Personalized information subscribing and delivering over instant messaging

• US 8,892,656 B2
• Filed: 04/29/2005
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Zhang, Peng, Ma, Jun Tao, Li, Ke Qin
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thu
• Assistant Examiner(s): WIDHALM, ANGELA M
• Application Number:
  US11/117,403
• Publication Number:
  US 20060190548A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,490 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205, 709206-207, 707/3, 715/752, 715/758
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

A method for providing information to an instant messaging (IM) user includes sending information to the user via an instant message based on interest information provided by the user. The interest information may not be restricted to a predetermined set of interest information.

Claims

1. A method for providing information to an instant messaging (IM) user, the method comprising:

sending, by an information delivery device, information to the user via an instant message based on interest information provided by the user, the interest information not being restricted to a predetermined set of interest information offered by an information provider;

wherein

the information is sent to the user based on the interest information and priority information provided by the user, the interest information being in the form of a text string provided by the user, and the priority information being generated based on the context of the text string, and

the priority information is indicative of a relative importance of the interest information to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the text string, defining at least a portion of the interest information, from the user via the instant message and

using at least a portion of the text string as an interest item; and

wherein

the sending step sends the information to the user based on the interest item.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the priority information for one or more interest items; and

wherein

the sending step sends the information to the user based on the interest items and the priority information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the priority information is user defined priority information.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining the relevance of an information item to a user based on the interest items and the priority information; and

wherein

the sending step sends the information item to the user based on the determined relevance.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each interest item includes at least one keyword representing the interest item, and the determining step further comprises:

determining a frequency of each keyword in at least one information item; and

determining the relevance based on the determined frequencies of the interest items and the priority information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the priority information associated with an interest item includes a priority value associated with the keyword included in the interest item, and the determining of the relevance further comprises:

forming a user vector where each position in the vector is associated with a keyword and includes a priority value associated with the keyword; and

forming a source vector for an information item where each position within the source vector is associated with a keyword in the user vector and includes a value equal to the determined frequency of the keyword in the information item; and

determining the relevance as a dot product of the user and source vectors.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sending step further comprises:

sending the information items to the user in order of relevance.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the sending step sends the information item based on a comparison of the determined relevance and a relevance threshold.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the sending step further comprises:

sending the information item to the user in order of relevance.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the relevance of an information item to a user based on the interest information; and

sending the information item to the user based on the determined relevance.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving the priority information for the interest information from the user; and

wherein

the determining step determines the relevance of the information item based on the interest information and the priority information.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the sending step sends the information item based on a comparison of the determined relevance and a relevance threshold.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

filtering the information item based on the determined relevance; and

wherein

the sending step sends the information item to the user if the information item passes the filtering step.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the priority information for the interest information from the user.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the interest information is not from a predetermined set of interest information offered by an information provider.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the interest information is at least one word.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the interest information is in a format.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the context of the text string refers to contextual language of the interest information and the context is also in the form of a text string.

19. A method for obtaining information via instant messaging (IM) services, the method comprising:

sending, by a user client device, interest information, which is not restricted to a predetermined set of interest information, via a first instant message, wherein the interest information is in the form of a text string;

generating, by an instant messaging system, priority information associated with the interest information based on the context of the text string;

generating, by the instant messaging system, information based on the interest information and priority information; and

receiving, at the user client device, the information, via a second instant message, based on the interest information provided via the first instant message;

wherein

the priority information is indicative of a relative importance of the interest information to the user.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the context of the text string refers to contextual language of the interest information and the context is also in the form of a text string.