FR2814563A1 - Method allowing genealogy database users to exchange genealogy information over the Internet in which databases are set up in a common format and users send requests to a common server that sends the request on to other users - Google Patents

Abstract

Databases comprising genealogy information contain files in a standard GEDCOM format. The method has a number of steps involving extraction of statistical information, transmission of statistical information to a server-router, transmission of a request from an end-user, server comparison of request to the statistical information, transmission of the request from the server to a number of users, transmission of genealogy data from end-users to the requesting end-user via the Internet.

Description

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On appelle "généalogiste" toute personne cherchant à construire des généalogies, c'est à dire à prouver les relations de parenté existantes entre plusieurs individus donnés ou à trouver toutes sortes d'informations (comme l'état civil, la biographie, etc. ) sur un groupe d'individus parents entre eux. 1-1 1 METHOD FOR ALLOWING DATABASE USERS
GENEALOGICAL EXCHANGES BETWEEN GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION VIA A COMMUNICATION NETWORK, ESPECIALLY TYPE
INTERNET

We call "genealogist" any person seeking to build genealogies, ie to prove the relationships of kinship existing between several given individuals or to find all kinds of information (such as marital status, biography, etc.) on a group of individuals related to each other.

 The construction of a genealogy is a work of very variable scope. The main aim is to find information (a year of birth, the name of the father, mother, etc.) through documents which may be kept in various places (mainly in repositories chives, town halls, etc.), no longer exist or have never existed. The work can be compared to the work of a historian, especially when the genealogist seeks information whose source is distant in the time of the present era. The goal of a genealogist is often to build ascending trees, that is to say to find as many ancestors of a given individual as possible, or descending trees, that is to say to find the as exhaustive as possible the descendants of a given person, most often deceased several

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 decades. The more the genealogist searches for completeness (listing not only ancestors and descendants, but also collaterals and their genealogy), the more he is led to handle a large amount of information. An exhaustive ancestry over 10 generations (roughly 250 years) leads to consider 2047 individuals (not necessarily distinct).

The ascending tree until 1650 of a recently born person leads to consider about 32,767 individuals over 14 generations.

qui l'intéressent quand ceux-ci sont suffisamment rares). Given the mass of information to be collected, a genealogist often relies heavily on his peers, who have been able to conduct research before him and collect information on individuals of particular interest to him. During his research, a genealogist will therefore try to get in touch with other genealogists by the same individuals as him, in order to exchange the results of their research, and this, as soon as the opportunity can be favorable (by example: a meeting of a genealogical circle of a given region, a small press ad indicating his centers of interest, such as surnames

that interest him when these are rare enough).

The problem therefore is for a genealogist to find his "peers".

 On the one hand, there are traditional genealogical procedures and their adaptation to the Internet. Meetings of genealogical circles or associations (eg the "Biennial of genealogy and family history").

 Stock exchanges in the specialized press: they encourage genealogists to publish classified ads aimed at meeting other genealogists with the same interests (eg "Genealogy Magazine").

 Internet genealogical news groups (cf.

"fr. rec. genealogie")
The genealogy publication process: genealogy software exports the data in files in HTML format, which can be uploaded to a web host.

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données Internet et ainsi rendues publiques. (ex des pages HTML créées par"Hérédis", hébergées chez"Multimania")
Tous les procédés de constitution de base de données généalogiques via des fichiers au format GEDCOM fournies par les généalogistes à un prestataire de service. Celui-ci analyse les données reçues et les compare automatiquement de façon sommaire aux données déjà fournies précédemment, et publie les résultats par courrier, minitel, par e-mail, ou sur Internet (cf. l'outil d'Infoduc, ou de Michel Gasse sur minitel).

Internet data and thus made public. (eg HTML pages created by "Hérédis", hosted by "Multimania")
All procedures for building genealogical databases via GEDCOM format files provided by genealogists to a service provider. This analyzes the data received and automatically compares them in a summary manner to the data already provided previously, and publishes the results by post, minitel, by e-mail, or on the Internet (cf. the Infoduct tool, or from Michel Gasse on minitel).

de données préalablement constituée (cf. Généanet), soit dans des données (codées principalement au format HTML sur Internet) hébergées ailleurs mais dont l'adresse de la source a été préalablement indexée (cf. Gendex). "Manual" genealogical search engines which, at the request of a genealogist, search either in a database

previously constituted data (cf. Généanet), either in data (mainly coded in HTML format on the Internet) hosted elsewhere but whose source address has been previously indexed (cf. Gendex).

