Qianhong Liu

A predicate-driven document filing system

This paper presents a predicate-driven document filing system for organizing and automatically filing documents. A document model consists of two basic elements: frame templates representing document classes, and folders which are repositories of frame instances. The frame templates can be organized to form a document type hierarchy, which helps classify and file documents. Frame instances are grouped into a folder on the basis of user-defined criteria, specified as predicates which determine whether a frame instance belongs to a folder. Folders can naturally organized into a folder organization which represents the users real world document filing system. The predicate consistency problem is discussed to eliminate two abnormalities from a folder organization: inapplicable edges (filing paths) and redundant folders. An evaluating net (including an association dictionary, an instantiation component and a production system) is then proposed for evaluating whether a frame instance satisfies the predicate of a folder during document filing. And the concept of consistency a rule base is also discussed.

A browser of supporting vague query processing in an office document system

DOCPROS (DOCument PROcessing System) is an intelligent document processing and retrieval system; it supports storing, extracting, classifying, categorizing, retrieving and browsing information from a variety of office documents. This article presents a portion of the retrieval subsystem of DOCPROS for processing vague queries in which the user may only have a vague retrieval target. That is, the user does not know exactly what kinds of information he needs until some kind of description is displayed to him. A browsing mechanism is employed for such situations to assist the user in the retrieval process.

A query generalizer for providing cooperative responses in an office document system

DOCPROS (DOCument PROcessing System) is an intelligent document processing and retrieval system [9,10,11,12,19]; it supports storing, extracting, classifying, categorizing, retrieving and browsing information from a variety of office documents. This article presents a portion of the retrieval subsystem of DOCPROS for dealing with users empty answer queries. When processing of queries responds with an empty answer to the user, a query generalization mechanism is used to give the user a cooperative explanation for the empty answer. An efficient way is investigated for determining whether the empty answer is genuine and whether the original query reflects erroneous presuppositions, and therefore answering any failed query with a meaningful and cooperative response. It incorporates with a methodical approach to reducing the search space of generalized subqueries by analyzing the results of executing the query generalization and by efficiently applying the possible substitutions in a query to generate a small subset of relevant subqueries which are to be evaluated.

A multimedia document filing system

This multimedia document filing system employs a dual modeling approach. The dual model consists of a document type hierarchy and a folder organization. Document type hierarchy is used to specify document types based on the analysis of layout, conceptual and content structures, and users define their own folder organization, which is used to store frame instances and the high level conceptual information of documents. A storage architecture is presented to integrate the document type hierarchy, the folder organization and the original document storage as a three level storage system, which in turn supports effective document searches. Document retrieval can be conceptual-based or content-based. Users are allowed to specify criteria for governing the document filing. An agent-based architecture for implementing the folder organization and the basic operations for constructing and reorganizing a folder organization are proposed.

Knowledge discovering for document classification using tree matching in TEXPROS

Abstract This paper describes a knowledge-based system for classifying documents based upon the layout structure and conceptual information extracted from their contents. The spatial elements in a document are laid out in rectangular blocks which are represented by nodes in an ordered labeled tree, called the “Layout Structure Tree” (L-S Tree). Each leaf node of an L-S Tree points to its corresponding block content. A Knowledge Acquisition Tool (KAT) is devised to perform the inductive learning from L-S Trees of document samples, and then generate the Document Sample Tree and Document Type Tree bases. A testing document is classified if a Document Type Tree is discovered as a substructure of the L-S Tree of the testing document. Then we match the L-S Tree with the Document Sample Trees of the classified document type to find the format of the testing document. The Document Sample Trees and Document Type Trees are called Structural Knowledge Base (SKB). The tree discovering and matching processes involve comparing the SKB trees and a testing documents L-S Tree by using pattern matching and discovering toolkits. Our experimental results demonstrate that many office documents can be classified correctly using the proposed approach.

On research issues regarding uncertain query processing in an office document retrieval system

TEXPROS (TEXT PROcessing System) is an intelligent document processing, system; it supports storing, extracting, classifying, categorizing, retrieving, and browsing information from a variety of office documents [76]. This article presents a retrieval subsystem for TEXPROS, which is capable of processing incomplete, imprecise, and vague queries, and providing semantically meaningful responses to the user. The design of the retrieval subsystem is highly integrated with various mechanisms for achieving these goals. First, a system catalog including a thesaurus is used to store the knowledge about the database. Second, there is a query transformation mechanism composed of context construction and algebraic query formulation modules. Given an incomplete or imprecise query, the context construction module searches the system for the required terms and constructs a query that has a complete and precise representation: The resulting query is then formulated into an algebraic expression. Third, in practice, the user may not have a clear idea of what he is searching for. A browing mechanism is employed for such situations to assist the user in the retrieval process. With the browser, vague queries can be entered into the system until sufficient information, is obtained to the extent that the user is able to construct a query for his request. Finally, when processing of queries fails by responding with a null answer to the user, a generalizer mechanism is used to give the user cooperative explanation for the null answer. The presented techniques will contribute to our research toward development of highly intelligent data processing facilities beyond the present scope of database technology.

An automated document filing system

TEXPROS (TEXt PROcessing System) is an automatic document processing system which supports text-based information representation and manipulation, conveying meanings from stored information within office document texts. A dual modeling approach is employed to describe office documents and support document search and retrieval. The frame templates for representing document classes are organized to form a document type hierarchy. Based on its document type, the synopsis of a document is extracted to form its corresponding frame instance. According to the user predefined criteria, these frame instances are stored in different folders, which are organized as a folder organization (i.e., repository of frame instances associated with their documents). The concept of linking folders establishes filing paths for automatically filing documents in the folder organization. By integrating document type hierarchy and folder organization, the dual modeling approach provides efficient frame instance access by limiting the searches to those frame instances of a document type within those folders which appear to be the most similar to the corresponding queries.This paper presents an agent-based document filing system using folder organization. A storage architecture is presented to incorporate the document type hierarchy, folder organization and original document storage into a three-level storage system. This folder organization supports effective filing strategy and allows rapid frame instance searches by confining the search to the actual predicate-driven retrieval method. A predicate specification is proposed for specifying criteria on filing paths in terms of user predefined predicates for governing the document filing. A method for evaluating whether a given frame instance satisfies the criteria of a filing path is presented. The basic operations for constructing and reorganizing a folder organization are proposed.

Electronic enterprise engineering: an outline of an architecture

In this paper we put forth a vision for organizations to fully embrace computer support. We propose a business-process oriented architecture for Electronic Enterprise Engineering (EEE) that will enable enterprises to manage and evolve all technological and organizational processes effectively; integrate and manage all enterprise information electronically; and empower knowledge workers at all levels with broad decision support capabilities. Our goal is for the EEE architecture to empower an enterprise to make the best use of its informational assets to operate effectively in this new era of electronic commerce. As part of this project we are developing a standard-based, customizable, integrated tool set called the Support Environment for Enterprise Engineering (SEEE). This paper presents the current SEEE architecture and shouts how it supports the three EEE goals.

Document Classification and Information Extraction

In Chapter 4 and 5, we turn our attention to the techniques used for document classification and information extraction [60, 61, 62, 174, 175]. In TEXPROS, the task of document classification is to determine the types of the office documents. That is, given an office document, the document classification subsystem identifies the corresponding frame template of the document. By identifying the defined type of the documents, it is possible to implement efficient storage and access methods to enhance the performance of retrieval. The task of information extraction is extracting from the contents of the document the most relevant information pertinent to the user. That is, given an office document, the information extraction subsystem forms its frame instance by instantiating its corresponding frame template. The document classification and information extraction can be achieved in aid of analyzing the document structures.

HyTEXPROS: a hypermedia information retrieval system

TEXPROS is an intelligent document processing and retrieval system, which supports storing, extracting, classifying, categorizing, retrieving and browsing information and documents. We extend TEXPROS to a hypermedia information retrieval system called HyTEXPROS with hypertext functionalities. It describes the whole information base as a network of nodes connected with links, including the metadata and the original documents. Through hypertext functionalities, a user can construct dynamically an information path by browsing through pieces of the information base. A three-level conceptual architecture is presented as the reference model of HyTEXPROS. A detailed description of HyTEXPROS using the first order logic calculus is also proposed.