Systems and methods for associating system entities with descriptions

• US 7,165,066 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2002
• Issued: 01/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Kaiser, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin; Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): MAHMOUDI, HASSAN
• Application Number:
  US10/326,390
• Publication Number:
  US 20040122817A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,485 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/914 Video
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/915 Image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/916 Audio
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/917 Text
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• 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

The present invention provides methods and systems that provide users with the ability to navigate through information systems using natural language descriptions. In accordance with at least one embodiment, the navigation tool can be personalized and can adaptively and dynamically associate descriptions provided by users with various entities, thereby acquiring utility from increased use. In another embodiment, the navigation tool enables associations to be modified using feedback obtained from a user and utilizes such modifications to provide users with useful results.

Claims

1. A method for associating descriptions with information system entities, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a communications gateway with an information system;

obtaining, via the communications gateway, at least one descriptive element from a user of the information system;

using the at least one descriptive element to identify, via a lexicon of associations, at least one first entity related to the information system having an association with said descriptive element;

providing, to the user, the at least one first entity without the user further interacting with the information system;

enabling the user to disregard the at least one first entity provided to the user and manually retrieve at least one second entity associated with the information system, the second entity not previously provided to the user; and

adding to the lexicon a new association between the descriptive element inputted by the user and the at least one second entity manually retrieved by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing a communications gateway comprises establishing an interface with a computer application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the at least one descriptive element from a user comprises enabling the user to input at least one of an alphanumeric character, an audio signal, and a visual signal.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the lexicon by weakening the association between at least one entity and its associated descriptive element based on time since first use of the associated descriptive element.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing step comprises at least one of providing access to the information system, presenting the information system, and routing the user to the system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the lexicon based on feedback obtained from the user relating to the at least one first entity.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein updating the lexicon based on feedback comprises reinforcing the association between the first entity and the descriptive element in response to the user selecting the first entity.

8. A method for associating descriptions with information system entities, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a communications gateway with an information system;

obtaining, via the communications gateway, at least one descriptive element from a user of the information system;

using the at least one descriptive element to identify, via a lexicon of associations, at least one first entity related to the information system having an association with said descriptive element;

providing, to the user, the at least one first entity without the user further interacting with the information system;

enabling the user to disregard the at least one first entity provided to the user and manually retrieve at least one second entity associated with the information system, the second entity not previously provided to the user; and

updating the lexicon by weakening the association between at least one entity and the descriptive element in response to lack of use by the user.

9. A method for associating descriptions with information system entities, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a communications gateway with an information system;

obtaining, via the communications gateway, at least one descriptive element from a user of the information system;

using the at least one descriptive element to identify, via a lexicon of associations, at least one first entity related to the information system having an association with said descriptive element;

providing, to the user, the at least one first entity without the user further interacting with the information system;

enabling the user to disregard the at least one first entity provided to the user and manually retrieve at least one second entity associated with the information system, the second entity not previously provided to the user; and

modifying the lexicon by weakening the association between at least one entity and its associated descriptive element based on time since first use of the associated descriptive element.

10. A system comprising:

an information system;

a storage mechanism;

an interface coupled to the information system; and

navigation means, coupled to the interface and the storage mechanism for;

receiving, via the interface, a description provided by a user of the information system, the description including at least one descriptive element;

extricating the at least one descriptive element from the description;

retrieving from the storage mechanism at least one first entity related to the information system and having an association with the at least one descriptive element;

prioritizing the at least one first entity by computing a score that reflects a correlation between the description and the at least one first entity, wherein the score includes a bias weight corresponding to the association between the at least one descriptive element included in the description and the information system;

enabling the user to disregard the at least one first entity provided to the user and manually retrieve at least one second entity associated with the information system, the second entity not previously provided to the user; and

causing the at least one first entity having an association with the at least one descriptive element to be presented to the user and, in response to the user selecting said at least one first entity, incrementing the bias weight corresponding to the association between the descriptive element and the information system.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the description is a plurality of words and each of said plurality of words is a descriptive element.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the navigation means extricates the at least one descriptive element by way of separating each of the plurality of words.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the navigation means extricates by discarding at least one of the words in the description.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the score is sum of bias weights corresponding to associations between each of the words included in the description and the information system.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the description includes at least one of textual data, video data, and audio data.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the information system is at least one computer application.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one entity related to the information system includes at least one of a file, a directory, a link, a menu item, an image, audio data, and a system action.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the interface is an application interface.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the storage mechanism includes a database.

20. The system of claim 10, wherein the information system resides in a first location and the navigation means resides in a second location.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the second location is remotely located with respect to the first location.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the first location and the second location are both located in a single computer.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the first location is a client and the second location is server.

24. The system of claim 10, wherein the user of the information system accesses the information system via a computer coupled to a network.