Temporal document sorter and method
First Claim
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1. A method of automatically sorting electronic documents by their temporal characteristics with a computing system comprising:
- a) identifying at least a first event having first content embodied in a first electronic document with the computing system;
wherein said first event is assigned by the computing system to a plurality of different event states each represented by a different temporal value within a temporal sequence defined for such first event;
b) analyzing said first electronic document with the computing system to identify first temporal components and calculate a first temporal value;
wherein said first temporal components relate to a first state of said first event and include first temporal related data for said first state that is not any of a creation time alone, a publication time alone, or a combination of a creation time and publication time alone;
c) repeating step (b) to analyze a second electronic document with second content related to said at least first event with the computing system to identify second temporal components relating to a second state of said first event and a second temporal value;
d) comparing said first temporal value and said second temporal value to generate an output with the computing system identifying which of said first and second electronic documents contains content describing a more current state of said first event within said defined temporal sequence.
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Abstract
Electronic documents are classified and compared according to their temporal qualities. The content of a document relating to an event is analyzed to identify temporal components. These components can be compared with corresponding counterparts in other documents to identify a relative temporal order. The invention can be used in environments such as automated news aggregators, search engines, and other electronic systems which compile information having temporal qualities.
92 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method of automatically sorting electronic documents by their temporal characteristics with a computing system comprising:
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a) identifying at least a first event having first content embodied in a first electronic document with the computing system;
wherein said first event is assigned by the computing system to a plurality of different event states each represented by a different temporal value within a temporal sequence defined for such first event;b) analyzing said first electronic document with the computing system to identify first temporal components and calculate a first temporal value; wherein said first temporal components relate to a first state of said first event and include first temporal related data for said first state that is not any of a creation time alone, a publication time alone, or a combination of a creation time and publication time alone; c) repeating step (b) to analyze a second electronic document with second content related to said at least first event with the computing system to identify second temporal components relating to a second state of said first event and a second temporal value; d) comparing said first temporal value and said second temporal value to generate an output with the computing system identifying which of said first and second electronic documents contains content describing a more current state of said first event within said defined temporal sequence. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method of automatically sorting electronic documents by their temporal characteristics with a computing system comprising:
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a. with the computing system; [i] generating a temporal sequence for a first event, said temporal sequence including a plurality of different event states for such first event having a corresponding temporal interpretation, based on processing content for a reference set of documents relating to said first event; wherein the computing system further processes said reference set of documents to create a comparison set of documents representing distinct temporal interpretations related to said first event; [ii] generating a first approximate temporal interpretation of a first electronic document relative to a state of said first event; b. wherein said first approximate temporal interpretation is based on temporal characteristics from of a set of electronic training documents and include temporal characteristics for said state that are not any of a creation time alone, a publication time alone, or a combination of a creation time and publication time alone; c. using said first approximate temporal interpretation to identify a comparison set of documents for said first electronic document; d. generating a second temporal interpretation of said first electronic document based on said first approximate temporal interpretation and correlating such document with one or more second electronic documents having a third temporal interpretation value and taken from said comparison set. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method of automatically sorting electronic documents by their temporal characteristics with a computing system comprising:
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a. providing a set of reference temporal interpretation values for a first reference event based on processing a set of reference documents; wherein said first reference event is associated by the computing system with a plurality of different event reference states each represented by and corresponding to a different reference temporal interpretation value defined for such first reference event; further wherein each of said reference temporal interpretation values is based on temporal components of content identified in the documents that are not any of a creation time alone, a publication time alone, or a combination of a creation time and publication time alone; b. processing a first electronic document with the computing system to identify if content therein describes a second event matching said first reference event, and to identify a corresponding first initial coarse temporal interpretation value of said second event; wherein said first initial coarse temporal interpretation value maps said first electronic document to a first temporal bin; c. comparing said first electronic document with a second electronic document in the first temporal bin within the set of reference documents and having a known reference temporal interpretation value to determine a second reference temporal interpretation value of said second event; d. generating a final temporal related value for said first electronic document within said first temporal bin based on said first initial coarse temporal interpretation value and said second reference interpretation value . - View Dependent Claims (34, 35)
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Specification