System and method for cataloguing digital information for searching and retrieval

Abstract

The system and method for searching and retrieving information stored in heterogeneous information repositories. A portal server retrieves user requests through a computer network and looks up information stored in a metadata databases. For example, the metadata may be encoded in an XML/RDF format and stored in a directory server to facilitate effective searching and retrieval of information from an information repository. Metadata includes information including a classmark definition for each document. The classmark is determined through an automated cataloguing process.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A system for providing a portal to information stored in one or more information repositories, comprising: 
 a computer network;    one or more information repositories, each information repository including a communications component connecting the information repository to the computer network;    a metadata server, the metadata server including a communications component connecting the metadata server to the computer network, the metadata server storing metadata information about data stored in the one or more information repositories; and    a portal server, the portal server having a communications component connecting the portal server to the computer network, the portal server receiving requests and processing the requests using metadata information stored on the metadata server.    
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer network is the Internet.  
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the metadata server stores the metadata information encoded in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML).  
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the metadata server stores the metadata information encoded in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) format.  
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the requests that the portal server receives are one or more from the group consisting of: a search request and an information retrieval request.  
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the metadata server and the portal server are run on a single computing device.  
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the metadata server and the portal server use the same communications component to connect to the computer network.  
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the metadata information stored on the metadata server includes classmark information.  
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the classmark information is automatically determined from an index and a class definition.  
     
     
         10 . A system for searching and retrieving information on a network, comprising: 
 a computer network; and    a user workstation, the user workstation including a communications component connecting the user workstation to the computer network, the user workstation receiving a request;    the user workstation sending the request to a portal server, the portal server using metadata information about data stored in one or more information repositories to process the request, returning resulting information to the user workstation.    
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the metadata information is encoded in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML).  
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the metadata information is encoded in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) format.  
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the request received by the user workstation is one or more from the group consisting of: a search request and an information retrieval request.  
     
     
         14 . A system for cataloguing information stored in an information repository, the system comprising: 
 a keyword index of data stored in an information repository;    one or more domain class definitions; and    a computing device, the computing device cataloguing documents stored in the information repository using the keyword index and the one or more class definitions.    
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the keyword index is built by a spider.  
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein each of the one or more domain class definitions includes one or more classes, each of the one or more classes including keywords representative of that class.  
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein each of the keywords representative of a class are weighted.  
     
     
         18 . A computer-readable medium comprising data stored in a data structure for describing data stored in an information repository, the data structure including: 
 a resource locator attribute identifying a document stored in an information repository; and    a classmark attribute identifying a classification of the document, the classification automatically determined using a keyword index and a classification definition.    
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the data structure further comprises: 
 an author attribute identifying the author of the document; and    a title attribute specifying a title for the document.    
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the data structure further comprises an abstract attribute specifying an abstract of the document.  
     
     
         21 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the data structure further comprises a keyword attribute, the keyword attribute identifying zero or more keywords for the document.  
     
     
         22 . A method for cataloguing data stored in an information repository, comprising: 
 receiving a keyword index of data stored in an information repository;    receiving a classification definition, the classification definition including a plurality of classes;    determining the classification of data stored in the information repository using the keyword index and the classification definition; and    storing the determined classification.    
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein receiving a keyword index is built by a spider.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the determined classification is stored in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the determined classification is stored in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) format.  
     
     
         26 . A method for providing access to one or more information repositories, the method comprising: 
 receiving a request on a portal server; and    using metadata about data stored in one or more information repositories to process the request.    
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the request is one or more from the group consisting of: a search request and an information retrieval request.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the metadata is encoded in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML).  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the metadata is encoded in the Resource Description Framework (RDF) format.  
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the metadata is stored on the portal server.  
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the metadata is stored on a metadata server.  
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the metadata includes a classmark attribute, the classmark attribute being automatically generated from a keyword index and a class definition.