Cooperative topical servers with automatic prefiltering and routing

• US 6,349,307 B1
• Filed: 12/28/1998
• Issued: 02/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Gula Consulting Limited Liability Company (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Chen, Doreen Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Black, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Veillard, Jacques
• Application Number:
  US09/221,951
• Time in Patent Office: 1,149 Days
• Field of Search: 707/103, 707/3, 707/5, 707/6, 707/104, 707/7, 707/9, 707/10, 709/500, 709/501, 709/218, 709/219
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/355 Class or cluster creation or modification
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99946 Object-oriented database structure network

Abstract

An information organization and retrieval system that efficiently organizes documents for rapid and efficient search and retrieval based upon topical content is presented. The information organization and retrieval system is optimized for the organization and retrieval of only those documents that are relevant to a given set of predefined topics. If a document does not have a topic that is included in the given set of topics, the document is excluded from the provided service. In like manner, if a document includes a topic that is specifically banned from the provided service, it is excluded. In this paradigm, the provider purposely limits the scope of the provided search and retrieval services, but in so doing provides a more efficient and effective service that is targeted to an expected user demand. The information organization and retrieval system also supports context-sensitive search and retrieval techniques, including the use of predefined or user-defined views for augmenting the search criteria, as well as the use of user specific vocabularies. In a preferred embodiment, the select set of topics are organized in multiple overlapping hierarchies, and a distributed software architecture is used to support the topic-based information organization, routing, and retrieval services. Documents may be relevant to one or more topics, and will be associated with each topic via the topical hierarchies that are maintained by the information servers.

Claims

1. An information processing system comprising:

a server having an associated set of server topics,

a topic extractor that is configured to extract a document topic from a source document,

a document selector, operably coupled to the topic extractor, that is configured to identify the source document as a selected document in dependence upon whether the document topic is a member topic of the associated set of server topics of the server, and

a document router, operably coupled to the document selector, that associates the selected document to the member topic.

3. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein

the topic extractor includes a term mapping device that transforms terms in the source document to facilitate the extraction of the document topic.

4. The information processing system of claim 1, further including:

a query service device that identifies the selected document as a found document when a search topic includes the member topic, and

a document retriever, operably coupled to the query service device, that is configured to facilitate the retrieval of the found document when the search topic includes the member topic.

5. The information processing system of claim 4, wherein

the query service device includes a term mapping device that determines the search topic in dependence upon a user query and a user context.

2. The information processing system of claim 2, wherein

the server is one of a plurality of servers, each server of the plurality of servers having an associated set of server topics,

the topic extractor is further configured to extract a plurality of document topics from the source document,

the document selector is further configured to identify each of a plurality of member topics of the associated set of server topics of the plurality of servers that includes at least one of the plurality of document topics, and

the document router is further configured to associate the selected document to said each of the plurality of member topics.

6. A method for creating a document base, comprising the steps of

defining a plurality of topics,

creating a data structure having respective nodes corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of topics,

scanning a document for a member topic that is contained in the plurality of topics, and

associating the document to the node that corresponds to the member topic.

7. The method of claim 6, further including the step of

allocating a respective set of topics within the plurality of topics to a respective one of a plurality of servers.

8. The method of claim 6, further including the step of

creating a translation map of terms,

and wherein the step of scanning the document for the member topic includes a step of

translating the document based on the translation map of terms.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the data structure is a hierarchical data structure.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of scanning the document for the member topic is dependent upon at least one prior determination of the member topic in an other document.

11. A method for enabling the identification of a document, comprising the steps of

enabling a receipt of a search query,

enabling a determination of a search topic based on the search query, the search topic being one of a plurality of predetermined topics,

enabling a determination of a topic node of a data structure corresponding to the search topic,

enabling the identification of the document based on an association of the document to the topic node.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of enabling the determination of the search topic includes the step of

enabling a determination of a user context, and

wherein the determination of the search topic is further dependent upon the user context.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of enabling the determination of the search topic includes the step of

enabling a transformation of the search query based on a map of terms to facilitate the determination of the search topic.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein

the data structure is a hierarchical structure, and

the determination of the search topic is further dependent upon the hierarchical structure.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein

the plurality of predetermined topics is allocated among a plurality of servers, the search topic being associated with one of the plurality of servers,

the determination of the topic node includes a determination of said one of the plurality of servers.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the determination of the search topic is dependent upon at least one prior determination of the search topic corresponding to an other user search query.