Contextual Relevance Engine for Activity Feeds

• US 20120296919A1
• Filed: 05/18/2011
• Published: 11/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sinha, Avijit, Stavrou, Evan
• Granted Patent: US 9,501,531 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/749
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24568 Data stream processing; Continuous queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

A method for determining relevance for activity feeds is disclosed. Activity feeds are received from one or more business entities. Information is received regarding activities being performed by a user. Context information is received regarding the user. A user context is determined from the information the regarding activities being performed by the user and the context information. The user context indicates the current status of the user. A relevance of the activity feeds is determined based on the user context. At least some of the activity feeds are displayed on a computing device. The at least some of the activity feeds are displayed according to a priority determined by the relevance.

Claims

1. A method implemented on a computing device for determining relevance for activity feeds, the method comprising:

receiving activity feeds from one or more business entities;

receiving information regarding activities being performed by a user;

receiving context information regarding the user;

determining a user context from the information regarding the activities being performed by the user and the context information regarding the user, the user context indicating a current status of the user;

determining a relevance of the activity feeds based on the user context; and

displaying at least some of the activity feeds on the computing device, the at least some of the activity feeds being displayed according to a priority determined by the relevance.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the activity feeds further comprises monitoring, listening to and recording change activity from the one or more business entities.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the activity feeds further comprises accepting change activity information provided by the one or more business entities.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more business entities include one or more of an enterprise system, an enterprise store and an external system.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more enterprise systems comprise one or more of email systems, instant messaging systems, document repository systems, project management systems and workflow systems.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more external systems comprise include one or more web sites external to the enterprise system.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an identification of one or more categories of activity information, the one or more categories of activity information identified as being of interest to the user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the calculation of the relevance is further based on the one or more categories of activity information identified as being of interest to the user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the activity feeds further comprises building a search index by crawling one or more of the business entities.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the activity feeds further comprises exposing one or more application programming interfaces through which change activity data is submitted.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein gathering the information regarding activities being performed by the user further comprises obtaining information from one or more of a calendar, an email system, a document system and an enterprise data system.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving configuration information regarding when user activity is tracked, when activity information is gathered, when user context is determined and when the relevance is calculated.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing one or more application programming interfaces for receiving requests from one or more applications for contextually relevant activity feeds.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising gathering environmental information and determining an environmental context from the environmental information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the calculation of relevance of the gathered activity information is further based on the environmental context.

16. A server computer comprising:

a processing unit; and

system memory, the system memory including instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the server computer to;

receive activity feeds from one or more business entities, the one or more business entities comprising one or more of an enterprise system, an enterprise store and an external system, the one or more enterprise systems comprising one or more of email systems, instant messaging systems, document repository systems, project management systems and workflow systems, the receiving of the activity feeds comprising;

monitor, listen to and record change activity from one or more of the business entities;

accept change activity information provided by one or more the business entities; and

build a search index by crawling one or more of the business entities;

receive information regarding activities being performed by a user, the information being obtained from one or more of a calendar, an email system, a document system and an enterprise data system;

determine a user context from the gathered information regarding the activities being performed by the user, the user context indicating a current status of the user;

calculate a relevance of the activity feeds based on the user context; and

display at least some of the activity feeds on the computing device, the at least some of the activity feeds being displayed according to a priority determined by the calculated relevance.

17. The server computer of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the server computer to provide one or more application programming interfaces for receiving requests from one or more applications for contextually relevant activity feeds.

18. The server computer of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the server computer to expose one or more application programming interfaces through which change activity data may be submitted.

19. The server computer of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the server computer to determine an environmental context from the environmental information, the calculation of relevance of the gathered activity information being further based on the environmental context.

20. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a server computer, cause the server computer to:

process activity feeds from one or more business entities;

receive information regarding activities being performed by a user;

determine a user context from the received information regarding the activities being performed by the user, the user context indicating a current status of the user;

calculate a relevance of the activity feeds based on the user context; and

display at least some of the activity feeds on the computing device, the at least some of the activity feeds being displayed according to a priority determined by the calculated relevance.