Method, system, and computer program product for concept-based multi-dimensional analysis of unstructured information

• US RE46,973 E1
• Filed: 04/13/2016
• Issued: 07/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CONQ Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Ureveal, inc.
• Inventors: Mohan, Rengaswamy, Mohan, Usha, Sha, David D.
• Primary Examiner(s): DESAI, RACHNA SINGH
• Application Number:
  US15/097,698
• Time in Patent Office: 839 Days
• Field of Search: 707600
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/34 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/36 Creation of semantic tools, e.g. ontology or thesauri
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/30592 Multi-dimensional databases and data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP, ROLAP
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/3061 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F17/30011
• 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, operating model, system, data structure, computer program and computer program product for analyzing and categorizing and exploring or querying unstructured information and for tracking trends and exceptions. Method for analytical processing of unstructured objects in a dimensional space. Method for tracking trends in concepts. Method for tracking exceptions in concepts. Tools and interface for displaying concepts, query results, tracked trends and exceptions.

Claims

1. A computer-based method to allow a user to analyze unstructured objects, comprising:

allowing a user to select a plurality of unstructured objects, at least a portion organized into categories, as a corpus;

allowing the user to select at least one concept to form a concept set; and

displaying a first dimension including at least one of the categories, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each category in the first dimension.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the user to select a first category from the first dimension; and

displaying, in response to the selection of the first category, a second dimension, wherein each unstructured object and/or category of the second dimension is associated with the first category of the first dimension.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the user to select a first concept from the concept set; and

displaying, in response to the selection of the first concept, a second dimension, wherein a presence or absence of the first concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of displaying a second dimension comprises:

allowing the user to combine additional concepts with the first concept to form a second concept set; and

displaying the second dimension, wherein for each concept in the second concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the user to select an indication of the presence or absence of a first concept in a first category of the first dimension; and

displaying, a second dimension, wherein each unstructured object and/or category of the second dimension is associated with the first category of the first dimension, and wherein a presence or absence of the first concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of displaying a second dimension comprises:

allowing the user to combine additional concepts with the first concept to form a second concept set; and

displaying the second dimension, wherein for each concept in the second concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying step comprises:

displaying a category as a folder.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying step comprises:

displaying the presence or absence indications in a matrix, wherein one axis of the matrix lists at least one unstructured object and/or at least one category, the other axis of the matrix lists concepts, and an entry in the matrix indicates the presence or absence of a concept in an unstructured object and/or category.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the entry is a numeric value with zero indicating absence and a value greater than zero indicating a degree of presence.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying step comprises:

displaying the presence or absence indications as a graph chart, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a graph is displayed indicating the presence or absence of the concept among the at least one category of the first dimension.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding an additional unstructured object to the corpus; and

categorizing the additional unstructured object to be associated with a category.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing the user to specify a category for sharing with a second corpus; and

identifying, to the second corpus, an unstructured object associated with the shared category.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

adding the identified unstructured object to the second corpus if the identified unstructured object is not already included in the second corpus.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

adding a reference to the identified unstructured object in the second corpus without duplicating the contents of the identified unstructured object in the second corpus.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

categorizing the identified unstructured object to be associated with at least one category associated with the second corpus.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the second corpus is associated with a second user.

11. A computer-based method to allow a user to analyze unstructured objects, comprising:

allowing a user to select a plurality of unstructured objects as a corpus;

allowing the user to select at least one concept to form a concept set;

allowing the user to select a first dimension, wherein a dimension includes at least one unstructured object from the corpus and/or at least one category;

displaying the first dimension, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the first dimension; and

further comprising the following steps which support online analytical processing (OLAP) requirements of drill down, slice and dice, and graphical analysis;

allowing the user to display a second dimension as a result of selecting a first category from the first dimension, a first concept from the concept set, or a first indication of a presence or absence of a concept from the concept set in an unstructured object or category of the first dimension, thereby supporting drill down;

allowing the user to modify the first dimension, the second dimension or the concept set, thereby supporting slice and dice;

allowing the user to specify a second category for sharing with a second corpus, thereby further supporting slice and dice; and

allowing the user to graphically display information provided in the first dimension or the second dimension, thereby supporting graphical analysis.

