FACETED SEARCH WITH RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CATEGORIES

• US 20120310940A1
• Filed: 05/30/2011
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Carmel, David, Yogev, Sivan, Roitman, Haggai
• Granted Patent: US 8,510,306 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/740
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/322 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

Method, system, and computer program product for faceted search with relationships between categories are provided. The method includes: having a document set of multiple documents, each document having associated categories to which it belongs; grouping multiple categories associated with a document into a category set based on a relationship between the multiple categories; associating the category set with the document; and indexing the category set for retrieval of documents from categories sharing a category set. Wherein indexing the category set includes: having an index entry of a textual representations of a category, wherein the index entry includes a single occurrence for each document to which the category is attached; adding a payload to a document occurrence of a serialization of an identifier of the category sets to which the category belongs associated with the document. Indexing the category set further includes: adding an index entry for category set data, wherein the index entry includes a single occurrence for each document, wherein a document occurrence includes a payload of a serialization of an identifier of category sets associated with the document, and an identifier of the categories belonging to the category sets.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for faceted search with relationships between categories performed by a computerized device, comprising:

having a document set of multiple documents, each document having associated categories to which it belongs;

grouping multiple categories associated with a document into a category set based on a relationship between the multiple categories;

associating the category set with the document; and

indexing the category set for retrieval of documents from categories sharing a category set.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

indexing the category set includes:

having an index entry of a textual representations of a category, wherein the index entry includes a single occurrence for each document to which the category is attached;

adding a payload to a document occurrence of a serialization of an identifier of the category sets to which the category belongs associated with the document.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein

indexing the category set includes:

adding an index entry for category set data, wherein the index entry includes a single occurrence for each document, wherein a document occurrence includes a payload of a serialization of an identifier of category sets associated with the document, and an identifier of the categories belonging to the category sets.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the index entry of a textual representation of a category is a posting list in a lexicon for a set of documents.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the index entry for category set data is a posting list in a lexicon for a set of documents.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein associating a category set with a document includes assigning an identifier of the category set.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, including:

receiving a query request including a query term, a facet request and a category set constraint;

obtaining a result set of documents for the query term;

for each document in the result set, determining if terms matching the categories from the set constraint occur in the document and, if so, obtaining identifiers of the sets to which each category belongs;

obtaining the payload of the index entry for category set data to obtain identifiers of the categories in the identified sets; and

counting all categories that match the facet request.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein a category set constraint is one of the group of:

a same set constraint where the constraint contains a list of categories, and the relevant category sets given a document are the sets which contain all categories from the set constraint;

or

a one-of-any same set constraint where the constraint contains a list of categories, and the relevant category sets given a document are the sets which contain at least one category from the set constraint;

or

a second degree same set constraint, where all categories are identified which share category sets with the set constraint categories, the identified categories are used as input, and any category which co-occurs in a category set with those categories is counted.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, including generalizing a category set constraint to a multiple category constraint.

10. A computer program product for faceted search with relationships between categories, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable non-transitory storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to;

have a document set of multiple documents, each document having associated categories to which it belongs;

group multiple categories associated with a document into a category set based on a relationship between the multiple categories;

associate the category set with the document; and

index the category set for retrieval of documents from categories sharing a category set.

11. A system for faceted search with relationships between categories, comprising:

a processor;

an index of a document set of multiple documents;

an indexing system including;

a category associating component for associating categories to a document to which it belongs;

a category set component for grouping multiple categories associated with a document into a category set based on a relationship between the multiple categories;

a category set associating component for associating the category set with the document; and

an indexing component for indexing the category set for retrieval of documents from categories sharing a category set.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein

the indexing component includes:

a category entry component for entering an index entry of a textual representations of a category, wherein the index entry includes a single occurrence for each document to which the category is attached and for adding a payload to a document occurrence of a serialization of an identifier of the category sets to which the category belongs associated with the document.

13. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein

the indexing component includes:

a category set data component for adding an index entry for category set data, wherein the index entry includes a single occurrence for each document, wherein a document occurrence includes a payload of a serialization of an identifier of category sets associated with the document, and an identifier of the categories belonging to the category sets.

14. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the category set associating component for associating a category set with a document includes assigning an identifier of the category set.

15. The system as claimed in claim 11, including:

an input mechanism for receiving a query request including a query term, a facet request and a category set constraint;

a results mechanism for obtaining a result set of documents for the query term, including;

a category set constraint results component for determining, for each document in the result set, if terms matching the categories from the set constraint occur in the document and, if so, obtaining identifiers of the sets to which each category belongs;

a category set data retriever for obtaining the payload of the index entry for category set data to obtain identifiers of the categories in the identified sets; and

a count component for counting all categories that match the facet request.

16. A method of providing a service to a customer over a network, the service comprising:

having a document set of multiple documents, each document having associated categories to which it belongs;

grouping multiple categories associated with a document into a category set based on a relationship between the multiple categories;

associating the category set with the document; and

indexing the category set for retrieval of documents from categories sharing a category set.