Method and a device for frequency counting

• US 20070033275A1
• Filed: 03/07/2003
• Published: 02/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Sorvari, Antti, Kahari, Markus, Toivonen, Hannu
• Granted Patent: US 9,280,607 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9562 Bookmark management

Abstract

A memory efficient method and electronic device for counting frequencies of various events. The structure for storing frequency data comprises primary (204) and secondary (206) storages which contain frequency data (208, 210, 214) in different levels of detail. The primary storage (204) is a detailed storage comprising both event type and count information units in a fully restorable form. The secondary storage (206) is targeted for more infrequent events with lower level of detail and constructed as an array of count values addressed by a hash function using event type as an input. Another option is to derive a shortened ID from the event type by utilizing a hash function and exploit the ID as an addressing key for the corresponding count. Events are moved between primary (204) and secondary (206) storages depending on the detected event type frequencies. The invention is utilized in a recommendation engine for grading and sorting bookmarks stored in browsers for accessing the Internet.

Claims

1. A method for counting frequency of events to be performed by an electronic device capable of processing and storing data, the frequency information being stored in a primary storage with more detail and in a secondary storage with less detail, said method comprising the steps of

defining at least one event type the frequency of which is to be counted (302),

detecting an event of the type to be counted when occurred (306),

checking if the event type is already included in the primary storage (310),

if included, increasing count for the event type in the primary storage (312),

otherwise updating count for the event type in the secondary storage (314).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said updating comprises at least one of the following actions:

creating a storage element related to the event type, initializing a count value for the event type, increasing count.

3. The method of claim 1, further including the step of moving the event type in the secondary storage to the primary storage if a predefined condition for the count of said event type in comparison with a count of an event type in the primary storage is fulfilled (316).

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the fulfilment of the condition requires that the count of the event type in the secondary storage is equal or higher to the count of the event type in the primary storage.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of moving the event type in the primary storage to the secondary storage.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the event type in the primary storage has the lowest or highest count of said storage.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of sorting the primary storage.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of sorting the storage whereto the count was added.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said frequency information for the events is stored as event type identifier/frequency count pairs.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein event type identifier is an output of a hash function.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the secondary storage is indexed by an output from a hash function using an event type or a derivative thereof as an input.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency count of an event type is weighted with a weighting factor whenever a predefined action triggering the weighting occurs.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the event the frequency of which is to be counted is at least one of following:

an Internet page access, an Internet site access, phone menu access, file access, word recognition event, voice command event, text autocompletion event, or hand-written character recognition event.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said Internet page is a WWW (World Wide Web) or WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) page.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein sorted event types form a recommendation list for an Internet browser.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said frequency information is user account specific.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said frequency information is at least partially stored on a portable medium.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said portable medium is a memory card.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said memory card is a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card.

20. A computer program comprising code means (716) stored on a readable medium adapted to perform the steps of the method of claim 1 when said program is run on a computer.

21. The computer program of claim 20 further adapted to form a recommendation list for a browser based on the frequency information, wherein event data stored in the primary and secondary storages at least partly relates to accessed destination addresses in the browser.

22. The computer program of claim 21, wherein said accessed destination addresses relate to Internet sites and pages thereof.

23. The computer program of claim 21, wherein event type specific elements in the primary or secondary storage comprise at least one of the following information units:

event type identifier, site name, page name, site URL (Universal Resource Locator), page URL.

24. The computer program of claim 22, wherein recommendations constructed from the stored event data are site level recommendations.

25. The computer program of claim 22, wherein recommendations constructed from the stored event data are page level recommendations.

26. The computer program of claim 21, wherein recommendations are displayed to the user as a hierarchical structure comprising at least two levels.

27. The computer program of claim 26, wherein said levels include a level for sites and a level for corresponding pages.

28. The computer program of claim 21, wherein recommendations are adapted to a user context.

29. The computer program of claim 21, wherein time elapsed from at least one previous access of an event type affects to the position of the event type in the storage or in a displayed list of recommendations.

30. The computer program of claim 22, wherein recommendations are displayed to the user as a hierarchical structure of pages and subpages thereof.

31. The computer program of claim 30, wherein the order of said subpages displayed to the user is affected by time elapsed from at least one previous access of said subpages.

32. The computer program of claim 20, wherein a count for a certain event type is adjusted by a fixed value independent of the number of event type accesses during a session if accessed more than once.

33. The computer program of claim 22, wherein links in a page are displayed sorted by the frequency count.

34. The computer program of claim 20 further adapted to sort options for completing a partially written character string, said options belonging to a set of event types the frequency of which is counted, according to the frequency count thereof.

35. The computer program of claim 20 for ranking user defined links in a browser, wherein said links belong to a set of event types the frequency of which is counted, said links being sorted by the frequency count.

36. The computer program of claim 20, wherein said computer is a PC (Personal Computer), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or a mobile terminal.

37. The computer program of claim 29, wherein said time elapsed from at least one previous access is measured as the number of sessions or as a calendar time.

38. A carrier medium carrying the computer executable program of claim 20.

39. A personal communications device operable (708, 718) in a telecommunications network, comprising processing means (702) and memory means (712) for processing instructions (716) and storing data, said memory means (712) comprising a primary (704) and a secondary storage (706) for storing frequency information, in the primary storage with more detail and in the secondary storage with less detail, said personal communications device arranged to define at least one event type the frequency of which is to be counted, detect an event of the type to be counted when occurred, check if the event type was already included in the primary storage (704), and if included, increase the count for the event type in the primary storage (704), otherwise update the count for the event type in the secondary storage (706).

40. The personal communications device of claim 39, wherein said updating comprises at least one of the following actions:

creating a storage element related to the event type, initializing a count value for the event type, increasing count.

41. The personal communications device of claim 39, further arranged to move the event type in the secondary storage (706) to the primary storage (704) if a predefined condition for the count of the event type in comparison with a count of an event type in the primary storage (704) is fulfilled.

42. The personal communications device of claim 39, further arranged to move the event type in the primary storage (704) to the secondary storage (706).

43. The personal communications device of claim 39, wherein said frequency information is stored on a SIM card.

44. The personal communications device of claim 39, wherein said frequency information is user account specific.

45. The personal communications device of claim 39, arranged to form a recommendation list for a browser based on the frequency information, wherein event data stored in the primary and secondary storages at least partly relates to destination addresses accessed through the browser.

46. The personal communications device of claim 45, wherein said accessed destination addresses relate to Internet sites and pages thereof.

47. The personal communications device of claim 44, wherein event type specific elements in the primary or secondary storage relate to at least one of the following information units:

event type identifier, site name, page name, site URL (Universal Resource Locator), page URL.

48. The personal communications device of claim 46, wherein links in a page are displayed sorted by the frequency count.

49. The personal communications device of claim 39, arranged to sort options for completing a partially written character string, said options belonging to a set of event types the frequency of which is counted, according to the frequency count thereof.

50. The personal communications device of claim 49, wherein said character strings relate to Internet sites or pages.

51. The personal communications device of claim 39, arranged to rank user defined links in a browser, wherein said links belong to a set of event types the frequency of which is counted, said links being sorted by the frequency count.

52. The personal communications device of claim 39, which is a GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) or UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) terminal.