US7069259B2 — Multi-attribute specification of preferences abou…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 130 words

A preference tool for employment with a notification system, comprising: a language component to manipulate at least one attribute of at least one item employed by a notification system, the at least one item associated with communications directed to a user; and a preference component that receives output from the language component to influence automated learning processes that direct the at least one item to the user via the notification system, wherein the automated learning processes include at least one classifier that analyzes the at least one attribute and automatically determines at least one of urgency and priority of the item, and the classifier employs a feature vector to assign a value to the at least one attribute based upon learning processes applied to training data of the attribute's class.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 130 words

A preference tool for employment with a notification system, comprising: a language component to manipulate at least one attribute of at least one item employed by a notification system, the at least one item associated with communications directed to a user; and a preference component that receives output from the language component to influence automated learning processes that direct the at least one item to the user via the notification system, wherein the automated learning processes include at least one classifier that analyzes the at least one attribute and automatically determines at least one of urgency and priority of the item, and the classifier employs a feature vector to assign a value to the at least one attribute based upon learning processes applied to training data of the attribute's class.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 45 words

The system of claim 1 , the at least one item includes at least one of a message, a notification, a voice message, web information, an e-mail, pager information, an image, an audio file, a video, an alert, and content provided from a web service.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 38 words

The system of claim 1 , the classifier further comprises at least one of a Support Vector Machine (SVM), a Naive Bayes model, a Bayes network model, a decision tree model, a similarity-based model, and a vector-based model.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 33 words

The system of claim 1 , the automated learning processes employ decision-theoretic analysis to determine at least one of when, where, and if to direct the at least one item to the user.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 45 words

The system of claim 1 , the notification system analyzes one or more context inputs to detennine the user's present context state in order to direct the at least one item in accordance with a determined urgency of the item and the user's present context.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 35 words

The system of claim 5 , the context inputs include evidence of at least one of keyboard activities, mouse movements, microphone inputs, camera inputs, time inputs and electronic calendar infonnation relating to the user's activity.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 66 words

The system of claim 6 , where the notification system processes the context inputs to determine at least one of how focused the user is, how busy the user is, what are the user's goals, and whether the user desires to be interrupted with a notification of the item in at least one of the present, at some time in the future, and not at all.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 38 words

The system of claim 1 , the language component cooperates with a multiattribute preference (MAP) tool to influence automated decision-making processes in the notification system and according to one or more user preferences specified in the preference component.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 31 words

The system of claim 8 , the preference component includes at least one of XML data and a file indicating at least one of desired settings and adjustments of the user.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 43 words

The system of claim 8 , the user preferences are derived from the language component via one or more user inputs to at least one of control, adjust, tune and determine the user preferences that potentially alter decision processes in the notification system.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 46 words

The system of claim 8 , where message urgencies are detennined by multiple prosadic cues identified in a voice encoding of a message, including at least one of rate of speech, energy, pitch average level, and pitch variation, including right and left edge analyses of utterances.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 27 words

The system of claim 8 , the MAP tool is operated and presented in a related set of graphical user interfaces (GUI) that interact with a display.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 59 words

The system of claim 12 , the display includes one or more display objects that include at least one of a configurable icon, a button, a slider, an input box, a selection option, a menu, and a tab having at least one of multiple configurable dimensions, shapes, colors, text, data and sounds to facilitate operations with the MAP tool.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 44 words

The system of claim 10 , the user inputs include at least one of a mouse, a keyboard, a speech input, a web site, a web service, a browser, a microphone, a camera, and a video input that affect operations of the MAP tool.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 32 words

The system of claim 8 , further comprising a feedback component that receives automatically determined values from the notification system representing weights that have been assigned to the at least one attribute.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 28 words

The system of claim 15 , the automatically detemined values provide indications of the automated learning processes affecting delivery of the at least one item to the user.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 41 words

The system of claim 15 , the feedback is provided by the MAP tool to facilitate user preferences associated with at least one of controlling, altering, adjusting, tuning, and personalizing the automated processes within the notification system to desired notification performance.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 62 words

The system of claim 17 , the performance includes at least one of adjusting how often items are delivered, when items are delivered, who the items are received from, what security measures should be adopted before receiving an item, adjusting an urgency threshold, adjusting policies for receiving items, and controlling access to resources of the user by entities other than the user.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 44 words

