Abstract: A method for generating a tree structure representation of a generalized graph structure for display includes the more important links in the representation. Usage parameters are referenced in generating the tree structure from the generalized graph structure. Frequency, recency, spacing of accesses, and path information are exemplary types of usage parameters. A breadth-first or depth-first traversal of the graph references usage parameters associated with each node or link. The usage parameters which are associated with each node are referenced in order to determine the visitation order. The visitation order is determined by visiting the highest used nodes or links first. A method of displaying the tree structure references the usage parameters to determine the positioning of the nodes in the layout of the tree structure. In a preferred embodiment, the root node is positioned in the center of the layout. In one example, sibling nodes are spread out on links which emanate radially about their parent.

Abstract: A search and recommendation system employs the preferences and profiles of individual users and groups within a community of users, as well as information derived from shared document bookmarks, to augment Internet searches, re-rank search results, and provide recommendations for documents based on a subject-matter query. The search and recommendation system operates in the context of a shared bookmark manager, which stores individual users' bookmarks (some of which may be published or shared for group use) on a centralized bookmark database connected to the Internet. The shared bookmark manager is implemented as a distributed program, portions of which operate on users' terminals and other portions of which operate on the centralized bookmark database.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for identifying related collections of linked documents. In the method the links from a set of related documents are analyzed to identify a plurality of document collections. By analyzing only the link structure, a process intensive content analysis of the documents is avoided. A citation analysis technique, such as co-citation analysis, is performed on the set of documents to extract link information indicating links and link frequency between document collections. For co-citation analysis that information would include the frequency that both are linked to by another document collection. By using the link information, related document collections may then be identified using a suitable analysis technique, such as clustering or spreading activation.

Abstract: A method and system for visualizing actual and predicted usage patterns through a web site is provided. A plurality of web pages may be represented as a node and visualized on a dome tree. The dome tree is a three-dimensional image of a dome, with a portion of the outer wall remove, displayed on a two-dimensional monitor. Paths into and out of each node are displayed using a variety of colors and patterns and information relating to the nodes and paths may also be accessed. By designating a web page as the root node each of the associated pages are laid out within the dome tree radially based on actual usage information. Predicted information for each node is displayed as a bar near the node, thereby assisting a user in understand the relationship between actual and predicted usage patterns.

Abstract: A method for generating a tree structure representation of a generalized graph structure for display includes the more important links in the representation. Usage parameters are referenced in generating the tree structure from the generalized graph structure. Frequency, recency, spacing of accesses, and path information are exemplary types of usage parameters. A breadth-first or depth-first traversal of the graph references usage parameters associated with each node or link. The usage parameters which are associated with each node are referenced in order to determine the visitation order. The visitation order is determined by visiting the highest used nodes or links first. A method of displaying the tree structure references the usage parameters to determine the positioning of the nodes in the layout of the tree structure. In a preferred embodiment, the root node is positioned in the center of the layout. In one example, sibling nodes are spread out on links which emanate radially about their parent.

Abstract: A method for displaying in a coherent manner the changes over time of a web site's structure, usage, and content is disclosed. Time tubes are generated by a method of displaying a related series of graphs. Time tubes illustrate changes in a graph that undergoes one or more transformations from one state to another. The transformations are displayed using the length of the cylindrical tube, filling the length of the time tube with planar slices which represent the data at various stages of the transformations. Time tubes may encode several dimensions of the transformations simultaneously by altering the representation of size, color, and layout among the planar slices. Temporal transformations occur when web pages are added or deleted over time. Value-based transformations include node colors, which may be used to encode a specific page's usage parameter. Spatial transformations include the scaling of physical dimension as graphs expand or contract in size.

Abstract: A method and apparatus combining spreading activation and citation analysis techniques to find related documents in collections of linked documents. Spreading activation is an analysis technique that may be used to find documents relevant to a set of focus documents. Citation analysis is an analysis technique used to indicate a reference or link relationship amongst the documents in a collection of linked documents. The results of citation analysis are used in spreading activation as an indicator of the strength of association amongst the documents in the document collection. When spreading activation is performed an indication of documents relevant to the set of focus documents, based on how documents or referenced or linked, is obtained.

