# US 8,543,649 B2 · Method and apparatus for constructing and maintaining a user knowledge profile > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,543,649 B2 - Document ID: US8543649B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 10/135,254 - Filed: 2002-04-29 - Published: 2002-12-19 - Granted: 2013-09-24 - Earliest claimed: 1998-09-18 - Assignees: Oracle International Corporation - Applicants: David L. Gilmour; Eric Wang - Inventors: David L. Gilmour; Eric Wang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8543649B2 ## CPC - G06F 21/31: User authentication - G06F 16/30: of unstructured textual data (document management systems G06F16/93) - G06F 16/9535: Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation - G06F 21/6245: {Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes} - G06Q 10/06393: {Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis} - G06Q 10/10: Office automation; Time management - G06Q 30/0201: Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data - G06Q 40/04: Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange - H04L 63/10: {for controlling access to devices or network resources} - H04L 63/102: {Entity profiles} - H04L 67/306: User profiles - Y10S 707/99935: Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access - Y10S 707/99936: Pattern matching access - Y10S 707/99939: Privileged access - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS ## Abstract A method of constructing an entity profile, having private and public portions with different access restrictions, commences with the assignment of a confidence level to content within an electronic document. The electronic document may be associated with the first entity (e.g., may have been authored by or addressed to the first entity). The content may furthermore potentially be descriptive of the first entity. If the confidence level assigned to the content is less than a predetermined threshold, the content is automatically rejected for inclusion within the entity profile. On the other hand, if the confidence level assigned to the content exceeds the predetermined threshold, the content is included within the private portion of the entity profile. Thereafter, the content is automatically presented to the first entity for authorization, by the first entity, for inclusion of the content within the public portion of the profile. The public portion of the entity profile may be freely accessible by other entities, whereas the private portion may have access restrictions. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer-implemented method, comprising: intercepting, by the computer, emails sent by a first entity while the emails are being transmitted on a network; automatically constructing, by the computer, a knowledge profile of the first entity based on a plurality of sets of text from the intercepted emails; storing, by the computer, the knowledge profile as part of a knowledge base stored in a machine-accessible storage facility; in response to preparation of a particular email to be sent by a second entity to at least one other entity of the network, identifying, by the computer, prior to sending the particular email by the second entity, one or more suggested potential recipients as meeting one or more criteria based at least in part on a comparison of the knowledge profile of the one or more suggested potential recipients and text contained in the particular email to be sent by the second entity; outputting, by the computer, a recommendation to include at least a first entity as a recipient of the particular email to be sent by the second entity, the first entity meeting the one or more criteria and being one of the one or more suggested potential recipients; and providing, by the computer, a matching metric indicative of a relative strength of the recommendation for the one or more suggested potential recipients, the matching metric comprises a sum of confidence level values associated with the one or more suggested potential recipients. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the knowledge profile is representative of an information focus of the first entity. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the knowledge profile is representative of knowledge possessed by the first entity. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, wherein operating processing system to identify the first entity as meeting one or more criteria is done without reliance upon any predefined association between the first entity and the second entity. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of sets of text have been authored by the first entity. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the knowledge profile comprises a first portion and a second portion, and the first portion and the second portion have different access restrictions. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 6, wherein the first portion comprises a public portion including public information and the second portion comprises a private portion including private information. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 7, wherein the recommendation includes only information of the public portion of the knowledge profile of the first entity. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 7, wherein the recommendation includes information of the private portion of the knowledge profile of the first entity based at least in part on authorization, by the first entity, to publish the information of the private portion of the knowledge profile with the recommendation. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method as recited in claim 1, wherein one of the emails includes an attached file. ### Claim 11 A system, comprising: a memory; a management server to intercept emails while the emails are being transmitted on a network by a first user and to automatically construct a knowledge profile of the first user based on a plurality of sets of text from the intercepted emails, the management server further to store the knowledge profile in a database in the memory; and an access server to identify, prior to sending a particular email by a second user, one or more suggested potential recipients as meeting one or more criteria in response to preparation of the particular email to be sent by the second user and intended for at least one other user of the network, without reliance upon any user-defined association between the first user and the second user, by at least comparing the knowledge profile of the one or more suggested potential recipients with text contained in the particular email intended for the at least one other user, the access server further to recommend to include at least the first user as a recipient of the particular email to be sent by the second user, the first user meeting the one or more criteria and being one of the one or more suggested potential recipients, without reliance upon any user-defined association between the first user and the second user, the access server further to provide a matching metric indicative of a relative strength of the recommendation for the one or more suggested potential recipients, the matching metric comprises a sum of confidence level values associated with the one or more suggested potential recipients. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the knowledge profile is representative of an information focus of the first user. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the knowledge profile is representative of knowledge possessed by the first user. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The system as recited in claim 11, wherein the knowledge profile comprises a public portion and a private portion. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The system as recited in claim 11, wherein one of the emails includes an attached file. ### Claim 16 A processing system, comprising: a processor; and a memory coupled with the processor and storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processing system to perform a process that includes: intercepting emails sent by a first entity while the emails are being transmitted on a network; automatically constructing a knowledge profile of the first entity based on a plurality of sets of text from the intercepted emails; storing the knowledge profile as part of a knowledge base stored in a machine-accessible storage facility; in response to preparation of a particular email prepared by a second entity and intended for at least one other entity, identifying, prior to sending the particular email by the second entity, one or more suggested potential recipients as meeting one or more criteria based at least in part on a comparison of the knowledge profile of the one or more suggested potential recipients and text contained in the particular email prepared by the second entity; outputting a recommendation to include at least a first entity as a recipient of the particular email prepared by the second entity, the first entity meeting the one or more criteria and being one of the one or more suggested potential recipients; and providing a matching metric indicative of a relative strength of the recommendation for the one or more suggested potential recipients, the matching metric comprises a sum of confidence level values associated with the one or more suggested potential recipients. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The processing system as recited in claim 16, the memory further storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processing system to: in response to identifying that the first entity meets the one or more criteria, indicate to the second entity that the first entity meets the one or more criteria. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The processing system as recited in claim 16, wherein the knowledge profile is representative of an information focus of the first entity. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The processing system as recited in claim 16, wherein the knowledge profile is representative of knowledge possessed by the first entity. ### Claim 20 (depends on 16) The processing system as recited in claim 16, wherein identifying the first entity as meeting one or more criteria is done without reliance upon any predefined association between the first entity and the second entity. ### Claim 21 (depends on 16) The processing system as recited in claim 16, wherein the plurality of sets of text have been authored by the first entity. ### Claim 22 (depends on 16) The processing system as recited in claim 16, the memory further storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processing system to: prompt the first entity for authorization to publish at least a portion of the knowledge profile to the second entity, in response to determining that an association exists between search query and the knowledge profile of the first entity. ### Claim 23 (depends on 16) The processing system as recited in claim 16, wherein the knowledge profile comprises a first portion and a second portion, and the first portion and the second portion have different access restrictions. ### Claim 24 (depends on 16) The processing system as recited in claim 16, wherein one of the emails includes an attached file.