US005940821A [ii] Patent Number: [45] Date of Patent:
[54] INFORMATION PRESENTATION IN A KNOWLEDGE BASE SEARCH AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM
[75] Inventor: Kelly Wical, San Carlos, Calif.
[73] Assignee: Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, Calif.
[21] Appl. No.: 08/861,650 [22] Filed: May 21, 1997
[51] Int. CI.6 G06F 17/30
[52] U.S. CI 707/3; 707/4; 707/5
[58] Field of Search 707/1, 2, 3, 4,
707/5
[56] References Cited
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OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Cox, John '"Text-Analysis' Server to Simplify Queries",
Communications Week, Apr. 19, 1993 pp. 1-3.
Primary Examiner—-Thomas G. Black
Assistant Examiner—Frantz Coby
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Fleisler, Dubb, Meyer & Lovejoy
LLP
[57] ABSTRACT
A knowledge base search and retrieval system, which includes factual knowledge base queries and concept knowledge base queries, is disclosed. A knowledge base stores associations among terminology/categories that have a lexical, semantical or usage association. Document theme vectors identify the content of documents through themes as well as through classification of the documents in categories that reflects what the documents are primarily about. The factual knowledge base queries identify, in response to an input query, documents relevant to the input query through expansion of the query terms as well as through expansion of themes. The concept knowledge base query does not identify specific documents in response to a query, but specifies terminology that identifies the potential existence of documents in a particular area.
43 Claims, 22 Drawing Sheets
I Generate senses and distinct parts from query |—400
T ,
I Generate query term strengths k~402
r
I Expand query terms using knowledge base |-^~ 405
Select categories in knowledge base
identified by expanded query terms
i .
Select documents classified for those categories 1^420
T \
I Select themes from documents |—430
I Sort and compile information by theme I—^ 440
T
I List themes in order of strongest themes I— 450
_
Select top themes from additional documents based on predetermined criteria
I .
Organize themes in groups L~ 4^5
T ,
| Order theme groups k~470
I Order documents within groups I— 475
7;
Display groups and associated document names I—480 I Display categories classified for documents 485
Cm")
