Service offering for the delivery of information with continuing improvement

• US 20060143296A1
• Filed: 12/27/2004
• Published: 06/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Toohey, James J., Allard, David J., Szabo, Robert M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,469,276 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation

Abstract

A continually improving method for providing information to receivers which can include the step of receiving a request from a remotely located information requestor that specifies at least one information receiver. A transaction can be initiated to handle the request. The transaction can utilize previously recorded information to determine at least one adjustable condition to be used. The previously recorded information can be specific to the information requestor and/or the information receiver. The transaction can generate at least one result for the information receiver. The generated result can be tailored for information privileges granted to the information receiver by an information controller. The result can be conveyed to the information receiver. Feedback can be received concerning the result. At least one of the adjustable conditions can be adjusted in accordance with the feedback. The recorded information can be changed to include the adjusted condition.

Claims

1. A method for providing information to a receiver comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a remotely located information requestor that specifies at least one information receiver;

initiating a transaction to handle the request utilizing previously recorded information to determine at least one adjustable condition used by the transaction, said previously recorded information being specific to at least one of the information requestors and at least one of the information receivers;

the transaction generating at least one result for the information receiver, wherein said generated result is tailored for information privileges granted to the information receiver by an information controller;

conveying the result to the information receiver;

receiving feedback concerning the result;

adjusting one of the at least one adjustable condition in accordance with the feedback; and

changing the recorded information to include the adjusted condition.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the previously recorded information is associated with at least one of the information requestor-information receiver pair.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

the transaction initiating a plurality of tasks, each task producing a task response used to generate the result.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one adjustable condition includes a weight used to prefer one task response over another task response when generating the result.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one adjustable condition determines whether a selectable task will be one of said plurality of tasks used to generate the result.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of said tasks includes a configurable parameter that affects the task response produced by at least one of said tasks, said at least one adjustable condition including said configurable parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the request specifies a designated purpose, wherein information available to the information receiver is limited to the designated purpose.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining the designated purpose is satisfied; and

responsive to the determining step, automatically deleting the result from a data store accessible by the information receiver.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction accesses data in generating the result that neither the information requestor nor the information receiver are permitted to access directly.

10. An information system comprising:

a central repository configured to provide results to a plurality of information receivers responsive to submitted information requests, wherein each request is tailored to information privileges granted by an information controller to the information receiver;

at least one intelligent agent that is a software agent configured to manage a transaction based upon transaction criteria associated with at least one of the information requesters, at least one of the information receivers, and at least one of the information controllers; and

a feedback engine configured to adjust said transaction criteria responsive to feedback.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a record store including information controlled by a plurality of information controllers and used by the information system to provide results for requests, wherein transaction criteria adjust at least one query parameter of the record store for a query used to produce results for information receivers.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a plurality of information providers remotely located from the central repository, wherein transaction criteria determine which of said plurality of information providers are used to produce results for information receivers.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein neither the information requestor nor the information receiver are permitted to directly access content of the central repository.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein each response is generated for a purpose designated in the request, wherein the result is deleted from a data store accessible by the information receiver once the purpose has been satisfied as determined by the information system.

15. A machine-readable storage having stored thereon, a computer program having a plurality of code sections, said code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps of:

receiving a request from a remotely located information requestor that specifies at least one information receiver;

initiating a transaction to handle the request utilizing previously recorded information to determine at least one adjustable condition used by the transaction, said previously recorded information being specific to at least one of the information requesters and at least one of the information receivers;

the transaction generating at least one result for the information receiver, wherein said generated result is tailored for information privileges granted to the information receiver by an information controller;

conveying the result to the information receiver;

receiving feedback concerning the result;

adjusting one of the at least one adjustable condition in accordance with the feedback; and

changing the recorded information to include the adjusted condition.

16. The machine-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the previously recorded information is associated with an information requestor-information receiver pair.

17. The machine-readable storage of claim 15, said code sections further causing the machine to perform the steps of:

the transaction initiating a plurality of tasks, each task producing a task response used to generate the result.

18. The machine-readable storage of claim 17, wherein at least one adjustable condition includes a weight used to prefer one task response over another task response when generating the result.

19. The machine-readable storage of claim 17, wherein the at least one adjustable condition determines whether a selectable task will be one of said plurality of tasks used to generate the result.

20. The machine-readable storage of claim 17, wherein at least one of said tasks includes a configurable parameter that affects the task response produced by at least one, of said tasks, said at least one adjustable condition including said configurable parameter.