Automated Contextual Information Retrieval Based on Multi-Tiered User Modeling and Dynamic Retrieval Strategy

• US 20120209871A1
• Filed: 02/10/2011
• Published: 08/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lai, Jennifer, Lu, Jie, Pan, Shimei, Wen, Zhen
• Granted Patent: US 9,633,140 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90335 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages

Abstract

Automated contextual information retrieval techniques are provided based on multi-tiered user modeling and a dynamic retrieval strategy. Content relevant to a current message is presented by initially obtaining a multi-tiered user model containing a multi-tiered representation of interactions of a first user with each contact, wherein the multi-tiered representation includes a plurality of topic models each corresponding to interactions between the first user and one contact. The topic models contain a set of topics, each containing topic keywords. Context information is extracted based on content of the current message, a sender and/or a recipient of the current message, and the multi-tiered user model. A retrieval strategy is determined based on the extracted context information. Contextual queries are generated to search the information repositories selected based on the determined retrieval strategy. Content relevant to the current message is presented based on search results from the selected information repositories.

Claims

1. A method for automatically presenting content relevant to a current message, said method comprising:

obtaining a multi-tiered user model containing a multi-tiered representation of pair-wise interactions of a first user with each of one or more contacts, wherein the multi-tiered representation includes a plurality of topic models, wherein each of the topic models corresponds to a pair-wise interaction between the first user and one of the contacts, wherein each of the topic models contains a set of topics, wherein each topic contains a list of topic keywords;

extracting context information of a current message based on a content of the current message, one or more of a sender and a recipient of the current message, and the multi-tiered user model;

determining a retrieval strategy based on the extracted context information of the current message;

selecting from a set of information repositories for contextual information retrieval based on the determined retrieval strategy, wherein the set of information repositories comprises one or more of people directories, a local memory, one or more online repositories, an email repository and a calendar entry repository;

generating one or more contextual queries to search the selected information repositories; and

presenting the content relevant to the current message from the selected information repositories based on the one or more contextual queries.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the contacts comprise one or more of email contacts, calendar contacts, groups of email contacts and groups of calendar contacts.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-tiered user model is obtained by extracting and aggregating information from email and calendar content of the first user, and applying statistical techniques to create topic models corresponding to pair-wise interactions of the first user with each of the contacts of said first user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the current message comprises one or more of an email message, a text message and a transcribed voice mail message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the contextual queries to search the selected information repositories are determined based on the content of the current message, the topic keywords contained in a determined topic of the current message, one or more of the sender and recipient of the current message, and the determined retrieval strategy.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining the topic of the current message by selecting one or more topic models from the multi-tiered user model based on one or more of a sender and recipient of the current message, and matching the content of the current message to the topics of the selected topic models to find the best topic.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content relevant to the current message is determined by processing the search results from the selected information repositories based on the context of the current message and the determined retrieval strategy.

8. A system for automatically presenting content relevant to a current message, said system comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor, coupled to the memory, operative to;

obtain a multi-tiered user model containing a multi-tiered representation of pair-wise interactions of a first user with each of one or more contacts, wherein the multi-tiered representation includes a plurality of topic models, wherein each of the topic models corresponds to a pair-wise interaction between the first user and one of the contacts, wherein each of the topic models contains a set of topics, wherein each topic contains a list of topic keywords;

extract context information of a current message based on a content of the current message, one or more of a sender and a recipient of the current message, and the multi-tiered user model;

determine a retrieval strategy based on the extracted context information of the current message;

select from a set of information repositories for contextual information retrieval based on the deteimined retrieval strategy, wherein the set of information repositories comprises one or more of people directories, a local memory, one or more online repositories, an email repository and a calendar entry repository;

generate one or more contextual queries to search the selected information repositories; and

present the content relevant to the current message from the selected information repositories based on the one or more contextual queries.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the multi-tiered user model is obtained by extracting and aggregating information from email and calendar content of the first user, and applying statistical techniques to create topic models corresponding to pair-wise interactions of the first user with each of the contacts of said first user.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the current message comprises one or more of an email message, a text message and a transcribed voice mail message.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the contextual queries to search the selected information repositories are determined based on the content of the current message, the topic keywords contained in a determined topic of the current message, one or more of the sender and recipient of the current message, and the determined retrieval strategy.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein said processor is further configured to determine the topic of the current message by selecting one or more topic models from the multi-tiered user model based on one or more of a sender and recipient of the current message, and matching the content of the current message to the topics of the selected topic models to find the best topic.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the content relevant to the current message is determined by processing the search results from the selected information repositories based on the context of the current message and the determined retrieval strategy.

14. An article of manufacture for automatically presenting content relevant to a current message, comprising a tangible machine readable recordable medium containing one or more programs which when executed implement the steps of:

obtaining a multi-tiered user model containing a multi-tiered representation of pair-wise interactions of a first user with each of one or more contacts, wherein the multi-tiered representation includes a plurality of topic models, wherein each of the topic models corresponds to a pair-wise interaction between the first user and one of the contacts, wherein each of the topic models contains a set of topics, wherein each topic contains a list of topic keywords;

extracting context information of a current message based on a content of the current message, one or more of a sender and a recipient of the current message, and the multi-tiered user model;

determining a retrieval strategy based on the extracted context information of the current message;

selecting from a set of information repositories for contextual information retrieval based on the determined retrieval strategy, wherein the set of information repositories comprises one or more of people directories, a local memory, one or more online repositories, an email repository and a calendar entry repository;

generating one or more contextual queries to search the selected information repositories; and

presenting the content relevant to the current message from the selected information repositories based on the one or more contextual queries.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the contacts comprise one or more of email contacts, calendar contacts, groups of email contacts and groups of calendar contacts.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the multi-tiered user model is obtained by extracting and aggregating information from email and calendar content of the first user, and applying statistical techniques to create topic models corresponding to pair-wise interactions of the first user with each of the contacts of said first user.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the current message comprises one or more of an email message, a text message and a transcribed voice mail message.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the contextual queries to search the selected information repositories are determined based on the content of the current message, the topic keywords contained in a determined topic of the current message, one or more of the sender and recipient of the current message, and the determined retrieval strategy.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 14, further comprising the step of determining the topic of the current message by selecting one or more topic models from the multi-tiered user model based on one or more of a sender and recipient of the current message, and matching the content of the current message to the topics of the selected topic models to find the best topic.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the content relevant to the current message is determined by processing the search results from the selected information repositories based on the context of the current message and the determined retrieval strategy.