Patent ID: 7567962

Claim:
One or more computer storage media having processor-executable instructions executed by a computer to perform a method generating a labeled hierarchical category structure comprising a multi-level category structure, the method comprising: obtaining a resulting answer set of a query on a relational database, the answer set comprising multiple tuples and each tuple comprising information content; generating the labeled hierarchical category structure based on the contents of the multiple tuples in the answer set; defining an exploration cost as a function of a probability of a user exploring a particular category upon examining a label of the particular category, wherein the exploration cost is Cost One ( C )= P w ( C )*frac( C )*|tset( C )|+(1- P w ( C ))*Σ( i= 1 to n )(Π( j = 1 to i -1)(1- P ( C j ))* P ( C i )*( K*i +Cost one ( C i ))); for each level of the hierarchical category structure, automatically determining a single categorizing attribute; using the single categorizing attribute to partition the resulting answer set into multiple mutually disjoint categories, wherein once the single categorizing attribute has been used to partition the resulting answer set at any level in the multi-level category structure, the single categorizing attribute is not repeated at a later level; and displaying the labeled hierarchical category structure.