Abstract: A system and method for ranking the results of a search on a collection of linked documents. Documents found on the Web are typically referred to as Web pages. The system utilizes various information relating to the collection of linked documents, including the topology, content and historical usage of the linked collections of documents. The ranking is based on historical patterns and information about the current context of interest (e.g. what the user or group seems to be currently interested in doing). A spreading activation technique is used to identify the frequency of activation of the documents in the search results. Spreading activation techniques are based on representations of Web pages as nodes in graph networks representing usage, content, and hypertext relations among Web pages. After performing the spreading activation based on an initial set defined by the search results, each document from the results may be ranked based on their level of activation.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for identifying related documents in a collection of linked documents. In the method the link structure of documents to other documents are analyzed. By analyzing only the link structure, a process intensive content analysis of the documents is avoided. A citation analysis technique, such as bibliographic coupling analysis, is performed on the set of documents to extract link information. For bibliographic coupling analysis that information would include the number of other documents that a given pair of documents link to. By using the link information, related documents are identified using a suitable analysis technique, such as clustering or spreading activation.

Abstract: Methods for displaying results of a spreading activation algorithm and for defining an activation input vector for the spreading activation algorithm are disclosed. A planar disk tree is used to represent the generalized graph structure being modeled in a spreading activation algorithm. Activation bars on some or all nodes of the planar disk tree in the dimension perpendicular to the disk tree encode the final activation level resulting at the end of N iterations of the spreading activation algorithm. The number of nodes for which activation bars are displayed may be a predetermined number, a predetermine fraction of all nodes, or a determined by a predetermined activation level threshold. The final activation levels resulting from activation spread through more than one flow network corresponding to the same generalized graph are displayed as color encoded segments on the activation bars. Content, usage, topology, or recommendation flow networks may be used for spreading activation.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for predicting document access within a collection of linked documents. The present invention utilizes a predictive technique known as "spreading activation" where document collections are graphically represented as a network. Empirical data is analyzed according to a law of surfing to generate a decay function which is used to dampen the activation as spreads through the network. Activation is applied to a set of focus documents and propagates through the network until a stable pattern of activation is achieved across all documents. From this stable pattern, the desired usage information is extracted. Such a system will provide several practical benefits to users of the World Wide Web. For example, the present invention can be used to identify relevant pages to a set of one or more focus pages or to predict the number of times a document will be accessed in a collection of linked documents.

Abstract: A method is presented for determining whether to prefetch and cache documents on a computer. In one embodiment, documents are prefetched and cached on a client computer from servers located on the Internet in accordance with their computed need probability. Those document with a higher need probability are prefetched and cached before documents with lower need probabilities. The need probability for a document is computed using both a document context factor and a document history factor. The context factor of the need probability of a document is determined by computing the correlation between words in the document and a context Q of the operating environment. The history factor of the need probability of a document is determined by integrating both the recency of document use and the frequency of document use.

Abstract: The method and apparatus of the present invention generates clusters of documents in a collection of linked documents based on co-citation analysis. The frequency linkage is determined for each document in the collection. In other words, the number of times each document is linked to by another document in the collection is determined. Further, a minimum frequency linkage (link frequency threshold) is specified based on a predetermined minimum frequency of document linkage. Additionally, a list of pairs of documents that are linked to by the same document is created so that each of the pairs of documents has a count of the number of times (co-citation frequency) that they are both linked to by another document. Pairs of linked documents are clustered using a suitable co-citation technique.

Abstract: A system for extracting and analyzing information from a collection of linked documents at a locality to enable categorization of documents and prediction of documents relevant to a focus document. The system obtains and analyzes topology, usage and path information from for a collection at a locality, e.g. a web locality on the world wide web. For categorization, document meta information is represented as document vectors. Predefined criteria is applied to the document vectors to create lists of "similar" types of documents. For relevance prediction, networks representing topology, usage path and text similarity amongst the documents in the collection are created. A spreading activation technique is applied to the networks starting at a focus document to predict the documents relevant to the focus document. Using category and relevance prediction information, tools can be built to enable a user to more efficiently traverse through the collection of linked documents.

Abstract: A system for extracting and analyzing information from a collection of linked documents at a locality to enable categorization of documents and prediction of documents relevant to a focus document. The system obtains and analyzes topology, usage and path information from for a collection at a locality, e.g. a web locality on the world wide web. For categorization, document meta information is represented as document vectors. Predefined criteria is applied to the document vectors to create lists of "similar" types of documents. For relevance prediction, networks representing topology, usage path and text similarity amongst the documents in the collection are created. A spreading activation technique is applied to the networks starting at a focus document to predict the documents relevant to the focus document. Using category and relevance prediction information, tools can be built to enable a user to more efficiently traverse through the collection of linked documents.