Software agent for comparing locally accessible keywords with meta-information and having pointers associated with distributed information

A method of monitoring meta-information inputted to a meta-information data store, the input meta-information being requested by any of a plurality of users, for the purpose of alerting a first user to input meta-information requested by a second user in accordance with alert criteria determined at least in part by said first user, said method comprising:

• i) storing a user profile for each of said users, which profile comprises at least one set of keywords and an identifier for each of said users;
• ii) detecting a request by said second user for meta-information to be entered to said data store;
• iii) processing said request with a software agent and generating with said agent said meta-information entry;
• iv) automatically comparing said meta-information entry with a keyword set from said user profile for said first user;
• and
• v) in the event of a positive result from said comparison, automatically generating and transmitting by said agent a message addressed to said first user.

An information access system, for accessing sets of information stored in a distributed manner and accessible by means of a communications network, the access system comprising:

• i) an input for receiving a set of information;
• ii) data storage, or means to access data storage, for storing at least one set of predetermined keywords;
• iii) generation means, triggerable:
• (a) to generate at least one set of meta-information from the set of information received at the input, the meta-information including at least a pointer for the set of information where stored in said distributed manner, and (b) to locally store the at least one set of meta-information in the data storage;
• iv) comparison means for comparing at least one of the at least one set of stored keywords with the at least one set of meta-information;
• and
• v) means for automatically generating and transmitting a message back to a user associated with said at least one set of stored keywords in dependence upon the result of the comparison.

A method of monitoring information sets stored in a distributed manner and accessible by means of a communications network for the purpose of alerting a first user in accordance with alert criteria determined at least in part by the first user to a locally accessible stored corresponding meta-information set identified by a second user, the method comprising:

• i) locally accessing a stored user profile for each of said users, which profile comprises at least one set of keywords and an identifier for each of said users;
• ii) detecting a request by the second user to store, in a meta-information data store, meta-information relating to the identified information set;
• iii) in response to the request, using a software agent to generate a set of meta-information dependent on the identified information set;
• iv) automatically comparing the generated set of meta-information with a keyword set from the user profile for the first user;
• and
• v) in dependence upon the result from the comparison, automatically generating and transmitting by said agent a message addressed to the first user.

An information access system, for accessing sets of information stored in a distributed manner and accessible by means of a communication network, the access system comprising:

• i) an input for receiving a set of information;
• ii) means to locally access data storage storing at least one set of predetermined keywords;
• iii) generation means, triggerable:
• (a) to generate at least one set of meta-information from the set of information received at the input, the meta-information including at least a pointer for the set of information when stored in said distributed manner, and (b) to store said set of meta-information when stored in the data storage;
• iv) clustering means, adapted to operate according to at least one keyword clustering algorithm, arranged to operate on a stored set of keywords to modify the keyword set with reference to meta-information stored in the data storage;
• and
• v) searching means to apply a keyword set modified by the clustering means to search for further information sets.

A method of accessing sets of information stored in a distributed manner and accessible by means of a communications network, the method including the steps of:

• i) locally accessing, for each of one or more users, a stored user profile comprising at least one set of keywords and an identifier for the user;
• ii) receiving a plurality of information sets identified by one or more users and using an adaptive software agent to generate and store a set of meta-information in respect of each said identified information set;
• iii) applying, to keywords in a user profile, a keyword clustering algorithm operating with reference to the stored meta-information to modify the user profile;
• and
• iv) using the modified user profile from step iii) with said agent to identify one or more further sets of information,
• wherein said adaptive agent provides storing locally accessible said meta-information including a pointer and keywords based on information gathered from a distributed network.