Patent ID: 7401087

Claim:
A method of processing a query to identify a particular knowledge container, associated with a knowledge map, that is relevant to the query, wherein the knowledge map includes at least one taxonomy representing a discrete perspective of a knowledge domain, wherein the at least one taxonomy is organized into a group of nodes, the nodes representing conceptual areas within the discrete perspective, and wherein the nodes have an indication of knowledge, including the particular content associated therewith, said method comprising the steps of: (a) processing at least one of (i) the query to identify nodes of the taxonomies within the knowledge map that are potentially relevant conceptual areas; and (ii) information about a user to identify nodes in the taxonomy that represent conceptual areas previously indicated to be of interest to the user; (b) identifying knowledge map regions surrounding at least one of the identified nodes; (c) performing a content-based retrieval over the knowledge containers associated with the nodes in each identified region, to retrieve an ordered list of potentially relevant knowledge containers, where each retrieved knowledge container is assigned a numerical relevance score representing a quality of association between the retrieved knowledge container and the query; and (d) returning as a result the ordered list of the knowledge containers.