Identifier vocabulary data access method and system
First Claim
1. A method of creating a Boolean expression for identifying data Items in a database, comprising:
- a) initiating controlled-vocabulary formation of a query by presenting to a user a plurality of ItemSelectors each having a Boolean property associated therewith;
b) accepting a plurality of ItemSelectors selected by the user from among the presented plurality of ItemSelectors, the accepted plurality of ItemSelectors including;
i) at least a first ItemSelector having a first Boolean property associated therewith, and ii) at least a second ItemSelector having a different second Boolean property associated therewith; and
c) deriving from the accepted ItemSelectors a Boolean expression encompassing the first ItemSelector and the second ItemSelector and reflecting the Boolean property of the first ItemSelector and the Boolean property of the second ItemSelector;
wherein each ItemSelector presented for selection by the user has previously been determined to describe at least one data Item in the database, when combined according to the corresponding Boolean properties with other ItemSelectors presently selected by the user.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of organizing, managing, and providing interactive access to data in a database is disclosed, along with a program and a system for implementing the method. Associations between each data Item and at least one ItemSelector are established and stored. A predefined (but modifiable) Vocabulary of ItemSelectors sufficient to describe each Item of the database is created. Presently selected Items are described by a combination of associations defined by an appropriate Boolean combination of each ItemSelector in a presently selected set of ItemSelectors. A user controls the presently selected set by adding an ItemSelector from a presented group, or by removing a previously selected ItemSelector. The system ideally makes available to the user all relevant ItemSelectors—those which, if added to the presently selected set, would result in a set that describes at least one extant data Item. The system ideally makes all presently selected Items available to the user.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method of creating a Boolean expression for identifying data Items in a database, comprising:
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a) initiating controlled-vocabulary formation of a query by presenting to a user a plurality of ItemSelectors each having a Boolean property associated therewith;
b) accepting a plurality of ItemSelectors selected by the user from among the presented plurality of ItemSelectors, the accepted plurality of ItemSelectors including;
i) at least a first ItemSelector having a first Boolean property associated therewith, and ii) at least a second ItemSelector having a different second Boolean property associated therewith; and
c) deriving from the accepted ItemSelectors a Boolean expression encompassing the first ItemSelector and the second ItemSelector and reflecting the Boolean property of the first ItemSelector and the Boolean property of the second ItemSelector;
wherein each ItemSelector presented for selection by the user has previously been determined to describe at least one data Item in the database, when combined according to the corresponding Boolean properties with other ItemSelectors presently selected by the user. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15)
i) a first group consisting of ItemSelectors associated with the first Boolean property, and ii) a second group consisting of ItemSelectors associated with the second Boolean property.
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3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first Boolean property is disjunctive, and wherein step (b)(i) comprises accepting a plurality of ItemSelectors belonging to the first group of ItemSelectors.
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4. The method of claim 3, wherein step (c) comprises:
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i) disjunctively joining the plurality of chosen ItemSelectors that belong to the first group within a parenthetical expression, and ii) conjunctively joining the parenthetical expression to a Boolean expression containing the second ItemSelector.
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5. The method of claim 4, wherein step (b)(ii) comprises accepting a plurality of ItemSelectors belonging to the second group of ItemSelectors;
- and further comprising an act (c)(iii) of joining the accepted plurality of ItemSelectors that belong to the second group according to the second Boolean property to form the Boolean expression containing the second ItemSelector.
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6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first Boolean property is disjunctive or exclusive-disjunctive;
- and step (b)(i) comprises accepting a plurality of ItemSelectors that are associated with the first Boolean property.
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7. The method of claim 6, wherein step (c) comprises:
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i) disjunctively joining the plurality of accepted ItemSelectors that are associated with the first Boolean property within a parenthetical expression, and ii) conjunctively joining the parenthetical expression to a Boolean expression containing the second ItemSelector.