 On the other hand, products based on so-called "peer-to-peer" technologies (genuine / with central base: software using networked machines (mainly Internet) which pool machine time, disk space, or the data stored on the disk in order to make them available for everyone, or for a central entity (eg "Napster" for sharing MT3 data available to everyone, "distributed. net" for pooling calculation time thousands of machines to serve a single mission managed by a central server.

 The present invention relates to a method allowing users of genealogical databases to exchange genealogical information with each other via a communication network, in particular of the Internet type.

 Users have computer equipment, connected to the communication network, and containing genealogical databases.

 Databases include genealogical information stored in files in a memory area

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 according to a standard common to users, in particular according to the GEDCOM format.

 The process includes several steps.

 It comprises the step, for said computer equipment, of extracting files of statistical information concerning genealogical information.

 It includes the step, for the IT equipment, of transmitting the statistical information to a server-router.

 It includes the step, for a user-transmitter, of sending their electronic address to the server-router.

 It includes the step, for the server-router, of periodically drawing up a list of users connected to the computer communication network and wishing to exchange genealogical information.

 The method further comprises the step, for the user-transmitter, of addressing a request to the server-router. The request concerns the transmission of genealogical information.

 The method further includes the step for the router server to compare the request to the statistical information.

 The method further comprises the step, for the router server, of selecting, from the connected users, a group of user-recipients.

 The method further comprises the step, for the router server, of transmitting the request to the group of recipient users.

 The method further comprises the step, for the group of user-recipients having received the request, of transmitting genealogical information to the user-transmitter, via the computer communication network.

 Geneapster is a worldwide peer-to-peer database capable of intelligently comparing hundreds of billions of genealogical records with each other.

 "Geneapster" is a product including:

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 - client software (called "client") capable of communicating with each other via the Internet, - central servers, in limited number, managing clients' rights, and operating a global control of the data exchanged between them.

 The genealogist is invited to obtain a client which he installs on his machine, regularly connected to the Internet, to whom he indicates where the GEDCOM genealogical files are located on his machine, which he wishes to make available to others. A genealogist can pay an optional membership fee. The client begins an initialization phase. He declares himself to a central server, which verifies his legitimacy and his rights (member genealogist). Then an analysis of the files takes place: the client extracts statistics on the size data, surnames found, places found. The statistical data are transmitted to a central server which integrates these data and takes them into account for global statistics which are retransmitted to the customer: the goal is that each customer has "an idea" of the frequency of a place, a patronymic given in order to refine the overlap: customers become more "smart" because they cooperate. After initialization, the client is ready to receive and send requests to other clients.

 Outgoing requests: manual or automatic requests for total data comparison (marital status, parentage).

Requests are submitted to "close" customers (in the Internet sense: speed, response time) of the requester, where they are transmitted recursively to customers close to these customers close to the requester. The depth of the transmission levels is limited, depending on the rights of the customer.

 Incoming requests: are processed by a queue system: requests in the queue may have different probabilities. Requests from a member genealogist will have priority over those from a non-member genealogist. Fine comparisons are made: the client

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 returns a probability, not data. Genealogists are invited to contact each other, directly or by email. A certain confidentiality is respected, an indexing of the total base is impossible.

 Customers who return results that are too often very good regulate themselves automatically, and the probabilities returned are modified accordingly to restore balance.

 Principle of give and take: we only receive what we have provided. Customers can send more requests if they are able to handle many themselves.

 The invention can be called "Geneapster".

Claims (1)

CLAIM 1. A method enabling users of genealogical databases to exchange genealogical information with each other via a communication network, in particular of the Internet type; said users having computer equipment, connected to said communication network, and containing said genealogical databases; said databases comprising genealogical information stored in files of a memory area according to a standard common to said users, in particular according to the GEDCOM format; said method comprising the following steps: the step, for said computer equipment, to extract from said files statistical information concerning said genealogical information, the step, for said computer equipment, to transmit said statistical information to a server-router, - the step, for a user-transmitter, to send, to said server-router, his electronic address, - the step, for said server-router, to periodically draw up a list of users connected to said computer communication network and wishing to exchange genealogical information, said method further comprising the following steps: - the step, for said user-transmitter, of addressing, to said server-router, a request; said request, relating to the transmission of said genealogical information; the step, for said server-router, of comparing said request with said statistical information, <Desc / Clms Page number 8>  said request to said group of user-recipients, the step, for said group of user-recipients having received said request, to transmit genealogical information to said user-transmitter, via said computer communication network.

 - the step, for said server-router, of selecting, from the connected users, a group of recipient users, - the step, for said server-router, of transmitting