Information provider

• US 7,512,678 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2001
• Issued: 03/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Inventors: Titmuss, Richard J, Crabtree, Ian B, Loffler, Alexander, Polaine, Matthew J, O'Donoghue, John J, Bowskill, Jeremy M
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu; Jinsong
• Application Number:
  US10/399,976
• Publication Number:
  US 20040044658A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,692 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/224, 709/231, 709/232, 707/3, 707/5, 707/10
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

Information sources are selected in accordance with a subject matter of interest to a user, where the subject matter of interest is identifiable by a plurality of sets of subject-related data, and each set has an indication of at least one context in which the set is of interest to the user. The state of the user is tracked, one or more contexts are identified from the tracked state, at least some sets of subject-related data are selected in accordance with a predetermined relationship between at least some of the identified contexts and said indication of context, a list of information sources is generated based on the selected sets of subject-related data, and the list is transmitted to a terminal associated with the user so as to allow the user to select an information source of interest and thereby to access information from the source.

Claims

1. A method of selecting information sources in accordance with a subject matter of relevance to a user, the subject matter being identifiable by a plurality of sets of subject-related data, each set having an indication of at least one context in which the set is relevant to the user, the method comprising:

(i) receiving schedule information and data in respect of at least one environmental condition associated with the user so as to identify a user context,

(ii) searching the sets of subject-related data in accordance with a predetermined relationship between the identified user context and said indication of context so as to select subject-related data relevant to the identified user context,

(iii) generating a list of information sources based on the select sets of subject-related data, and

(iv) transmitting said list to a terminal associated with said user so as to allow said user to select an information source and thereby to access information from said source;

wherein the receiving steps includes;

tracking the location of a user by receipt of tracking information for the user, and comparing the tracking information with a predetermined location information in accordance with predetermined criteria, the predetermined location information defining at least a “

home”

context and a “

work”

context, and the predetermined criteria including conditions between the tracking information and the predetermined location information.

2. A method according to claim 1, in which the predetermined relationship between at least some of the identified contexts and said indication of context includes a correspondence therebetween.

3. A method according to claim 2, in which, when the correspondence is null, the selected sets of subject-related data are all of the sets of subject-related data, and said generating step (iii) includes:

retrieving information sources in accordance with the selected sets of subject-related data,

tagging the retrieved information sources with the context indicated against the corresponding set of subject-related data,

ranking said tagged information sources, at least on part, in accordance with correspondence between the identified context of the user and the tagged context, and

compiling a list comprising the tagged information sources, the rankings associated therewith determining positions of the tagged information sources on the list.

4. A method according to claim 3, further including the steps of:

monitoring the selection of at least one information source on the list by the user, in order to determine a relevance weight for each information source, and for each information source on the list,

identifying the set of subject-related data corresponding thereto,

allocating the relevance weight to the identified set of subject-related data, such that any ranking of tagged information sources is also performed in accordance with the allocated relevance weight.

5. A method according to claim 4, in which the monitoring step includes, at least in part, utilizing a Bayes Net in respect of each information source.

6. A method according to claim 2, in which, when there is identical correspondence between at least some of the identified contexts and said indication of context, said generating step (iii) includes:

retrieving information sources in accordance with the selected subject-related data, and

compiling a list comprising the retrieved information sources.

7. A method according to claim 1, in which the context of the user to be identified is the current context of the user.

8. A method according to claim 1 in which said subject-related data comprises keywords.

9. A method according to claim 1, in which the transmitting step (iv) comprises:

inputting the identified user context to at least one predetermined transmission condition,

processing each transmission condition,

and if the transmission conditions are deemed to be satisfied, transmitting the list.

10. A method according to claim 9, in which the at least one transmission condition includes one or more rules for determining whether the user is disposed to receive information.

11. A method according to claim 1, in which information relating to said selected information sources is provided to a user via a communications system.

12. A method according to claim 1, in which a plurality of user contexts is identified in respect of the user.

13. A method according to claim 12, in which each of the plurality of contexts is weighted, each respective weight being indicative of the likelihood of a user being in the associated respective context.

14. A method according to claim 13, including predicting, on the basis of the identified context, a future context of the user.

15. A method according to claim 14, in which the predicting step includes applying a smoothing function (Equation 1) to at least some of said weights, thereby changing the user'"'"'s context.

16. The method according to claim 1, in which the receiving step includes:

tracking the location of a user by receipt of tracking information for the user, and

comparing the tracking information with a predetermined location information in accordance with predetermined criteria, the predetermined location information defining at least a “

home”

context and a “

work”

context, and the predetermined criteria including conditions between the tracking information and the predetermined location information.

17. A method according to claim 16 in which the predetermined criteria used in the comparing step includes conditions relating to the received schedule information.

