Task/domain segmentation in applying feedback to command control

• US 8,185,545 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2006
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: OpenTV, Inc. (Kudelski SA)
• Original Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Inventors: Reisman, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Tim T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mobin, Hasanul
• Application Number:
  US11/353,040
• Publication Number:
  US 20060161507A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,289 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/769
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3326 using relevance feedback from the user, e.g. relevance feedback on documents, documents sets, document terms or passages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/955 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

An apparatus for responding to a current user command associated with one of a plurality of task/domains. The apparatus comprises: a digital storage device that stores cumulative feedback data gathered from multiple users during previous operations of the apparatus and segregated in accordance with the plurality of task/domains; a first digital logic device that determines the current task/domain with which the current user command is associated; a second digital logic device that determines a current response to the current user command on the basis of that portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task/domain; a first communication interface that communicates to the user the current response; and a second communication interface that receives from the user current feedback data regarding the current response. The current feedback data is added to the cumulative feedback data stored in the digital storage device and associated with the current task/domain.

Claims

1. A method for responding to a current user command, comprising:

storing cumulative feedback data gathered from multiple users in a memory of a computing platform, said cumulative feedback data relating to individual items provided in one or more previous responses to one or more previous user commands, said cumulative feedback data distinguished with regard to respective ones of a plurality of task-domains;

requesting from a user information indicative of a current task-domain selected from the plurality of task-domains within which the current user command is to be applied;

determining, utilizing at least in part a processor of the computing platform, a current response to the current user command based at least in part on a portion of the cumulative feedback data related to one or more previous responses to one or more previous user commands associated with the current task-domain from at least one other user;

communicating to the user the current response comprising one or more results weighted at least in part according to said one or more previous responses associated with the current task-domain;

receiving from the user current feedback data regarding the current response; and

adding the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing platform comprises a server on a wide area network, and wherein the user command comprises one of a query for one or more network-accessible resources associated with a current discovery searching task-domain and a signifier for a network-accessible resource associated with a current signifier mapping task-domain.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said receiving from the user the current feedback data comprises receiving from the user current feedback data for of the plurality of task-domains.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said receiving the current feedback data for the plurality of task-domains comprises collecting the current feedback data for the plurality of task-domains through a common feedback collection process.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said receiving the current feedback data for the plurality of task-domains comprises collecting the current feedback data for the plurality of task-domains through respective ones of a plurality of distinct feedback collection processes.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said requesting, from the user, information indicative of the current task-domain comprises requesting the user to select at least one of a set of qualifiers that indicate types of requests with regard to task-domain.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein said requesting, from the user, information indicative of the current task-domain comprises requesting the user to elaborate on the current task-domain that is intended while providing a set of results to the user.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the current feedback data regarding the current response is associated with a particular resource identified in the current response.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said adding the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain comprises storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said particular identified resource.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein said adding the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain comprises storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said current response.

26. The method of claim 1, where said current feedback data comprises one or more of implicit feedback data, explicit feedback data, and/or feedback data related to one or more specific items provided in response to the current user command.

59. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing the cumulative feedback data gathered from multiple users comprises storing cumulative feedback data explicitly provided by one or more users.

60. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing the cumulative feedback data gathered from multiple users comprises storing cumulative feedback data implicitly provided by one or more users.

61. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving from the user current feedback data regarding the current response comprises receiving from the user explicit feedback data regarding the current response.

62. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving from the user current feedback data regarding the current response comprises receiving from the user implicit feedback data regarding the current response.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving a request for information from a user;

requesting from the user information indicative of a current task-domain of a plurality of task-domains to which a current user command is to be applied;

retrieving cumulative feedback data previously gathered from multiple users for the current task-domain, said cumulative feedback data relating to individual items provided in one or more previous responses to one or more previous user commands, wherein said cumulative feedback data for the current task-domain is distinguished from cumulative feedback data for one or more other task-domains of the plurality of task-domains, and further wherein said cumulative feedback data for the current task-domain is stored in a memory of a computing platform;

determining a current response to said request for information based at least in part on feedback data for the current task-domain related to one or more previous responses associated with at least one other user;

communicating, to the user, the current response comprising one or more results weighted at least in part according to said one or more previous responses associated with said at least one other user; and

receiving, from the user, current feedback data regarding the current response, wherein the current feedback data is added to the portion of the cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said computing platform comprises a server on a wide area network, and wherein the user request for information comprises one of a query for one or more network-accessible resources associated with a current discovery searching task-domain and a signifier for a network-accessible resource associated with a current signifier mapping task-domain.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said requesting, from the user, information indicative of the current task-domain comprises requesting the user to select at least one of a set of qualifiers that indicate types of requests with regard to task-domain.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the types of requests comprises a request for a person'"'"'s contact information.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein requesting, from the user, information indicative of the current task-domain comprises requesting the user to confirm acceptability of a set of results.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein requesting, from the user, information indicative of the current task-domain comprises requesting the user to elaborate on the current task-domain that is intended while providing a set of results to the user.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said determining is optionally based on stored cumulative feedback that is specific to the personal usage of the user.

