Apparatus, systems and methods for interactive dissemination of knowledge

• US 8,832,117 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2012
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Su-Kam Intelligent Education Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Su-Kam Intelligent Education Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Su, Julius
• Primary Examiner(s): LEWIS, CHERYL RENEA
• Application Number:
  US13/367,264
• Publication Number:
  US 20130204881A1
• Time in Patent Office: 946 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/748
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/043 Distributed expert systems; Blackboards

Abstract

Embodiments of apparatus, systems and methods facilitate knowledge dissemination and promote knowledge acquisition, in part, by automatically presenting elements of an interlinked knowledge base to optimize learning efficiency. In some embodiments, content associated with a plurality of linked subject items in a knowledge base is disseminated to a user based on rankings determined using a priority value associated with candidate subject items. The candidacy is determined and the priority value is computed based on, at least in part, user-specific understanding values corresponding to the candidate subject items; user-specific understanding values of at least one of a plurality of basic subject items linked to the candidate subject items, and user-specific understanding values of at least one of plurality of advanced subject items linked to the candidate subject items. Content associated with the plurality of candidate subject items may be displayed to the user in order of rank based upon user interest.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method for disseminating content associated with a plurality of linked subject items in a knowledge base wherein individual subject items are associated with corresponding user-specific understanding values, the method comprising:

ranking at least one of a plurality of candidate subject items for presentation to at least one user based on priority values associated with the candidate subject items, wherein the candidacies are determined and the priority values are computed based, at least in part, on;

the user-specific understanding values corresponding to the at least one of a plurality of candidate subject items,

the user-specific understanding values of at least one of a plurality of basic subject items linked to the at least one candidate subject item, and

the user-specific understanding values of at least one of plurality of advanced subject items linked to the at least one candidate subject item.

2. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising displaying content associated with the at least one of the plurality of candidate subject items in order of rank.

3. The processor-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the display of content associated with the at least one of the plurality of candidate subject items is based, in part, on input indicating user-interest in the at least one of the plurality of candidate subject items.

4. The processor-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the content is displayed on at least one of:

a smart phone,

a handheld computing device,

a tablet computer,

a notebook computer, or

a desktop computer.

5. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the priority values associated with the at least one of a plurality of candidate subject items are recomputed if a specified time interval has elapsed since the most recent computation of priority values associated with the at least one candidate subject item.

6. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein basic subject items comprise subject items linked to the at least one candidate subject item whose understanding would aid the understanding of content associated with the candidate subject item.

7. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein advanced subject items comprise those subject items linked to the at least one candidate subject item and where understanding of the candidate subject item would aid the understanding of the advanced subject items.

8. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the priority value is computed based on the user-specific understanding values corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of candidate subject items, if the user-specific understanding values are below an understanding value threshold.

9. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein user-specific linkage strengths are used to indicate a strength of association between pairs of linked subject items in the knowledge base and the linkage strengths are used in the determination of candidacy and in the computation of the priority values.

10. The processor-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the priority values are computed based on the understanding values of at least one of a plurality of subject items, if the weighted average of the understanding values corresponding to the at least one of a plurality of basic subject items is above an understanding value threshold, wherein the weights associated with the understanding values are a function of the user-specific linkage strengths between the at least one of the plurality of basic subject items and the candidate subject item.

11. The processor-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the priority values are computed based on the understanding values of at least one of plurality of subject items, if the weighted average of the understanding values corresponding to the at least one of a plurality of advanced subject items is below an understanding value threshold, wherein the weights associated with the understanding values are a function of the user-specific linkage strengths between the at least one of the plurality of advanced subject items and the candidate subject item.

12. The processor-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising computing the user-specific linkage strengths during the determination of candidacy and computation of priority values based, at least in part, on:

time elapsed since the immediately preceding update of the user-specific linkage strengths, and/or

user-specific time variation modification parameters.

