Bimodal recommendation engine for recommending items and peers
First Claim
1. A system for recommending items to a user and verifying a user as an expert relative to a querying user, the system being implemented on a digital computer network, the system comprising:
- a computer coupled to the network;
a profiles database stored in memory associated with the computer for storing explicit and implicit user profiles;
a user interface coupled to the computer network and enabling user profile information to be entered and stored in the profiles database as an explicit user profile;
the explicit user profiles comprising user entered information which comprises at least one of demographic information and occupation information;
the implicit user profiles are obtained from user behavior information comprising at least one of keyword searches executed by the user, documents viewed by the user, documents saved by the user, vendors, products, or technologies the user is following, and peers the user has connected with;
a collaborative filtering algorithm associated with the profiles database, said collaborative filtering algorithm;
(a) locating other users having profiles in the database based on a similarity among the profiles of a querying user and the other users based on at least one of the explicit profiles and the implicit profiles,(b) locating other users based on their expertise to define verified experts for the keyword provided by the querying user and prioritizing the verified experts with most expertise for the keyword,(c) determining scores of the other users located in steps (a) and (b) indicative of how well the other users match the querying user,(d) locating items used by a best matching subset of the other users located in steps (a) and (b) based on the scores, and(e) returning the items located in step (d) for consideration by the querying user; and
a dynamic expert verification algorithm associated with the collaborative filtering algorithm, the expert verification algorithm being adapted to verify qualifications of the other users as experts relative to the querying user, the expert verification algorithm comprising logic used to objectively score at least one of a depth and a frequency of the user'"'"'s activity related to a topic area;
wherein;
the user behavior information is collected and stored in the profiles database; and
the collected and stored user behavior information is used to update the implicit user profiles.
3 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
A networked peer and item recommendation system makes recommendations to users such as documents of interest and peers with whom the users may want to connect. User profile information is maintained in a profiles database. A log enables the collection of user behavior information. A cluster filtering algorithm determines a cluster that a querying user belongs to. A collaborative filtering algorithm locates other users having implicit and explicit profiles in the database that are similar to the profile of the querying user. A dynamic expert verification algorithm is associated with the collaborative filtering algorithm to verify the qualifications of users and produce bias towards users with higher quality interactions. A search engine returns items based on a keyword provided by the querying user. A sorting algorithm sorts the items returned by the cluster filtering algorithm, collaborative filtering algorithm and search engine for presentation to the querying user.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A system for recommending items to a user and verifying a user as an expert relative to a querying user, the system being implemented on a digital computer network, the system comprising:
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a computer coupled to the network; a profiles database stored in memory associated with the computer for storing explicit and implicit user profiles; a user interface coupled to the computer network and enabling user profile information to be entered and stored in the profiles database as an explicit user profile; the explicit user profiles comprising user entered information which comprises at least one of demographic information and occupation information; the implicit user profiles are obtained from user behavior information comprising at least one of keyword searches executed by the user, documents viewed by the user, documents saved by the user, vendors, products, or technologies the user is following, and peers the user has connected with; a collaborative filtering algorithm associated with the profiles database, said collaborative filtering algorithm; (a) locating other users having profiles in the database based on a similarity among the profiles of a querying user and the other users based on at least one of the explicit profiles and the implicit profiles, (b) locating other users based on their expertise to define verified experts for the keyword provided by the querying user and prioritizing the verified experts with most expertise for the keyword, (c) determining scores of the other users located in steps (a) and (b) indicative of how well the other users match the querying user, (d) locating items used by a best matching subset of the other users located in steps (a) and (b) based on the scores, and (e) returning the items located in step (d) for consideration by the querying user; and a dynamic expert verification algorithm associated with the collaborative filtering algorithm, the expert verification algorithm being adapted to verify qualifications of the other users as experts relative to the querying user, the expert verification algorithm comprising logic used to objectively score at least one of a depth and a frequency of the user'"'"'s activity related to a topic area; wherein; the user behavior information is collected and stored in the profiles database; and the collected and stored user behavior information is used to update the implicit user profiles. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for recommending items to a user and verifying a user as an expert relative to a querying user, the method being implemented on a digital computer network, the method comprising:
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providing a computer coupled to the network; providing a profiles database stored in memory associated with the computer for storing explicit and implicit user profiles; providing a user interface coupled to the computer network and enabling user profile information to be entered and stored in a profiles database as an explicit user profile; the explicit user profiles comprising user entered information which comprises at least one of demographic information and occupation information; the implicit user profiles are obtained from user behavior information comprising at least one of keyword searches executed by the user, documents viewed by the user, documents saved by the user, vendors, products, or technologies the user is following, and peers the user has connected with; locating other users in said database that are similar to the profile of a querying user based on at least one of the explicit profiles and the implicit profiles; locating other users in said database that have the most expertise for a keyword provided by the querying user; determining scores of the other users located indicative of how well said other users match said querying user; based on said scores, locating items used by a best matching subset of the other users located; returning the items located on the basis of the best matching subset for consideration by the querying user; and verifying the qualifications of the users as experts, utilizing logic to objectively score at least one of a depth and a frequency of human interactions with peers and expert analysts related to a topic area; wherein; the user behavior information is collected and stored in the profiles database; and the collected and stored user behavior information is used to update the implicit user profiles. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification