Method and system for converting expertise based on document usage

• US 6,377,983 B1
• Filed: 11/13/1998
• Issued: 04/23/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Sheldon, Mark A., Barrett, Robert C., Maglio, Paul P., Cohen, Andrew L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Backer, Firmin
• Application Number:
  US09/192,047
• Time in Patent Office: 1,257 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/219, 709/209, 709/223, 709/249, 709/200, 709/203, 709/201, 707/4, 701/1
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation

Abstract

The invention disclosed herein relates to cooperative computing environments and information retrieval and management methods and systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for capturing and generating useful information about a user'"'"'s access and use of data on a computer system, such as in the form of documents stored on remote servers, and making such useful information available to others. Documents on the computer system are accessible through a plurality of different methods, such as by specifying an identifier or locator for the document, activating a hyperlink in another document which points to the document, or navigating to the document through navigational commands in an application program such as a browser. The method involves capturing information regarding each of the accessed documents in the set, the information including the method used to access the document, dividing the set of documents into subsets of documents based at least in part on the methods used to access the documents, labeling each subset of documents with a topic, and making the labels and documents accessed available to other users who wish to browse the same documents.

Claims

1. A method for conveying expertise of a first user of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising:

capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by the first user on the computer system;

associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in the sequence of documents used by the first user based on the captured information;

allowing a second user of the computer system to select one of the content areas; and

providing the set of documents associated with a selected content area to the second user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the documents are each associated with an identifier, and wherein the step of capturing information comprises capturing the identifiers associated with the documents used.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the documents contain content and the step of capturing information comprises capturing the content contained in the documents.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods, and wherein the step of capturing information comprising capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of associating the plurality of content areas comprises dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into a plurality of subsequences of documents based on the captured information and associating a content area with each of the subsequences of documents.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of associating the plurality of content areas comprises identifying a content area to associate with each subsequence based on the captured information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of allowing the second user to select one of the content areas comprises presenting the plurality of content areas to the user as a plurality of selectable choices.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of allowing the second user to select one of the content areas comprises accepting a query from the second user about a desired subject and matching the queried subject with one of the plurality of content areas.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing the set of documents associated with the selected content area to the second user comprises providing the documents in the set in the sequence in which the documents in the set were used by the first user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the computer system includes one or more servers storing the plurality of documents and one or more clients used by the first and second users, and wherein the step of capturing information regarding the sequence of documents used by the first user comprises monitoring the first user'"'"'s use of the sequence of documents on a first client, transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents to a first server, and storing the transmitted information on the first server.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first server performs the step of associating the content areas with the sets of documents and performs the step of providing the set of documents to the second user in response to the selection of the content area by the second user using a second client.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the computer system comprises a distributed computing environment in which documents are contained in one or more databases stored on the one or more servers, wherein each of the documents is identified by database location data, and wherein the step of transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents comprises transmitting the database location data identifying the documents.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the computer system comprises at least part of the world wide web in which documents stored on one or more web servers are each identified by a URL, and wherein the step of transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents comprises transmitting the URLs identifying the documents.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods including input of the URL, selection of a stored bookmark, and activation of a hyperlink, and wherein the step of capturing information comprises capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of associating the plurality of content areas comprises dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into a plurality of subsequences of documents where each subsequence comprises a first document in the subsequence accessed through the first user'"'"'s selection of a bookmark or entry of a URL and one or more second documents following the first document in the subsequence accessed through activation of one or more hyperlinks.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of different methods through which documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through further include navigation to a document using navigational functions of a browser, and wherein the step of dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into subsequences comprises including a document in a previously started subsequence when the document is accessed through the first user'"'"'s navigation to the document using navigational finctions of the browser.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the documents contain content, wherein the step of capturing information comprises capturing the content in the sequence of documents, and wherein the step of associating content areas comprises clustering documents in the sequence into sets based on the content in the documents.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods, wherein the step of capturing information comprising capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence, and wherein the step of clustering documents in the sequence comprises clustering documents into sets based on the content in the documents and the method used to access each document.

19. The method of claim 1, comprising:

capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by each of plurality of first users on the computer system;

associating each sequence of documents with one of the first users; and

associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in each of the sequence of documents based on the captured information, thereby associating a plurality of content areas with each of the first users.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising allowing the second user to select one of the plurality of first users and allowing the second user to select a content area from the plurality of content areas associated with the selected first user.

21. The method of claim 19, comprising presenting to the second user a list containing the one or more first users associated with a content area selected by the second user.

22. The method of claim 21, comprising allowing the second user to select one of the first users from the list of first users associated with the selected content area.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the plurality of first users ore organized in a plurality of groups, comprising allowing the second user to select one of the plurality of first user groups and allowing the second user to select a content area associated with one or more of the first users in the selected first user group.

