Method, system, and apparatus for receiving and responding to knowledge interchange queries

• US 7,593,924 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2004
• Issued: 09/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kishore, Ajitesh, Sahasrabudhe, Sandeep
• Primary Examiner(s): Corrielus; Jean M
• Application Number:
  US10/945,149
• Publication Number:
  US 20060064404A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,828 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/3, 707/6, 707/104.1, 707/102, 707/103.R, 706/18, 706/46, 706/52, 706/55, 706/58, 706/59, 717/105, 717/109, 717/113
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing
• 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 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

A method, system, and apparatus are provided for receiving and responding to knowledge interchange (“KI”) queries. KI queries are search queries directed to database of KI profiles. A KI profile identifies the interests of a user, the individuals with which a user has communicated, and the topics on which communication with the user was made. KI profiles are received from a plurality of client computers and stored in a profile database. Out-of-process processing may be performed on the contents of the profile database. Requests may be received to query the profile database. In response to receiving such requests, the received queries may be executed over the profile database to identify search results. The search results may then be returned as a response to the query.

Claims

1. A method for responding to knowledge interchange queries, the method comprising:

receiving and storing preferences for knowledge interchange profiles associated with a plurality of individuals from a plurality of client computers, the preferences being operative to indicate;

an anonymity of a corresponding individual associated with information stored in a corresponding knowledge interchange profile and an exclusion of data from the corresponding knowledge interchange profile;

receiving and storing the knowledge interchange profiles in a profile database, wherein each knowledge interchange profile comprises at least one keyword, at least one noun phrase, and at least one contact;

performing out-of-process processing on the profile database to eliminate noise words from the profile database;

receiving a request to query the profile database;

executing the requested query over the profile database to identify search results; and

returning the search results as a response to the query.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to query the profile database comprises receiving a request to locate at least one individual that assists with a particular topic, and wherein executing the received requested query over the profile database comprises:

searching the profile database to identify the at least one individual that is an expert are experts in the particular topic and that is within a predefined social distance from a user making the search query.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to query the profile database comprises receiving a request to a first individual that makes a connection to another a second individual within the profile database, and wherein executing the received requested query over the profile database comprises:

searching the profile database to identify the first individual that is within a predefined social distance from a user making the search query and that has the second individual listed as a contact within the knowledge interchange profile.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to query the profile database comprises receiving a request to locate a first individual that makes a connection to another a second individual that is located outside an enterprise, and wherein executing the received requested query over the profile database comprises:

searching the profile database to identify the first individual that has the second individual listed as a contact within the individual knowledge interchange profile.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to query the profile database comprises receiving a request by a user to locate information consumed by other individuals at least one individual having similar interests as the user making the request, and wherein executing the received requested query over the profile database comprises:

searching the profile database to identify the at least one individual having similar interests as the user making the request, and identifying information consumed by the at least one individual having similar interests from the contents of the individual knowledge interchange profiles.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to query the profile database comprises receiving a request by a user to locate an individual that assists with a particular topic, and wherein the individual is located within a predefined social distance from the user making the request.

7. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform a method for responding to knowledge interchange queries, the method comprising:

receiving and storing preferences for knowledge interchange profiles associated with a plurality of individuals from a plurality of client computers, the preferences being operative to indicate;

an anonymity of a corresponding individual associated with information stored in a corresponding knowledge interchange profile and an exclusion of data from the corresponding knowledge interchange profile;

receiving and storing the knowledge interchange profiles in a profile database, wherein each knowledge interchange profile comprises at least one keyword, at least one noun phrase, and at least one contact;

performing out-of-process processing on the profile database to eliminate noise words from the profile database;

receiving a request to query the profile database;

executing the requested query over the profile database to identify search results; and

returning the search results as a response to the query.

8. A computer-controlled apparatus having a processor coupled to a computer readable storage medium for responding to knowledge interchange queries, the method comprising:

receiving and storing preferences for knowledge interchange profiles associated with a plurality of individuals from a plurality of client computers, the preferences being operative to indicate;

an anonymity of a corresponding individual associated with information stored in a corresponding knowledge interchange profile and an exclusion of data from the corresponding knowledge interchange profile;

receiving and storing the knowledge interchange profiles in a profile database, wherein each knowledge interchange profile comprises at least one keyword, at least one noun phrase, and at least one contact;

performing out-of-process processing on the profile database to eliminate noise words from the profile database;

receiving a request to query the profile database;

executing the requested query over the profile database to identify search results; and

returning the search results as a response to the query.