13. A computer-based method to allow a user to analyze unstructured objects, comprising:

allowing a user to select a plurality of unstructured objects as a corpus;

allowing the user to select at least one concept to form a concept set;

allowing the user to select a first dimension, wherein a dimension includes at least one unstructured object from the corpus and/or at least one category;

displaying the first dimension, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the first dimension;

adding an additional unstructured object to the corpus; and

categorizing the additional unstructured object to be associated with a category, wherein the categorizing step comprises;

calculating an inverted category ratio and a concept ratio for each concept associated with the additional unstructured object;

calculating a category normalization ratio; and

associating the additional unstructured object with a category based on the inverted category ratio, the concept ratio, and the category normalization ratio.

19. A system to allow a user to analyze unstructured objects, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, wherein the memory stores a plurality of processing instructions for directing the processor to;

allow a user to select a plurality of unstructured objects, at least a portion organized into categories, as a corpus;

allow the user to select at least one concept to form a concept set; and

display a first dimension including at least one of the categories, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each category in the first dimension.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of processing instructions further includes instructions for directing the processor to:

allow the user to select a first category from the first dimension; and

display, in response to the selection of the first category, a second dimension, wherein each unstructured object and/or category of the second dimension is associated with the first category of the first dimension.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of processing instructions further includes instructions for directing the processor to:

allow the user to select a first concept from the concept set; and

display, in response to the selection of the first concept, a second dimension, wherein a presence or absence of the first concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the processing instructions for directing the processor to display a second dimension include instructions for directing the processor to:

allow the user to combine additional concepts with the first concept to form a second concept set; and

display the second dimension, wherein for each concept in the second concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of processing instructions further includes instructions for directing the processor to:

allow the user to select an indication of the presence or absence of a first concept in a first category of the first dimension; and

display a second dimension, wherein each unstructured object and/or category of the second dimension is associated with the first category of the first dimension, and wherein a presence or absence of the first concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the processing instructions for directing the processor to display a second dimension include instructions for directing the processor to:

allow the user to combine additional concepts with the first concept to form a second concept set; and

display the second dimension, wherein for each concept in the second concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein the processing instructions for directing the processor to display a first dimension include instructions for directing the processor to:

display a category as a folder.

26. The system of claim 19, wherein the processing instructions for directing the processor to display a first dimension include instructions for directing the processor to:

display the presence or absence indications in a matrix, wherein one axis of the matrix lists at least one unstructured object and/or at least one category, the other axis of the matrix lists concepts, and an entry in the matrix indicates the presence or absence of a concept in an unstructured object and/or category.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the entry is a numeric value with zero indicating absence and a value greater than zero indicating a degree of presence.

28. The system of claim 19, wherein the processing instructions for directing the processor to display a first dimension include instructions for directing the processor to:

display the presence or absence indications as a graph chart, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a graph is displayed indicating the presence or absence of the concept among the at least one category of the first dimension.

30. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of processing instructions further includes instructions for directing the processor to:

add an additional unstructured object to the corpus; and

categorize the additional unstructured object to be associated with a category.

32. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of processing instructions further includes instructions for directing the processor to:

allow the user to specify a category for sharing with a second corpus; and

identify, to the second corpus, an unstructured object associated with the shared category.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the plurality of processing instructions further includes instructions for directing the processor to:

add the identified unstructured object to the second corpus if the identified unstructured object is not already included in the second corpus.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the plurality of processing instructions further includes instructions for directing the processor to:

add a reference to the identified unstructured object in the second corpus without duplicating the contents of the identified unstructured object in the second corpus.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein the plurality of processing instructions further includes instructions for directing the processor to:

categorize the identified unstructured object to be associated with at least one category associated with the second corpus.

