Method and system for updating display of a hierarchy of categories for a document repository
First Claim
1. A machine implemented method to facilitate document browsing, the method comprising:
- presenting a user interface to a user, the user interface displaying a hierarchy of user-selectable categories, wherein the hierarchy comprises a plurality of top-level categories, each top-level category having an associated search query; and
in response to a top-level category selection by a user, dynamically updating, by a computer having a processor, the hierarchy of user-selectable categories to display a sub-category of the user-selected top-level category and to further display a different top-level category for which a document in a document repository matches the search query of the different top-level category and matches the search query of the user-selected top-level category, wherein dynamically updating the hierarchy of user-selectable categories includes removing top-level categories and sub-categories for which, based on the user-selected top-level category, no documents are available, and wherein at least one document in the document repository matches the search queries of two or more categories in the hierarchy of categories.
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Abstract
A method and system for browsing a document repository are described. According to one embodiment of the invention, one or more hierarchies of categories are generated. For each category in each hierarchy, a search query is generated and assigned to the respective category. The search queries are executed against documents in a document repository and, based on the results of the search queries, a category-to-documents mapping table is updated to indicate the documents that are associated with each category. The categories for which there are associated documents are displayed to a user via a visual interface. As the user selects one or more categories to browse, the hierarchical categories displayed to the user are automatically and dynamically updated to reflect the number of documents associated with the category, based on the user'"'"'s category selection.
84 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A machine implemented method to facilitate document browsing, the method comprising:
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presenting a user interface to a user, the user interface displaying a hierarchy of user-selectable categories, wherein the hierarchy comprises a plurality of top-level categories, each top-level category having an associated search query; and in response to a top-level category selection by a user, dynamically updating, by a computer having a processor, the hierarchy of user-selectable categories to display a sub-category of the user-selected top-level category and to further display a different top-level category for which a document in a document repository matches the search query of the different top-level category and matches the search query of the user-selected top-level category, wherein dynamically updating the hierarchy of user-selectable categories includes removing top-level categories and sub-categories for which, based on the user-selected top-level category, no documents are available, and wherein at least one document in the document repository matches the search queries of two or more categories in the hierarchy of categories. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A machine implemented method to facilitate document browsing, the method comprising:
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receiving administrator input defining a hierarchy of one or more user-selectable categories, wherein the hierarchy comprises a plurality of top-level categories; assigning a search query to each user-selectable category of the hierarchy; executing each search query against a document repository to update a search results database, wherein the search results database maps user-selectable categories to documents stored in the document repository based on the search query assigned to each user-selectable category; displaying, as user-selectable top-level categories, only those user-selectable categories for which the search results database indicates that the search query associated with the user-selectable category returned at least one document; and in response to a top-level category selection by a user, dynamically updating, by a computer having a processor, the hierarchy of user-selectable categories to display a sub-category of the user-selected top-level category and to further display a different top-level category for which a document in the document repository matches the search query of the different top-level category and matches the search query of the user-selected top-level category, wherein dynamically updating the hierarchy of user-selectable categories includes removing top-level categories and sub-categories for which, based on the user-selected top-level category, no documents are available, and wherein at least one document in the document repository matches the search queries of two or more user-selectable categories in the hierarchy of user-selectable categories. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A machine implemented method to facilitate document browsing, the method comprising:
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receiving administrator input defining one or more hierarchies of categories, each hierarchy having a top-level category and at least one level of sub-categories; for each hierarchy, assigning a search query to each category within the hierarchy, each search query including a search string; for each category within a hierarchy, performing a search of documents based on the search query assigned to the category, the search to identify documents that have content that matches the search string associated with the search query of the category; updating a search results database based on the search query of each category; presenting to a user the top-level category for each hierarchy, when the search results database indicates that the search string, associated with each top-level category, matched content in at least one document; and in response to a top-level category selection by a user, dynamically updating, by a computer having a processor, the hierarchy of categories associated with the user-selected top-level category to display a sub-category of the user-selected top-level category and to further display a different top-level category for which a document in a document repository matches a search string associated with the search query of the different top-level category and matches the search string associated with a search query of the user-selected top-level category, wherein dynamically updating the hierarchy of user-selectable categories includes removing top-level categories and sub-categories for which, based on the user-selected top-level category, no documents are available, and wherein at least one document in the document repository matches the search string associated with the search queries of two or more categories in the hierarchy of categories. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A document browsing system, comprising:
