Item counting in guided information access systems

Abstract

Methods of counting the number of matching items (more generally finding objects) indirectly associated with each detail selector (more generally another object) available for selection in a database search system or generally useful in other applications are disclosed. In some embodiment the method uses a set of matching items and traverses to each indirectly associated detail selector via a traversal through each associated entity, and a traversal through each detail selector associated with that entity. The method is easily extendable to the case of multiple entity levels. In some embodiments the method first creates an association matrix directly associating items to selectors and allowing item determination or counting more simply.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 uniquely identifying, using a computing device, one or more items, from a plurality of items in a database stored in a computer system, the uniquely identified items having an indirect association with a detail selector; and   counting, using the computing device, the uniquely identified items resulting in a count of uniquely identified items indirectly associated with the detail selector.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the indirect association relates the detail selector to the identified items by virtue of mutual relationships between the detail selector and the identified items, respectively, to a common entity. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 2 , wherein the entity represents an intermediate relationship between the selected detail selector and the identified items. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing a list of available detail selectors that includes at least the detail selector, the available detail selectors being available for selection;   updating the list of available detail selectors in response to a selection of one of the detailed selectors, the updating resulting in a list of now available detail selectors including detail selectors which can be combined in a query with the selected detail selector, the result of each query matching one or more of the identified items.   
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the counting of the uniquely identified items further comprises:
 counting a first identified item;   retaining an identification of the first identified item;   counting any second identified item not having the identification; and   totaling the counts of each first identified item and each second identified item to result in a total count of the identified items.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the counting of the items further comprises:
 counting each of the one or more items in the database only once.   
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the counting of the uniquely identified items further comprises:
 determining if a uniquely identified item associated with a second entity has already contributed to the count by virtue of the uniquely identified item's association with a first entity, and when such determination is made ignoring the unique item associated with a second entity for the count.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the indirect association of detail selector and the identified item is through a direct association of a common entity. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 subsequent to identifying the items having an indirect association with a selected detail selector, performing a reverse entity search comprising the items and a disjunctive Boolean operator, the search resulting in an identification of all entities matching the reverse entity search.   
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 subsequent to identifying the entities matching the reverse entity search, performing a reverse detail selector search comprising the entities matching the reverse entity search and a disjunctive Boolean operator, the search resulting in an identification of all detail selectors matching the reverse detail selector search.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , wherein identifying the one or more items in the computer system comprises:
 performing a forward entity search comprising detail selectors and a Boolean operator, the search resulting in an identification of entities matching the forward entity search;   performing a forward item search comprising the entities matching the forward entity search and a disjunctive Boolean operator, the search resulting in an identification of items matching the forward item search, thereby the uniquely identified items in the computer system are identified.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the counting further comprises:
 creating a product matrix; and   counting the items associated with each detail selector.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 12 , wherein the product matrix is the result of a binary product of a detail-selector-to-entity matrix and an entity-to-item matrix wherein each binary sum is treated as a Boolean disjunction and each product as a Boolean conjunction. 
     
     
         14 . A computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon effective for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:
 identifying, using a computing device, one or more items in a database stored in a computer system, the items having an indirect association with a detail selector; and   counting, using the computing device, the identified items resulting in a count of identified items indirectly associated with the detail selector.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the indirect association relates the detail selector to the identified items by virtue of mutual relationships between the detail selector and the identified items, respectively, to a common entity. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the counting of the identified items further comprises:
 counting a first identified item;   retaining an identification of the first identified item;   counting any second identified item not having the identification; and   totaling the counts of each first identified item and each second identified item to result in a total count of the identified items.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 subsequent to identifying the items having an indirect association with a selected detail selector, performing a reverse entity search comprising the uniquely identified items and a disjunctive Boolean operator, the search resulting in an identification of all entities matching the reverse entity search.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 subsequent to identifying the entities matching the reverse entity search, performing a reverse detail selector search comprising the entities matching the reverse entity search and a disjunctive Boolean operator, the search resulting in an identification of all detail selectors matching the reverse detail selector search.   
     
     
         19 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein identifying the one or more items in the computer system comprises:
 performing a forward entity search comprising detail selectors and a Boolean operator, the search resulting in an identification of entities matching the forward entity search;   performing a forward item search comprising the entities matching the forward entity search and a disjunctive Boolean operator, the search resulting in an identification of items matching the forward item search, thereby the items in the computer system are identified.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 14 , wherein the counting further comprises:
 creating a product matrix; and   counting the items associated with each detail selector.