Computing the value of information between concepts

A computer program product, comprising one or more computer readable hardware storage devices having computer readable program code stored therein, said program code containing instructions executable by one or more processors of a computer system to implement a method for computing a value between two concepts in a schema containing a plurality of concepts which are linked to each other through associations, said method comprising:

• receiving, by the one or more processors, a result from a search engine resulting from a search query submitted to the search engine, said result comprising a schema S containing n concepts C1, C2 . . . Ci . . . Cn linked by associations, each such association forming a link in a chain connecting any two concepts of the n concepts, each such association having at least one semantic distance set in a range lying between a minimum semantic distance which indicates the two concepts are completely similar and a maximum semantic distance which indicates the two concepts are completely dissimilar, so that a semantic distance can be determined between said any two concepts of the n concepts by summing the at least one semantic distance between the two concepts, wherein the number of links in the chain that connects the concept C1 with another concept of the n concepts is a topological distance;
• computing, by the or more processors, an informational distance between the concept C1 and the concept Ci+1 (i=1, 2, . . . , n−1);
• computing, by the one or more processors for i=1, 2, . . . , n−1, an information value between the concept C1 and the concept Ci+1, wherein the information value between the concept C1 and the concept Ci+1 depends on the semantic distance between the concept Ci and the concept Ci+1 and the informational distance between the concept C1 and the concept Ci;
• if the concept Ci and the concept Ci+1 are separated by an association with a semantic distance above a threshold value, and are hence dissimilar concepts, then said one or more processors computing the informational distance between the concept C1 and the concept Ci according to a closeness using a first function that increases with topological distance between the concepts C1 and Ci and gives a lower informational distance with lower semantic distance between the concepts C1 and Ci;
• if the concept Ci and the concept Ci+1 are not separated by the association with a semantic distance above the threshold value, and are hence similar concepts, then said one or more processors computing the informational distance between the concept C1 and the concept Ci according to a remoteness using a second function that increases with topological distance between the concepts C1 and Ci and gives a lower informational distance with higher semantic distance between the concepts C1 and Ci;
• and
• outputting, by the one or more processors, the information value between the concept C1 and the concept Ci+1.

A computer system, comprising one or more processors, one or more memories, and one or more computer readable hardware storage devices, said one or more hardware storage device containing program code executable by the one or more processors via the one or more memories to implement a method for computing a value between two concepts in a schema containing a plurality of concepts which are linked to each other through associations, said method comprising:

• receiving, by the one or more processors, a result from a search engine resulting from a search query submitted to the search engine, said result comprising a schema S containing n concepts C1, C2 . . . Ci . . . Cn linked by associations, each such association forming a link in a chain connecting any two concepts of the n concepts, each such association having at least one semantic distance set in a range lying between a minimum semantic distance which indicates the two concepts are completely similar and a maximum semantic distance which indicates the two concepts are completely dissimilar, so that a semantic distance can be determined between said any two concepts of the n concepts by summing the at least one semantic distance between the two concepts, wherein the number of links in the chain that connects the concept C1 with another concept of the n concepts is a topological distance;
• computing, by the or more processors, an informational distance between the concept C1 and the concept Ci+1 (i=1, 2, . . . , n−1);
• computing, by the one or more processors for i=1, 2, . . . , n−1, an information value between the concept C1 and the concept Ci+1, wherein the information value between the concept C1 and the concept Ci+1 depends on the semantic distance between the concept Ci and the concept Ci+1 and the informational distance between the concept C1 and the concept Ci;
• if the concept Ci and the concept Ci+1 are separated by an association with a semantic distance above a threshold value, and are hence dissimilar concepts, then said one or more processors computing the informational distance between the concept C1 and the concept Ci according to a closeness using a first function that increases with topological distance between the concepts C1 and Ci and gives a lower informational distance with lower semantic distance between the concepts C1 and Ci;
• if the concept Ci and the concept Ci+1 are not separated by the association with a semantic distance above the threshold value, and are hence similar concepts, then said one or more processors computing the informational distance between the concept C1 and the concept Ci according to a remoteness using a second function that increases with topological distance between the concepts C1 and Ci and gives a lower informational distance with higher semantic distance between the concepts C1 and Ci;
• and
• outputting, by the one or more processors, the information value between the concept C1 and the concept Ci+1.