Method and apparatus for computed relevance messaging

• US 6,256,664 B1
• Filed: 03/19/1999
• Issued: 07/03/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: BigFix, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Lippincott, Lisa Ellen, Donoho, David Leigh, Hindawi, David Salim
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cardone, Jason D.
• Application Number:
  US09/272,937
• Time in Patent Office: 837 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/206, 709/207, 709/227, 709/225, 709/205, 707/10, 707/3, 370/260, 370/270, 345/329, 345/330, 345/331
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The invention disclosed herein enables a collection of computers and associated communications infrastructure to offer a new communications process which allows information providers to broadcast information to a population of information consumers. The information may be targeted to those consumers who have a precisely formulated need for the information. This targeting may be based on information which is inaccessible to other communications protocols. The targeting also includes a time element. Information can be brought to the attention of the consumer precisely when it has become applicable, which may occur immediately upon receipt of the message, but may also occur long after the message arrives. The communications process may operate without intruding on consumers who do not exhibit the precisely-specified need for the information, and it may operate without compromising the security or privacy of the consumers who participate.

Claims

1. A communications system, comprising:

an advice provider which broadcasts information over a communications medium;

an advice consumer for gathering said broadcast information from said communications medium; and

a reader associated with said advice consumer for determining relevance of said broadcast information further comprising;

a means for providing relevant information to said advice consumer without revealing any aspect of said advice consumer'"'"'s identity to said advice provider;

wherein said advice consumer is advised of said information only if said information meets certain predetermined relevance criteria;

wherein relevance of said information to said advice consumer is based upon any of the properties of an advice consumer'"'"'s computer, said computer'"'"'s contents or state, or the properties of a local environment associated with said computer;

wherein said advice consumer maintains anonymity, privacy, and security by not revealing to said advice provider either that said advice consumer is interested in information from said advice provider, that said advice consumer has received any particular message, or that said information is relevant to said advice consumer;

wherein said information being broadcast may consist of any of humanly-interpretable content, data, or software tools; and

wherein said advice provider specifies an audience for whom said information is potentially relevant by referring to properties of an advice consumer which are used to determine the relevance of said information to said advice consumer.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein relevant information may be presented to said advice consumer for review and action, or it may be acted on automatically.

3. In a system including computational devices connected by a communications network, a communications apparatus for linking an information provider to information consumer, comprising:

specific units of advice to be shared;

an advice provider for broadcasting said advice in the form of advisories comprising digital documents conveying said advice and containing an explanatory component describing in terms said advice consumer can easily understand the reason that said advisory is relevant and the purpose and effects of the action which is being recommended to said advice consumer;

an advice consumer for receiving said advisories;

wherein advisories are broadcast over said communications network from said advice provider to said advice consumer;

a communications protocol for narrowly-focused targeting of said advisories to said advice consumer by automatically matching advisories with an advice consumer for whom said advisories are relevant;

an advice reader associated with an advice consumer computer for performing relevance determination based on a combination of conditions, including any of hardware attributes, configuration attributes, database attributes, environmental attributes, computed attributes, remote attributes, timeliness, personal attributes, randomization, and advice attributes further comprising

a gatherer for gathering advisories to which said advice consumer subscribes;

a subscription manager for entering subscriptions to advisories based on information in at least one advice consumer site definition file;

an unwrapper for parsing said advisories;

a module for determining the relevance of said advisories, said determination being made either continuously, at scheduled intervals, or under user manual control;

a user interface that receives relevant advisories; and

a display and management system that displays relevant advisories for inspection by said advice consumer;

wherein any information that is actually on said advice consumer computer or reachable from said advice consumer computer may be used to determine relevance; and

wherein said advice reader operates automatically to determine relevance.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

a display for presenting said advice consumer with relevant advisories only, wherein said advice consumer is not burdened with irrelevant advisories.

5. A communications apparatus, comprising:

an advisory comprising;

a relevance clause comprising an assertion about the state of an advice consumer computer, its contents, or environment which can be automatically evaluated by comparing said assertion with said advice consumer computer'"'"'s actual state;

a message associated with said relevance clause whose suitability for the consumer is determined at least partially by the evaluation of said relevance clause;

a gatherer for assuring that relevance clauses flow into said advice consumer computer from various locations;

a watcher for evaluating relevance clauses by comparing them with an actual state of an advice consumer environment, and by inspecting properties of said advice consumer computer and its environment and checking if these point towards or away from relevance; and

a notifier for displaying messages to an advice consumer under at least partial guidance of an evaluated relevance clause

wherein said advisory further comprising any of;

a wrapper for packaging information in said advisory for transport and subsequent decoding;

a from line for identifying an advice author;

a subject line for identifying the concern of said advisory;

a relevance clause for specifying conditions under which the said is relevant;

a message body for providing explanatory material explaining to said advice consumer what condition is relevant, why said advice consumer is concerned, and what action is recommended; and

an action button for providing said advice consumer with the ability to invoke an automatic execution of a recommended action.