METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CORRELATING AND VIEWING DISPARATE DATA

• US 20130198197A1
• Filed: 05/31/2012
• Published: 08/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SRI International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SRI International, Inc.
• Inventors: SAWHNEY, HARPREET SINGH, DIVAKARAN, AJAY, CHENG, HUI, ELEDATH, JAYAKRISHNAN, BANSAL, MAYANK
• Granted Patent: US 9,053,194 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/434 using image data, e.g. images, photos, pictures taken by a user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis

Abstract

A computer-implemented method comprising collecting data from a plurality of information sources, identifying a geographic location associated with the data and forming a corresponding event according to the geographic location, correlating the data and the event with one or more topics based at least partly on the identified geographic location and storing the correlated data and event and inferring the associated geographic location if the data does not comprise explicit location information, including matching the data against a database of geo-referenced data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

collecting data from a plurality of information sources;

identifying a geographic location associated with the data and forming a corresponding event according to the geographic location;

correlating the data and the event with one or more topics based at least partly on the identified geographic location and storing the correlated data and event; and

inferring the associated geographic location if the data does not comprise explicit location information, including matching the data against a database of geo-referenced data.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a query regarding at least one of the topics; and

retrieving, in response to a query, the data correlated with the topic of the query.

3. The method for claim 2 wherein the collecting further comprises indexing an additional information source in response to an ad-hoc request by a user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein portions of the data comprise an image and matching the data comprises extracting one or more features of the image.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising analyzing the data and extracting entities to form an analysis based on the entities

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising recognizing, within the data and event, one or more entities associated with one or more of the topics, and wherein said correlating is further based on said recognized entities.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the recognized entities are one or more people or places of interest.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the correlated data to derive one or more predictions regarding a real-world situation related to one or more of the topics.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining strategies for addressing the situation based on the analyzed correlated data.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an interactive visual representation of at least a selected portion of the data correlated with at least one of the topics.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the visual representation comprises at least one representation from the following group:

(a) a mosaic of a plurality of images included in the selected portion of the data, (b) a map comprising a visual representation for the selected portion of the data at a location on the map corresponding to the geographic location identified for the data, (c) a display of the data in a sequence corresponding to a time associated with the data.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing correlated data and extracting entities to produce an analysis of the entities.

24. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the visual representation comprises at least one representation from the following group:

(a) a mosaic of a plurality of images included in the selected portion of the data, (b) a map comprising a visual representation for the selected portion of the data at a location on the map corresponding to the geographic location identified for the data, (c) a display of the data in a sequence corresponding to a time associated with the data.

13. A computer-implemented method comprising:

collecting data from a plurality of information sources;

identifying a geographic location associated with the data for the event; and

displaying a computer-generated map wherein the data can be accessed via user interaction with the map based on the geographic locations identified respectively for the data.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a collection module for collecting data from a plurality of information sources;

a geo-localization module, coupled to the collection module, for identifying a geographic location associated with the data and forming a corresponding event according to the geographic location;

a correlation module, coupled to the geo-localization module and the collection module, correlating the data and the event with one or more topics based at least partly on the identified geographic location and storing correlation data in a database; and

an inferencing module for inferring the associated geographic location if the data does not comprise explicit location information, including matching the data against a database of geo-referenced data.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 further comprising:

a query module for receiving a query regarding at least one of the topics and retrieving, in response to a query, the data correlated with the topic of the query.

16. The apparatus for claim 15 wherein the collection module further comprises indexing an additional information source in response to an ad-hoc request by a user.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein portions of the data comprise an image and matching the data comprises extracting one or more features of the image.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising a situation analysis module for analyzing the data and extracting entities to form an analysis based on the entities

19. The apparatus of claim 18, the situation analysis module further comprising an event extractor for recognizing, within the data and event, one or more entities associated with one or more of the topics and the event, and wherein the correlation module correlates data based on the recognized entities.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the recognized entities are one or more of people or places of interest.

21. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a visualization module for generating an interactive visual representation of at least a selected portion of the data and event correlated with at least one of the topics.

22. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the inferencing module further analyzes the correlated data to derive one or more predictions regarding a real-world situation related to one or more of the topics.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising a situational awareness module for determining one or more strategies for addressing the situation based on the analyzed correlated data.