Generating and evaluating expert networks

• US 8,996,341 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2012
• Issued: 03/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cheng, Winnie W., Miao, Gengxin, Moulic, James R., Tao, Shu
• Primary Examiner(s): Thangavelu, Kandasamy
• Application Number:
  US13/610,116
• Publication Number:
  US 20140075318A1
• Time in Patent Office: 931 Days
• Field of Search: 703/2, 703/6, 703/13, 716/12, 716/46, 716/52
• US Class Current: 703/6
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/142 using statistical or mathematical methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them

Abstract

A system comprises a modeling component, a routing component, a simulator component and a configuration component. The modeling component is operative to obtain at least one model of at least one collaborative network. The routing component is operative to model at least one routing pattern for one or more nodes of a given collaborative network. The simulator component is operative to simulate one or more virtual network topologies of the given collaborative network using the at least one model and the at least one routing pattern. The configuration component is operative to configure one or more given virtual network topologies on the given collaborative network. The collaborative network comprises a plurality of nodes and one or more edges between pairs of the plurality of nodes. The modeling component, routing component, simulator component and configuration component are executed by at least one processing device.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a modeling component operative to obtain at least one model of at least one collaborative network;

a routing component operative to model at least one routing pattern for one or more nodes of a given collaborative network;

a simulator component operative to simulate one or more virtual network topologies of the given collaborative network using the at least one model and the at least one routing pattern; and

a configuration component operative to configure a given one of the one or more virtual network topologies on the given collaborative network based on the simulation results;

wherein the given collaborative network comprises a plurality of nodes and one or more edges between pairs of the plurality of nodes; and

wherein the modeling component, routing component, simulator component and configuration component are executed by at least one processing device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one model is a graphical model of at least one human network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling component generates the at least one model based at least in part on historical data of at least one collaborative network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the modeling component retrieves the at least one model from a database.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more virtual network topologies are simulated to optimize one or more network performance metrics of the given collaborative network.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more network performance metrics comprise at least one of:

an in-degree distribution of a number of incoming edges for each of the one or more nodes of the given collaborative network, an incoming edge representing a connection which is received at a node;

an out-degree distribution of a number of outgoing edges for each of the one or more nodes of the given collaborative network, an outgoing edge representing a connection which originates at a node; and

a clustering coefficient measuring a number of edges for a given node in the given collaborative network.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the clustering coefficient is a function of at least one of:

similarity between expertise of nodes in the given collaborative network and interactions between nodes in the given collaborative network.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the routing model identifies the number of edges required to route information between nodes in the given collaborative network until the information is received by a destination node.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the information represents an unsolved problem and the destination node is a node capable of solving the unsolved problem.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the routing model identifies the number of edges by:

reading historical routing data from a database; and

creating stochastic models to emulate routing behavior of nodes;

wherein the emulated routing behavior is based at least in part on actual route information observed from historical data.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the given one of the one or more virtual network topologies is configured subject to one or more physical constraints of the given collaborative network.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more physical constraints comprises at least one of an organizational hierarchy of nodes in the given collaborative network and a geographic distribution of nodes in the given collaborative network.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more virtual network topologies are simulated subject to one or more physical constraints of the given collaborative network.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the simulator component is operative to evaluate routing performance of the one or more virtual network topologies, the routing performance being based at least in part on the number of edges required to route information between nodes in the given collaborative network until the information is received by a destination node.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the simulator component identifies a recommended virtual network topology based at least in part on evaluated routing performance of the one or more virtual network topologies.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the simulator component is operative to generate at least one performance report comprising quality metrics for at least one of the one or more virtual network topologies.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the quality metrics comprise at least one of:

a number of edges required to route each of a plurality of tasks;

a number of nodes required to route each of a plurality of tasks;

an estimated time required to complete each of a plurality of tasks; and

an estimated number of unsolved tasks in a plurality of tasks.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the given collaborative network is a support network, and each of the plurality of nodes represents a human expert user of the support network.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the simulator component utilizes a power-law distribution to generate edges among a plurality of nodes in a given virtual network topology.

20. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor device operatively coupled to the memory and configured to;

obtain at least one model of at least one collaborative network;

model at least one routing pattern for one or more nodes of a given collaborative network;

simulate one or more virtual network topologies of the given collaborative network using the at least one model and the at least one routing pattern; and

configure a given one of the one or more virtual network topologies on the given collaborative network based on the simulation results;

wherein the given collaborative network comprises a plurality of nodes and one or more edges between pairs of the plurality of nodes.

21. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium for storing computer readable program code which, when executed, causes a computer to:

obtain at least one model of at least one collaborative network;

model at least one routing pattern for one or more nodes of a given collaborative network;

simulate one or more virtual network topologies of the given collaborative network using the at least one model and the at least one routing pattern; and

configure a given one of the one or more virtual network topologies on the given collaborative network based on the simulation results;

wherein the given collaborative network comprises a plurality of nodes and one or more edges between pairs of the plurality of nodes.