EP1859371A1 - Structure de donnees a liaisons croisees, base de donnees a liaisons croisees et systeme et procede pour organiser et recuperer des informations - Google Patents

Structure de donnees a liaisons croisees, base de donnees a liaisons croisees et systeme et procede pour organiser et recuperer des informations

Info

Publication number
EP1859371A1
EP1859371A1 EP06735377A EP06735377A EP1859371A1 EP 1859371 A1 EP1859371 A1 EP 1859371A1 EP 06735377 A EP06735377 A EP 06735377A EP 06735377 A EP06735377 A EP 06735377A EP 1859371 A1 EP1859371 A1 EP 1859371A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
user
contexts
topics
topic
content
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP06735377A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Wayne Chiwoei Lo
Ru Tso Luo-Hsu
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Infomato
Original Assignee
Infomato
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US11/294,969 external-priority patent/US7480669B2/en
Priority claimed from US11/339,766 external-priority patent/US20060195461A1/en
Application filed by Infomato filed Critical Infomato
Publication of EP1859371A1 publication Critical patent/EP1859371A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
    • G06F16/90—Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
    • G06F16/904—Browsing; Visualisation therefor

Definitions

  • the present invention generally relates to organization and retrieval of stored digital content (such as, but not limited to, records in database, documents, web pages, merchandise, people contact information, to-do, task, book information, audio files, video files, emails, instant messages, maps, graphic/picture files, photo files, folders, machine codes or machine scripts, an application specific files, application scripts, etc.) and human motives (such as, but not limited to, thoughts, meanings, preferences, priorities, objectives, goals, project structures, planning ideas, intentions, wishes, action items, decisions, conclusions, moods, motivations, sequences, questions, etc ), e.g., on personal computers, on computer networks, on the web, on central databases, in the notebook, etc.
  • stored digital content such as, but not limited to, records in database, documents, web pages, merchandise, people contact information, to-do, task, book information, audio files, video files, emails, instant messages, maps, graphic/picture files, photo files, folders, machine codes or machine scripts, an application specific files, application
  • the present invention also generally relates to integration of human motives with the stored digital content.
  • the present invention also generally relates to processes that enable systematical and easy update stored information organization to cope with the fast evolving and diversified human motives and digital content collection.
  • the present invention also generally relates to processes that enable viewing and retrieving the organization of stored information from different perspectives that driven by user's circumstantial needs. More particularly, the present invention is related to a crosslink data structure, crosslink database, and systems and methods of organizing and retrieving digital content and human motives.
  • Description of Related Art There are five basic platforms that we generally used in the prior art to retrieve and/or store information (that includes digital content and motives). Each platform has its strengths in meeting certain basic needs of storing and retrieving information:
  • Search engine desktop and internet: Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves, Corpenic, etc.
  • Tree structure and tagging Microsoft folder structure, organization chart, build of materials, merchandise lookup for tree structure and tagging for Flikr.com and del.icio.us.
  • Hyperlink Web pages, MS documents, PDF documents.
  • Conventional database Email tools, files in a folder, customer records in
  • the solution is not to acquire the fortune telling ability but the ability to easily revise information and information data structure.
  • Computers generally interface to one or more storage devices, including for example, removable or non-removable storage media such as floppy disks, hard drives, CD ROMs, digital versatile or video disks (DVD) and the like. These storage media may be local or on a network accessed by the computer, and used to store and retrieve various types of information, generally under a file folder format. For example, when a user creates a document with an application program, the document can be saved as a data file on the storage media. A request is sent from the application program to an operating system executing in the computer, and the operating system in turn sends a request to the storage device to store the data under a given specific file name.
  • removable or non-removable storage media such as floppy disks, hard drives, CD ROMs, digital versatile or video disks (DVD) and the like.
  • These storage media may be local or on a network accessed by the computer, and used to store and retrieve various types of information, generally under a file folder format. For example, when a user create
  • the storage device then stores the data as part of a file on the storage media at a specific location under the given specific file path (file name, folder names and file server name).
  • the user may then, on a later stage, retrieve the data via the operating system and/or network file sharing/transmitting protocols; further manipulate the document, and then update/resave the data.
  • the user needs to decide on where to store the document and decide what name to give the document.
  • the user needs to recall where the document was stored and under what name it was stored. Consequently, when the number of files and folders increases, the user may experience difficulty in locating a specific document and may make several searching efforts in an attempt to locate the document.
  • a new folder e.g., 1010
  • "Melody” folder can be placed under "family album” to collect pictures of Melody, or it can be placed under the "2004 Trips” to collect all pictures of Melody taken during 2004 trips, or under "Ski Trip", to collect all Melody's pictures taken during ski trips, etc.
  • Tagging is like a virtual folder.
  • the single version of a file can be simultaneously tagged by several tags. This function is equivalent to placing the file alias into multiple virtual folders without the need of duplicating the file. Therefore, this file is accessible within all the virtual folders where the alias resides.
  • the tagging technology saves user's effort for creating a virtual folder named, creating the file alias and placing the alias inside the folder. The user simply points to the file and assigns a tag, and it is done. However, fundamentally it inherits the same issues as a tree structure. Tagging provides the user a more convenience way of implementing the old scheme. When implements too many tags, it becomes scattered like too many loose folders of very shallow depth.
  • a notebook that records information in a chronicle order is widely adopted to log events that arrive chronically. This form of information is useful for review of what has happened in the near term, follow-up, and to-do. It also servers handy for the user to temporary store the information and convert it to other forms when time is adequate. This type of information is rigidly organized by chronicle order, otherwise lacks of structure. It is important for the user to remember the approximate date when the information is recorded in order to retrieve the information.
  • Email system is a combination of all information platforms. On one hand it is similar to a notebook that by default, stores information in chronicle order. On the other hand it provides a simple database that let the users sort information by the sending/receiving party, date, and subject. In addition, it let users organize the information by folder tree structure and tags. Email system, however, merely gives its user to view the information in different information form. It still inherits the same problems from each individual platform. When organize emails in folders, it suffers the same issue of not addressing interrelated relationship. When view it in chronicle order, it lacks logical and human motive information. Remote Access - Internet
  • Computers also generally access data stored on remote locations, such as via the Internet. Due to the proliferation of the Internet, an overwhelmingly large volume of information is available to computer users. However, finding, processing, organizing and storing the influx of this large volume of information is problematic.
  • One approach is to store the information in a conventional database in a desired structure form where information is required to fit a set of prescribed parameters. For example, bank accounts websites are normally organized in a conventional database manner, so that information can be presented in the form of related tables (each similar to a spreadsheet).
  • Another approach is to use a tree type structure. Retail merchant websites are normally organized in such a manner. For example, car-parts retail websites make the user follow a decision tree by asking the user to chose a model year, car maker, car model, etc, leading the user through a decision tree to the appropriate part for purchase.
  • the user at a later time tries to retrieve an article of which he knows the author and the conference in which the author presented the paper, but he is unsure of the exact subject matter. This will present a challenge to the user to retrieve the article - the user will have to either comb through articles of various subject matters, or perform a global search and hope that the number of returned results is not too large.
  • a digital content may not contain the user's personal motives, for instance, a public web page, someone else's emails or documents, merchandise information, commercial music and videos, photos, books, etc.
  • the user's motives are often personal, diversified, unstructured.
  • the user may constantly rewrite the motives in documents, in emails, in the digital content name and folder structures, data in an application, paper notebook, yellow stickers, napkins, or loose papers.
  • search engines are often brought in to search the digital content and motives that have become scattered and massy. But it is ineffective and time consuming to achieve the objectives of this invention.
  • the issues are that the user needs to intelligently drive the search engine in order to retrieve relevant and meaningful motives.
  • Search engine can bring in information containing the keywords. But many of the relevant information does not containing the motive keywords.
  • the vendor's standard part specification may be used for a specific engineering task but it is not mentioned in the document because the specification is for general purpose. Because many digital content does not contain the user's personal meanings, the user often do not remember what keywords to use to retrieve the data.
  • Search engine often brings in too many irrelevant or obsolete data; it cannot help to construct the structure and interrelationship between motives and digital content. It relies on the user to have the pre-knowledge of this interrelationship and painstakingly review pieces of search results and manually construct the information structure.
  • Some application like Microsoft Project tie deliveries, and tasks/to-do, milestones together with resources and time for a project. It provides an effective mean for drawing interdependency between tasks, deadlines/milestones and available resources. However, it is limited when used to address complex interrelationship between tasks, to-do (human motives) and digital content.
  • an engineering task may need to consider the marketing requirements from several customers, preliminary experimental data and research reports from literatures.
  • a marketing milestone may involve feeding back engineering progress to the customers and it may involve multiple emails exchange with the engineering departments, business decision makers, and several customers.
  • a manufacture task may require an engineering change order (ECO) and multiple follow up with vendors, while an engineering task may be related to multiple emails exchange with manufacture engineers who express concerns on phasing out existing inventory parts, availability of the parts and tight schedule.
  • ECO engineering change order
  • the complexity glows with the size of the projects and the number of people/departments involved in the project.
  • Prior art interrelated/crosslink data structure The complex cross relationship between data has been used in several applications to address none hierarchical (tree) type data structure.
  • ThinkPad.com's technology was utilized by Visualthesaurus.com to express the complex relationship between related words and topics (a multiple word text string). For instance, when one looks up keyword "legal” (101B, Fig. IB), it shows related words like "law”, "illegal”, “judicial”, etc.
  • the system shows related words like “justice”, “judge”, “discriminative”, etc (Fig. 1C).
  • the dictionary meaning of the keyword is also shown (102D, Fig. ID).
  • TheBrain.com employs a similar technology for a user to manage their complex interrelated digital content and thoughts. Topics and digital content can be cross-linked. Like the dictionary words, when inquire about a topic (101F, Fig. IF), it shows the related topics (102F) and digital content (103F) in a visual map. When clicks on a content member, the details of the data content is displayed. Both companies demonstrate the applications of a none-hierarchical data structure and present this structure using a visual map.
  • this data structure may create multiple similar topics or keywords that are difficult for the user to keep track of.
  • topic suggests other topics that share the same first word. If a user first enters a second word of a topic, this topic will not be suggested.
  • topics by itself lacks context.
  • the user may grasp the meaning of a folder with the help of the folder tree. Try to stay on the track of thought or gain an integrative view of the information would have been much more difficult when compares to a tree structure.
  • a user may easily get lost after following a few leads in this type of data structure.
  • An example is shown in Fig. IE when "true" is inquired.
  • it lacks of priority or weight between related elements because of no hierarchy. When compares to a tree data structure, it suffers many short comings in exchange for the ability to crosslink.
  • Each tag may be a plurality of words just like that in Visulathesaurus. For instance, when one selects the tag “tech,” it returns “blog", “technology”, “news, web”, “software”, “geek”, “tools”, “reference”, “programming", “blogs", and “daily”.
  • web site 43things.com relates activities (each described by a topic) together like the dictionary words in Visualthesaurus. To emphasize a topic, it increases its font size, for instance, see 101E, Fig. IE. Flikr.com uses similar scheme for their users to relate a topic to a group of photos. Google "GMail” and Apple “Mail” let their users to relate a topic (tag) with a group of emails.
  • Tagging technology allows a file to be associating with a plurality of tags: File 1 is associating with ice cream and recipe via the "connections" 4510, and 4520; file 2 is associating recipe, sushi and Japanese cooking via the "connections" 4530, 4540 and 4550; file 3 is associating with recipe and chemical database via the "connections" of 4560 and 4570.
  • the recipe tag 4500 is associating with file 1, file 2 and file 3 via the "connections" of 4520, 4530 and 4560.
  • the recipe tag is also associating with other tags that are associating with these three files via the associations with file 1, file 3 and file 3: ice cream, sushi, Japanese cooking, and chemical database.
  • file 1, file 3 and file 3 ice cream, sushi, Japanese cooking, and chemical database.
  • file 1 file 3 and file 3: ice cream, sushi, Japanese cooking, and chemical database.
  • Only three files are involved. But it may have confused the user why ice cream and chemical database are related at all.
  • This drawbacks may be seen in del.ico.us, 43things.com, and flickr.com where webpage bookmarks, blogs, or photos are tagged, when the number of digital contents are involved, the association of tags are in large number and often are confusing and incomprehensible.
  • the other issue with tagging is that it allows one to inquire about one digital content or one tag in a time. It does not allow progressively narrowing the tags like following a tree structure.
  • the database table 4510B contains a plurality of records; each record represents a "connection" between the files and the tags in Fig. 45A.
  • record nl represents the connection 4510 between File 1 and ice cream.
  • a filter is applied to find any records that containing the File 1 file; in this case records nl and n2, therefore, the tags of ice cream and recipe.
  • a filter is applied to find any records containing the recipe tag; in this case, records n2, n3, n6, therefore, file 1, file 2 and file 3 are retrieved; name the outcome as table A.
