SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONCEPT DISCOVERY WITH ONLINE INFORMATION ENVIRONMENTS
Provided are systems and methods for referencing intent-based taxonomies to enable more natural approaches for users to specify problems to be solved, questions to be answered, and other content requests that can be delivered within online communities. In the medical setting, physicians and medical personnel are accustomed to provide medical information and ask questions of other physicians in the form of a narrative. Narrative medical information can be easy for a physician to define but difficult to process in an online community. The inability to classify such narratives can significantly affect the ability of the physician to obtain answers to his/her question and/or search for material in the community based on his/her question. Narrative statements can be analyzed automatically and standardized concepts returned from medical taxonomies to classify a narrative question. Standardized concepts can also be used to search and/or review material relevant to the question defined within a community.
1 . A system for concept discovery with an online information environment, the system comprising:
at least one processor operatively connected to a memory, the at least one processor configured to execute a plurality of system components from the memory, the system components comprising:
a user interface component, executed by the at least one processor, configured to accept input in an open-ended text field from a user; and
an ontology component, executed by the at least one processor, configured to communicate with an ontology database and match text fragments from the open-ended text field with concepts from the ontology database.
2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the system further comprises:
an ontology database including terms organized by concept.
3 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the text fragments include portions of words, single words, or phrases.
4 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the ontology component is configured to execute at least one function to: analyze the text fragments to determine colloquialisms in the text fragment and return a standard term or disambiguate sense of the same term or acronyms and return a complete standard term.
5 . (canceled)
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9 . The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a case database configured to store questions and associated information wherein the case database is configured to organize a question and associated information as a case object, and the system is configured to identify, automatically, and associate respective case objects with standardized concepts.
10 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein the questions and associated information are generation from input received from outside the online information environment.
11 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein the questions and associated information are generated through user interaction with the online information environment.
12 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein the user interface requires input in the open-ended text field from the user to define a case.
13 . (canceled)
14 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein the system is further configured to associate classification information to respective case objects that further characterizes the unstructured text in the open-ended text field.
15 . The system according to claim 14 , wherein the ontology component accesses the classification information stored in the case database and matches based on at least the text fragment and the classification information.
16 . The system according to claim 14 , wherein the plurality of system components comprise an aggregation component configured to aggregate information within the case database according to common concepts.
17 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein the system components further comprise:
a search component configured to access the case database, wherein the search component matches concepts from the ontology component to concepts associated with existing cases.
18 . The system according to claim 17 , wherein the user interface is configured to accept a search narrative as an open-ended text input, and provide concepts from the ontology component to the search component.
19 . (canceled)
20 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the ontology component assigns a match grade to each concept matched and ranks the matched concepts based upon the match grade.
21 . The system according to claim 20 , wherein the ontology component determines match grade based at least in part by the number of characters matched from the text fragment with the ontology database concept.
22 . The system according to claim 21 , wherein the ontology component determines match grade at least in part by employing classification information in the case.
23 . A computer implemented method for concept discovery with an online information environment, the method comprising:
accepting, by a computer system, input into an open-ended text field from a user;
communicating, by the computer system, with an ontology database;
matching, by the computer system, text fragments from the open-ended text field with concepts from the ontology database.
24 . The method according to claim 23 , further comprising accessing terms organized by concept from an ontology database.
25 . The method according to claim 23 , wherein matching the text fragments includes at least one of recognizing portions of words, single words, or phrases; recognizing acronyms and returning a complete standard term; or disambiguating senses of the same term.
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29 . The method according to claim 23 , further comprising displaying concepts matched by the ontology component to a user.
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31 . The method according to claim 23 , further comprising generating records in a case database, wherein the case database is configured to store questions and associated information.
32 . The method according to claim 31 , wherein generating by the computer system, the questions and associated information from input received from outside the environment.
33 . The method according to claim 31 , wherein generating the records in the case database includes generating the questions and associated information from input received from the online information environment.
34 . The method according to claim 31 , further comprising requiring by the computer system input in the open-ended text field from the user to define a case.
35 . The method according to claim 31 , further comprising organizing question and associated information as a case object in the case database associated with standardized concepts from the ontology database.
36 . The method according to claim 31 , further comprising storing classification information that further characterizes the unstructured text in the open-ended text field in the case database.
37 . The method according to claim 36 , further comprising accessing the classification information stored in the case database and matching based on at least the text fragment and the classification information.
38 . The method according to claim 36 , further comprising aggregating information within the case database according to common concepts.
39 . (canceled)
40 . The method according to claim 31 , further comprising receiving a search narrative as an open-ended text input and searching the ontology database.
41 . The method according to claim 39 , wherein searching the ontology database includes searching a case database to match concepts from the ontology database to concepts associated with existing cases.
42 . The method according to claim 23 , further comprising assigning a match grade to each concept matched and ranking the matched concepts based upon the match grade.
43 . The method according to claim 42 , further comprising determining match grade based at least in part by the number of characters matched from the text fragment with the ontology database concepts.
44 . The method according to claim 42 , further comprising determining match grade at least in part by employing classification information in the case.