US 7,624,130 B2Granted

System and method for exploring a semantic file network

AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation

InventorsZheng Chen, Lei Li, Chenxi Lin, Qiaoling Liu, Jian Wang, Benyu Zhang

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Abstract

Extraction of semantic information and the generation of semantic attributes allows for improved organization and management of data. Semantic attributes are automatically generated and eliminate the need for manual entry of attribute information. A semantic file network may further be constructed based on similarities between files that are based on the semantic attribute information. Semantic links representing a semantic relationship may be built between similar or relevant files. In addition, user operations and user operation patterns may also be considered in building the file network. Semantic attributes and information may further facilitate browsing the file systems as well as improve the accuracy and speed of queries.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor perform a method for determining a level of relevance between a first file and a query, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying one or more attributes associated with a first file;
identifying one or more attributes associated with a query;
for each of a plurality of second files, identifying one or more attributes associated with the second file, wherein each of the plurality of second files is associated with the first file;
determining mutual information shared by the first file and the query based on a comparison of the one or more attributes associated with the first file and the one or more attributes associated with the query, wherein the mutual information corresponds to the measure of the amount of information that a first random variable contains about a second random variable and wherein the first random variable corresponds to the first file and the second random variable corresponds to the query;
and
determining a similarity between the first file and the query based on the following equation:
S
⁡
(
q
,
f
)
=
a
*
I
⁡
(
q
,
f
)
+
(
1
-
a
)
*
∑
<
e
,
f
>
∈
E
⁢
S
⁡
(
q
,
e
)
where q represents the query, f represents the first file, e represents a second file, <e,f>εE represents the plurality of second files, S(q,f) represents similarity between q and f, S(q,e) represents similarity between q and a second file e, I(q,f) represents the determined mutual information shared by the first file and the query, and a represents a weight;
and determining a level of relevance between the first file and the query based on the similarity
wherein determining a level of relevance between the first file and the query includes weighting the mutual information shared by the first file and query differently than the mutual information shared by the query and the second file.

46 more elements

A computer readable medium storing computer readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method for building links in a file network by a method that comprises:

creating links between files by
identifying one or more attributes associated with a first file;
identifying one or more attributes associated with a second file;
determining a level of similarity between the first file and the second file based on a comparison of the one or more attributes associated with the first file and the one or more attributes associated with the second file;
when it is determined that the level of similarity is above a threshold, creating a link between the first file and the second file;
when it is determined that the level of similarity is not above the threshold,
analyzing user operation patterns of accessing the first file and the second file to determine whether a semantic relationship exists between the first file and the second file;
and
when it is determined that a semantic relationship exists between the first file and the second file, creating a link between the first file and the second file;
destroying a created link between the first file and the second file when a modification to an attribute of the first file results in the level of similarity being not above the threshold and when user operation patterns indicate that a semantic relationship does not exist between the first file and the second file;
and
generating a user interface comprising
a first portion displaying a selected file;
and
a second portion displaying one or more files associated with the selected file, wherein the one or more files are semantically related with the selected file as indicated by the created links.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/392,640Filed 30 Mar 2006
Published: US 2007/0239792 A111 Oct 2007
Granted: 24 Nov 2009
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

G06F 16/313
Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures: selection or weighting of terms for indexing
Y10S 707/99936
Query processing, i.e. searching: pattern matching access
Y10S 707/99953
Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users: recoverability
Y10S 707/99954
Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users: version management