US6832224B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus for assigning a confidence level to a term within a user knowledge profile
Assignee: Oracle International Corp
•
Filing: 2002-04-01
•
Granted: 2004-12-14
•
Expires: 2022-04-01
Abstract
Abstract A method of assigning a confidence level to a term within an electronic document, such as an e-mail, includes the step of firstly determining a quantitative indicator in the exemplary form of an occurrence value, based on the number of occurrences of a particular term within an electronic document, and associating the occurrence term within the relevant term. Thereafter, a qualitative indicator, based on a quality of the term, is determined. For example, the qualitative indicator may be determined utilizing the parts of speech of words comprising the term. A confidence level value, which may be utilized to indicate a relative importance of the term in describing a user knowledge base, is then generated utilizing the quantitative and qualitative indicators.
Inventors
- 👤 David L. Gilmour
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 04:36
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06Q; G06Q10/00; G06Q10/10; G06Q10/107; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/30; G06F16/31; G06F16/313; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99941; Y10S707/99944; Y10S707/99945; Y10S707/99951; Y10S707/99952; Y10S707/99953
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 54
Claim 1
Independent Claim
88 words
A computer implemented method comprising dynamically discovering a term in a current electronic document without reference to a pre-defined value and without reference to a pre-defined category, the current electronic document being received from an entity; deriving a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term; and assigning the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
88 words
A computer implemented method comprising dynamically discovering a term in a current electronic document without reference to a pre-defined value and without reference to a pre-defined category, the current electronic document being received from an entity; deriving a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term; and assigning the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising: adding the term to the profile if the term first occurs in the current electronic document.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein deriving the current confidence level comprises: calculating a quantitative indicator for the term in a dynamic set of electronic documents; determining a term weight based on characteristics of the term; and generating a relevancy indicator from the quantitative indicator and the term weight.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 3 , wherein deriving the current confidence level further comprises: scaling the relevancy indicator.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
26 words
The method of claim 4 , wherein the relevancy indicator is scaled based on a measure of a size of the dynamic set of electronic documents.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 3 , wherein the characteristics of the term are selected from the group consisting of a number of words, a part of speech, and a type of grammatical structure.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the current confidence level is based on a dynamic set of electronic document and further comprising: excluding electronic documents from the dynamic set of electronic documents in accordance with expiration criteria associated with the dynamic set.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 7 , wherein the expiration criteria is selected from the group consisting of a time period and a number of documents.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising: decaying a highest confidence level recorded for the term by a decay value if the current confidence level is less than the highest confidence level and the highest confidence level occurred outside a document window.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 9 , wherein the document window is selected from the group consisting of a time period and a number of documents.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 10 further comprising: setting the highest confidence level to the current confidence level if the highest confidence level is less than the current confidence level.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
11 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the entity is a person.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the entity is a group of people.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
198 words
A method comprising: dynamically discovering a term in a current electronic document without reference to a pre-defined value and without reference to a pre-defined category, the current electronic document being received from an entity; deriving a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term; and assigning the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity, wherein deriving the current confidence level comprises: calculating a quantitative indicator for the term in a dynamic set of electronic documents, wherein calculating the quantitative indicator comprises determining a binding strength for the term in the current document, the binding strength representing a measure of importance of the term in the current document, deriving an adjusted count value for the term in the current document from the binding strength and the term weight, and summing all adjusted count values for the term in the dynamic set of electronic documents; determining a term weight based on characteristics of the term; and generating a relevancy indicator from the quantitative indicator and the term weight.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
198 words
A method comprising: dynamically discovering a term in a current electronic document without reference to a pre-defined value and without reference to a pre-defined category, the current electronic document being received from an entity; deriving a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term; and assigning the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity, wherein deriving the current confidence level comprises: calculating a quantitative indicator for the term in a dynamic set of electronic documents, wherein calculating the quantitative indicator comprises determining a binding strength for the term in the current document, the binding strength representing a measure of importance of the term in the current document, deriving an adjusted count value for the term in the current document from the binding strength and the term weight, and summing all adjusted count values for the term in the dynamic set of electronic documents; determining a term weight based on characteristics of the term; and generating a relevancy indicator from the quantitative indicator and the term weight.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
55 words
The method of claim 14 , wherein the binding strength is based on a count value and a density value, the count value specifying a number of occurrences of the term in the current electronic document and the density value relating the count value to a total number of terms in the current electronic document.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
39 words
The method of claim 15 , wherein the binding strength is based on the density value when the density value is above a predetermined value and on the count value when the density value is below the predetermined value.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
