US6377983B1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and system for converting expertise based on document usage
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
•
Filing: 1998-11-13
•
Granted: 2002-04-23
•
Expires: 2018-11-13
Abstract
Abstract The invention disclosed herein relates to cooperative computing environments and information retrieval and management methods and systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for capturing and generating useful information about a user's access and use of data on a computer system, such as in the form of documents stored on remote servers, and making such useful information available to others. Documents on the computer system are accessible through a plurality of different methods, such as by specifying an identifier or locator for the document, activating a hyperlink in another document which points to the document, or navigating to the document through navigational commands in an application program such as a browser. The method involves capturing information regarding each of the accessed documents in the set, the information including the method used to access the document, dividing the set of documents into subsets of documents based at least in part on the methods used to access the documents, labeling each subset of documents with a topic, and making the labels and documents accessed available to other users who wish to browse the same documents.
Inventors
- 👤 Andrew L. Cohen
- 👤 Paul P. Maglio
- 👤 Robert C. Barrett
- 👤 Mark A. Sheldon
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 14:37
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/90; G06F16/95; G06F16/958; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99931; Y10S707/99933; Y10S707/99934
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 54
Claim 1
Independent Claim
116 words
A method for conveying expertise of a first user of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising: capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by the first user on the computer system; associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in the sequence of documents used by the first user based on the captured information; allowing a second user of the computer system to select one of the content areas; and providing the set of documents associated with a selected content area to the second user.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
116 words
A method for conveying expertise of a first user of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising: capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by the first user on the computer system; associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in the sequence of documents used by the first user based on the captured information; allowing a second user of the computer system to select one of the content areas; and providing the set of documents associated with a selected content area to the second user.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the documents are each associated with an identifier, and wherein the step of capturing information comprises capturing the identifiers associated with the documents used.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the documents contain content and the step of capturing information comprises capturing the content contained in the documents.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods, and wherein the step of capturing information comprising capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
51 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of associating the plurality of content areas comprises dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into a plurality of subsequences of documents based on the captured information and associating a content area with each of the subsequences of documents.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of associating the plurality of content areas comprises identifying a content area to associate with each subsequence based on the captured information.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of allowing the second user to select one of the content areas comprises presenting the plurality of content areas to the user as a plurality of selectable choices.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of allowing the second user to select one of the content areas comprises accepting a query from the second user about a desired subject and matching the queried subject with one of the plurality of content areas.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of providing the set of documents associated with the selected content area to the second user comprises providing the documents in the set in the sequence in which the documents in the set were used by the first user.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
86 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the computer system includes one or more servers storing the plurality of documents and one or more clients used by the first and second users, and wherein the step of capturing information regarding the sequence of documents used by the first user comprises monitoring the first user's use of the sequence of documents on a first client, transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents to a first server, and storing the transmitted information on the first server.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
54 words
The method of claim 10 , wherein the first server performs the step of associating the content areas with the sets of documents and performs the step of providing the set of documents to the second user in response to the selection of the content area by the second user using a second client.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
66 words
The method of claim 10 , wherein the computer system comprises a distributed computing environment in which documents are contained in one or more databases stored on the one or more servers, wherein each of the documents is identified by database location data, and wherein the step of transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents comprises transmitting the database location data identifying the documents.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
56 words
The method of claim 10 , wherein the computer system comprises at least part of the world wide web in which documents stored on one or more web servers are each identified by a URL, and wherein the step of transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents comprises transmitting the URLs identifying the documents.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
65 words
The method of claim 13 , wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods including input of the URL, selection of a stored bookmark, and activation of a hyperlink, and wherein the step of capturing information comprises capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
79 words
The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of associating the plurality of content areas comprises dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into a plurality of subsequences of documents where each subsequence comprises a first document in the subsequence accessed through the first user's selection of a bookmark or entry of a URL and one or more second documents following the first document in the subsequence accessed through activation of one or more hyperlinks.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
83 words
The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of different methods through which documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through further include navigation to a document using navigational functions of a browser, and wherein the step of dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into subsequences comprises including a document in a previously started subsequence when the document is accessed through the first user's navigation to the document using navigational finctions of the browser.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the documents contain content, wherein the step of capturing information comprises capturing the content in the sequence of documents, and wherein the step of associating content areas comprises clustering documents in the sequence into sets based on the content in the documents.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