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8. The method of claim 1, wherein the ItemSelectors are each of a type selected from a group consisting of words, phrases, position-independent alphanumeric characters, position-dependent alphanumeric characters, numbers of alphanumeric characters in text of a data Item, value ranges, alphabetical ranges, graphical symbols, and pictures.
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9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
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d) creating a set of previously chosen ItemSelectors consisting of all ItemSelectors previously chosen by the user that have not been withdrawn;
e) adding an ItemSelector chosen by the user to the set of previously chosen ItemSelectors to form a set of presently chosen ItemSelectors;
f) presenting, responsive to the set of presently chosen ItemSelectors, a modified collection of ItemSelectors to the user for further selection.
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13. The method of claim 1, wherein each ItemSelector presented to the user is a member of a predefined vocabulary of ItemSelectors developed for the particular database.
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14. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) comprises graphically displaying to the user a representation of each presented ItemSelector.
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15. The method of claim 14, wherein some graphically displayed representations differ from the presented ItemSelector represented.
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10. A method of creating a Boolean expression for identifying data Items in a database, comprising:
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a) initiating controlled-vocabulary formation of a query by presenting to a user a plurality of ItemSelectors each having a Boolean property associated therewith;
b) accepting a plurality of ItemSelectors selected by the user from among the presented plurality of ItemSelectors, the accepted plurality of ItemSelectors including;
i) at least a first ItemSelector having a first Boolean property associated therewith, and ii) at least a second ItemSelector having a different second Boolean property associated therewith; and
c) deriving from the accepted ItemSelectors a Boolean expression encompassing the first ItemSelector and the second ItemSelector and reflecting the Boolean property of the first ItemSelector and the Boolean property of the second ItemSelector;
d) creating a set of previously chosen ItemSelectors consisting of all ItemSelectors previously chosen by the user that have not been withdrawn;
e) adding an ItemSelector chosen by the user to the set of previously chosen ItemSelectors to form a set of presently chosen ItemSelectors;
f) presenting, responsive to the set of presently chosen ItemSelectors, a modified collection of ItemSelectors to the user for further selection; and
g) identifying as relevant ItemSelectors that have a property whereby addition of such ItemSelector to the set of presently chosen ItemSelectors creates a set of ItemSelectors that describe at least one data Item within the database. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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16. A controlled vocabulary method of interactively creating a Boolean expression for identifying data Items in a database, the method comprising:
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a) assigning a multiplicity of ItemSelectors among a plurality of ItemSelector groups including a first group and a second group;
b) implicitly associating each ItemSelector assigned to the first group with a Boolean property associated with the first group, and implicitly associating each ItemSelector assigned to the second group with a Boolean property associated with the second group;
c) initiating a query formation by presenting to a user ItemSelectors assigned to the first group and ItemSelectors assigned to the second group;
d) accepting a plurality of ItemSelectors chosen by the user including at least one ItemSelector assigned to the first group and at least one ItemSelector assigned to the second group;
e) forming a first parenthetical Boolean expression including one or more chosen ItemSelectors assigned to the first group that are joined to each other according to the Boolean property of the first group;
f) forming a second parenthetical Boolean expression including one or more chosen ItemSelectors assigned to the second group that are joined to each other according to the Boolean property of the second group; and
g) joining the first and second parenthetical Boolean expressions as a Boolean conjunction to create the Boolean expression identifying one or more data Items in the database;
wherein each ItemSelector presented to the user for selection has been previously associated with at least one data Item in the database. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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22. A method of interactively creating a Boolean expression for identifying data Items in a database, the method comprising:
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a) assigning a multiplicity of ItemSelectors among a plurality of ItemSelector groups including a first group and a second group;
