Document crawling systems and methods

• US 8,285,703 B1
• Filed: 05/25/2010
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Softek Illuminate, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Softek Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Wagers, Doug R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Merilyn
• Application Number:
  US12/786,772
• Time in Patent Office: 868 Days
• Field of Search: 707/709, 707/710, 707/752, 707/812
• US Class Current: 707/709
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/60 for patient-specific data, e.g. for electronic patient records
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for crawling and indexing documents stored in a data storage system. A crawler system processes multiple jobs that each correspond to crawling documents in the data storage system. Each job includes priority data and crawling instructions. The crawler system stores each job in a priority queue in a sequence based on the priority data. The crawler system assigns each job in the priority queue to a next available processing module for processing based on the stored sequence. Before processing each job, the crawler system determines whether to segment the job into smaller steps based on the corresponding crawling instructions. If the job is segmented, one of smaller steps is processed to crawl a group of the documents in the data storage system. The remaining steps are stored in the priority queue to wait for processing.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a data management application comprising modules executable by a processor to crawl documents, the data management application comprising:

a scheduling module to retrieve a plurality of job modules from a data store, the plurality of job modules each comprising corresponding crawling instructions and corresponding priority data for crawling documents in a data storage system;

a priority queue to receive the plurality of job modules from the scheduling module and to store each job module in a sequence according to the corresponding priority data;

an execution module to assign each job module to one of a plurality of processing modules according to the sequence for processing, wherein each assigned job module is configured to;

identify a step for processing based on the corresponding crawling instructions, the step comprising crawling a group of the documents;

process the step to crawl the group of the documents in the data storage system;

determine if at least one additional step for processing is required based on the corresponding crawling instructions, the at least one additional step comprising crawling another group of the documents; and

reschedule the job module to the scheduling module for insertion into the priority queue.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the corresponding priority data identifies a priority for processing each of the plurality of job modules based on a type of the documents being crawled or based on a time the documents being crawled were created or edited.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the documents comprise healthcare documents.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the documents comprise at least one member of a group consisting of radiological examination documents, electronic health records (EHRs), electronic medical records (EMRs), patient records, patient documents, image documents, and imaging data in a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS).

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the documents further comprise structured data and unstructured data.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the corresponding crawling instructions of the assigned job module identify documents to crawl in the data storage system based on a date range, wherein the step comprises crawling documents within a portion of the date range, and wherein the at least one additional step comprises crawling documents within a remaining portion of the date range.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 6 wherein:

the corresponding crawling instructions of the assigned job module identify a time interval; and

the execution module is further configured to assign the rescheduled job module to one of the plurality of processing modules to process the at least one additional step to one of the plurality of processing modules after expiration of the time interval when the at least one additional step is required.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 wherein the execution module assigns the rescheduled job module to one of the plurality of processing modules to reprocess the step after expiration of the time interval when the at least one additional step is not required.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein each of plurality of job modules further comprises status data indicating whether the step or the at least one additional step has been processed.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein each assigned job module is further configured to identify the step or the at least one additional step for processing based on the crawling instructions and the status data.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the priority data for each job module comprises a corresponding predefined priority level, wherein the priority queue stores each job module in the sequence according to the corresponding predefined priority level.

12. A system for crawling documents, the system comprising:

a data store to store a plurality of job modules, each of the plurality of jobs job modules comprising corresponding crawling instructions and corresponding priority data for crawling documents in a data storage system;

a processing device comprising a data management application comprising modules executable by the processing device to crawl the documents, the data management application comprising;

a scheduling module to retrieve the plurality of job modules from the data store; and

a priority queue to receive the plurality of job modules from the scheduling module and to store each job module in a sequence according to the corresponding priority data; and

an execution module to assign each job module to one of a plurality of processing modules according to the sequence for processing, wherein each assigned job module is configured to;

identify a step for processing based on the corresponding crawling instructions, the step comprising crawling a group of the documents;

enable the processing module to process the step to crawl the group of the documents in the data storage system;

determine if at least one additional step for processing is required based on the corresponding crawling instructions, the at least one additional step comprising crawling another group of the documents; and

reschedule the job module to the scheduling module for insertion into the priority queue.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the corresponding priority data identifies a priority for processing each of the plurality of job modules based on a type of the documents being crawled or based on a time the documents being crawled were created or edited.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the documents comprise at least one member of a group consisting of radiological examination documents, healthcare documents, electronic health records (EHRs), electronic medical records (EMRs), patient records, patient documents, image documents, and imaging data in a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS).

