Method and apparatus for assigning a confidence level to a term within a user knowledge profile

• US 6,377,949 B1
• Filed: 09/18/1998
• Issued: 04/23/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tacit Software, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gilmour, David L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Kim
• Assistant Examiner(s): FLEURANTIN, JEAN B
• Application Number:
  US09/156,355
• Time in Patent Office: 1,313 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-6, 707/531-534, 707/104, 707/8-9, 707/10, 707/103, 707/203, 704/1, 709/206, 709/245, 706/52, 706/59
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/313 Selection or weighting of terms for indexing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A method of assigning a confidence level to a term within an electronic document, such as an e-mail, includes the step of firstly determining a quantitative indicator in the exemplary form of an occurrence value, based on the number of occurrences of a particular term within an electronic document, and associating the occurrence term within the relevant term. Thereafter, a qualitative indicator, based on a quality of the term, is determined. For example, the qualitative indicator may be determined utilizing the parts of speech of words comprising the term. A confidence level value, which may be utilized to indicate a relative importance of the term in describing a user knowledge base, is then generated utilizing the quantitative and qualitative indicators.

Claims

1. A method of assigning a confidence level to a term within an electronic document for a knowledge profile of a user, the knowledge profile having portions with different access restrictions, the method comprising:

determining a first quantitative indicator based on a number of occurrences of the term within the electronic document, the electronic document originating from the user;

determining a characteristic indicator based on a characteristic of the term; and

assigning a second indicator to the term, the second indicator being derived from the first quantitative indicator and the characteristic indicator, and the confidence level of the term for the knowledge profile of the user being derived from the second indicator, wherein the term is automatically stored in one of the portions according to the confidence level, with subsequent access to the term being restricted according to the portion in which the term is stored.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the first quantitative indicator includes determining a number of occurrences of the term within the electronic document.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the first quantitative indicator includes determining a frequency of occurrence of the term within the electronic document.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the first quantitative indicator includes determining a density of occurrence of the term within the electronic document.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the characteristic indicator includes determining the number of words comprising the term.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the characteristic indicator includes determining parts of speech included within the term.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the characteristic indicator includes determining whether a word within the term corresponds to a lexicon term.

8. The method of claim 1 including summing second indicators, assigned to the term based on occurrences of the term within a plurality of electronic documents, to generate a summed indicator.

9. The method of claim 8 including assigning a confidence level indicator to the term based on the summed indicator and the characteristic indicator.

10. The method of claim 9 including scaling the confidence level indicator.

11. The method of claim 1 including determining a third indicator based on addressee information associated with the electronic document.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein determining the third indicator includes identification of a level of seniority within an organization of an addressee of the electronic document.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein determining the third indicator includes determining an average level of seniority within an organization of all addressees of the electronic document.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein determining the third indicator includes determining a level of seniority within an organization of a most senior addressee of the electronic document.

15. The method of claim 12 including generating a document weight term utilizing the level of seniority of the addressee of the electronic document.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein determining the third indicator includes identification of a number of addressees of the electronic document.

17. The method of claim 16 including generating a document weight term utilizing the number of addressees of the electronic document.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein determining the third indicator includes identification of an organizational group of at least one addressee of the electronic document.

19. The method of claim 18 including generating a document weight term utilizing the organizational group of the at least one addressee of the electronic document.

20. Apparatus for assigning a confidence level to a term within an electronic document for a knowledge profile of a user, the knowledge profile having portions with different access restrictions, the apparatus comprising:

a term extractor to extract the term from the electronic document, the electronic document originating from the user; and

confidence logic to determine a first quantitative indicator based on a number of occurrences of the term within the electronic document;

to determine a qualitative indicator based on a quality of the term; and

to assign a second indicator, derived from the first quantitative indicator and the qualitative indicator, to the term, wherein the confidence level of the term for the knowledge profile of the user is derived from the second indicator,

wherein the term is automatically stored in one of the portions according to the confidence level, with subsequent access to the term being restricted according to the portion in which the term is stored.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the confidence logic determines a number of occurrences of the term within the electronic document.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the confidence logic determines a frequency of occurrence of the term within the electronic document.

23. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the confidence logic determines a density of occurrence of the term within the electronic document.

24. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the confidence logic determines the number of words comprising the term.

25. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the confidence logic determines parts of speech included within the term.

26. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the confidence logic determines whether a word within the term corresponds to a lexicon term.

27. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the confidence logic sums second indicators, assigned to the term based on occurrences of the term within a plurality of electronic documents, to generate a summed indicator.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the confidence logic assigns a confidence level indicator to the term based on the summed quantitative indicator and the qualitative indicator.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein the confidence logic scales the confidence level indicator.

30. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein the confidence logic determines a third indicator utilizing addressee information associated with the electronic document.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the confidence logic identifies a level of seniority within an organization of an addressee of the electronic document.

32. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the confidence logic determines an average level of seniority within an organization of all addressees of the electric document.

33. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the confidence logic determines a level of seniority within an organization of a most senior addressee of the electronic document.

34. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the confidence logic determines a level of seniority within an organization of a most senior addressee of the electronic document.

35. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the confidence logic identifies an organizational group of at least one addressee of the electronic document.

36. Apparatus for assigning a confidence level to a term within an electronic document for a knowledge profile of a user, the knowledge profile having portions with different access restrictions, the apparatus comprising:

term extraction means for extracting a term from the electronic document, the electronic document originating from the user; and

confidence means for determining a first quantitative indicator based on the number of occurrences of the term within the electronic document;

for determining a characteristic indicator based on a characteristic of the term; and

for assigning a second indicator, derived from the first quantitative indicator and the characteristic indicator, to the term wherein the confidence level of the term for the knowledge profile of the user is derived from the second indicator,

wherein the term is automatically stored in one of the portions according to the confidence level, with subsequent access to the term being restricted according to the portion in which the term is stored.

37. A machine-readable medium storing a sequence of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method comprising:

determining a first quantitative indicator based on a number of occurrences of a term within an electronic document for a knowledge profile of a user, the electronic document originating from the user and the knowledge profile having portions with different access restrictions;

determining a qualitative indicator based on a quality of the term; and

assigning a composite indicator to the term, the composite indicator being derived from the first quantitative indicator and the qualitative indicator, and the confidence level of the term for the knowledge profile of the user being derived from the second indicator,

wherein the term is automatically stored in one of the portions according to the confidence level, with subsequent access to the term being restricted according to the portion in which the term is stored.