Abstract: An automated parser for e-mail messages identifies component parts such as header, body, signature, and disclaimer. The parser uses a hidden Markov model (HMM) in which the lines making up an e mail are treated as a sequence of observations of a system that evolves according to a Markov chain having states corresponding to the component parts. The HMM is trained using a manually-annotated set of e-mail messages, then applied to parse other e-mail messages. HMM-based parsing can be further refined or expanded using heuristic post-processing techniques that exploit redundancy of some component parts (e.g., signatures, disclaimers) across a corpus of e-mail messages.

Abstract: Documents are assigned to one or more indexes in a document indexing system on the basis of document properties such as total number of tokens in the document, number of numeric tokens in the document, number of alphabetic tokens in the document, size of the document, and metadata associated with the document. Based on statistical distributions of document properties (over a large number of documents), different indexes can be defined, and a document router can direct a particular document to one index or another based on the properties of the particular document. In some implementations, certain document properties may be used to identify a nonrelevant document, or garbage document, so that it is either not indexed or assigned to an index dedicated for such documents.

Abstract: Meaningful phrases are distinguished from chance word sequences statistically, by analyzing a large number of documents and using a statistical metric such as a mutual information metric to distinguish meaningful phrases from groups of words that co-occur by chance. In some embodiments, multiple lists of candidate phrases are maintained to optimize the storage requirement of the phrase-identification algorithm. After phrase identification, a combination of words and meaningful phrases can be used to construct clusters of documents.

Abstract: Documents likely to be near-duplicates are clustered based on document vectors that represent word-occurrence patterns in a relatively low-dimensional space. Edit distance between documents is defined based on comparing their document vectors. In one process, initial clusters are formed by applying a first edit-distance constraint relative to a root document of each cluster. The initial clusters can be merged subject to a second edit-distance constraint that limits the maximum edit distance between any two documents in the cluster. The second edit-distance constraint can be defined such that whether it is satisfied can be determined by comparing cluster structures rather than individual documents.

Abstract: Reliable identification of highly similar documents allows such documents to be treated as identical for purposes of document analysis. Identification of highly similar documents can be based on a composite hash value or other value for which the likelihood of two documents having the same value is high if and only if the documents have a high degree of similarity. Prior to performing content based analysis, the composite hash value for the current document is determined and compared to composite hash values of previously analyzed documents. If a match is found, the results of the analysis of the previous document can be applied to the current document. If no match is found, the current document is analyzed.

Abstract: Techniques for sharing content information between members of a virtual user group without compromising the privacy of the members. A user can identify content information to be shared with other members of a virtual user group using a user computer system. The content information is then communicated to the other members of the virtual user group and can be accessed by members of the virtual user group in such a manner that the privacy of the user and of the other members of the virtual user group is not compromised. The present invention preserves user privacy by controlling and minimizing the amount of user-related information available/accessible to server systems hosting the virtual user groups.

Abstract: A pool of messages, e.g., e-mails and/or other electronic documents that each correspond to a communication from a sender to a recipient, is analyzed to identify communication chains between a source and a target. Sender and recipient identifiers extracted from the messages are used to detect communication links between pairs of entities. Indirect chains of any desired length can be found by iteratively tracing a communication path one step forward from the source, then one step backward from the target, and so on; at each new step, entities at end points of the forward paths and backward paths are compared to detect any entities that complete a communication chain from source to target. Information related to the identified communication chains can be presented to a user via an interactive report that supports iterative analysis of the communication-chain data.

Abstract: The present invention relates to hormone coating layers having desirable hormone delivery characteristics and product lifetime. In one embodiment, the invention is a hormone composition including a substrate having an external surface, and a coating layer disposed on the external surface. The coating layer preferably includes a polymer web, and from about 1 wppm to about 100,000 wppm of a hormone comprising a terpene dispersed throughout the polymer web. The invention also relates to methods for making hormone coating materials of the present invention. The coating compositions of the present invention preferably are implemented in human and animal food packaging materials in order to safely and efficiently protect the foodstuffs contained therein from insect infestation.

Abstract: Techniques for sharing content information between members of a virtual user group without compromising the privacy of the members. A user can identify content information to be shared with other members of a virtual user group using a user computer system. The content information is then communicated to the other members of the virtual user group and can be accessed by members of the virtual user group in such a manner that the privacy of the user and of the other members of the virtual user group is not compromised. The present invention preserves user privacy by controlling and minimizing the amount of user-related information available/accessible to server systems hosting the virtual user groups.

Abstract: Techniques for sharing content information between members of a virtual user group without compromising the privacy of the members. A user can identify content information to be shared with other members of a virtual user group using a user computer system. The content information is then communicated to the other members of the virtual user group and can be accessed by members of the virtual user group in such a manner that the privacy of the user and of the other members of the virtual user group is not compromised. The present invention preserves user privacy by controlling and minimizing the amount of user-related information available/accessible to server systems hosting the virtual user groups.

Abstract: The present invention relates to hormone coating layers having desirable hormone delivery characteristics and product lifetime. In one embodiment, the invention is a hormone composition including a substrate having an external surface, and a coating layer disposed on the external surface. The coating layer preferably includes a polymer web, a UV protectant material, and from about 1 wppm to about 100,000 wppm of a hormone dispersed throughout the polymer web. The invention also relates to methods for making hormone coating materials of the present invention. The coating compositions of the present invention preferably are implemented in human and animal food packaging materials in order to safely and efficiently protect the foodstuffs contained therein from insect infestation.

Abstract: A composition for the prevention or inhibition of free-radical-induced effects on the skin comprises (a) ascorbic acid, or a salt, ester, glucoside, glucosamine and/or other derivative thereof; (b) tocopherol, or an ester and/or other derivative thereof; and (c) at least one further anti-oxidant agent selected from the group consisting of: carotenoids; ?-lipoic acid and salts thereof; green tea extract; hibiscus (Sudanese) tea extract; rooibus tea extract; embilica extract; rosehip extract; elderflower extract; and grape seed extract. The composition preferably comprises ?-lipoic acid, or a salt thereof, and carotenoids, and is preferably administered orally, to provide systematic protection to the skin.

Abstract: A method for creating personalized user profiles using a client computer. A client computer executes a method which monitors user activities and collects content and context information based on the monitored user activities. The client computer processes the content and context information to determine concepts of interest to the user and the user's level of interest in the concepts. Information related to the concepts and the user's interest level associated with the concepts is used to create a personalized profile for the user on the client computer.

Abstract: Techniques for identifying and accessing documents (e.g., web pages) of interest to a user in a network environment without compromising the user's privacy. A user system receives index information comprising information related to documents stored in a network environment. The index information is then used to identify and access documents of interest to the user. The identification of documents of interest to the user is performed on the user system thus obviating the need to provide any information to search engines executing on remote servers. The present invention preserves user privacy by controlling and minimizing the communication and collection of user-related information from the user system. Merely by way of example, the present invention allows users to identify and access web pages from web servers coupled to a communication network such as the Internet without compromising user privacy.

Abstract: A system and method for compressing or predicting data information received within an input stream, wherein contextual information is utilized in the selection of dictionaries for encoding or predicting of a next phrase within the information stream. The present invention utilizes contextual information in conjunction with dictionary-based Lempel-Ziv compression processes.