The system of claim 1 , the language component facilitates various group definitions related to entities that transmit the at least one item to the user, the groups including at least one of a static group, a dynamic group, and group defining other groups.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 26 words

The system of claim 19 , the groups are specified by at least one of a distance and a relationship between a user and other entities.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 14 words

The system of claim 19 , the groups are specified by an organizational chart.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 59 words

The system of claim 19 , the groups specify at least one of people within an organization, the people including at least one of my peers, the organizational peers including people in other groups, up the organizational chart from me, down the organizational chart from me, within n levels on the organizational chart from me, n being an integer.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 45 words

The system of claim 22 , the notification system provides organizational chart information when learning about the urgencies of the at least one item via an analysis of at least one of sender fields, recipient fields, and other attributes of the at least one item.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 20 words

The system of claim 19 , the dynamic group enables users to define policies for groups defined by communications history.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 41 words

The system of claim 24 , the communications history includes people with whom the user has communicated with over time, people with whom the user initiated a communication with, people who the user communicates with frequently being defined by the user.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 52 words

The system of claim 19 , the dynamic group specifies such groups by types of communication, the types including people with whom the user initiated a communication via a selected modality over time, the types defined in part by at least one of analyzing a database of communication interactions and the user.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 24 words

The system of claim 19 , the dynamic group is based in part on at least one of meetings, meeting histories, appointments and futures.

Claim 29

Dependent Claim 17 words

The system of claim 27 , portions of the dynamic group are harvested from online appointment books.

Claim 30

Dependent Claim 56 words

The system of claim 19 , the dynamic group includes temporal distinctions, the distinctions including at least one of people who the user will be meeting with in the future, people who the user will be meeting with soon, people with whom the user has met recently, people who the user will be meeting with today.

Claim 31

Dependent Claim 32 words

The system of claim 19 , the dynamic group is joined by another association to form a subsequent group, the joining including at least one of a conjunctive and a disjunctive relationship.

Claim 32

Dependent Claim 13 words

The system of claim 19 , the group is defined by a project.

Claim 33

Dependent Claim 23 words

The system of claim 31 , further comprising policies that are defined for inclusion of people within groups by dynamic associations and interactions.

Claim 34

Dependent Claim 27 words

The system of claim 31 , the interactions include at least one of collaborating on a document and people who have edited a shared document over time.

Claim 35

Dependent Claim 28 words

The system of claim 1 , the language component enables users to at least one of assign and adjust scalar urgency values to the at least one item.

Claim 36

Dependent Claim 47 words

The system of claim 1 , the language component defines how at least one of different people, components, and attributes associated with informational content of the at least one item influences at least one of an urgency or priority value assigned to the at least one item.

Claim 37

Dependent Claim 32 words

The system of claim 35 , the language component further comprising a “what-if” mode to enable users to explore a summary analysis of priority values for a selected set of urgency settings.

Claim 38

Dependent Claim 60 words

The system of claim 1 , further comprising a message browser that automatically identifies values of selected attributes of messages and, assigns values to the messages, the browser facilitates an inspection of how urgencies are assigned to facilitate a deeper understanding by the user of automated notification processes and for at least one of iterating and refining automated urgency assignments.

Claim 39

Dependent Claim 36 words

The system of claim 1 , the language component further comprising policy controls to influence at least one of basic and decision-theoretic policies for at least one of routing, alerting, and communications within the notification system.

Claim 40

Dependent Claim 38 words

The system of claim 38 , the basic policies include a bounded-deferral policy adjustable by user on how long to wait in order to find a suitable time to alert the user about the at least one item.

Claim 41

Dependent Claim 29 words

The system of claim 38 , the policy controls are based on at least one of the user's context and on a determined priority value associated with an item.

Claim 42

Dependent Claim 24 words

The system of claim 38 , the policy controls specify curves that can be reasoned about in a decision-theoretic manner by the notification system.

Claim 43

Dependent Claim 46 words

The system of claim 1 , the language component includes at least one of privacy and authorization controls to at least one of assess and control preferences about thresholds of authorization for at least one of different groups of people and for different dimensions of life.

