System and method for recognizing and storing information and associated context

• US 20080115086A1
• Filed: 11/15/2006
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rupp, Jason, Khan, Mohammad Rafiushan
• Granted Patent: US 8,056,007 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/302 where the computing system component is a software system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3072 where the reporting involves data filtering, e.g. pattern matching, time or event triggered, adaptive or policy-based reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3438 monitoring of user actions tracking the activity of the user H04L67/535
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a system and method of collecting information and associated context. Information and associated context are collected by monitoring at least one application program executable using the computing system, so as to detect one or more events associated with the at least one application program; identifying contextual information corresponding to the detected one or more events; and storing information associated with the at least one detected event, the stored information including the identified contextual information.

Claims

1. A method executable by at least one computing system of collecting information and associated context comprising:

monitoring at least one application program executable using the computing system, so as to detect one or more events associated with the at least one application program;

identifying contextual information corresponding to the detected one or more events; and

storing information associated with the at least one detected event, the stored information including the identified contextual information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of monitoring is transparent to the at least one application program.

3. The method of claim 1, said step of storing information further comprising:

building a searchable index, the index for use in retrieving the stored information associated the one or more events and the corresponding contextual information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a context graph comprising a node corresponding to each of the detected events.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

identifying an anticipated event expected to occur at a future time.

6. The method of claim 5, the method further comprising:

creating an entry in an event waiting list corresponding to the anticipated event, the entry associating the anticipated event with at least one of the detected events;

determining, using the entry in the event waiting list, whether another detected event corresponds to the anticipated event;

storing contextual information corresponding to both at least one detected event and the other detected event in a case that it is determined that the other detected event relates to the anticipated event.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein one or more detected events occur between occurrence of the at least one detected event and occurrence of the other detected event.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one detected event and occurrence of the other detected event are detected in connection with different ones of the at least one application program.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one detected event and occurrence of the other detected event are detected in connection with a same one of the at least one application program.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying contextual information further comprises:

examining information associated with a detected event to identify at least one pattern; and

extracting from the information at least one information item corresponding to an identified pattern.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

associated two or more detected events based on a time of occurrence associated with each of the two or more detected events.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

associating two or more detected events based on at least one pattern identified in connection with the information associated with the two or more detected events.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one pattern is one of a time, date, universal resource locator, postal address and phone number.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one pattern is defined using a regular expression.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the detected events has associated information identifying an application program, a time of the detected event and at least one identified pattern from information associated with detected event.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

identifying relationships between two or more detected events using some or all of the information identifying an application program, a time of the detected event and at least one identified pattern from information associated with the two or more detected events.

17. The method of claim 16, the step of identifying relationships between two or more detected events further comprising:

identifying relationships between two or more detected events using some or all of the information identifying an application program, a time of the detected event and at least one identified pattern from information associated with the two or more detected events and a predetermined time span.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein identifying a relationship between two or more detected events using the information associated with the detected events and a predetermined time span further comprises:

identifying the relationship between the two or more detected events based at least in part on a determination whether the time of the two or more detected events falling within the predetermined time span.

19. A system of collecting information and associated context comprising:

a plurality of clients, each client corresponding to an application program and operative to monitor its corresponding application so as to detect an occurrence of one or more events associated therewith;

a context engine operative to identify context information corresponding to the detected one or more events;

an index and search engine operative to store information associated with at least one detected event, the stored information including the identified contextual information.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein each client is operative to monitor its corresponding application in a manner transparent to its corresponding application program.

21. The system of claim 19, said index and search engine is further operative to build a searchable index, the index for use to retrieve the stored information associated the one or more events and the corresponding contextual information.

22. The system of claim 19, said context engine further operative to create a context graph comprising a node corresponding to each of the detected events.

23. The system of claim 22, said context engine further operative to identify an anticipated event expected to occur at a future time.

24. The system of claim 23, the context engine further operative to:

create an entry in an event waiting list corresponding to the anticipated event, the entry associating the anticipated event with at least one of the detected events;

determine, using the entry in the event waiting list, whether another detected event corresponds to the anticipated event;

store contextual information corresponding to both the at least one detected event and the other detected event in a case that it is determined that the other detected event relates to the anticipated event.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein one or more detected events occur between occurrence of the at least one detected event and the other detected event.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the at least one detected event and occurrence of the other detected event occur in connection with different ones of the at least one application program.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the at least one detected event and occurrence of the other detected event occur in connection with a same one of the at least one application program.

28. The system of claim 19, further comprising a pattern matcher operative to examine information associated with a detected event to identify at least one pattern, said context engine is further operative to extract from the information at least one information item corresponding to an identified pattern.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein said context engine is further operative to associate two or more detected events based on a time of occurrence associated with each of the two or more detected events.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein said context engine is further operative to associate two or more detected events based on at least one pattern identified in connection with the information associated with the two or more detected events:

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one pattern is one of a time, date, universal resource locator, postal address and phone number.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the at least one pattern is defined using a regular expression.

33. The system of claim 28, wherein each of the detected events has associated information identifying an application program, a time of the detected event and at least one identified pattern from information associated with detected event.

34. The system of claim 33, said context engine is further operative to identify relationships between two or more detected events using some or all of the information identifying an application program, a time of the detected event and at least one identified pattern from information associated with detected event.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein said context engine is further operative to identify a relationship between two or more detected events using the information associated with the detected events and a predetermined time span.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein said context engine operative to identify a relationship between two or more detected events using the information associated with the detected events and a predetermined time span is further operative to identify the relationship between the relationship between two or more detected events based at least in part on the time of the two or more detected events falling within the predetermined time span.