Hierarchical data-driven navigation system and method for information retrieval

Abstract

A data-driven, hierarchical information navigation system and method enable search of sets of documents or other materials by certain common attributes that characterize the materials. The invention includes several aspects of a data-driven, hierarchical navigation system that employs this navigation mode. The navigation system of the present invention includes features of an interface, a knowledge base and a taxonomy definition process and a classification process for generating the knowledge base, a graph-based navigable data structure and method for generating the data structure, World Wide Web-based applications of the system, and methods of implementing the system. Users are able to search or browse a particular collection of documents by selecting desired values for the attributes. A data-driven, hierarchical information navigation system and method enable this navigation mode by associating terms with the materials, defining a set of hierarchical relationships among the terms, and providing a guided search mechanism based on the relationship between the terms.

1 . A computer-implemented method for enabling a user to browse information, the method comprising: 
 storing a plurality of attribute-value pairs associated with a collection of materials, wherein each of a plurality of values has an association with at least one of a plurality of attributes characterizing the materials;    displaying a free-text search box;    accepting a search term entered in the free-text search box;    determining the attribute-value pairs that match the search term;    displaying a representation of the matching attribute-value pairs for the search term;    accepting a selection of an initial set of one or more of the matching attribute-value pairs;    entering a first navigation state corresponding to a first set of attribute-value pairs including at least the initial set of matching attribute-value pairs and to a first particular subset of the materials, the first particular subset of the materials consisting of those materials in the collection of materials that are each described by every attribute-value pair in the first set of attribute-value pairs; and    entering a second navigation state in response to a user action, the second navigation state corresponding to a second set of attribute-value pairs and to a second particular subset of the materials, the second set including at least two mutually incomparable attribute-value pairs, the second particular subset of the materials consisting of those materials in the collection of materials that are each described by every attribute-value pair in the second set of attribute-value pairs.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second set of attribute-value pairs includes an attribute-value pair that represents a refinement of the value of an attribute-value pair within the first set of attribute-value pairs.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second set of attribute-value pairs includes an attribute-value pair that represents a generalization of the value of an attribute-value pair within the first set of attribute-value pairs.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising deselecting an attribute-value pair from the first set of attribute-value pairs to obtain the second set of attribute-value pairs.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first particular subset of the materials includes an integrally navigable subset of the collection of materials.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein within the integrally navigable subset of the collection of materials at least one of the materials also belongs to a second integrally navigable subset of the collection of materials.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising presenting navigation options for selection from the first navigation state, the navigation options including refinements of the first set of attribute-value pairs.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising presenting navigation options for selection from the first navigation state, the navigation options including lists of attribute-value pairs, each list corresponding to one of the plurality of attributes.  
   
   
       9 . A computer-implemented method for enabling a user to browse information, the method comprising: 
 storing a plurality of attribute-value pairs associated with a collection of materials, wherein each of a plurality of values has an association with at least one of a plurality of attributes characterizing the materials;    displaying a free-text search box;    accepting a search term entered in the free-text search box;    determining the attribute-value pairs that match the search term;    displaying a representation of the matching attribute-value pairs for the search term;    accepting a selection of a selected set of one or more of the matching attribute-value pairs; and    entering a first navigation state corresponding to a first set of attribute-value pairs including at least the selected set of matching attribute-value pairs and to a first particular subset of the materials, the first set of attribute-value pairs including at least two mutually incomparable attribute-value pairs, the first particular subset of the materials consisting of those materials in the collection of materials that are each described by every attribute-value pair in the first set of attribute-value pairs.    
   
   
       10 . A computer program product, residing on a computer-readable medium, for use in browsing information associated with a collection of materials, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to: 
 access a data structure containing a plurality of attribute-value pairs associated with the materials, wherein each of a plurality of values has an association with at least one of a plurality of attributes characterizing the materials;    display a free-text search box;    accept a search term entered in the free-text search box;    determine the attribute-value pairs that match the search term;    display a representation of the matching attribute-value pairs for the search term;    accept a selection of a selected set of one or more of the matching attribute-value pairs;    enter a first navigation state corresponding to a first set of attribute-value pairs including at least the selected set of one or more matching attribute-value pairs and to a particular subset of the materials, the particular subset of the materials consisting of those materials in the collection of materials that are each described by every attribute-value pair in the first set of attribute-value pairs; and    enter a second navigation state in response to a user action, the second navigation state corresponding to a second set of attribute-value pairs and to a second particular subset of the materials, the second set including at least two mutually incomparable attribute-value pairs, the second particular subset of the materials consisting of those materials in the collection of materials that are each described by every attribute-value pair in the second set of attribute-value pairs.    
   
   
       11 . The computer program product of  claim 10 , wherein some of the attribute-value pairs in the data structure refine other of the attribute-value pairs.  
   
   
       12 . The computer program product of  claim 11 , wherein the second set of attribute-value pairs includes an attribute-value pair that represents a refinement of the value of an attribute-value pair within the first set of attribute-value pairs.