Claim 44

Dependent Claim 26 words

The system of claim 42 , the controls include a specification of requirements to have third-parties confirm a desire to access information associated with the user.

Claim 45

Dependent Claim 29 words

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon to perform at least one of the language component, the preference component, and the automated leaning processes of claim 1 .

Claim 46

Dependent Claim 184 words

A graphical user interface, comprising: an interface adapted to communicate with an automated learning system, the automated learning system includes at least one learning algorithm to analyze at least one attribute in order to automatically determine characteristics such as at least one of an urgency and a priority of the item, the at least one learning algorithm includes a classifier configured to analyze the at least one attribute of at least one item, and the classifier employs a feature vector to assign a value to the at least one attribute based upon the learning system applied to training data of the attribute's class, the classifier further comprises at least one of a Support Vector Machine (SVM), a Naive Bayes model, a Bayes network model, a decision tree model, a similarity-based model, and a vector-based model; at least one output associated with the interface to provide indications of learning processes within the learning system relating to the at least one item; and at least one input to influence the learning processes based in part on a user's preference for receiving the at least one item.

Claim 47

Dependent Claim 184 words

A graphical user interface, comprising: an interface adapted to communicate with an automated learning system, the automated learning system includes at least one learning algorithm to analyze at least one attribute in order to automatically determine characteristics such as at least one of an urgency and a priority of the item, the at least one learning algorithm includes a classifier configured to analyze the at least one attribute of at least one item, and the classifier employs a feature vector to assign a value to the at least one attribute based upon the learning system applied to training data of the attribute's class, the classifier further comprises at least one of a Support Vector Machine (SVM), a Naive Bayes model, a Bayes network model, a decision tree model, a similarity-based model, and a vector-based model; at least one output associated with the interface to provide indications of learning processes within the learning system relating to the at least one item; and at least one input to influence the learning processes based in part on a user's preference for receiving the at least one item.

Claim 48

Dependent Claim 49 words

The interface of claim 45 , further comprising a source selection that provides a plurality of options to select a source of an item of interest, the source including at least one of an e-mail, an instant messenger, a voice mail, a pager notification, PDA, and a trust source.

Claim 49

Dependent Claim 47 words

The interface of claim 45 , further comprising options to save a state of an application into a file, the file employed to at least one of record settings of the user, provide default settings of the learning system, and provide current settings of the learning system.

Claim 50

Dependent Claim 36 words

The interface of claim 45 , further comprising at least one of a people tab and a people palette that can be displayed with an address book that is shared by at least two item sources.

Claim 51

Dependent Claim 25 words

The interface of claim 48 , including one or more options to specify which people and groups are of interest for a currently selected source.

Claim 52

Dependent Claim 24 words

The interface of claim 48 , the address book stores at least one name and an electronic address of people and sources of interest.

Claim 53

Dependent Claim 18 words

The interface of claim 50 , further comprising a new button to add entries into the address book.

Claim 54

Dependent Claim 35 words

The interface of claim 50 , the address book is employed with at least one of an e-mail service and a calendar service that support at least one of copy, paste, drop, and drag functionality.

Claim 55

Dependent Claim 24 words

The interface of claim 48 , further comprising a display of preferences for a current source, the display depicting attributes in the current source.

Claim 56

Dependent Claim 27 words

The interface of claim 48 , further comprising options to at least one of define and display groups including at least one of static and dynamic groups.

Claim 57

Dependent Claim 29 words

The interface of claim 54 , further comprising drag functionality to associated at least one of people and addresses from the address book to a list of group members.

Claim 58

Dependent Claim 31 words

The interface of claim 45 , further comprising a priority score selection provided to at least one of set and adjust a weight for at least one attribute of an item.

Claim 59

Dependent Claim 24 words

The interface of claim 56 , the at least one attribute includes at least one of a to, from, and signs of urgency value.

Claim 60

Dependent Claim 26 words

The interface of claim 57 , further comprising at least one of a “starts with” value, a “Just to me” value, and a mailing list value.

Claim 61

Dependent Claim 29 words

The interface of claim 58 , including one or more sliders to change a weight of the value, the value including at least one of positive and negative integers.