18. The method of claim 1 of selecting information sources in accordance with a subject matter of relevance to a user, the subject matter being identifiable by a plurality of sets of subject-related data, each set having an indication of at least one context in which the set is relevant to the user, the method comprising:

(i) receiving schedule information and data in respect of at least one environmental condition associated with the user so as to identify a user context,

(ii) searching the sets of subject-related data in accordance with a predetermined relationship between the identified user context and said indication of context so as to select subject-related data relevant to the identified user context,

(iii) generating a list of information sources based on the select sets of subject-related data, and

(iv) transmitting said list to a terminal associated with said user so as to allow said user to select an information source and thereby to access information from said source;

including receiving data from at least one of a position detector, an acceleration detector, stress detecting means, a temperature detector, light level detecting means.

24. A tangible storage medium containing computer program, or a suite of computer programs, comprising a set of instructions to cause a computer, or a suite of computers, to perform the method steps according to claim 1.

19. A method of storing information in respect of subject matter of interest to a user on the basis of a state of the user, wherein the subject matter of interest includes a plurality of sets of keywords, each set of keywords having at least one identifiable state of the user and/or environment allocated thereto, the method including:

(i) selecting information sources, in accordance with a subject matter of relevance to a user, the subject matter being identifiable by a plurality of sets of subject-related data, each set having an indication of at least one context in which the set is relevant to the user, the method comprising;

(a) receiving schedule information and data in respect of at least one environmental condition associated with the user so as to identify a user context,

(b) searching the sets of subject-related data in accordance with a predetermined relationship between the identified user context and said indication of context so as to select subject-related data relevant to the identified user context,

(c) generating a list of information sources on the select sets of subject-related data, and

(d) transmitting said list to a terminal associated with said user so as to allow said user to select an information source and thereby to access information from said source;

wherein the receiving step includes;

tracking the location of a user by receipt of tracking information for the user, and comparing the tracking information with a predetermined location information in accordance with predetermined criteria, the predetermined location information defining at least a “

home”

context and a “

work”

context, and the predetermined criteria including conditions between the tracking information and the predetermined location information;

(ii) organizing the selected information sources in accordance with a plurality of criteria, at least one of which includes the identified state of the user or the environment, and

(iii) storing the organized information.

20. A method according to claim 19 including presenting the retrieved information to the user via a terminal, said presentation of information including creating a viewable page comprising at least some of the retrieved information, such that when a viewable page is created, a selection of said stored information is retrieved in accordance with display capabilities of the terminal.

21. A method of selecting information sources in accordance with a subject matter of relevance to a user, the subject matter being identifiable by a plurality of sets of subject-related data, each set being stored once only and having an indication of a plurality of contexts in which the set is relevant to the user, the method comprising:

(i) receiving schedule information and data in respect of at least one environmental condition associated with the user so as to identify a user context associated therewith,

(ii) searching the sets of subject-related data in accordance with a predetermined relationship between the identified user context and said indication of context so as to select subject-related data relevant to the identified user context,

(iii) identifying information sources based on the selected sets of keywords;

wherein said receiving step includes;

tracking the location of a user by receipt of tracking information for the user, and comparing the tracking information with predetermined location information in accordance with predetermined criteria, the predetermined location information defining at least a “

home”

context and a “

work”

context, and the predetermined criteria including conditions between the tracking information and the predetermined location information.

22. A method according to claim 21, in which the context of the user to be identified is the current context of the user.

23. The method according to claim 21, in which the receiving step includes:

tracking the location of a user by receipt of tracking information for the user, and

comparing the tracking information with predetermined location information in accordance with predetermined criteria, the predetermined location information defining at least a “

home”

context and a “

work”

context, and the predetermined criteria including conditions between the tracking information and the predetermined location information.

25. Apparatus for selecting information sources in accordance with a subject matter of relevance to a user, the subject matter being identifiable by a plurality of sets of subject-related data, each set having an indication of at least one context in which the set is relevant to the user, the apparatus comprising:

location storage means arranged to store data indicating context in which information from the respective sources is deemed to be relevant, identifying means arranged to receive a signal indicative of schedule information and data in respect of at least one environmental condition associated with the user so as to identify a user context associated therewith;

context-dependent selection means arranged to identify, from said information sources, a plurality of information sources on the basis of the identified context of the user and said stored context data; and

generate a shortlist of said identified information sources, and transmitting means for transmitting the shortlist to a terminal in said telecommunications system for receipt by a user;

wherein said identifying means is arranged to;

track the location of a user by receipt of tracking information for the user, and compare the tracking information with predetermined location information in accordance with predetermined criteria, the predetermined location information defining at least a “

home”

context and a “

work”

context, and the predetermined criteria including conditions between the tracking information and the predetermined location information.

26. Apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the identifying means is arranged to process a plurality of rules dependent on the received signal indicative of schedule information and data in respect of at least one environmental condition, the rules generating, as output, data identifying one or more contexts.

27. Apparatus according to claim 25, in which each set of subject-related data is stored once only, and has an indication of a plurality of contexts in which the set is relevant to the user.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said identifying means is arranged to:

track the location of a user by receipt of tracking information for the user, and

compare the tracking information with predetermined location information in accordance with predetermined criteria, the predetermined location information defining at least a “

home”

context and a “

work”

context, and the predetermined criteria including conditions between the tracking information and the predetermined location information.