Information system and method for filtering a massive flow of information entities to meet user information classification needs

A method for information filtering in a computer system receiving a data stream from a computer network having a plurality of users, the data stream having informons embedded therein, the method comprising the steps of:

• a. partitioning each user into a plurality of member clients, each member client having a plurality of client attributes;
• b. grouping member clients to form a plurality of communities, each community including selected clients of the plurality of member clients, selected client attributes of ones of the selected clients being comparable to client attributes of others of the selected clients thereby providing each community with a community profile having a set of common client attributes;
• c. providing at least one community profile for each community using first prediction criteria;
• d. providing at least one member client profile for a client in a community using second prediction criteria;
• e. extracting raw informons from the data stream, each of the raw informons having an information content which has a threshold level of user relevancy;
• f. selecting proposed informons from the informons employing the community and member client profiles;
• g. providing the proposed informons to the user;
• h. receiving user feedback in response to the proposed informons;
• and
• i. updating at least one of the first and second prediction criteria responsive to the user feedback.

An information filter apparatus in a computer system receiving a data stream from a computer network, the data stream having informons embedded therein, the apparatus comprising:

• a. extraction means coupled to the computer network for identifying and extracting informons from the data stream, each of the informons having information content meeting a threshold level of user relevancy, at least one of the raw informons being of interest to a user having a user profile, the user being a member of a network community having a community profile, the extracting means being coupled to the computer network;
• b. filter means for adaptively filtering the informons responsive to an adaptive collaboration profile and an adaptive content profile reflecting the community and user profiles and producing a proposed informon thereby, the content of the informon being filtered according to the adaptive collaboration and content profiles, the filter means being coupled with the extraction means;
• c. communication means for conveying the proposed informon to the user and receiving a feedback response therefrom, the feedback response providing feedback data, the communication means being coupled with the filter means;
• d. first adaptation means for adapting at least one of the collaboration profile and the adaptive content profile responsive to the feedback data from the user, the first adaptation means being coupled to the filter means;
• and
• e. computer storage means for storing the adaptive collaborative profile and the adaptive content profile, the storage means being coupled to the filter means.

An information filtering apparatus in a computer system receiving a data stream from a computer network, the data stream having informons embedded therein, the apparatus comprising:

• a. a first processor coupled to the computer network and receiving the data stream therefrom, the first processor extracting informons from the data stream, responsive to a preprocessing profile;
• b. a second processor coupled to the first processor and receiving the informons therefrom, the second processor extracting proposed community informons from the informons, responsive to a community profile;
• c. a third processor coupled to the second processor and receiving the proposed community informons therefrom, the third processor extracting proposed member client informons from the proposed community informons, responsive to a member client profile;
• d. a fourth processor coupled to the first, the second, and the third processors, the fourth processor:
• (1) being in communication with the member client;
• (2) receiving member client feedback data from a user responsive to the proposed member client informon;
• (3) adapting adaptive content profile data and adaptive collaboration profile data responsive to the feedback data from a user, and
• (4) updating at least one of the preprocessing profile, the community profile, and the member client profile responsive to the the adaptive content profile data.

A computer program product having a computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for information filtering in a computer system receiving a data stream from a computer network, the data stream having informons embedded therein, the informons having information content, a user having a user profile and being a member of a community having a community profile, the computer program product comprising:

• a. means for providing a dynamic informon characterization having a plurality of profiles encoded therein, the plurality of profiles including an adaptive content profile and an adaptive collaboration profile, the adaptive content profile being responsive to content of the informon, the adaptive collaboration profile being correlated with the user profile and the community profile;
• b. means for adaptively filtering the informons responsive to the dynamic informon characterization, producing a proposed informon thereby;
• c. means presenting the proposed informon to the user;
• d. means for receiving feedback data from the user, responsive to the proposed informon;
• and
• e. means for updating the dynamic informon characterization by adapting at least one of the adaptive content profile and the adaptive collaboration profile responsive to the feedback data.

