Patent ID: 7593909

Claim:
A system for facilitating link analysis, the system comprising: a processor; at least one computer storage device encoded with a database for storing data regarding a knowledge domain, the data including: nodes, with each node representing an entity in the knowledge domain; reflective links, with each reflective link representing a relationship between a respective specified pair of nodes that include a first node and a second node, wherein each reflective link represents a first set of characteristics for the relationship of the first node to the second node and a second set of characteristics for the relationship of the second node to the first node, with the first set of characteristics being different from, and including reflective characteristics of, the second set of characteristics; wherein the nodes and reflective links form a topology of known relationships between at least two of: one or more physical entities, one or more characteristics of physical entities, or one or more properties of physical entities; and a memory storing instructions executable on the processor, wherein the memory includes a link analysis module including instructions for automatically analyzing the nodes and the reflective links in the at least one database by: identifying a starting node stored in the computer storage device, the starting node representing one or more of a physical entity, a characteristic of a physical entity, or a property of a physical entity; iteratively searching for nodes that are linked to the starting node, either directly or through one or more intermediate nodes, by at least one link that satisfies selected criteria, the nodes each representing one or more of a physical entity, a characteristic of a physical entity, or a property of a physical entity; identifying at least one link that satisfies the selected criteria to identify a potential relationship between at least two of: one or more physical entities, one or more characteristics of physical entities, or one or more properties of physical entities, the potential relationship not having been previously defined in the topology of known relationships; and storing information relating to the at least one link in the computer storage device.