Abstract: A method, system and apparatus for managing activity reuse in a collaborative environment. The method can include the step of creating a new activity instance based upon an existing activity instance. Specifically, the creating step can include the steps of selecting an activity template and creating the new activity instance based upon the selected activity template and/or selecting a portion of an existing activity instance and creating the new activity instance based upon the selected portion. In either case, the method further can include the step of applying changes to the selected portion of the existing activity instance to the new activity instance. Finally, the method can include the step of annotating the new activity instance to refine the new activity instance for reuse. For instance, the annotating step can include coordinating a collaborative annotation of the new activity instance as an activity-in-progress.

Abstract: A method and structure for analyzing a database having non-text data in data fields and text in text fields. The invention first selects a subset of the database based upon criteria. The subset includes data field(s) and associated text field(s). The invention searches for data matching the criteria within structured data fields of the database. If the invention searches multiple databases, the invention creates shared dimensions for databases that do not share common attributes. The invention automatically selects a relatively short text phrase from the text fields that helps to explain the underlying meaning (i.e. unique text content) of a data subset selected using the non-text data fields.

Abstract: Described are a dynamic interest profile (DIP) system and method for dynamically tracking interests of a user based on personal information. The DIP system obtains electronic documents of the user from a document stream and processes the documents to obtain certain information therefrom. Based on the information obtained from the documents, the DIP system identifies terms, people, documents, and collections that are of importance to the user. These items of importance become part of a dynamic interest profile of the user. The dynamic interest profiles persist in a database. The DIP system also provides an application program interface (API) for accessing DIPs in the database. Application programs can employ this API to customize program behavior to the particular interests of the user executing those programs.

Abstract: A method of generating a context-inferenced search query and of sorting a result of the query is described. The method includes analyzing an event associated with the user to determine a contextual setting, dynamically generating a search query based on the contextual setting, and searching at least one information source using the search query to generate a search result. Additionally, the method includes calculating an importance value for each item of the search result, sorting the items of the search result according the importance value, and displaying the sorted search result to the user.

Abstract: Described is a method for synchronizing a client with a server. A document score is calculated for each document in a server database. The document score indicates the importance of the respective document to the client. Documents are transferred from the server to the client if their document scores exceed a threshold value. The calculation of the document score can be determined from time the document was created, the number of times the document has been read, the time the document was last accessed, the author of the document and one or more terms in the document. Relationships between the document and other documents on the server database can also affect the document score.