Claim 62

Dependent Claim 27 words

The interface of claim 58 , further comprising a normalize option to facilitate that a total weight of an item does not exceed a predetermined normalized value.

Claim 63

Dependent Claim 28 words

The interface of claim 56 , further comprising a “What If's” option in order that users can test possible values from an item and observe the item's score.

Claim 64

Dependent Claim 28 words

The interface of claim 61 , further comprising controls to change at least one of the attribute value under consideration and a combination of values that are scored.

Claim 65

Dependent Claim 25 words

The interface of claim 61 , further comprising cues options have possible values of Yes or No, the cues option relating to a meeting time.

Claim 66

Dependent Claim 20 words

The interface of claim 63 , further comprising a combination editor to define new attributes in terms of other attributes.

Claim 67

Dependent Claim 21 words

The interface of claim 64 , the new attributes at least one of boost and diminish a score of an item.

Claim 68

Dependent Claim 21 words

The interface of claim 65 , further comprising a display to interactively observe and edit a score of a received item.

Claim 69

Dependent Claim 32 words

The interface of claim 45 , further comprising a basic policy option to configure at least one of time bounds and priority thresholds relating to when to be interrupted with an item.

Claim 70

Dependent Claim 40 words

The interface of claim 67 , further comprising a contexts section to specify which interruptions are suitable given a current context, the contexts including at least one of an indication of business, a meeting, a critical meeting, and after hours.

Claim 71

Dependent Claim 24 words

The interface of claim 67 , further comprising a fallback selection to determine how to deliver the item in case a deadline has occurred.

Claim 72

Dependent Claim 50 words

The interface of claim 45 , further comprising an advanced policy option that includes at least one of adjustments for an initial value of an item, adjustments for how long before the item starts to loose value, and adjustments for when the item will have lost most of its value.

Claim 73

Dependent Claim 33 words

The interface of claim 70 , further comprising a graphical indication of how an item looses its value over time if information associated with the item is delayed for review by the user.

Claim 74

Dependent Claim 28 words

The interface of claim 45 , further comprising a custom cues option to specify at least one of phrases and groups of phrases related to indications of urgency.

Claim 75

Independent Claim 123 words

A method to facilitate communications in an automated notification system, comprising: providing at least one of group options and controls to a user relating to at least one of how and when items are delivered from an automated notification system; providing feedback of portions of automated learning processes within the notification system to the user; encoding user selections relating to the at least one of group options and controls; analyzing at least one attribute for automatically determining characteristics relating to at least one of an urgency and a priority of the item; assigning a value to the at least one attribute based upon learning processes applied to training data of the attribute's class; and applying the user selections to the automated learning processes.

Claim 76

Independent Claim 123 words

A method to facilitate communications in an automated notification system, comprising: providing at least one of group options and controls to a user relating to at least one of how and when items are delivered from an automated notification system; providing feedback of portions of automated learning processes within the notification system to the user; encoding user selections relating to the at least one of group options and controls; analyzing at least one attribute for automatically determining characteristics relating to at least one of an urgency and a priority of the item; assigning a value to the at least one attribute based upon learning processes applied to training data of the attribute's class; and applying the user selections to the automated learning processes.

Claim 77

Dependent Claim 54 words

The method of claim 73 , further comprising at least one of defining static groups, defining dynamic groups, defining groups by a relationship within an organizational structure, defining groups by communications history, defining groups by past associations, defining groups by frequency of contact, defining groups by meetings and appointments, and defining groups by projects.

Claim 78

Dependent Claim 48 words

The method of claim 73 , the feedback further comprises at least one of indicating current determined values that are assigned by the automated learning processes to attributes of an item and indicating how a selected grouping of various attributes relating to a potential item may be scored.

Claim 79

Independent Claim 97 words

A method to facilitate interactions with an automated notification system, comprising: providing at least one of trust options and controls to a user; analyzing at least one attribute for automatically determining characteristics relating to at least one of an urgency and a priority of the item; assigning a value to the at least one attribute based upon learning processes applied to training data of the attribute's class; and authorizing at least one action of at least one entity via an automated notification system based in part on the at least one of selected trust options and controls.

