System and method for scoring electronic messages

• US 7,185,065 B1
• Filed: 06/13/2001
• Issued: 02/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Buzzmetrics, Ltd. (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Original Assignee: Buzzmetrics, Ltd. (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Inventors: Holtzman, David, Pool, David, Kodey, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley; David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Avellino; Joseph E.
• Application Number:
  US09/879,220
• Time in Patent Office: 2,085 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-219, 709204-207, 709223-226, 707 2- 3, 707/7, 705 35- 45, 705/36.R
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2117 User registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/258 Heading extraction; Automatic titling; Numbering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/30 Semantic analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1831 Tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or behavior, network status
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0407 wherein the identity of one or more communicating identities is hidden cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for anonymous credentials or for identity based cryptographic systems H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting

Abstract

A system and method for collecting and analyzing electronic discussion messages to categorize the message communications and the identify trends and patterns in pre-determined markets. The system comprises an electronic data discussion system wherein electronic messages are collected and analyzed according to characteristics and data inherent in the messages. The system further comprises a data store for storing the message information and results of any analyses performed. Objective data is collected by the system for use in analyzing the electronic discussion data against real-world events to facilitate trend analysis and event forecasting based on the volume, nature and content of messages posted to electronic discussion forums.

Claims

1. A system for processing message traffic from a plurality of electronic discussion forums, comprising:

a computer implemented message collector for collecting messages from the plurality of electronic discussion forums; and

means for processing the messages based one or more topics in order to track a plurality of pseudonyms, wherein the processing includes computing a relevance score for a collected message based on at least one topic;

wherein the means for processing is further adapted to compute a buzz score based on a set of messages for the at least one topic;

wherein the buzz score is computed according to the equation;

$B=\underset{i=1}{\overset{n}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br><br><br>\left({\mathrm{Rel}}_i·<br><br>F_i\right),$

where Rel is a computed relevance score for a message, F is a computed influence score for a poster of a message, and n is the number of messages in the set;

wherein the influence score is computed based on the equation;

$F=a·<br><br>\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br><br><br>\left({\mathrm{Rel}}_i·<br><br>d_i\right)+b·<br><br>\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br><br><br>\left(I_i·<br><br>d_i\right),$

wherein a and b are selectable weighting constants, Rel is the relevance of a message, I is the impact of a message, d is a decay function that reduces the impact of older messages, and wherein m is the number of messages used to compute the influence score;

the system further comprising a computer implemented report generator for generating a report on the at least one topic using at least the buzz score.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the decay function d is computed based on the equation:

$d={\mathrm{e<br><br>}}^{\left(\frac{t_m-t}{\mathrm{\tau <br><br>}}\right)},$

wherein t_m is the date and time a given message was posted, t is the current system date and time, and τ

is a configurable constant that controls the rate of decay.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the impact I of a message is computed according to the equation:

$I=<br><br>\frac{\mathrm{Pa}-\mathrm{Pb}}{\mathrm{Pa}+\mathrm{Pb}}<br><br>,$

wherein Pa is the number of unique pseudonyms that post a message during time T after a message m, Pb is the number of unique pseudonyms that post a message during time T before a message m, and wherein T is the amount of time it took for p unique pseudonyms to post a message before the current message, excluding the poster of m.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the buzz score is computed as a relevant buzz score.

5. A system for processing message traffic from a plurality of electronic discussion forums, comprising:

a computer implemented message collector for collecting messages from the plurality of electronic discussion forums; and

means for processing the messages based on one or more topics in order to track a plurality of pseudonyms, wherein the processing includes computing a relevance score for a collected message based on at least one topic;

wherein the means for processing is further adapted to compute a buzz score based on a set of messages for the at least one topic;

wherein the buzz score measures posting activity level weighted by the relevance of the set of messages and the influence of posting pseudonyms that posted the set of messages;

wherein the means for processing is adapted to compute a relative buzz score that measures relative changes in the posting activity level;

wherein the relative buzz score is computed as a function of an average of the buzz score and a standard deviation of the buzz score;

the system further comprising a computer implemented report generator for generating a report on the at least one topic using output of the processing means so that the report at least indirectly reflects the relative buzz score.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the relative buzz score B_s is computed according to the equation:

$B_s=\frac{<br><br>B-\mathrm{avg}<br><br>\left(B\right)<br><br>}{\mathrm{std}<br><br>\left(B\right)},$

wherein B is the present buzz score, avg(B) is the average of the buzz score, and std(B) is the standard deviation of the buzz score.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the relative buzz score is computed as a relevant relative buzz score.

