Concept-based content architecture

• US 7,624,092 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2004
• Issued: 11/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Seifert, Hartwig, Lieske, Christian, Hirche, Andreas, Dhairyawan, Nikhil, Srinivasan, Venkatakrishnan
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong; Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): XUE, BIN
• Application Number:
  US10/993,630
• Publication Number:
  US 20060112065A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,831 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for the identification of data elements. A user input is received, comprising a data element and a context in which the data element is being used. The user input is sent to a terminology database. A list of entries is received, each entry having a first unique identifier (UID) and a second UID. The first represents a concept associated with the data element, and the second represents a specific description of the concept associated with the data element. A user input is received selecting an entry. The UIDs corresponding to the selected entry are directly associated with the data set. In some implementations, directly associating the UIDs with the data set comprises generating markup code comprising the UIDs. The invention lays the groundwork for a more efficient solution for the features/requirements related to versioning, updating, and translation in the realm of hypertexts.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

associating a concept described by a data set of data elements with a concept globally unique identifier (cGUID) to be shared by particular data elements referring to the concept, each data element comprising a unit of content;

associating a first data element that describes the concept with an incarnation globally unique identifier (iGUID);

associating the concept with the first data element, further comprising;

receiving a first user input from a user comprising the first data element, and a context in which the data element is being used and describing a language or version of the first data element,

querying a terminology database using the context, the terminology database containing a record of the concept and the cGUID corresponding to the concept and a record of the data element associated with the concept and the iGUID corresponding to the data element,

receiving a list of likely concept matches for the first data element from the terminology database based on querying the terminology database, the each likely concept match having a corresponding cGUID and iGUID,

receiving a second user input from the user selecting a match from the list of likely concept matches that correlates with the first data element, and

directly associating the cGUID and the iGUID corresponding to the selected match with the data set, further comprising linking the cGUID and the iGUID in the data set and the terminology database;

identifying the cGUID based on receiving a search term associated with the concept, the search term indicating that the user is attempting to locate the concept;

identifying the first data element based on identifying the cGUID;

replacing the first data element with a second data element associated with the concept; and

outputting the data set including the second data element.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein directly associating the cGUID and the iGUID with the data set comprises generating markup code comprising the cGUID and the iGUID.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the markup code is in an extensible markup language (XML) format.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the markup code includes attributes attached to the first data element that specify the cGUID and the iGUID.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the output data set does not include the search term.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the search term uses a first language, and wherein the output data set uses a second language.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data element is replaced with the second data element based on the second element describing the concept more accurately than the first data element.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating the concept with a second data element; and

differentiating the first and second data elements based on the version of the first and second data elements.

5. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a machine-readable storage device, the computer program product being configured to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

associating a concept described by a data set of data elements with a concept globally unique identifier (cGUID) to be shared by particular data elements referring to the concept, each data element comprising a unit of content;

associating a first data element that describes the concept with an incarnation globally unique identifier (iGUID);

associating the concept with the first data element, further comprising;

receiving a first user input from a user comprising the first data element, and a context in which the data element is being used and describing a language or version of the first data element,

querying a terminology database using the context, the terminology database containing a record of the concept and the cGUID corresponding to the concept and a record of the data element associated with the concept and the iGUID corresponding to the data element,

receiving a list of likely concept matches for the first data element from the terminology database based on querying the terminology database, the each likely concept match having a corresponding cGUID and iGUID,

receiving a second user input from the user selecting a match from the list of likely concept matches that correlates with the first data element, and

directly associating the cGUID and the iGUID corresponding to the selected match with the data set, further comprising linking the cGUID and the iGUID in the data set and the terminology database;

identifying the cGUID based on receiving a search term associated with the concept, the search term indicating that the user is attempting to locate the concept;

identifying the first data element based on identifying the cGUID;

replacing the first data element with a second data element associated with the concept; and

outputting the data set including the second data element.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the operation to directly associate the cGUID and the iGUID with the data set comprises generating markup code comprising the cGUID and the iGUID.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the markup code is in an extensible markup language (XML) format.

8. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the markup code includes attributes attached to the first data element that specify the cGUID and the iGUID.

13. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the output data set does not include the search term.

14. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the search term uses a first language, and wherein the output data set uses a second language.

15. A device comprising:

a processor configured to;

associate a concept described by a data set of data elements with a concept globally unique identifier (cGUID) to be shared by particular data elements referring to the concept, each data element comprising a unit of content;

associate a first data element that describes the concept with an incarnation globally unique identifier (iGUID);

associate the concept with the first data element by;

receiving a first user input from a user comprising the first data element, and a context in which the data element is being used and describing a language or version of the first data element,

querying a terminology database using the context, the terminology database containing a record of the concept and the cGUID corresponding to the concept and a record of the data element associated with the concept and the iGUID corresponding to the data element,

receiving a list of likely concept matches for the first data element from the terminology database based on querying the terminology database, the each likely concept match having a corresponding cGUID and iGUID,

receiving a second user input from the user selecting a match from the list of likely concept matches that correlates with the first data element, and

directly associating the cGUID and the iGUID corresponding to the selected match with the data set, further comprising linking the cGUID and the iGUID in the data set and the terminology database;

identify the cGUID based on receiving a search term associated with the concept, the search term indicating that the user is attempting to locate the concept;

identify the first data element based on identifying the cGUID;

replace the first data element with a second data element associated with the concept; and

output the data set including the second data element.