9. A system for processing knowledge interchange queries, the system comprising:

a client computer operative to create a knowledge interchange profile corresponding to a user of the client computer by monitoring user interaction with at least one program executing on the client computer, and wherein the knowledge interchange profile identifies interests of the user, individuals with which the user has communicated, and topics on which communication with the individuals was made based on the user'"'"'s knowledge interchange profile preferences, the preferences being operative to indicate;

an anonymity of the user associated with information stored in the knowledge interchange profile and an exclusion of data from the knowledge interchange profile; and

a server computer operative to receive and store knowledge interchange profiles from a plurality of client computers in a profile database, receive a request to query the profile database, execute the requested query over the profile database to identify search results, and return the search results as a response to the query.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one program comprises at least one of the following:

a word processing application program, a spreadsheet application program, a presentation application program, a personal information manager program, an instant messaging application program, a web browser program, and an operating system program.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein monitoring user interaction with the at least one program executing on the client computer identifies at least one item of interest, and wherein creating the knowledge interchange profile comprises, for each item of interest:

performing a social network analysis;

performing an interest analysis; and

performing a noun phrase analysis.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein performing the social network analysis comprises:

identifying contacts related to the at least one item of interest;

creating a weight for each contact related to the at least one item of interest, the weight based in part on a relationship of each contact to the at least one item of interest; and

normalizing the weights for each contact.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein performing the interest analysis comprises:

identifying at least one keyword within the at least one item of interest;

assigning a weight value to the at least one keyword;

adjusting the weight value of the at least one keyword depending on a location of the at least one keyword within the at least one item of interest;

adjusting the weight value of the at least one keyword depending on a frequency of occurrence of the at least one keyword in the at least one item of interest; and

eliminating the at least one keyword when the at least one keyword has the weight value not greater than a predetermined value.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein performing the interest analysis further comprises saving a word before the at least one keyword and after the at least one keyword for use in the noun phrase analysis.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the noun phrase analysis comprises:

identifying noun phrases by identifying within the at least one item of interest at least one keyword that is repeated in conjunction with at least one other word; and

identifying noun phrases based on a location of the at least one keyword utilized in conjunction with the at least one other word within the at least one item of interest.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising eliminating the individual based on an asymmetric relationship with the user.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising eliminating the at least one keyword based on programmed factors.

18. The method system of claim 9, wherein receiving the request to query the profile database comprises receiving a request to locate at least one individual that assists with a particular topic, and wherein executing requested query over the profile database comprises:

searching the profile database to identify the at least one individual that is an expert are experts in the particular topic and that is within a predefined social distance from a user making the search query.

19. The system of claim 9, wherein receiving the request to query the profile database comprises receiving a request to locate a first individual that makes a connection to another a second individual within the profile database, and wherein executing the received requested query over the profile database comprises:

searching the profile database to identify the first individual individuals that is within a predefined social distance from a user making the search query and that has the second individual listed as a contact within the individual knowledge interchange profile.

20. The method system of claim 9, wherein receiving the request to query the profile database comprises receiving a request by a user to locate information consumed by other individuals at least one individual having similar interests as the user making the request, and wherein executing the received requested query over the profile database comprises:

searching the profile database to identify the at least one individual individuals having similar interests as the user making the request, and identifying information consumed by the at least one individual having similar interests from the contents of the individual knowledge interchange profiles.

21. The method system of claim 9, wherein receiving the request to query the profile database comprises receiving a request by a user to locate information consumed by other individuals at least one individual having similar interests as the user making the request, and wherein executing the received requested query over the profile database comprises:

searching the profile database to identify the at least one individual having similar interests as the user making the request, and identifying information consumed by the at least one individual having similar interests from the individual knowledge interchange profiles.

22. A computer-readable storage medium having a set of computer instructions which when executed a by a computer causes the computer to perform a method for responding to knowledge interchange queries, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

receiving and storing knowledge interchange profiles associated with a plurality of individuals from a plurality of client computers in a profile database, wherein receiving and storing the knowledge interchange profile associated with a plurality of individuals from the plurality of client computers comprises periodically executing a knowledge interchange (KI) plug-in on the plurality of client computers, the KI plug-in being operative to;

monitor user interaction with at least one of the following;

an application and a document, and

identify at least one item of interest based on the user interaction, wherein the KI plug-in being operative to identify the at least one item of interest based on the user interaction comprises the KI plug in being operative to identify a dwell time on the at least one item of interest and determine a strength of interest associated with the at least one item of interest;

receiving a request to query the profile database;

executing the requested query over the profile database to identify search results; and

returning the search results as a response to the query.