Abstract:
The present invention provides a system, method and article of manufacture for personal catalog and knowledge management. The system includes a data collection module for collecting data from a visible data source, a data classification module for classifying the data, a data commentary module for adding value to the data and for providing comment on the data, and a data access module for accessing the data in a storage device. The present invention avoids disadvantages of lacking effective management for personal massive information and can be applied in various data sources. The information can be effectively transferred to personal useful knowledge and further managed by data classification and adding value to the data.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a personal catalog and knowledge management system, method and article of manufacture and, more particularly, relates to a personal catalog and knowledge management system, method and article of manufacture which make use of a computer to assist a user in managing massive information. 
     2. Description of Prior Art 
     As Internet rises and World Wide Web develops, the Internet prevails all over the world. Not only persons on the Internet double in number but also hundreds of million of registered web sites come to a historic high. This revolutionary web tide accelerates the wheel of knowledge economics era. Almost all of the culture and knowledge of humankind have become deliverable information being widely distributed and readily accessible on the Internet. 
     However, the widely distributed massive information brings about information anxiety. The main reason lies in that the information is merely a stack of characters or even digital bytes and does not exactly become one&#39;s knowledge, if it is not properly arranged, classified and digested by the receiver. Also, there always exist regrets for being incapable of effectively collecting, classifying, and adding value to information so as to form personal knowledge and make further knowledge management after browsing that mass of information. Consequently, although being aware of that knowledge is power and reaching valuable information, most people can not efficiently utilize the information and perform knowledge management. 
     From the viewpoint of knowledge management, information should be value added, such as being arranged, classified and commented on, in order to transfer the same to become one&#39;s useful knowledge and to make further knowledge management. In other words, the objective of knowledge management is to take apart original structure of information and to combine the same with people&#39;s intrinsic concepts. And in the end, the information will become real “knowledge” by inspecting the information from various angles based on the intrinsic concepts. 
     Conventional techniques, however, do not provide sufficient and handy functions of information collection, arrangement and commentary for personal knowledge formation and management, no matter during browsing information on a network via a browser, retrieving information on various databases or from various document files. 
     Take the functions “Bookmark” and “My Favorite” of browsers as example, although they may record a user&#39;s favorite web sites for next visit, they are not specialized in collecting and putting comments on the contents of the web sites. Even if a user downloads information from the target web site to her/his computer via the browser, the user must either save the information in a file, or open an application such as Microsoft Word 2000 to paste previously selected and copied data therein. Consequently, not only the conventional techniques are unhandy in information collection and classification, but also do not provide facilitations in commentary, marking, arrangement, adding value, accessing, browsing and search of the collected information. 
     In light of the above, it is necessary to provide an effective solution aimed at solving the deficiency of the prior art for facilitating personal catalog and knowledge management. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     For improvement, the present invention provides a system, method and article of manufacture for personal catalog and knowledge management. The main objective is to facilitate digital information collection, classification and commentary. The present invention allows to manage digital information in a way like clipping desirable or useful articles to a scrapbook for further classification and commentary after reading a newspaper or a book. Furthermore, the present invention makes use of digitized information for automatic data preservation, arrangement and search. 
     A major aspect of the present invention is to collect data including text and images from a visible data source providing information through a data collection module; to generate a classified catalog folder and to put the collected data in the folder for personal catalog management through a data classification module; to comment on and add value to the data through a data commentary module; and to access the collected data and related value-added contents in a storage device through a data access module. 
     Preferably, the visible data source is an application displaying the information on a display device for a user to browse and providing either a function of drag and drop or a function of copy and paste for another application to retrieve at least a portion of the information. That is, the present invention can be applied to collect information in an application which provides a function of drag and drop or a function of copy and paste and displays information for a user to browse. Particularly, the visible data source is a browser, a database or an opened document file. 
     Preferably, the data classification module provides the user to generate the classified catalog folder in a default or a user-defined way. 
     Preferably, the description field selectively further includes a data title field, a data subject field, a data category field, a data keyword field and a data comment field. 
