International Business Machines Corporation

Peter Chi-Shing Yim

Reiner Kraft

Michael Lawrence Emens

Robert Charles Leah

John Kurt Muller

David Mallenby

Stefan Bengt Edlund

Embodiments of the invention may provide the ability to dynamically create and update map projections to reduce the spatial distortion in a desirable way for a specific map view. For example, as a map view is changed, a new central meridian may be selected and a new map projection may be created based on the selected central meridian. Dynamically updating map projections so that all map layers are correctly representing the most important spatial attributes for the given situation may enable a map analyst to correctly interpret the maps being viewed.

Dynamically updating map projections

The present invention provides a system and technique for initiating, conducting, and managing real-time surveys, in the context of a real-time discourse, such as Internet chat, to provide dynamic, real-time survey results. A surveyor initiates a survey by filling out an electronic form which is processed and submitted to a sorting component of the invention. The invention imposes an additional layer of functionality upon a Live Information Selection and Analysis tool which gathers, summarizes, and indexes chat messages in a real-time discourse. The sorting component matches the collected real-time chat messages from the LISA tool with correlating submitted survey queries to provide raw real-time survey results which are converted into a viewable format for submission to the surveyor. The present invention makes it possible to initiate, conduct, and manage multiple surveys simultaneously to provide accurate, dynamic, real-time survey results within the context of a real-time discourse.

System and method for automatically conducting and managing surveys based on real-time information analysis

A computer program product is provided as a session search system and associated method that provide a novel type of query referred to as &ldquo;session query&rdquo;. In the context of a session query, a user issues a search query using, for example, a web-based form. This query is processed immediately by the search engine, yielding search result elements that are returned within the new context of a &ldquo;dynamic search result set&rdquo;. As long as the user is reviewing the &ldquo;dynamic search result set&rdquo; of the session query, the search result is updated automatically in almost real-time, when new information arrives. When the user is no longer interested in continuing the search, the session query is terminated. The session search system generally includes two modules: A client module that presents the &ldquo;dynamic search result set&rdquo; to the user, and a server module that manages the current set of active session queries. The client module implements an executable code in the user's web browser.

System and method for providing a session query within the context of a dynamic search result set

A system for identifying different language versions of the same structured format document (e.g., HTML web page) detects the language of the two documents and translates one or both into a preferred language if necessary, parses the two candidate documents and builds two hierarchical data structure based on the document. The data structures are used to compare the hierarchical structure of the two documents and also to access text portions in congruent positions in the two documents. A fuzzy measure of similarity of a set of text portions occupying congruent positions in the two documents is then obtained, to induce a measure of the similarity of the two documents which is compared to a fuzzy threshold.

Software and method for recognizing similarity of documents written in different languages based on a quantitative measure of similarity

A method and apparatus which enables a user to streamline the number of results presented to the user during a search session most typically performed over the Internet. The present invention allows the user to select specific results from a search result set which are to be excluded and are not to reappear in a subsequent result set in the search session. The present invention is capable of automatically excluding results from a search result set unless the user specifically flags the specific search results they want to keep and have reappear in a subsequent result set in the search session. This allows a user to save time during a search session by not having to view repeated results, and allows the user to focus on more relevant and related results.

Method for reducing search results by manually or automatically excluding previously presented search results

A system and method associates a label and description with a search query such that the query, label, and description can be stored in a shared query repository so that queries can be retrieved by multiple users for reuse. The shared query repository can be searched, so that an appropriate query can be located, retrieved, and then submitted for execution over a document database by a search engine. Retrieved queries can be combined with other retrieved queries or modified with new search terms, and the new combined search query can be used for a new search on the database. The database search system and method efficiently permits reuse of search queries and facilitates sharing of search strategies.

Labeling and describing search queries for reuse

A system and method of distributed metadata searching is disclosed. The present invention permits an extension of the searching and retrieval functions of existing Internet web search engines by utilizing computational resources embodied in user computer systems and search browsers. By distributing the searching and scanning functions to the user level, the present invention reduces the computational and communications burden on Internet web search engines and crawlers, resulting in lower computational resource utilization by Internet search engine providers. Given the exponential growth rate currently being experienced in the Internet community, the present invention provides one of the few methods by which complete searches of this vast distributed database may be performed. The present invention permits embodiments incorporating a Search Manger ( ) further comprising a Service Results Manager ( ), User Profile Database ( ), Service Manager( ), and Service Database ( ); a Light Weight Application SCANNER ( ); and a Search Engine ( ). These components may be augmented in some preferred embodiments via the use of a Search Browser ( ), Internet Communications ( ); Web Site(s) ( ), Web Crawler(s) ( ), and a Repository Database ( ).

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Peter Chi-Shing Yim