Document management using business objects

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for processing information includes collecting data objects from one or more data repositories, the data objects having respective properties, which identify the data objects. The properties of the collected data objects are analyzed in order to derive respective identifiers corresponding to the data objects. A text string that matches one of the identifiers of a data object is identified within a context in a document. Responsively to the context, an indication that the identified text string is a valid instance of the data object is generated, and the document is processed responsively to the indication.

1 . A computer-implemented method for processing information, the method comprising:
 collecting data objects from one or more data repositories, the data objects having respective properties, which identify the data objects;   analyzing the properties of the collected data objects in order to derive respective identifiers corresponding to the data objects;   identifying a text string that matches one of the identifiers of a data object within a context in a document;   generating, responsively to the context, an indication that the identified text string is a valid instance of the data object; and   processing the document responsively to the indication.   
   
   
       2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the properties comprise names of the data objects, and wherein analyzing the properties comprises identifying variants that are different from the names. 
   
   
       3 . The method according to  claim 2 , wherein the variants are selected from a group of variant types consisting of a part of a name, an abbreviation of the name, and a nickname. 
   
   
       4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the properties comprises applying natural language analysis to the properties in order to find the identifiers, and wherein generating the indication comprises recognizing the valid instance within the context in the document by applying natural language analysis to the document. 
   
   
       5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the data repository contains information in multiple different languages, and wherein analyzing the properties comprises deriving the identifiers that are respectively applicable in each of two or more of the languages, and wherein identifying the text string choosing the identifiers responsively to a language of the document. 
   
   
       6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein generating the indication comprises computing a score indicative of a level of confidence that the identified text string validly represents the data object. 
   
   
       7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein each of the identifiers is derived from the properties of the data object using a respective rule, and wherein computing the score comprises assigning the level of confidence to each of the identifiers responsively to the respective rule. 
   
   
       8 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein processing the document comprises assigning a respective document score to the document, indicative of a relevance of the document to the data object, responsively to the score. 
   
   
       9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the properties comprises identifying a relation between at least first and second data objects, and wherein processing the document comprises assigning a document score to the document indicating that the document is relevant to the first data object responsively to a match between the text string and one of the identifiers of the second data object and to the relation. 
   
   
       10 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the relation is selected from a group of relations consisting of container relations, similarity relations, hierarchical relations and affinity relations. 
   
   
       11 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the set of data objects comprises identifying respective records in the data repository corresponding to the data objects, and wherein processing the document comprises generating a listing of occurrences of the data objects in a corpus of documents, detecting a change in one of the respective records corresponding to one of the data objects, and responsively to analyzing the change, automatically updating the listing with respect to the one of the data objects. 
   
   
       12 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein processing the document comprises generating a response to a search query based on valid instances of the data objects that occur in the document. 
   
   
       13 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein collecting the set of the data objects comprises extracting a first set of the data objects from a repository of structured data, and extracting one or more second data objects, not in the initial set, from the document, and adding the second data objects to the first set. 
   
   
       14 . The method according to  claim 13 , wherein adding the second data objects comprises comparing the second data objects to the data objects in the first set, and adding the second data objects upon determining that the second data objects do not match any of the data objects in the first set. 
   
   
       15 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein analyzing the properties comprises applying predetermined rules in order to validate the collected data objects before using the data objects in processing the document. 
   
   
       16 . The method according to  claim 15 , wherein applying the predetermined rules comprises making a determination selected from a group of determinations consisting of determining whether the data object should be used in processing the document, whether a property of the data object should be used in processing the document, and whether a property of the data object is missing, and wherein the determination is based on at least one of comparing the property with a lexicon, comparing the property with a vocabulary, and matching the property with one or more regular expressions. 
   
   
       17 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein collecting the data objects comprises retrieving and analyzing access control information with respect to each of at least some of the data objects and the properties of the data objects, and wherein processing the documents comprises providing an output to a user while filtering at least a portion of the output using the access control information. 
   
   
       18 . A computer-implemented method for processing information, comprising:
 collecting data objects from one or more data repositories and identifying a respective record in the repositories corresponding to each of the data objects;   processing one or more documents so as to generate a listing of occurrences of the data objects in the documents;   detecting a change in the respective record corresponding to one of the data objects;   responsively to the change in the respective record, automatically updating the listing with respect to the one of the data objects; and   processing the documents responsively to the listing.   
   
   
       19 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein detecting the change comprises polling records in at least one of the data repositories that correspond to the set of data objects. 
   
   
       20 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein detecting the change comprises receiving an event message that is indicative of the change from at least one of the data repositories. 
   
   
       21 . Apparatus for processing information, comprising:
 an interface, which is coupled to communicate with one or more data repositories; and   a processor, which is configured to collect data objects from the one or more data repositories, the data objects having respective properties, which identify the data objects, to analyze the properties of the collected data objects in order to derive respective identifiers corresponding to the data objects, to identify a text string that matches one of the identifiers of a data object within a context in a document, to generate, responsively to the context, an indication that the identified text string is a valid instance of the data object, and to process the document responsively to the indication.   
   
   
       22 . Apparatus for processing information, comprising:
 an interface, which is coupled to communicate with one or more data repositories; and   a processor, which is configured to collect data objects from the one or more data repositories while identifying a respective record in the repositories corresponding to each of the data objects, to process one or more documents so as to generate a listing of occurrences of the data objects in the documents, to detect a change in the respective record corresponding to one of the data objects, to automatically update the listing with respect to the one of the data objects responsively to the change in the respective record, and to process the documents responsively to the listing.   
   
   
       23 . A computer software product, comprising a computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer, cause the computer to collect data objects from one or more data repositories, the data objects having respective properties, which identify the data objects, to analyze the properties of the collected data objects in order to derive respective identifiers corresponding to the data objects, to identify a text string that matches one of the identifiers of a data object within a context in a document, to generate, responsively to the context, an indication that the identified text string is a valid instance of the data object, and to process the document responsively to the indication. 
   
   
       24 . A computer software product, comprising a computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer, cause the computer to collect data objects from one or more data repositories while identifying a respective record in the repositories corresponding to each of the data objects, to process one or more documents so as to generate a listing of occurrences of the data objects in the documents, to detect a change in the respective record corresponding to one of the data objects, to automatically update the listing with respect to the one of the data objects responsively to the change in the respective record, and to process the documents responsively to the listing.