     Preferably, the data commentary module of the present invention further provides a data origin field for recording origin of the data. The content of the data origin field is user-defined or automatically retrieved from origin data recited in the data source. The data commentary module further provides a data value-added editing function in facilitating editing and commenting on the data. 
     The present invention further includes a data search module for searching the data collected in the system according to a predetermined searching criterion. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 depicts a fundamental framework of personal catalog and knowledge management of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 depicts a composition of the personal catalog and knowledge management system of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 depicts a step flow chart of the personal catalog and knowledge management method of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 depicts a composition of the personal catalog and knowledge management computer program of the present invention. 
     FIG. 5 depicts a relationship of each operation of the present invention. 
     FIG. 6 depicts a data collection flow chart of the present invention. 
     FIG. 7 depicts a relational flow chart of the data collection and data storage and data commentary operations of the present invention. 
     FIG. 8 depicts a data commentary flow chart of the present invention. 
     FIG. 9 depicts an operation interface according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 10 depicts value-added editing of text data according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 11 depicts value-added editing of image data according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 12 depicts a data search window according to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Please refer to FIG. 1, which depicts a fundamental framework of personal catalog and knowledge management of the present invention. In order to solve problems of the prior art and to provide improved utility, the present invention based on the personal catalog and knowledge management  10  develops mechanisms and functions of data collection  11 , data classification  12 , data commentary  13  and data access  14 . Preferably, the personal catalog and knowledge management  10  further includes data search  15 . 
     In the mechanism of data collection  11 , the present invention collects data  17 , including text  17   a  and images  17   b , from a visible data source  18  which provides information. The visible data source  18  is an application which displays the information on a display device such as a monitor for a user to browse and provides either a function of drag and drop or a function of copy and paste for another application to retrieve at least a portion of the information. That is, the present invention can be applied to collect and to proceed follow-up operations on a display device as the user is browsing information. More specifically, the visible data source  18  includes, but not limited to, a browser, a database or an opened document file. The data collection  11  collects the data  17  from the visible data source  18  in a way of drag and drop  11   a  or in a way of copy and paste  11   b.    
     In the mechanism of data classification  12 , the present invention provides options of default  12   a  and user-defined  12   b  functions to create a classified, or referred to as being categorized, catalog folder(shown as a symbol  921  in FIG. 9 hereinafter). The collected data  17  are readily stored in the classified catalog folder  921  for a user in further managing catalog thereof. The implementation of creating the classified catalog folder  921  may be either before or after the step of data collection  11 . 
     In the mechanism of data commentary  13 , the present invention provides a fundamental feature, among features of the data collection  11  and data classification  12  in facilitating a user&#39;s personal data management, of knowledge management by adding value to the collected data  17 . In the data commentary  13 , at least a description  13   a  of the collected data  17  is included and preferably, an origin  13   b  and a value-added editing  13   c  of the collected data  17  are respectively included. 
     In the mechanism of data access  14 , collected data  14   a , which might be value added or not, and commentary  14   b  are stored in a storage device  16  and can be retrieved therefrom for data preservation. The storage device  16  refers to a well-known hardware such as a hard disk and a device with broader meaning as well, such as a database for storing data. 
     Preferably, the personal catalog and knowledge management  10  of the present invention further includes a data search  15  which searches all data based on a search criterion  15   a  determined by a user. 
     Next, please refer to FIG. 2 which depicts a composition of the personal catalog and knowledge management system  20  of the present invention. The personal catalog and knowledge management system  20  provides a user to collect, classify and add value to massive information for personal useful knowledge management. The system  20  includes a data collection module  21  which collects data of text and image from a visible data source  18  which provides the information; a data classification module  22  which generates a classified catalog folder for putting the data collected by the data collection module  21  in the folder; a data commentary module  23  which provides a description field  231  for recording description of the data in providing comment on the data so as to add value to the data; and a data access module  24  for accessing the data, the catalog folder and the description in a storage device  16 . The basic composition and structure of the system  20  are as described in FIG.  1  and further described in the following. 
     In the personal catalog and knowledge management system  20  of the present invention, the data classification module  22  provides the user options of user-defined and default functions in generating a classified, or being referred to as categorized, catalog folder for placing the collected data therein. The user can readily find the desired data according to the classified catalog folder. 
