Rating-based interests in computing environments and systems

A computing system, wherein said computing system is operable to:

• obtain a plurality of sets of probability values for a plurality of specific interest levels of interest in said object of interest respectively, wherein each set of probability levels includes a probability value indicative of the probability that a specific interest level of said plurality of interest levels occurring in a situation effectively represented by one or more of a plurality of context variables, each context variable having a plurality of possible context values;
• obtain input context values that effectively represent an input situation;
• determine the relevance of each one of the plurality of sets of probability values to the input context values;
• and
• determine, based on said relevancies, a projected first interest value in said object of interest, thereby predicting a projected interest value for the input situation.

A computer-implemented method of predicting an interest in an object of interest in a situation:

• collecting user data from one or more users, the user data comprising a plurality of data associations, each data association comprising:
• a first context variable and a second context variable, the first context variable having one or more of a first plurality of possible first context values and the second context variable having one or more of a second plurality of possible second context values;
• a first interest level being one of a plurality of possible first interest levels and corresponding to a level of interest in a first interest object in a first situation represented by the first and second context values;
• arranging the plurality of data associations into a plurality of groups, each group having one or more data associations, each of the data associations of each group having the same first interest level as other data associations in the same group, wherein each group of data associations is associated with a different first interest level;
• determining a set of at least four probability values for each group, the set of probability values indicating at least in part a frequency of association between the first interest level associated with the group and the first and second pluralities of context values, thereby generating a plurality of sets of probability values and associating the plurality of sets of probability values to different ones of the plurality of possible first interest levels respectively;
• obtaining at least a first input context value and a second input context value, the first and second input context values being one or more of the first and second pluralities of context values;
• determining the relevance of each one of the plurality of sets of probability values and its associated first interest level to the first and second input context values;
• using the relevance, a projected first interest value for a second situation of the user, the projected first interest level reflecting at least in part an interest of the user in the first interest object when the user is in a second situation represented by the first input context value and the second input context value.

A computer readable storage medium that includes executable computer code embodied in a tangible form operable to determine an interest in an object of interest in a situation, wherein the computer readable medium includes:

• executable computer code operable to obtain a plurality of sets of probability values for a plurality of specific interest levels of interest in said object of interest respectively, wherein each set of probability levels includes a probability value indicative of the probability that a specific interest level of said plurality of interest levels occurring in a situation effectively represented by one or more of a plurality of context variables, each context variable having a plurality of possible context values;
• executable computer code operable to obtain input context values that effectively represent an input situation;
• executable computer code operable to determine the relevance of each one of the plurality of sets of probability values to the input context values;
• and
• executable computer code operable to determine, based on said relevancies, a projected first interest value in said object of interest, thereby predicting a projected interest value for the input situation.