79 words
The method of claim 17 , wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods, wherein the step of capturing information comprising capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence, and wherein the step of clustering documents in the sequence comprises clustering documents into sets based on the content in the documents and the method used to access each document.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
76 words
The method of claim 1 , comprising: capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by each of plurality of first users on the computer system; associating each sequence of documents with one of the first users; and associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in each of the sequence of documents based on the captured information, thereby associating a plurality of content areas with each of the first users.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 19 , comprising allowing the second user to select one of the plurality of first users and allowing the second user to select a content area from the plurality of content areas associated with the selected first user.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 19 , comprising presenting to the second user a list containing the one or more first users associated with a content area selected by the second user.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 21 , comprising allowing the second user to select one of the first users from the list of first users associated with the selected content area.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
59 words
The method of claim 19 , wherein the plurality of first users ore organized in a plurality of groups, comprising allowing the second user to select one of the plurality of first user groups and allowing the second user to select a content area associated with one or more of the first users in the selected first user group.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
103 words
A method for conveying expertise of a plurality of first users of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising: capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by each of the first users on the computer system; storing the captured information regarding each sequence of documents in association with the first user; allowing a second user to select one of the first users; and providing the sequence of documents associated with a selected first user to the second user.
Claim 26
Independent Claim
103 words
A method for conveying expertise of a plurality of first users of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising: capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by each of the first users on the computer system; storing the captured information regarding each sequence of documents in association with the first user; allowing a second user to select one of the first users; and providing the sequence of documents associated with a selected first user to the second user.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
116 words
A system for conveying expertise of a first user to one or more second users, wherein a plurality of documents are accessible for use by the first and second users, the method comprising: a logger for capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by the first user on the computer system; a parser for associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in the sequence of documents used by the first user based on the captured information; means for accepting a selection by a second user of one of the content areas; and means for providing the set of documents associated with a selected content area to the second user.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
116 words
A system for conveying expertise of a first user to one or more second users, wherein a plurality of documents are accessible for use by the first and second users, the method comprising: a logger for capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by the first user on the computer system; a parser for associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in the sequence of documents used by the first user based on the captured information; means for accepting a selection by a second user of one of the content areas; and means for providing the set of documents associated with a selected content area to the second user.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
134 words
A computer readable medium storing one or more software programs which, when executed, cause a computer to perform a method for conveying expertise of a first user of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising: capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by the first user on the computer system; associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in the sequence of documents used by the first user based on the captured information; allowing a second user of the computer system to select one of the content areas; and providing the set of documents associated with a selected content area to the second user.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
134 words
A computer readable medium storing one or more software programs which, when executed, cause a computer to perform a method for conveying expertise of a first user of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising: capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by the first user on the computer system; associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in the sequence of documents used by the first user based on the captured information; allowing a second user of the computer system to select one of the content areas; and providing the set of documents associated with a selected content area to the second user.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
44 words
The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the documents are each associated with an identifier, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprises capturing the identifiers associated with the documents used.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
38 words
The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the documents contain content and the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprises capturing the content contained in the documents.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
63 words
The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprising capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
64 words
The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of associating the plurality of content areas comprises dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into a plurality of subsequences of documents based on the captured information and associating a content area with each of the subsequences of documents.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
44 words
The computer readable medium of claim 30 , wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of associating the plurality of content areas comprises identifying a content area to associate with each subsequence based on the captured information.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
50 words
The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of allowing the second user to select one of the content areas comprises presenting the plurality of content areas to the user as a plurality of selectable choices.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
59 words
The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of allowing the second user to select one of the content areas comprises accepting a query from the second user about a desired subject and matching the queried subject with one of the plurality of content areas.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
61 words
