Concept-based trends and exceptions tracking

• US 7,831,559 B1
• Filed: 12/05/2005
• Issued: 11/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: CONQ Incorporated
• Original Assignee: IxReveal Incorporated
• Inventors: Sha, David D., Mohan, Usha, Mohan, Rengaswamy
• Primary Examiner(s): FILIPCZYK, MARCIN R
• Application Number:
  US11/275,048
• Time in Patent Office: 1,800 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707/100, 707/101, 707/200, 707/203, 707/638, 707/695, 707/791, 707/806, 707/953, 707/956, 707/964, 707/999.203, 709/224, 704/10
• US Class Current: 707/638
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/956 Hierarchical
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• 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

Abstract

A method and system for analyzing and categorizing unstructured information and for tracking trends and exceptions by using a user'"'"'s selection of a key concept, wherein the key concept is one or more words or phrases present in the content of an unstructured object that represent an unstructured object.

Claims

1. A computer method for analysis of a corpus of one or more unstructured objects, the corpus having a first composition at a first time and a second composition, different from the first composition, at a second time, the corpus being organized based on a user-defined hierarchy, the user-defined hierarchy defining one or more proper subsets of the corpus interrelated through parent-child relationships, the one or more proper subsets containing one or more unstructured objects, comprising:

receiving a user'"'"'s selection of a key concept, wherein the key concept is one or more words or phrases present in the content of an unstructured object that represent the unstructured object;

if the key concept is present in the corpus at the first time, determining a first degree of presence of the key concept in the corpus at the first time, and if the key concept is absent from the corpus at the first time, determining a first absence of the key concept in the corpus at the first time;

if the key concept is present in the corpus at the second time, determining a second degree of presence of the key concept in the corpus at the second time, and if the key concept is absent from the corpus at the second time, determining a second absence of the key concept in the corpus at the second time; and

displaying an indication of the first degree presence or first absence, and of the second degree of presence or second absence.

2. The computer method of claim 1, wherein the first composition includes a different number of objects than the second composition.

3. The computer method of claim 1, wherein the content of at least one object in the corpus is different at the first time than at the second time.

4. The computer method of claim 1, wherein the corpus includes a first subset and a second subset, the composition of the first subset being associated only with a first time, and the composition of the second subset being associated only with a second time,

the determining a first degree of presence of the key concept in the corpus at the first time includes determining a first degree of presence of the key concept in the first subset of the corpus,

the determining a first absence of the key concept in the corpus at the first time includes determining a first absence of the key concept in the first subset of the corpus,

the determining a second degree of presence of the key concept in the corpus at the second time includes determining a second degree of presence of the key concept in the second subset of the corpus,

the determining a second absence of the key concept in the corpus at the second time includes determining a second absence of the key concept in the second subset of the corpus,

the displaying includes displaying an indication of the first degree of presence or first absence in the first subset, and of the second degree of presence or second absence in the second subset.

5. The computer method of claim 1, wherein the determining a first degree of presence of the key concept in the corpus at the first time includes determining a first degree of presence of the key concept in a proper subset of the corpus, the determining a first absence of the key concept in the corpus at the first time includes determining a first absence of the key concept in the proper subset of the corpus, the determining a second degree of presence of the key concept in the corpus at the second time includes determining a second degree of presence of the key concept in the proper subset of the corpus, and the determining a second absence of the key concept in the corpus at the second time includes determining a second absence of the key concept in the proper subset of the corpus.

6. The computer method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a difference between the first degree of presence and the second degree of presence; and

if the difference exceeds a threshold value, displaying an indication that the difference exceeds the threshold value.

7. A computer method for analysis of a first corpus of unstructured objects having a first composition and being organized based on a first user-defined hierarchy, the first user-defined hierarchy defining one or more proper subsets of unstructured objects in the first corpus interrelated through parent-child relationships, and a second corpus of unstructured objects having a second composition different from the first composition and being organized based on a second user-defined hierarchy defining one or more proper subsets of unstructured objects in the second corpus interrelated through parent-child relationships, comprising:

receiving a user'"'"'s selection of a key concept, the key concept being one or more words or phrases present in the content of an unstructured object that represent the unstructured object;

if the key concept is present in the first corpus, determining a first degree of presence of the key concept in the first corpus, and if the key concept is absent from the first corpus, determining a first absence of the key concept in the first corpus;

if the key concept is present in the second corpus, determining a second degree of presence of the key concept in the second corpus, and if the key concept is absent from the second corpus, determining a second absence of the key concept in the second corpus;

determining a difference between the first degree of presence or first absence in the first corpus and the second degree of presence or second absence in the second corpus; and

if the difference exceeds a threshold value, displaying an indication that the difference exceeds the threshold value.

8. The computer method of claim 7, wherein the first composition is associated with a first time and the second composition is associated with a second time,

the determining a first degree of presence of the key concept in the first corpus includes determining a first degree of presence at the first time, and

the determining a second degree of presence of the key concept in the second corpus includes determining a second degree of presence at the second time.