Taxonomy-Based Object Classification

Abstract

Objects, such as documents, are classified according to a taxonomy. The taxonomy includes nodes, corresponding to object classes, arranged in a hierarchy. Class keywords are associated with the nodes. Search strings are formed for the classes by traversing the taxonomic branches and concatenating the keywords associated with the classes. For each object to be classified, a search engine is used to perform searches on the object using the search strings. The searches produce search scores for each search string. Each object is classified by identifying the class(es) corresponding to the highest search score(s) for the object, and classifying the object into the identified class(es).

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 (A) identifying a first plurality of classes, in a taxonomy, associated with a first plurality of documents;   (B) identifying a second plurality of classes, in the taxonomy, associated with a user;   (C) identifying a subset of the first plurality of documents based on a comparison between the first plurality of classes and the second plurality of classes; and   (D) associating the subset of the first plurality of documents with the user.   
     
     
         2 . A computer-implemented apparatus comprising:
 means for identifying a first plurality of classes, in a taxonomy, associated with a first plurality of documents;   means for identifying a second plurality of classes, in the taxonomy, associated with a user;   means for identifying a subset of the first plurality of documents based on a comparison between the first plurality of classes and the second plurality of classes; and   means for associating the subset of the first plurality of documents with the user.