USING SPHERES-OF-INFLUENCE TO CHARACTERIZE NETWORK RELATIONSHIPS
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of characterizing a network of relationships between entities, comprising:
- evaluating a plurality of data records to identify groups of one or more data records, wherein each data record identifies at least an entity and each group of data records refers to a same entity;
evaluating the identified groups of one or more data records to identify one or more relationships between the respective entities represented by the respective groups of data records;
determining a distance score for each of the one or more identified relationships, wherein each distance score provides a measure of a relationship strength between two of the entities in a given identified relationship, based on the group of data records corresponding to the two entities; and
generating a sphere-of-influence network of the respective entities represented by the respective groups of data records, wherein the sphere-of-influence network characterizes the identified relationships between entities based on the determined distance scores.
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Abstract
Techniques are disclosed for using spheres-of-influence to characterize network relationships, where a graph depicts stronger relationships as being closer to an entity than more tenuous relationships. That is, while an entity may have many first-degree relationships, some relationships are closer than others. Thus, relationships where one entity may have a greater degree of influence over another are characterized as being closer to an entity in a graph. Similarly, a tenuous first-degree relationship may be characterized as being at a greater “depth” from the entity in the graph.
74 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of characterizing a network of relationships between entities, comprising:
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evaluating a plurality of data records to identify groups of one or more data records, wherein each data record identifies at least an entity and each group of data records refers to a same entity; evaluating the identified groups of one or more data records to identify one or more relationships between the respective entities represented by the respective groups of data records; determining a distance score for each of the one or more identified relationships, wherein each distance score provides a measure of a relationship strength between two of the entities in a given identified relationship, based on the group of data records corresponding to the two entities; and generating a sphere-of-influence network of the respective entities represented by the respective groups of data records, wherein the sphere-of-influence network characterizes the identified relationships between entities based on the determined distance scores. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computer program product for characterizing a network of relationships between entities, the computer program product comprising:
a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code configured to; evaluate a plurality of data records to identify groups of one or more data records, wherein each data record identifies at least an entity and each group of data records refers to a same entity; evaluate the identified groups of one or more data records to identify one or more relationships between the respective entities represented by the respective groups of data records; determine a distance score for each of the one or more identified relationships, wherein each distance score provides a measure of a relationship strength between two of the entities in a given identified relationship, based on the group of data records corresponding to the two entities; and generate a sphere-of-influence network of the respective entities represented by the respective groups of data records, wherein the sphere-of-influence network characterizes the identified relationships between entities based on the determined distance scores. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system, comprising:
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a processor; and a memory containing a program, which, when executed by the processor is configured to perform the steps of; evaluating a plurality of data records to identify groups of one or more data records, wherein each data record identifies at least an entity and each group of data records refers to a same entity, evaluating the identified groups of one or more data records to identify one or more relationships between the respective entities represented by the respective groups of data records, determining a distance score for each of the one or more identified relationships, wherein each distance score provides a measure of a relationship strength between two of the entities in a given identified relationship, based on the group of data records corresponding to the two entities, and generating a sphere-of-influence network of the respective entities represented by the respective groups of data records, wherein the sphere-of-influence network characterizes the identified relationships between entities based on the determined distance scores. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification