System and method for personalized information retrieval based on user expertise

• US 20030233345A1
• Filed: 06/14/2002
• Published: 12/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Entopia, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Entopia, Inc.
• Inventors: Posse, Christian, Perisic, Igor
• Granted Patent: US 6,892,198 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

A search request is received at an information retrieval system from a searcher. The search request preferably contains at least one search term and a user identifier. A plurality of objects are then searched based on the at least one search term. At least one located object is found from the plurality of objects. The at least one located object is associated with the search term(s). An intrinsic score based on the search term(s) is subsequently calculated for each located object. The intrinsic score is then adjusted to an adjusted score based on the difference between a creator expertise of a creator of the at least one located object and/or a contributor expertise of a contributor to the at least one located object, and a searcher expertise of the searcher.

Claims

1. A method for personalizing information retrieval, comprising:

receiving at an information retrieval system a search request from a searcher, where said search request contains at least one search term;

searching a plurality of objects based on said at least one search term;

finding at least one located object from said plurality of objects, where said at least one located object is associated with said at least one search term;

calculating an intrinsic score for each located object, where said intrinsic score is based on said at least one search term;

adjusting said intrinsic score to an adjusted score based on the difference between a creator expertise of a creator of said at least one located object and/or a contributor expertise of a contributor to said at least one located object, and a searcher expertise of said searcher; and

transmitting a list to said searcher, where said list is based on said search request and said adjusted scores.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said search request identifies said searcher with a unique user identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of objects include content objects, source objects, or people objects.

4. The method of claim 31, wherein said adjusting further comprises:

locating objects associated with said searcher using said unique user identifier;

ascertaining said searcher expertise based on said search terms and said objects associated with said searcher;

determining said creator expertise and said contributor expertise for each located object;

raising said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located content or source object having a creator expertise higher than said searcher expertise;

lowering said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located content or source object having a creator expertise that is lower than said searcher expertise; and

changing said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located people object according to said searcher and creator expertise.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said searching is undertaken using a search technique selected from a group consisting of:

semantic processing, syntactic processing, natural language processing, statistical processing, and any combination of the aforementioned techniques.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein said adjusting comprises:

ascertaining said searcher expertise based on said search terms and any objects associated with said searcher;

determining said creator expertise and/or said contributor expertise for each located content or source object;

raising said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located content or source object having a creator expertise higher than said searcher expertise;

lowering said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located object having a creator expertise that is lower than said searcher expertise; and

changing said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located people object according to said searcher and creator expertise.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said searcher expertise is dependent on the sum of the intrinsic scores of all located objects created by said searcher.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said searcher expertise is dependent on the sum of all non-relevant documents not created by said searcher but containing relevant comments of said searcher.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said searcher expertise is dependent on the sum of all non-relevant documents created by said searcher but containing relevant comments of said searcher.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said searcher expertise is dependent on the total number of users relative to the total number of relevant users.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said searcher expertise is dependent on the total number of objects in the repository relative to the total number of relevant objects in the repository.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said searcher expertise is dependent on the searcher'"'"'s taxonomy.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said searcher expertise is dependent on whether the searcher created, edited, commented on, renamed, highlighted, linked, printed, copied or any activity that is monitored in a log file to said at least one located object.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said creator expertise is dependent on the sum of the intrinsic scores of all located objects created by said creator.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said creator expertise is dependent on the sum of all non-relevant documents not created by said creator but containing relevant comments of said creator.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said creator expertise is dependent on the sum of all non-relevant documents created by said creator but containing relevant comments of said creator.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said creator expertise is dependent on the total number of users relative to the total number of relevant users.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein said creator expertise is dependent on the total number of objects in the repository relative to the total number of relevant objects in the repository.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein said creator expertise is dependent on a creator'"'"'s taxonomy.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said creator expertise is dependent on whether the creator created, edited, commented on, renamed, highlighted, or linked, printed, copied or any activity that is monitored in a log file to said at least one located object.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein said contributor expertise is dependent on the sum of the intrinsic scores of all located objects created by said contributor.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein said contributor expertise is dependent on the sum of all non-relevant documents not created by said contributor but containing relevant comments of said contributor.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein said contributor expertise is dependent on the sum of all non-relevant documents created by said contributor but containing relevant comments of said contributor.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein said contributor expertise is dependent on the total number of users relative to the total number of relevant users.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein said contributor expertise is dependent on the total number of objects in the repository relative to the total number of relevant objects in the repository.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein said contributor expertise is dependent on the contributor'"'"'s taxonomy.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein said contributor expertise is dependent on the whether the contributor created, edited, commented on, renamed, highlighted, linked, printed, copied or any activity that is monitored in a log file to said at least one located object.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to said transmitting, sorting said list of located objects based on each object'"'"'s adjusted score.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting comprises sending a list of said located objects and their associated adjusted scores to said searcher.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting comprises sending a list of people objects and their associated adjusted scores to said searcher.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting comprises sending a list of source objects and their associated adjusted scores to said searcher.

33. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein said computer program further comprises:

instructions for ascertaining said searcher expertise based on said search terms and any objects associated with said searcher;

instructions for determining said creator expertise and/or said contributor expertise for each located object;

instructions for raising said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located content or source object having a creator expertise higher than said searcher expertise;

instructions for lowering said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located content or source object having a creator expertise that is lower than said searcher expertise; and

instructions for changing said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located people object according to said searcher and creator expertise.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein said memory further comprises:

instructions for ascertaining said searcher expertise based on said search terms and any objects associated with said searcher;

instructions for determining said creator expertise and/or said contributor expertise for each located object;

instructions for raising said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located content or source object having a creator expertise higher than said searcher expertise;

instructions for lowering said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located content or source object having a creator expertise that is lower than said searcher expertise; and

instructions for changing said intrinsic score to said adjusted score for each located people object according to said searcher and creator expertise.

32. A computer program product for personalizing information retrieval, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage and a computer program stored therein, the computer program comprising:

instructions for receiving at an information retrieval system a search request from a searcher, where said search request contains at least one search term;

instructions for searching a plurality of objects based on said at least one search term;

instructions for finding at least one located object from said plurality of objects, where said at least one located object is associated with said at least one search term;

instructions for calculating an intrinsic score for each located object, where said intrinsic score is based on said at least one search term;

instructions for adjusting said intrinsic score to an adjusted score based on the difference between a creator expertise of a creator of said at least one located object and/or a contributor expertise of a contributor to said at least one located object, and a searcher expertise of said searcher; and

instructions for transmitting a list of said located objects and their associated adjusted scores to said searcher.

34. A system for personalizing information retrieval comprising:

at least one searcher device, creator device, and contributor device coupled to a network;

a repository containing one or more objects; and

an information retrieval system comprising;

a Central Processing Unit (CPU); and

a memory comprising;

instructions for receiving at an information retrieval system a search request from a searcher, where said search request contains at least one search term;

instructions for searching a plurality of objects based on said at least one search term;

instructions for finding at least one located object from said plurality of objects, where said at least one located object is associated with said at least one search term;

instructions for calculating an intrinsic score for each located object, where said intrinsic score is based on said at least one search term;

instructions for adjusting said intrinsic score to an adjusted score based on the difference between a creator expertise of a creator of said at least one located object and/or a contributor expertise of a contributor to said at least one located object, and a searcher expertise of said searcher; and

instructions for transmitting a list of said located objects and their associated adjusted scores to said searcher.