  • To find the association of other tags with the recipe tag retrieve any records that containing in table A: file 1, file 2 and file 3. This step is a common operation in database by joint table between the file data field of table A and the file data field of original table.
  • Figure 44 briefly summarizes the deficiency of all existing systems and methods for integrating digital content and motives that store in different platforms: Search Engines:
  • Tree structure has a rigid hierarchy. When information is interrelated, hierarchy logic breaks down.
  • All input information must be structured according to the rigid requirements (format) of the database. It is not suitable to handle diversified information and information that evolves and needs constant restructuring.
  • the present invention is directed to a crosslink data structure, crosslink database, systems and methods for meaningfully and timely organizing information (including digital content and human motives) so that any specific data and the scope of other data related to the specific data may be easily retrieved for reviewing and/or updating/revising purpose.
  • the present invention is directed to a crosslink data structure, crosslink database, systems and methods for meaningfully and timely organizing data so that data structure do not need to be articulated to predict future incoming data and can self adjust the data structure based on the evolution of the data.
  • the invention is directed to a method of meaningfully organizing unstructured data to form a cross linked database that would enable quick and progressive grasp of data structure, and search of information of interest.
  • the invention is directed to a method of meaningfully and timely organizing unstructured data to relate to structure data and search engine data that would enable quick and progressive grasp of data structure, and search of information of interest.
  • the invention may be implemented m a system that is convenient to use, that presents the information in a readily accessible way via one or more display devices.
  • the present invention enables acquisition of various information of interest for subsequent review.
  • the information may be organized in a system comprising of keywords, topics, Context, connecting nodes, linking members, and content members.
  • a crosslink data structure in which information (that includes human motives) may be meaningfully cross-linked for facilitating easy and quick retrieval of a particular information of interest stored in the crosslink database, and for facilitating easy and quick retrieval of the overall information surrounding or adjacent to the scope of interest.
  • the crosslink data structure comprises at least a connecting node and at least a first element and a second element, connected to the connecting node by a connection.
  • the first element is related to the second element and can be traced via the connection and the connecting node.
  • the second element is related to the first element and can be traced via the connection and the connecting node.
  • the connecting node may correspond to a topic, wherein the first element and the second element constitute different keywords related to the topic.
  • the connecting node may correspond to a Context, wherein the first element and the second element constitute different topics, content members, or combination of thereof.
  • Each content member may comprise a link (computer or web application function call, database record, URL, hyperlink or file path, etc.) and its associate parameters to a digital content such as but not limited to a text string, a record in database, a Context in a crosslink database, an inquiry to a server application, a document, a web page, a text file, a blog, an audio file, a video file, a graphic/picture file, a photo file, a map, a folder, a machine code or script file (for instance, exe, dll, bat, cmd, script files, etc.), an application specific file (Microsoft office, setup file, programming tool, etc), a merchandise information (for instance, books, clothing, electronics, drugs, DVD, audio CD, etc.), a manufacture part information, an inventory information, a process information, a record in filing information, an email, etc., or combination of thereof.
  • a link computer or web application function call, database record, URL, hyperlink or file path, etc.
  • a system for organizing and retrieving digital content information and motives may comprise a local computer comprising a GUI application (for instance, a browser, or a computer application, or a browser like application); at least a first database server comprising a crosslink database; and at least an information agent where information is handled.
  • a user may interact with the web browser to communicate with the first database server and the information agent.
  • the crosslink database may reside in the local computer or in a computer network or over the internet; the information agent may be a conventional database server, an application server, a local computer application, a search engine, a web server, or another crosslink database server, etc.
  • a system for organizing and retrieving information comprises a computer system accessible for interactive communication with users.
  • the computer system may comprise a crosslink database stored therein.
  • the crosslink database comprises a crosslink data structure comprising at least a connecting node and at least a first element and a second element connected to the connecting node by a connection; and a GUI application (for instance, a browser, or a computer application, or a browser like application) for interactively communicating with the users for organizing and retrieving/revising information in the crosslink database.
  • the first element is related to the second element and can be traced via the connecting node.
  • the second element is related to the first element and can be traced via the connecting node.
  • the connecting node may correspond to a topic or a Context of information, and wherein the first element and the second element constitute different keywords, topics, content members, Contexts or the combination of thereof of information related to the topic or Context of information.
  • the first element and/or the second element constitute a topic of information related to two different Contexts of information.
  • One or more content member related to a topic may be connected to the node or the topic.
  • Each content member may comprise a link (application function call, database record, URL, hyperlink or file path, etc.) and its associate parameters to digital content such as but not limited to a record in database, a Context in a crosslink database, an inquiry to a server application, a document, a web page, a text file, a web blog, an audio file, a video file, a graphic/picture file, a photo file, a folder, a machine code or script file (for instance, exe, dll, bat, cmd, script files, etc.), an application specific file (Microsoft office, setup file, programming tool, etc), merchandise information, emails, or combination of thereof.
  • a link application function call, database record, URL, hyperlink or file path, etc.
  • digital content such as but not limited to a record in database,
  • commercial information including merchandise, product information, forms, audio/video products, books, photos, electronics, resume, contact information, services, electronics, and the like
  • one or more users may link to the web site host for inquiring and progressively searching the products of interest for shopping over the internet so that the disadvantages of conventional keyword search leading to many irrelevant topics may be effectively reduced.
  • the crosslink database server may monitor the frequency of sites/information visited by the users and accordingly rank their priority and present them to the users.
  • the crosslink database associated with the web site server may allow the subscribers to customize the Contexts associating with web pages and merchandises.
  • Figures IA-H illustrates and example of prior art data structure.
  • Figures 2-7 illustrate various building blocks of the crosslink data structures according to various embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figures 8A-8C illustrates a crosslink data structure architecture for topics according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 9 illustrates an example of a Context data structure.
  • Figures 10A-10B illustrate an example of crosslink database architecture for
  • Figure 11 illustrates a transmission of a cross link database according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figures 12 illustrate a flow chart of transmission of a crosslink database according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figures 13A-13D illustrate a user interface for organizing and retrieving information from the crosslink database according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figures 14-21 illustrate various screens of a user interface for illustrating how a user inquires the crosslink database according to an embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figures 22-29 illustrate the user interface of how a user constructs or revises a Context on the crosslink database according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 30 illustrates the alternative user interface of how a user constructs or revises a Content on the crosslink database according to various embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 31 illustrates the user interface of how content information is stored in a buffer for Context construction according to various embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 32 depicts a crosslink data structure to illustrate various features of the crosslink database according to various embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figures 33 and 34 depict user interface screen to illustrate various features of the crosslink database according to various embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 35 is a flow chart illustrating various features of the crosslink database according to various embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figures 36 A and B are a block diagram illustrating a system architecture according to various embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figures 37 A and B are user interface screens illustrating an electronic notebook that is compatible with the crosslink database according to various embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 37C shows an example of filing a note in OneNote, according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • Figure 37D shows an example of an Outlook filing according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • Figure 37E shows an example of a Journal filing according to an embodiment of the invention.
  • Figure 38 is a screenshot example of an embodiment of the invention for constructing a tree structure dynamically based on the inquirer's perspective.
  • Figure 39A illustrate an example of a content member consisting of a link to the web application server at Amazon.com and a set of parameters for feeding the server.
  • Figure 39B is a crosslink data structure illustrating a common content member that is related to two different Contexts according to various embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 40 depicts user interface screen to illustrate a topic being excluded from the inquiry according to various embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 41 is a block diagram depicting a system architecture according to various embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 42 depicts an embodiment of the author interface.
  • Figure 43 depict an embodiment where an author composes the text paragraph in the main sub-document.
  • Figure 44 illustrates how each existing information platform meets requirements.
  • Figure 45 illustrates how tagging technology works.
  • Figure 46 shows a webpage.
  • Figure 47 shows another webpage.
  • Figure 48 shows yet another webpage. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
  • the scheme needs to be flexible to reflect fast evolution of motives and digital content collection;
  • human intelligence is superior to machine intelligence;
  • the present invention utilizes these observations to provide an improved method and system for storage, retrieval and integration of digital content and human motives which store in different information platforms.
  • the present invention takes the view that the machine needs to be optimized to increase human convenience and efficiency, rather than convert humans to adopt the structure of the machine, as is done conventionally in the prior art.
  • the present invention is operational with numerous general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations.
  • Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the present invention include, but are not limited to, personal computers (PC's), server computers, mini/main frame computers, hand-held personal digital assistants (PDA's) or laptop devices, smart mobile phones, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
  • the present invention allows for simultaneous retrieval of information which is stored in different locations, different platforms, different forms and different formats, e.g., database records, document, web pages, audio, video, graphic/picture, photo, folders, emails, instant messages, machine codes or scripts, application specific files, or combination of thereof.
  • a crosslink data structure, crosslink database, and systems and methods to interact with the crosslink database are provided.
  • the meanings for each information content (such as files, e.g., text, images, audio/video files, books, emails, photos, music, web contents, resumes, database records, web merchandise, etc.) are perceived and described by a set of topics. Additional topics represents human motives can also be included in the topic set when adequate. These topics and the links to the information content are interrelated in the crosslink database environment.
  • the user may interact with the crosslink database to inquire about the relationship of a member (topics or information content) or multiple members.
  • the meanings (of digital content and motives) and related topics may be presented to the user so that the user can focus, expand, or migrate from the original scope of the inquiry.
  • the meanings and topics may be ranked to reflect the importance and urgency.
  • the crosslink database engine may present a quick glance or detailed listings of requested information for the user to select and gain access to the information of interest.
  • This and other embodiments of the present invention provide the dynamic perspective view of information based on what is inquired and presentation of a big picture analogous to different pieces of information (digital content and human motives) assembled together like a puzzle, regardless of structured or unstructured nature of the information.
  • Keyword refers to individual words that have been used to assemble a topic.
  • related keywords may be "picture,” “Melody,” “Lake,” “Tahoe,” etc.
  • Topic refers to a collection of keywords that together gives a specific meaning. For example, consider the keywords “ice,” “cream,” “skate,” and “rink.” These keywords can be used to form the topics “ice cream,” “ice skate,” and “ice rink,” etc.
  • a topic may also consist of a single keyword. For instance, the “ice” topic may give meaning of the solid form of water. In contrast to the "ice” keyword, its meaning is not specific depending on how it constitutes with other keywords.
  • Content Member refers to a description and a link or a pointer (application function call, database record, URL, hyperlink or file path, etc.) to digital content such as but not limited to a record in database, a document, a web page, an audio file, a video file, emails, instant message, a graphic/picture file, a photo file, a folder, a machine code or script file (for instance, in Window OS carries exe, dll, bat, cmd, script files, etc.), an application specific file (Microsoft word, setup file, programming tool setup file,etc), or combination of thereof.
  • Context refers to a collection of topics, content members, other Contexts or the combination thereof. A context is analogous to a bundle of topics/content members that each tie by a thread (connection) to a knot (connecting node).
  • a Context consists of only one connecting node and at least two topics, content members, other Contexts or the combination thereof.
  • Context connecting node (member): the term "Context connecting node” is used to refer to the single member of a knot that ties rest of the members in the Context together. Since each Context has only one connecting node, the ID of the Connecting node is used to represent the Context. The connection node and connections are not visible to the user.
  • Topic connecting node A topic is a bundle of keywords tie together by a connection member (thread) to the topic connecting node (the knot). Each connection to the keyword is numbered to determine the word sequence in the topic.
  • Linking Member the term “linking member” refers to the connection (thread) that ties various keywords, topics, content members etc. to a topic or a Context connecting node. It is not visible to the user.
  • Inquiry Inquire about the Contexts that contain the topics/content members of being inquired, and inquire about the related topics and content members in these qualified Contexts.
  • FIG. 2A illustrates an example of a crosslink data structure section according to one embodiment of the invention.
  • a connecting node Nl ties together two elements Al and A2 by linking members 20a and 20b to form a bundle.
  • the elements Al and A2 are differentiable from the connecting node Nl.
  • Elements Al and A2 are related because of this tie.
  • it first traces from Al to the connecting node Nl via linking member 20a, and then from the connecting node Nl to any other connecting elements, in this case, to the element A2 via linking member 20b.
  • Elements Al and A2 may be keywords, in which case the linkage forms a topic.
  • elements Al and A2 may be topics, in which case the linkage forms a Context.
  • elements Al and A2 may be topics, content members, other Contexts and the combination thereof, as will be explained further below.
  • the elements, such as Al and A2 are content members, they may be of different data types.
  • Al may be an email belonging to an email database and A2 may be the link to a document file stored in a document server.
  • data of different types may be interrelated in the crosslink database structure of the present invention.
  • the elements may even reside on different computers or servers, and still be retrievable using the embodiments of the invention.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates an example where element An is a member of both connecting nodes Nl and N2. Although elements Al and A2 are not related to elements Bl, and B2, all of the elements are related to An.
