Hitmask for querying hierarchically related content entities

• US 6,839,701 B1
• Filed: 01/21/2000
• Issued: 01/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines SA (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Hartman, Robert C. Jr., Murray, Janet L., Kao, I-Ming, Baer, William J., Robertson, Jerry D. III
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Shahid
• Assistant Examiner(s): WOO, ISAAC M
• Application Number:
  US09/489,133
• Time in Patent Office: 1,810 Days
• Field of Search: 707/516, 707/3, 707/515, 707/4, 707/1, 707/2, 707/5, 707/6, 707/7, 715/514, 715/515, 715/516
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

A web-based system, method and program product are provided for searching a content object (e.g., a custom compilation or prepublished work) stored in a data repository as a group of hierarchically related content entities. Each noncontainer content object is stored as a separate entity in the data repository. Each content entity is also stored as a row in a digital library index class as a collection of attributes and references to related content entities and containers. Each noncontainer content object is preferably stored as a separate entity in the data repository. Each content entity is also stored as a row in a digital library index class as a collection of attributes and references to related content entities. Each container and noncontainer is associated with a unique identifier that includes hierarchical information about its position in the hierarchy. Queries are executed on the hierarchical containers and noncontainers through an application or user-interface. The results of the independent searches are merged using hit masks. A hit mask is a string of bits, each bit representing a query. For each container and noncontainer in the result set, a hit mask is generated and ones of the bits are set to indicate which of the queries the container or noncontainer satisfies. Container hit masks are OR-ed with their child containers and/or noncontainers to reflect inheritance. Containers and noncontainers with all bits set comprise the merged result set.

Claims

1. In a data repository containing a plurality of hierarchically related content entities, a method for combining search results obtained for a plurality of queries, the queries being performed on entities of different hierarchical levels, comprising the steps of:

associating each entity with an identifier containing information about the hierarchical relationship of that entity to others of the entities;

for each entity in a result set, generating a hit mask comprising n bits, where n equals the number of queries, each bit corresponding to one of the queries, and wherein a value of ‘

1’

for any bit indicates that the entity is a hit for the corresponding query; and

using the entity identifiers to determine if any entity of the result set is a container entity that contains other entities in the result, if so, logically OR-ing the hit mask of the container entity with the hit masks of those entities in the result sets contained within the container entity.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of returning only those entities whose hit mask bits are all 1'"'"'s.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchically related content entities further comprise a parent container type and a child container type, wherein parent containers can contain child containers, and child containers can contain content entities.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein an identifier associated with each entity has the following format:

parentcontainerref.childcontainerref.contententityref

where parentcontainerref is a reference to a parent container, childcontainerref is a reference to a child container and contententityref is a reference to a content entity, thereby indicating the hierarchical level of the entity.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the parent container type is a book, the child container type is a chapter, and the content entity is a section.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of creating a row in an entity table for each entity, each row including the entity'"'"'s identifier.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying an entity, which in combination with its hierarchically related child entities satisfies the plurality of queries, by locating an entity with a logically OR-ed hit mask in which all bits are set to ‘

1’

.

8. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for combining search results obtained for a plurality of queries performned on entities of different hierarchical levels, the entities being stored in a data repository, comprising the steps of:

associating each entity with an identifier containing information about the hierarchical relationship of that entity to others of the entities;

for each entity in a result set, generating a hit mask comprising n bits, where n equals the number of queries, each bit corresponding to one of the queries, and wherein a value of ‘

1’

for any bit indicates that the entity is a hit for the corresponding query; and

using the entity identifiers to determine if any entity of the result set is a container entity that contains other entities in the result, if so, logically OR-ing the hit mask of the container entity with the hit masks of those entities in the result sets contained within the container entity.

9. The program storage device of claim 8, further comprising the step of returning only those entities whose hit mask bits are all 1'"'"'s.

10. The program storage device of claim 8, wherein the entities further comprise a parent container type and a child container type, wherein parent containers can contain child containers, and child containers can contain content entities.

11. The program storage device of claim 10, wherein an identifier associated with each entity has the following format:

parentcontainerref.childcontainerref.contententityref

where parent containerref is a reference to a parent container, childcontainerref is a reference to a child container and contententityref is a reference to a content entity, thereby indicating the hierarchical level of the entity.

12. The program storage device of claim 9, wherein the parent container type is a book, the child container type is a chapter, and the content entity is a section.

13. The program storage device of claim 8, further comprising the step of creating a row in an entity table for each entity, each row including the entity'"'"'s identifier.

14. The program storage device of claim 8, further comprising the step of identifying an entity, which in combination with its hierarchically related child entities satisfies the plurality of queries, by locating an entity with a logically OR-ed hit mask in which all bits are set to ‘

1’

.

15. A system for querying a plurality of hierarchically related content entities and combining search results obtained, comprising:

a data repository for storing the plurality of hierarchically related content entities;

means for associating each entity with an identifier containing information about the hierarchical relationship of that entity to others of the entities;

means for generating a hit mask for each entity in a result set, the hit mask comprising n bits, where n equals the number of queries, each bit corresponding to one of the queries, and wherein a value of ‘

1’

for any bit indicates that the entity is a hit for the corresponding query; and

means for determining from the entity identifiers if any entity of the result set is a container entity that contains other entities in the result, if so, logically OR-ing the hit mask of the container entity with the hit masks of those entities in the result sets contained within the container entity.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising means for returning only those entities whose hit mask bits are all 1 '"'"'s.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the hierarchically related content entities further comprise a parent container type and a child container type, wherein parent containers can contain child containers, and child containers can contain content entities.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein an identifier associated with each entity has the following format:

parentcontainerref.childcontainerref.contententityref

where parent containerref is a reference to a parent container, childcontainerref is a reference to a child container and contententityref is a reference to a content entity, thereby indicating the hierarchical level of the entity.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the parent container type is a book, the child container type is a chapter, and the content entity is a section.

20. The system of claim 15, further comprising means for creating a row in an entity table for each entity, each row including the entity'"'"'s identifier.

21. The system of claim 15, further comprising a means for identifying an entity, which in combination with its hierarchically related child entities satisfies the plurality of queries, by locating an entity with a logically OR-ed hit mask in which all bits are set to ‘

1’

.