked by a hyperlink;

a correlation analyzing unit for calculating a correlation between the hyperlink transition frequency and each of the at least two attributes;

a correlation data storing unit for storing data obtained by the correlation analyzing unit;

a to-be-analyzed page set acquiring unit for calculating, using the hyperlink transition frequency acquiring unit, a hyperlink transition frequency between pages linked together by a hyperlink in a designated page group, and further calculating a content similarity between the pages with use of the attribute extracting unit, and on the basis of a ratio between the hyperlink transition frequency and the content similarity, acquiring a smaller page set with a hyperlink transition frequency that falls below a predetermined threshold despite the pages being similar in content;

an attribute analyzing unit for comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from the page set acquired by the to-be-analyzed page set acquiring unit using the correlation data stored in the correlation data storing unit and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree the chosen attribute should be modified, and predicting what effect on the hyperlink transition frequency between the pages of the page set will be obtained when the chosen attribute is so modified, on the assumption that the hyperlink transition frequency between the pages of the page set is to be changed; and

a display unit for displaying the result obtained by the attribute analyzing unit.

6. A hypertext analyzing system comprising:

an access similarity analyzing unit for analyzing access history information on each of page sets which constitute a hypertext system and thereby calculating a page-to-page access similarity which represents the degree of access made to both pages of the page set concerned by users;

an attribute extracting unit for extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from the page set or from a hypertext which contains the page set;

a correlation analyzing unit for calculating a correlation between the page-to-page access similarity and each of the at least two attributes;

a correlation data storing unit for storing data obtained by the correlation analyzing unit;

an attribute analyzing unit for comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from a designated page set or from a hypertext structure containing the page set using the correlation data stored in the correlation data storing unit and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree the chosen attribute should be modified, and predicting what effect on the page-to-page access similarity between the pages of the page set will be obtained when the chosen attribute is so modified, on the assumption that the page-to-page access similarity between the pages of the page set is to be changed; and

a display unit for displaying the result obtained by the attribute analyzing unit.

7. A hypertext analyzing system according to claim 6, wherein the correlation analyzing unit has a function of selecting attributes not considered to be effective at the time of calculating a correlation between the access similarity and the attributes, and the thus-selected attributes are ignored in the processing which follows.

8. A hypertext analyzing system comprising:

an access similarity analyzing unit for analyzing access history information on each of page sets which constitute a hypertext system and thereby calculating a page-to-page access similarity which represents the degree of access made to both pages of the page set concerned by users;

an attribute extracting unit for extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from the page set or from a hypertext which contains the page set;

a correlation analyzing unit for calculating a correlation between the page-to-page access similarity and each of the at least two attributes;

a correlation data storing unit for storing data obtained by the correlation analyzing unit;

a to-be-analyzed page set acquiring unit for calculating, using the access similarity analyzing unit, a page-to-page access similarity between arbitrary pages in a designated page group and acquiring a smaller page set with a page-to-page access similarity that falls below a predetermined threshold;

an attribute analyzing unit for comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from the page set acquired by the to-be-analyzed page set acquiring unit or from a hypertext structure which contains the page set using the correlation data stored in the correlation data storing unit and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree the chosen attribute should be modified, and predicting what effect on the page-to-page access similarity between the pages of the page set will be obtained when the chosen attribute is modified, on the assumption that the page-to-page access similarity between the pages of the page set is to be changed; and

a display unit for displaying the result obtained by the attribute analyzing unit.

9. A hypertext analyzing system comprising:

an access similarity analyzing unit for analyzing access history information on each of page sets which constitute a hypertext system and thereby calculating a page-to-page access similarity which represents the degree of access made to both pages of the page set concerned by users;

an attribute extracting unit for extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from the page set or from a hypertext which contains the page set;

a correlation analyzing unit for calculating a correlation between the page-to-page access similarity and each of the at least two attributes;

a correlation data storing unit for storing data obtained by the correlation analyzing unit;

a to-be-analyzed page set acquiring unit for calculating, using the access similarity analyzing unit, a page-to-page access similarity between arbitrary pages in a designated page group, and further calculating a content similarity between the pages with use of the attribute extracting unit, and on the basis of a ratio between the page-to-page access similarity and the content similarity, acquiring a smaller page set with a page-to-page access similarity that falls below a predetermined threshold despite the pages being similar in content;

an attribute analyzing unit for comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from the page set acquired by the to-be-analyzed page set acquiring unit or from a hypertext structure which contains the page set using the correlation data stored in the correlation data storing unit and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree the chosen attribute should be modified, and what effect on the page-to-page access similarity between the pages of the page set will be obtained when the chosen attribute is so modified, on the assumption that the page-to-page access similarity between the pages of the page set is to be changed; and

a display unit for displaying the result obtained by the attribute analyzing unit.