  • FIG. 4 illustrates an example of how keywords may be cross-linked to form topics using the linking members and topic connecting nodes. For example, topic "ice cream” can be form using topic connecting node Nl to tie keywords "ice” and "cream” together via linking members 40a and 40b. Note that the order is determined by the hierarchy associated with each linking member.
  • linking member 40a is designated as hierarchy level 1
  • linking member 40b is designated as hierarchy level 2.
  • topic "ice skate rink” by following the linking members at the appropriate hierarchy.
  • the keyword “ice” is cross-linked to both connecting nodes Nl and N2 at the same hierarchical level, although this is not mandatory.
  • interrelated members may be cross-linked together into a single Context connecting node to form a Context.
  • connecting node Cl relates to the topics "ice cream”(from topic connecting node Tl), "recipe” and “chocolate” (from topic connecting nodes T2 and T3, each comprises of a single keyword) to form the meaning of "chocolate ice cream recipe” for the Context. From hereon the topic node will be omitted for simplicity.
  • Each of the content members may be of any type or format, for instance, a record in database, a document, a web page, an audio file, a video file, emails, instant message, a graphic/picture file, a photo file, a folder, a machine code or script file (for instance, in Window OS carries exe, dll, bat, cmd, script files, etc.), an application specific file (Microsoft word, setup file, programming tool setup file,etc), or combination of thereof.
  • Context node Nl the user has immediate access to content members 51, 53 and 55.
  • the Content members 51, 53 and 55 have the commonality in that they are related to chocolate-ice cream-recipes.
  • a topic may relate, and be cross-linked to, two different Contexts.
  • Context Cl forms chocolate ice cream recipe
  • Context C2 forms strawberry ice cream recipe. If the user inquires about “ice cream” and “recipe”, both Context Cl and C2 are qualified, and since "ice cream” 60 and “recipe” 62 are already in the inquiry, they may be omitted from the display and the result of this inquiry can be simply "chocolate” 64 and "strawberry” 66. Thus, the differences between the two Contexts Cl and C2 are highlighted offering quick selection of "chocolate” or "strawberry” ice cream recipe to users.
  • broader topics may be automatically suggested to the users in narrowing the search.
  • the number of Contexts related to each topic can be used to weight the importance of each topic. From the example shown in Figure 6, both “ice cream” 60 and “recipe” 62 are members of two Contexts, while “strawberry” 66 and “chocolate” 64 are members of only one Context each.
  • the qualified members are “recipe” 62, “strawberry” 66, and “chocolate” 64. Since in this case, "recipe” 62 is a member of two Contexts, it is presented as a broader term than "strawberry” and "chocolate”.
  • a further feature of the inventive crosslink data structure is to enable to relate a content member to be personalized, organized and retrieved from different perspectives using the combination of topics and Contexts.
  • Connecting node Cl 70 is linked to topics "Melody's birthday” 72 and "Desert” 71 while connecting node C2 76 is linked to topics, "ice cream” 74 and "recipe” 73.
  • the file DOC 75 is linked to both Contexts connecting nodes Cl and C2. Consequently, file DOC can be reached using any of the relevant topics. For example, if at a latter date the user would like to find this file, but only remembers that it was created in preparation for Melody's birthday.
  • the system is structured to support human's natural way of organizing and retrieving information via simple impressions, via the ability to draw context meaning from relation and correlation, and via the ability to narrow, migrate, or expand the scope of interests by relation and correlation.
  • the user has a simple impression about the document DOC that it is useful for preparing "desert” for "Melody's birthday” party, that it is an "ice cream” "recipe” type of desert, and the user will be able to retrieve the document when reminded by these simple impressions and by the user's ability to obtain the context of each simple impression based on their relationships with other impressions. So, when the user creates the document and saves it, the user simply types in terms that the user associates with the document.
  • the mother in saving the document the mother can type in either “Melody,” “recipe,” “birthday,” or “ice cream,” etc.
  • the user may later retrieve this document from a simple expression of “Melody” or “ice cream”.
  • the user may be reminded by a complete set of meanings like “Melody birthday”-”desert” or “ice cream”-”recipe” that points to the document.
  • the user may also be reminded with other related topics and meaning sets, for instance, from “ice cream” to “recipe;” the user can be more specific (add topics in the inquiry), for instance, from “ice cream” “recipe” to “chocolate” flavor; the user can migrate (change to different topics), for instance, from “ice cream” to “recipe” then to "cheese cake”; the user can expand (change to bigger topics) in the scope of inquiry, for instance, from “ice cream” to “desert” that include “ice cream” and “cheese cake”.
  • the user may add or remove association to reflect changes in the document or its relevancy. For instance, adding “to-do" to the Context of "Melody birthday”-"desert” helps the user to recall this motive and remove it from the Context when the party is over.
  • Another way to conceptualize this embodiment of the invention is as an "on the fly" decision tree. That is, as is well known, various systems use decision trees in order to help the user reach the desired information. This is particularly true in web-based stores. For example, a conventional decision tree for the example provided in Figure 6 may be of a first drop-down menu letting the user start by choosing the keyword "recipe.” Then another drop-down menu will allow the user to select among various categories of recipes, one of which would be “ice cream.” Finally a third drop down menu will enable the user to select among various flavors, among which would be chocolate and strawberry. On the other hand, using the inventive method, the user may begin from any place, using any term, and a decision tree would be built "on the fly" as the user progresses down the selection tree.
  • the system is built in stages by the user simply indicating topics the user associates with various digital content(e.g., a file, a web page, email, etc.).
  • the user does not need to articulate a data structure to for future information that could evolve unpredictably, or re-organize the data structure to adopt new digital content at hand. So, each time the user saves a new digital content, the user is asked to associate specific, personalized meanings/impression (using topic sets) with that digital content. This is of course natural to people and very easy to do, while it is an immense task for a machine to do.
  • this system utilizes the strength of the human brain by obtaining the associations, while at the same time utilizing the strength of the machine by performing all of the complex crosslink relationships and construction behind the scene so that the user interacts with the machine in a natural way.
  • the system will use the cross-linking web to direct the user to the document, even if the user forgot the name of the document or the folder in which it was saved.
  • the user may still use the conventional folder filing system. That is, the inventive system need not replace the conventional folder filing system, but may be complementary to it.
  • the inventive crosslink system can link any type of files at any format and integrate them with user's motives, if the user enters the same association topics for these files, they will all be linked and, regardless of where they will be saved, the user can reach all of them and see the entire picture.
  • the above individual information may be crosslink as follows:
  • the meeting minutes and action items may be associated with topics Project ABC-meeting minutes-date, and Project ABC-action items- John- William, respectively.
  • the two emails will be related to topics Project ABC-customer requirements-Xcorp and Project ABC-customer-requirements- Ycorp, respectively.
  • the web pages will be related to ABC project-competitors-performance matrix.
  • the project manager inquires about project ABC, the meeting minutes, action items and owners, customers and requirements and competitive information (ranking topics and Contexts) are shown.
  • customer Xcorp the requirements for this project as well as other related business matters with this customer would be shown.
  • the manger can have a clear overall view of the business relationship besides project ABC by inquiring about this customer and removing project ABC from the inquiry.
  • this project actions and other workloads are shown. So the manger has a clear picture whether John is overloaded.
  • the manager can also follow up with other project that John is involved.
  • the inventive cross-link system can link any type of files at any format, if the user enters the same association keywords for these files, they will all be linked and, regardless of where they will be saved, the user can reach all of them and see the entire picture. For example, if the keywords "lake” "Tahoe” "trip” are associated with these documents, once the user start enter any of these terms, i.e., any of "lake” "Tahoe” "trip,” the linking members will lead to all three documents and the user will be presented with the pictures, the confirmation email, and the bank statement - all of which relate to the trip to Lake Tahoe.
  • the crosslink system may be used to construct on the fly decision tree for other databases.
  • merchandise websites may be constructed using the inventive crosslink system.
  • the site may use the rigid prior art system where the user is forced to follow the dropdown decision tree menu.
  • the user may be given the choice of using the inventive crosslink system.
  • the user may start from any keyword. For example, if the user looks for break pads, the user may start by typing break or break pads.
  • the system will then use the crosslink relationship to generate a decision tree on the fly, leading the user to the correct break pads.
  • possible related topics are car models, pad materials, brand names, pad model number, etc.
  • Figure 8A-8C This example illustrates how the topic crosslink structure of Figure 8A is implemented in conventional database format depicted in Figures 8B and 8C.
  • the cross-linked structure of Figure 8A has a connecting node with a universal ID "Tl,” connecting to keywords "ice” and "cream.”
  • the Topic Table comprises Primary Keys Ks, Kt, etc., Connecting Node ID's Tl, Tl, etc.,
  • Keyword ID's wl, w2, etc. and Sequence 1, 2, etc., data fields.
  • the Keyword Table comprises Primary Keys Kn, Km, etc., Keyword ID's wl, w2, etc., and Keyword data fields.
  • the Primary Key data fields are simply a running enumeration of the entry rows. The remaining fields will be explained with reference to the following example.
  • the Node ID Tl is used to represent the topic "ice cream”.
  • Note ID Tl is given to the crosslink database, a filter is applied on the Topic Table 8020 to select records with this Node ID.
  • the outcome is records Ks and Kt, where Keyword ID wl and w2 are retrieved with sequence 1 and 2, respectively.
  • the Sequence filed shows that the keyword relating to Keyword ID wl should be presented before the keyword associated with Keyword ID w2. By looking up from the Keyword Table 8030, these two Keyword IDs make up "ice cream.”
  • This data structure allows topics to be interrelated by keywords. For instance, when the user enters a keyword “ice”, topics “ice cream”, “blue ice” and “ice skate rink” could be retrieved. How does it work? First, the keyword ID wl for keyword “ice” is retrieved from the Keyword Table 8030. Then a filter is applied to the Topic Table 8020 to select any records containing the Keyword ID wl in the Keyword ID field. From these records, a list of Node IDs is obtained. Here each node ID represents a topic that contains the keyword "ice”. So after converting the node ID into topics, the user will see the outcome of "ice cream”, “blue ice” and “ice skate rink", etc.
  • Context 90 contains a connecting node i2 (91), two topics “ice cream” (92) and “recipe” (93), and a content member, File XYZ (94). Note that here "recipe” is illustrated as a topic having one word. The illustrated relationship among these elements is established using a conventional database as depicted in Figure 1OA.
  • the "Connection Table” (110) contains the fields "from” and "to”.
  • three records store the connection between i2 and i3 (120- A), i2 and i4 (130-A), and i2 and i5 (140-A), where i2, i3, i4, and i5 are the universal IDs, and their data type for these IDs can be found in the "Universal ID Table” (111).
  • the record 115-A is the connection between i2 to itself. It does not carry any logical meaning but it helps to reduce programming complexity. Records 120-B and 130-B indicate that both i3 and i4 are of "topic” type and their content can be found in "topic table” (112, see topic data structure for details).
  • ID values i3 and i4 leads to records 120-C and 130-C in table 112: topics "ice cream” and "recipe" are related to connecting node i2. Note that both i3 and i4 are the topic connecting nodes; the process of involving table 8020 (Fig. 8B) and 8030 (Fig. 8C) to extract the topic for each node in Table 112 has been previously discussed. The free mixing of different data types and formats is also depicted by the presence of a member 140-A. The record 140-A contains the connection between i2 and i5. By looking up the "Universal ID Table" (111) record 140-B, i5 is recognized as the Type N, local ID Jl (field 150) from external servers.
  • Server 123 The system also based on a pre-arrange configuration that allows the client side to inquire for "File Table EFG.”
  • the "server 123” looks up “Table EFG” (1027), local ID “Jl” (record 1028) and returns "File xyz” file name, and its associate parameters (description field 1029, access date, creation date, byte size, application-type, author, etc.). It also responds to other database inquiry that include deliver the content of File xyz over the Internet/local network if the user chose to open the content.
  • the same mechanism applies to multiple data types of various databases that reside in different servers or from application program interface (API, for files/folders from the operating system, emails from an email application tool, etc.), either on the user's local machine or over local computer network or the Internet.
  • API application program interface
  • the data stored in table 1021 may be localjiost, (empty), (empty) in data fields 1024, 1025 and 1026, respectively.
  • the full file path of the document will be stored in data field 1030 of table 1027.
  • the user may need to go through the standard authentication and privilege check when access data from a server.
  • An advantageous feature of the inventive crosslink system is that Contexts (files and topics) can be transmitted between two crosslink databases over any electronic connection such as, for example, over the Internet using, e.g., HTML, XML, SQL, etc.
  • Contexts files and topics
  • any electronic connection such as, for example, over the Internet using, e.g., HTML, XML, SQL, etc.
  • HTML HyperText Markup Language
  • XML XML
  • SQL e.g., etc.
  • the inventive crosslink system the file is transferred together with the relationships the sender has assigned to it, i.e., together with the relevant crosslink elements.
  • these relationships i.e., crosslink elements, are saved with the file and are activated immediately, to enable clear understanding of the meaning of the content in the file and enable easy retrieval of the file in future time. It is structured and flexible at the same time. Of course, prior to saving, and at any time thereafter, the receiver may modify the relationships assigned to the file to meet personal needs.
