Advanced information gathering for targeted activities

• US 6,845,370 B2
• Filed: 11/19/1998
• Issued: 01/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Knapp Investment Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Accenture LLP (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: HO, DENISE, Burkey, Chad
• Primary Examiner(s): Homere, Jean R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Application Number:
  US09/195,875
• Publication Number:
  US 20030009430A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,252 Days
• Field of Search: 707 2- 35, 707/100, 707/10, 707/102, 707201-203, 709/203, 709317-318, 709/201, 709/245, 709/247, 379/93, 701/201, 705/8
• US Class Current: 707/749
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

An agent based system assists in preparing an individual for an upcoming meeting by helping him/her retrieve relevant information about the meeting from various sources based on preexisting information in the system. The system obtains input text in character form indicative of the target meeting from a calendar program that includes the time of the meeting. As the time of the meeting approaches, the calendar program is queried to obtain the text of the target event and that information is utilized as input to the agent system. Then, the agent system parses the input meeting text to extract its various components such as title, body, participants, location, time etc. The system also performs pattern matching to identify particular meeting fields in a meeting text. This information is utilized to query various sources of information on the web and obtain relevant stories about the current meeting to send back to the calendaring system. For example, if an individual has a meeting with Netscape and Microsoft to talk about their disputes, the system obtains this initial information from the calendaring system. It will then parse out the text to realize that the companies in the meeting are “Netscape” and “Microsoft” and the topic is “disputes”. It will then surf the web for relevant information concerning the topic. Thus, in accordance with an objective of the invention, the system updates the calendaring system and eventually the user with the best information it can gather to prepare for the target meeting. In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the information is stored in a file that is obtained via selection from a link imbedded in the calendar system.

Claims

1. A method for creating an information summary, comprising the steps of:

(a) retrieving a plurality of terms descriptive of an upcoming event;

(b) transmitting the terms to a software agent that autonomously creates a query based on the terms;

(c) querying a network of information utilizing the query; and

(d) updating the information associated with the upcoming event with information from the query, the updating comprising adding information obtained from the query when the information summary has previously been created, or creating the information summary when the information summary has not vet been created,

wherein the information summary is established or updated at a predetermined time before the event.

2. A method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, including the step of parsing the terms based on predefined criteria to create the query.

3. A method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, including the step of providing constants that are utilized by the system for dynamically configuring the system based on current user inputs.

4. A method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, including the step of ranking the results based on relevance to meeting criteria.

5. A method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, including the step of utilizing proximity to a meeting date as a filtering device for the information summary.

6. A method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, including the step of pattern recognition to enhance the location of pertinent information.

7. A method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, including support for querying the Internet to obtain pertinent information.

8. A method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, including optimizing the query for a particular engine.

9. A method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, including the step of responding to updates of the meeting information to obtain additional summary information pertinent to the updates.

10. The method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, wherein the query is created by applying a pattern template to the plurality of terms.

11. The method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 10, wherein the terms include at least one indicator, and wherein the applying a pattern template further includes determining if a part of the terms can be bound to the pattern, binding at least one of the plurality of text strings, and locating an indicator.

12. The method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, wherein the information summary is stored and displayed separately from the description of the upcoming event.

13. The method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, further comprising inserting a link to the updated information summary in the description of the upcoming event.

14. The method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of updating the information summary comprises filtering the information retrieved from the query based on a profile of the user, and adding the filtered information to the information summary.

15. The method for creating art information summary as recited in claim 1, wherein the query seeks to obtain additional information relating to at least one of a person, a topic, a location and a company identified in the description of the upcoming event.

16. The method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 15, further comprising providing access to the information summary by creating a link thereto that is accessible to a user.

17. The method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 15, wherein the information from the query is stored separately from the description of the upcoming event.

18. The method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 15, wherein the terms identified in the description as a name of a company are verified by comparison with a resource containing names of companies.

19. An apparatus that creates an information summary, comprising:

(a) a processor;

(b) a memory that stores information under the control of the processor;

(c) logic that retrieves a plurality of search terms descriptive of an upcoming event (d) logic that transmits the terms to a software agent that autonomously creates a query based on the terms;

(e) logic that queries a network of information utilizing the query; and

(f) logic that updates the information associated wit the upcoming event with information from the query, the logic that updates comprising adding information obtained from the query when the information summary has previously been created, or creating the information summary when the information summary has not yet been created,

wherein the information summary is established or updated at a predetermined time before the event.

20. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium that creates an information summary, comprising:

(a) a code segment that retrieves a plurality of terms descriptive of an upcoming event;

(b) a code segment that transmits the terms to a software agent that autonomously creates a query based on the terms;

(c) a code segment that queries a network of information utilizing the query; and

(d) updating the information associated with the upcoming event with information from the query, the updating comprising adding information obtained from the query when the in formation summary has previously been created, or creating the in formation summary when the information summary has not yet been created,

wherein the information summary is established or updated at a predetermined time before the event.

21. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium that creates to an information summary as recited in claim 20, including logic that parses the terms based on predefined criteria to create the query.

22. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium that creates an information summary as recited in claim 20, including logic that modifies constants that are utilized by the system for dynamically configuring the system based on current user inputs.

23. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium that creates an information summary as recited in claim 20, including logic that ranks the results based on relevance to meeting criteria.

24. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium that creates an information summary as recited in claim 20, including logic that utilizes proximity to a meeting date as a filtering device for the information summary.

25. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium that creates an information summary as recited in claim 20, including logic that recognizes patterns to enhance the location of pertinent information.

26. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium that creates to an information summary as recited in claim 20, including logic that queries the Internet to obtain pertinent information.

27. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium that creates an information summary as recited in claim 20, including logic that optimizes the query for a particular engine.

28. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium that creates an information summary as recited in claim 20, including logic that responds to updates of the meeting information to obtain additional summary information pertinent to the updates.

29. A method for creating an information summary, comprising the steps of:

(a) retrieving a plurality of terms descriptive of an upcoming event;

(b) transmitting the terms to a software agent that autonomously creates a query based on the terms;

(c) querying a network of information utilizing the query; and

(d) updating the information associated with the upcoming event with information from the query,

wherein the query is created by applying a pattern template to the plurality of terms, and

wherein the pattern template is adapted for identifying words separated by punctuation, identifying full names by finding two capitalized words, parsing out time strings, and identifying continuous phrases of capitalized words as at least one of a company, topic and location.

30. The method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 29, wherein the step of updating the information summary comprises adding information obtained from the query when the information summary has previously been created, or creating the information summary when the information summary has not yet been created.

31. The method for creating an information summary as recited in claim 30, wherein the information summary is established or updated at a predetermined time before the event.

32. Method for creating an information summary regarding an upcoming event comprising:

receiving input regarding the upcoming event;

autonomously creating a query based on the input;

autonomously querying a network utilizing the query to retrieve relevant information;

autonomously deriving background information for the upcoming event from the relevant information, the background information comprising a subset of the relevant information; and

updating the information associated with the upcoming event with the background information, the updating comprising adding information obtained from the query when the information summary has previously been created, or creating the information summary when the information summary has not vet been created,

wherein the information summary is established or updated at a predetermined time before the event.

33. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 32, wherein deriving background information comprises summarizing at least a part of the relevant information.

34. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 32, wherein deriving background information comprises filtering at least a part of the relevant information.

35. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 32, wherein querying a network utilizing the query to retrieve relevant information comprises generating a list of relevant information, and

wherein deriving background information comprises prioritizing at least a part of the list, the step of deriving being performed after the step of generating a list.

36. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 32, wherein deriving background information is based on a profile of the user.

37. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 36, wherein the user profile comprises user-specified data.

38. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 36, wherein the user profile comprises data extrapolated from a user'"'"'s activities.

39. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 32, further comprising notifying the user regarding the background information.

40. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 32, wherein querying a network is performed repeatedly.

41. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 32, wherein querying a network is performed periodically.

42. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 32, wherein querying a network utilizing the query to retrieve relevant information comprises querying a search engine on a network utilizing the query to retrieve relevant information.

43. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 32, further comprising:

determining a commercial service based on the input; and

sending information regarding the commercial service to the user.

44. The method for retrieving information as recited in claim 32, Thither comprising selecting a device, from a plurality of user devices, and

sending at least a portion of the background intbrmation to the selected device.

45. The method of retrieving information as recited in claim 44, wherein selecting a device is based on a user profile.

46. The method of retrieving information as recited in claim 44, wherein deriving background information comprises selecting information, based on the device, for the upcoming event from the relevant information.

47. Method for retrieving relevant creating an information summary regarding an upcoming event for a user comprising:

receiving input regarding the upcoming event;

autonomously creating a first query based on the input;

autonomously querying a first network utilizing the first query to retrieve first relevant information;

autonomously creating a second query based on the input, the second query being different from the first query;

autonomously querying a second network utilizing the second query to retrieve second relevant information; and

updating the information associated with the upcoming event with information from the queries, the updating comprising adding at least a nation of the first relevant information and second relevant information when the information summary has previously been created, or creating the information summary when the information summary has not yet been created,

wherein the information summary is established or updated at a predetermined time before the event.

48. The method of retrieving relevant information as recited in claim 47, wherein the first network comprises a first public internet website and the second network comprises a second public internet website.

49. The method of retrieving relevant information as recited in claim 47, further comprising determining whether to query the first network.

50. The method of retrieving relevant information as recited in claim 49, wherein determining whether to query the first network is based on the input.

51. The method of retrieving relevant information as recited in claim 50, wherein determining whether to query the first network comprises determining whether particular information is present in the input.

52. The method of retrieving relevant information as recited in claim 47, wherein the first and second relevant information comprise background information regarding the upcoming event.

53. The method of retrieving relevant information as recited in claim 47, wherein the second relevant information comprises traffic information.