A computer program product having a computer-readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for information filtering in a computer system receiving a data stream from a computer network having a plurality of users, the data stream having informons embedded therein, the computer program product comprising:

• a. means for partitioning each user into a plurality of member clients, each member client having a unique member client profile, each profile having a plurality of client attributes;
• b. means for grouping member clients to form a plurality of communities, each community including selected clients of the plurality of member clients, selected client attributes of ones of the selected clients being comparable to client attributes of others of the selected clients thereby providing each community with a community profile having common client attributes;
• c. means for predicting a community profile for each community using first prediction criteria;
• d. means for predicting a member client profile for each member client in a community using second prediction criteria;
• e. means for extracting informons from the data stream, each of the raw informons having a content of information meeting a threshold level of relavancy;
• f. means for selecting proposed informons from the raw informons, the proposed informons being correlated with at least one of the common client attributes and the member client attributes;
• g. means for providing the proposed informons to the user;
• h. means for receiving user feedback in response to the proposed informons;
• and
• i. means for updating at least one of the first and second prediction criteria responsive to the user feedback.

A computer program product having a computer-readable medium with computer program logic recorded thereon for information filtering in a computer system receiving a data stream from a computer network having a plurality of users, the computer program product comprising:

• a. extraction means for identifying and extracting informons from the data stream, each of the informons having information content meeting a threshold level of relevancy, at least one of the informons being of interest to a user having a user profile, the user being a member of a network community having a community profile;
• b. filter means for adaptively filtering the informons responsive to an adaptive collaboration profile and an adaptive content profile and producing a proposed informon thereby, the informon content being filtered according to content data in the adaptive content profile and collaboration feedback data applied to the adaptive collaboration profile and related to the proposed informon, the filter means being coupled with the extraction means;
• c. communication means for conveying the proposed informon to the user and receiving a feedback response therefrom, the feedback response providing user feedback data, the communication means being coupled with the filter means;
• d. first adaptation means for adapting the content profile responsive to the feedback response, the first adaptation means being coupled to the filter means;
• and
• e. means for storing the adaptive collaboration profile and the adaptive content profile, the means for storing being coupled to the filter means.

An information processing system operable in a network having multiple sources of information, the system comprising:

• a filter structure having a content-based filter and being arranged to process an informon received from the network and to generate informon profile data representing information in the informon;
• the content-based filter having content profile data representing information including at least information desired by an individual user;
• a collaboration filter employing collaboration data obtained from users other than the individual user and related to the informon;
• and
• the filter structure integrating the operation of the content-based and collaboration filters by combining the informon profile data, the content profile data, and the collaboration data together and determining a value of the informon to the individual user.

An information processing system operable in a network having multiple sources of information, the system comprising:

• an information filter structure having a content-based filter for users of the system;
• the information filter structure configured to generate a representation of information content of an informon received from the network;
• the content-based filter having content profile data for multiple system users including an individual user;
• a collaboration filter structure processing collaborative user data related to the informon and fed back from users other than the individual user;
• the information filter structure processing the informon representation, the current content profile data, and the collaborative user data to determine a value of the informon to the individual user, and to pass the informon for consideration by the individual user if the determined value is found to be sufficient.

An information processing system operable in a network having multiple sources of information, the system comprising:

• an information filter structure having a multilevel content-based filter for users of the system;
• the information filter structure configured to generate informon content data representing information content for each informon received from the network;
• the multilevel content filter having a first sublevel content-based filter having first content profile data in a top level of the information filter structure for preprocessing informons and generating raw informons which have sufficient relevancy to be considered by system users;
• the multilevel content filter having a bottom sublevel content-based filter having user content profile data in a bottom level of the information filter structure for processing received informons and directing the received informons to system users according to the user content profile data;
• and
• the multilevel content filter structure having at least a third sublevel content filter having third content profile data in a level between the top level and the bottom level of the information filter structure for processing raw informons and routing the raw informons for processing by the bottom sublevel content-based filter.

