System and method for selecting a sub-domain for a specified domain of the web

• US 7,542,970 B2
• Filed: 05/11/2006
• Issued: 06/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Negi, Sumit, Zhang, Zengyan, Holmes, Scott Richard, Mi, Hongcheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Hung Q
• Assistant Examiner(s): SOMERS, MARC S
• Application Number:
  US11/432,265
• Publication Number:
  US 20070266016A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,118 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2, 707/4, 707/3, 707/5
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• 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 selection system and method. The selection method comprises receiving, by a computing system, a taxonomy of data related to a specified domain of knowledge on the web. A taxonomy tree is constructed from the taxonomy. A sub tree related to a sub-domain from specified domain is selected from the taxonomy tree. A first list comprising user expected universal resource locators (URLs) related to the sub-domain is received. A second list comprising topic expressions defining each node of the taxonomy sub-tree is generated. A query based on the second list is generated. The query is applied on an index of URLs generated from a web crawling process to generate a third list. A recall value is calculated based on the first list and the third list.

Claims

1. A selection method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing system, a taxonomy of data related to a specified domain of knowledge on the web;

storing, by said computing system, said taxonomy of data;

constructing, by a software application within said computing system, a taxonomy tree from said taxonomy;

receiving, by said computing system, a user selection for a taxonomy sub-tree from said taxonomy tree, said sub tree related to a sub-domain from said specified domain;

receiving, by said computing system from a user, a first list comprising user expected universal resource locators (URLs) related to said sub-domain, wherein said user selection is associated with a published list of URLs;

generating, by said software application, a second list comprising topic expressions defining each node of said taxonomy sub-tree;

receiving, by said software application, a first command for removing a first topic expression of said topic expressions from said second list;

removing, by said software application in response to said first command, said first topic expression from said second list;

receiving, by said software application, a second command for adding a second topic expression to said second list;

adding, by said software application in response to said second command, said second topic expression to said second list;

after said removing and said adding, generating by said software application, a query based on said second list by applying at least one Boolean operator on said topic expressions on said second list;

applying, by said software application, said query on an index of URLs, said index generated from a web crawling process;

generating, by said query, a third list comprising actual URLs located during said query;

determining, by said software application, a first group (A) of URLs that are listed on and common to said third list and said first list;

determining, by said software application, a second group (B) of URLs that are listed on only said first list;

calculating, by said software application, a recall value (R) based on a number of URLs in said first group (N_A) and a number of URLs in said second group (N_B), wherein R=N_A/N_B;

randomly sampling, by said software application, said third list to generate a sampled list (D) of URLs from said third list;

sending, said sampled list (D) to said user of said computing system;

receiving, by said computing system, a user selected sub-list (C) of URLs from said sampled list (D), said user selected sublist based on a selection criteria;

calculating, by said software application, a precision value (P) based on a number of URLs on said user selected sub-list (N_C) and a number of URLs on said sampled list (N_D) wherein P=N_C/N_D;

comparing, by said computing system, said recall value to a predetermined recall value;

determining, by said computing system based on first results of said comparing said recall value to said predetermined recall value, that said recall value comprises an acceptable recall value;

comparing, by said computing system, said precision value to a predetermined precision value;

determining, by said computing system based on second results of said comparing said precision value to said predetermined precision value, that said precision value comprises an acceptable precision value;

and saving, on said computing system in response to said first results and said second results, said sub-list (C).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said taxonomy comprises XML code.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by said computing system, a fourth list comprising specified topic expressions; and

adding, by said software application, said fourth list to said second list.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least Boolean operator comprises a first Boolean operator encapsulated by a second Boolean operator, and wherein said first Boolean operator differs from said second Boolean operator.

5. A computing system comprising a processor coupled to a computer-readable memory unit, said memory unit comprising a software application and instructions that when executed by the processor implement a selection method, said method comprising:

receiving, by said computing system, a taxonomy of data related to a specified domain of knowledge on the web;

storing, by said computing system, said taxonomy of data;

constructing, by a software application within said computing system, a taxonomy tree from said taxonomy;

receiving, by said computing system, a user selection for a taxonomy sub-tree from said taxonomy tree, said sub tree related to a sub-domain from said specified domain;

receiving, by said computing system from a user, a first list comprising user expected universal resource locators (URLs) related to said sub-domain, wherein said user selection is associated with a published list of URLs;

generating, by said software application, a second list comprising topic expressions defining each node of said taxonomy sub-tree;

receiving, by said software application, a first command for removing a first topic expression of said topic expressions from said second list;