  • FIG. 11 An example of transferring files together with relevant crosslink element, e.g., Contexts is shown in Fig. 11.
  • the Context 130 contains 3 topic ("ice cream”, “recipe”, “cheese cake") and 3 content members. The members of this Context are enclosed between “ ⁇ context>” and " ⁇ /context>.
  • the Context contains three topics 131, 132 and 133 and three content members 1341, 1342, 135. Members 1341 and 1342 need to be requested from the server ⁇ database ⁇ file table (134) and member 135 is from a file server. In case a file is located in sender's local hard drive, the sender's server name is always disclosed in the file path so that the file path is accessible by other machines.
  • the system will prompt the user where to save the attached files. The system will update the file path for where the attached file is saved.
  • the receiving system examines whether for each topic an identical or equivalent topic already exists in its own crosslink database. It uses "fuzzy text matching" 83
  • the system also checks whether the topics set matches exactly with that of any existing Context in the receiving side. If it does, it notifies the user. The user may accept the Context as is; in this case the content members of the sent-Context will be merged into the existing Context (by creating corresponding linking members between these content members and the connecting node of existing Context in table 110). Alternatively the user may additional topics to differentiate the receiving Context from the existing Context.
  • a new connecting node will be created in table 111 to tie all the members (topics and content members) together (again, by creating corresponding connections (linking members) between the connecting node and rest of the members in table 110).
  • the present invention uses "fuzzy text matching" to determine whether a text body contains text strings that are similar to a topic. Fuzzy string search has been described in numerous web sites that includes Inflection, equivalent meanings, soundex, Meta phone, common word endings (stemming), synonyms, accent stripping. These technologies have been commonly adopted in the industry to handle human misspelling and optical character recognition errors. Microsoft Indexing Service and Textolution of Vancouver, BC, Canada, provides packages that are ready to be integrated. Various other companies also make their technology available commercially.
  • determining whether a text body contains at least one text string that is similar to a topic is discussed next; here the topic may consist of multiple words. wnen speed is a concern, soundex is a better approach. The drawback of using soundex may be receiving more irrelevant matches since scoring is not an option.
  • the function CompareStringFuzzy from the textolution.com package gives score on how similar two words are. The drawback of using this approach may be too slow for some applications
  • the least common word in the topic is selected as the first reference word.
  • One example for determining the least common word is by selecting the lengthiest word. None relevant words like a, the, that etc. in the text body or topics are not considered for the comparison.
  • one word in a time is extracted out from the text body and compared to the first reference word. If the similarity score is higher the minimum set point, a word in the text body has been found similar to the topic. In this case, the words in the vicinity of the first found word (called "vicinity word group") are extracted. One word in a time from this vicinity word group is compared to the 2 nd least common word in the topic. If a similarity is found, the same "vicinity word group" is compared to the third least common word.
  • the vicinity word group needs to contain at least one similar word as every relevant word in the topic in ordered for the vicinity word group to contain text string similar to the topic. In this case, each similar word position in the text body is recorded and may be highlighted to capture the user's attention.
  • the user may then review the highlight words and to agree or disagree with the suggestion. If the "vicinity word group" fails to meet this criteria, the "fuzzy text matching" engine moves on from the 1 st found word to the next relevant word, compare it to the least common word, and start the process all over again until it complete every word in the text body.
  • the "vicinity word group” is extracted by starting from the position of the 1 st found word, including X number of relevant words from the left and X number of relevant words from the right. The X number may be a multiply of the total relevant words in the topic.
  • FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart according to an embodiment of the present invention, for transmitting crosslink members between two crosslink databases over a network.
  • a sender may send a file comprising a Context of information containing to 3 topics, for example, "ice cream”, “recipe” and “cheese cake”, and 3 corresponding content members, over the internet to a receiver, and the receiver receives the file (step 1204).
  • the receiving side examines whether the topics received already exist. If yes, the process proceeds to step 1208 to replace the existing topics with the corresponding universal ID. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step 1210 to create the topics.
  • the receiving side determines whether database/server/table (including applications from local computer) of a content member exists. If yes, the process proceeds to step 1214 to utilize the existing data type.
  • step 1216 creates a new data type in the Table.
  • step 1218 whether or not this content member already exists in the receiving side is determined by judging from the corresponding "/server/database/table: local ID" or file path, hyperlink, etc. of a content information. K yes, the process proceeds to step 1220 to utilize the corresponding universal DD. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step 1222 to create a new record.
  • step 1224 the system checks whether the combination of the topic members matches exactly with an existing Context in the receiving side. If yes, the content members of the sent Context of information will be merged into the existing Context (step 1226) (by creating corresponding connections between these content members and the connecting node). Otherwise, the process proceeds to step 1228 to create a new connecting node to tie all the members of this new Context together.
  • FIGS 13A-13C illustrate an example of using a PC application user interface for interacting with a crosslink database of the present invention
  • Figure 13D depicts a general flow chart.
  • the user is trying to retrieve a document relating to "ice cream" that the user had previously stored in a network computer or a personal computer.
  • the graphic user interface in this case may be built on a weD-Drowser, lor example, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firetox, Safari, or web browser application (Microsoft Window allows IE browser to be imbedded in an application) or desktop application.
  • the first page is as shown in Figure 13A and the progression is depicted in text 13130.
  • the top row of the first page includes an "Enter" field 13110 and "Context" 11050.
  • the row below the top row comprises the page indicator 13130 "Keywords,” “Related Topics,” “Info contents,” “My Interests,” and “Most Recent.”
  • the current page is indicated by the arrow 13140.
  • the current page is at "keywords”.
  • the two columns below the above mentioned rows comprise “Keywords” 13120 and “Topics” 13100 panels.
  • the user For viewing pre-existing keyword(s) and topics, the user selects the "keyword” by clicking on the text body (13130) of "Keyword.” The user enters a keyword or multiple keywords into box 13110. While typing up the keyword, the available keywords that match the entry word fragment are shown in keyword-panel 13120.
  • the user enters "ic” and, before the completion of keyword "ice", the pre-existing keywords that are similar to the entry word fragment (using "fuzzy text matching") are displayed, in this case, "ice, iceberg, Iceland, icon”, etc.
  • the user may select (clicks) the desired keyword from the list of similar keywords, in this case, "ice” 13210 (Fig. 13B).
  • the topics that contain at least one similar word as "ice” are subsequently shown in the topic panel 13220. In case of only one keyword is listing in panel 13120, the matching topics that contain the keyword may be automatically displayed in 13220 without the need of clicking on the keyword.
  • the system may automatically show the topics that contain at least a similar word as the entry keyword. If the user enters two keyword in 13110 (Fig. 13A), only topics that contain a similar word as that of first entry keyword as well as a similar word as that of the second entry keyword are shown in 13220 (Fig. 13B). Similarly, the user may enter more than two keywords in field 13110, for a topic to be displayed, it needs to contain a similar word for each entry keyword. The user now reviews the available topics in 13220 (Fig. 13B) and click on the desired topic, here: "ice cream" 13230.
  • This action moves the process to the page of "related topics” (13310 - Figure 13C) and at the same time the topic "ice cream” is entered into the inquiry panel (13320), as shown in Fig. 13C. If only one topic is listed in 13220, the topic may be automatically entered into the inquiry without the need of clicking the topic.
  • the database engine first looks for any Context that contains all those topics that are listed in the inquiry panel 13320. The qualified Contexts are listed in the "Related Contexts" panel 13330 except not showing those topics that are already in the inquiry panel 13320. In the example shown in figure 13C "ice cream" is not shown in the three "recipes" Contexts because it is already in the inquiry.
  • the total number of qualified Contexts of information and the total number of content members in the qualified Contexts are summarized in the panel 13340 (Fig. 13C).
  • 15 Contexts of information containing the topic "ice cream” and 25 content members from the 15 Contexts of information are presented to the user for selection.
  • the number enclosed in the bracket ( )(13350) represents the total number of content members in that particular Context of information.
  • 5 content members are related to the "ice cream"+"recipes"+”strawberry" Context.
  • This number may be used to rank the order of how Contexts are displayed in panel 13330. The higher the number is, the higher the Contexts are ranked and displayed. More options on the ranking of Contexts will be discussed later.
  • each topic is associated with a number, 13370, representing the number of qualified Contexts containing this particular topic.
  • 13370 representing the number of qualified Contexts containing this particular topic.
  • the number "3" in the bracket in front of "recipes" in Figure 13C, 13380 indicates that three Contexts (in the Related Context panel 13330) of information contain the topic "recipes.”
  • the numbers may be used to rank the topics in the "Related topics" panel In this case, the larger the number is, the higher the topic is ranked. This number can also be used to rank the order of topics in a Context.
  • the purpose is to automatically arrange the layout of topics in Contexts so that commonality and differences between Contexts in panel 13330 are apparent. For instance, if the topics order in a Context is arranged alphabetically, the appearance of t ⁇ e Contexts in the example shown in Fig. 13C would have been as follows: (5)Recipe-Strawberry (3)Chocolate-Recipe (2)Cheese cake-Recipe But when the topic ordering within a Context is ranked by the importance of the topic (in this example, ranked by the number in bracket 13370), the Contexts appear as follows:
  • Fig. 10A the "universal ID" table 111 (Fig. 10A) is used to store the recent access time for all items.
  • the duration (in units of days, months, or years) between current time and the access time may be shown next to each qualified Context in panel 13330 (Fig. 13C).
  • OD, 3D, IM represents 0 day, 3 day, and 1 month (in this example rounded up in months when greater than 30 days), respectively, for the duration of the three Contexts.
  • the access time for a Context is stored at its connecting node.
  • the access time for a Context by default is the creation date.
  • the access time may be updated when the Context is revised (add new members, revise old members, delete old members, etc.), or when the Context's checkbox is checked by the user, or when one of the Context's content members is accessed (created, opened, revised, saved) by the user, or the combinations thereof.
  • the user opens the content member in panel 16021 (Fig. 16).
  • the database engine records the access time for the content member and looks up what are the related Contexts of this content member. It then updates the related Contexts assess time to be the same as the content member.
  • the database engine checks what Contexts are qualities tor and also is clicked and only update these Contexts' access time.
  • a topic access time is also revised when a content member or a Context is accessed by the user.
  • the default access time is the creation time of the topic.
  • the crosslink database engine looks up what are the topics in the inquiry panel 13220 (Fig. 13C) at the moment the content member is accessed. It updates those topics' access time to the time of the content open.
  • the database engine looks up what are the topics in the inquiry panel (13320, Fig. 13C) when a Context's checkbox (in panel 13330) is checked. It updates the access time of these topics to the time of check event. The reason these topic's access time is updated because they have helped the user identifies meaningful information in the form of either Contexts or content members.
  • the topic can be ranked in reverse chronicle order.
  • the user may send any of the topics either listed in the "Related topics” panel (13360) or in the "Related Context” panel (13330) ( Figure 13C).
  • Each member in the inquiry has an associate checkbox (14011). Uncheck a member is equivalent to remove it form the inquiry.
  • checking or un-checking checkboxes in the inquiry allow the user to quickly explore several combinations of the topics.
  • checkbox An alternative approach for checkbox is to have a temporary buffer (for instance, dividing the inquiry into half: one half for inquiry and the other half serves as a buffer). Instead of un-checking an item in the inquiry, the user may drag the item to the buffer. Drag it back to the inquiry panel when the item is needed again.
  • a temporary buffer for instance, dividing the inquiry into half: one half for inquiry and the other half serves as a buffer.
  • the ranking of content members may be based on the access time, by creation time, by content type, by author/sender etc.
  • the user can open the content with its default application.
  • the user clicks on the item 16020 to view the web content via a web browser application.
  • the outcome is shown in Fig. 17.
  • To select the content member for later review check the associated "( )" (like that of 15040) then click on "add to my interests" 15050 to store them for later review.
  • Figure 16 shows an example where two content members have been selected by the user for review; this panel is arrived at by clicking "My interests" 16010.
  • the user may place the cursor on the content member and select a mouse menu (by pressing left or right button) item "get details".
  • the database then calls the source of the platform from where the content member originates. For instance, if the content is a local PC file, Window Explore may be called to show the file within a folder. If the content is a record in a conventional database, the database application may be called and the inquiry for this content submitted. If the content is an email, the email application will be called to show the email in the application.
  • User Interface - Example 2 In this embodiment, the GUI in Figures. 13-A, B and C, and Figure 15 can be condensed into one GUI page, as show in Fig. 15B. The process is similar to that in the previously example. The objective is to eliminate the inconvenience of switching between different pages.
  • panels 51020, 51030, 51040 and 51050 each panel can be expand to a larger size or restore back to default size by clicking icon 51031.
  • the keyword entry field 13110 or 13392 (Fig. 13A, C) is now equivalent to field 51010 (Fig. 15B).
  • a panel 52010 (Fig. 15C) pops up showing a list of recent topics (say top 20).