36. The system of claim 32, wherein the second corpus is associated with a second user.

29. A system to allow a user to analyze unstructured objects, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, wherein the memory stores a plurality of processing instructions for directing the processor to;

allow a user to select a plurality of unstructured objects as a corpus;

allow the user to select at least one concept to form a concept set;

allow the user to select a first dimension, wherein a dimension includes at least one unstructured object from the corpus and/or at least one category; and

display the first dimension, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the first dimension,

wherein the plurality of processing instructions supports online analytical processing (OLAP) requirements of drill down, slice and dice and graphical analysis by further including instructions for directing the processor to;

allow the user to display a second dimension as a result of selecting a first category from the first dimension, a first concept from the concept set, or a first indication of a presence or absence of a concept from the concept set in an unstructured object or category of the first dimension, thereby supporting drill down;

allow the user to modify the first dimension, the second dimension or the concept set, thereby supporting slice and dice;

allow the user to specify a second category for sharing with a second corpus, thereby further supporting slice and dice; and

allow the user to graphically display information provided in the first dimension or the second dimension, thereby supporting graphical analysis.

31. A system to allow a user to analyze unstructured objects, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, wherein the memory stores a plurality of processing instructions for directing the processor to;

allow a user to select a plurality of unstructured objects as a corpus;

allow the user to select at least one concept to form a concept set;

allow the user to select a first dimension, wherein a dimension includes at least one unstructured object from the corpus and/or at least one category;

display the first dimension, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the first dimension;

add an additional unstructured object to the corpus; and

categorize the additional unstructured object to be associated with a category, wherein the processing instructions for directing the processor to categorize the additional unstructured object include instructions for directing the processor to;

calculate an inverted category ratio and a concept ratio for each concept associated with the additional unstructured object;

calculate a category normalization ratio; and

associate the additional unstructured object with a category based on the inverted category ratio, the concept ratio, and the category normalization ratio.

37. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to allow a user to analyze unstructured objects, said control logic comprising:

first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow a user to select a plurality of unstructured objects, at least a portion organized into categories, as a corpus;

second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to select at least one concept to form a concept set; and

third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display a first dimension including at least one of the categories, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each category in the first dimension.

38. The computer program product of claim 37, further comprising:

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to select a first category from the first dimension; and

sixth fifth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display, in response to the selection of the first category, a second dimension, wherein each unstructured object and/or category of the second dimension is associated with the first category of the first dimension.

39. The computer program product of claim 37, further comprising:

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to select a first concept from the concept set; and

fifth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display, in response to the selection of the first concept, a second dimension, wherein a presence or absence of the first concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

40. The computer program product of claim 39, wherein the fifth computer readable program code means includes:

sixth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to combine additional concepts with the first concept to form a second concept set; and

seventh computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display the second dimension, wherein for each concept in the second concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

41. The computer program product of claim 37, further comprising:

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to select an indication of the presence or absence of a first concept in a first category of the first dimension; and

fifth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display a second dimension, wherein each unstructured object and/or category of the second dimension is associated with the first category of the first dimension, and wherein a presence or absence of the first concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

42. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein the fifth computer program product means includes:

sixth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to combine additional concepts with the first concept to form a second concept set; and

seventh computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display the second dimension, wherein for each concept in the second concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the second dimension.

43. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the third computer readable program code means includes:

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display a category as a folder.

44. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the third computer readable program code means includes:

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display the presence or absence indications in a matrix, wherein one axis of the matrix lists at least one unstructured object and/or at least one category, the other axis of the matrix lists concepts, and an entry in the matrix indicates the presence or absence of a concept in an unstructured object and/or category.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein the entry is a numeric value with zero indicating absence and a value greater than zero indicating a degree of presence.

46. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the third computer readable program code means includes:

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display the presence or absence indications as a graph chart, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a graph is displayed indicating the presence or absence of the concept among the at least one category of the first dimension.

48. The computer program product of claim 37, further comprising:

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to add an additional unstructured object to the corpus; and

fifth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to categorize the additional unstructured object to be associated with a category.

50. The computer program product of claim 37, further comprising:

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to specify a category for sharing with a second corpus; and

fifth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to identify, to the second corpus, an unstructured object associated with the shared category.

