WO2003040954A1

WO2003040954A1 - Information recovery system

Info

Publication number: WO2003040954A1
Application number: PCT/AU2002/001509
Authority: WO
Inventors: Adrian Ruzsicska
Original assignee: Adrian Ruzsicska
Priority date: 2001-11-06
Filing date: 2002-11-06
Publication date: 2003-05-15
Also published as: AUPR869801A0

Abstract

Technical Field. This invention concerns an information recovery system to provide information updates following periods of information blackout. These blackout periods may occur when a user is out of contact with their usual sources of information. In a further aspect it concerns a process for providing information recovery packages.

Description

INFORMATION RECOVERY SYSTEM

Description

The information recovery system 10 comprises a main processing subsystem 11 and a communications subsystem 12. The communications subsystem 12 provides local supervisory access 13, read and write access to local data storage 14 and communications over the Internet 15 and by other media indicated generically at 16.

The information recovery system 10, under the control of the main processing subsystem 11, uses the communications subsystem to interrogate local sources of information, or remote sources of data 20 via the Internet, and retrieve predetermined new and changed data. These sources of data are selected by the system supervisor and cover all the categories of information where new and changed data arc considered to be of interest to users. The sources of information will be continually under review so that they can be changed and new sources added as demand requires. The main processing subsystem 11 processes the new and changed data and stores it in local data storage 14. Manual intervention in data processing is possible using the local control access 13. The processed data is then packaged and transmitted to users 30 using a variety of communications media. The content of the information packages, time of transmission and mode of receipt are all user definable.

These processes will now be described in greater detail:- Thc currently selected information sources 20 are regularly monitored over the Internei by the information recovery system 10. The information recovery system is programmed to look for predetermined new and changed data in those information sources. Once a change of interest is detected the details are extracted and forwarded to the main processing subsystem 11. Bibliographic information identifying the original source will also be collected and preserved, as appropriate,

At the main processing subsystem an Artificial Intelligence such as a Language Construct Engine (LCE) operates automatically on the extracted details to summarise and further processes the information. The LCE operates using grammatical rules, which are continuously supplemented through "Learned rules". The LCE maintains relationships between the original story, the summary it produces and the grammatical rules used to produce the summary. Further processing may compare Numeric data in the summary with earlier similar data and operate to append change information. The summary is then forwarded to a human editor at 13. The human editor uses a Language Construct Tool to compare the original story and the automatically produced summary, to polish the summary and produces a fⁱnal article. The Language Construct Tool records the actions of the Editor in creating the final article. LCT produces enhanced rules and other methods, based on the rules and methods supplied from the LCE and supplemented with the actions by the editor. The enhanced rule set is fed back into the Language Construct Engine to enhance its quality. Once completed the final article is supplemented with source information and endorsed with time and date information. This endorsed article forms a Unique Information Event (UIE), which is stored in the database 14. A number of defined Black Out Periods (BOP's) are also stored in the database 14, in chronological order, based on the BOP completion time. As time passes the information recovery system 10 constantly monitors all stored BOP entries to determine any that have completed, which is when the completion time and date has passed.

Immediately a Black Out Period (BOP) is identified as completed, all Unique Information Events (UIE) for the BOP are extracted to a temporary data set. User defined Entity Characteristics for that BOP are then compared to each UIE and relevant entries are selected. Unselected UIE's are scanned further for user defined keywords and matching entires are selected.

The set of selected UIE's form the raw information for a new Information Recovery Package (IRP) and represent information that is unique to that user for that BOP. The UIE set is then formatted according to user defined formatting definitions, and the resulting formatted IRP is forwarded to the Delivery Process. The formatted IRP is received and delivery instructions associated with this BOP instance are examined and followed to deliver the IRP to the user by the selected media.

From the user's perspective a new user uses their personal computer 30 to connect over the Internet 15 to a Web Site supported by the communications subsystem 12. The user registers and provides details about the Unique Information Events and any keywords they are interested in, as well as their preferred modes of communication for the receipt of Information Recovery Packages. From time to time the user also connects to the Web Site to define details of Black Out Periods, such as when they will be out of contact. These periods may include holidays, aeroplane flights, and other periods when they will not be able to receive desired information. First the user creates an entity by entering:

• Entity Identifier (Unique value) -essential

• Validating check (could be a password) -essential • Default delivery method

• Default delivery method address

Next the user defines entity characteristics. These represent details used to enhance and refine the information of interest to the entity. Characteristics are selected from headings such as: • Geographic Business Politics Science Nature Sports Weather Industry

Information Sources Through the web interface keywords are manually entered. Boolean relationships may also be highlighted between words to enhance the effectiveness of their use.

