Content provider systems and methods using structured data

• US 6,980,984 B1
• Filed: 05/16/2002
• Issued: 12/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Aptean, Inc. (Aptean Superior Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Kanisa Incorporated (Aptean Superior Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kay, David B., Huffman, Scott B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Choules, Jack M.
• Application Number:
  US10/150,885
• Time in Patent Office: 1,321 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 5, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

This document discusses, among other things, systems, devices, and methods for implementing a content provider using at least one structured data attribute, with an integer, float, string, or date value or the like. One or more such structured data attributes is obtained from a user query, a user attribute, a user selection, a document or other content resource, or an instance within an interactive user-provider dialog. One or more such structured data attributes is auto-mapped to a set of ordered concepts in an at least partially ordered taxonomy of a knowledge map representing a multidimensional organization of such concepts. A structured data attribute and/or an ordered concept is used to control the dialog, constrain a user'"'"'s search, or order and present search results, either alone, or in combination with nonstructured (e.g., textual) data and/or one or more concepts that is not ordered using a structured data parameter.

Claims

1. A computerized content provider system including:

a multidimensional knowledge map embodied in a machine-readable medium, the knowledge map including concepts organized into taxonomies, each taxonomy including a hierarchical structure, and at least one taxonomy including a first concept that is ordered with respect to a second concept independent of the hierarchical structure; and

content items, at least one of the items tagged to at least one of the concepts using a value of a structured data attribute associated with the at least one of the items, the structured data attribute having a range of possible ordered or orderable values that are used during operation of the computerized content provider system.

2. The system of claim 1, in which the tagged item is selected from the group consisting of a user query, a user attribute, and a resource.

3. The system of claim 1, in which the item is tagged to at least one of the concepts using at least one keyword included in the item.

4. The system of claim 1, in which the first concept includes a first mapping function, the first mapping function including an input and an output, the input of the first mapping function including a value of a structured data attribute of at least one item, and the output of the first mapping function indicating whether to tag the item to the first concept.

5. The system of claim 4, in which the second concept includes a second mapping function, the second mapping function including an input and an output, the input of the second mapping function including a value of a structured data attribute of at least one item, and the output of the mapping function indicating whether to tag the at least one item to the second concept, such that the at least one item tagged to the first concept is ordered with respect to the at least one item tagged to the second concept.

6. The system of claim 4, in which the input of the first mapping function includes information obtained from a source external to the system that is used in providing the output of the first mapping function.

7. The system of claim 4, in which the input of the first mapping function uses information about how the at least one item tags to other concepts in providing the output of the first mapping function.

8. The system of claim 4, in which the input of the first mapping function uses information about at least one keyword included in the at least one item in providing the output of the first mapping function.

9. A computerized content provider system including:

a multidimensional knowledge map embodied in a machine-readable medium, the knowledge map including concepts organized into taxonomies, each taxonomy including a hierarchical structure, and at least one taxonomy including a first concept that is ordered with respect to a second concept independent of the hierarchical structure; and

a first constraint to items associated with only one of the first and second concepts, in which the first constraint is based on at least one value of a structured data parameter, to be specified by or associated with a particular user, that maps to at least one value of the structured data parameter associated with the only one of the first and second concepts the structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values that are used during operation of the computerized content provider system.

10. The system of claim 9, in which the first constraint is based on at least one structured data ordered operator to be specified by or associated with a particular user.

11. The system of claim 10, in which the structured data ordered operator is selected from the group consisting of:

“

less than,”

“

left of,”

“

greater than,”

“

right of,” and

“

between.”

12. The system of claim 9, further including a second constraint to at least one portion of the knowledge map based on language to be specified by or associated with the particular user.

13. The system of claim 12, in which the second constraint is based on at least one hierarchical ordered operator.

14. The system of claim 13, in which the hierarchical ordered operator is selected from the group consisting of:

“

under,”

“

is part of,”

“

at,” and

“

above.”

15. A machine-assisted method of providing content to a user, the method including:

organizing concepts into groups representing dimensions of a domain, including ordering a first concept with respect to a second concept in the same group, the ordering using at least one structured data parameter, the at least one structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values; and

tagging at least one item to at least one of the first and second concepts; and

constraining a user'"'"'s machine-assisted search to only one of the first and second concepts.

16. The method of claim 15, in which the constraining is based at least in part on at least one value of the structured data parameter, to be specified by or associated with a particular user, that maps to at least one value of the structured data parameter associated with the only one of the first and second concepts.

