Context-based interests in computing environments and systems

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

• obtain a plurality of situation-based interest rating components for a plurality of situations, wherein each one of said plurality of situation-based interest rating components includes an interest value indicative of interest in said object of interest in one of said plurality of situations, each one of the plurality of situations effectively represented by a plurality of context variables, each one of the plurality of context variables having an associated plurality of possible context values;
• obtain an input situation that is effectively represented by a plurality of input context values;
• identify based on said input situation, one of said situation-based interest rating components as a matching situation-based interest rating component for said input situation;
• determine the relevance of at least a portion of one or more other situation-based interest rating components to said matching situation-based interest rating component;
• and
• determine, based on said one or more relevancies, a projected interest value indicative of a projected interest in said object of interest in said input situation.

A computer readable medium embodied in a tangible form including executable computer program code operable to predict 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 situation-based interest rating components for a plurality of situations, wherein each one of said plurality of situation-based interest rating components includes an interest value indicative of interest in said object of interest in one of said plurality of situations, each one of the plurality of situations effectively represented by a plurality of context variables, each one of the plurality of context variables having an associated plurality of possible context values;
• executable computer code operable to obtain an input situation that is effectively represented by a plurality of input context values;
• executable computer code operable to identify, based on said input situation, one of said situation-based interest rating components as a matching situation-based interest rating component for said input situation;
• executable computer code operable to determine the relevance of at least a portion of one or more other situation-based interest rating components to said matching situation-based interest rating component;
• and
• executable computer code operable to determine, based on said one or more relevancies, a projected interest value indicative of a projected interest in said object of interest in said input situation.

A computer-implemented method of determining interest in an object of interest in a given situation, wherein said method comprises:

• obtaining a plurality of situation-based interest rating components for a plurality of situations, each one of said plurality of situation-based interest rating components including an associated interest value indicative of interest in said object of interest in associated one of said plurality of situations, each one of the plurality of situations effectively represented by a plurality of context variables, each one of the plurality of context variables having an associated plurality of possible context values, wherein a first one of the plurality of situation-based interest rating components is a first unknown interest rating component whose said associated interest value is unknown;
• determining the relevance of at least a portion of a first set of one or more situation-based interest rating components to at least a portion of said first unknown interest rating component;
• and
• determining, based on said one or more relevancies, a first projected interest value indicative of a projected value for said unknown interest rating.