Keywords are processed for effectiveness. Processing would include: uniqueness, complexity, synonyms and international language considerations. An iterative process is followed to encourage effective keyword selection. Information Recovery Package options are presented to the user for selection and refinement. Options include:

• Receiving device type and capabilities (B&W or Colour; Graphical or Text; etc.)

• Preferred document format (influenced by delivery method, device type, etc.)

• Graphics Level

• Options for graphs of numeric data over time and granularity

• IRP overall Size optimisation Level

• Delivery priority level (Optional) • Formatting Options

• Data Link inclusion

The user verifies the details, accepts the storage and usage conditions and authorises the saving of the details in the system database. The system acknowledges successful storage of the details and provides an option for the person to progress to a "Black Out Period" entry.

The entry of a Black Out Period involves the user confirming their Entity Identity and Characteristics, and then the user defines:

• Date and Time of BOP commencement.

• Date and Time of BOP completion. A short-term category may also be available to cover for instance the situation of the Olympics, a major disaster or space exploration events. In such cases all information relating to the event will also be provided.

The user is provided a summary of Entity Characteristics together with options to edit them or add new ones. Furthermore, changes can be flagged to exist for this BOP only or to be stored as defaults. The user is also provided with details of the current delivery method and address, and with an option to change the details. As with EC changes, delivery method and address can be flagged to be used for this BOP only or become the new default. The user is provided with details of the IRP, with an option to change the details. As with EC changes, IRP customisations can be flagged to be used for this BOP only or become the new default.

The user verifies the details and accepts the storage and usage conditions and authorises the saving of the information in the system database. The System then acknowledges successful storage of the details.

In the event that the BOP has completed historically (i.e. is already over) the system cues the BOP instance for Information Recovery Package creation and advises the user.

System provides an option to enter additional BOP information. The user may choose any method of delivery of Information Recovery

Packages supported by the system. For instance, at registration the user may indicate delivery be e-mail and elect the services local e-mail server as the destination where the packages are delivered. Alternatively the user may be provided with a URL for use with a WAP phone and the Information Recovery Package is placed on a local WAP content server for collection through that URL.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims

Claim

The invention is an information recovery system, comprising:

1) A communications subsystem to provide a user interface, an interface with selected information sources, read and write access to local data storage, a supervisory interface and information package transmission facilities;

A local data store for holding user-defined details concerning user identity, user information types, blackout periods, and contact details, as well as information;

A processing subsystem operable to: (a) Interrogate the selected sources of information to identify predetermined new and changed data and to retrieve details of it together with bibliographic information, then process the retrieved details according to grammatical rules to produce a summary, and store each summary in the local data store as a unique information event; (b) Constantly monitor blackout period details stored in local storage and as a blackout period is completed retrieve all the unique information events that occurred during that blackout period and store them as a temporary data set;

(c) Extract user information types stored for that blackout period from the temporary data set, and format it to produce an information recovery package; and (d) Deliver the information recovery package using the information package transmission facilities defined in the stored user contact details.

2) In another aspect, the invention is a process for providing information recovery packages, comprising the steps of: • interrogating selected sources of information to identify predetermined new and changed data;

• retrieving details of the new and changed data together with bibliographic information;

• processing the retrieved details according to grammatical rules to produce a summary;

• storing each summary as a unique information event;

• constantly monitoring user defined blackout period details;

• retrieving all the unique information events that occurred during a blackout period that is completed and storing them as a temporary data set; • extracting user defined information types stored for that blackout period from the temporary data set;

• formatting the extracted information types to produce an information recovery package; and

• delivering the information recovery package to the user. 3) In a further aspect the invention is an information recovery package, comprising: summarised details of predetermined new and changed data, from selected sources of information, occurring in a period of time defined by a user, and being transmitted to that user at the end of the period by a communications media of the users choice.