Document-centric system with auto-completion

• US 6,820,075 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2001
• Issued: 11/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: III Holdings 6, LLC
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Shanahan, James G., Grefenstette, Gregory T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Shahid
• Assistant Examiner(s): WOO, ISAAC M
• Application Number:
  US09/683,242
• Publication Number:
  US 20030033288A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,077 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/2, 707/3, 707/4, 707/100, 707/101, 707/102, 707/200, 707/201, 715/501.1, 715/513, 715/514, 715/534
• US Class Current: 715/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3344 using natural language analysis
• 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: Y10S 707/917 Text
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/955 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• 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

An information space is created using a document. Entities from the document and its information space are used to create a database of entities. An auto-completion system uses contextual information surrounding a fragment from the document to formulate a query. The query is used to identify a set of entities in the database of entities that complete the fragment. An auto-correction system uses contextual information from identified errors in the document to formulate a query. The query is used to identify a set of entities in the database of entities that correct the error.

Claims

1. A method for auto-completing document content, comprising:

defining an information space that includes target document content and additional document content to which the target document content is hyperlinked;

creating a database of entities using the information space for the target document content;

receiving an auto-completion request that includes an entity fragment of the target document content;

analyzing content surrounding the entity fragment in the target document content to provide associated context information;

formulating a query using both the entity fragment of the target document content and its associated context information;

using the query to identify a set of entities in the database of entities that satisfy the auto-completion request;

responsive to input selecting one of the entities in the set of entities, completing the entity fragment with the selected entity;

wherein formulating the query using the associated context information of the entity fragment in the target document content further comprises;

categorizing the content surrounding the entity fragment using a categorizer to define a category from an ontology to which the entity fragment of the target document content relates;

determining a part-of-speech for information of the content surrounding the entity fragment;

wherein the query is formulated using the category from the ontology and part of speech information of the content surrounding the entity fragment.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each entity in the set of entities identified using the query defines a generic object.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein at least one generic object in the set of entities identified using the query defines a text object that includes one or more of markup associated with the text object, formatting associated with the text object, origin of the text object, position of the text object at its origin, an identified part of speech at the origin of the text object, and a classification of the text object.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein said completing the entity fragment with the selected entity further comprises substituting the text object for the entity fragment, wherein the text object includes markup defining a hyperlink.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

initializing the database of entities using identified entities in the target document content; and

augmenting the database of entities with other entities in the information space of the target document content.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising:

determining that the information space of the target document content has been updated; and

propagating changes of the information space to the database of entities.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising restricting entities in the database of entities to only those entities determined to have a utility based on a combination of one or more factors including entity length, part of speech, highlighting information, markup information, location, and frequency.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the database of entities is dynamically updated using a meta-document server when additional document content is added to the target document content, and wherein entities in the database of entities are defined using a personality that defines a thematic set of services that can be applied to enrich document content.

9. An apparatus for auto-completing document content, comprising:

means for defining an information space that includes target document content and additional document content to which the target document content is hyperlinked;

means for creating a database of entities using the information space for the target document content;

means for receiving an auto-completion request that includes an entity fragment of the target document content;

means for analyzing content surrounding the entity fragment in the target document content to provide associated context information;

means for formulating a query using both the entity fragment of the target document content and its associated context information;

means for using the query to identify a set of entities in the database of entities that satisfy the auto-completion request;

means for responsive to input selecting one of the entities in the set of entities, completing the entity fragment with the selected entity;

wherein the means for formulating the query using the associated context information of the entity fragment in the target document content further comprises;

means for categorizing the content surrounding the entity fragment using a categorizer to define a category from an ontology to which the entity fragment of the target document content relates;

means for determining a part-of-speech for information of the content surrounding the entity fragment;

wherein the query is formulated using the category from the ontology and part of speech information of the content surrounding the entity fragment.

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

means for initializing the database of entities using identified entities in the target document content;

means for augmenting the database of entities with other entities in the information space of the target document content;

means for determining that the information space of the target document content has been updated; and

means for propagating changes of the information space to the database of entities.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising means for restricting entities in the database of entities to only those entities determined to have a utility based on a combination of one or more factors including entity length, part of speech, highlighting information, markup information, location and frequency.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the database of entities is dynamically updated using a meta-document server when additional document content is added to the target document content, and wherein entities in the database of entities are defined using a personality that defines a thematic set of services that can be applied to enrich document content.

13. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein at least one entity in the set of entities identified using the query defines a text object that includes one or more of markup associated with each the text object, formatting associated with the text object, origin of the text object, position of the text object at its origin, an identified part of speech at the origin of the text object, and a classification of the text object.

14. An article of manufacture for auto-completing document content, the article of manufacture comprising computer usable media including computer readable instructions embedded therein that causes a computer to perform functions that comprise:

defining an information space that includes target document content and additional document content to which the target document content is hyperlinked;

creating a database of entities using the information space for the target document content;

receiving an auto-completion request that includes an entity fragment of the target document content;

analyzing content surrounding the entity fragment in the target document content to provide associated context information;

formulating a query using both the entity fragment of the target document content and its associated context information;

using the query to identify a set of entities in the database of entities that satisfy the auto-completion request;

responsive to input selecting one of the entities in the set of entities, completing the entity fragment with the selected entity;

wherein formulating the query using the associated context information of the entity fragment in the target document content further comprises;

categorizing the content surrounding the entity fragment using a categorizer to define a category from an ontology to which the entity fragment of the target document content relates;

determining a part-of-speech for information of the content surrounding the entity fragment;

wherein the query is formulated using the category from the ontology and part of speech information of the content surrounding the entity fragment.

15. The article of manufacture according to claim 14, further comprising functions that comprise:

initializing the database of entities using identified entities in the target document content;

augmenting the database of entities with other entities in the information space of the target document content;

determining that the information space of the target document content has been updated; and

propagating changes of the information space to the database of entities.

16. The article of manufacture according to claim 15, further comprising functions that comprise restricting entities in the database of entities to only those entities determined to have a utility based on a combination of one or more factors including entity length, part of speech, highlighting information, markup information, location, and frequency;

wherein the database of entities is dynamically updated using a meta-document server when additional document content is added to the target document content, and wherein entities in the database of entities are defined using a personality that defines a thematic set of services that can be applied to enrich document content.

17. The article of manufacture according to claim 14, wherein at least one entity in the set of entities identified using the query defines a text object that includes one or more of markup associated with each the text object, formatting associated with the text object, origin of the text object, position of the text object at its origin, an identified part of speech at the origin of the text object, and a classification of the text object.