| abstract |
A system for integrated access to information from a number of separate thesaurus subsets includes an input subsystem for accepting a thesaurus query; a processing subsystem that collects, from the subsets, entries that correspond to the request, treating the subsets as a single integrated thesaurus; and an output subsystem for displaying the retrieved entries. HTML user interface allows user access to the system via a web browser. The retrieved are displayed entries and, optionally, related terms or details of the thesaurus subset from which they were retrieved are also displayed. The thesaurus subsets may be integrated as a single thesaurus either literally or virtually. The thesaurus subsets may form a single integrated thesaurus by using concepts to establish relationships among terms in the thesaurus. Entries or terms stored in the thesaurus subset can be correlated to eliminate multiple entries with a shared or highly similar meaning in a particular thesaurus subset or across multiple subsets. Restrictions may also be placed on the relations between terms in a particular thesaurus subset or across multiple thesauri subsets in order to maintain the integrity of the thesaurus. |