51. The computer program product of claim 50, further comprising:

sixth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to add the identified unstructured object to the second corpus if the identified unstructured object is not already included in the second corpus.

52. The computer program product of claim 50, further comprising:

sixth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to add a reference to the identified unstructured object in the second corpus without duplicating the contents of the identified unstructured object in the second corpus.

53. The computer program product of claim 50, further comprising:

sixth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to categorize the identified unstructured object to be associated with at least one category associated with the second corpus.

54. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein the second corpus is associated with a second user.

47. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to allow a user to analyze unstructured objects, said control logic comprising:

first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow a user to select a plurality of unstructured objects as a corpus;

second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to select at least one concept to form a concept set;

third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to select a first dimension, wherein a dimension includes at least one unstructured object from the corpus and/or at least one category;

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display the first dimension, wherein for each concept in the concept set a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the first dimension; and

fifth computer readable program code means supporting online analytical processing (OLAP) requirements of drill down, slice and dice and graphical analysis, the fifth computer readable program code means comprising;

sixth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to display a second dimension as a result of selecting a first category from the first dimension, a first concept from the concept set, or a first indication of a presence or absence of a concept from the concept set in an unstructured object or category of the first dimension, thereby supporting drill down;

seventh computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to modify the first dimension, the second dimension or the concept set, thereby supporting slice and dice;

eighth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to specify a second category for sharing with a second corpus, thereby further supporting slice and dice; and

ninth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to graphically display information provided in the first dimension or the second dimension, thereby supporting graphical analysis.

49. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having control logic stored therein for causing a computer to allow a user to analyze unstructured objects, said control logic comprising:

first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow a user to select a plurality of unstructured objects as a corpus;

second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to select at least one concept to form a concept set;

third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to select a first dimension, wherein a dimension includes at least one unstructured object from the corpus and/or at least one category;

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display the first dimension, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the first dimension;

fifth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to add an additional unstructured object to the corpus; and

sixth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to categorize the additional unstructured object to be associated with a category, wherein the sixth computer readable program code means includes;

seventh computer readable program code means for causing the computer to calculate an inverted category ratio and a concept ratio for each concept associated with the additional unstructured object;

eighth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to calculate a category normalization ratio; and

ninth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to associate the additional unstructured object with a category based on the inverted category ratio, the concept ratio, and the category normalization ratio.

55. A computer-based method that supports online analytical processing (OLAP) requirements of drill down, slice and dice, and graphical analysis to allow a user to analyze a corpus of unstructured objects, comprising:

allowing the user to select at least one concept to form a concept set;

allowing the user to select a first dimension, wherein a dimension includes at least one unstructured object from the corpus and/or at least one category;

displaying the first dimension, wherein for each concept in the concept set, a presence or absence of the concept is indicated for each unstructured object and/or category in the first dimension;

allowing the user to display a second dimension as a result of selecting a first category from the first dimension, a first concept from the concept set, or a first indication of a presence or absence of a concept from the concept set in an unstructured object or category of the first dimension, thereby supporting drill down;

allowing the user to modify the first dimension, the second dimension or the concept set, thereby supporting slice and dice; and

allowing the user to graphically display information provided in the first dimension or the second dimension, thereby supporting graphical analysis.

56. A computer program product that supports online analytical processing (OLAP) to allow a user to analyze a corpus of unstructured objects, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having control logic stored therein, said control logic comprising:

first computer readable program code means for causing the computer to display a first dimension including at least one concept, at least one category, and at least one indication of a presence or absence of one of the at least one concept in one of the at least one category, wherein a category includes an unstructured object in the corpus;

second computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to display a second dimension as a result of the user selecting one of the at least one category, one of the at least one concept, or one of the at least one indication, thereby supporting drill down;

third computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to modify the at least one concept, thereby supporting slice and dice; and

fourth computer readable program code means for causing the computer to allow the user to graphically display information provided in the first dimension or the second dimension, thereby supporting graphical analysis.