Method for enabling a user to fetch a specific information item from a set of information items, and a system for carrying out such a method

• US 6,216,133 B1
• Filed: 05/30/1996
• Issued: 04/10/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: US Philips Corporation (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Masthoff, Judith F. M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lintz, Paul R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): RONES, CHARLES
• Application Number:
  US08/655,169
• Time in Patent Office: 1,776 Days
• Field of Search: 707/4, 707/104, 707/10, 707/6, 345/355, 345/327, 395/200.48
• US Class Current: 707/784
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/338 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/34 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/915 Image
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A user of a system comprising a large set of information items, for example a multimedia database, is assisted by an agent in searching the set. The agent has a given affinity for the information items and selects a specific information item from the set in conformity with said affinity. On the basis of the interactions between the user and the system an image is formed of the affinity of the user for the information items. The agent utilizes this image, in addition to its own affinity, for the selection of a specific information item. A major application of the invention concerns a system in which the information items are presented as objects in a space and in which the agent guides the user through the space and proposes a specific object to the user.

Claims

1. A method enabling a user to fetch a specific information item from a set of information items in an information processing system in which each information item has one or more item attributes, the system comprising a first agent for evaluating the item attributes associated with the information items, thus forming an agent affinity between the first agent and each of the information items evaluated, the method comprising:

selecting the specific information item by the first agent in dependence on said agent affinity; and

forming at least once an image of a user affinity between the user and the information items from a pattern of past interactions between the user and the system and recording this image in a user attribute;

wherein the selection step comprises the selection of the specific information item by the first agent in further dependence on the user attribute.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the set comprises sub-sets;

and

further comprising executing the following operation in the processor;

making one of the sub-sets accessible for selection of the specific information item by the first agent, the one sub-set comprising a first list with neighbour sets, a neighbour set comprising a given one of the other sub-sets, and

wherein, in the causing step, the first agent selects a specific sub-set from the first list of the accessible sub-set, which specific sub-set includes the at least one specific information item.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein:

the making accessible of a subset on the basis of the first list is presented to the user in a first way; and

a sub-set comprises a second list of neighbour sets, the making accessible of a sub-set on the basis of the second list being presented to the user in a second way.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the accessible sub-set with the sub-sets from the first list are reproduced spatially to the user.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the spatial reproduction comprises a reproduction of the sub-sets on a map.

6. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the spatial reproduction comprises a reproduction of the sub-sets in an artificial space.

7. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the information items have an appearance which can be reproduced on a display screen of the system and the appearance of the information items of the accessible sub-set is displayed.

8. A method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising executing the following steps in the device:

providing a first representation of the one sub-set to the user; and

providing a second representation of a non-accessible sub-set to the user.

9. A computer method for selecting at least one specific information item from amongst a set of information items, each item having one or more attributes, the method comprising executing the following steps in a digital data processing device:

maintaining a first agent profile;

maintaining a user profile based upon a pattern of past interactions between the user and the system; and

causing the first agent to select the specific information item based upon

a first relationship between the first agent profile and the attributes of the items in the set; and

a second relationship between the user profile and the attributes of the items in the set.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising executing the following steps in the device:

maintaining respective profiles for a plurality of agents; and

activating the first agent from amongst the plurality based upon the user profile.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising executing the following step in the device:

deactivating the first agent in response to user input.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of updating the user profile based upon user acceptance or rejection of the specific information item.

13. A method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising executing the following steps in the device:

presenting a first representation of the specific information item to the user, and

presenting a second representation of a non-selected information item to the user.

14. An information processing system comprising:

a set of information items, each of which comprises one or more item attributes;

a first agent having an instantaneous state for evaluating the item attributes associated with the information items and determining an agent affinity between the first agent and the information items, and for selecting a specific information item from the set for a user of a system in dependence on the agent affinity; and

means for forming an image of a user affinity between the user and the information items on the basis of a pattern of past interactions between the user and the system and for recording this image in a user attribute;

wherein the first agent is suitable to select the specific information item in further dependence on the user attribute.

15. An information processing system as claimed in claim 12, wherein

the set comprises sub-sets, at least one of the sub-sets comprising a first list with neighbour sets, and

the causing operation includes causing the first agent to select a specific sub-set from the first list of the accessible sub-set which specific sub-set includes the at least one specific information item.

16. An information processing system as claimed in claim 15, wherein

the sub-set comprises a second list of neighbor sets;

the processor is further configured for performing the following operations;

presenting to the user the making accessible of a first sub-set to the user in a first way, on the basis of the first list

presenting to the user the making accessible of a second sub-set in a second way, on the basis of the second list.

17. An information processing system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the first way is spatially.

18. A digital data processing device for selecting at least one specific information item, the device comprising:

at least one medium readable by the device, the at least one medium embodying;

a set of information items, each of which comprises one or more item attributes;

an instantaneous state of at least a first agent; and

a user profile;

at least one processor configured for performing the following operation;

causing the first agent to select the specific information item from the set based upon

a first relationship between the instantaneous state and the attributes of the items in the set; and

a second relationship between the user profile and the attributes of the items in the set.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the process is configured to perform the following additional operations;

providing a first representation of the specific information item; and

providing a second representation of a non-selected information item.

20. The device of claim 18 wherein:

the at least one medium embodies instantaneous states of a set of agents, which set of agents comprises the first agent; and

the processor is further configured to perform the following operation;

causing activation of the first agent in dependence on the user attribute.

21. The device of claim 18, wherein said at least one processor is further configured to update the user profile based upon user acceptance or rejection of the specific information item.