Dynamic Information Hierarchies

• US 20110029489A1
• Filed: 07/30/2009
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Zhao, Mingyang
• Granted Patent: US 8,135,753 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/648
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24556 Aggregation; Duplicate elimination

Abstract

A dynamic information hierarchy may be provided. Logging data comprising a captured user event and a component ID associated with a hierarchical node may be stored in a raw data table. The stored data may be aggregated across the nodes of the hierarchy, stored in an aggregation table, and provided to a user in a report.

Claims

1. A method for providing a dynamic information hierarchy, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of logging data associated with at least one object;

storing a plurality of data in a data table, wherein each of the plurality of data is associated with an object identifier and an ancestor identifier;

aggregating the plurality of data into an aggregation table according to the ancestor identifier; and

providing an aggregation report.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one object comprises a web page.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the object identifier is associated with the web page.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a relationship table comprising a plurality of nodes, wherein each of the plurality of nodes comprises a unique component identifier.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the unique component identifier of at least one of the plurality of nodes comprises the ancestor identifier of at least one of the plurality of stored data.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein at least one of the plurality of nodes of the relationship table comprises a top level node and wherein each of the others of the plurality of nodes comprises a descendant node of the top level node.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each node in the relationship table comprises data associated with an ancestor level, an ancestor ID, a descendant level, and a descendant ID.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein aggregating the plurality of data into an aggregation table according to the ancestor identifier comprises creating an entry in the aggregation table for at least one of the plurality of nodes comprising data associated with at least one descendant node associated with the at least one of the plurality of nodes.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating the plurality of data into a plurality of aggregation tables, wherein each of the plurality of aggregation tables is associated with a category associated with at least one element of the plurality of data.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating the plurality of data into the aggregation table at a configurable time interval.

11. A computer-readable medium which stores a set of instructions which when executed performs a method for providing a dynamic information hierarchy, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

receiving at least one data element, wherein the at least one data element comprises a captured user event and a component ID;

inserting the at least one data element into a data table comprising a plurality of data elements; and

aggregating the plurality of data elements according to the component ID associated with each of the plurality of data elements.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the component ID is associated with a node of a plurality of nodes.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein at least one first node of the plurality of nodes comprises an ancestor node of at least one second node of the plurality of nodes.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein aggregating the plurality of data elements according to the component ID associated with each of the plurality of data elements comprises:

counting each of the plurality of data elements associated with at least one of the plurality of nodes and the captured user event; and

inserting the count associated with the at least one of the plurality of nodes and the captured user event in an aggregation table.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

counting each of the plurality of data elements associated with a subset of the plurality of nodes and the captured user event, wherein each of the subset of the plurality of nodes comprises a descendant node the at least one of the plurality of nodes; and

inserting the count associated with the subset of the plurality of nodes and the captured user event in an entry in the aggregation table associated with the at least one of the plurality of nodes.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

determining whether at least one node of the subset of the plurality of nodes comprises a non-accumulation property; and

in response to determining that the at least one node of the subset of the plurality of nodes comprises the non-accumulation property, skipping the at least one node of the subset of the plurality of nodes comprising the non-accumulation property in the count associated with the subset of the plurality of nodes.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of nodes is associated with a hierarchy level.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising adding an entry to a hierarchy table associated with a new node.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein at least one node of the plurality of nodes comprises a collection of user-accessible web objects.

20. A system for providing a dynamic information hierarchy, the system comprising:

a memory storage; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to;

maintain a hierarchy table comprising a plurality of entries associated with a plurality of hierarchical nodes, wherein each of the plurality of hierarchical nodes is associated with at least one of the following;

a site farm, a web-application, a site collection, a site, a sub-site, and a web page and wherein at least one first node of the plurality of hierarchical nodes is associated with an entry in the hierarchy table identifying a level of the at least one first node and an entry in the hierarchy table identifying at least one second node of the plurality of hierarchical nodes as a descendant of the at least one first node;

receive a data element associated with a web page comprising a captured user behavior and an identifier associated with the at least one second node, wherein the web page comprises one of a plurality of objects associated with the at least one second node;

create an entry in a data table associated with the received data element, wherein the entry comprises an identifier associated with the web page, the identifier associated with the at least one second node, and at least one property associated with the captured user behavior;

count a number of entries in the data table associated with the at least one second node;

count a number of entries in the data table associated with at least one third node, wherein the at least one third node comprises a descendant node of the at least one first node;

aggregate the count of entries associated with the at least one second node and the at least one third node into a count of entries associated with the at least one first node;

update an aggregation table with a first entry comprising the count of entries associated with the aggregated count of entries associated with at least one first node, a second entry comprising the count of entries associated with the at least one second node, and a third entry comprising the count of entries associated with the at least one third node; and

provide a report to a user, wherein the report comprises at least one entry from the aggregation table according to a user-defined criteria.