System and method for exploring a semantic file network

• US 7,624,130 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2006
• Issued: 11/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Zheng, Zhang, Benyu, Li, Lei, Wang, Jian, Lin, Chenxi, Liu, Qiaoling
• Primary Examiner(s): Vital; Pierre M
• Assistant Examiner(s): OBISESAN, AUGUSTINE KUNLE
• Application Number:
  US11/392,640
• Publication Number:
  US 20070239792A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/313 Selection or weighting of terms for indexing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99954 Version management

Abstract

Extraction of semantic information and the generation of semantic attributes allows for improved organization and management of data. Semantic attributes are automatically generated and eliminate the need for manual entry of attribute information. A semantic file network may further be constructed based on similarities between files that are based on the semantic attribute information. Semantic links representing a semantic relationship may be built between similar or relevant files. In addition, user operations and user operation patterns may also be considered in building the file network. Semantic attributes and information may further facilitate browsing the file systems as well as improve the accuracy and speed of queries.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor perform a method for determining a level of relevance between a first file and a query, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying one or more attributes associated with a first file;

identifying one or more attributes associated with a query;

for each of a plurality of second files, identifying one or more attributes associated with the second file, wherein each of the plurality of second files is associated with the first file;

determining mutual information shared by the first file and the query based on a comparison of the one or more attributes associated with the first file and the one or more attributes associated with the query, wherein the mutual information corresponds to the measure of the amount of information that a first random variable contains about a second random variable and wherein the first random variable corresponds to the first file and the second random variable corresponds to the query; and

determining a similarity between the first file and the query based on the following equation;

$S<br><br>\left(q,f\right)=a*I<br><br>\left(q,f\right)+\left(1-a\right)*\underset{<<br><br>e,f><br><br>\in <br><br>E}{\sum <br><br>}<br><br>S<br><br>\left(q,e\right)$

where q represents the query, f represents the first file, e represents a second file, <

e,f>

ε

E represents the plurality of second files, S(q,f) represents similarity between q and f, S(q,e) represents similarity between q and a second file e, I(q,f) represents the determined mutual information shared by the first file and the query, and a represents a weight; and

determining a level of relevance between the first file and the query based on the similarity

wherein determining a level of relevance between the first file and the query includes weighting the mutual information shared by the first file and query differently than the mutual information shared by the query and the second file.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first file and the second file are semantically linked.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether the level of relevance meets a predefined threshold; and

in response to determining that the level of relevance meets the predefined threshold, returning the first file as a result of the query.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 1, further including the step of identifying the second file from a plurality of files based on one or more user operations associated with the first file.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the one or more user operations are related to an implicit relationship between the first file and the second file.

6. A computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method for building links in a file network by a method that comprises:

creating links between files by

identifying one or more attributes associated with a first file;

identifying one or more attributes associated with a second file;

determining a level of similarity between the first file and the second file based on a comparison of the one or more attributes associated with the first file and the one or more attributes associated with the second file;

when it is determined that the level of similarity is above a threshold, creating a link between the first file and the second file;

when it is determined that the level of similarity is not above the threshold,

analyzing user operation patterns of accessing the first file and the second file to determine whether a semantic relationship exists between the first file and the second file; and

when it is determined that a semantic relationship exists between the first file and the second file, creating a link between the first file and the second file;

destroying a created link between the first file and the second file when a modification to an attribute of the first file results in the level of similarity being not above the threshold and when user operation patterns indicate that a semantic relationship does not exist between the first file and the second file; and

generating a user interface comprising

a first portion displaying a selected file; and

a second portion displaying one or more files associated with the selected file, wherein the one or more files are semantically related with the selected file as indicated by the created links.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the first portion includes a file network navigation pane and the second portion includes a related documents pane.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein contents of the second portion are modified in response to the first portion displaying a different selected file.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein a second portion further includes an option to display one or more additional files associated with the selected file.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the user interface includes a third portion that displays a list of the one or more additional files in response to a selection of the option.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the first portion includes an application window displaying one or more contents of the selected file.