Dynamic information hierarchies

• US 8,135,753 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2009
• Issued: 03/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zhao, Mingyang
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Don
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, MERILYN P
• Application Number:
  US12/512,661
• Publication Number:
  US 20110029489A1
• Time in Patent Office: 957 Days
• Field of Search: 707/648, 707/732, 707/736, 707/793, 707/797, 707/802, 707/803, 707/807, 707/808, 707/829, 707/956
• US Class Current: 707/797
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24556 Aggregation; Duplicate elimination

Abstract

A dynamic information hierarchy may be provided. Logging data comprising a captured user event and a component ID associated with a hierarchical node may be stored in a raw data table. The stored data may be aggregated across the nodes of the hierarchy, stored in an aggregation table, and provided to a user in a report.

Claims

1. A method for providing a dynamic information hierarchy, the method comprising:

creating a hierarchy table comprising a plurality of entries associated with a plurality of hierarchical nodes, wherein each of the plurality of hierarchical nodes comprises a unique component identifier and wherein at least one first node of the plurality of hierarchical nodes is associated with an entry in the hierarchy table identifying a level of the at least one first node and wherein at least one second node of the plurality of hierarchical nodes is associated with an entry in the hierarchy table identifying the at least one second node as a descendant of the at least one first node;

receiving a plurality of logging data associated with the at least one second node, wherein the plurality of logging data comprises at least one captured user behavior and the unique component identifier associated with the at least one second node;

storing the plurality of logging data as entries in a data table, wherein each of the plurality of logging data is associated with a unique identifier and an ancestor identifier of an ancestor node as defined in the hierarchy table;

aggregating the plurality of logging data into entries in an aggregation table according to the ancestor identifier wherein aggregating the plurality of logging data comprises aggregating a count of entries in the data table associated with the at least one second node into a count of entries associated with the at least one first node; and

providing an aggregation report to a display device, wherein the aggregation report comprises at least one entry from the aggregation table.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one second node comprises a web page.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the unique identifier is associated with the web page.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier of at least one of the plurality of hierarchical nodes comprises the ancestor identifier of the ancestor node.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of hierarchical nodes of the hierarchy table comprises a top level node and wherein each of others of the plurality of hierarchical nodes comprises a descendant node of the top level node.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the plurality of hierarchical nodes in the hierarchy table comprises data associated with an ancestor level, an ancestor ID, a descendant level, and a descendant ID.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating the plurality of logging data into entries in an aggregation table according to the ancestor identifier comprises creating an entry in the aggregation table for at least one of the plurality of hierarchical nodes comprising data associated with at least one descendant node associated with the at least one of the plurality of hierarchical nodes.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating the plurality of logging data into a plurality of aggregation tables, wherein each of the plurality of aggregation tables is associated with a category associated with at least one element of the plurality of logging data.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating the plurality of logging data into the aggregation table at a configurable time interval.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium which stores a set of instructions which when executed performs a method for providing a dynamic information hierarchy, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

receiving at least one data element, wherein the at least one data element comprises a captured user event and a component ID associated with at least one first node of a plurality of hierarchical nodes and wherein each of the plurality of hierarchical nodes is associated with a hierarchy level defined in a hierarchy table;

creating an entry associated with the at least one data element in a data table comprising a plurality of data elements, wherein the entry comprises the component ID associated with the at least one first node and at least one property associated with the captured user event;

aggregating the plurality of data elements according to the component ID associated with each of the plurality of data elements, wherein aggregating the plurality of data elements according to the component ID associated with each of the plurality of data elements comprises;

counting each of the plurality of data elements associated with the at least one first node and the captured user event, and

inserting the count associated with the at least one first node and the captured user event in an aggregation table associated with a second node comprising an ancestor node of the at least one first node according to the hierarchy level;

counting each of the plurality of data elements associated with a subset of the plurality of hierarchical nodes and the captured user event, wherein each of the subset of the plurality of hierarchical nodes comprises a descendant node of the ancestor node, and

inserting the count associated with the subset of the plurality of hierarchical nodes and the captured user event in an entry in the aggregation table associated with the ancestor node; and

providing an aggregation report, wherein the report comprises at least one entry from the aggregation table.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether at least one node of the subset of the plurality of hierarchical nodes comprises a non-accumulation property; and

in response to determining that the at least one node of the subset of the plurality of hierarchical nodes comprises the non-accumulation property, skipping the at least one node of the subset of the plurality of hierarchical nodes comprising the non-accumulation property in the count associated with the subset of the plurality of hierarchical nodes.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising adding an entry to the hierarchy table associated with a new node.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein at least one node of the plurality of hierarchical nodes comprises a collection of user-accessible web objects.

14. A system for providing a dynamic information hierarchy, the system comprising:

a memory storage; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to;

maintain a hierarchy table comprising a plurality of entries associated with a plurality of hierarchical nodes, wherein each of the plurality of hierarchical nodes is associated with at least one of the following;

a site farm, a web-application, a site collection, a site, a sub-site, and a web page and wherein at least one first node of the plurality of hierarchical nodes is associated with an entry in the hierarchy table identifying a level of the at least one first node and an entry in the hierarchy table identifying at least one second node of the plurality of hierarchical nodes as a descendant of the at least one first node;

receive a data element associated with a web page comprising a captured user behavior and an identifier associated with the at least one second node, wherein the web page comprises one of a plurality of objects associated with the at least one second node;

create an entry in a data table associated with the received data element, wherein the entry in the data table comprises an identifier associated with the web page, the identifier associated with the at least one second node, and at least one property associated with the captured user behavior;

count a number of entries in the data table associated with the at least one second node;

count a number of entries in the data table associated with at least one third node, wherein the at least one third node comprises a descendant node of the at least one first node;

aggregate the count of entries associated with the at least one second node and the at least one third node into a count of entries associated with the at least one first node;

update an aggregation table with a first entry comprising the count of entries associated with the aggregated count of entries associated with the at least one first node, a second entry comprising the count of entries associated with the at least one second node, and a third entry comprising the count of entries associated with the at least one third node; and

provide a report to a user, wherein the report comprises at least one entry from the aggregation table according to a user-defined criteria.