  • the system find a list of matching keywords based on "fuzzy text matching" as previously discussed.
  • the system displays any topic that contains at least one keyword in the keyword list. If the user enters a second keyword, the system generates the second matching keyword list. Only topics that contain simultaneously at least one keyword in list 1 and one keyword in list 2 will be displayed in panel 52010. The same scheme is applicable when the user enters more than 2 keywords in ⁇ ield 5 IUlO.
  • the user can either select one of the topics in panel 52010 (Fig. 15C) or click on area outside of the panel for panel 52010 to close.
  • the selected topic now appears in the inquiry panel 51020.
  • Topics related to the inquiry topics are displaying in panel 51030, Fig. 15B (functions similar to panel 13360, Fig. 13C) while the related Contexts are shown in panels 51040 (functions similar to panel 13330, Fig. 13C).
  • each topic in the inquiry (51020) has a checkbox (51021) associate with it. Unchecking a checkbox is equivalent to removing this member from the inquiry. Checking and un-checking checkboxes allow the user to quickly explore the relationship for different member combinations in panel 51020.
  • Each Context in panel 51040 associates with a check box identical to that of 14050 (Fig. 14) Checking a Context will show in panel 51050 those content members that are related to the check Context. Multiple checkboxes can be selected simultaneously.
  • the function of panel 51050 is similar to that panel 15070 (Fig. 15B). In the example, it contains three tabs: Files/Folders 51051, web page/Context 51052, Emails/Notes 51053.
  • Each tab represents certain categories of content members. For instance, click "Files/Folders" tab to review files or folders type of content. A number (not shown in figure) for each category is display on the tabs to indicate the number of qualified content members. For instance if (3/2) is displayed in the "Files/Folders” tab, the user expects to see total of three files and 2 folders within this tab. Which tab will be the default tab that is shown to the user? The tab that contains the most recently accessed content member. The database engine compares the access time of all the qualified content members to find the most recently accessed content member. Whichever tab this content member resides in, the tab will be shown to the user by default. Note that the default tab is dynamically determined for every inquiry.
  • a feature of the invention relates to avoiding the "off track" chase that often occurs when one searches for information stored electronically, e.g., on the Internet.
  • the computer returns hits on related subjects that the user is interested in, but not at the moment.
  • the user follows these "tangential" leads and get off track and distracted.
  • One feature of the invention helps avoid such distractions.
  • the user may encounter numerous keywords, topics, Contexts, or Content members that are of their general interests, but not of immediate interest. According to a feature of the invention, the user can temporarily store these elements for future review.
  • the user may place the cursor on these elements and pick "send to my interests" item in the mouse menu.
  • Window 18000 (Fig. 18) pops up, where the saved topics, Contexts, and content members are shown in panels 18010, 18020, and 18040, respectively.
  • the control word "(my interests)" 18030 is submitted into the inquiry (when "my interests” is clicked) to signal the database engine any Context that has been elected into “my interests” are qualified.
  • An example for implementing "my interests” is that a special Context contains the control topic "(my interest)".
  • the "related Context” 18020 provides a quick glance of what has been selected. The user can take the same advantage of interacting with topics and Contexts as discussed previously. In the example in Fig. 18, the user quickly gets the impression of two ice cream recipes.
  • the "related topics” provides a mean to see the common topics (or big topics). For instance, "recipes” and “ice cream” (in 18010) are the big topics. By adding the big topics into the inquiry similar to that of shown in Fig.
  • the user can focus on the differences (or sub-topics) between the content members. In this case, one is related to "strawberry” while the other is related to "cheese cakes”.
  • Features - Most Recent Time in an important factor in information It happens from time to time that a user tries to reopen a content member that the user has dealt with recently, but has a tough time recalling where it is stored and what the content member name is. However users usually have a general impression of what the information is about. Let us go back to the previous example in which the user did click on 16020 (Fig. 16) to view the web content shown in Fig. 17. The user's opening action triggers the database engine to update this web member's (its universal ID) access time (with a field in the Universal ID Table 111).
  • the crosslink database filters out non content members in Table 111 and extract the most recently accessed content members (for instance, most recent 100 content members) and place them in the "Most Recent Content Table".
  • the user may click on "most recent” 19050 to review the content description listing in reverse chronicle access time in panel 19040; in this example the control topic "(most recent)" is submitted into the inquiry.
  • the "Most Recent Content Table” is displayed in the panel 19040 (Fig. 19).
  • the user submits topics or content members in the inquiry field 13320 (Fig. 13C)
  • any qualify content members will be compare to those in the "most recent-content” table to find matches.
  • the matching content members will be displayed in panel 19040, Fig. 19.
  • the database engine indicates one content member (19030) qualifies in the "most recent content” list. Click 19030 to open the web content again.
  • An example for implementing this "most recent content” table is creating a special Context that contains the control topic "(most recent)” All the contents in the "most recent-content” is grouped into this Context.
  • the most recent topics and Contexts may be logged similar to that of a content member.
  • Each topics and Contexts access time are tracked using a field in the Universal ID Table 111 (Fig. 10A).
  • the definition of access time varies based on different embodiments as was previously discussed.
  • the "Most Recent Topic” is created by applying filter on the Universal ID table for topic type, then ranking access time, extract the top most recently access topics (for instance, cutoff for most recent 100) and placing them in the "Most Recent Topic” table.
  • filters can be applied on the Universal ED table for only connecting node type (each representing a Context) and cutoff for the top, most recently accessed Contexts.
  • the "Most Recent Content” table” is displayed in the panels 19010 and 19020 (Fig. 19).
  • topics or content members are submitted into the inquiry, only topics/Contexts that are both qualified and in the most recent tables are displayed.
  • An example for implementing this "most recent topics” or “most recent Contexts” is creating a special Context that contains the control topic "(most recent)” All the “most recent topics” or “most recent Contexts” are grouped into this Context.
  • the topics and Contexts in this Context are shown in the appropriate panels 19010 and 19020.
  • any qualified topics, Contexts or content members have to also be related to the "(most recent)" control topic in order to be displayed in window 19000.
  • Trie user may nee ⁇ to select a second topic or more to narrow down the choices. If the user has gone through this step before, the user can select most recent view (19050, Fig. 19) to view only topics that are recently accessed. Because he has selected a second topic in conjunction with the 1 st topics for a previous inquiry, he may find the second topic in the most recent topic list. It is much easier for the user to spot the second topic in this case because the number of related topics is significantly reduced by most recent filter. Grab a Content Member link
  • the content member link first needs to be grabbed.
  • Several approaches may be used to grab the link associate with a digital content.
  • the user can place the cursor on the file name and select a right mouse menu item "add file for crosslink". It calls a crosslink application to grab the file path using Window OS/.NET API.
  • an add-in button may be placed at the Outlook toolbar. When the user clicks the button, the add-in grabs Outlook IDs of the selected objects. Feeding an Outlook ID to Outlook API can re-open the object. Therefore, the database engine may crosslink the Outlook ID just like a file path.
  • an add-in button may be placed at the browser (for instance, Window Explore browser) toolbar similar to that of Outlook.
  • add-in buttons also can be placed in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excell, and Powerpoint, etc.)
  • API application program interface
  • the link can point to a specific location (for instance, paragraph, slide, or cell) of the document.
  • the crosslink database system may also place the link (to the web server, file server, application server, or application API, etc and possible associate parameters) into the operating system "paste buffer" so that the link can be copied into any text editor as a hyperlink.
  • the user can call this link from the document as well. This saves the effort to collect the link if it happens to be also referenced in a document.
  • Another approach to grab the file links for desktop application is to log the file activities of open, save, revise, create, rename, delete, etc. using driver, operating system Application Program Interface (API) hook, .NET file system watcher API, Window OS "My recent document” log, MS Office “My recent document” log, etc.
  • the tile paths (links) of recent activities are presented to the user.
  • the user may pick a file path(s) from this list to place the link(s) to the buffer for further processing.
  • a button or its alike need to be added to the GUI of the database. Clicking the button grabs the record identifier, table name, database name, and server name.
  • the system can automatically compare the text with existing keywords and topics using "fuzzy text matching" and suggest them to the user.
  • a conventional hyperlink stops working once the file pointed by the hyperlink is moved to a different folder or rename. This makes re-organizing and re-arranging folders and files difficult. Since the crosslink database also retrive files/folders by file path, it encounters the same issue.
  • One approach is to use a file monitoring system (similar to that of used in computer security applications or .NET Filer Watcher System Application Program Interface). File move, rename, or deletion can be monitored by a crosslink application for a selection of applications, the original file path and the final file path. For the case of file deletion the final file path points to the OS "trash bin".
  • a new file path is issued to the file.
  • the original file path reported in the log may be used to compare to what records in the content tables (Fig. 10B). When there is a match, it may notify the user or may automatically update the file path to the new file path or have the user to confirm. Once it is confirm, the link is updated. It may also monitor certain applications activities or file extension and record final file path in a log. When a content member link is broken, the crosslink database may automatically go to this log and find similar path (for instance, similar filename, or same directory) and suggest them to the user. Once confirmed the link is updated. When a digital content is being saved, the crosslink database may intelligently suggests related keywords, topics, Contexts and folders.
  • the content-information is a document file.
  • a screen such as that shown in Fig. 20 pops up (for instance, using API hook to replace the default operating system save dialog box). It prompts the user to describe the file content.
  • the system may clip the very beginning portion of the file and automatically fill it into the description field. The user may overwrite it with the user's own description, e.g., "Three recipes of California cheese cake ice cream that have become popular in Asia pacific-rim" (20010). Before this file is saved, the user may ioo ⁇ up me suggested topics or contexts oy tne crosslink database.
  • the database engine uses "fuzzy text matching" to check the text string in the description, the beginning and ending portion of the document, or the entire document for preexisting topics.
  • fuzzy text matching may suggest irrelevant topics. But human intelligence can easily and quickly spot the relevant topics among a short list of suggestion.
  • the database suggests a list of keywords and topics to the user. The user can select the relevant topics by checking the associate checkboxes (20070, Fig. 20). If the user has an intended topic that is not in the suggested topics, the user may add this topic by entering into field 20032. If this topic does not exist in the crosslink database, the database may suggest similar topics as the entry topic using "fuzzy text string matching".
  • the user can select a keyword by checking the keyword checkbox 20021.
  • the system will automatically find the most recent set of topics (a preset number, say 5) that contain the selected keyword.
  • the database will search for the most recent Contexts, say most recent five Contexts that are related to the selected topics and display them in panel 20060.
  • the user can check the Context checkboxes for this file to relate when the file is saved. If the user selects none of the suggested Contexts but does select some of the topics, the selected topics and the file link are placed in the crosslink database buffer when the user clicks "Save" 21030. Note that the filename (21010) is automatically suggested by the system by default and can be overwritten.
  • the file When clicking "Save” 21030, the file is saved into the designated storage and the file link is automatically sent to the crosslink's revision buffer, from where the user can add the file existing Contexts or include it in a new Context.
  • the invention scheme may also intelligently suggest folders for the user to save the file. This function is handy when the user has to maintain a legacy folder structure. If the user checks suggested topics, the database automatically does the following: (1) sends these topics to the inquiry, (2) checks all the Contexts, (3) looks up the qualified content members and selects the most recent (say five) content members which contain a file path, and (4) display the folders of these paths in 20080.
  • One of the suggested folders in 20080 is the default folder when the user does not find a need for constructing a folder structure for the file.
  • the file is saved into this folder when the user clicks "Save" (21030).
  • the user may also browse tor otner ioiaers when me intended tolder is not in the suggested list.
  • Fig. 21 provides a simple scheme for the user to crosslink a digital content without leaving the digital content's application window.
  • the functions of Panels 21100, 21110, 21130 in Fig. 21 are identical to panels 51020, 51010, 51040 in Fig. 15B. It prompts the user to enter a topic or a group of toics in field 21110.
  • the related contexts to the topics in the inquiry are displayed in the panel 21130.
  • the related content members (not shown to the user) are then ranked according their most recent access time.
  • the most recent set of files are selected and their residence folders/directories are retrieved and displayed in panel 21150. The user can select one of the folder/directory.
  • the crosslink database system grabs the selected folder/directory, appends a default file name (for instance "topics-year-date-time") and place the full file path to the operating system clipboard buffer.
  • a default file name for instance "topics-year-date-time"
  • the user may "paste" (press control and V key for Window) the file path from the clipboard buffer to the dialog box file name field.
  • the file hyperlink may be grabbed by a monitoring system as previously discussed and placed in the revision buffer 21100. From here the user may construct a new Context comprising the file link or add the file link to existing Contexts following the procedures previously described.
  • the crosslink database may suggest the topics and Contexts to the reader based on previous data in the crosslink database about the author or organization.
  • the author/organization may be automatically added into the context(s) as a control type topic (ID topic). This ID topic is similar to a regular topic except it is not displayed in "Related Topics" and "Related Contexts” panels to avoid clutter.