10. A hypertext analyzing system comprising:

a hyperlink transition frequency acquiring unit for analyzing access history information on the access to a hypertext system, also analyzing a hyperlink structure, and calculating a hyperlink transition frequency between pages linked by a hyperlink;

an attribute extracting unit for extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from a page set linked by a hyperlink;

a correlation analyzing unit for calculating a correlation between the hyperlink transition frequency and each of the at least two attributes;

a correlation data storing unit for storing data obtained by the correlation analyzing unit;

an attribute analyzing unit for comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from a designated page set using the correlation data stored in the correlation data storing unit and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree the chosen attribute should be modified, and predicting what effect on the the page-to-page hyperlink transition frequency will be obtained when the chosen attribute is so modified, on the assumption that the page-to-page hyperlink transition frequency is to be changed;

a display unit for displaying the result obtained by the attribute analyzing unit;

an editing unit for modifying the contents of the designated page set while making reference to the displayed result; and

a contents modification effect analyzing unit for comparing attributes which have been extracted, using the attribute extracting unit, from the contents modified by the editing unit with the correlation data stored in the correlation data storing unit, thereby predicting the page-to-page hyperlink transition frequency between the pages of the page set, and calculating a modification effect,

the result obtained by the contents modification effect analyzing unit being displayed in the display unit.

11. A hypertext analyzing system comprising:

an access similarity analyzing unit for analyzing access history information on each of page sets which constitute a hypertext system and thereby calculating a page-to-page access similarity which represents the degree of access made to both pages of the page set concerned by users;

an attribute extracting unit for extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from the page set or from a hypertext which contains the page set;

a correlation analyzing unit for calculating a correlation between the page-to-page access similarity and each of the at least two attributes;

a correlation data storing unit for storing data obtained by the correlation analyzing unit;

an attribute analyzing unit for comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from a designated page set or from a hypertext structure containing the page set using the correlation data stored in the correlation data storing unit and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree it should be modified, and predicting what effect on the the page-to-page access similarity in the page set will be obtained when the chosen attribute is so modified, on the assumption that the page-to-page access similarity in the page set is to be changed;

a display unit for displaying the result obtained by the attribute analyzing unit;

an editing unit for modifying the contents of the designated page set while making reference to the displayed result; and

a contents modification effect analyzing unit for comparing attributes which have been extracted, using the attribute extracting unit, from the contents modified in the editing unit with the correlation data stored in the correlation data storing unit, thereby predicting the page-to-page access similarity, and calculating a modification effect,

the result obtained by the contents modification effect analyzing unit being displayed in the display unit.

12. A hypertext analyzing method comprising:

analyzing access history information on the access to a hypertext system, also analyzing a hyperlink structure, and calculating a hyperlink transition frequency between pages linked by a hyperlink;

extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from a page set linked by a hyperlink;

calculating a correlation between the hyperlink transition frequency and each of the at least two attributes;

storing the calculated correlation;

comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from a designated page set using the stored correlation, and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree the chosen attribute should be modified, and predicting what effect on the hyperlink transition frequency between the pages of the page set will be obtained when the chosen attribute is so modified, on the assumption that the hyperlink transition frequency between the pages of the page set is to be changed; and

displaying the acquired result.

13. A hypertext analyzing method comprising:

analyzing access history information on each of page sets which constitute a hypertext system and thereby calculating a page-to-page access similarity which represents the degree of access made to both pages of the page set concerned by users;

extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from the page set or from a hypertext which contains the page set;

calculating a correlation between the page-to-page access similarity and each of the at least two attributes;

storing the calculated correlation;

comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from a designated page set or from a hypertext structure containing the page set using the stored correlation, and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree the chosen attribute should be modified, and predicting what effect on the page-to-page access similarity between the pages of the page set will be obtained when the chosen attribute is so modified on the assumption that the page-to-page access similarity between the pages of the page set is to be changed; and

displaying the acquired result.

14. A recording medium capable of being read by a computer, the recording medium having a program for hypertext analysis recorded therein, the program being used for allowing the computer to execute hypertext analysis comprising:

analyzing access history information on the access to a hypertext system, also analyzing a hyperlink structure, and calculating a hyperlink transition frequency between pages linked by a hyperlink;

extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from a page set linked by a hyperlink;

calculating a correlation between the hyperlink transition frequency and each of the at least two attributes;

storing the calculated correlation;

comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from a designated page set using the stored correlation, and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree the chosen attribute should be modified, and what effect on the hyperlink transition frequency between the pages of the page set will be obtained when the chosen attribute is so modified, on the assumption that the hyperlink transition frequency between the pages of the page set is to be changed; and

displaying the acquired result.

15. A recording medium capable of being read by a computer, the recording medium having a program for hypertext analysis recorded therein, the program being used for allowing the computer to execute hypertext analysis comprising:

analyzing access history information on each of page sets which constitute a hypertext system and thereby calculating a page-to-page access similarity which represents the degree of access made to both pages of the page set concerned by users;

extracting at least two of a plurality of presentation attributes from the page set or from a hypertext which contains the page set;

calculating a correlation between the page-to-page access similarity and each of the at least two attributes;

storing the calculated correlation;

comparing the at least two attributes which have been extracted from a designated page set or from a hypertext structure containing the page set using the stored correlation, and thereby acquiring information on which attribute should be modified and to what degree the chosen attribute should be modified, and predicting what effect on the page-to-page access similarity between the pages of the page set will be obtained when the chosen attribute is so modified on the assumption that the page-to-page access similarity between the pages of the page set is to be changed; and

displaying the acquired result.