102 words
A computer-readable medium having executable instructions to cause a computer to perform a method comprising: dynamically discovering a term in a current electronic document without reference to a set of pre-defined values and without reference to a set of pre-defined categories, the current electronic document being received from an entity; deriving a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term; and assigning the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
102 words
A computer-readable medium having executable instructions to cause a computer to perform a method comprising: dynamically discovering a term in a current electronic document without reference to a set of pre-defined values and without reference to a set of pre-defined categories, the current electronic document being received from an entity; deriving a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term; and assigning the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
28 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises: adding the term to the profile if the term first occurs in the current electronic document.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
51 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein deriving the current confidence level comprises: calculating a quantitative indicator for the term in a dynamic set of electronic documents; determining a term weight based on characteristics of the term; and generating a relevancy indicator from the quantitative indicator and the term weight.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
19 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein deriving the current confidence level further comprises: scaling the relevancy indicator.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
27 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the relevancy indicator is scaled based on a measure of a size of the dynamic set of electronic documents.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
34 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the characteristics of the term are selected from the group consisting of a number of words, a part of speech, and a type of grammatical structure.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
46 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the current confidence level is based on a dynamic set of electronic document and the method further comprises: excluding electronic documents from the dynamic set of electronic documents in accordance with expiration criteria associated with the dynamic set.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
26 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 23 , wherein the expiration criteria is selected from the group consisting of a time period and a number of documents.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
47 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises: decaying a highest confidence level recorded for the term by a decay value if the current confidence level is less than the highest confidence level and the highest confidence level occurred outside a document window.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
26 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the document window is selected from the group consisting of a time period and a number of documents.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
34 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the method further comprises: setting the highest confidence level to the current confidence level if the highest confidence level is less than the current confidence level.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
12 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the entity is a person.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
14 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the entity is a group of people.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
214 words
A computer-readable medium having executable instructions to cause a computer to perform a method comprising: dynamically discovering a term in a current electronic document without reference to a set of pre-defined values and without reference to a set of pre-defined categories, the current electronic document being received from an entity; deriving a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term; and assigning the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity, wherein deriving the current confidence level comprises: calculating a quantitative indicator for the term in a dynamic set of electronic documents, wherein calculating the quantitative indicator comprises determining a binding strength for the term in the current document, the binding strength representing a measure of importance of the term in the current document, deriving an adjusted count value for the term in the current document from the binding strength and the term weight, and summing all adjusted count values for the term in the dynamic set of electronic documents; determining a term weight based on characteristics of the term; and generating a relevancy indicator from the quantitative indicator and the term weight.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
214 words
A computer-readable medium having executable instructions to cause a computer to perform a method comprising: dynamically discovering a term in a current electronic document without reference to a set of pre-defined values and without reference to a set of pre-defined categories, the current electronic document being received from an entity; deriving a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term; and assigning the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity, wherein deriving the current confidence level comprises: calculating a quantitative indicator for the term in a dynamic set of electronic documents, wherein calculating the quantitative indicator comprises determining a binding strength for the term in the current document, the binding strength representing a measure of importance of the term in the current document, deriving an adjusted count value for the term in the current document from the binding strength and the term weight, and summing all adjusted count values for the term in the dynamic set of electronic documents; determining a term weight based on characteristics of the term; and generating a relevancy indicator from the quantitative indicator and the term weight.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
56 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 30 , wherein the binding strength is based on a count value and a density value, the count value specifying a number of occurrences of the term in the current electronic document and the density value relating the count value to a total number of terms in the current electronic document.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
40 words
The computer-readable medium of claim 31 , wherein the binding strength is based on the density value when the density value is above a predetermined value and on the count value when the density value is below the predetermined value.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
119 words
A computer system comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and having a confidence value process to be executed by the processor to cause the processor to dynamically discover a term in a current electronic document without reference to a set of pre-defined values and without reference to a set of pre-defined categories, the current electronic document being received from an entity, to derive a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term, and to assign the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