8. A system for tracking message activity levels in a plurality of electronic discussion forums, comprising:

a database storing a series of topics, wherein each of the electronic discussion forums is associated with at least one topic from the series of topics;

a computer implemented message collector for collecting messages from the plurality of electronic discussion forums; and

a computer implemented message categorizer for computing relevance scores of the messages, wherein at least one relevance score is computed based on the at least one associated topic for a source forum of a collected message;

wherein at least one of the message collector and message categorizer is adapted to extract a pseudonym author of the collected message;

wherein at least one of the message collector and the message categorizer is adapted to compute an influence score for the extracted pseudonym author;

wherein at least one of the message collector and the message categorizer is adapted to compute a reputation score for the extracted pseudonym author;

wherein the reputation score is based on a plurality of influence scores for the extracted pseudonym author under multiple local pseudonyms that have been associated into a universal pseudonym;

wherein the influence score is computed based on the equation;

F=

$a·<br><br>\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br><br><br>\left({\mathrm{Rel}}_i·<br><br>d_i\right)+b·<br><br>\underset{i=1}{\overset{m}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br><br><br>\left(I_i·<br><br>d_i\right),$

wherein a and b are selectable weighting constants, Rel is the relevance of a message, I is the impact of a message, d is a decay function that reduces the impact of older messages, and wherein m is the number of messages used to compute the influence score;

the system further comprising a computer implemented report generator for generating a report on the at least one associated topic reflecting, at least indirectly, the relevance scores and the reputation score.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the decay function d is computed based on the equation:

$d={\mathrm{e<br><br>}}^{\left(\frac{t_m-t}{\mathrm{\tau <br><br>}}\right)},$

wherein t_m is the date and time a given message was posted, t is the current system date and time, and τ

is a configurable constant that controls the rate of decay.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the impact I of a message is computed according to the equation:

$I=<br><br>\frac{P<br><br><br><br>a-P<br><br><br><br>b}{P<br><br><br><br>a+P<br><br><br><br>b}<br><br>,$

wherein Pa is the number of unique pseudonyms that post a message during time T after a message m, Pb is the number of unique pseudonyms that post a message during time T before a message m, and wherein T is the amount of time it took for p unique pseudonyms to post a message before the current message, excluding the poster of m.

11. A method for processing message traffic from a plurality of electronic discussion forums, comprising the steps of:

collecting messages from the plurality of electronic discussion forums; and

processing the messages based on a series of topics in order to track a plurality of pseudonyms, wherein the processing step comprises computing a relevance score for a collected message based on at least one topic;

wherein the processing step further comprises the step of computing a buzz score based on a set of messages for the at least one topic;

wherein the buzz score measures posting activity level weighted by the relevance of the set of messages and the influence of posting pseudonyms that posted the set of messages;

wherein the means for processing is adapted to compute a relative buzz score that measures relative changes in the posting activity level;

wherein the relative buzz score is computed as a function of an average of the buzz score and a standard deviation of the buzz score;

the method further comprising the step of generating a report on, at least in part, the at least one topic, wherein a report output is based upon, at least in part, the relative buzz score.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the relative buzz score B_s is computed according to the equation:

$B_s=\frac{<br><br>B-\mathrm{avg}<br><br>\left(B\right)<br><br>}{\mathrm{std}<br><br>\left(B\right)},$

wherein B is the present buzz score, avg(B) is the average of the buzz score, and std(B) is the standard deviation of the buzz score.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the relative buzz score is computed as a relevant relative buzz score.