System and Method of Determining and Recommending a Document Control Policy for a Document

• US 20080059448A1
• Filed: 09/06/2006
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Chang, Walter, Masinter, Larry
• Granted Patent: US 7,610,315 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/353 into predefined classes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/62 Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2145 Inheriting rights or properties, e.g., propagation of permissions or restrictions within a hierarchy

Abstract

This specification describes technologies relating to identifying an appropriate document control policy for a given document. In general, a method can include determining for a document a genre classification including multiple terms and corresponding scores indicating confidence levels for the terms with respect to the document; identifying a relevant node in a document control policy ontology in accordance with the genre classification; assessing a confidence level for applicability of the relevant node based at least in part upon at least one of the scores; selecting a parent node of the relevant node in the document control policy ontology to stand in for the relevant node if the assessed confidence level for applicability of the relevant node falls below a threshold; and recommending at least one document control policy to govern access to the document based on the identified or selected relevant node in the document control policy ontology.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a genre classification for a document, the genre classification comprising multiple terms and corresponding scores, each score for a term indicating a confidence level for the term with respect to the document;

identifying a relevant node in a document control policy ontology by comparing the genre classification with the document control policy ontology;

assessing a confidence level for applicability of the relevant node based at least in part upon at least one of the scores;

selecting a parent node of the relevant node in the document control policy ontology to stand in for the relevant node if the assessed confidence level for applicability of the relevant node falls below a threshold; and

recommending at least one document control policy to govern access to the document based on the identified or selected relevant node in the document control policy ontology.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises classifying the document using a document genre ontology comprising a hierarchical knowledge structure containing a vocabulary of terms and concepts, and inference chains representing interrelationships between the vocabulary terms and concepts, for document genre classification, the genre classification comprises a subset of the inference chains, and the identifying comprises checking terms associated with levels higher than a lowest level of respective ones of the subset of inference chains.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising deriving a document control policy for a parent node in the document control policy ontology based on a combination of multiple document control policies associated with child nodes of the parent node in the document control policy ontology, and associating the derived document control policy with the parent node in the document control policy ontology.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the derived document control policy comprises a derived security policy and a derived retention policy, and deriving the document control policy comprises:

combining Boolean values of security policies associated with the child nodes of the parent node to form the derived security policy; and

combining identified separate cases, which depend on variables associated with the multiple document control policies associated with child nodes, to form the derived retention policy.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the deriving comprises deriving a document control policy that aggregates policy components, defaulting to more conservative policy components, from the multiple document control policies associated with the child nodes in the document control policy ontology.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the deriving comprises recursively deriving document control policies for parent nodes in the document control policy ontology up to a root node;

and wherein the deriving and the associating are performed before deployment of the document control policy ontology.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the recommending comprises outputting multiple recommended document control policies and corresponding inference chains from the document control policy ontology.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically applying a highest ranked document control policy, from multiple recommended document control policies, to the document.

9. A system comprising:

a user interface device;

a document control component comprising a hierarchical knowledge structure including document control policies, including at least one document control policy inherited by a parent node in accordance with an algebraic maximum of rules associated with child nodes of the parent node; and

one or more computers operable to interact with the user interface device and the document control component to determine a genre classification for a document, compare the genre classification with the hierarchical knowledge structure to identify a relevant node among multiple nodes, including the parent node, and recommend at least one document control policy to govern access to the document based on the identified relevant node in the hierarchical knowledge structure.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more computers comprise a server operable to interact with the user interface device through a data communication network, and the user interface device is operable to interact with the server as a client.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more computers comprises one personal computer, and the personal computer comprises the user interface device.

12. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a document genre ontology used for document genre classification, the document genre ontology comprising a hierarchical knowledge structure containing a vocabulary of terms and concepts, and inference chains representing interrelationships between the vocabulary terms and concepts;

an application program interface (API) configured to provide the document control component with access to selected elements in an inference chain in the document genre ontology;

wherein the document control component comprises a policy ontology component configured to recommend the at least one document control policy and including an interface through which a policy management component accesses the at least one document control policy for application to the document.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the policy management component comprises a policy server.

14. The system of claim 9, the one or more computers further operable to derive a document control policy for a parent node in the hierarchical knowledge structure, in the document control component, based on a combination of multiple document control policies associated with child nodes of the parent node in the hierarchical knowledge structure;

and to associate the derived document control policy with the parent node in the hierarchical knowledge structure.

15. The system of claim 9, the one or more computers further operable to output multiple recommended document control policies and corresponding inference chains from the hierarchical knowledge structure in the document control component.

16. The system of claim 9, the one or more computers further operable to automatically apply a highest ranked document control policy, from multiple recommended document control policies, to the document.

17. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving a genre classification for a document, the genre classification comprising multiple terms and corresponding scores, each score for a term indicating a confidence level for the term with respect to the document;

identifying a relevant node in a document control policy ontology by comparing the genre classification with the document control policy ontology;

assessing a confidence level for applicability of the relevant node based at least in part upon at least one of the scores;

selecting a parent node of the relevant node in the document control policy ontology to stand in for the relevant node if the assessed confidence level for applicability of the relevant node falls below a threshold; and

recommending at least one document control policy to govern access to the document based on the identified or selected relevant node in the document control policy ontology.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the determining comprises classifying the document using a document genre ontology comprising a hierarchical knowledge structure containing a vocabulary of terms and concepts, and inference chains representing interrelationships between the vocabulary terms and concepts, for document genre classification;

the genre classification comprises a subset of the inference chains; and

the identifying comprises checking terms associated with levels higher than a lowest level of respective ones of the subset of inference chains.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, the operations further comprising deriving a document control policy for a parent node in the document control policy ontology based on a combination of multiple document control policies associated with child nodes of the parent node in the document control policy ontology;

and associating the derived document control policy with the parent node in the document control policy ontology.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the derived document control policy comprises a derived security policy and a derived retention policy, and deriving the document control policy comprises:

combining Boolean values of security policies associated with the child nodes of the parent node to form the derived security policy; and

combining identified separate cases, which depend on variables associated with the multiple document control policies associated with child nodes, to form the derived retention policy.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the deriving comprises deriving a document control policy that aggregates policy components, defaulting to more conservative policy components, from the multiple document control policies associated with the child nodes in the document control policy ontology.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the deriving comprises recursively deriving document control policies for parent nodes in the document control policy ontology up to a root node;

and wherein the deriving and the associating are performed before deployment of the document control policy ontology.

23. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the recommending comprises outputting multiple recommended document control policies and corresponding inference chains from the document control policy ontology.

24. The computer program product of claim 17, the operations further comprising automatically applying a highest ranked document control policy, from multiple recommended document control policies, to the document.