removing, by said software application in response to said first command, said first topic expression from said second list;

receiving, by said software application, a second command for adding a second topic expression to said second list;

adding, by said software application in response to said second command, said second topic expression to said second list;

after said removing and said adding, generating by said software application, a query based on said second list by applying at least one Boolean operator on said topic expressions on said second list;

applying, by said software application, said query on an index of URLs, said index generated from a web crawling process;

generating, by said query, a third list comprising actual URLs located during said query;

determining, by said software application, a first group (A) of URLs that are listed on and common to said third list and said first list;

determining, by said software application, a second group (B) of URLs that are listed on only said first list;

calculating, by said software application, a recall value (R) based on a number of URLs in said first group (N_A) and a number of URLs in said second group (N_B), wherein R=N_A/N_B;

randomly sampling, by said software application, said third list to generate a sampled list (D) of URLs from said third list;

sending, said sampled list (D) to said user of said computing system;

receiving, by said computing system, a user selected sub-list (C) of URLs from said sampled list (D), said user selected sublist based on a selection criteria;

calculating, by said software application, a precision value (P) based on a number of URLs on said user selected sub-list (N_C) and a number of URLs on said sampled list (N_D) wherein P=N_C/N_D;

comparing, by said computing system, said recall value to a predetermined recall value;

determining, by said computing system based on first results of said comparing said recall value to said predetermined recall value, that said recall value comprises an acceptable recall value;

comparing, by said computing system, said precision value to a predetermined precision value;

determining, by said computing system based on second results of said comparing said precision value to said predetermined precision value, that said precision value comprises an acceptable precision value;

and saving, on said computing system in response to said first results and said second results, said sub-list (C).

6. The computing system of claim 5 wherein said taxonomy comprises XML code.

7. The computing system of claim 5 wherein said method further comprises:

receiving, by said computing system, a fourth list comprising specified topic expressions; and

adding, by said software application, said fourth list to said first list.

8. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium including a software application and computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a selection method within a computing system, said method comprising:

receiving, by said computing system, a taxonomy of data related to a specified domain of knowledge on the web;

storing, by said computing system, said taxonomy of data;

constructing, by a software application within said computing system, a taxonomy tree from said taxonomy;

receiving, by said computing system, a user selection for a taxonomy sub-tree from said taxonomy tree, said sub tree related to a sub-domain from said specified domain;

receiving, by said computing system from a user, a first list comprising user expected universal resource locators (URLs) related to said sub-domain, wherein said user selection is associated with a published list of URLs;

generating, by said software application, a second list comprising topic expressions defining each node of said taxonomy sub-tree;

receiving, by said software application, a first command for removing a first topic expression of said topic expressions from said second list;

removing, by said software application in response to said first command, said first topic expression from said second list;

receiving, by said software application, a second command for adding a second topic expression to said second list;

adding, by said software application in response to said second command, said second topic expression to said second list;

after said removing and said adding, generating by said software application, a query based on said second list by applying at least one Boolean operator on said topic expressions on said second list;

applying, by said software application, said query on an index of URLs, said index generated from a web crawling process;

generating, by said query, a third list comprising actual URLs located during said query;

determining, by said software application, a first group (A) of URLs that are listed on and common to said third list and said first list;

determining, by said software application, a second group (B) of URLs that are listed on only said first list;

calculating, by said software application, a recall value (R) based on a number of URLs in said first group (N_A) and a number of URLs in said second group (N_B), wherein R=N_A/N_B;

randomly sampling, by said software application, said third list to generate a sampled list (D) of URLs from said third list;

sending, said sampled list (D) to said user of said computing system;

receiving, by said computing system, a user selected sub-list (C) of URLs from said sampled list (D), said user selected sublist based on a selection criteria;

calculating, by said software application, a precision value (P) based on a number of URLs on said user selected sub-list (N_C ) and a number of URLs on said sampled list (N_D) wherein P=N_C/N_D ;

comparing, by said computing system, said recall value to a predetermined recall value;

determining, by said computing system based on first results of said comparing said recall value to said predetermined recall value, that said recall value comprises an acceptable recall value;

comparing, by said computing system, said precision value to a predetermined precision value;

determining, by said computing system based on second results of said comparing said precision value to said predetermined precision value, that said precision value comprises an acceptable precision value;

and saving, on said computing system in response to said first results and said second results, said sub-list (C).

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein said method further comprises:

receiving, by said computing system, a fourth list comprising specified topic expressions; and

adding, by said software application, said fourth list to said first list.