Claim 80

Independent Claim 97 words

A method to facilitate interactions with an automated notification system, comprising: providing at least one of trust options and controls to a user; analyzing at least one attribute for automatically determining characteristics relating to at least one of an urgency and a priority of the item; assigning a value to the at least one attribute based upon learning processes applied to training data of the attribute's class; and authorizing at least one action of at least one entity via an automated notification system based in part on the at least one of selected trust options and controls.

Claim 81

Dependent Claim 52 words

The method of claim 76 , the trust options include policies that are at least one of specified, selected and adjusted in accordance with at least one of privacy, authorization, and access preferences of the user to influence the at least one action authorized on behalf of the at least one entity.

Claim 82

Dependent Claim 21 words

The method of claim 76 , the trust options further comprise providing at least one of home, work, and financial options.

Claim 83

Dependent Claim 43 words

The method of claim 78 , the financial options include enabling actions to at least one of view a bank balance, view a transaction history, view a W2, view a pay stub history, allow a deposit, allow a transfer, and allow a withdrawal.

Claim 84

Dependent Claim 39 words

The method of claim 78 , the work options include enabling actions to at least one of request a meeting, view a calendar basic, view a calendar details, access presence information, view an office camera, and access office resources.

Claim 85

Dependent Claim 32 words

The method of claim 78 , the home options include enabling actions to at least one of allow pick-up at school, access an alarm, access a watering system, and access a mailbox.

Claim 86

Dependent Claim 33 words

The method of claim 76 , the controls further comprise adjusting various trust threshold settings and selections to define one or more degrees of trust required before the at least one action occurs.

Claim 87

Dependent Claim 25 words

The method of claim 82 , further comprising providing options for conditional confirmations to be required unless a trust threshold exceeds a user selectable value.

Claim 88

Dependent Claim 32 words

The method of claim 76 , the entities include at least one of a spouse, a close friend, a critical associate, a nuclear family member, an associate, and an extended family member.

Claim 89

Dependent Claim 44 words

The method of claim 76 , further comprising providing trust group options, for identifying members of a trust relationship, the trust group options include at least one of forming a static group and forming a dynamic group of members having selected degrees of trust.

Claim 90

Dependent Claim 74 words

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising: a first data field containing user preferences relating to multiple attributes of an item; a second data field containing a group definition pertaining to the item; and a third data field containing urgency and priority data associated with at least one of the item and the attributes, the item is at least one of the following an e-mail, a voice message and pager information.

Claim 91

Dependent Claim 74 words

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising: a first data field containing user preferences relating to multiple attributes of an item; a second data field containing a group definition pertaining to the item; and a third data field containing urgency and priority data associated with at least one of the item and the attributes, the item is at least one of the following an e-mail, a voice message and pager information.

Claim 92

Dependent Claim 23 words

The computer-readable medium of claim 86 , further comprising a fourth data field relating to policy information to influence communications of the item.

Claim 93

Dependent Claim 27 words

The computer-readable medium of claim 86 , further comprising a fourth data field containing priority data associated with at least one of the item and the attributes.

Claim 94

Dependent Claim 24 words

The computer-readable medium of claim 86 , further comprising a fourth data field containing at least one of trust data and trust threshold data.

Claim 95

Dependent Claim 98 words

A tool for employment with a notification system, comprising: means for manipulating at least one attribute of at least one item employed by a notification system, the at least one item associated with communications directed to a user; and means for influencing automated learning processes that direct the at least one item to the user via the notification system; and means for determining characteristics such as at least one of an urgency and a priority of the item, the at least one item is at least one of the following an e-mail, a voice message and pager information.

Claim 96

Dependent Claim 98 words

A tool for employment with a notification system, comprising: means for manipulating at least one attribute of at least one item employed by a notification system, the at least one item associated with communications directed to a user; and means for influencing automated learning processes that direct the at least one item to the user via the notification system; and means for determining characteristics such as at least one of an urgency and a priority of the item, the at least one item is at least one of the following an e-mail, a voice message and pager information.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2009-06-26	2009-12-26	2010-06-27	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2013-06-26	2013-12-26	2014-06-27	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2017-06-26	2017-12-26	2018-06-27	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Multi-attribute specification of preferences about people, priorities and privacy for guiding messaging and communications

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