Method and system for constructing personalized result sets

• US 6,587,849 B1
• Filed: 12/10/1999
• Issued: 07/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle OTC Subsidiary LLC (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Art Technology Group Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Mason, Robert, Berkovitz, Joseph, Hung, Natalya
• Primary Examiner(s): Metjahic, Safet
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cindy
• Application Number:
  US09/459,224
• Time in Patent Office: 1,299 Days
• Field of Search: 707/5, 707/6, 707/103.W, 395/200
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

A computer systems includes a rule engine, one or more repository interfaces, and corresponding repositories. The repositories typically contain content or profile information about users. The rule engine provides rules in a uniform format which can be translated, through use of the repository interfaces, into queries specific for the corresponding repositories. Before translating the rules, context objects referenced in the rules are resolved and the corresponding attribute values are inserted into the rules. The resulting rule is simplified where possible because of the attribute values, so that only those queries that need to be made to a repository are made.

Claims

1. A computer system for executing rules comprising:

a rule engine;

at least one repository interface coupled to the rule engine; and

at least one repository, each repository being coupled to the respective repository interface;

wherein the rule engine is programmed to execute a repository-independent rule having at least one reference to profile information, obtain from one of the repository interfaces a translation of the rule into a repository-specific query, forward the query to the corresponding repository, and receive back from the corresponding repository a targeted result set;

wherein the repository-independent rule includes an attribute portion and a variable portion, said attribute portion references information about repository content or a user, and said variable portion references one or more values provided by the user; and

wherein each repository interface is programmed to translate a repository-independent rule into a repository-specific query.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the repository-independent rule includes an accept rule portion and a reject rule portion.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the repository-independent rule further includes a reference to an included rule.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the rule engine is further programmed to insert a result of the query into a document that can be returned to a user.

5. A computer program product, residing on a computer-readable medium, for use in a system for interacting with one or more users over a network, the computer program product comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

translate a rule having a content portion and a profile portion into a repository-specific query;

execute the repository-specific query; and

obtain a targeted result set in response to executing the query;

wherein said profile portion references information about a user and said content portion references information about repository content.

6. A method for constructing a targeted result set comprising the steps of:

translating a repository-independent rule having at least one content portion and at least one profile portion into a repository-specific query;

executing the repository-specific query; and

constructing a targeted result set from the results of executing the repository-specific query;

wherein said profile portion references information about a user and said content portion references information about repository content.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the profile portion includes one or more attributes of a user profile.

9. The method claim of 6, wherein the step of constructing a targeted result set includes excluding content having an attribute that does not match a user attribute identified from the profile portion.

10. The method claim of 6, wherein the step of constructing a targeted result set includes including content having an attribute that matches a user attribute identified from the profile portion.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of building a repository-independent rule.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of building a repository-independent rule includes providing a list of attributes of the content portion and a list of attributes of the profile portion.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of building a repository-independent rule includes providing a list of attributes of a first item type and, in response to a selection of a first attribute from the list of attributes, providing a list of operations that may be performed on the first attribute.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of building a repository-independent rule further includes providing a list of attributes of a second item type, wherein the list of attributes of a second item type is limited to attributes having a data type that is the same as a data type of the first attribute.

7. A method for constructing a targeted result set comprising the steps of:

translating a repository-independent rule having a content portion and a context reference into a target repository-specific query;

forwarding the query to the target repository; and

receiving a targeted result set in response to forwarding the query;

wherein said content portion references information about repository content.

15. A method for constructing a targeted result set comprising the steps of:

translating a repository-independent rule having a content portion and a context reference into a target repository-specific query;

executing the repository-specific query; and

receiving a targeted result set in response to executing the query.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the context reference includes a reference to profile information about a user.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the context reference includes a reference to at least one of a date condition and a time condition.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the context reference includes a reference to one or more environment conditions.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the reference to one or more environment conditions includes a reference to a type of browser.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of executing the repository-specific query includes inserting into the repository-specific query a value in place of the context reference.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of executing the repository-specific query further includes processing a portion of the repository-specific query that contains the value in place of the context reference.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein processing a portion of the repository-specific query includes processing a portion of the repository-specific query without accessing a content repository containing content referenced in the portion of the repository-specific query.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of executing the repository-specific query includes determining whether a portion of the repository-specific query containing a reference to a content object can be resolved without accessing the content object.