Method, system, and apparatus for validation

• US 8,095,544 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2003
• Issued: 01/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Dictaphone Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Boone, Keith W., Gervais, Sean, Titemore, Robert G., Ogrinc, Harry J., Hopkins, Jeffrey G., Manoukian, Roubik, Fordyce, Cameron, Chaparala, Sunitha
• Primary Examiner(s): Mahmoudi, Tony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Paul
• Application Number:
  US10/448,317
• Publication Number:
  US 20040243614A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,147 Days
• Field of Search: 705/2, 705/3, 707/102, 707/750, 707/730, 715/513, 1/1
• US Class Current: 707/750
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/226 Validation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/56 Natural language generation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16Z 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other main groups of this subclass

Abstract

In a method for validating data, a text of a document is received. At least one fact is extracted from the text. At least one expert refinement is merged with the at least one fact to create at least one modified fact. The at least one modified fact is provided for a review. An expert refinement to the at least one modified fact is captured in response to the review. A superset document based on the at least one pre-existing refinement and the expert refinement is stored.

Claims

1. A method for associating documents with searchable metadata, the method comprising:

receiving as input at least one text document; and

operating at least one programmed processor to perform acts of

creating metadata to be associated with the at least one text document, the metadata comprising at least one text keyword, the creating comprising

extracting a set of one or more data elements from text of the at least one text document, the set of one or more data elements comprising at least one keyword that appears in the text of the at least one text document;

normalizing said set of data elements to create a set of normalized data elements, wherein the normalizing comprises, for a first keyword of the at least one keyword, determining at least one other keyword similar to the first keyword, the at least one other keyword not being a keyword appearing in the text of the at least one text document, and adding the at least one other keyword to the set of normalized data elements;

identifying at least one previously-validated keyword that is associated as metadata with at least one previously-stored text document, the at least one previously-stored text document not being one of the at least one text document, the at least one previously-validated keyword not being in the set of normalized data elements;

merging said set of normalized data elements with the at least one previously-validated keyword to form a preliminary set of data elements;

presenting said preliminary set of data elements for review by a user; and

receiving user input validating a validated set of data elements; and

in response to the user input validating the validated set of data elements, storing the at least one text document and storing the validated set of data elements as the metadata, the metadata being associated with the at least one text document such that the at least one text document may be located through a search for any data element included in the validated set of data elements.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein extracting a set of data elements from the text comprises extracting at least one data element from the text that is an element from the group consisting of facts described in the text and concepts described in the text.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving said at least one text document comprises receiving a plurality of documents related by a common characteristic.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein receiving the plurality of documents related by the common characteristic comprises receiving the plurality of documents related by a characteristic from a group consisting of chronology, subject, and indexing key.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein normalizing a data element of the set of data elements comprises normalizing the data element based on a SNOMED standard, and wherein determining at least one other data element comprises determining a SNOMED code.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein normalizing a data element of the set of data elements comprises normalizing the data element based on a ICD-9-CM standard, and wherein determining at least one other data element comprises determining a ICD-9-CM code.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein normalizing a data element of the set of data elements comprises normalizing the data element based on a CPT standard, and wherein determining at least one other data element comprises determining a CPT code.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein extracting the set of one or more data elements comprises extracting a set of one or more data elements relating to a medical subject matter or to a patient or to a medical subject matter and a patient.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein extracting the set of one or more data elements relating to a medical subject matter comprises extracting at least one data elements relating to medical subject matter from the group consisting of allergies, medications, diagnoses, ailments, and physicians.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein presenting the preliminary set of data elements for review comprises displaying the preliminary set of data elements on a graphical display.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising operating the at least one processor to perform:

during the displaying of the preliminary set of data elements on the graphical display, when a preliminary data element of the set of preliminary data elements is selected, displaying a portion of said at least one document relating to the preliminary data element on the graphical display.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the creating further comprises:

identifying the at least one keyword by examining a set of one or more previously-stored documents to identify documents related to the at least one text document.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein examining to identify documents related to the at least one text document comprises identifying the documents based on a K-nearest neighbor algorithm.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein examining to identify documents related to the at least one text document comprises identifying the documents based on a cosine similarity metric.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein displaying the portion of said at least one document relating to the preliminary data element comprises displaying the portion of the document from which a data element related to the preliminary data element was extracted.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein displaying the portion of said at least one document relating to the preliminary data element comprises displaying the portion of the document from which the preliminary data element was extracted.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the creating further comprises:

receiving, in response to the presenting, at least one change to the preliminary set of data elements;

changing the preliminary set of data elements based on the at least one change; and

in response to the user input, identifying the changed preliminary set of data elements as the validated set of data elements.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein the creating further comprises:

in response to the user input, identifying the preliminary set of data elements as the validated set of data elements.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the creating further comprises:

retrieving, for a preliminary data element of the preliminary set of data elements, at least one change previously made to a similar preliminary data element when the similar preliminary data element was associated with at least one other document; and

changing the preliminary data element according to the at least one change prior to presenting the preliminary set of data elements.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein normalizing said set of data elements further comprises adding the first data element to the set of normalized data elements.