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a document repository to store documents; an electronically stored file containing one or more hierarchies of categories, wherein each hierarchy of categories comprises a top-level category; a search results database to map documents in the document repository to the categories; a search engine to assign a search query to each category within the one or more hierarchies, and to update the search results database by executing each search query against the documents in the document repository; and a user interface to display user-selectable categories for each hierarchy, the user-selectable categories dynamically updated based on a top-level category selection by a user, to display a sub-category of the user-selected top-level category and to further display a different top-level category for which a document in the document repository matches the search query of the different top-level category and matches the search query of the user-selected top-level category, wherein when the user-selectable categories are dynamically updated, top-level categories and sub-categories are removed for which, based on the user-selected top-level category, no documents are available, and wherein at least one document in the document repository matches the search queries of two or more categories in the hierarchy of categories. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A document browsing system, comprising:
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means for storing documents, the means for storing comprising a mass storage device; means for defining one or more hierarchies of categories, wherein each hierarchy comprises a top-level category; means for mapping documents to categories; means for assigning a search query to each category within a hierarchy; means for updating the means for mapping documents to categories by executing each search query against the documents; and means for displaying user-selectable top-level categories for each hierarchy, the user-selectable categories dynamically updated based on each top-level category selected by a user, to display a sub-category of the user-selected top-level category and to further display a different top-level category for which a document in a document repository matches the search query of the different top-level category mad matches the search query of the user-selected category, wherein dynamically updating the hierarchy of user-selectable categories includes removing top-level categories and sub-categories for which, based on the user-selected top-level category, no documents are available, and wherein at least one document in the document repository matches the search queries of two or more categories in the hierarchy of categories. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A machine-readable storage medium embodying a sequence of instructions for facilitating document browsing, the instructions, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:
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receive administrator input defining a hierarchy of one or more user-selectable categories, wherein the hierarchy of user-selectable categories comprises a plurality of top-level categories; assign a search query to each user-selectable category of the hierarchy; execute each search query against a document repository to update a search results database, wherein the search results database maps user-selectable categories to documents stored in the document repository based on the search query assigned to each user-selectable category; display, as user-selectable categories, only those user-selectable categories for which the search results database indicates that the search query associated with the user-selectable category returned at least one document; and in response to a top-level category selection by a user, dynamically update the hierarchy of user-selectable categories to display a sub-category of the user-selected top-level category and to further display a different top-level category for which a document in the document repository matches the search query of the different top-level category and of the user-selected top-level category, wherein dynamically updating the hierarchy of user-selectable categories includes removing top-level categories and sub-categories for which, based on the user-selected top-level category, no documents are available, and wherein at least one document in the document repository matches the search queries of two or more user-selectable categories in the hierarchy of user-selectable categories. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A machine implemented method, comprising:
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presenting a user interface to a user, the user interface displaying a hierarchy of user-selectable categories each having an associated search query, wherein the hierarchy comprises a plurality of top-level categories, and wherein at least one document in a document repository is associated with each displayed user-selectable category; receiving a top-level category selection; and in response to the top-level category selection, dynamically updating, by a computer having a processor, the hierarchy of user-selectable categories to display a sub-category of the user-selected top-level category and to further display a different top-level category for which a document in the document repository matches the search query of the different top-level category and of the user-selected top-level category, wherein dynamically updating the hierarchy of user-selectable categories includes removing top-level categories and sub-categories for which, based on the user-selected top-level category, no documents are available.
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Specification