     Although the information seems unlimited in quantity, ways of organizing and arranging the information are limited. Generally, the information is classified and organized according to class, time, place, alphabet or hierarchy. Well-organized information will bring to maximum efficacy. Different ways of classification will result in totally different understanding of the information, which are up to the research subject or expression emphasis. For example, if the research subject is an automobile, the classification can be made according to class, such as a convertible, a sedan and a four-wheel driven car; or according to hierarchy, such as from the cheapest to the most expensive ones. If the research subject is a car sales dealer, the classification can be made according to car sales amounts. Putting the collected massive information into classified catalog folder helps a user to accomplish personal catalog management and therefore to solve problems of information anxiety. The information utilization efficiency can be enhanced and the process of transforming the information into personal knowledge is facilitated. 
     In the data commentary module  23 , the description field  231  selectively further includes fields of title, subject, category, keyword, and comments (shown as a symbol  931  in FIG.  9 ). The fields record correlated information of the collected data for providing description of the data. The fields help to categorize the collected data and help to data search and management as well. 
     The data commentary module  23  further provides an origin field  232  for recording the data source. The origin field  232  helps to trace and record the data for further management. The content of the origin field  232  can be either defined by a user, or retrieved from the source information appended in the data source  18  during a process of the collection module  21  collecting the data. Take the content document of a common web page serving as the data source  18  as example, the document usually contains document source information and the personal catalog and knowledge management system  20  of the present invention, during the data collection module  21  collecting the data  17 , will automatically retrieve the document source information and put it to the origin field  232 . If the data source  18  does not provide the source information, the system  20  provides a user-defined function for a user to fill in the origin field  232  necessary source information. 
     Preferably, the origin field  232  includes information of source, author or revision (also shown in a symbol  932  of FIG. 9 hereinafter). 
     The data commentary module  23  further provides a function of data value-added editing  233  for editing and providing comments on the collected data  17 . The collected data  17  are commented so as to enhance value thereof and for utilization convenience in the future. The function of value-added editing  233  includes, but not limited to, changing color of the text  17   a , making the text  17   a  in boldface, italicizing the text  17   a , underlining the text  17   a , and adding editing text to the collected data  17  (shown in symbols  102  and  103  of FIG. 10 hereinafter). The user can handily browse the collected data  17 , edit the collected data  17 , and read the collected data  17  and related comments as well. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, the personal catalog and knowledge management system  20  of the present invention preferably includes a data search module  25  for searching all the data in the system  20  according to a given search criterion  15   a . The way of search may be based on title, subject, content, keyword, author, or data source of the data in the system  20 . After search, the data which fit the search criterion are listed for a user to click and browse. 
     A step flow chart of the personal catalog and knowledge management method  30  of the present invention is shown in FIG.  3 . Firstly, in the data collection step  31 , data  17  are collected from a visible data source  18 . In the data classification step  32 , a classified catalog folder is generated and the collected data  17  in the data collection step  31  is put into the classified catalog folder. In the data commentary step  33 , a description field for recording description of the collected data  17  is provided to comment the data  17 . And in the data access step  34 , the data  17 , the catalog folder and the description are accessed in a storage device  16 . 
     FIG. 4 depicts a composition of the personal catalog and knowledge management computer program  40  of the present invention. In the data collection code segment  41 , data  17  are collected from a visible data source  18 . In the data classification code segment  42 , a classified catalog folder is generated and the collected data  17  are put in the classified catalog folder. In the data commentary code segment  43 , a description field for recording description of the data  17  is provided to comment the data  17 . And in the data access code segment  44 , the data  17 , the catalog folder and the description are accessed in a storage device  16 . 
     Next, please refer to FIGS. 5 to  8  for further description of the present invention. 
     FIG. 5 depicts a relationship of each operation of the present invention. The data collection  52  collects data from the visible data source  18  and sequentially the data classification  54 , data commentary  58  and data access  56  are proceeded for data processing. Further, when stored in a storage device  50 , the data can be retrieved therefrom for implementing the operation of data classification  54  or data commentary  58 . The data can be edited and reused so as to become more valuable information during the operations. 
