ONTOLOGY-BASED NETWORK SEARCH ENGINE

• US 20090112838A1
• Filed: 10/25/2007
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Wenzel, Shannon Everett, Tenner, Jeffrey Wayne, Will, Eric W., Eggebraaten, Thomas John
• Granted Patent: US 8,041,702 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/367 Ontology

Abstract

A method and apparatus for searching for a documents residing on a network comprises receiving a search request from a user. The search request comprises one or more search terms of an ontology. The ontology includes a plurality of terms. One or more of the plurality of terms includes a plurality of sub-category terms. One or more documents residing on the network is identified based on the one or more search terms and an ontology index. The ontology index comprises a plurality of relationships between the plurality of terms and sub-category terms of the ontology and a plurality of documents residing on the network. One or more search results that describe the one or more documents is presented to the user. The one or more documents contain the one or more search terms, or one of the plurality of sub-category terms of the one or more search terms.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of searching for a plurality of documents residing on a network, comprising:

receiving a search request from a user, comprising one or more search terms, wherein the one or more search terms are included in an ontology, and wherein the ontology includes a plurality of terms, and one or more of the plurality of terms includes a plurality of sub-category terms;

identifying one or more documents residing on the network based on the one or more search terms and an ontology index, wherein the ontology index comprises a plurality of relationships between the plurality of terms or sub-category terms of the ontology and a plurality of documents residing on the network; and

presenting one or more search results that describe the one or more documents to the user, wherein the one or more documents contain the one or more search terms, or one of the plurality of sub-category terms of the one or more search terms.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the search results comprises presenting one or more network addresses of the one or more documents.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more network addresses are uniform resource locators.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the ontology, wherein determining the ontology is based on the one or more search terms.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an ontology request from a user;

determining the ontology based on the one or more search terms;

presenting the ontology to the user; and

generating the search request wherein the search terms comprise user-selected terms from the presented ontology.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an ontology request from a user comprising an ontology handle;

determining the ontology based on the ontology handle;

presenting the ontology to the user; and

generating the search request wherein the search terms comprise user-selected terms from the presented ontology.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the ontology request further comprises an ontology term, wherein the ontology term is included in the ontology, and wherein presenting the ontology to the user is based on the ontology term.

8. A computer-readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation, comprising:

receiving a search request from a user, comprising one or more search terms, wherein the one or more search terms are included in an ontology, and wherein the ontology includes a plurality of terms, and one or more of the plurality of terms includes a plurality of sub-category terms;

identifying one or more documents residing on the network based on the one or more search terms and an ontology index, wherein the ontology index comprises a plurality of relationships between the plurality of terms or sub-category terms of the ontology and a plurality of documents residing on the network; and

presenting one or more search results that describe the one or more documents to the user, wherein the one or more documents contain the one or more search terms, or one of the plurality of sub-category terms of the one or more search terms.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein presenting the search results comprises presenting one or more network addresses of the one or more documents.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the one or more network addresses are uniform resource locators.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising determining the ontology, wherein determining the ontology is based on the one or more search terms.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an ontology request from a user;

determining the ontology based on the one or more search terms;

presenting the ontology to the user; and

generating the search request wherein the search terms comprise user-selected terms from the presented ontology.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an ontology request from a user comprising an ontology handle;

determining the ontology based on the ontology handle;

presenting the ontology to the user; and

generating the search request wherein the search terms comprise user-selected terms from the presented ontology.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the ontology request further comprises an ontology term, wherein the ontology term is included in the ontology, and wherein presenting the ontology to the user is based on the ontology term.

15. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, containing a program which, when executed by the processor;

receives a search request from a user, comprising one or more search terms, wherein the one or more search terms are included in an ontology, and wherein the ontology includes a plurality of terms, and one or more of the plurality of terms includes a plurality of sub-category terms;

identifies one or more documents residing on the network based on the one or more search terms and an ontology index, wherein the ontology index comprises a plurality of relationships between the plurality of terms or sub-category terms of the ontology and a plurality of documents residing on the network; and

presents one or more search results that describe the one or more documents to the user, wherein the one or more documents contain the one or more search terms, or one of the plurality of sub-category terms of the one or more search terms.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein presenting the search results comprises presenting one or more network addresses of the one or more documents.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more network addresses are uniform resource locators.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the program further:

determines the ontology, wherein determining the ontology is based on the one or more search terms.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the program further:

receives an ontology request from a user;

determines the ontology based on the one or more search terms;

presents the ontology to the user; and

generates the search request wherein the search terms comprise user-selected terms from the presented ontology.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the program further:

receives an ontology request from a user comprising an ontology handle;

determines the ontology based on the ontology handle;

presents the ontology to the user; and

generates the search request wherein the search terms comprise user-selected terms from the presented ontology.