System and method for implementing a metrics engine for tracking relationships over time

• US 20030135606A1
• Filed: 01/15/2002
• Published: 07/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Schirmer, Andrew Lewis, Kraenzel, Carl Joseph, Goodwin, James Patrick, Newbold, David LeRoy
• Granted Patent: US 7,209,906 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/313 Selection or weighting of terms for indexing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/00 Computing arrangements using knowledge-based models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

The present invention enables a flexible system for representing relationships among computing resources, assigning them strengths, and versioning them over time. One advantage is that all of the various ways that these entities are named in the real world can be normalized into a common model of identifiers (IDs) and types such that universal manipulations by class are possible without losing the capability to present the resulting information back with the original entity names or even with multiple equivalent names.

Claims

1. A system for determining relationships between resources in a knowledge discovery system, the system comprising:

a discovery server that creates and maintains a knowledge map representing relationships between system resources;

a metrics calculator for calculating values representative of the relationships between system resources; and

a data source in communication with the discovery server that receives and stores the values from the metrics calculator.

2. A method for calculating metrics that correspond to relationships between resources in a knowledge discovery system, the method comprising:

determining a raw metric value for a resource that corresponds to a action on or by the resource;

ranking the raw metric value according to a predetermined scheme;

determining a constant value based, at least in part, upon the ranking of the raw metric; and

calculating a metric value proportional to a product of the raw metric value and the constant value.

3. A processor readable medium, having processor readable code embodied thereon, that enables a processor to calculate metrics that correspond to relationships between resources in a knowledge discovery system, the processor readable medium comprising:

processor readable code for determining a raw metric value for a resource that corresponds to a action on or by the resource;

processor readable code for ranking the raw metric value according to a predetermined scheme;

processor readable code for determining a constant value based, at least in part, upon the ranking of the raw metric; and

processor readable code for calculating a metric value proportional to a product of the raw metric value and the constant value.

4. A metrics system for calculating affinities among resources in a knowledge discovery system, the metrics system comprising:

a metrics affinity calculator that calculates affinity values for resources;

a metrics data store that stores the calculated affinity values;

a metrics affinity worker that communicates with a user mail data store and coordinates generating a message regarding the calculated affinity values according to a predetermined setting.

5. A method for calculating affinities among resources in a knowledge discovery system, the method comprising:

calculating affinity values for resources using a metrics affinity calculator;

storing the calculated affinity values in a metrics data store;

generating a message regarding the calculated affinity values according to a predetermined setting with a metrics affinity worker that communicates with a user mail data store.