Systematic discovery of business ontology

• US 9,519,872 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2013
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Walmart Apollo, LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wal-Mart Stores Texas LLC (WalMart Inc.)
• Inventors: Griggs, Gary Dewayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Chau, Dung K
• Application Number:
  US13/974,318
• Publication Number:
  US 20150058248A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,208 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/244 Grouping and aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/35 Clustering; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

A system is provided that implements a more systematic process for obtaining business knowledge that is more efficient and timely. The process automatically reads business documents and produces a business ontology. In one implementation, the process dissects documents into sentences or collection of words that most resembles a sentence. Natural language processing algorithms may be used to identify the role of term within a sentence. Terms and associations resulting from the document analysis are used to specify a business ontology which can be then used to provide input to a software design process, among other business uses.

Claims

1. A system for determining a business ontology, the system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to;

perform an analysis of a plurality of business documents, wherein the analysis comprises;

establishing an analysis scope that includes the plurality of business documents;

determining a plurality of sentences within the plurality of business documents within the analysis scope, including separating the sentences for analysis;

identifying terms and associations between terms within each separated sentence of the plurality of sentences, including determining a proximity between at least two of the terms within at least one sentence of the separated sentences, the proximity including a sentence proximity association for terms of the identified terms occurring in the same sentence but not in a same term group, a term proximity association for identifying actions acted upon terms of the identified terms by other terms, and a document proximity association for all verbs in the same business document of the plurality of business documents;

analyzing the associations including the sentence proximity association, the term proximity association, and the document proximity association;

after analyzing the terms and associations, identifying frequently-used terms and associations within the plurality of sentences used most within the scope; and

determining a business ontology based on the identified frequently-used terms and associations within the plurality of sentences among the plurality of business documents.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor groups terms into term groups.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the proximity is at least one of a group comprising a former proximity and a latter proximity.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor determines an association by a proximity between at least two of the terms within at least one document.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor determines an association by a verb between at least two of the terms.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor determines an aspect of software using the determined business ontology.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the processor determines an information model using the determined business ontology.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor groups terms and associations together based on their meaning.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor stores, in the memory, a database including the identified terms and associations.

10. A method for determining a business ontology, the method comprising acts of:

performing an analysis by a computer system of a plurality of business documents, wherein the analysis comprises acts of;

establishing an analysis scope that includes the plurality of business documents;

determining a plurality of sentences within the plurality of business documents within the analysis scope, including separating the sentences for analysis;

identifying terms and associations between terms within each separated sentence of the plurality of sentences, including determining a proximity between at least two of the terms within at least one sentence of the separated sentences, the proximity including a sentence proximity association for terms of the identified terms occurring in the same sentence but not in a same term group, a term proximity association for identifying actions acted upon terms of the identified terms by other terms, and a document proximity association for all verbs in the same business document of the plurality of business documents;

analyzing the terms and associations including the sentence proximity association, the term proximity association, and the document proximity association;

after analyzing the terms and associations, identifying frequently-used terms and associations within the plurality of sentences used most within the scope; and

determining a business ontology based on the identified frequently-used terms and associations within the plurality of sentences among the plurality of business documents.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising an act of grouping terms into term groups.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the proximity is at least one of a group comprising a former proximity and a latter proximity.

13. The method according to claim 10, further comprising an act of determining an association by a proximity between at least two of the terms within at least one document.

14. The method according to claim 10, further comprising an act of determining an association by a verb between at least two of the terms.

15. The method according to claim 10, further comprising an act of determining an aspect of software using the determined business ontology.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising an act of determining an information model using the determined business ontology.

17. The method according to claim 10, further comprising an act of grouping terms and associations together based on their meaning.

18. The method according to claim 10, further comprising an act of storing, in a memory of the computer system, a database including the identified terms and associations.