13. The processor-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

displaying content associated with the at least one of the plurality of candidate subject items to the user based on input indicating user-interest in the at least one of the plurality of candidate subject items; and

updating the user-specific linkage strengths and/or user-specific time variation modification parameters based, at least in part, on the user'"'"'s interest in the content.

14. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the ranking is performed in decreasing order of priority value.

15. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising computing the user-specific understanding values during the determination of candidacy and computation of priority values, based, in part, on at least one of:

time elapsed since the immediately preceding update of the user-specific understanding values, or

user-specific time variation modification parameters.

16. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising updating the user-specific understanding values and/or user-specific time variation modification parameters based, at least in part, on the user'"'"'s comprehension of the content after the content has been displayed.

17. The processor-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed on at least one of:

a compute cloud,

a server farm, or

a computing device.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of candidate subject items are linked to an immediately preceding subject item viewed by a user.

19. A system comprising:

a computing platform coupled to storage device,

the storage device comprising a knowledge base,

the knowledge base comprising content associated with a plurality of linked subject items, and wherein individual subject items are associated with corresponding user-specific understanding values, and

wherein the computing platform performs a method to retrieve and disseminate content associated with the plurality of linked subject items in the knowledge base the method comprising;

ranking at least one of a plurality of candidate subject items for presentation to at least one user based on priority values associated with the candidate subject items, wherein the candidacy is determined and the priority values are computed based, at least in part, on;

the user-specific understanding values corresponding to the at least one of a plurality of candidate subject items,

the understanding values of at least one of a plurality of basic subject items linked to the at least one candidate subject item, and

the understanding values of at least one of plurality of advanced subject items linked to the at least one candidate subject item.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising displaying content associated with the at least one of the plurality of candidate subject items in order of rank.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the content is displayed on at least one of:

a smart phone,

a handheld computing device,

a tablet computer,

a notebook computer, or

a desktop computer.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the content display device and the computing platform are wirelessly coupled.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the computing platform comprises at least one of:

a cloud,

a server farm, or

a computing device.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein user-specific linkage strengths are used to indicate a strength of association between pairs of linked subject items in the knowledge base and the linkage strengths are used in the determination of candidacy and the computation of the priority values.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the priority values are computed based on the understanding values of at least one of a plurality of subject items, if the weighted average of the understanding values corresponding to the at least one of a plurality of basic subject items is above an understanding value threshold, wherein the weights associated with the understanding values are a function of the user-specific linkage strengths between the at least one of the plurality of basic subject items and the candidate subject item.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the priority values are computed based on the understanding values of at least one of plurality of subject items, if the weighted average of the understanding values corresponding to the at least one of a plurality of advanced subject items is below an understanding value threshold, wherein the weights associated with the understanding values are a function of the user-specific linkage strengths between the at least one of the plurality of advanced subject items and the candidate subject item.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the priority value is computed based on the user-specific understanding values corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of candidate subject items, if the user-specific understanding values are below an understanding value threshold.

28. The system of claim 19, wherein the knowledge base is coupled to the computing platform over the Internet.

29. The system of claim 19, wherein the plurality of candidate subject items are linked to an immediately preceding subject item viewed by a user.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions, which when executed by a processor perform steps in a computer-implemented method for disseminating content associated with a plurality of linked subject items in a knowledge base wherein individual subject items are associated with corresponding user-specific understanding values, the method comprising:

ranking at least one of a plurality of candidate subject items for presentation to at least one user based on priority values associated with the candidate subject items, wherein the candidacy is determined and the priority values are computed based, at least in part, on;

the user-specific understanding values corresponding to the at least one of a plurality of candidate subject items,

the user-specific understanding values of at least one of a plurality of basic subject items linked to the at least one candidate subject item, and

the user-specific understanding values of at least one of plurality of advanced subject items linked to the at least one candidate subject item; and

displaying content associated with the at least one of the plurality of candidate subject items in order of rank.