     FIG. 6 depicts a data collection flow chart of the present invention. The desired data  61  are selected from the visible data source  18  which is directly displayed on a display device and then are captured through ways of drag and drop, or copy and paste. A judgment  65  of whether the data  61  are either text or image is made. If the judgment  65  is true, the data  61  are put into a classified folder for data classification  54 . If the judgment  65  is not true, the data  61  are not processed and the flow ends  69 . 
     FIG. 7 depicts a relational flow chart of the operations of data collection  52  and data storage  79  and data commentary  58  according to the present invention. When collected in data collection  52 , the data  61  are judged if they are obtained by a way of drag and drop  72 . If true, a judgment is made to confirm if the name of the catalog folder is user-defined  78 . If it is user-defined, then the data storage  79  is proceeded. If it is not user-defined, then the data commentary  58  is proceeded. Back to the way of data collection  52 . If the data  61  are not obtained by a way of drag and drop  72 , they are further judged if obtained by a way of copy and paste  74 . If the data  61  are not obtained by the way of copy and paste  74 , no further process is proceeded and ends  76 . If the data  61  are obtained by the way of copy and paste  74 , a judgment is also made to check if the name of the catalog folder is user-defined  78 . Same as the above, if it is user-defined, then the data storage  79  is proceeded; if it is not user-defined, then the data commentary  58  is proceeded. 
     FIG. 8 depicts a data commentary flow chart of the present invention. The data commentary  58  collects text or image  80  and then specifies description  82 , origin  86  and value-added editing thereof. After data commentary, the data storage  79  proceeds to storage the data  61  in the storage device  50 . 
     EXAMPLE 1 
     FIG. 9 depicts an operation interface according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. A visible data source  91 , a catalog window  92  and a data commentary window  93  are displayed in a screen of a display device. The visible data source  91  is a browser that connects to a web site and displays one of web pages of the web site. The desired data  911  are included in the visible data source  91 . 
     The catalog window  92  includes at least a catalog folder  921  whose name is defined either by a user or according to a default name. The data commentary window  93  includes a description field  931  and an origin field  932 . The description field  931  further includes a title field, a subject field, a category field, a keywords field and a comments field. All of these fields, except the category field, are filled in by the user according to the contents of the collected data  911 . The subject field may be filled with the name of the catalog folder  921 , in this example e-Content Management is the name of the document and Paper is the name of the catalog folder  921 . The category field in this example is not allowed for a user to fill in. The category is defined based on which catalog folder the data being put into. The origin field  932  further includes a source field, an author field and a revision field. The content of the source field, in this example, is automatically retrieved from the hyperlink source data provided by the visible data source  91 . The author and revision fields are selectively filled in by the user. 
     In practical implementation, the user selects the desired data  911  and puts the data  911  by a way of copy and paste, or drag and drop into the catalog folder  921 . The data commentary window  93  will show up for the user to fill in each field with commentary and related description of the data  911 . 
     FIG. 10 depicts value-added editing of text data according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The collected data  911  can be further edited for adding value thereon. FIG. 10 shows a personal catalog and knowledge management window  101  with collected data  102  open. The collected data  911  are underlined and become the underlined data  102 . Value-adding commentary  103  is added under the data  102 . Whereby, the collected data  911  can be value-added and the knowledge management is facilitated. 
     EXAMPLE 2 
     The embodiment is substantially the same as the example 1 except that the collected data are image. FIG. 11 depicts value-added editing of image data  112  of a personal catalog and knowledge management window  111 . The image data  112  are the collected data and the value-added editing  113  underneath is further commentary and descriptive text for the same. Thus, the collected image data  112  can be flexibly implemented. 
     EXAMPLE 3 
     The embodiment is substantially the same as the examples 1 and 2 except providing further search on collected data and related commentary. FIG. 12 depicts a data search window  121  of the embodiment. The search can be selectively based on the title, subject, contents, keywords, comments, author and source. The search result is shown below in a search result field  122 . 
     The embodiments and features of the present invention become apparent according to the above detailed description. However, it should be understood that any modifications or changes without departing from the spirit of the invention are intended to be protected in the scope of the present invention.