b) implicitly associating each ItemSelector assigned to the first group with a Boolean property associated with the first group, and implicitly associating each ItemSelector assigned to the second group with a Boolean property associated with the second group;
c) presenting to a user ItemSelectors assigned to the first group and ItemSelectors assigned to the second group;
d) accepting from the user only a plurality of ItemSelectors chosen by the user from among ItemSelectors presented to the user, including at least one ItemSelector assigned to the first group and at least one ItemSelector assigned to the second group;
e) forming a first parenthetical Boolean expression including one or more chosen ItemSelectors assigned to the first group that are joined to each other according to the Boolean property of the first group;
f) forming a second parenthetical Boolean expression including one or more chosen ItemSelectors assigned to the second group that are joined to each other according to the Boolean property of the second group;
g) joining the first and second parenthetical Boolean expressions as a Boolean conjunction to create the Boolean expression identifying one or more data Items in the database; and
(h) determining relevant ItemSelectors as those ItemSelectors in a predefined vocabulary of ItemSelectors which, when further combined with an existing set of ItemSelectors previously chosen by the user, will create a set of Item Selectors that describe at least one data Item in the database. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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30. A computer program for implementing interactive procedures to aid a user searching for predefined data Items, the data Items existing in a database and being preassociated with one or more of a predefined vocabulary of ItemSelectors, the program configured to direct a computer system to perform operations comprising:
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a) initiating controlled-vocabulary formation of a query by presenting graphically for selection by a user a collection of ItemSelectors from the vocabulary that each define at least one data Item in the database when combined with a set of ItemSelectors previously chosen by the user;
b) accepting an ItemSelector selected by the user from among the presented collection of ItemSelectors;
c) incorporating the ItemSelector selected in step (b) with the previously chosen set of ItemSelectors to establish a presently selected set of ItemSelectors;
d) forming a Boolean expression involving each ItemSelector in the presently selected set to describe data Items;
e) determining data Items of the database described by the Boolean expression of step (d); and
f) presenting, responsive to step (b), data Items determined in step (e) for selection by the user. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method of identifying Data Items (“
- DIs”
) in a database on the basis of a Boolean combination of associated ItemSelectors (“
ISs”
), comprising;a) establishing a plurality of ItemSelector (“
IS”
) Groups that each impose Group-specific properties on all IS members of such Group, the properties including;
i) an IS-DI association property that defines a necessary relationship between an IS and content of an associated DI, ii) an intra-Group Boolean property, and iii) a pre-defined Group Title that limits a scope of semantic meaning of IS Group members, the plurality of Groups including different Groups having corresponding different intra-Group Boolean properties;
b) presenting to a user a plurality of ISs belonging to one or more of said plurality of IS Groups;
c) accepting a plurality of ISs chosen by the user from among the presented plurality of ISs; and
d) identifying one or more DIs associated with the chosen ISs according to the corresponding Group-specific IS-DI property, in a combination that also satisfies the corresponding Group-specific intra-Group Boolean property for ISs from a common Group, and an inter-Group Boolean property. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44)
- DIs”
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45. A method of interactively creating a Boolean expression for identifying DataItems (“
- DIs”
) in a database, the method comprising;a) assigning each of a multiplicity of ItemSelectors to one of a plurality of ItemSelector (“
IS”
) Groups, each IS member of each such IS Group implicitly including;
i) an intra-Group Boolean property corresponding to the IS Group, ii) a Boolean IS-DI association property corresponding to the IS Group, and iii) a contextual semantic meaning that is limited, irrespective of a literal semantic meaning of any IS member of such IS Group, in accordance with a pre-defined Title of the IS Group;
b) presenting, to a user, a plurality of ISs assigned to a plurality of such IS Groups;
c) accepting a plurality of ISs chosen by the user from the presented ISs as a chosen combination of ISs;
d) effectively generating a Boolean DI selection equation that reflects i) the IS-DI association property corresponding to each of the chosen ISs, ii) the intra-Group Boolean property corresponding to each of the chosen ISs belonging to an IS Group from which more than one IS has been chosen, and iii) an inter-Group Boolean property corresponding to all IS Groups from which ISs have been chosen; and
e) identifying, as selected, one or more DIs that satisfy the Boolean DI selection equation effectively generated in step (d). - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48)
- DIs”
Specification