Systems and methods for building and implementing ontology-based information resources

• US 20070043742A1
• Filed: 08/16/2005
• Published: 02/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Drissi, Youssef, Fuller, Nicholas, Arguello, Juan, Nnebe, Ijeoma, Sow, Daby
• Granted Patent: US 7,739,218 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/367 Ontology

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for building and implementing ontology-based information resources. More specifically, multi-user collaborative, semi-automatic systems and methods are provided for constructing ontology-based information resources that are shared by a community of users, wherein ontology categories evolve over time based on categorization rules that are specified by the community of users as well as categorization rules that are automatically learned from knowledge obtained as a result of multi-user interactions and categorization decisions.

Claims

1. An information sharing system, comprising:

an information management system that provides user assistance for interacting with the system;

a shared information repository having electronic files that are categorized according to an ontology;

a repository of categorization rules which are used by the information management system for automatically categorizing an electronic file to be stored in the shared information repository; and

a learning engine that automatically generates or updates categorization rules in the repository of categorization rules based on knowledge obtained from multi-user interactions with the system;

wherein the information management system provides user assistance in storing an electronic file in the shared information repository under one or more ontological categories that are user-specified or ontological categories that are suggested by the information management system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information management system monitors user interactions with an external information source.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the information management system automatically prompts a user with an option to store an electronic file in the shared information repository when the user accesses the electronic file from the external information source.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the information management system records a history of the user interactions over a period of time, wherein the user interactions comprise user search patterns.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the system further comprises a repository of search histories which comprises search history data that is automatically derived by processing the recorded history of user interactions.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the information management system processes the search history data to determine preferred subjects of interest information for one or more users and stored the preferred subjects of interest information in a user interest index.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a publish and subscribe agent system that uses the preferred subjects of interest information in the user interest index to identify newly published electronic files in one or more external information sources, which correspond to the preferred subjects of interest information of one or more users.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the information management system automatically notifies one or more users of newly published electronic files.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the information management system automatically stores the newly published electronic files in the shared information repository.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the information management system allows a user to associated unique user meta data to one or more electronic files stored in the shared information repository.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the information management system allows one or more sections of an electronic file to be independently categorized for storage in the shared information repository.

12. A method for managing electronic information, comprising:

storing electronic files in a shared information repository that is shared by a community of users, wherein the electronic files are categorized according to an ontology; and

incrementally adapting the ontology over time based on categorization rules that are specified by the community of users as well as categorization rules that are automatically learned from knowledge obtained as a result of multi-user categorization decisions.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

maintaining a repository of categorization rules that are used for automatically categorizing an electronic file to be stored in the shared information repository;

applying machine learning methods to generate new categorization rules or update existing categorization rules in the repository of categorization rules.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving a request from a user to store an uncategorized electronic file in the shared information repository; and

prompting the user with an option of storing the electronic file according to one or more suggested ontological categories or according to one or more user-specified ontological categories.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising automatically monitoring user interactions with an external information sources.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising automatically prompting a user with an option of storing and categorizing an electronic file that is accessed from the external information source.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising storing user search patterns in a repository of search histories.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining preferred subjects of interest information for one or more users based on information stored in the repository of search histories; and

using the preferred subjects of interest information to identify newly published electronic files in one or more external information sources.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising automatically notifying a user of a newly published electronic file that correspond to the user'"'"'s preferred subjects of interest.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising automatically storing the newly published electronic file in the shared information repository.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein storing electronic files in a shared information repository further comprises allowing a user to associate unique metadata to one or more electronic files stored in the shared information repository.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein storing electronic files in a shared information repository further comprises independently categorizing one or more sections of an electronic file for storage in the shared information repository.

23. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for managing electronic information, comprising:

storing electronic files in a shared information repository that is shared by a community of users, wherein the electronic files are categorized according to an ontology; and

incrementally adapting the ontology over time based on categorization rules that are specified by the community of users as well as categorization rules that are automatically learned from knowledge obtained as a result of multi-user categorization decisions.