An information processing system operable in a network having multiple sources of information, the system comprising:

• a filter structure having a content-based filter and being arranged to process an informon from the network and to generate informon profile data representing information in the informon;
• the content-based filter having content profile data characterizing classifiable information;
• a collaboration filter employing collaboration data obtained from system users and related to the classifiable information;
• the filter structure integrating the operation of the content-based and collaboration filters by combining the informon profile data, the content profile data, and the collaboration data and classifying the information for at least one purpose.

An information processing system operable in a network having multiple sources of information, the system comprising:

• means for receiving informons from the network and generating informon profile data representing information in the informons;
• means for generating content profile data representing information including information desired by an individual user;
• means for selecting a current informon for processing at least in accordance with the content profile data and the informon profile data;
• means for generating collaboration data including rating data obtained from users other than the individual user;
• and
• means for processing in combination the informon profile data for the current informon, the content profile data, and the collaboration data to determine a value of the current informon relative to the information desired by the individual user.

An information processing system operable in a network having multiple sources of information, the system comprising:

• means for generating informon content profile data representing information content for each informon received from the network;
• means for prefiltering received informons in a top information filter level of the system using preprocessing content profile data representing information desired by system users;
• the prefiltering means generating raw informons according to the preprocessing content profile data and the informon content profile data;
• first means for filtering generated raw informons using content profile data sets for respective multiple groups of users in at least one additional information filter level of the system downward from the top information filter level;
• the first filtering means routing the raw informons from user groups for individual user filtering;
• and
• second means for filtering user routed informons using content profile data sets for respective user member clients in a bottom information filter level of the system and passing the user routed informons to user member clients.

An information processing system operable in a network having multiple sources of information, the system comprising:

• means for receiving informons from the network and for generating informon profile data representing information in the informons;
• first means for filtering the informons on the basis of content profile data characterizing classifiable information;
• second means for filtering the informons on the basis of collaboration data obtained from system users and related to the classifiable information;
• and
• the first and second filtering means operating together to combine the informon profile data, the content profile data, and the collaboration data and classifying the information for at least one purpose.

A method for operating an information processing system in a network having multiple sources of information, the steps of the method comprising:

• operating a filter structure to process an informon received from the network and to generate informon profile data representing information in the informon;
• employing a content-based filter in the filter structure as a basis for filtering informon information relative to content profile data which represents information including at least information desired by an individual end user;
• employing a collaboration filter in the filter structure as a basis for filtering informon information relative to collaboration data obtained from users other than the individual user;
• and
• operating the content-based and collaboration filters together to combine the informon profile data, the content profile data and the collaboration data in determining a value of the informon to the individual user.

A method for operating an information processing system in a network having multiple sources of information, the steps of the method comprising:

• receiving informons from the network and generating informon profile data representing information in the informons;
• generating content profile data representing information including information desired by an individual end user;
• selecting a current informon for processing at least in accordance with the content profile data and the informon profile data;
• generating collaboration data obtained from users other than the individual user;
• and
• processing in combination the informon profile data, the content profile data, and the collaboration data to determine a value of the current informon relative to the information desired by the individual user.

A method for operating an information processing system in a network having multiple sources of information, the steps of the method comprising:

• generating informon content profile data for each informon received from the network;
• prefiltering received informons in a top information filter level of the system using preprocessing information content profile data representing information desired by system users, and generating raw informons according to the preprocessing content profile data and the informon content profile data;
• filtering generated informons using content profile data sets for respective groups of users in at least one additional information filter level of the system downward from the top information filter level, and routing the informons from user groups for individual user filtering;
• and
• filtering user routed informons using content profile data sets for respective user member clients in a bottom filter level of the system and passing the user routed informons to user member clients.

A method for operating an information processing system in a network having multiple sources of information, the steps of the method comprising:

• receiving informons from the network and generating informon profile data representing information in the informons;
• filtering the informons on the basis of content profile data characterizing classifiable information;
• filtering the informons on the basis of collaboration data obtained from system users and related to the classifiable information;
• and
• performing the operation of the content profile data and collaboration data filtering steps to combine the informon profile data, the content profile data, and the collaboration data and classify the information for at least one purpose.