119 words
A computer system comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and having a confidence value process to be executed by the processor to cause the processor to dynamically discover a term in a current electronic document without reference to a set of pre-defined values and without reference to a set of pre-defined categories, the current electronic document being received from an entity, to derive a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term, and to assign the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
33 words
The computer system of claim 33 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor to add the term to the profile if the term first occurs in the current electronic document.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
62 words
The computer system of claim 33 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor, when deriving the current confidence level, to calculate a quantitative indicator for the term in a dynamic set of electronic documents, to determine a term weight based on characteristics of the term, and to generate a relevancy indicator from the quantitative indicator and the term weight.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
27 words
The computer system of claim 35 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor, when deriving the current confidence level, to scale the relevancy indicator.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
35 words
The computer system of claim 36 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor to scale the relevancy indicator based on a measure of a size of the dynamic set of electronic documents.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
42 words
The computer system of claim 35 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor to select the characteristics of the term from the group consisting of a number of words, a part of speech, and a type of grammatical structure.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
51 words
The computer system of claim 33 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor to base the current confidence level on a dynamic set of electronic document and to exclude electronic documents from the dynamic set of electronic documents in accordance with expiration criteria associated with the dynamic set.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
34 words
The computer system of claim 39 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor to select the expiration criteria from the group consisting of a time period and a number of documents.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
52 words
The computer system of claim 33 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor to decay a highest confidence level recorded for the term by a decay value if the current confidence level is less than the highest confidence level and the highest confidence level occurred outside a document window.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
34 words
The computer system of claim 41 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor to select the document window from the group consisting of a time period and a number of documents.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
39 words
The computer system of claim 41 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor to set the highest confidence level to the current confidence level if the highest confidence level is less than the current confidence level.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
12 words
The computer system of claim 33 wherein the entity is a person.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
14 words
The computer system of claim 33 wherein the entity is a group of people.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
244 words
A computer system comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and having a confidence value process to be executed by the processor to cause the processor to dynamically discover a term in a current electronic document without reference to a set of pre-defined values and without reference to a set of pre-defined categories, the current electronic document being received from an entity; to derive a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term, when deriving the current confidence level, to calculate a quantitative indicator for the term in a dynamic set of electronic documents, to determine a term weight based on characteristics of the term, and to generate a relevancy indicator from the quantitative indicator and the term weight: and to assign the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity, wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor, when calculating the quantitative indicator, to determine a binding strength for the term in the current document, the binding strength representing a measure of importance of the term in the current document, to derive an adjusted count value for the term in the current document from the binding strength and the term weight, and to sum all adjusted count values for the term in the dynamic set of electronic documents.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
244 words
A computer system comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and having a confidence value process to be executed by the processor to cause the processor to dynamically discover a term in a current electronic document without reference to a set of pre-defined values and without reference to a set of pre-defined categories, the current electronic document being received from an entity; to derive a current confidence level for the term to measure a current strength of a dynamic association between the entity and information represented by the term, when deriving the current confidence level, to calculate a quantitative indicator for the term in a dynamic set of electronic documents, to determine a term weight based on characteristics of the term, and to generate a relevancy indicator from the quantitative indicator and the term weight: and to assign the current confidence level to the term in a profile for the entity, the profile comprising terms representing an information focus of the entity, wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor, when calculating the quantitative indicator, to determine a binding strength for the term in the current document, the binding strength representing a measure of importance of the term in the current document, to derive an adjusted count value for the term in the current document from the binding strength and the term weight, and to sum all adjusted count values for the term in the dynamic set of electronic documents.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
64 words
The computer system of claim 46 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor to base the binding strength on a count value and a density value, the count value specifying a number of occurrences of the term in the current electronic document and the density value relating the count value to a total number of terms in the current electronic document.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
48 words
The computer system of claim 47 , wherein the confidence value process further causes the processor to base the binding strength on the density value when the density value is above a predetermined value and on the count value when the density value is below the predetermined value.
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