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

• US 7,970,895 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2008
• Issued: 06/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tomkins, Andrew S., Guha, Ramanathan Valdnyanath, Gruhl, Daniel Frederick
• Primary Examiner(s): LAZARO, DAVID R
• Application Number:
  US12/191,667
• Publication Number:
  US 20080307326A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,048 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/224, 705/319
• US Class Current: 709/224
• 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 computer program product for inducing a pattern of communication among a plurality of parties communicating information, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising;

receiving during a first episode, for each party of a plurality of parties information that describes a topic that is 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;

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

outputting on a display of a computer system the propagation pattern of the second episode.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an initial guess for beginning for the preparing of the transmission graph by computing a frequency of transmission of the topic and a probability that a node communicates the topic to another node.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, further comprising:

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.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, further comprising:

outputting an updated transmission graph.

5. The computer program product 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.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, further comprising:

determining a frequency of communication from the transmitting party to the receiving party.

7. A system of inducing a pattern of communication among a plurality of parties communicating information, comprising:

a soft assignment processor configured to;

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

prepare 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;

output the transmission graph on a display of a computer system; and

provide an initial guess for beginning preparation of the transmission graph by computing a frequency of transmission of the topic and a probability that a node communicates the topic to another node.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising;

a parameter-update processor configured to;

recursively update 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.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the transmission graph comprises an updated transmission graph.

10. The system of claim 8, 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

for certain communication paths along the transmission graph, the parameter-update processor is further configured to determine a probability that the receiving party writes about the topic.