The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of providing the set of documents associated with the selected content area to the second user comprises providing the documents in the set in the sequence in which the documents in the set were used by the first user.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
99 words
The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the computer system includes one or more servers storing the plurality of documents and one or more clients used by the first and second users, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information regarding the sequence of documents used by the first user comprises monitoring the first user's use of the sequence of documents on a first client, transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents to a first server, and storing the transmitted information on the first server.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
63 words
The computer readable medium of claim 35 , wherein the first server executes the one or more software programs which caused to be performed the steps of associating the content areas with the sets of documents of providing the set of documents to the second user in response to the selection of the content area by the second user using a second client.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
79 words
The computer readable medium of claim 35 , wherein the computer system comprises a distributed computing environment in which documents are contained in one or more databases stored on the one or more servers, wherein each of the documents is identified by database location data, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents comprises transmitting the database location data identifying the documents.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
69 words
The computer readable medium of claim 35 , wherein the computer system comprises at least part of the world wide web in which documents stored on one or more web servers are each identified by a URL, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of transmitting information about the monitored use of the documents comprises transmitting the URLs identifying the documents.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
78 words
The computer readable medium of claim 38 , wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods including input of the URL, selection of a stored bookmark, and activation of a hyperlink, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprises capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
92 words
The computer readable medium of claim 39 , wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of associating the plurality of content areas comprises dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into a plurality of subsequences of documents where each subsequence comprises a first document in the subsequence accessed through the first user's selection of a bookmark or entry of a URL and one or more second documents following the first document in the subsequence accessed through activation of one or more hyperlinks.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
96 words
The computer readable medium of claim 40 , wherein the plurality of different methods through which documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through further include navigation to a document using navigational functions of a browser, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of dividing the sequence of documents used by the first user into subsequences comprises including a document in a previously started subsequence when the document is accessed through the first user's navigation to the document using navigational functions of the browser.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
73 words
The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the documents contain content, wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprises capturing the content in the sequence of documents, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of associating content areas comprises clustering documents in the sequence into sets based on the content in the documents.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
103 words
The computer readable medium of claim 42 , wherein the documents are accessible on the computer system by the first user through a plurality of different methods, wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of capturing information comprising capturing the method used by the first user to access each of the documents in the sequence, and wherein the step caused to be performed by the one or more software programs of clustering documents in the sequence comprises clustering documents into sets based on the content in the documents and the method used to access each document.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
92 words
The computer readable medium of claim 26 , wherein the one or more software programs cause the computer to execute additional steps comprising: capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by each of plurality of first users on the computer system; associating each sequence of documents with one of the first users; and associating a plurality of content areas with a plurality of sets of documents in each of the sequence of documents based on the captured information, thereby associating a plurality of content areas with each of the first users.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
54 words
The computer readable medium of claim 44 , wherein the one or more software programs cause the computer to allow the second user to select one of the plurality of first users and allow the second user to select a content area from the plurality of content areas associated with the selected first user.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
43 words
The computer readable medium of claim 44 , wherein the one or more software programs cause the computer to present to the second user a list containing the one or more first users associated with a content area selected by the second user.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
42 words
The computer readable medium of claim 46 , wherein the one or more software programs cause the computer to allow the second user to select one of the first users from the list of first users associated with the selected content area.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
71 words
The computer readable medium of claim 46 , wherein the plurality of first users are organized in a plurality of groups, wherein the one or more software programs cause the computer to allow the second user to select one of the plurality of first user groups and allow the second user to select a content area associated with one or more of the first users in the selected first user group.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
121 words
A computer readable medium storing one or more software programs which, when executed, cause a computer to perform a method for conveying expertise of a plurality of first users of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising: capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by each of the first users on the computer system; storing the captured information regarding each sequence of documents in association with the first user; allowing a second user to select one of the first users; and providing the sequence of documents associated with a selected first user to the second user.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
121 words
A computer readable medium storing one or more software programs which, when executed, cause a computer to perform a method for conveying expertise of a plurality of first users of a computer system to one or more second users of the computer system, the computer system storing a plurality of documents usable by the first and second users, the method comprising: capturing information regarding a sequence of documents used by each of the first users on the computer system; storing the captured information regarding each sequence of documents in association with the first user; allowing a second user to select one of the first users; and providing the sequence of documents associated with a selected first user to the second user.
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