Abstract: The invention provides method and apparatus for viewing information. In one embodiment, the system of the invention enables the user to view displayed information in a way that is comparable to a selected physical paradigm. Example physical paradigms include, but are not limited to, financial, educational, governmental, sports, media, retail, travel, geographic, real estate, medical, physiological, mechanical, surveillance, agricultural, industrial, infrastructure, scientific and other like paradigms. By presenting information to the user in a way that more closely mimics physical paradigms, the system provides an intuitive mechanism for the user to view, search through and interact with displayed information in an unrestricted manner. In another embodiment, the appearance is a graphical representation of one or more data objects, related to other data objects through hierarchical relationships defined by one or more templates.

Abstract: This invention provides a system for matching a user with an item in the nature of an activity, sporting or other event, or facility, referred to collectively as an ASEF, based on a request made by a user of the system. A database stores information related to the ASEF, such as the date, time and type of ASEF, along with the location of the ASEF. The database can represent the location of the ASEF in terms of latitude and longitude. The database can also include the latitude and longitude of each client user's position or have such user position location provided separately. When a client user interrogates the database, such as through a computer based server, with a request for information on a specific ASEF, the server not only supplies the available related ASEF information, but also calculates the distance from the client user's location to each of the ASEF's related to the user's request.

Abstract: A database server contains pointers to useful information, such as on the World Wide Web. Users of the server may have hypertext links added automatically into documents they submit. Users may additionally contribute to the link database, thereby extending it, and may add additional qualifying information pertaining to the links.

Abstract: The present invention provides a system and a method for mining a new kind of association rules called disjunctive association rules, where the antecedent or the consequent of a rule may contain disjuncts of terms (XY or X⊕Y). Such rules are a natural generalisation to the kind of rules that have been mined hitherto. Furthermore, disjunctive association rules are generalised in the sense that the algorithm also mines rules which have disjunctions of conjuncts (C(AB)(DE)). Since the number of combinations of disjuncts is explosive, we use clustering to find a generalized subset. The said clustering is preferably performed using agglomerative clustering methods for finding the greedy subset.

Abstract: An exemplary method for providing personalized application search results in a mobile device comprises the steps of receiving a search request from a user, the search request including at least one search keyword and a user identifier, searching an application registry database for a first set of matching applications based on the search keyword, searching an application selection table for a second set of matching applications based on the search keyword and the user identifier, ordering the second set of matching applications based on frequency of use parameters in the application selection table to obtain an ordered second set of matching applications, appending a set of application in the first set of matching applications but not in the second set of matching applications to the end of the ordered second set of matching applications, generating a response to the search request based on the third set of matching applications, and sending the response to the user.

Abstract: In an environment where databases are shared, it is important that the information contained within the databases be consistent among databases containing the respective information. Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus for synchronizing databases containing related information comprising the steps of detecting a change to at least one database record in any of a first plurality of databases based on a first set of parameters; notifying a controller of the change; and updating, according to the detected change, each of a second plurality of databases containing the respective database record in response to a determination that the change falls within a second parameter.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and apparatus for managing information in an information resource system containing a server, a client, and a database, by generating metadata using an import agent, determining at least one match using a match agent, and dispatching the at least one match or a result associated with the match using a delivery agent. In an aspect of the invention, the metadata may be RDF metadata. In another aspect of the invention, the match agent may determine the match using an RQL query.

Abstract: A method for finding and ranking portions of documents responsive to a query is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: providing at least one database containing documents; providing a query relating to information sought by a user, the query containing at least one search term; assigning a value to each document responsive to at least one search term contained in the query indicating the relevance of the document; defining regions within the documents, each region corresponding to a selected one of the search terms; assigning a value to each region responsive to at least one search term contained in the query indicating the relevance of the region; and displaying at least one region of at least one document in order of relevance.

Abstract: A method of efficiently migrating data from one categorization hierarchy to a new hierarchy. A mapping is created which describes where a document in one hierarchy will be placed in a new hierarchy. The classifier of the first hierarchy is merged with this mapping to act as a classifier for the second hierarchy. Cases from the first hierarchy are classified in the new hierarchy using this merged mapping. In another embodiment, a training set is designated from a first hierarchy and mapped to a second hierarchy. Using machine learning, a classifier for the second hierarchy is derived and used to classify subsequently migrated cases. Migration of data using the present invention is more accurate as fewer human errors are generated. The present invention can act as a virtual classifier for multiple hierarchies in an organization, providing updated categorization information for multiple hierarchical databases.

Abstract: A server of a geographical information distributor includes: a map database that stores map data; a search object database that stores data concerning search objects to be displayed on a map; and a search map generation unit that generates a search map using the map data and the search object data, based on a request from the server of a search object publisher that has registered the search object data. The search map generated by the search map generation unit is transmitted to the terminal of a service user, and the ID of a search object selected by the service user is transmitted to the search object publisher.

Abstract: When an object file is read from a recording medium by a file system, a jump table retrieving section retrieves a unit-record-area number, corresponding to the unit record area to which individual desired data of the object file is allocated or a unit-record-area number near individual desired data, from a jump table corresponding to the object file. And a unit record area retrieving section retrieves a unit record area containing the individual desired data by referring a file allocation table based on the retrieved unit-record-area number. Then an accessing section takes access to the recording medium to read out the individual data recorded in the unit record area. This system realizes high-speed retrieving of intended unit record areas when writing/reading a file to/from the recording medium.

Abstract: A subprefix is selected from a prefix search tree that has a longest match to a search prefix. A binary search prefix is input to the root vertex of the tree, and is compared to the prefixes in selected hierarchy vertices. A bit is set in a search mask based on a least significant bit of a bit string in the search prefix that matches a longest bit string in a prefix in each vertex. A longest matching subprefix is selected from a string of most significant bits of the search prefix based on the lowest significant bit set in the search mask. A prefix mask is also provided for each prefix in the tree, and is useful in connection with construction of the search mask.

Abstract: A binary search tree is structured so that keys or addresses associated with data in the bottom vertices are arranged in a predetermined order, such as ascending key address order. The root vertex and each hierarchy vertex contains the lowest value key from each child vertex and are thus similarly arranged by key value order. Each vertex of each level contains at least k and no more than 2k−1 keys, where k is an integer ≦2 and is constant for all vertices of a given level, but may vary between levels. The result is a structured tree having equal path lengths between the root vertex and each bottom vertex for search purposes. Keys are deleted and inserted to the bottom vertices by restructuring the tree under control of computer instructions.