Citation Recommendation via Topic Modeling

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current textual data search methods, particularly in literature searches, face inefficiencies due to the difficulty in formulating accurate search queries, leading to time-consuming processes and poor results from vocabulary mismatches between queries and relevant documents.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of a 'wisdom of crowds' feature based on citation networks and content similarity, utilizing Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) for topic modeling, to improve citation recommendation systems by assessing topical similarity and aggregate likelihood of citation, thereby enhancing document retrieval accuracy.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If traditional keyword-based search queries are used, then the search process is simple to implement, but the search accuracy deteriorates due to vocabulary mismatches between queries and relevant documents

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesearch accuracyVSAvoidsearch system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces topic models as an intermediary layer between user queries and document collection. Instead of directly matching keywords, the system transforms both queries and documents into topic space using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), where queries are represented as distributions over topics and documents are represented as mixtures of topics. This intermediary representation resolves vocabulary mismatch by capturing semantic meaning beyond exact keyword matches.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes the representation parameters from discrete keywords to continuous topic distributions. By representing queries and documents in terms of topic proportions rather than exact word matches, the system enables flexible semantic matching that accommodates vocabulary variations while maintaining search accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Measurement precision

If multiple features are collected to improve search accuracy, then the search precision improves, but the system complexity and data collection requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecitation recommendation accuracyVSAvoidfeature collection complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and focuses on two critical features that have the most impact on citation recommendation accuracy: topical similarity and aggregate likelihood of being cited. By selecting only these essential features rather than collecting all possible document attributes, the system achieves high accuracy while minimizing data collection and processing complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses partial action by computing topic distributions for all documents in the collection and then selectively applying citation likelihood calculations only to relevant candidates. This approach avoids the excessive computation that would result from evaluating all possible features for all documents, achieving accuracy with reduced computational overhead.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

3Productivity

If the search query is not accurately formulated, then the searching process becomes time consuming, but improving query formulation increases the user's time investment

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesearch efficiencyVSAvoiduser time investment
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent enables self-service by automatically transforming user queries into topic distributions without requiring users to manually formulate complex search queries or select specific keywords. The system handles the query transformation and topic modeling automatically, allowing users to input simple queries while the system performs the complex analytical work of converting them into effective search representations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS10747759B2System and method for conducting a textual data search
Publication Date: 2020.08.18 CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
  • US10747759B2 patent drawing
  • US10747759B2 patent drawing
  • US10747759B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A system and a method for conducting a textual data search includes receiving a search query associated with a search topic; analyzing the search query to determine at least one attribute of the search topic; processing the at least one attribute and a plurality of articles in a database; and identifying one or more results being relevant to the search topic in the plurality of articles in the database.