15. An article, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a processing unit of a computer system to perform the method of claim 8.

16. An article, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions executable by processing unit of a computer system to perform the method of claim 9.

27. The method of claim 8, wherein the current feedback data regarding the current response is associated with a particular resource identified in the current response.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein said adding the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain comprises storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said particular identified resources.

29. The method of claim 8, wherein said adding the current feedback data to the portion of the cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain comprises storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said current response.

30. The method of claim 8, where said current feedback data comprises one or more of implicit feedback data, explicit feedback data, and/or feedback data related to one or more specific items provided in response to the current user command.

63. The method of claim 8, wherein said retrieving the cumulative feedback data previously gathered from multiple users comprises retrieving cumulative feedback data previously explicitly provided by one or more users.

64. The method of claim 8, wherein said retrieving the cumulative feedback data previously gathered from multiple users comprises retrieving cumulative feedback data previously implicitly provided by one or more users.

65. The method of claim 8, wherein said receiving, from the user, current feedback data regarding the current response comprises receiving from the user explicit feedback data regarding the current response.

66. The method of claim 8, wherein said receiving, from the user, current feedback data regarding the current response comprises receiving from the user implicit feedback data regarding the current response.

17. A server system coupled to the Internet, the server system to respond to a user request for information from resources available on the Internet, said server system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory having stored thereon instructions executable by the processor to;

receive the user request,

request from the user information indicative of a current task-domain of a plurality of task-domains within which the current user command is to be applied,

retrieve cumulative feedback data previously gathered from multiple users for the current task-domain, said cumulative feedback data relating to individual items provided in one or more previous responses to one or more previous user commands, wherein said cumulative feedback data for the current task-domain is distinguished from cumulative feedback data for one or more other task-domains of the plurality of task-domains, determine a current response based at least in part on the cumulative multi-user feedback data for the current task-domain,

communicate, to the user, the current response, and

receive, from the user, current feedback data regarding the current response, the current feedback data to be added to the cumulative feedback data for the current task-domain.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the user request for information comprises one of a query for one or more network-accessible resources associated with a current discovery searching task-domain and a signifier for a network-accessible resource associated with a current signifier mapping task-domain.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the memory has stored therein instructions executable by the server system to request the user to select at least one of a set of qualifiers that indicate types of requests.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the memory has stored therein instructions executable by the server system to request the user to confirm acceptability of a set of results.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the memory has stored therein instructions executable by the server system to determine the current task-domain based on requesting the user to elaborate on the current task-domain that is intended after the user has been provided a set of results.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the memory has stored therein instructions executable by the server system to maintain the stored cumulative feedback data such that the determining is optionally based on cumulative feedback specific to the personal usage of the user.

31. The system of claim 17, wherein the current feedback data regarding the current response is associated with a particular resource identified in the current response.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the current feedback data is added to the portion of the cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain at least in part by storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said particular identified resources.

33. The system of claim 17, wherein the current feedback data is added to the portion of the cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain at least in part by storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said current response.

34. The system of claim 17, where said current feedback data comprises one or more of implicit feedback data, explicit feedback data, and/or feedback data related to one or more specific items provided in response to the current user command.

67. The system of claim 17, wherein the memory has stored thereon further instructions executable by the processor to retrieve the cumulative feedback data previously gathered from multiple users at least in part by retrieving cumulative feedback data previously explicitly provided by one or more users.

68. The system of claim 17, wherein the memory has stored thereon further instructions executable by the processor to retrieve the cumulative feedback data previously gathered from multiple users at least in part by retrieving cumulative feedback data previously implicitly provided by one or more users.

69. The system of claim 17, wherein the memory has stored thereon further instructions executable by the processor to receive, from the user, current feedback data regarding the current response at least in part by receiving from the user feedback data regarding the current response implicitly provided by the user.

70. The system of claim 17, wherein the memory has stored thereon further instructions executable by the processor to receive, from the user, current feedback data regarding the current response at least in part by receiving from the user feedback data regarding the current response explicitly provided by the user.

35. A method for responding to a current user command from a first user device, the method comprising:

storing cumulative feedback data provided by a plurality of users utilizing one or more user devices in a memory of a computing platform, said cumulative feedback data relating to individual items provided in one or more previous responses to one or more previous user commands, said cumulative feedback data distinguished with regard to respective ones of a plurality of task-domains, wherein one or more of the plurality of task-domains comprises, at least in part, a particular geographical location understood to be of relevance to the user, wherein location comprises a type of task-domain and wherein the particular geographical location comprises an instance of that type;

receiving, from the first user device, information indicative of a current task-domain selected from the plurality of task-domains within which the current user command is to be applied;

determining, at least in part utilizing a processor of the computing platform, a current response to the current user command based at least in part on a portion of the stored cumulative feedback data comprising feedback data related to one or more previous responses to one or more previous user commands associated with the current task-domain, the current response comprising one or more results weighted at least in part according to said one or more previous responses associated with the current task-domain; and

communicating to the user the current response.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising receiving, from the first user device, current feedback data provided by the current user regarding the current response.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising adding the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the current user command comprises one or more of a query for one or more network-accessible resources associated with a current discovery searching task-domain and a signifier for a network-accessible resource associated with a current signifier mapping task-domain.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the current feedback data regarding the current response is associated with one or more resources identified in the current response.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said adding the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain comprises storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said one or more identified resources.

