US6356898B2
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Method and system for summarizing topics of documents browsed by a user
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1998-11-13
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Granted: 2002-03-12
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Expires: 2018-11-13
Abstract
Abstract The invention disclosed herein relates to cooperative computing environments and information retrieval and management methods and systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for capturing and generating useful information about a user's access and use of data on a computer system, such as in the form of documents stored on remote servers, and making such useful information available to others. Documents on the computer system are accessible through a plurality of different methods, such as by specifying an identifier or locator for the document, activating a hyperlink in another document which points to the document, or navigating to the document through navigational commands in an application program such as a browser. The method involves capturing information regarding each of the accessed documents in the set, the information including the method used to access the document, dividing the set of documents into subsets of documents based at least in part on the methods used to access the documents, labeling each subset of documents with a topic, and making the labels and documents accessed available to other users who wish to browse the same documents.
Inventors
- 👤 Andrew L. Cohen
- 👤 Paul P. Maglio
- 👤 Robert C. Barrett
- 👤 Mark A. Sheldon
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 15:36
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F16/00; G06F16/90; G06F16/95; G06F16/953; G06F16/9535; G06F16/30; G06F16/33; G06F16/335; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99931; Y10S707/99932; Y10S707/99933; Y10S707/99935; Y10S707/99936
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 32
Claim 1
Independent Claim
93 words
A method for producing a summary of topics for a set of documents accessed by a user on a computer system, the documents being accessible on the computer system through a plurality of different methods, the method comprising: capturing information regarding each of the accessed documents in the set, the information including the method used to access the document; dividing the set of documents into a plurality of subsets of documents based at least in part on the methods used to access the documents; and labeling each subset of documents with a topic.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
93 words
A method for producing a summary of topics for a set of documents accessed by a user on a computer system, the documents being accessible on the computer system through a plurality of different methods, the method comprising: capturing information regarding each of the accessed documents in the set, the information including the method used to access the document; dividing the set of documents into a plurality of subsets of documents based at least in part on the methods used to access the documents; and labeling each subset of documents with a topic.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the documents is associated with an identifier, and wherein the step of capturing information includes capturing the identifier of each document in the set.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of capturing information comprises monitoring the user's access of the documents and storing for each document the identifier associated therewith and the method used to access the document.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of capturing information about the documents in the set comprises capturing a sequence in which the documents are accessed by the user.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of dividing the set of documents into subsets comprises dividing the sequence of documents into subsequences of consecutive documents accessed by the user.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
63 words
The method of claim 5 , wherein each of the documents is associated with an identifier, and the methods include two or more from the group consisting of input of a document identifier, selecting a stored bookmark for the document identifier, activating a link to a target document contained in a source document, and navigating to a document previously accessed in the sequence.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of claim 6 , wherein the step of dividing the set of documents comprises starting a new subsequence of documents with any document in the sequence accessed through a predetermined one or more of the plurality of methods.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of starting a new sequence comprises starting the new sequence with any document accessed through input of the document's identifier.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
33 words
The method of claim 7 , wherein the step of starting a new sequence comprises starting the new sequence with any document accessed through selection of a stored bookmark for the document's identifier.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
35 words
The method of claim 7 , the step of dividing the set of documents into subsets comprises grouping into a subset consecutive documents which were accessed through activation of links contained in the consecutive documents.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
43 words
The method of claim 1 , wherein the documents contain content and wherein the step of dividing the set of documents into subsets comprises dividing the set of document based at least in part on the content of the documents in the set.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of dividing the set of documents comprises clustering the documents based at least in part on the content of the documents.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
58 words
The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of dividing the set of documents into subsets comprises dividing the set of documents into first subsets based on the methods through which the documents were accessed and clustering the documents in each first subset into second subsets based on the content of the documents in each first subset.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method of claim 12 , wherein the step of dividing the set of documents into subsets comprises clustering the documents based on the content of the documents and the methods used to access the documents.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
