Document analysis, commenting, and reporting system

• US 8,271,870 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2009
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Verma, Kunal, Kass, Alex, Vasquez, Reymonrod G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ries, Laurie
• Assistant Examiner(s): SMITH, TIONNA M
• Application Number:
  US12/558,483
• Publication Number:
  US 20100005386A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,103 Days
• Field of Search: 715/237
• US Class Current: 715/237
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/36 Creation of semantic tools, e.g. ontology or thesauri
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/226 Validation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/253 Grammatical analysis; Style critique
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/284 Lexical analysis, e.g. tokenisation or collocates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/289 Phrasal analysis, e.g. finite state techniques or chunking

Abstract

A document analysis, commenting, and reporting system provides tools that automate quality assurance analysis tailored to specific document types. As one example, the specific document type may be a requirements specification and the system may tag different parts of requirements, including actors, entities, modes, and a remainder. The system also includes tools for visualizing the relationships between entities in a requirements specification and for identifying whether the requirements specification provides for attributes specified by a non-functional attribute glossary. The system facilitates the visualization of interactions of individual entities, of a system of entities, or entities identified for a specific use. The different types of visualizations distinguish between interacting and non-interacting entities, and highlight where a set of requirements may be deficient with respect to the non-interacting entities. However, the flexibility of the system permits analysis of any other document type, such as instruction manuals and best practices guides.

Claims

1. A syntax-based document analysis system comprising:

a memory comprising;

a document type specific syntax definition for syntactically correct document structure, the syntax definition comprising a first structure category component for the document structure;

a first editable electronic spoken language glossary comprising permissible constituents associated with the first structure category component;

executable instructions that define;

a syntax-based document visualization module, the syntax-based document visualization module operative to;

identify a first constituent in a document structure instance of an electronic document matching a first permissible constituent found in the first editable electronic spoken language glossary;

identify a second constituent in the document structure instance matching a second permissible constituent found in the first editable electronic spoken language glossary;

determine whether the document structure instance establishes an interaction between the first constituent and the second constituent;

generate a component visualization relationship map comprising;

 

a first visualization relationship object that represents the first constituent;

 

a second visualization relationship object that represents the second constituent; and

 

a visualization interaction object that represents whether the document structure instance establishes the interaction between the first constituent and the second constituent; and

output the component visualization relationship map; and

a processor operative to execute the executable instructions.

2. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 1, wherein:

the electronic document comprises a set of document structure instances; and

the syntax-based document visualization module is further operative to;

identify a constituent in at least some of the document structure instances that matches a corresponding permissible constituent found in the first editable electronic spoken language glossary;

generate a system visualization relationship map comprising;

a set of system visualization relationship objects, wherein each system visualization relationship object represents a corresponding matching constituent of each of the document structure instances; and

a set of system visualization interaction objects representing interactions among at least some of the system visualization relationship objects, wherein at least one system visualization interaction object represents an interaction between two or more system visualization relationship objects of the set of system visualization relationship objects; and

output the system visualization relationship map.

3. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 1, wherein:

the electronic document comprises a set of document structure instances;

the set of document structure instances comprises a subset of document structure instances, wherein a document structure instance of the subset of document structure instances is identified by a type-of-use identifier that identifies a use achievable by the document structure instance; and

the syntax-based document visualization module is further operative to;

identify a constituent in at least some of the document structure instances from the subset of document structure instances, wherein the constituent matches a corresponding permissible constituent found in the first editable electronic spoken language glossary;

generate a sub-system visualization relationship map comprising;

a set of system visualization relationship objects that each represent a corresponding constituent in at least some of the document structure instances from the subset of document structure instances; and

a set of system visualization interaction objects representing interactions among at least some of the system visualization relationship objects, wherein at least one system visualization interaction object represents an interaction between two or more system visualization relationship objects of the set of system visualization relationship objects; and

output the sub-system visualization relationship map.

4. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 1, wherein:

the component visualization relationship map comprises;

a set of rows for the constituents identified in the electronic document, wherein;

at least one row matches a permissible constituent of the first editable electronic spoken language glossary; and

the first visualization relationship object is one of the rows of the component visualization relationship map;

a set of columns for the constituents identified in the electronic document, wherein;

at least one column matches a permissible constituent of the first editable electronic spoken language glossary; and

the second visualization relationship object is one of the columns of the component visualization relationship map; and

an intersection cell representing an intersection between the first visualization object and the second visualization object, wherein the intersection cell comprises the visualization interaction object.

5. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 1, wherein:

the component visualization relationship map comprises a color schema comprising;

a first assignable display state that displays that the interaction is established between the first constituent and the second constituent; and

a second assignable second display state that displays that no interaction is established between the first constituent and the second constituent; and

the first visualization relationship object is assigned the first assignable display state when the syntax-based document visualization module determines that the document structure instance establishes the interaction between the first constituent and the second constituent.

6. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 5, wherein:

the first assignable display state comprises a first color; and

the second assignable display state comprises a second color different than the first color.

7. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 1, wherein:

the component visualization relationship map comprises;

a first graphical iconic image comprising the first visualization relationship object;

a second graphical iconic image comprising the second visualization relationship object; and

a third graphical interaction iconic image comprising the visualization interaction object when the document structure instance establishes the interaction between the first constituent and the second constituent.

8. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 1, where the document type specific syntax definition further comprises at least one of:

a second structure category component for the document structure;

a third structure category component for the document structure; and

a fourth structure category component for the document structure.

9. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 8, where:

the second structure category component comprises a mode category component;

the third category component comprises an action category component;

and the fourth category component comprises a remainder category component.

10. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 8, further comprising:

a second electronic spoken language glossary comprising permissible constituents associated with the second structure category component;

a third electronic spoken language glossary comprising permissible constituents associated with the third structure category component; and

a fourth electronic spoken language glossary comprising permissible constituents associated with the fourth structure category component.

11. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 1, further comprising:

a syntax-based document analysis module, the syntax-based document analysis module operative to;

identify the document structure instance in the electronic document using a document type specific document structure identifier;

determine whether the document structure instance includes any of the permissible constituents in the first electronic spoken language glossary consistent with the document type specific syntax definition; and

perform a document analysis operation based on whether the document structure instance includes any of the permissible constituents in the first electronic spoken language glossary consistent with the document type specific syntax definition.

18. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 11, further comprising:

a syntax-based document analysis module, the syntax-based document analysis module operative to;

identify the document structure instance in the electronic document using a document type specific document structure identifier;

determine whether the document structure instance includes any of the permissible constituents in the first electronic spoken language glossary consistent with the document type specific syntax definition; and

perform a document analysis operation based on whether the document structure instance includes any of the permissible constituents in the first electronic spoken language glossary consistent with the document type specific syntax definition.

12. A syntax-based document analysis system comprising:

a memory comprising;

a document type specific syntax definition for syntactically correct document structure, the syntax definition comprising a first structure category component for the document structure;

a first electronic spoken language glossary comprising permissible constituents associated with the first structure category component; and

an electronic attribute glossary comprising an attribute requirement assignable to at least some of the permissible constituents of the first electronic spoken language glossary, wherein the attribute requirement is identifiable by an attribute phrase associated with the attribute requirement; and

executable instructions that define;

a syntax-based document attribute analysis module, the syntax-based document attribute analysis module operative to;

identify a first constituent in a document structure instance of an electronic document matching a first permissible constituent found in the first editable electronic spoken language glossary;

analyze the document structure instance for a document structure instance phrase satisfying the attribute phrase;

determine that the document structure instance satisfies the attribute requirement for the first constituent of the document structure instance when the document structure instance phrase satisfies the attribute phrase; and

generate an attribute requirement report identifying whether the attribute requirement for the first constituent has been satisfied; and

output the attribute requirement report; and

a processor operable to execute the executable instructions.

13. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 12, wherein:

the electronic document comprises a set of document structure instances; and

the attribute requirement report comprises;

a row for the first constituent identified in the electronic document;

a column for the attribute requirement contained within the electronic attribute glossary; and

an intersection cell representing an intersection between the row and the column, wherein the intersection cell identifies whether a document structure instance from the set of document structure instances satisfies the attribute requirement assigned to the first constituent.

14. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 12, wherein:

the electronic attribute glossary further comprises;

an activatable element associated with the attribute requirement that, when activated, identifies that the attribute requirement is to be satisfied; and

the syntax-based document attribute analysis module is further operative to determine whether the attribute requirement is to be satisfied based on whether the activatable element is activated.

15. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 12, where the document type specific syntax definition further comprises:

a second structure category component for the document structure;

a third structure category component for the document structure; and

a fourth structure category component for the document structure.

16. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 15, where:

the second structure category component comprises a mode category component;

the third category component comprises an action category component; and

the fourth category component comprises a remainder category component.

17. The syntax-based document analysis system of claim 15, further comprising:

a second electronic spoken language glossary comprising permissible constituents associated with the second structure category component;

a third electronic spoken language glossary comprising permissible constituents associated with the third structure category component; and

a fourth electronic spoken language glossary comprising permissible constituents associated with the fourth structure category component.