  • the crosslink database may automatically send this document's author or Organization ID topic to the inquiry and display to the user the related topics and Contexts that are ranked by access time.
  • the more recent topics from the suggestion may be used to compare to the document properties (title, subject, author, manager, organization, categories, keywords, etc.) and the text body using "fuzzy text matching.”
  • the matching topics may be suggested to the user and highlighted in the document.
  • the database may suggest the recent topics and Contexts to the reader based on the "recent set of topics.”
  • the most recently accessed topics are inquired and used to compare to the document properties and the text body.
  • the database engine may suggest to the user those topics that are found similar (using fuzzy text matching as previously described) and highlight the similar words hi the document.
  • the recent set of topics may come from the "most recent topic” table (previously disclosed), or from the round up of the topics in the "most recent Contexts" table (previously disclosed), or the combination thereof.
  • the database may suggest related content members which are recent to the user.
  • the author may also transmit a set of topics to the reader by inserting an XML tag, so that these topics may be automatically suggested to the reader, for instance,
  • crosslink auto topics
  • topic 2 topic 3
  • crosslink database may detect these tags and parse the tag and present the topics to the user.
  • the author name the 2 nd party's (the sender for received emails or the receiver for sent emails) display name or email address.
  • the author's organization the 2 nd party's email address by removing @ and text in front.
  • Text body text portion of the web page that are shown to the user.
  • Keywords keywords Construct or revises Contexts
  • the inventive system enables the user to construct or revise information stored in the crosslink database. Two embodiments are illustrated herein. The focus for the first embodiment is graphical and visual. The focus of the second embodiment is to let the user see and manipulate what Contexts are to be affected before execution of a revision.
  • the editing privilege may be available via a secure login or impersonation/authentication from operating system account login (for instance, MS Window).
  • the typical revision functions are as follows: Crosslink content members (construct a Context); Rename a topic of a Context;
  • the user may start from a content member(s) and associate topics with this content member to form a new Context.
  • the user may click on any topic or content member then select the mouse menu item "sent to edit panel".
  • An example is shown in Figure 22 where two topics (22020, 22021) and two content members (22022, 22023) have been gathered in the "edit" panel 22010.
  • the user first selects the four members (by holding down shift key plus mouse clicks or mouse press and drag an area to enclose the 4 members) then clicks on "group" (22030).
  • the database engine first checks whether any existing Context has exactly identical set of topics (matching same topics and same number of topics) as the new Context.
  • FIG. 23 shows the final outcome where the connections between the connecting node (23010) of this Context and the four members (23020) are displayed.
  • the user can select "save" (23030) to accept the change or "cancel" (23040) to void the action.
  • Table 110 Fig. 10A
  • any new topics or content members will be recorded in associate table (for instance, table 111 (Fig. 10A), table 1027 for files/web page(Fig. 10B), table 1021 for database record in a file server.
  • An option is provided to revise the topic set for a content member but not affecting the topic set for the rest of the content members in a Context.
  • the user first selects the target content member and clicks "spin-off' (24050, Fig. 24) to separate the target content member from the rest of content members.
  • the user in this example spins off "File ABC” (24040).
  • Figure 24 shows that a "temporary Context" 24010 is created that contains "File ABC” and the same topic set as the original Context (A temporary connecting node i3 is created to connect to "File ABC" and to all the topic set of the original Context.
  • the user can now work on this temporary Context without affecting the original Context until a final decision is made.
  • the user can select any topic (24030) or the connection (24030) in the panel and click 24060 to delete its relationship from the temporary Context; in this case, the "recipe" topic is deleted. Note that only the connection between the topic and the connecting node is deleted, not the topic itself.
  • the database engine will delete the relation between the target content member ("File ABC") from the original Context in Table 110 (Fig. 10A). It then checks any existing Context that has exactly identical set of topics as the temporary Context. If yes, the content member will be merged into the existing Context (by establishing the connection between connecting node and the content members in Table 110).
  • connections, members' IDs and links will be recorded in associate tables for the temporary Context.
  • the use can follow a similar procedure for adding a topic member to a content member in a Context, but not affecting the rest of the content members in the Context.
  • a temporary Context containing the target content member is spun off from the original Context.
  • the user selects the temporary Context and other topics (pre-existing in the database or freshly created) in the edit panel, clicks the "group" operation (see 22030, Figure 22). If the user accepts this change, the database engine checks any existing Context that has exactly identical set of topics as the temporary Context. If yes, the content members in the temporary Context will be merged into the existing Context. Otherwise, the temporary Context will be recorded as a new Context.
  • FIG. 25 An example is shown in Figure 25 for removing/adding a content member relationship from/to a Context.
  • the user first selects the content member (25010) or the relation (25020) in the revision panel then clicks on (25030) to delete.
  • the database deletes the record in Table 110 (Fig.lOA) that establishes the relation between this content member and the Context.
  • the Context is no longer containing any topics or the content member is no longer related to any Contexts. This will be taken care of by the "house cleaning" routine.
  • To add a content member from a Context is very similar to removing one.
  • the user selects the Context with the new content member, then clicks on 25050.
  • the database creates a new record in Table 110 (Fig.lOA) corresponding to the connection between this content member and the Context connecting node.
  • the user selects the topic (25060 in the example in Fig. 25) then clicks on 25030 to delete it.
  • the database engine checks any existing Context that has exactly identical set of topics as the temporary Context. If yes, the content members of the temporary Context will be merged into the existing Context. Otherwise, the connection between the topics and Context connecting node is deleted.
  • the user selects both the Context and the topic then clicks on 25050 (Fig. 25).
  • the database engine checks any existing Context that has exactly identical set of topics as the temporary Context. If yes, the content members of the temporary Context will be merged into the existing Context (by establishing the connection between connecting node and the content members in Table 110). Otherwise, the connection (in Table 110) between the topic and the Context is added.
  • 26010 and 26020 are shown in the example that representing by the connecting nodes
  • 26011 and 26021 respectively.
  • the resulting Context is shown in 25001 (Fig. 25), where all the members are connected to one connecting node. If the user accepts the change, the database engine locates all the connections in Table 110 that corresponds to one of the connecting nodes, say 26011, and replaces the connecting node 26011 with connecting node 26021.
  • Figure 27 illustrates an example of how to find the Contexts that are related to a topic or content member. The user first selects the member then clicks on 27010.
  • the process for involving a topic or a content member is identical.
  • the topic 27020 is selected.
  • the database engine first looks up for any records in 110 (Fig. 10A), field 142 that involves this topic's universal ID. It then extracts the connecting nodes from these records from field 141, and subsequently from the connecting nodes to all of the related Contexts. In this example three Contexts
  • 28010, 28020, and 28030 are related to the topic "recipe", as shown in Figure 28.
  • the user can select any members from the results and traces down further if it is desired.
  • To rename a topic member of a Context the user selects the topic in the edit panel then click on "rename" (23060, Fig. 23).
  • the user can now strike over the to-be renamed topic with a new topic.
  • the user renamed "ice cream” (23050) with "ice desert”.
  • the database engine first breaks down the to-rename topic into individual keywords. In this case it ends up with "ice” and "desert” keywords.
  • the database needs to check whether similar topics (to this new entry topic) already exist in the database.
  • the database looks up in Table 8030 (Fig. 8C) to find similar keywords (based on "fuzzy text matching" previously discussed).
  • Table 8030 Fig. 8C
  • Similar keywords based on "fuzzy text matching” previously discussed.
  • a list of similar keywords for "ice” is stored in table A and a list of similar keywords for "desert” in table B. If more keywords compose of the topic, more corresponding tables will be created.
  • the database goes to the Topic table 8020. It filters this table to find any records that contain at least one keyword in table A.
  • the user may select a pre-existing topic among the similar topics for the new topic or insist to use the freshly created topic. If the preexisting is selected, the topic ID will be connecting to the Context connecting node. If the fresh new topic is selected, the database checks whether each of its associated keyword preexists (exact match here, not using "fuzzy text matching") in Keyword table 8030. If a keyword does not exist, it will be created. In this case "ice” has already existed but not “desert”. A new keyword "desert" is created.
  • connection between the connecting node 23010 and topic 23050 is replaced with a new connection between the connecting node and the topic "ice desert" (represents by its global ID). If the user accepts the change by clicking on "save," the database engine will keep all changes in the database. Otherwise, the state of the connection table 110 before the revision is restored. In this case, it is possible that a fresh new topic was created and became meaningless. This topic will be cleanup later by the "house cleaning routine". It could be a concern that the keywords in the replaced topic or the topic itself could be meaningless. For instance, these keywords may no longer relate to any topics. In this case, they will be flush out by the "house cleaning" routine. The other concern is whether renaming a topic disrupts other Contexts. The answer is no because the renamed topic is left untouched for these Contexts.
  • a topic is related to several Contexts, the user may wish to rename the topic for certain Contexts but not for the others.
  • An example is shown in Fig. 29, where the topic "ice cream” (29520) is a member for both Contexts 29510 and 29530. If the user wants to rename "ice cream” for Context 29510 but not for 29530, the user needs to first select and delete the topic "ice cream” relationship from Context 29510 then clicks on 29550 to add a new or preexisting topic. The user can then group the topic with and the Context. 2 nd embodiment Another embodiment for constructing or revising the Contexts in the crosslink database is disclosed next.
  • One of the objectives is to let the user clearly see the impacts on existing topics, content members and Contexts before a revision is made. Note that this embodiment is particularly effective when the relationships between these members become large and complex.
  • One of the objectives is to address a common issue encountered in the prior art folder tree structure. In order to reflect the interrelated relationships between content members and folders, in the prior art system a file- or folder alias may be place in several folders. However, it is not easy to see this complex inter-relationship in the prior art system. For instance, when a folder name is renamed to reflect a re-organization of the tree structure, if this folder is aliased in multiple other folders, the new name is not updated for its alias. It is tedious to find all the alias folder and decide whether to update them with the new name.
  • the selected operands will be added into any cheeked, qualified Contexts that appear in the Related Context panel.
  • a dialog box will pop to remind the user how many Contexts will be affected and wait for the user to confirm.
  • the operands will be submitted to the revision panel if the user confirms the operation. In case of no Contexts are checked, the operands are placed in the revision panel.
  • This operation constructs a Context that consists of all the checked Topics and/or checked content members in the revision panel. It needs at least two different members in the panel and among which at least one is a topic. If meets the requirements, the database engine executes the "group” operation and checks whether an existing Context contains identical set of topics as the topic set in the temporary Context. If it does, all the content members are merged into the existing Context. Otherwise, a new Context is created to relate all the topics and content members. In either case of new or existing Context, the final Context is displayed in the Related Context panel with its checkbox checked.
  • Contexts 32010 and 32020 are as shown in Figure 32.
  • Context 32010 has two topic members and two content members.
  • Context 32020 has three topics and three content members. They share a common content member "File O” (32030) and a common topic member “Topic A” (32040). When inquiring about "Topic A”, the outcome is as shown in Figure 30.
  • the two qualified Contexts 310a51 and 310a52 are shown in panel 310a50. Here we will use this GUI example.
  • the user When the user decides to delete the relationship of a topic from a Context, the user first may need to submit the topic to the Inquiry/Edit panel 31OaIO, Figure 30 because only in this panel a topic relationship may be deleted. This requirement ensures that the user inquires and reviews what Contexts may be related to this topic (in Related Context panel 310a50), whether the topic needs to be deleted from multiple Contexts, whether the deletion will break the ties between these related Contexts, etc. The user needs to be aware of the impact of deleting this topic relationship before execution. Assume "Topic A" relationship is to be deleted. The user first submits it to the panel, place the cursor on "Topic A", and select the "Delete” operation from the mouse menu.
  • the first step is to submit the content member to Panel 32OaIO (Fig. 320a).
  • an icon (32OaIl) next to the "File O" indicates it is a content member.
  • the system allows users to create a folder-Context alias that the folder is in fact a representation of a set of Contexts.
  • This "folder" icon is the GUI to manage input and output of content members related to the Context.
  • all the content members are shown like that of content panel 15070 in Figure 15A or 51050 in Fig. 15B but with addition of look and feel of the conventional OS older.
  • the content members listed are from the collection of multiple Contexts.
  • the database may routinely executes "house-cleaning" procedures or the user may initiate such execution.
  • this procedure may be called to filter out meaningless members.
  • the definitions for meaningless data (members) and actions may be a combination of the following items based on application needs:
  • a keyword is not related to any topic.
  • a topic is not related to any Context.
  • Action delete all the records associate with this topic in the Topic Table (e.g., Table 8020 in Figure 8B) and the topic's universal ID record from the Universal ID Table (e.g., Table 111 in Figure 10A).
  • Add up action of checking meaningless keywords may follow.
  • a Context contains no topic (optional for certain applications).
  • a content-information is not related to any Context.
  • a Context contains no content information (optional for certain applications).
  • FIG. 36 A and B To link information residing in computers scatters over the internet, an embodiment for the system architecture is shown in Figures 36 A and B. It consists of a client 3651 and at least a sever3652-l or a computer 3652-2 and a database server 3654. Note that 3652 and 3654 may happen to reside in one machine.
