System and method for determining community overlap

• US 20040088312A1
• Filed: 10/31/2002
• Published: 05/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Elder, Michael D., Schirmer, Andrew L., Rokosz, Vaughn T., Schultz, Matthew, Jho, Jason Y.
• Granted Patent: US 7,257,569 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

A system and method for evaluating an information aggregate. A metrics database stores document indicia including document attributes and associated person. A query engine responsive to a user request and the metrics database aggregates documents having same, unique attributes in a plurality of information aggregates, and determines the intersections of said information aggregates. A visualization engine displays these intersections selectively with reference to people, documents, usage patterns or categories.

Claims

1. Method for evaluating an information aggregate, comprising:

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a first shared attribute into a first information aggregate;

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a second shared attribute into a second information aggregate; and

determining and visualizing intersections of said first and second information aggregates.

2. The method of claim 1, said intersection being of usage patterns.

3. The method of claim 1, said intersection being of people.

4. The method of claim 1, said intersection being of documents.

5. The method of claim 1, said intersection being of categories.

6. The method of claim 1, said information aggregate being a community.

7. A system for evaluating an information aggregate, comprising:

means collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a first shared attribute into a first information aggregate;

means for collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a second shared attribute into a second information aggregate; and

means for determining and visualizing intersections of said first and second information aggregates.

8. A system for evaluating an information aggregate, comprising:

a metrics database for storing document indicia including document attributes, associated persons and age of creation;

a query engine responsive to a user request and said metrics database for aggregating documents having same, unique attributes in an information aggregate;

said query engine further for

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a first shared attribute into a first information aggregate;

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a second shared attribute into a second information aggregate; and

a visualization engine for visualizing an intersection of said first and second information aggregates.

9. The system of claim 8, said information aggregates comprising communities.

10. The system of claim 9, said visualization further selectively displaying people, usage patterns, documents, and categories intersections of said information aggregates.

11. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform method steps for evaluating information aggregates, said method comprising:

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a first shared attribute into a first information aggregate;

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a second shared attribute into a second information aggregate; and

determining and visualizing intersections of said first and second information aggregates.

12. The program storage device of claim 11, said method further comprising:

selectively displaying people, usage patterns, and categories intersections of said information aggregates.

13. A computer program product for evaluating an information aggregate according to the method comprising:

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a first shared attribute into a first information aggregate;

collecting a plurality of documents having non-unique values on a second shared attribute into a second information aggregate; and

selectively identifying and visualizing people, documents, usage patterns, and category intersections of said first and second information aggregates.