Optimization of system performance based on communication relationship
First Claim
1. A method to optimize information retrieval for a user based on the user'"'"'s communication relationships, comprising the steps of:
- automatically extracting and integrating relationship information for said user from multiple heterogeneous information sources;
automatically building and storing a relationship data structure to represent the relationship information; and
automatically modifying an information retrieval query for said user based on the relationship data structure wherein said step of building a data structure further comprises the step of tracking communication intensities between each pair of communication entities via each information source; and
integrating the relationship information from the heterogeneous information sources, in response to said tracking step.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for optimizing information-retrieval related system performance based on users'"'"' communication relationships. Users'"'"' interactions and relationships with each other are tracked by a ‘relationship analyzer’ that queries multiple heterogeneous information sources, such as e-mail logs, organization charts, calendar entries, phone logs, etc. A data structure is created for each user reflecting the intensity of communication relationship with other users, and modified over time as the data in the information sources change. A relationship group is defined based on the data structure and preference or importance ratings for each type of communication relationship that includes each user'"'"'s group of highest-priority other users. A derived relationship group may also be defined based on high-priority users of a user'"'"'s highest-intensity relationships. The relationship analyzer then acts as a proxy for user queries, and may modify queries and create persistent data stores or store the results of queries or sub-queries in order to improve system performance in a variety of ways: for example, to shorten retrieval time, to resolve missing or ambiguous results, to prioritize information for downloading to limited-resource computing devices, or to propagate updated information among closely related users. A way to derive a relationship group based on subject lines of communications, or other text-based content of communication-related information, is also described.
200 Citations
40 Claims
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1. A method to optimize information retrieval for a user based on the user'"'"'s communication relationships, comprising the steps of:
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automatically extracting and integrating relationship information for said user from multiple heterogeneous information sources;
automatically building and storing a relationship data structure to represent the relationship information; and
automatically modifying an information retrieval query for said user based on the relationship data structure wherein said step of building a data structure further comprises the step of tracking communication intensities between each pair of communication entities via each information source; and
integrating the relationship information from the heterogeneous information sources, in response to said tracking step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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8. A method of c1aim 6, further comprising the step of excluding results from the sub-queries.
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40. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for optimize information retrieval based on a user'"'"'s communication relationships, said method steps comprising:
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automatically extracting and integrating relationship information for said user from multiple heterogeneous information sources;
automatically building and storing a data structure to represent the relationship information; and
automatically modifying an user'"'"'s information retrieval query based on the relationship data structure, wherein said step of building a data structure further comprises the step of tracking communication intensities between each pair of communication entities via each information source; and
integrating the relationship information from the heterogeneous information sources, in response to said tracking step.
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Specification