Knowledge discovery tool navigation

• US 8,010,581 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2008
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Bechtel, Michael E., Mathur, Sanjay, Arago, Jordi
• Primary Examiner(s): Stevens; Robert
• Application Number:
  US12/175,989
• Publication Number:
  US 20090019391A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,138 Days
• Field of Search: 707/999.103 R, 707/999.103, 707/805, 715/810
• US Class Current: 707/805
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition

Abstract

A system including a knowledge model is provided. The system includes an interface for presenting a relationship between two entities of a knowledge model. The interface includes a method that accepts a first input representative of a selection of a first interface item, the first interface item associated with an entity of the knowledge model. The method also includes presenting, in response to the acceptance, a second interface item, the second interface item associated with a second entity of the knowledge model, wherein the second entity has a relationship with the selected entity and the relationship has a relationship type selected from the group consisting of a direct relationship type or a derived relationship type. Finally, the method also includes presenting a relationship indicia representative of the relationship between the first entity and the second entity.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining relationship types between at least some data items of a plurality of data items extracted from a plurality of data sources and integrated into a plurality of tables in a database, wherein the relationship types are based on respective data sources from which the data items have been extracted, the relationship types including at least two of the following;

a first relationship type, a second relationship type, a third relationship type, and a fourth relationship type, wherein;

the first relationship type is between first and second data items extracted from a first structured data source,

the second relationship type is between data items extracted from different structured data sources, wherein the second relationship type is based on a plurality of respective first relationship types,

the third relationship type is between a data item extracted from a second structured data source, and an entity table including, as entity table data items, attributes about a first unstructured data source, and wherein the data item extracted from the second structured data source is mentioned in the first unstructured data source, and

the fourth relationship type is between two data items that;

have been integrated from different structured data sources, and

are both mentioned in a second unstructured data source; and

displaying, on a user interface, relationship type indicia to indicate relationship types between displayed data items, the relationship type indicia including at least one of first indicia to indicate the first relationship type, second indicia to indicate the second relationship type, third indicia to indicate the third relationship type, and fourth indicia to indicate the fourth relationship type.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second unstructured data sources are each one of:

an article, a document, a web page, an HTML file, and a spreadsheet.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the relationship type indicia is selected from a group of visual indicators consisting of:

line colors, line types, alpha-numeric characters, roman numerals, font colors, font sizes.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying data to indicate a basis for a relationship type indicia, wherein the data is selected from a group consisting of:

a data source for the first relationship type, at least two data sources for the second relationship type, unstructured text that includes the data item extracted from the first structured data source for the third relationship type, and a title of the second unstructured data source for the fourth relationship type.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the data is displayed only if a user selects a show link evidence option displayed on the user interface.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying data to indicate a data source of a displayed data item selected by a user.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying a pop-up menu for a displayed data item to allow a user to select a function associated with the displayed data item.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the function is selected from a group consisting of:

bookmarking the displayed data item, designating the displayed data item a home item, emailing the displayed data item to a destination, and monitoring the displayed data item for updates.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

bookmarking a data item; and

communicating data identifying a user and the bookmarked data item to a destination.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying on the user interface an active panel data item in an active panel of a multiple panel display; and

displaying in respective other panels of the multiple panel user display, simultaneously with the display of the active panel data item, respective entity tables having data items that have a determined relationship to the active panel data item.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising updating the user interface upon receiving a user input selecting, from one of the other panels, a user selected data item for display in the active panel.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

displaying in the active panel a data item selected, by a user, from one of the other panels, whereby the user selected data item replaces the active panel data item in the active panel; and

automatically displaying, in the other panels, entity tables having data items that have a determined relationship to the user selected data item.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising displaying the relationship type indicia between an entity table in a first panel of the multiple panel display, and an entity table in a second panel of the multiple panel display.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving a user selected search term;

displaying synonyms for the user selected search term;

searching the data items in the database for a user selected synonym; and

displaying the synonym in the active panel.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising receiving user defined restrictions for performing a search for a user selected search term, wherein the restrictions include displaying only user selected entity tables within the other panels.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying, concurrently, a plurality of panels on the user interface, including;

an active panel displaying a selected data item, the selected data item selected from the plurality of data items, and

a plurality of entity panels displaying data items, each having a respective determined relationship type to the selected data item.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising displaying in at least one of the plurality of entity panels a menu that includes a list of entity tables of the database that include at least one data item having a determined relationship type to the selected data item.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the data items displayed in one of the plurality of entity panels includes only data items from at least one user selected journal.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the data items displayed in one of the plurality of entity panels includes only data items from data sources published within at least one user selectable time period.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the data items displayed in one of the plurality of entity panels includes only data items integrated from at least one user selectable source.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein the data items displayed in one of the plurality of entity panels includes only data items that have a first relationship type to the selected data item.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the relationship type indicia includes a plurality of colors, wherein each color corresponds to a respective relationship type.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the relationship type indicia includes a plurality of line types, wherein each line type corresponds to a respective relationship type.