Method and system for parallel fact checking

• US 9,177,053 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2012
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Myslinski, Lucas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Airapetian, Mila
• Application Number:
  US13/669,589
• Publication Number:
  US 20130074110A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7837 using objects detected or recognised in the video content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/063 Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/258 Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data arrangements for services using the result on the distributing side of broadcast systems H04H60/66; profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/30

Abstract

A fact checking system verifies the correctness of information and/or characterizes the information by comparing the information with one or more sources. The fact checking system automatically monitors, processes, fact checks information and indicates a status of the information.

Claims

1. A method programmed in a non-transitory memory of a first device, the first device comprising:

receiving, at the first device, broadcast information;

converting at least a portion of the broadcast information into searchable information;

automatically performing a first fact check for factual accuracy of the broadcast information using the first device, the first fact check including comparing the searchable information with information from one or more first sources;

automatically performing a second fact check for factual accuracy of the broadcast information in parallel with the first fact check, the second fact check including comparing the searchable information with information from one or more second sources;

wherein automatically performing the first fact check results in generating a first result of the first fact check;

wherein automatically performing the second fact check results in generating a second result of the second fact check;

causing to be displayed, on a second device, an indication of the first result of the first fact check and the second result of the second fact check.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically monitoring the broadcast information.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically monitoring different elements of the broadcast information in parallel.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically processing the broadcast information including parsing the searchable information into fact checkable portions.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more first sources are the same as the one or more second sources.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more first sources are different than the one or more second sources.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the indication is provided in real-time, wherein the first result and the second result are different from each other, and further including providing a rating with the first result and the second result.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first fact check and the second fact check each utilize a different set of fact checking criteria.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically comparing the first result from the first fact check with the second result from the second fact check to determine a final result.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein causing to be displayed comprises causing a final indication of the final result to be displayed on the second device.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising causing to be displayed, on the second device, an indication of each of the final result, the first result, and the second result.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the second fact check excludes one or more sources used by the first fact check.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the broadcast information comprises data from a plurality of data providers.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first fact check is for fact checking historical information, and the second fact check is for fact checking charts and graphics.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically performing a third fact check of the broadcast information for providing to provide supplemental information.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the first fact check and the second fact check utilize a plurality of sources including the one or more first sources and the one or more second sources, and each source of the plurality of sources has a reliability rating based on an accuracy of information within each source of the plurality of sources, wherein the accuracy is determined based on previous fact checking results, wherein a first source with a first reliability rating is given more weight during fact checking than a second source with a second reliability rating lower than the first reliability rating, wherein each source of the plurality of sources with the reliability rating below a threshold is not used in fact checking.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the threshold is a user-specified threshold.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast information is television broadcast information or radio broadcast information.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast information is caused to be displayed on the second device or a third device.

18. A first device comprising:

a memory for storing an application for automatically performing the following steps;

sending information to a second device to be fact checked for factual accuracy using a first fact check with a first set of sources and a second fact check with a second set of sources in parallel,

wherein the second device performs (1) the first fact check of searchable information, into which the information has been converted, with the first set of sources and (2) the second fact check of the searchable information with the second set of sources; and

receiving a result of the first fact check and the second fact check; and

a processor for processing the application.

19. A first device comprising:

a memory for storing an application for automatically performing the following steps;

converting information into searchable information;

performing a first fact check of the information using the searchable information and a first fact check criteria;

performing, in parallel with the first fact check, a second fact check of the information using the searchable information and a second fact check criteria that is different than the first fact check criteria;

comparing a first result from the first fact check with a second result from the second fact check to determine a final result; and

causing to be displayed, on a second device, an indication of the final result in real-time;

a processor for processing the application.