24. A method for conveying expertise of a plurality of first users of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising:

capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by each of the first users on the computer system;

storing the captured information regarding each sequence of documents in association with the first user;

allowing a second user to select one of the first users; and

providing the sequence of documents associated with a selected first user to the second user.

25. A system for conveying expertise of a first user to one or more second users, wherein a plurality of documents are accessible for use by the first and second users, the method comprising:

a logger for capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by the first user on the computer system;

a parser for associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in the sequence of documents used by the first user based on the captured information;

means for accepting a selection by a second user of one of the content areas; and

means for providing the set of documents associated with a selected content area to the second user.

26. A computer readable medium storing one or more software programs which, when executed, cause a computer to perform a method for conveying expertise of a first user of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising:

capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by the first user on the computer system;

associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in the sequence of documents used by the first user based on the captured information;

allowing a second user of the computer system to select one of the content areas; and

providing the set of documents associated with a selected content area to the second user.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the documents are each associated with an identifier, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprises capturing the identifiers associated with the documents used.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the documents contain content and the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprises capturing the content contained in the documents.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprising capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of associating the plurality of content areas comprises dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into a plurality of subsequences of documents based on the captured information and associating a content area with each of the subsequences of documents.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 30, wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of associating the plurality of content areas comprises identifying a content area to associate with each subsequence based on the captured information.

32. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of allowing the second user to select one of the content areas comprises presenting the plurality of content areas to the user as a plurality of selectable choices.

33. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of allowing the second user to select one of the content areas comprises accepting a query from the second user about a desired subject and matching the queried subject with one of the plurality of content areas.

34. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of providing the set of documents associated with the selected content area to the second user comprises providing the documents in the set in the sequence in which the documents in the set were used by the first user.

35. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the computer system includes one or more servers storing the plurality of documents and one or more clients used by the first and second users, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information regarding the sequence of documents used by the first user comprises monitoring the first user'"'"'s use of the sequence of documents on a first client, transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents to a first server, and storing the transmitted information on the first server.

36. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein the first server executes the one or more software programs which caused to be performed the steps of associating the content areas with the sets of documents of providing the set of documents to the second user in response to the selection of the content area by the second user using a second client.

37. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein the computer system comprises a distributed computing environment in which documents are contained in one or more databases stored on the one or more servers, wherein each of the documents is identified by database location data, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents comprises transmitting the database location data identifying the documents.

38. The computer readable medium of claim 35, wherein the computer system comprises at least part of the world wide web in which documents stored on one or more web servers are each identified by a URL, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents comprises transmitting the URLs identifying the documents.

39. The computer readable medium of claim 38, wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods including input of the URL, selection of a stored bookmark, and activation of a hyperlink, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprises capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence.

40. The computer readable medium of claim 39, wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of associating the plurality of content areas comprises dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into a plurality of subsequences of documents where each subsequence comprises a first document in the subsequence accessed through the first user'"'"'s selection of a bookmark or entry of a URL and one or more second documents following the first document in the subsequence accessed through activation of one or more hyperlinks.

41. The computer readable medium of claim 40, wherein the plurality of different methods through which documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through further include navigation to a document using navigational functions of a browser, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into subsequences comprises including a document in a previously started subsequence when the document is accessed through the first user'"'"'s navigation to the document using navigational functions of the browser.

42. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the documents contain content, wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprises capturing the content in the sequence of documents, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of associating content areas comprises clustering documents in the sequence into sets based on the content in the documents.

43. The computer readable medium of claim 42, wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods, wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprising capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of clustering documents in the sequence comprises clustering documents into sets based on the content in the documents and the method used to access each document.

44. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the one or more software programs cause the computer to execute additional steps comprising:

capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by each of plurality of first users on the computer system;

associating each sequence of documents with one of the first users; and

associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in each of the sequence of documents based on the captured information, thereby associating a plurality of content areas with each of the first users.

45. The computer readable medium of claim 44, wherein the one or more software programs cause the computer to allow the second user to select one of the plurality of first users and allow the second user to select a content area from the plurality of content areas associated with the selected first user.

46. The computer readable medium of claim 44, wherein the one or more software programs cause the computer to present to the second user a list containing the one or more first users associated with a content area selected by the second user.

47. The computer readable medium of claim 46, wherein the one or more software programs cause the computer to allow the second user to select one of the first users from the list of first users associated with the selected content area.

48. The computer readable medium of claim 46, wherein the plurality of first users are organized in a plurality of groups, wherein the one or more software programs cause the computer to allow the second user to select one of the plurality of first user groups and allow the second user to select a content area associated with one or more of the first users in the selected first user group.

49. A computer readable medium storing one or more software programs which, when executed, cause a computer to perform a method for conveying expertise of a plurality of first users of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising:

capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by each of the first users on the computer system;

storing the captured information regarding each sequence of documents in association with the first user;

allowing a second user to select one of the first users; and

providing the sequence of documents associated with a selected first user to the second user.