Matching engine for comparing data feeds with user profile criteria

• US 20070226182A1
• Filed: 03/21/2006
• Published: 09/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Eranti, Vijay, Sobotka, David, Austin-Lane, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,122,087 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

Abstract

An event notification matching system, including an event matching table forming a plurality of nodes. Each node is assigned a subscriber request value and contains identifiers for one or more subscribers to be notified at the occurrence of an event relating to the subscriber request value. The event notification matching system may also include a table index. The table index receives input values from an event processing module and selects one or more of the nodes that have subscriber request values corresponding to the received input values. The event processor receives event data from a predetermined source, and formats the input values to simplify the operations performed by the event matching table. The event notification matching system is configured such that the event data need not be compared to non-matching nodes in the event matching table.

Claims

1. In a computing system that includes a server system and a client system, a method for matching the occurrence of an event to subscriber requests for event notification, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of parent nodes within an event matching table, each parent node assigned a unique subscriber request value and containing an identifier for one or more subscribers who have submitted requests to be notified at the occurrence of an event relating to the unique subscriber request value;

receiving event data from a predetermined source;

identifying one or more parent nodes having the subscriber request values that correspond to the received event data; and

sending an alert to the one or more subscribers in each of the one or more identified parent nodes.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a new subscriber request from a requesting subscriber; and

updating the event matching table to include the new request information.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

formatting the new request to create a new subscriber request value;

if no node within the event matching table is assigned the new subscriber request value;

creating a new node within the event matching table, the new node being assigned the new subscriber request value; and

adding a new identifier identifying the requesting subscriber to the new node; and

if an existing node within the event matching table is assigned the new subscriber request value;

adding the new identifier identifying the requesting subscriber to the existing node.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

identifying one or more links from one or more parent nodes to one or more sub-nodes, each sub-node being assigned a subscriber request value and containing an identifier for each subscriber who has submitted an event notification request regarding the occurrence of an event relating to both the subscriber request value of the parent node and the subscriber request value of the sub-node.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein in the event that a sub-node can be linked to two or more parent nodes to form an identical subscriber request value combination, the sub-node is linked to the parent node having the subscriber request value that is less likely to occur than the subscriber request values of the remaining two or more parent nodes.

6. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein if the event data results in two or more input values, selecting one or more nodes from the event matching table further comprises:

determining if the selected parent nodes contain links to one or more sub-nodes having a subscriber request value that matches one of the two or more input values; and

sending an alert to the one or more subscribers in each of the one or more sub-nodes linked to the selected parent nodes.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising creating a plurality of event matching tables, each table dedicated to event data relating to a unique topic.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

determining a topic for the event data; and

selecting one of the plurality of event matching tables dedicated to the topic of the received event data.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising formatting the event data to create one or more input values, and wherein the subscriber request values of the identified one or more parent nodes further correspond to the input values.

10. An event notification matching system comprising:

an event processor configured to receive event data from a predetermined source and to format the event data into one or more input values;

a computer-readable medium having an event matching table stored on the medium, comprising;

a plurality of parent nodes stored in a first region of a range of memory addresses in the medium, each parent node assigned a unique subscriber request value and containing identifiers for one or more subscribers to be notified at the occurrence of an event relating to the unique subscriber request value; and

a table index stored in a table index region of the range of memory addresses, the table index configured to receive the one or more input values from the event processor and to select one or more parent nodes having assigned subscriber request values corresponding to the received input values; and

an alert manager for managing alerts to be sent to each subscriber in the one or more selected parent nodes.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, further comprising a plurality of event matching tables, each event matching table dedicated to event data related to a unique topic, wherein the plurality of parent nodes are organized within the plurality of event matching tables.

12. The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the event processor is further configured to determine a topic for the received event data, and for selecting one of the plurality of event matching tables having the topic of the received event data.

13. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein one or more of the parent nodes contains one or more links to one or more sub-nodes, each sub-node being assigned a subscriber request value and containing an identifier for each subscriber to be notified at the occurrence of an event relating to both the unique subscriber request value of the parent node and to the subscriber request value of the sub-node.

14. The system as recited in claim 13, wherein if a sub-node can be linked to two or more parent nodes to form an identical subscriber request value combination, the sub-node is linked to the parent node having the subscriber request value that is less likely to occur than the subscriber request values of the remaining two or more parent nodes.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, further comprising multiple tiers of hierarchically linked sub-nodes, each sub-node ultimately being linked to the parent node.

16. The system as recited in claim 14, further comprising an event matching table update module configured to receive requests from subscribers, translate the requests into new subscriber request values and update the event matching table to include the new subscriber request values.

17. A server system in a network that includes the server system and a client system, wherein the server system monitors the occurrence of events, sends notification data to the client system when notification has been requested and after one of the monitored events occurs, the server system comprising:

one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions, that when executed, are configured to generate an event matching table for efficiently matching a monitored event to a subscriber, wherein generating an event matching table includes;

receiving a subscriber request from a client system;

determining if, within the event matching table, a node exists having a subscriber request value relating to the subject matter of the subscriber request;

if the node having the subscriber request value relating to the subject matter of the subscriber request does exist, adding a user identifier to the existing node; and

if the node having a subscriber request value relating to the subject matter of the subscriber request does not exist, creating a node having a subscriber request value relating to the subject matter of the subscriber request within the event matching table and adding the user identifier to the created node;

wherein, the event matching table is comprised of a plurality of nodes, each node assigned a subscriber request value and containing user identifiers for one or more users who have submitted requests to be notified at the occurrence of the monitored event relating to the node'"'"'s subscriber request value.

18. The server system as recited in claim 17, wherein the server system further comprises one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions, that when executed, are configured for receiving the monitored events and for matching the monitored events to the one or more of the plurality of nodes in the event matching table.

19. The server system as recited in claim 17, wherein the event matching table is comprised of parent nodes and sub-nodes, each sub-node linked to a parent node, and wherein the parent nodes contain an identifier for one or more subscribers who have submitted requests to be notified at the occurrence of the monitored event relating to the subscriber request value of the parent node, and wherein the sub-nodes contain an identifier for one or more subscribers who have submitted requests to be notified at the occurrence of the monitored event relating to the subscriber request value of the parent node and to the subscriber request value of the sub-node.

20. The server system as recited in claim 17, wherein each node is configured to be accessed upon the occurrence of the monitored event relating to the subscriber request value without indexing other nodes.

21. The server system as recited in claim 17, further comprising one or more computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions, that when executed, are configured to send an alert to subscribers in an identified node that matches the monitored events.