Information search, retrieval and distillation into knowledge objects

• US 8,204,881 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2010
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Accessify, LLC (Ascend Innovation Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Vision Point Services LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Holt, Thomas D., Burke, Larry Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAM, KHANH B
• Application Number:
  US12/955,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20120030195A1
• Time in Patent Office: 568 Days
• Field of Search: 707/706, 707/732, 715/234, 715/241, 715/254
• US Class Current: 707/732
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/345 Summarisation for human users

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide for various methods and apparatuses for searching bodies of knowledge, such as previously indexed source documents reachable over a network, search results from previous searches, and results from performing meta-searches. Search criteria is received from a client, and the bodies of knowledge are searched based on the search criteria, and search results provided responsive to said searching. Search results may be configured to have associated distillation triggers, where selecting a trigger causes its associated search result to be distilled in real-time. Distilled search results can be indexed into portions of the source document for focused entry, and can also be grouped and analytically presented on mid-menus to allow the user to review distilled data in summary form. Results may also have associated status symbols indicating by symbol a particular topic area to which a result is related, and by opacity or other indicator the apparent relevance of a result to the particular topic area. Search and viewing preferences may be determined according to psychometrics, user selection of a default user category, through a question/answer session, or based on monitoring user activity which incrementally defines a profile.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

a computing device receiving search criteria from a user;

the computing device searching at least one information system using the search criteria;

the computing device transmitting one or more search results in response to the search criteria;

the computing device receiving a plurality of content distillation parameters from the user, wherein the plurality of content distillation parameters indicate at least two different content extraction types;

upon selection of at least one of the one or more of the search results by a user, the computing device presenting a reduced-content version of the selected at least one search result to the user in accordance with the received plurality of content distillation parameters, wherein the reduced-content version includes first and second content corresponding to the at least two different content extraction types.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating an index in the reduced-content version, wherein the index includes entries corresponding to the first and second content, and wherein the index allows selective entry into corresponding portions of content of the selected at least one search result, wherein the corresponding portions include at least two different content types corresponding to the at least two different content extraction types.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two different content extraction types include a geographic data type.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least two different content extraction types include a proper name data type.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a first of the plurality of content distillation parameters includes a numeric range.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a first of the plurality of content distillation parameters includes an indication that a user-defined content type is one of the at least two different content extraction types.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving a selection of the at least one search result from the user, extracting content from the at least one search result to create the reduced-content version, wherein the extracting content is performed in accordance with the received plurality of content distillation parameters.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting a mid-menu associated with the reduced-content version, wherein the mid-menu includes two or more menu options that correspond to the at least two different content extraction types, wherein each of the two or more menu options is selectable to indicate each instance of that content extraction type within the at least one selected search result.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving one or more user display preferences, and creating the mid-menu in accordance with the one or more user display preferences.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a separate identifier corresponding to each one of the one or more search results; and

presenting a distillation trigger associated with each of the one or more search results.

11. A method, comprising:

a first computer system receiving a plurality of content distillation parameters from a second computer system, wherein the plurality of content distillation parameters indicate at least two different content extraction types, wherein the first computer system includes a memory and a processor;

the first computer system extracting content from a first search result, wherein the extracted content includes data belonging to the at least two different content extraction types; and

the first computer system creating a distilled version of the first search result, wherein the distilled version includes first and second content corresponding to the at least two different content extraction types.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the extracting content includes extracting at least two different types of grammar data.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least two different types of grammar data include conjugation phrases.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least two different types of grammar data include verb phrases.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting the distilled version to the second computer system.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving search criteria from the second computer system;

causing a search based on the search criteria to be performed; and

receiving results of the search, wherein the results of the search include the first search result.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the results of the search include a second search result;

and

wherein the method further comprises creating a second distilled version of the second search result, wherein creating the second distilled version includes extracting content from the second search result that corresponds to another, different content extraction type.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving an indication that the second computer system includes a limited display output screen, and wherein the distilled version of the first search result is created with a presentation format based on the limited display output screen.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the distilled version includes a mid-menu, wherein the mid-menu includes entries corresponding to each of the at least two different content extraction types, and wherein the entries include an numeric indication of the number of instances of each of the at least two different content extraction types that appear in the first search result at least one of the result categories comprise a user-defined type.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the first content includes one or more pieces of graphical content.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein the first content includes one or more pieces of audio content.

22. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed, cause a computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving search criteria via a network connection;

transmitting one or more search results to a source computing device in response to receiving the search criteria;

receiving a plurality of content distillation parameters from the source computing device, wherein the plurality of content distillation parameters indicate at least two different content extraction types; and

in response to receiving a selection of at least one of the one or more of the search results, causing a reduced-content version of the selected at least one search result to be transmitted to the source computing device in accordance with the received plurality of content distillation parameters, wherein the reduced-content version includes first and second content corresponding to the at least two different content extraction types.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the operations further comprise creating the reduced-content version in response to the receiving the selection.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the content distillation parameters include preferences specifying a display ordering of the at least two different content extraction types.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the first content is textual and wherein the second content is graphical.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the operations further comprise creating the reduced-content version by using at least two different regular expressions configured to parse content corresponding to the at least two different content extraction types.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the at least two different content extraction types include XML tags.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein transmitting the one or more search results includes transmitting one or more graphical indications of relevance of the search results.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the operations further comprise:

saving at least a portion of the plurality of content distillation parameters; and

creating a second reduced-content version of a different selected search result using the saved portion, wherein the second reduced-content version includes content corresponding to at least one of the at least two different content extraction types.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein the second reduced-content version includes content corresponding to all of the at least two different content extraction types.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the plurality of content distillation parameters include a word frequency parameter, and wherein the first content includes one or more words selected based on the word frequency parameter.