17. The method of claim 15, in which the constraining is based at least in part on at least one structured data ordered operator to be specified by or associated with a particular user.

18. The method of claim 15, in which the constraining is based on language to be specified by or associated with the particular user.

19. The method of claim 15, in which the constraining is based on at least one hierarchical ordered operator.

20. The method of claim 15, in which the tagging at least one item includes tagging at least one item selected from the group consisting of a user query, a user attribute, and a resource.

21. A computerized content provider system including:

a multidimensional knowledge map embodied in a machine-readable medium, the knowledge map including concepts organized into taxonomies, each taxonomy including a hierarchical structure, and at least one taxonomy including a first concept that is ordered with respect to a second concept independent of the hierarchical structure using a structured data parameter, the structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values that are used during operation of the computerized content provider system; and

a user interface configured to present a question to a user to elicit from the user information about at least one value of a structured data parameter that maps to the structured data parameter used to order the first and second concepts.

22. The system of claim 21, in which the user interface is configured to present multiple questions to the user to elicit from the user information about multiple values of corresponding multiple structured data parameters that map to multiple structured data parameters used to order concepts along different dimensions of the knowledge map.

23. The system of claim 22, further including constraints to portions of multiple taxonomies based on the information about multiple values of the corresponding multiple structured data parameters.

24. A machine-assisted method of providing content to a user, the method including:

organizing concepts into groups representing dimensions of a domain, including ordering a first concept with respect to a second concept in the same group, using at least one structured data parameters the structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values; and

presenting a question to a user via a machine user interface to elicit from the user information about at least one value of a structured data parameter that maps to the structured data parameter used to order the first and second concepts.

25. The method of claim 24, further including presenting multiple questions to the user to elicit from the user information about multiple values of corresponding multiple structured data parameters that map to multiple structured data parameters used to order concepts along different dimensions of the knowledge map.

26. The method of claim 25, further including constraining a user'"'"'s search to portions of multiple taxonomies based on the information about multiple values of the corresponding multiple structured data parameters.

27. The method of claim 24, further including:

tagging at least one item to at least one of the first and second concepts; and

constraining a user'"'"'s search to only one of the first and second concepts.

28. A machine-assisted method of providing content to a user, the method including:

organizing concepts into hierarchical groups representing dimensions of a domain, including ordering a first concept with respect to a second concept in the same group independent of the hierarchy using at least one structured data parameter, the structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values; and

presenting at least one question to a user via a machine user interface to elicit from the user information about a range of ordered concepts that is relevant to the user'"'"'s needs.

29. The method of claim 28, further including presenting multiple questions to the user to elicit from the user information about multiple ranges of ordered concepts that are relevant to the user'"'"'s needs.

30. The method of claim 28, further including:

receiving from the user information about the range of ordered concepts that is relevant to the user'"'"'s needs; and

constraining the user'"'"'s search to the indicated range of ordered concepts received from the user.

31. The method of claim 28, in which the range of ordered concepts includes a single ordered concept.

32. The method of claim 28, in which the range of ordered concepts includes all concepts that are ordered as being to the left of a particular ordered concept.

33. The method of claim 28, in which the range of ordered concepts includes all concepts that are ordered as being to the right of a particular ordered concept.

34. The method of claim 28, in which the range of ordered concepts includes all concepts that are ordered as being between two specified ordered concepts.

35. A computerized content provider system including:

a multidimensional knowledge map embodied in a machine-readable medium, including concepts organized along dimensions of the knowledge map into taxonomies, the concepts including items tagged thereto, the knowledge map including a first concept that is ordered with respect to a second concept, within the same first taxonomy, using at least one structured data parameter, the structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values that are used during operation of the computerized content provider system; and

a dialog engine that maps a user to only one of the first and second concepts based on a value of a structured data user attribute associated with the user.

36. The system of claim 35, further including a user interface, coupled to the dialog engine, in which the user interface is configured to conditionally formulate a question to be presented to the user based on which one of the first and second concepts to which the user is mapped.

37. A machine-assisted method of providing content to a user, the method including:

organizing concepts into groups representing dimensions of a domain, including ordering a first concept with respect to a second concept in the same group, using at least one structured data parameter, the structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values; and

mapping a user to only one of the first and second concepts based on a value of a structured data user attribute associated with the user.

38. The method of claim 37, further including conditionally formulating a question to be presented to the user based on which one of the first and second concepts to which the user is mapped.

