Term synonym generation

• US 8,065,283 B2
• Filed: 01/24/2008
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gscompare, LLC
• Original Assignee: GlobalSpec, Inc. (S&P Global Inc.)
• Inventors: Hansen, Richard Karl, De, Nilanjana
• Primary Examiner(s): BOCCIO, VINCENT F
• Application Number:
  US12/019,420
• Publication Number:
  US 20090193008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,398 Days
• Field of Search: 707/999.003, 707/999.004, 707/999.005, 707/705, 707/707, 707/708, 707/756
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/313 Selection or weighting of terms for indexing

Abstract

Synonyms for a term to be indexed are dynamically generated by applying one or more rules (e.g., splitting, deletion or addition of characters, and concatenation of portions) to the term, each synonym generated either including only a portion and not all of the term or differing from the term by at least one additional character in a position between a first character and a last character (i.e., not at either end of the term). The term and some or all of the synonyms are then indexed for subsequent searching.

Claims

1. A method of generating terms for indexing, comprising:

dynamically generating a plurality of synonyms for a term prior to indexing and prior to search term entry by a user, in order to identify potential errors in term entry at search time by a user and to identify potential partial term knowledge of a user at search time, wherein the term is a part identifier, and wherein each of the plurality of synonyms comprises a non-trivial portion of the term that is less than the entire term; and

indexing the term and at least some of the plurality of synonyms for subsequent searching.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamically generating comprises application of at least one synonym generating rule to the term.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises splitting the term into at least two terms.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule further comprises concatenating at least two of the at least two terms.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule further comprises splitting the term at at least one letter-number boundary.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule further comprises splitting the term at at least one non-alphanumeric character.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises deleting at least one non-alphanumeric character from the term.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises deleting at least one white space character from the index term to create at least one of the plurality of synonyms.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the deleting comprises deleting all white space characters from the term.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises deleting all non-alphanumeric characters from the term to create at least one of the plurality of synonyms.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises splitting the term at at least one non-alphanumeric character to create at least two parts, wherein the plurality of synonyms comprises at least one of the at least two parts.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises:

splitting the term at and deleting at least one non-alphanumeric character to create at least two parts; and

concatenating at least two of the at least two parts in order starting from each of the at least two parts.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising adding a white space character in at least one synonym between non-concatenated parts.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises deleting any non-alphanumeric characters from the term to create a reduced term, and splitting the reduced term at at least one letter-number boundary to create at least two of the plurality of synonyms.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein if the splitting results in a term of less than a minimum number of characters, then the term is combined with at least one of the other terms immediately adjacent thereto created by the splitting to create at least one of the at least two of the plurality of synonyms.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of synonyms comprises a minimum character length.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the part identifier is a part number.

18. A system for generating terms for indexing, comprising:

at least one processor for dynamically generating a plurality of synonyms for a term prior to indexing and prior to search term entry by a user, in order to identify potential errors in term entry at search time by a user and to identify potential partial term knowledge of a user at search time, the term being a part identifier, wherein the term is an item identifier, and wherein each of the plurality of synonyms comprises a non-trivial portion of the term that is less than the entire term; and

at least one processor for indexing the term and at least some of the plurality of synonyms for subsequent searching.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor for dynamically generating comprises at least one processor for applying at least one synonym generating rule to the term.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor for applying comprises at least one processor for splitting the term into at least two terms.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the at least one processor for applying further comprises at least one processor for concatenating at least two of the at least two terms.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor for applying at least one synonym generating rule further comprises at least one processor for splitting the term at at least one letter-number boundary.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor for applying at least synonym generating rule further comprises at least one processor for splitting the term at at least one non-alphanumeric character.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor for applying comprises at least one processor for deleting at least one non-alphanumeric character from the term.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor for applying comprises at least one processor for deleting at least one white space character from the term to create at least one of the plurality of synonyms.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the at least one processor for deleting comprises at least one processor for deleting all white space characters from the term.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor for applying comprises at least one processor for deleting all non-alphanumeric characters from the term to create at least one of the plurality of synonyms.

28. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor for applying comprises at least one processor for splitting the term at at least one non-alphanumeric character to create at least two parts, wherein the plurality of synonyms comprises at least one of the at least two parts.

29. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor for applying comprises:

at least one processor for splitting the term at and deleting at least one non-alphanumeric character to create at least two parts; and

at least one processor for concatenating at least two of the at least two parts in order starting from each of the at least two parts.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising at least one processor for adding a white space character in at least one synonym between non-concatenated parts.

31. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor for applying comprises at least one processor for deleting any non-alphanumeric characters from the term to create a reduced term and splitting the reduced term at at least one letter-number boundary to create at least two of the plurality of synonyms.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein if the splitting results in a term of less than a minimum number of characters, then the term is combined with at least one of the other terms immediately adjacent thereto created by the splitting to create at least one of the at least two of the plurality of synonyms.

33. The system of claim 18, wherein each of the plurality of synonyms comprises a minimum character length.

34. The system of claim 18, wherein the part identifier is a part number.

35. An article of manufacture comprising:

at least one non-transitory computer usable medium encoded with computer readable program code logic to facilitate generating terms for indexing, the computer readable program code logic when executing performing the following;

dynamically generating a plurality of synonyms for a term prior to indexing and prior to search term entry by a user, in order to identify potential errors in term entry at search time by a user and to identify potential partial term knowledge of a user at search time, the term being a part identifier, wherein the term is an item identifier, and wherein each of the plurality of synonyms comprises a non-trivial portion of the term that is less than the entire term; and

indexing the term and at least some of the plurality of synonyms for subsequent searching.

36. The article of manufacture of claim 35, wherein the dynamically generating comprises application of at least one synonym generating rule to the term.

37. The article of manufacture of claim 36, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises splitting the term into at least two terms.

38. The article of manufacture of claim 37, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule further comprises concatenating at least two of the at least two terms.

39. The article of manufacture of claim 36, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule further comprises splitting the term at at least one letter-number boundary.

40. The article of manufacture of claim 36, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule further comprises splitting the term at at least one non-alphanumeric character.

41. The article of manufacture of claim 36, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises deleting at least one non-alphanumeric character from the term.

42. The article of manufacture of claim 41, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises deleting at least one white space character from the term to create at least one of the plurality of synonyms.

43. The article of manufacture of claim 42, wherein the deleting comprises deleting all white space characters from the term.

44. The article of manufacture of claim 41, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises deleting all non-alphanumeric characters from the term to create at least one of the plurality of synonyms.

45. The article of manufacture of claim 36, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises splitting the term at at least one non-alphanumeric character to create at least two parts, wherein the plurality of synonyms comprises at least one of the at least two parts.

46. The article of manufacture of claim 36, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises:

splitting the term at and deleting at least one non-alphanumeric character to create at least two parts; and

concatenating at least two of the at least two parts in order starting from each of the at least two parts.

47. The article of manufacture of claim 46, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule further comprises adding a white space character in at least one synonym between non-concatenated parts.

48. The article of manufacture of claim 36, wherein the at least one synonym generating rule comprises deleting any non-alphanumeric characters from the term to create a reduced term, and splitting the reduced term at at least one letter-number boundary to create at least two of the plurality of synonyms.

49. The article of manufacture of claim 48, wherein if the splitting results in a term of less than a minimum number of characters, then the term is combined with at least one of the other terms immediately adjacent thereto created by the splitting to create at least one of the at least two of the plurality of synonyms.

50. The article of manufacture of claim 35, wherein each of the plurality of synonyms comprises a minimum character length.

51. The article of manufacture of claim 35, wherein the part identifier is a part number.