Method and apparatus for matching customer symptoms with a database of content solutions

• US 7,133,866 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2002
• Issued: 11/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Leclerc, Paul E., deMent, William S., Rishel, Kari Compton
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHECHTMAN, CHERYL MARIA
• Application Number:
  US10/263,989
• Publication Number:
  US 20040068497A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,497 Days
• Field of Search: 707 3- 5, 704/9
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3338 Query expansion
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

A method of forming a solution-based search query from a symptom-based search query for searching a solution-based document database is presented. A user query comprised of perceived symptom-based search terms is preprocessed to remove extraneous terms. The remaining search query is evaluated to identify symptom-based terminology. The symptom-based terminology is used to access a synonym database which matches the symptom-based search term with a solution-based search term. The solution-based search term is substituted into the original search term and the solution-based search query is entered into a search engine for identification of solution-based documents.

Claims

1. A method of using a solution-based search query formed from a symptom-based search query for searching a solution-based document database, comprising:

identifying at least one symptom-based search term within said symptom-based search query, said symptom-based search query identifying at least one of a perceived condition and an anomalous behavior of a technical environment;

searching within a synonym database for a match to said at least one symptom-based search term, said synonym database comprised of symptom-based terms correlating to solution-based synonyms and said solution-based synonyms corresponding to metatags associated with solution-based documents of said solution-based document database;

replacing said at least one symptom-based search term of said symptom-based search query with at least one solution-based synonym corresponding to said metatags of at least one of said solution-based documents to form said solution-based search query; and

searching said solution-based document database with said solution-based search query, at least one of said solution-based documents of said solution-based document database providing corrective information for said at least one of said perceived condition and said anomalous behavior of said technical environment.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said searching step further comprises:

comparing in said synonym database said at least one symptom-based search term to a corresponding one of said solution-based synonyms, said one of said solution-based synonyms from among a group of identified symptom attributes within said metatags.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of removing stop words from said symptom-based search query.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein said removing stop words step comprises the steps of:

parsing each word of said symptom-based search query into individual search words; and

for each of said individual search words;

comparing said individual search words against a stop word database; and

deleting said individual search words from said symptom-based search query that appear in said stop word database.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said solution-based document database is a customer service database.

6. A method of searching a document database, comprising:

entering a symptom-based search query for searching a solution-based document database, said symptom-based search query describing a perceived condition or anomalous behavior of technical equipment;

identifying at least one symptom-based search term within said symptom-based search query;

firstly, searching for a match to said at least one symptom-based search term within a synonym database comprised of symptom-based terms correlating to solution-based synonyms, said solution-based synonyms corresponding to metatags associated with solution-based documents of said solution-based document database;

replacing said at least one symptom-based search term of said symptom-based search query with at least one solution-based synonym corresponding to said metatags of at least one of said solution-based documents to form a solution-based search query; and

secondly, searching said solution-based document database using said solution-based search query, at least one of said solution-based documents of said solution-based document database providing information for remedying said perceived condition or anomalous behavior of said technical equipment.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein said searching for a match step further comprises:

comparing in said synonym database said at least one symptom-based search term for a corresponding one of said solution-based synonyms, said one of said solution-based synonyms from among a group of identified symptom attributes within said metatags.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein said searching said solution-based document database step further comprises favorably weighting matches of said solution-based documents that are identified using said solution-based search query.

9. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising the step of removing stop words from said symptom-based search query.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein said removing stop words step comprises the steps of:

parsing each word of said symptom-based search query into individual search words; and

for each of said individual search words;

comparing said individual search words against a stop word database; and

deleting said individual search words from said symptom-based search query that appear in said stop word database.

11. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein said solution-based document database is a customer service database.

12. A method of accessing a solution-based document database having solution-based documents therein, comprising the steps of:

correspondingly associating symptom attributes to said solution-based documents in said solution-based document database, said solution-based documents providing corrective information for perceived conditions and anomalous behaviors of technical environments;

creating a synonym database comprised of solution-based synonyms which correlate said symptom attributes with at least one symptom-based search term;

entering a symptom-based search query for searching said solution-based document database, said symptom-based search query identifying at least one of a perceived condition and an anomalous behavior of a technical environment;

identifying at least one symptom-based search term within said symptom-based search query;

searching for a match to said at least one symptom-based search term within said synonym database comprised of symptom-based terms correlating to solution-based synonyms, said solution-based synonyms corresponding to metatags associated with said solution-based documents of said solution-based document database; and

replacing said at least one symptom-based search term of said symptom-based search query with at least one solution-based synonym corresponding to said Metatags of at least one of said solution-based documents to form a solution-based search query.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein said correspondingly associating step comprises the steps of:

defining a group of symptom attributes which identifies symptoms that may be addressed by said solution-based document database;

identifying at least one symptom attribute for each of said solution-based documents in said solution-based database document; and

associating said at least one symptom attribute with a corresponding one of said at least one solution-based document.

14. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising the step of removing stop words from said symptom-based search query.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein said removing stop words step comprises the steps of:

parsing each word of said symptom-based search query into individual search words; and

for each of said individual search words;

comparing said individual search words against a stop word database; and

deleting said individual search words from said symptom-based search query that appear in said stop word database.