System, method, and service for inducing a pattern of communication among various parties

• US 7,426,557 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2004
• Issued: 09/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schott AG (Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tomkins, Andrew S., Gruhl, Daniel Frederick, Guha, Ramanathan Valdhyanath
• Primary Examiner(s): Jaroenchonwanit; Bunjob
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nooristany; Sulaiman
• Application Number:
  US10/847,113
• Publication Number:
  US 20050256949A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 704/9, 704/224
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A communication pattern inducing system focuses on the propagation of topics amongst a plurality of nodes based on the text of the node rather than hyperlinks of the node. A node could represent a weblog or any other source of information such as person, a conversation, images, etc. The system utilizes a model for information diffusion, wherein the parameters of the model capture how a new topic spreads from node to node. The system further comprises a process to learn the parameters of the model based on real data and to apply the process to real (or synthetic) node data. Consequently, the system is able to identify particular individuals that are highly effective at contributing to the spread of topics.

Claims

1. A method of inducing a pattern of communication among a plurality of parties communicating information, comprising:

for a first episode;

receiving, for each party of a plurality of parties, information that describes a topic discussed by at least some parties of the plurality of parties and a time of occurrence of discussion;

preparing a transmission graph illustrative of the pattern of communication, wherein the transmission graph illustrates at least some of the parties as nodes and a plurality of edges that interconnect at least some of the nodes, and wherein the transmission graph establishes a pattern of distribution of propagation of discussion of the topic among the plurality of parties; and

storing the transmission graph on a storage repository; and

for a subsequent second episode;

receiving an initial fragment of propagation of discussion among the plurality of parties;

using the pattern of distribution of propagation established for the first episode and the initial fragment of propagation of discussion for the second episode, predicting a propagation pattern for the second episode; and

outputting the propagation pattern for the second episode transmission graph; and

wherein the preparing the transmission graph begins by computing a frequency of transmission of the topic and a probability that a node communicates the topic to another node; and

wherein recursively updating the transmission graph until the transmission graph meets a predetermined criterion by recomputing the frequency of transmission and probability for each one of the plurality of edges.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein outputting the transmission graph comprises outputting an updated transmission graph.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the parties include at least one transmitting party that transmits information about the topic, and at least one receiving party that receives the information about the topic from the at least one transmitting party;

and

further comprising, for certain communication paths along the transmission graph, determining a probability that the receiving party writes about the topic.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining a frequency of communication from the transmitting party to the receiving party.