39. A computerized content provider system including:

a multidimensional knowledge map embodied in a machine-readable medium, including concepts organized along dimensions of the knowledge map into taxonomies, the concepts including items tagged thereto, the knowledge map including a first concept that is ordered with respect to a second concept, within the same first taxonomy, using at least one structured data parameter, the structured data attribute having a range of possible ordered or orderable values that are used during operation of the computerized content provider system; and

a dialog engine configured to provide an interactive dialog between the system and a user for constraining the user'"'"'s search for needed content to at least one portion of the knowledge map, in which the dialog engine includes a user interface that is configured to conditionally formulate a question to be presented to the user based on a structured data user attribute associated with the user.

40. A machine-assisted method of providing content to a user, the method including:

organizing concepts into groups representing dimensions of a domain, including ordering a first concept with respect to a second concept in the same group, using at least one structured data parameters the structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values; and

providing an interactive dialog between the system and a user for constraining the user'"'"'s machine-assisted search for needed content to at least one portion of the knowledge map, in which the dialog engine includes a user interface that is configured to conditionally formulate a question to be presented to the user based on a structured data user attribute associated with the user.

41. A computerized content provider system including:

a multidimensional knowledge map embodied in a computer-assisted medium, including concepts organized along dimensions of the knowledge map into taxonomies, the concepts including items tagged thereto, the knowledge map including a first concept that is ordered with respect to a second concept, within the same first taxonomy, using at least one structured data parameter, the structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values that are used during operation of the computerized content provider system;

a dialog engine configured to provide an interactive dialog between the system and a user to constrain the user'"'"'s search for needed content to at least one portion of the knowledge map based at least in part on information obtained from the user about at least one structured data parameter; and

an application interface, coupled to at least one of the dialog engine and the knowledge map, the interface configured to pass at least one structured data parameter to an external application.

42. The system of claim 41, further including a user interface including a user-selectable link that calls the external application.

43. The system of claim 42, in which the link is configured to be conditionally presented to the user based at least in part on at least one of:

an aspect of the interactive dialog;

a structured data parameter;

a user attribute;

language in a query from the user; and

language from a user-response to a dialog question.

44. A machine-assisted method of providing content to a user, the method including:

organizing concepts into groups representing dimensions of a domain, including ordering a first concept with respect to a second concept in the same group, using at least one structured data parameters the structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values;

engaging in an interactive dialog between a system and a user to constrain the user'"'"'s search for needed content based at least in part on information obtained from the user about at least one structured data parameter; and

passing at least one structured data parameter to an external application.

45. The method of claim 44, further including presenting a user-selectable link for calling the external application.

46. The method of claim 45, further including conditionally presenting the user-selectable link based at least in part on at least one of:

an aspect of the interactive dialog;

a structured data parameter;

a user attribute;

language in a query from the user; and

language from a user-response to a dialog question.

47. A computerized content provider system including:

a multidimensional knowledge map embodied in a computer-readable medium, including concepts organized along dimensions of the knowledge map into taxonomies, and including a first concept that is ordered with respect to a second concept, within the same first taxonomy, using at least one structured data parameter, the structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values that are used during operation of the computerized content provider system; and

at least one item including a first tag that tags the at least one item to at least one of the first and second concepts based at least in part on a first structured data parameter that is modified based on an indication derived from at least one previous user'"'"'s interaction with the system.

48. The system of claim 47, in which the first tag also tags the at least one item to at least one of the first and second concepts based on at least one of:

a second structured data parameter;

language associated with the at least one item; and

a second tag associated with the at least one item.

49. The system of claim 47, in which the indication is based on whether the at least one previous user'"'"'s interaction with the system was deemed successful.

50. The system of claim 47, in which the indication is based on context information obtained from a dialog interaction with the at least one previous user.

51. A machine-assisted method of providing content to a user, the method including:

organizing concepts into groups representing dimensions of a domain, including ordering a first concept with respect to a second concept in the same group, using at least one structured data parameters the structured data parameter having a range of possible ordered or orderable values; and

tagging at least one item to at least one of the first and second concepts based at least in part on a first structured data parameter that is modified based on an indication derived from at least one previous user'"'"'s interaction with a system.

52. The method of claim 51, in which the tagging is also based on at least one of:

a second structured data parameter;

language associated with the at least one item; and

a second tag associated with the at least one item.

53. The method of claim 51, in which the tagging is also based on at least one of whether the at least one previous user'"'"'s interaction with the system was deemed successful;

and

context information obtained from a dialog interaction with the at least one previous user.