  • the crosslink database resides in sever 3654, where the unstructured portion of the information is handled.
  • the element3652 may be a conventional database server, a file server, a search engine server, a web server, an application server, an application computer that responses to inquiries, or even another crosslink database server, etc.
  • a file is store in a file sever, where every file is classified by a conventional database according to its filename, file path, file size, creation date, and revision date, etc.
  • a web page like the one in Figure 17
  • it is stored in a web server, where every web page is a file stored in a folder structure.
  • the web pages stores in a folder structure similar to that of a file server.
  • the sever link and the inquiry are stored instead of a web link or file path.
  • an application inquiry e.g. MS Outlook
  • the function call to the application program interface (API) and parameters are stored.
  • Server 3652 can also be for another crosslink database, but it will be discussed separately due to the added complexity.
  • Figs. 36A and 36B Two examples are shown in Figs. 36A and 36B for two different architectures, where a database server is involved for the former and an application in local computer is involved for the latter.
  • the user interacts with the GUI, which, in this example, is a web browser or browser like application 3611.
  • the communication between the browser 3611 and server 3652-1 (Fig. 36A) is by sending, e.g., XML and
  • HTTP-protocol (web page) messages to the application tier 3653-1.
  • the communication between the browser 3611 and the application is by API 3653-2.
  • the communication between the browser 3611 and server 3654 is by sending, e.g., XML and HTTP-protocol messages to the application tier 3655.
  • the communication between the database servers and their application tiers is via, e.g., SQL and/or XML.
  • 3654 and 3651 may be located on the same computer. It is desire for the user to launch the content information by clicking it. However, it is tricky for a browser to gain privilege for accessing files.
  • Microsoft .Net Frame work 2.0 enables the browser like client to impersonate the browser or its browser like application (using the operating system login identity) in order to gain such a privilege. Since the server and the local PC happen to be on the same machine in this case, it addresses this issue.
  • OS one browser
  • GUI can eliminate a lot of this complexity but need more work in accessing data over the network.
  • a time stamp tool is provided. This allows the user to review chronological notes and at the same time relate the notes to the crosslink database.
  • An embodiment system employs a conventional database table and a similar GUI as that of a conventional email tool (Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo & Google web mails).
  • the database table consists of data fields that the user see and data fields that not visible to the user.
  • Fig. 37A shows an embodiment of what the user sees.
  • Table 37A10 comprises data columns for "page number”, "crosslink”, "subject” and “Date/time.” Each record in the table represents a note page where the corresponding "message" is shown in panel 37A70.
  • Each record also contains data fields that are not shown in table 37A10: "who,” “follow-up,” and “to-do.”
  • the "page number” column stores the page number just like a hard bond notebook; the “subject” column provides a brief description of the note; the “date” column stores the time of the event; the “crosslink” column stores the status of whether the note has been preciously cross-linked and the interface for the crosslink database; the "who” column stores the author or work group identity so a group of people can share notes and still posses individual ownership of their own notes. From the identity a viewing and editing privilege can be controlled.
  • the "follow-up” column is used to connect follow-up notes together.
  • the "message” column is used to store file path of note content that stores in individual files.
  • the "to-do" indicates whether a note is marked as "to-do".
  • the notes are ranked in reverse chronological order. It may also be ranked by subject, or combination.
  • the message of the note is displayed in panel 37A70.
  • the user can create new note, delete existing note, and view notes by a particular author (37A20).
  • the user can conduct search by entering word string into field 37A30.
  • the checkbox 37A50 the note is registered in the to-do table When clicking "view to do" in 37A20, this note will be listed in one of the to-do list items.
  • An embodiment method is used to bridge between this conventional time stamp database and the crosslink database.
  • Column 37Al 1 contains an icon (or a symbol). When an icon is filled or changes color(3912), it indicates that the particular note has been previously cross-linked. This reminds the user that more information is available in the crosslink database.
  • Each note has a correspondent universal ID in Table 111 (Fig. 10A). Clicking the icon (filled or not filled) passes the note's universal ID to the crosslink database revision buffer. If this note has been cross-linked, the related topics, Contexts, and other content members are displayed. The users may crosslink this note to form a new Context or add it to existing Contexts just like handle a file. This scheme may easily application to an email tool due to the similarity between this electronic notebook and a conventional email tool.
  • Fig. 37C shows the example of filing a note in OneNote. It needs to be classified into one of the project tabs or other predefined tabs (scheme of folder, tree, or tagging). For every note being generated, the user needs to have a grand vision of a project structure. For the project structure to be relevant, the user needs to articulate this structure for future notes that the user have not yet know. Similarly, an email in the Outlook application may be filed into one of the pre-defined folders (Fig. 37D) and tagged by a pre-define name like "follw-up" (folder, tree, or tagging). It encounters the same difficult.
  • notes is listed in a table that may be ranked by a set of predefine parameters (Fig. 37E, scheme of a conventional database). It can not be used to handle personalized, unstructured data.
  • Many photo applications for instance, Mac iPhoto
  • the database engine enables this note/photo to self-relate to other topics (where the motives may express) and other type of digital contents and self-evolve to form important topics.
  • it is equivalent to constructing a tree structure dynamically based on the inquirer's perspective.
  • An example is shown in Fig. 38, where the "Photo”, “Melody”, and “Jocelyn" are inquired.
  • the related topics and Contexts are listing in panels 38010 and 38020.
  • the related photos of the checked Contexts are shown in thumb nails in panel 38040. Any photo that has "Melody” or “Jocelyn” in it will be shown as a thumb nail if all the Contexts are checked.
  • the related topics in panel 38010 can be considered as the sub folders but its structure changes depending what is being inquired.
  • a new photo for instance, was taken with "Melody” and “Wayne” in it on a "2005" "ski trip” at "Lake Tahoe”
  • the user simply constructs a Context with the topics and the photo without consider the entire data structure.
  • This photo can be retrieved later using any of the "topics” or the combinations thereof. It will also be integrated with other related topics that the user had forgotten. For instance, when inquire about "ski trip", the user can find "Lake Tahoe” or "Aspen Colorado” or ski trips from different years, etc.
  • the specific description of the Context will enable the user to quickly retrieve this photo. More over, the photo can also be cross-linked with other type of information. For instance, the birth photo of an infant could be related to the birth hospital web site and the copy of birth certificate.
  • the keyword, topic or the context may be highlighted and a text string may be linked with the related keywords, topics, or categories so that when a user clicks on the text string, it automatically submits the inquiry to the crosslink database system to display the results.
  • a Hyperlink may point to a file/application path or URL of a web page/ web application etc. and it may come with a set of parameters. For instance, one can construct a hyperlink points to a Microsoft Excel file and have a tag line or catchy picture for this hyperlink. One may insert the hyperlink in a Microsoft Word document. When the user clicks on the "tagline” or "catchy picture” in the document, it is equivalent to clicking on the Excel file itself icon in the folder. The OS automatically open the file with Excel application. Hyperlink also may contain a set of parameters (for instance, cells ID) that feeds Excel application.
  • the crosslink database may have a designated application/process in local computer or a web application over the internet. It takes in a set of parameters that may be topics, content members, Contexts and/or the combination and sends these parameters to the crosslink inquiry engine.
  • a hyperlink that points to this crosslink inquiry application plus a parameter set
  • clicking the hyperlink tag line or picture will automatically submit these parameters to the crosslink database inquiry.
  • a hyperlink may associate "my ice cream collection” with inquiry of "ice cream” topic.
  • clicking this word string the window as that of Fig. 13C pops up.
  • FIG 39 shows a hypothetical web application example of the present invention.
  • the html tag 39710 is embedded in a hypothetical html page of Amazon.com.
  • a web surfer may see the tag line "Entrepreneur must read! (39715).
  • the program “crosslinklnquiry.aspx” is a web application that interprets the parameters "startup” and “books” as topics and send it to the inquiry panel 13220 (Fig.
  • a set of Context may be exported out of the crosslink database to where no compatible crosslink database is available. For instance, the user may submit for an inquiry then checked Contexts of interest for export.
  • the related topics are required to be converted into a general format so that the organization and meanings for the content members could propagate to a system which does not employ crosslink database of the present invention.
  • One option may be to request the associated servers to deliver the content members and save it in a folder (called "export folder").
  • the other option is to record the content link, not the actual content itself if the content is accessible via the internet or a computer network. Next a spread sheet (or word document) file (“directory”) is created and saved in the same folder.
  • each topic may correspond to a column.
  • Each content member of a Context may correspond to a row. If the content member is related to a topic, a check is marked on the cell at the intersection of the content member and the topic.
  • a set of Context may be exported out of the crosslink database to where another crosslink database is available.
  • Another crosslink database is available.
  • the sending side crosslink database composes the html/XML that contains the Contexts information using tags.
  • the receiving side crosslink database has an application that can read the html/XML file and convert it into topics, Contexts, and content members. The file is transmitting to the receiving side after privilege and authentication process.
  • the html/XML file that contains the Contexts information is attached to an email sent o the receiving side but with a unique extension.
  • the unique extension of the file calls up the crosslink application on the receiving side to interpret the html/XML tags and convert them into Contexts.
  • the database data can be saved in a file and placed into an export folder. All the file types that are not accessible via the internet are duplicated and saved into the same folders.
  • the database goes over each files in the export folder and find the possible matches for the content members in the data and may have the user to confirm and save into the receiving side's computer/server. Once a file is confirmed, the link in the file table (Fig. 10B) is updated.
  • information related to physical location of various data for example paper files, tapes, CD/DVD, album, merchandise, inventory parts, drugs, vehicles, buildings, commercial billboards, maps, employee locations, etc.
  • information related to physical location of various data for example paper files, tapes, CD/DVD, album, merchandise, inventory parts, drugs, vehicles, buildings, commercial billboards, maps, employee locations, etc.
  • the text string related to digital content is analyzed and compared to a set of selected topics using "fuzzy text matching". Any matching topics may be suggested to the user. The user may identify the matching topics and the corresponding text string may be highlighted.
  • the present invention may be applied in Web commerce where web pages and merchandise information, and methods may be organized by cross linking the information according to the present invention so that the visitors may effectively and progressively interact with the database to gain an overview of what are available from the web commerce but from the visitors' perspective before narrow down the search.
  • a user may review the outcome of the database inquiry and gain a broader scope of the merchant's offer than the user's original scope, or refer from a related but different scope to the intended scope.
  • the present invention may be applied to organize the selected web pages of interests.
  • the present invention also allows the web visitors to exchange information over the Internet.
  • the present invention proposes to crosslink multiple web pages of interests with topics to form contexts, link them together according to the present invention and store this information into the database associated with the web site hosts so that multiple Contexts may be linked to a single web page or a single Context may be linked to multiple web pages.
  • the crosslink database server may monitor the frequency of a web page visited by other web surfers and rank its priority along with other qualified web pages when these web pages are presented to the users.
  • the user may request Contexts associated with a web page and may elect to review and/or revise, and save the Contexts of information into the crosslink database.
  • the Contexts are exported and then transmitted to the user's local display and/or storage.
  • the web address may be parsed to extract the word before .com, .org, .net or the alike to identify the web site, the crosslink database associate with the host automatically searches for any content members, topics, Contexts from the same web sites and present them to the users.
  • commercial information related to merchandise, documents, files, maps, photos, pictures, forms, audio/video products, books, resumes, merchant contact information and products and services, customer feedback, customer's contact information and purchase history, customer service and support records, inventory, etc. and the like may be cross-linked with topics to form contexts according to the method described above, and then stored in the crosslink database and the information is associated with the website host.
  • one or more users may link to the website host for inquiring and progressively searching the information of interests over the internet.
  • the crosslink database server monitors the frequency of sites/information visited by the users and rank their priority compared with other sites stored in the crosslink database when these sites/information are presented to the users.
  • the crosslink database may be affiliated with the publisher and the subscribers to exchange information over the Internet.
  • the crosslink database may be affiliated with a web site that allows their subscribers to save their web bookmark over the Internet in the web site's crosslink database.
  • a subscriber can login to the web site to retrieve their bookmarks that are cross-linked using the invention like
  • a context 23010 comprises a connecting node 23011, topics A and B, and content members Cl and C2.
  • the content member C2 has been "system backed-up" four times.
  • the backup context 23020 has been automatically generated by the system when the user decided to back up content member C2 the first time.
  • a member may be excluded from the inquiry.
  • Contexts containing the excluded member may be "not interesting", and these "not interesting” Contexts are "defocus” (by not displaying, dime out, in different font or size or color, in different background color, cross-out, etc.) on the display panel.
  • to exclude the topic "chocolate” the user submits the topic "chocolate” to the inquiry, and then select a mouse menu "Exclude.” This action will cross out the topic "chocolate” and "defocus” any Context containing the topic "chocolate”.
