System and method for providing information navigation and filtration

• US 8,024,333 B1
• Filed: 12/17/2009
• Issued: 09/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Open Text Holdings, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Recommind Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Hofmann, Thomas, Puzicha, Jan
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam; Shahid A
• Application Number:
  US12/641,118
• Time in Patent Office: 642 Days
• Field of Search: 707/749, 707/752, 707/769, 707/723, 707/728, 707/754, 709/201, 709/203
• US Class Current: 707/728
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A system and method for information navigation and filtration is provided. One or more query terms are received from a user. A preliminary relevance of one or more objects associated with an enterprise system is determined based on the query terms. The preliminary relevance may be propagated between objects. At least one rating is assigned to the one or more objects based on the preliminary relevance. An overall relevance of the one or more objects is established based on the at least one rating. The one or more objects are ranked according to the overall relevance. Data is provided as search results comprised of the one or more objects according to the ranking to the user. The search results may then be filtered based on at least one selected, dynamically generated filter. The filtered search results may be dynamically generated and provided to the user.

Claims

1. A method for providing data based on object relevance via at least one computing device, comprising:

receiving one or more query terms from a user via a communications interface associated with the at least one computing device; and

executing instructions stored in memory by a processor to;

determine a preliminary relevance of one or more objects associated with an enterprise system based on the query terms,

assign at least one rating to the one or more objects based on the preliminary relevance,

propogate the preliminary relevance among the one or more objects; and

establish an overall relevance of the one or more objects based on the at least one rating, utilizing the preliminary relevance and the propogation,

rank the one or more objects according to the overall relevance,

provide data as search results comprising the one or more objects according to the ranking to the user,

filter the search results based on at least one selected, dynamically generated filter associated with the one or more objects; and

transmit to display the search results to the at least one computing device via the communications interface.

2. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising filtering the search results according to one or more virtual domains.

3. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising associating metadata with the one or more objects.

4. The method recited in claim 3, wherein the preliminary relevance is determined at least in part based on the metadata.

5. The method recited in claim 3, wherein the overall relevance is determined at least in part based on the metadata.

6. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving at least one further query term from the user for narrowing the search results.

7. The method recited in claim 1, wherein filtering the search results comprises providing a dynamic search result display.

8. The method recited in claim 1, wherein filtering the search results comprises including result objects from other domains that are most relevant.

9. The method recited in claim 1, wherein filtering the search results comprises propagating the preliminary relevance between objects and inferring relationships between the objects in order to dynamically generate the filters.

10. A system for providing data based on object relevance, comprising:

a memory to store executable instructions;

a processor to execute the executable instructions stored in the memory, the executable instructions including;

a communications interface to be displayed on at least one computing device, the communications interface configured to receive one or more query terms from a user;

a ratings module in communication with the communications interface, the ratings module configured to determine a preliminary relevance of one or more objects associated with an enterprise system based on the query terms, to assign at least one rating to the one or more objects based on the preliminary relevance, to propogate the preliminary relevance among the one or more objects; and

to establish an overall relevance of the one or more objects based on the at least one rating, utilizing the preliminary relevance and the propogation;

a search results module in communication with the ratings module, the search results module configured to rank the one or more objects according to the overall relevance and to provide data as search results comprising the one or more objects according to the ranking to the user; and

a filtering engine configured to filter the search results based on a selected, dynamically generated filter and to transmit to display the filtered search results to the at least one computing device via the communications interface.

11. The system recited in claim 10, wherein the filtering engine is further configured to filter the data according to one or more virtual domains.

12. The system recited in claim 10, wherein the filtering engine is further configured to generate the dynamically generated filter.

13. The system recited in claim 12, wherein dynamically generated filters are based in part on the propagation of the preliminary relevance between objects.

14. The system recited in claim 10, wherein the filtering engine is further configured to provide a dynamic search result based on the selected, dynamically generated filter.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for providing data based on object relevance, the method comprising:

receiving one or more query terms from a user via a communications interface associated with at least one computing device;

determining a preliminary relevance of one or more objects associated with an enterprise system based on the query terms;

assigning at least one rating to the one or more objects based on the preliminary relevance;

propogating the preliminary relevance among the one or more objects;

establishing an overall relevance of the one or more objects based on the at least one rating, utilizing the preliminary relevance and the propogation;

ranking the one or more objects according to the overall relevance;

providing data as search results comprised of the one or more objects according to the ranking to the user;

filtering the search results based on at least one selected, dynamically generated filter associated with the one or more objects; and

transmit to display the search results to the user via the at least one computing device.

16. The computer readable storage medium recited in claim 15, further comprising filtering the data according to one or more virtual domains.

17. The computer readable storage medium recited in claim 15, further comprising associating metadata with the one or more objects.

18. The computer readable storage medium recited in claim 17, wherein the preliminary relevance is determined at least in part based on the metadata.

19. The computer readable storage medium recited in claim 17, wherein the overall relevance is determined at least in part based on the metadata.

20. The computer readable storage medium recited in claim 15, further comprising receiving at least one further query term from the user for narrowing the search results.