Query generation system for an information retrieval system

Inventors

Copps, David S. • Jernigan, Stephen S. • Keys, Adam K.

Assignees

Brainspace Corp

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the disclosure, a query generation system generally includes an element rank and inference engine in communication with a computing system and a user interface. The element rank and inference engine is operable to receive a user supplied element from the user interface, the user supplied element being associated with a first filter criterion. The element rank and inference engine is also operable to create, using the first filter criterion, at least one second element and rank according to their relative importance, the at least one first element and the at least one second element according to their associated first filter criterion and second filter criterion. Next, the element rank and inference engine may output the at least one first filter element and the second filter element to the computing system.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to a query generation system that receives a plurality of user-supplied data objects from a user interface and displays those user-supplied data objects together with one or more inferred data objects. The system derives the one or more inferred data objects using latent semantic analysis based on the plurality of user-supplied data objects, and it ranks elements and infers additional elements or super-elements by relative importance.

The system further receives user-specified filter criteria from the user interface for the plurality of user-supplied data objects and the one or more inferred data objects. In response, visual characteristics of the displayed user-supplied and inferred data objects are modified according to the user-specified filter criteria, and the system supports marking required elements and adding or removing elements for visual modification of the filter criteria, including spatial order and other visual characteristics.

Finally, the system generates a query using the user-supplied data objects, the one or more inferred data objects, and the user-specified filter criteria. The generated query is based on the modified representations of the user-supplied and inferred data objects in the interactive element display portion, and filtered results are produced by transmitting the query to a search engine.

Claims Coverage

The document provides three independent claims covering a system, a method, and computer-readable storage media implementing the same core query-generation workflow. Across these independent claims, there are five main inventive elements: receiving user-supplied data objects, deriving inferred data objects using latent semantic analysis, displaying both sets in a user interface, receiving user-specified filter criteria that modify visual characteristics, and generating a query using the data objects and filter criteria.

Across the independent claims, the coverage centers on interactive query generation in which latent semantic analysis derives inferred data objects from user-supplied data objects, both are displayed in a user interface, user-specified filter criteria modify visual characteristics of the displayed objects, and a query is generated using the user-supplied objects, the inferred objects, and the filter criteria.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications

No documented applications found