System and method for detecting, collecting, analyzing, and communicating event related information

• US 10,055,502 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2016
• Issued: 08/21/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Georgetown University
• Original Assignee: Georgetown University
• Inventors: Li, Peter C., Polyak, Mark G., Wilson, James M., Collmann, Jeffrey R., Blake, Jane W., Yoon, Jae I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US15/274,587
• Publication Number:
  US 20170011131A1
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/80 for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics, e.g. flu
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

A system and method involves detecting operational social disruptive events on a global scale, assigning disease event staging and warnings to express data in more simplistic terms, modeling data in conjunction with linguistics analysis to establish responsive actions, generating visualization and modeling capabilities for communicating information, and modeling disease propagation for containment and forecasting purposes.

Claims

1. A system for detecting unreported socially disruptive events, comprising:

an information collection and processing subsystem comprising at least one repository database stored in non-transitory computer readable storage media containing documents downloaded from at least one publicly available information source;

an information analysis and reporting subsystem comprising indications and warnings associated with socially disruptive events, the indications and warnings including indirect indications and warnings associated with social disruption, the information analysis and reporting subsystem configured to search the documents for the indirect indications and warnings associated with social disruption;

a text classification system that uses a machine learning model or a combination of machine learning models to identify one or more documents that suggest that an unreported socially disruptive event is unfolding based on the indirect indications and warnings; and

an information communications subsystem that outputs the documents that suggest that an unreported socially disruptive event is unfolding.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the text classification system is based on Bayesian probability, wherein probability is the degree or strength of belief that an unreported socially disruptive event is unfolding.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the information collection and processing subsystem is configured to download the documents from the at least one publicly available information source.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the information collection and processing subsystem is configured to download documents from a plurality of publicly available information sources.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the information collection and processing subsystem is configured to download documents from an additional publicly available information source selected based on a surveillance objective.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is further configured to identifying documents relevant to a geographic region of interest selected based on a surveillance objective.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the information analysis and reporting subsystem searches documents for indirect indications and warnings comprises selected based on a surveillance objective.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein social disruption comprises alteration in the normal functioning of a social system that, under extreme conditions, can lead to the collapse of social infrastructure.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the indirect indications and warnings associated with social disruption comprise reports of official acceptance or denial, official action, demand for medical services, local perception of threat, business practice changes, integrity of infrastructure, or suggestion that individuals or organizations have begun changing their daily routine activities.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the socially disruptive event comprises at least one of a biological event involving humans, a biological event involving animals, a biological event involving plants, a political event, an economic event, an industrial event, an environmental event, civil unrest, dislocation, riots, violence against property, violence against people, public opinion about a political topic, public opinion about public policy, public opinion about religion, public opinion about entertainment, a natural disaster, natural disaster aftermath, natural resource exploitation, or military activity.

11. A method of detecting unreported socially disruptive events, the method comprising:

storing, by an information analysis and reporting subsystem, indications and warnings associated with socially disruptive events on non-transitive computer readable media, the indications and warnings including indirect indications and warnings associated with social disruption;

downloading, by an information collection and processing subsystem, documents from at least one publicly available information source;

storing the documents in a repository database stored in non-transitory computer readable storage media;

searching the documents, by the information analysis and reporting subsystem, for the indirect indications and warnings associated with social disruption; and

identifying, by a text classification system that uses a machine learning model or a combination of machine learning models, one or more documents that suggest that an unreported socially disruptive event is unfolding based on the indirect indications and warnings.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

outputting the documents that suggest that an unreported socially disruptive is unfolding.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

outputting links to the documents that suggest that an unreported socially disruptive event is unfolding.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the text classification system is based on Bayesian probability, wherein probability is the degree or strength of belief that an unreported socially disruptive event is unfolding.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying the at least one publicly available information source from a plurality of publicly available information sources.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

identifying a surveillance objective.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

identifying additional publicly available information sources based on the surveillance objective.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

selecting a geographic region of interest based on the surveillance objective.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

identifying documents relevant to the geographic region of interest.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein searching the documents for indirect indications and warnings comprises searching the documents for indications and warnings selected based on the surveillance objective.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein social disruption comprises alteration in the normal functioning of a social system that, under extreme conditions, can lead to the collapse of social infrastructure.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein the indirect indications and warnings associated with social disruption comprise reports of official acceptance or denial, official action, demand for medical services, local perception of threat, business practice changes, integrity of infrastructure, or suggestion that individuals or organizations have begun changing their daily routine activities.

23. The method of claim 11, wherein the socially disruptive event comprises at least one of a biological event involving humans, a biological event involving animals, a biological event involving plants, a political event, an economic event, an industrial event, an environmental event, civil unrest, dislocation, riots, violence against property, violence against people, public opinion about a political topic, public opinion about public policy, public opinion about religion, public opinion about entertainment, a natural disaster, natural disaster aftermath, natural resource exploitation, or military activity.