Graphical Structure Document Retrieval Using Topic Annotations

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing document retrieval and recommendation systems face challenges in scalability and relevance, often trading off relevance for the ability to handle large-scale systems effectively, resulting in non-relevant search results.

Innovation Solution

A graphical structure is used to represent people and documents, with nodes connected by edges based on observed interactions, and annotated with topics, allowing for efficient and robust document retrieval and recommendation through a node relatedness calculator and retriever system that computes distances and recommends relevant documents and individuals.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If traditional document retrieval systems are used to handle large-scale document repositories, then the system can scale to process huge numbers of documents, but the relevance of retrieved documents deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenumber of documents in repositoryVSAvoidrelevance of retrieved documents
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces topic annotations as an intermediary layer between documents and users. These topics serve as mediators that capture the semantic meaning of documents, enabling the system to retrieve relevant documents at scale by matching user queries with topic annotations rather than requiring direct analysis of all documents in the repository

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces traditional mechanical search mechanisms (keyword matching, full-text search) with a topic-based semantic representation system. By substituting the mechanical retrieval process with topic annotation and matching, the system achieves both scalability and relevance

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Measurement precision

If more data is collected to improve recommendation accuracy, then the relevance of recommendations improves, but the system becomes less robust to data limitations and errors

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaccuracy of recommendationsVSAvoidrobustness to data limitations
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the parameter representation from raw interaction data to topic annotations. By transforming the data representation, the system becomes less sensitive to data quality issues and more robust to limitations in the available data while maintaining recommendation accuracy

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Quantity of substance

If automated topic calculation is used instead of manual annotation, then the system can scale to process large numbers of documents, but the precision of topic annotations may deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenumber of annotated documentsVSAvoidaccuracy of topic annotations
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements self-service through automated topic calculation where the system generates its own topic annotations without human intervention. The automated process analyzes document content and generates topic tags, enabling the system to scale to large document repositories while maintaining acceptable annotation quality through algorithmic precision

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS9904727B2Document retrieval/identification using topics
Publication Date: 2018.02.27 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC
  • US9904727B2 patent drawing
  • US9904727B2 patent drawing
  • US9904727B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A system for retrieving/identifying a document comprising text stored in a document repository is described. A memory stores a graphical structure comprising a first plurality of nodes each representing a person, and a second plurality of nodes each representing a document in the document repository, the nodes being connected by edges according to automatically observed interactions between the represented people and documents. At least some of the nodes have one or more annotations each denoting a topic. A node relatedness calculator computes distances between nodes of the graphical structure using the topic annotations. An input receives an identifier of a user who is represented by one of the first plurality of nodes. An identifier/retriever identifies one or more documents from the document repository by using the identifier and using the computed distances between nodes.