46 words
The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of clustering comprises identifying tokens in each of the documents and establishing a vector for each document comprising a combination of the tokens in the document and a feature representing the method used to access the document.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
109 words
A software program stored on a computer readable medium which, when executed, causes a computer to perform a method for producing a summary of topics for a set of documents accessed by a user on a computer system, the documents being accessible on the computer system through a plurality of different methods, the method comprising: capturing information regarding each of the accessed documents in the set, the information including the method used to access the document; dividing the set of documents into a plurality of'subsets of documents based at least in part on the methods used to access the documents; and labeling each subset of documents with a topic.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
109 words
A software program stored on a computer readable medium which, when executed, causes a computer to perform a method for producing a summary of topics for a set of documents accessed by a user on a computer system, the documents being accessible on the computer system through a plurality of different methods, the method comprising: capturing information regarding each of the accessed documents in the set, the information including the method used to access the document; dividing the set of documents into a plurality of'subsets of documents based at least in part on the methods used to access the documents; and labeling each subset of documents with a topic.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
38 words
The software program of claim 16 , wherein each of the documents is associated with an identifier, and wherein the step performed by the computer of capturing information includes capturing the identifier of each document in the set.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
42 words
The software program of claim 17 , wherein the step performed by the computer of capturing information comprises monitoring the user's access of the documents and storing for each document the identifier associated therewith and the method used to access the document.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
36 words
The software program of claim 16 , wherein the step performed by the computer of capturing information about the documents in the set comprises capturing a sequence in which the documents are accessed by the use.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
37 words
The software program of claim 19 , wherein the step performed by the computer of dividing the set of documents into subsets comprises dividing the sequence of documents into subsequences of consectitive documents accessed by the user.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
64 words
The software program of claim 20 , wherein each of the documents is associated with an identifier, and the methods include two or more from the group consisting of input of a document identifier, selecting a stored bookmark for the document identifier, activating a link to a target document contained in a source document, and navigating to a document previously accessed in the sequence.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
45 words
The software program of claim 21 , wherein the step performed by the computer of dividing the set of documents comprises starting a new subsequence of documents with any document in the sequence accessed through a predetermined one or more of the plurality of methods.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
34 words
The software program of claim 22 , wherein the step performed by the computer of starting a new sequence comprises starting the new sequence with any document accessed through input of the document's identifier.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
38 words
The software program of claim 22 , wherein the step performed by the computer of starting a new sequence comprises starting the new sequence with any document accessed through selection of a stored bookmark for the document's identifier.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
41 words
The software program of claim 22 , wherein the step performed by the computer of dividing the set of documents into subsets comprises grouping into a subset consecutive documents which were accessed through activation of links contained in the consecutive documents.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
48 words
The software program of claim 16 , wherein the documents contain content and wherein the step performed by the computer of dividing the set of documents into subsets comprises dividing the set of document based at least in part on the content of the documents in the set.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
35 words
The software program of claim 26 , wherein the step performed by the computer of dividing the set of documents comprises clustering the documents based at least in part on the content of the documents.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
63 words
The software program of claim 27 , wherein the step performed by the computer of dividing the set of documents into subsets comprises dividing the set of documents into first subsets based on the methods through which the documents were accessed and clustering the documents in each first subset into second subsets based on the content of the documents in each first subset.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
41 words
The software program of claim 27 , wherein the step performed by the computer of dividing the set of documents into subsets comprises clustering the documents based on the content of the documents and the methods used to access the documents.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
51 words
The software program of claim 29 , wherein the step performed by the computer of clustering comprises identifying tokens in each of the documents and establishing a vector for each document comprising a combination of the tokens in the document and a feature representing the method used to access the document.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2005-03-11 | 2005-09-10 | 2006-03-12 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2009-03-11 | 2009-09-10 | 2010-03-12 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2013-03-11 | 2013-09-10 | 2014-03-12 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |