Systems and methods for improving information discovery

• US 7,987,170 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2008
• Issued: 07/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hirst, Roy
• Primary Examiner(s): RADTKE, MARK A
• Application Number:
  US12/330,461
• Publication Number:
  US 20090089271A1
• Time in Patent Office: 960 Days
• Field of Search: 707/706
• US Class Current: 707/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/35 model driven
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems
• 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

The present invention relates to a system and methodology to facilitate automated retrieval and classification of information. A system and associated methods are provided that facilitate generation of code and/or documents. The system includes a component that receives data relating to at least one of a user'"'"'s request for desired code functionality and one or more desired documents. A mapping component correlates parsed subsets of the data to specific functional objects respectively located remote from the user, wherein a generator employs the functional objects to form at least one of the desired code and the documents.

Claims

1. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer storage devices having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, implement a method for retrieving information in a second programming language based on a request for information in a first programming language, the method comprising;

the computer system receiving user input from a user in the form of a request for information, wherein the request for information comprises one or more first search terms in the form of a first programming language that is familiar to the user, including one or more search terms that have been employed over time by the user;

the computer system parsing the user input into parsed strings to facilitate the request for information;

the computer system mapping the parsed strings to semantically equivalent strings in a second programming language in view of one or more functional objects that include vocabulary and terminology of the first programming language that has been modeled from past user patterns when requesting information, wherein the one or more functional objects are associated with a decision-theoretic analysis that includes analyzing extrinsic evidence or data of a user'"'"'s present context state and directing information in accordance with the data;

the computer system generating one or more second search terms in the form of the second programming language, wherein the one or more second search terms are semantically equivalent to the one or more first search terms;

the computer system requesting information from one or more databases based upon the one or more second search terms; and

the computer system providing one or more results of the request to the user, wherein the results comprise at least one result including terms in the form of the second programming language.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein mapping comprises applying at least one of a rule, a learning algorithm, an automated classification method, an inference model, a probability model, a statistical model, a neural network, a Support Vector Machine (SVM), a Naive Bayes model, a Bayes network, a decision tree, a similarity-based model, a vector-based model, or a Hidden Markov Model.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein mapping comprises applying at least one of a technical vocabulary object, a development vocabulary object, a synonym object, an index object, or a prioritization object to facilitate retrieval of information.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein requesting information from the one or more databases comprises requesting information from at least one of an automated search engine, an indexing engine, or a structured query language engine.

5. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an importance value for the one or more results based on at least one of visible technical documentation, search engine activity, or network traffic activity.

6. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising tracking and mapping successful and unsuccessful attempts to discover and interpret technology-specific and programming-language-specific functionality employing a natural or professional language.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the at least one result comprises a technical document, further comprising:

the computer system displaying a graphical user interface that provides at least one user interface control that permits the user to determine a relevance value for the technical document which was retrieved based on the user'"'"'s request for information.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the graphical user interface includes at least one of a ratings scale, a feedback component to allow users to determine what others thought of the technical document, or an input box to enable users to submit feedback as to why they ranked a particular technical document in the manner that was selected.

9. A method, implemented within a computer system that includes one or more processors and memory storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, implement the method for retrieving information in a second programming language based on a request for information in a first programming language, the method comprising:

a computer system, which includes one or more processors, receiving user input from a user in the form of a request for information, wherein the request for information comprises one or more first search terms in the form of a first programming language that is familiar to the user, including one or more terms that have been employed over time by the user;

the computer system parsing the user input into parsed strings to facilitate the request for information;

the computer system mapping the parsed strings to semantically equivalent strings in a second programming language in view of one or more functional objects that include vocabulary and terminology of the first programming language that has been modeled from past user patterns when requesting information, wherein the one or more functional objects are associated with a decision-theoretic analysis that includes analyzing extrinsic evidence or data of a user'"'"'s present context state and directing information in accordance with the data;

the computer system generating one or more second search terms in the form of the second programming language, wherein the one or more second search terms are semantically equivalent to the one or more first search terms;

the computer system requesting information from one or more remote or local databases based upon the one or more second search terms; and

the computer system providing one or more results of the request to the user, wherein the results comprise at least one result including terms in the form of the second programming language.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the request for information includes at least one of text input, voice encoded input, video camera input and audio input.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining an importance value for a request for information and monitoring at least one of visible technical documentation, search engine activity, and network traffic activity.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising allowing users to interactively input relevancies of search results and utilizing the relevancies to perform further searches.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more functional objects include vocabulary and terminology that has been modeled from past patterns of a plurality of users.

14. One or more computer storage devices having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, implement a method for retrieving information in a second programming language based on a request for information in a first programming language, the method comprising:

a computer system, which includes one or more processors, receiving user input from a user in the form of a request for information, wherein the request for information comprises one or more first search terms in the form of a first programming language that is familiar to the user, including one or more terms that have been employed over time by the user;

the computer system parsing the user input into parsed strings to facilitate the request for information;

the computer system mapping the parsed strings to semantically equivalent strings in a second programming language in view of one or more functional objects that include vocabulary and terminology of the first programming language that has been modeled from past user patterns when requesting information, wherein the one or more functional objects are associated with a decision-theoretic analysis that includes analyzing extrinsic evidence or data of a user'"'"'s present context state and directing information in accordance with the data;

the computer system generating one or more second search terms in the form of the second programming language, wherein the one or more second search terms are semantically equivalent to the one or more first search terms;

the computer system requesting information from one or more databases based upon the one or more second search terms; and

the computer system providing one or more results of the request to the user, wherein the results comprise at least one result including terms in the form of the second programming language.