Apparatus and Method for the Automatic Discovery of Control Events from the Publication of Documents

• US 20100153360A1
• Filed: 12/08/2009
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Decernis LLC (FoodChain ID Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Decernis LLC (FoodChain ID Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: WALDO, Patrick Blackmon, Waldo, Andrew B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,589,380 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/710
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/353 into predefined classes

Abstract

A method and system for discovering a control event from electronically published documents is provided, in which a control program on a computer identifies electronically published documents stored in a plurality of network servers which potentially contain control events relevant to the control of goods and/or services, the control events being identified by reference to a user interest database containing user interest identifiers. Identified documents are analyzed by a classification program to determine whether control events are present, referring to a control event database. A control event classification is assigned to documents determined to contain at least one discovered control event, the assigned control event classification and information identifying the associated document is stored in a classification database, and a report of discovery of documents containing control events is be provided to a user. The report may includes a link to the control event classification and/or its associated document.

Claims

1. A method for discovering a control event from electronically published documents, comprising:

populating a user interest database with at least one of geographic and subject matter identifiers associated with interests of at least one user of electronically published documents;

accessing electronically published documents stored on a plurality of network servers;

operating a control program on a computer to identify documents stored in the plurality of network servers which potentially contain control events, wherein the control program identifies documents which potentially contain control events by reference to the user interest database;

storing a copy of the identified documents potentially containing control events in a local storage device accessible by a classification program operating on the computer;

providing a control event database of classified control events relevant to the control of at least one of goods and services;

operating the classification program to determine whether control events are present in the stored documents potentially containing control events, wherein the classification program determines whether a discovered control event is present by reference to the control event database;

assigning at least one control event classification to the stored documents determined to contain at least one discovered control event;

storing the assigned control event classification and information identifying the associated stored document containing at least one discovered control event in a classification database;

creating a report of discovery of documents containing control events to at least one user, wherein the report is created by reference to the user interest database and the stored assigned control event classifications, and the report includes at least one link to at least one of the stored control event classifications and its associated document; and

delivering the report to the at least one user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

the control program identifies documents which potentially contain control events by at least one of examination of document text, examination of document publication dates, and application of a publication selection algorithm using predetermined document selection criteria.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein

the classification program determines whether control events are present in the stored documents by at least one of Bayesian Analysis, Inverse Term Frequency Analysis, and a statistical classification method which evaluates the cumulative frequency of terms identified using a weighted scoring based on a predetermined set of words and phrases associated with control events.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein

the database of classified control events relevant to the control of at least one of goods and services includes classified control events pertaining to discovery of at least one of a chemical, biological agent, disease, food, food ingredient, material, product and service control event.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein

the classification program determination of whether control events are present is multi-lingual.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein

at least one of the database of classified control events and the control event classification includes user-defined control events corresponding to a scope of control events of interest of at least one individual user, and

reports forwarded to the at least one individual user contain only information on discovered control events and documents within the scope of control events of interest defined by the at least one individual user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein

the reports of discovery of documents containing control events are transmitted to a client enterprise control application which receives the reports and integrates information in the reports into an information management system of at least one user.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein

at least one of the at least one individual user is a producer of a good or service, and

the at least one individual user'"'"'s enterprise control application is programmed to permit the at least one individual user to customize the presentation of received information about control events and discovered documents relevant to the producer'"'"'s individual products and processes.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically generating and storing an index and a summary of the one or more retrieved documents containing at least one discovered control event.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

searching in response to a request from the at least one user for any discovered control event associated with chemical, biological agent, disease, food, food ingredient, material, product and service within the at least one user'"'"'s scope of interest.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein

the search is conducted using at least one of a synonym, translation or aggregated concept related to the control event.

20. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a search program on a computer-readable storage medium, the search program comprising computer code for searching in response to a request from the at least one user for any discovered control event associated with chemical, biological agent, disease, food, food ingredient, material, product and service within the at least one user'"'"'s scope of interest.

12. An apparatus for discovery of information containing control events from electronically published documents, the apparatus comprising:

a user interest database on a computer-readable storage medium populated with at least one of geographic and subject matter identifiers associated with interests of at least one user of electronically published documents;

a control program on a computer-readable storage medium, the control program comprising computer code for identifying documents stored in a plurality of network servers which potentially contain control events, wherein the control program identifies documents which potentially contain control events by reference to the user interest database;

an electronically published document storage device, the storage device being arranged to store a copy of identified documents potentially containing control events;

a control event database on a computer-readable storage medium containing classified control events relevant to the control of at least one of goods and services;

a classification program on a computer-readable storage medium, the classification program comprising computer code for determining whether control events are present in stored documents potentially containing control events and assigning at least one control event classification to the stored documents determined to contain at least one discovered control event, wherein the classification program determines whether a discovered control event is present by reference to the control event database;

a storing program on a computer-readable storage medium, the storing program comprising computer code for storing assigned classification and information concerning the one or more identified documents containing at least one discovered control event; and

a discovered document reporting program on a computer-readable storage medium, the discovered document reporting program comprising computer code for creating a report of discovery of documents containing control events to at least one user and delivering the report to the at least one user, wherein the report is created by reference to the user interest database and the stored assigned control event classifications, and the report includes at least one link to at least one of the stored control event classifications and its associated document.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein

the control program identifies documents which potentially contain control events by at least one of examination of document text, examination of document publication dates, and application of a publication selection algorithm using predetermined document selection criteria.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein

the classification program determines whether control events are present in the stored documents by at least one of Bayesian Analysis, Inverse Term Frequency Analysis, and a statistical classification method which evaluates the cumulative frequency of terms identified using a weighted scoring based on a predetermined set of words and phrases associated with control events.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein

the database of classified control events relevant to the control of at least one of goods and services includes classified control events pertaining to discovery of at least one of a chemical, biological agent, disease, food, food ingredient, material, product and service control event.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein

the classification program determination of whether control events are present is multi-lingual.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein

at least one of the database of classified control events and the control event classification includes user-defined control events corresponding to a scope of control events of interest of at least one individual user, and

reports forwarded to the at least one individual user contain only information on discovered control events and documents within the scope of control events of interest defined by the at least one individual user.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein at least one of the at least one individual user is a producer of a good or service, the computer system further comprising:

an enterprise control program on a computer-readable storage medium, the enterprise control program comprising computer code for permitting the at least one individual user to customize the presentation of received information about control events and discovered documents relevant to the producer'"'"'s individual products and processes.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

an indexing and summary program on a computer-readable storage medium, the indexing and summary program comprising computer code for automatically generating and storing an index and a summary of the one or more retrieved documents containing at least one discovered control event.