41. The method of claim 37, wherein said adding the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain comprises storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said current response.

42. The method of claim 37, where said current feedback data comprises one or more of implicit feedback data, explicit feedback data, and/or feedback data related to one or more specific items provided in response to the current user command.

71. The method of claim 35, wherein the particular geographic location comprises the user'"'"'s present geographical location.

72. The method of claim 35, wherein the particular geographic location comprises a geographical location other than the user'"'"'s present geographical location.

43. An article, comprising:

a non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions executable by a server computer comprising a processor and a memory to, in responding to a current user command from a first user device;

store cumulative feedback data relating to individual items provided by a plurality of users utilizing one or more user devices at least in part in response to results to one or more previous user commands, said cumulative feedback data distinguished with regard to respective ones of a plurality of task-domains, wherein one or more of the plurality of task-domains comprises, at least in part, a particular geographical location understood to be of relevance to the user, wherein location comprises a type of task-domain and wherein the particular geographical location comprises an instance of that type;

receive, from the first user device, information indicative of a current task-domain selected from the plurality of task-domains within which the current user command is to be applied;

determine a current response to the current user command based at least in part on a portion of the stored cumulative feedback data comprising feedback data related to one or more previous responses to one or more previous user commands associated with the current task-domain, the current response comprising one or more results weighted at least in part according to said one or more previous responses associated with the current task-domain; and

communicate to the user the current response.

44. The article of claim 43, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the server computer to receive, from the first user device, current feedback data provided by the current user regarding the current response.

45. The article of claim 44, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the server computer to add the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain.

46. The article of claim 45, wherein the server computer comprises a server on a wide area network, and wherein the current user command comprises one or more of a query for one or more network-accessible resources associated with a current discovery searching task-domain and a signifier for a network-accessible resource associated with a current signifier mapping task-domain.

47. The article of claim 45, wherein the current feedback data regarding the current response is associated with one or more resources identified in the current response.

48. The article of claim 47, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the server computer to add the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain by storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said one or more identified resources.

49. The article of claim 45, wherein the storage medium has stored thereon further instructions executable by the server computer to add the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain by storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said current response.

50. The article of claim 45, where said current feedback data comprises one or more of implicit feedback data, explicit feedback data, and/or feedback data related to one or more specific items provided in response to the current user command.

73. The article of claim 43, wherein the particular geographic location comprises the user'"'"'s present geographical location.

74. The article of claim 43, wherein the particular geographic location comprises a geographical location other than the user'"'"'s present geographical location.

51. A server computer system for responding to a current user command from a first user device, comprising:

a processing and learning module to store, in a database in a memory device, cumulative feedback data provided by a plurality of users utilizing one or more user devices at least in part in response to results to one or more previous user commands, said cumulative feedback data relating to individual items provided in one or more previous responses to the one or more previous user commands, said cumulative feedback data distinguished with regard to respective ones of a plurality of task-domains, wherein one or more of the plurality of task-domains comprise, at least in part, a particular geographical location understood to be of relevance to the user, wherein location comprises a type of task-domain and wherein the particular geographical location comprises an instance of that type; and

a communication interface to receive, from the first user device, information indicative of a current task-domain selected from the plurality of task-domains within which the current user command is to be applied;

said processing and learning module to determine a current response to the current user command based at least in part on a portion of the stored cumulative feedback data comprising feedback data related to one or more previous responses to one or more previous user commands associated with the current task-domain, the current response comprising one or more results weighted at least in part according to said one or more previous responses associated with the current task-domain; and

said communication interface further to communicate to the user the current response.

52. The server computer system of claim 51, said processing and learning module to receive, from the first user device, current feedback data provided by the current user regarding the current response.

53. The server computer system of claim 52, said processing and learning module to add the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain.

54. The server computer system of claim 53, wherein the server computer system comprises a server on a wide area network, and wherein the current user command comprises one or more of a query for one or more network-accessible resources associated with a current discovery searching task-domain and a signifier for a network-accessible resource associated with a current signifier mapping task-domain.

55. The server computer system of claim 53, wherein the current feedback data regarding the current response is associated with one or more resources identified in the current response.

56. The server computer system of claim 53, said processing and learning module to add the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain by storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said one or more identified resources.

57. The server computer system of claim 53, said processing and learning module to add the current feedback data to the portion of the stored cumulative feedback data associated with the current task-domain by storing said current feedback data in association with an identification of said current response.

58. The server computer system of claim 53, where said current feedback data comprises one or more of implicit feedback data, explicit feedback data, and/or feedback data related to one or more specific items provided in response to the current user command.

75. The server computer system of claim 51, wherein the particular geographic location comprises the user'"'"'s present geographical location.

76. The server computer system of claim 51, wherein the particular geographic location comprises a geographical location other than the user'"'"'s present geographical location.