  • the crosslink database engine For implementing the exclusion action, the crosslink database engine first separates all the excluded members and non-excluded members, and identifies all the Contexts containing all the non-excluded members. It then "defocuses" any of these Contexts that containing the excluded members (chocolate topic in this case). For topics displaying in the "Related Topic” panel, only topics that are related to the Contexts that are "focus” will remain “focus.” When there are more than one excluded members, the user can select an option of "OR”, “AND” or "EXTENDED.” When “OR” is selected, any Contexts containing at least one of the excluded members are “defocused.” When “AND” is the option, any Contexts containing all of the excluded members are “defocused.”
  • the "EXTENDED” option let the user to exclude a group of topic ("extended not interesting” group) because they are related to another group of topics ("original not interesting” group).
  • the "extended not interesting group” is generated by submitting the "original not interesting group” to the inquiry. Any related topics from the inquiry is a member of the "extended not interesting group.”
  • the Context groups a set of content members and gives specific meanings to this group, when the user is working on one of the content members (composing, reviewing, revising, etc.), it may be also desirable to simultaneously work on other content members as well.
  • the user may place the cursor on the Context icon and select "open content” mouse menu.
  • the user may select on "close content” menu.
  • the user may minimize the windows (temporarily condense the window into an icons) or bring up the windows of open content members by selecting "minimize content” or "bring up content” mouse menu.
  • An advantageous embodiment of above "open content” is to open all content members that have been recently accessed.
  • the user does not need to go over the list and open one content member in a time.
  • the database engine can automatically opens all the content members that have been worked on within a recent time frame for the user with a simple mouse click. Alternatively, the user needs to check the content members and select "open checked content” to open only those content that are checked.
  • FIG 26B Another embodiment is shown in Figure 26B, where the user sees less cluttered Context 26020 even though the Context is related to topics "cars" and “vehicles".
  • the Context connecting node is in fact connected “cars” and “vehicles” but the connections to these two topics (recorded in Table 110, Fig. 1OA ) are flagged as "invisible” in the table field (not shown in Fig. 10A).
  • these two topics may be visible in other Contexts.
  • the user elects not to see these two topics for this specific Content when the Context is first constructed or revised. These topics will not be displayed in the Related Context panel 13330 ( Figure 13C).
  • control topics called "ID tag” can be automatically attached to a new Context when prearranged by the user.
  • Multiple ID tags can be used at the same time.
  • An ID tag for instance, can represent an individual person, a project name, a group, an organization, etc.
  • the ID tags are similar to topics but not displayed by default in Related Contexts panel. The user can turn on or off an ID tag to view or ignore a set of related topics and Contexts returned from an inquiry.
  • a website owner/editor 29031 may register contexts related to web pages, for example, to include their own web pages or reference web pages from other web sites, with the registration center database server 29010, so that web-surfers 29021 may discover these web pages at 29031 by submitting inquiry to crosslink database of the registration center database server 29010.
  • the web page is first required to be cross-linked to the related Contexts by the various steps described hereinabove. It should be noted that when a web page/web application inquiry is cross linked into Contexts, the web address, directory, file/application name, and parameters, are stored in the cross link database.
  • the crosslink task may be accomplished using the register center crosslink database server 29010 or the website crosslink database server 29031, if available.
  • the composed Contexts are transmitted from website crosslink database server 29031 to the register center crosslink database server 29010 via the Internet.
  • contexts are registered in the register center crosslink database server
  • the submitter needs to go through a secure login system where the database engine of the registration center recognizes the account and its privilege via secure Https login. Upon authorization, the submitter is allowed to selectively access or add or revise the registered Contexts.
  • a regular surfer does not have the revising/editing privilege.
  • the web surfers may interactively submit inquiry to register center crosslink database server 29010 using steps described hereinabove.
  • the crosslink database allows a surfer to download the related Contexts of a webpage from website crosslink database server 29031 to the surfer's personal network computer and or revise the Contexts to fit the surfer's personal preference, and then the Contexts may be saved and integrated into the personal crosslink database 29021.
  • the saved Context now has an identity tag of the surfer instead of the website regardless of whether the Context has been revised or not.
  • the web page editor/author may be able to determine whether a context is a public context or private context from the right mouse button menu.
  • the Context is uploaded from surfer personal database 29021 to the registration center database 29010, the public Contexts are available to the public, and to access the private contexts, an authorized login is required. Accordingly, the web page editor/author may be able to inquire public and or private contexts via the Internet. It should be noted that by default only the links of the content member are uploaded to the registration center database 29010, not the content themselves. To upload a content itself (not accessible otherwise) to the registration center server so that a link can be established, one need to explicitly turn on a flag associated with the content member and needs to have FTP privilege to the site directory.
  • present invention may be applied in Web commerce where web pages and merchandise information, and methods may be organized by cross linking the information according to the present invention so that the surfers may effectively and progressively interact with the cross link database to enjoy all the benefits and features of integrative, quick and progressive search described above.
  • multiple document pages/web pages may be cross-linked into the database stored in an electronic device or a portable storage device and this cross-linked database may linked to the internet servers for surfers to search and access.
  • multiple Contexts may be linked to a single page/bookmark with which a surfer/subscriber interacts to select and access information of interests.
  • the cross link database of the present invention linked to the Internet server may allow the owner to gain privileged access to revise/update or add new information.
  • a subscriber may link to the cross link database to enjoy all the benefits and features of integrative, quick and progressive search described above.
  • the present invention provides a method to narrow down search engine results. Search engines often bring in too many coincident hits. To narrow down the search results, the user may have issues of what additional topic to use.
  • the crosslink database will supplied related topics for feeding the search engine.
  • the related topics are manually entered by the user to the search engine.
  • the related topics are automatically fed to the search engine using search engine API (for instance, Google provides software development kit) and the return results are integrated by the crosslink database engine: First primary topics are chosen by the user; the primary topics are sent to the inquiry to obtain the related topics
  • the present invention provides an author interface.
  • An embodiment of the author interface is as shown in Figure 42.
  • the author interface comprises a panel 49010 (similar to thumbnails view in Microsoft Word) where an author can enter the brief description of the sub-document and text body (49020).
  • Each sub-document is represented by an icon and a brief description as shown in panel 49010.
  • Each document may consist of single or multiple paragraphs that elaborates the brief description.
  • the order of the sub document in panel 49010 may be arranged to reflects the author's overall thought tend or in reverse chronicle order of when they were last access.
  • To view/revise the sub-document the author may click on the brief description.
  • the order of the sub-document can be rearranged by drag and drop (like that of a MS Power Point slide thumbnails) a sub-document within panel 49010.
  • An alternative to the Fig. 42 GUI is to have the view similar to that of Fig.
  • a sub document clicks on the icon (49011, Fig. 42, or a symbol) associating with the sub document. It grabs the link of this sub document and places the link into the revision buffer.
  • the icon's function is similar to that of 37A12 (Fig. 37A). In this example, when the icon is filled, it indicates the sub-document has been previously cross-linked. The rest of the procedure for constructing, revising, or reviewing Contexts for the sub document is identical to that of a note in the time stamp tool (Fig. 37A).
  • a sub document may be related to motives, thoughts, reports, web pages, notes, or photos, research papers, white papers, etc.
  • the author can construct a complex interrelated relationship between the sub-documents. In the end important topics emerged that can help the author gain overall picture. In addition, the author can quickly review or revise the flow of related sub documents that may not be in immediate sequence.
  • the author may toggle between crosslink view (Fig. 15B) and the composer view (Fig. 42) by clicking action words 49031 or 49032. The user can also click forward and backward icon (49034) to go to previous or proceeding views/sub documents similar to that of a web page.
  • the main document is where the sub-documents weaved together.
  • the author may click on "Main” button. While composing, the author may click on a sub-document and hold the mouse button while drag it to the text body.
  • the sub-document's hyperlink is automatically inserted at the location of the cursor in the body text and the brief description of sub-document will appear as the tag line for the hyperlink (similar to the "paste as hyperlink” function in Microsoft Office Suite).
  • An example is shown in Figure 43, where an author composes the text paragraph in the main sub-document in which the hyperlink for the sub-document entitled "Top 10 Chinese ice cream flavors" is embedded.
  • the sub-document's text body may be displayed on panel 50010 by clicking on the hyperlink. This brings up the sub-document (may be display in a separate panel) for the user to review or edit.
  • the author may elect to insert all the sub-document into the main document's text body.
  • the crosslink will automatically do the following: (1) Place a bookmark (maybe hidden or visible bookmark) at the location of the main documents where the beginning of each sub-document text body is inserted, (2) In the crosslink database table where each sub document file path is stored
  • present invention may be applied in book publishing where the main document is an electronic book.
  • the "smart index" of this book used by the author to compose the book may be accompanying with the electronic book to the book subscriber.
  • the data can be loaded into a crosslink database so the subscriber may inquire and interact with the interrelated portion of the electronic book, rich references that used by the author, and even the author's motives or state of mind while composing the book.
  • the subscriber may revise the Contexts of the electronic book to add personal meanings and references. For instance, adding or delete topics, crosslink (or interrelate) two different electronic books, or adding personal comments/notes to a section of the book.
  • the present invention discloses many examples of connecting information that scatters in at least 5 basic information platforms and many applications that the invention may be applied.
  • the present invention disclose in part, a unique crosslink data structure that are used to manage the complex, interrelationship between human motives and digital content that are both structured and unstructured; the present invention also disclose methods of presenting this complex data structure in a simple, easy to understand, organized manner that fit human nature of processing information and thinking pattern, notably by relation and correlation.
  • the present invention addresses the issues encountered in many prior arts that require humans to have a foresight for articulating data structures for data that they have not yet received or motives that are not yet matured; the present invention also address the issues in many prior arts that are difficult to restructure the data structure once human motives and digital content collection develop, evolve, and deviates from original expectations.
  • the users of the present invention do not need to have concerns of how the receiving information fits into existing data structure. They simply express their personalized motives (meanings) based on their impressions called related topics.
  • the related topics and the receiving information are grouped into a Context; together the underlying context meaning becomes apparent for each topic and a clear message is delivered. Context groups may be interrelated to each other by topics.
  • the present invention disclosed methods to present information like on-the-fly decision trees that based on the users' prospective and input.
  • the present invention disclose methods that weight topics and Context groups by how recent information was last "attended” by the user so that the user can pay attention to information that are more likely up to date or need more urgent attention.
  • the present invention disclose methods that allow users to easily revise the complex data structure by showing what Contexts group are to be affected so the users may selectively revise only Contexts that need changes.
  • Multiple itemized objects are cross-linked with topics to form categories and store in the cross-link database associate with the web site host; multiple categories can be link to a single object.
  • the user interacts with the cross-link database to identify the object of interests.
  • the web server displays the object of interests to the user.
  • the user elects to select an object.
  • the cross-link database server monitors the frequency of an object been visited by other web surfers and rank its priority with other qualified objects when these objects are presented to the users.
  • the user requests the associate categories of a object to be transmitted; the user may elect (for instance, by clicking the text, image, or icon associate with the object. For instance, 4810 and 4820, Fig. 48) to review and or revise the categories; the user may elect to save it in the users' associate cross-link database.
  • the categories are exported then transmitted to the user's local display and/or storage.

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Abstract

L'invention concerne un système et un procédé pour organiser et récupérer des informations. Le système est utilisé dans un ordinateur disponible pour la communication interactive avec des utilisateurs. Le système informatique fait fonctionner une base de données à liaisons croisées, stockée dans cet ordinateur. La base de données à liaisons croisées comprend une structure de données à liaisons croisées comprenant au moins un noeud de connexion et au moins un premier élément ainsi qu'un deuxième élément connectés au noeud de connexion par une liaison, de même qu'un navigateur destiné à la communication interactive avec les utilisateurs à des fins d'organisation et de récupération / révision des informations dans la base de données à liaisons croisées. Le premier élément est relié au deuxième élément et peut être retracé via le noeud de connexion. Le deuxième élément peut correspondre à un contexte d'informations, les premier et deuxième éléments constituant des sujets d'informations différents, connexes au contexte des informations.
EP06735377A 2005-02-15 2006-02-15 Structure de donnees a liaisons croisees, base de donnees a liaisons croisees et systeme et procede pour organiser et recuperer des informations Withdrawn EP1859371A1 (fr)

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Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US65275105P 2005-02-15 2005-02-15
US66908605P 2005-04-06 2005-04-06
US69453005P 2005-06-27 2005-06-27
US69971305P 2005-07-15 2005-07-15
US11/294,969 US7480669B2 (en) 2005-02-15 2005-12-05 Crosslink data structure, crosslink database, and system and method of organizing and retrieving information
US11/339,766 US20060195461A1 (en) 2005-02-15 2006-01-24 Method of operating crosslink data structure, crosslink database, and system and method of organizing and retrieving information
PCT/US2006/005683 WO2006089137A1 (fr) 2005-02-15 2006-02-15 Structure de donnees a liaisons croisees, base de donnees a liaisons croisees et systeme et procede pour organiser et recuperer des informations

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