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the documents comprise structured data and unstructured data.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the corresponding crawling instructions of the assigned job module identify documents to crawl in the data storage system based on a date range, wherein the step comprises crawling documents within a portion of the date range, and wherein the at least one additional step comprises crawling documents within another portion of the date range.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein:

the corresponding crawling instructions of the assigned job module identify a time interval; and

the execution module is further configured to assign the rescheduled job module to one of the plurality of processing modules to process the at least one additional step to one of the plurality of processing modules after expiration of the time interval when the at least one additional step is required.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the execution module assigns the rescheduled job module to one of the plurality of processing modules to reprocess the step after expiration of the time interval when the at least one additional step is not required.

19. The system of claim 12 wherein each of plurality of job modules further comprises status data indicating whether the step or the at least one additional step has been processed.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein each assigned job module is further configured to identify the step for processing based on the crawling instructions and the status data.

21. The system of claim 12 wherein the priority data for each job module comprises a corresponding predefined priority level, wherein the priority queue stores each job module in the sequence according to the corresponding predefined priority level.

22. A method for crawling documents, the method comprising:

executing a data management application on a processing device to crawl documents in a data storage system, the data management application comprising a scheduling module, a priority queue, a plurality of processing modules, and an execution module;

retrieving a plurality of job modules from a data store at the scheduling module, the plurality of job modules each comprising corresponding crawling instructions and corresponding priority data for crawling documents;

transferring the plurality of job modules from the scheduling module and to the priority queue;

storing each job module in a sequence in the priority queue according to the corresponding priority data;

assigning, at the execution module, each job module to one of a plurality of processing modules according to the sequence for processing;

identifying a step for processing at an assigned processing module based on the corresponding crawling instructions, the step comprising crawling a group of the documents;

processing the step at the assigned processing module to crawl the group of the documents in the data storage system;

determining if at least one additional step for processing is required based on the corresponding crawling instructions, the at least one additional step comprising crawling another group of the documents; and

rescheduling the assigned job module to the scheduling module for insertion into the priority queue.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the priority data identifies a priority for processing each of the plurality of job modules based on a type of the documents being crawled or based on a time the documents being crawled were created or edited.

24. The method of claim 22 wherein the documents comprise at least one member of a group consisting of radiological examination documents, healthcare documents, electronic health records (EHRs), electronic medical records (EMRs), patient records, patient documents, image documents, and imaging data in a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS).

25. The method of claim 22 wherein the documents comprise structured data and unstructured data.

26. The method of claim 22 wherein the corresponding crawling instructions of the assigned job module identify documents to crawl in the data storage system based on a date range, wherein the first step comprises crawling documents within a portion of the date range, and wherein the at least one additional step comprises crawling documents within a remaining portion of the date range.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein:

the corresponding crawling instructions of the assigned job module identify a time interval; and

the method further comprising assigning, at the execution module, the at least one additional step to one of the plurality of processing modules after expiration of the time interval when the at least one additional step is required.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising assigning, at the execution module, the rescheduled job module to one of the plurality of processing modules to reprocess the step after expiration of the time interval when the at least one additional step is not required.

29. The method of claim 22 wherein each of plurality of job modules further comprises status data indicating whether the step or the at least one additional step has been processed.

30. The method of claim 29 further comprising to identifying the step for processing job module based on the crawling instructions and the status data.

31. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with a data management application comprising modules executable by a processor to crawl documents, the data management application comprising:

a scheduling module to retrieve a plurality of job modules from a data store, the plurality of job modules each comprising corresponding crawling instructions, corresponding status data, and corresponding priority data for crawling documents in a data storage system;

a priority queue to receive the plurality of job modules from the scheduling module and to store each job module in a sequence according to the corresponding priority data; and

an execution module to assign each job module to one of a plurality of processing modules according to the sequence for processing, wherein each assigned job module is configured to;

identify a step for processing based on the corresponding crawling instructions and the corresponding status data, the step comprising crawling a group of the documents, and the status data indicating whether the step has been processed;

process the step to crawl the group of the documents in the data storage system;

determine if the at least one additional step for processing is required based on the corresponding crawling instructions, the at least one additional step comprising crawling another group of the documents; and

reschedule the assigned job module to the scheduling module for insertion into the priority queue.