Knowledge broadcasting and classification system

• US 7,536,713 B1
• Filed: 12/11/2003
• Issued: 05/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trio Systems, LLC
• Original Assignee: Trio Systems, LLC
• Inventors: Bartholomew, Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): Chai, Longbit
• Application Number:
  US10/707,413
• Time in Patent Office: 1,986 Days
• Field of Search: 726/7
• US Class Current: 726/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/908 using metadata automatically derived from the content

Abstract

Embodiments of the system may utilize a Knowledge Broadcasting System for specifying content metadata and locating Internet documents. In this instance embodiments of the invention comprise an improved manner of specifying the content of an Internet document in such a way that the users of the system are able to retrieve relevant Internet documents. This is accomplished using a three-tiered search engine where the first-tier is denoted as a category search, the second tier is denoted as a context search, and the third-tier is denoted as a keyword search. At each step relevant information is filtered out and the focus of the search is narrowed. In the general search, the user narrows the focus of the search by selecting a hierarchical definition.

Claims

1. A method for classifying and retrieving information comprising:

reviewing a document by a content producer device;

determining a category attribute value, a context attribute value, and a keyword attribute value of said document wherein said category attribute value, said context attribute value, and said keyword attribute value describe said document, wherein said category attribute value comprises a general classification category, said context attribute value comprises a classification type, and said keyword attribute value comprises a classification detail;

generating a knowledge attribute data using a computer programmed to reduce said category attribute value, said context attribute value, and said keyword attribute value to a single data value, wherein said knowledge attribute data is represented as a pseudo-unique numeric value generated using a hash function;

creating a knowledge object comprising an attribute specification that contains a document representation of said document and said knowledge attribute data, wherein allowing selective distribution based on subscriber-based forwarding, where a client device requests to have only knowledge objects matching said document to be forwarded;

storing said knowledge object in a search engine database on a server;

receiving a search query comprising a category search parameter, a context search parameter, and a keyword search parameter from a content consumer device wherein said category search parameter comprises a general classification category search parameter, said context search parameter comprises a classification type search parameter, and said keyword search parameter comprises a classification detail search parameter;

generating a search attribute data by reducing said search query comprising said category search parameter, said context search parameter, and said keyword search parameter to a single data value, wherein said search attribute data is represented as a pseudo-unique numeric value generated using a hash function;

retrieving said knowledge attribute data from said search engine database;

comparing said search attribute data with said knowledge attribute data; and

, when said comparing results in a match, presenting said knowledge object to said content consumer device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said knowledge attribute data and said search attribute data are represented as a text value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said knowledge attribute data and said search attribute data are represented as a pseudo-unique numeric value generated using a hash function.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said comparing said search attribute data with said knowledge attribute data further comprises comparing said category attribute value with said category search parameter, comparing said context attribute value with said context search parameter, and comparing said keyword attribute value with said keyword search parameter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said context attribute value is an arbitrary sub-classification of the category attribute value and said context attribute value is represented as a reference to an attribute specification document.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said keyword attribute value is an arbitrary sub-classification of the context attribute value and said keyword attribute value is represented as a reference to an attribute specification document.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said document representation comprises a pointer to said document.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said document representation comprises said document.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying said knowledge object by a recommender as being of interest to said content consumer; and

,

recommending said knowledge object to said content consumer.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

subscribing to a subscriber based forwarder by said content consumer wherein said content consumer requests to receive forwarded information that matches a specification;

identifying said knowledge object by a forwarder as being of interest to said content consumer;

forwarding said knowledge object to said content consumer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said search engine database is a distributed database.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said knowledge object is distributed in said distributed database using email communication.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said knowledge object is distributed in said distributed database using client-server communication.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said knowledge object is distributed in said distributed database using peer-to-peer communication.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying said knowledge object by a recommender as being of interest to said content consumer; and

,

recommending said knowledge object to said content consumer.