Providing support to human decision making

• US 10,049,334 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2014
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bernstein, Yaniv Shmuel, Garnavi, Rahil, Von Kaenel, Juerg, Steer, Kent Charles Barton, Sun, Xingzhi
• Primary Examiner(s): MISIASZEK, AMBER ALTSCHUL
• Application Number:
  US14/187,718
• Publication Number:
  US 20150242787A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,632 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711- 742
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work

Abstract

A method to provide an insight to a decision maker to assist them in deciding how to perform a task includes: determining a time constraint in which the task needs to be performed; adjusting an accuracy of a computer program designed to calculate the insight to ensure that the insight is generated within the time constraint; scheduling execution of the computer program; and providing an insight output by the executed computer program to the decision maker.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a computer system to predict a result from data associated with an event, the result usable by a human being in deciding how to perform a task that responds to the event, the method comprising:

determining, by a first computer program, a time constraint in which the task needs to be performed;

determining, by the first computer program, whether current settings of a second computer program of the computer system enable the computer system to predict the result from the data within the time constraint;

directing, by the first computer program, the second computer program to switch from using a first algorithm performing a first number of iterations on the data that completes at a first time with the result of a first accuracy, to using a second algorithm performing a second number of iterations on the data that completes at a second time with the result of a second accuracy when it is determined that the current settings will not cause the computer system to predict the result within the time constraint;

scheduling, by the first computer program, execution of the second computer program on the computer system to predict and output the result; and

providing, by the first computer program, the result output by the executed second computer program to the human being,

where the second number of iterations is lower than the first number of iterations and the second time is shorter than the first time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing comprises:

repeatedly determining whether the human being is ready to receive the result; and

terminating the repetition and providing the result to the human being when it is determined that the human being is ready.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the time constraint comprises:

querying, by the first computer program, the human being to manually enter a time and date; and

setting, by the first computer program, the time constraint based on the entered time and date.

4. The method of claim 1, where the determining of the time constraint comprises the first computer program automatically inferring the time constraint from contextual data relevant to performing the task and characteristics of the task.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing of the generated insight comprises:

determining a role of the human being;

filtering the output result based on the determined role; and

providing the filtered result to the human being.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the filtering provides the entire result to the decision maker when the role indicates the human being has full authority and provides only part of the entire result when the role indicates the human being has less than the full authority.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the directing comprises creating a job on the computer system based on the second computer program that receives the time constraint as a parameter when executed.

7. A computer system configured to predict a result from data associated with an event, the result usable by a human being in deciding how to perform a task that responds to the event, the system comprising:

a memory storing a first computer program and a second computer program; and

a processor configured to execute the first computer program and the second computer program,

wherein the first computer program determines a time constraint in which the task needs to be performed,

wherein the first computer program determines whether current settings of the second computer program enable the computer system to predict the result within the time constraint,

wherein the first computer program directs the second computer program to switch from using a first algorithm performing a first number of iterations on the data that completes at a first time with the result of a first accuracy to using a second algorithm performing a second number of iterations on the data that completes at a second time with the result of a second accuracy when it is determined that the current settings will not cause the computer system to predict the result within the time constraint,

wherein the first computer program schedules execution of the second computer program on the computer system to predict and output the result, and

wherein the first computer program provides the output result to the decision maker,

where the second number of iterations is lower than the first number of iterations and the second time is shorter than the first time.

12. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the first computer program directs the second computer program by creating a job on the computer system based on the second computer program that receives the time constraint as a parameter when executed.

8. A computer program product to configure a computer system to predict a result from data associated with an event, the result usable by a human being in deciding how to perform a task, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by the computer system to perform a method comprising:

determining, by a first computer program, a time constraint in which the task needs to be performed;

determining, by the first computer program, whether current settings of a second computer program of the computer system enable the computer system to predict the result within the time constraint;

directing, by the first computer program, the second computer program to switch from using a first algorithm performing a first number of iterations on the data that completes at a first time with the result of a first accuracy to using a second algorithm performing a second number of iterations on the data that completes at a second time with the result of a second accuracy when it is determined that the current settings will not cause the computer system to predict the result within the time constraint;

scheduling, by the first computer program, execution of the second computer program on the computer system to predict and output the result; and

providing, by the first computer program, the result output by the executed second computer program to the human being,

where the second number of iterations is lower than the first number of iterations and the second time is shorter than the first time.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the directing comprises creating a job on the computer system based on the second computer program that receives the time constraint as a parameter when executed.

9. A method for configuring a computer system to predict a result from a set of data sets associated with an event, the result usable by a human being in deciding how to perform a task, the method comprising:

determining, by a first computer program, a time constraint in which the task needs to be performed;

determining, by the first computer program, whether current settings of a second computer program of the computer system enable the computer system to predict the result within the time constraint;

directing, by the first computer program, the second computer program to switch from using a first algorithm of a first accuracy to a second algorithm of a second accuracy lower than the first accuracy when it is determined that the current settings will not cause the computer system to predict the result within the time constraint;

scheduling, by the first computer program, execution of the second computer program on the computer system to predict and output the result; and

providing, by the first computer program, the result output by the executed second computer program to the human being,

wherein the first algorithm predicts the result using the entire set of data sets, and the second algorithm predicts the result using only a subset of the entire set that excludes some of the data sets.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the adjusting comprises creating a job based on the second computer program that receives the time constraint as a parameter when executed.

10. A computer system configured to predict a result from a set of data sets associated with an event, the result usable by a human being in deciding how to perform a task, the system comprising:

a memory storing a first computer program and a second computer program; and

a processor configured to execute the first computer program and the second computer program,

wherein the first computer program determines a time constraint in which the task needs to be performed,

wherein the first computer program determines whether current settings of the second computer program enable the computer system to predict the result within the time constraint,

wherein the first computer program directs the second computer program to switch from using a first algorithm of a first accuracy to using a second algorithm of a second accuracy lower than the first accuracy when it is determined that the current settings will not cause the computer system to predict the result within the time constraint,

wherein the first computer program schedules execution of the second computer program on the computer system to predict the result, and

wherein the first computer program provides the generated insight to the decision maker,

wherein the first algorithm predicts the result using the entire set of data sets, and the second algorithm predicts the result using only a subset of the entire set that excludes some of the data sets.

15. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the first computer program directs the second computer program by creating a job based on the second computer program on the computer system that receives the time constraint as a parameter when executed.