21. A computer-usable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon for execution by a processor, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method for associating documents with searchable metadata, the method comprising:

receiving as input at least one text document;

creating metadata to be associated with the at least one text document, the metadata comprising at least one text keyword, the creating comprising;

extracting a set of one or more data elements from text of the at least one text document, the set of one or more data elements comprising at least one keyword that appears in the text of the at least one text document;

normalizing said set of data elements to create a set of normalized data elements, wherein the normalizing comprises, for a first keyword of the at least one keyword, determining at least one other keyword similar to the first keyword, the at least one other keyword not appearing in the text of the at least one document, and adding the at least one other keyword to the set of normalized data elements;

identifying at least one previously-stored document by examining a set of one or more previously-stored documents to identify documents related to the at least one text document;

merging said set of normalized data elements with at least one previously-validated keyword that is associated as metadata with the at least one previously-stored document to form a preliminary set of data elements, the at least one previously-validated

not being in the set of normalized data elements;

presenting said preliminary set of data elements for review by a user; and

receiving user input validating a validated set of data elements; and

in response to the user input validating the validated set of data elements, storing the at least one text document and storing the validated set of data elements as the metadata, the metadata being associated with the at least one text document such that the at least one text document may be located through a search for any data element included in the validated set of data elements.

22. The computer-usable medium of claim 21, wherein the creating further comprises:

receiving, in response to the presenting, at least one change to the preliminary set of data elements;

changing the preliminary set of data elements based on the at least one change; and

in response to the user input, identifying the changed preliminary set of data elements as the validated set of data elements.

23. The computer-usable medium of claim 21, wherein the creating further comprises:

in response to the user input, identifying the preliminary set of data elements as the validated set of data elements.

24. The computer-usable medium of claim 21, wherein the creating further comprises:

retrieving, for a preliminary data element of the preliminary set of data elements, at least one change previously made to a similar preliminary data element when the similar preliminary data element was associated with at least one other document; and

changing the preliminary data element according to the at least one change prior to presenting the preliminary set of data elements.

25. The computer-usable medium of claim 21, wherein normalizing said set of data elements further comprises adding the first data element to the set of normalized data elements.

26. An apparatus for associating documents with searchable metadata, the apparatus comprising:

at least one processor programmed to;

receive as input a text document;

create metadata to be associated with the at least one text document, the metadata comprising at least one text keyword, the at least one processor being programmed to create at least in part by;

extracting a set of one or more data elements from text of the text document, the set of one or more data elements comprising at least one keyword that appears in the text of the text document;

normalizing said set of data elements to create a set of normalized data elements, wherein the normalizing comprises, for a first keyword of the at least one keyword, determining at least one other keyword similar to the first keyword, the at least one other keyword not appearing in the text of the text document, and adding the at least one other keyword to the set of normalized data elements;

identifying at least one previously-validated keyword that is associated as metadata with at least one previously-stored text document, the at least one previously-validated keyword not being in the set of normalized data elements;

merging said set of normalized data elements with the at least one previously-validated keyword to form a preliminary set of data elements for the text document;

presenting said preliminary set of data elements for review by a user; and

following presenting said preliminary set of data elements to the user and in response to user input validating a validated set of data elements store the text document and store the validated set of data elements as metadata associated with the text document such that the at least one text document may be located through a search for any data element included in the validated set of data elements.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to create by:

identify the at least one previously-stored document by examining a set of one or more previously-stored documents to identify documents related to the at least one text document.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to create by:

receive, in response to the presenting, at least one change to the preliminary set of data elements;

change the preliminary set of data elements based on the at least one change; and

in response to the user input, identify the changed preliminary set of data elements as the validated set of data elements.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to create by:

in response to the user input, identifying the preliminary set of data elements as the validated set of data elements.

30. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to create by:

retrieve, for a preliminary data element of the preliminary set of data elements, at least one change previously made to a similar preliminary data element when the similar preliminary data element was associated with at least one other document; and

change the preliminary data element according to the at least one change prior to presenting the preliminary set of data elements.

31. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to normalize said set of data elements by adding the first data element to the set of normalized data elements.