Abstract: The present invention proposes that the value of a crowd network comes from network entropy and a very well engaged crowd has more value than a poorly engaged crowd. The engagement (and the resultant value generated from the engagement) of a crowd network can be measured in terms of the entropy of the network. The entropy is calculated as a function of the probability distribution of incoming and outgoing messages, which represents the entropy or uncertainty in the activity over the network. In this way, the activity occurring over a network in terms of message exchange is translated as a measure of the value of the network. An evolutionary algorithm is presented to optimize the entropy of a network by successively changing the network topology. Results indicate that the value of a crowd network very closely relate to its small world-ness, sparsity, and connectedness.

Abstract: A system for case based, dynamic document layout in accordance with embodiments of the present invention includes a comparison system, a determination system, and a mutation system. The comparison system that compares one or more elements of at least a portion of an original document against the same elements in at least a portion each of a plurality of stored documents. The determination system identifies the stored document with the portion which is closest to the portion of the original document based on the comparing. The mutation system applies one or mutators to the portion of the original document which were used in the portion of the identified stored document.

Abstract: A targeted advertising system performs context-based association mining using a publicly available corpus to identify a product or brand name that, under a given context, is associated with a product or brand being marketed. The system analyzes documents within the publicly available corpus that are associated with the given context, and identifies products or brand names that have a high association to the product or brand being marketed. The system can also analyze the publicly available corpus to determine contextual information which is correlated to two or more products or brand names. This contextual information includes a set of terms that facilitates filtering the publicly available corpus into an optimal set of documents that has a high association to a desired market category or demographic.

Abstract: The present invention proposes that the value of a crowd network comes from network entropy and a very well engaged crowd has more value than a poorly engaged crowd. The engagement (and the resultant value generated from the engagement) of a crowd network can be measured in terms of the entropy of the network. The entropy is calculated as a function of the probability distribution of incoming and outgoing messages, which represents the entropy or uncertainty in the activity over the network. In this way, the activity occurring over a network in terms of message exchange is translated as a measure of the value of the network. An evolutionary algorithm is presented to optimize the entropy of a network by successively changing the network topology. Results indicate that the value of a crowd network very closely relate to its small world-ness, sparsity, and connectedness.

Abstract: As social networks become more powerful and sophisticated, each member of a social network may belong to different communities. The computing reputation for users in a single community is not adequate anymore. As a result, a method of calculating global reputation for each member is desirable. Various considerations are described to address challenges related to global reputation for a user who participates in activities among multiple communities. Considerations on accessibility of a community, quality vs. quantity of submissions, posting ideas vs. comments, weighting of each community, and volatility of the reputation value are discussed in the present invention. Finally, a formula for calculating a global reputation value of the user is proposed by combining all the considerations. A system that implements the global reputation computation is described.

Abstract: A rating system provides a mechanism whereby users can submit objects to be rated (ROs), and whereby users can submit ratings (ARs) regarding the ROs of other users. In a first novel aspect, each AR is multiplied by a weighting factor to determine a corresponding effective rating (ER). The weighting factor that is used to determine an ER from an AR is a function of the reputation RPT of the user who submitted the AR. In a second novel aspect, the weighting factor is also a function of a crowd voting probability value PT. In a third novel aspect, the weighting factor is also a function of the freshness RF of the AR. In a fourth novel aspect, a decay value D is employed in determining a user's reputation. ERs are used to determine a ranking of ROs. User reputation is used to determine a ranking of users.

Abstract: A method which includes segmenting the content of a document into one or more original document structures, determining which of the one or more original document structures are to be localized, replacing the original document structures to be localized with new content, and automatically adjusting the layout of the document with new content to generate a more aesthetically pleasing document.

Abstract: A targeted advertising system performs context-based association mining using a publicly available corpus to identify a product or brand name that, under a given context, is associated with a product or brand being marketed. The system analyzes documents within the publicly available corpus that are associated with the given context, and identifies products or brand names that have a high association to the product or brand being marketed. The system can also analyze the publicly available corpus to determine contextual information which is correlated to two or more products or brand names. This contextual information includes a set of terms that facilitates filtering the publicly available corpus into an optimal set of documents that has a high association to a desired market category or demographic.

Abstract: What is disclosed is a system and method for specifying a custom document as a multi-criteria constraint optimization problem, and a method to automatically create the specified document using existing constraint optimization solving algorithms. The present method specifies the document, its content components, its layout requirements, and its desired aesthetic criteria are expressed as elements of a constraint optimization problem which when solved, results in an automated document layout for the set of content components that satisfies not only certain primitive content and layout constraints, but which also advantageously fulfills desired design properties and which provides a way to ensure that the generated document is well designed.

Abstract: Text, images, and/or graphics of variable content documents should be organized and laid out by a template to provide effective and quality documents. The best such template depends upon the variable content interaction with the template for each individual document. To analyze the qualitative nature of the template in quantifiable terms, the each variable content document is measure using various quantifiable factors; such as, balance, uniformity, white space management, alignment, consistency, legibility, etc.; that impact a qualitative nature of a document. Such quantifiable factors are then used to quantize the aesthetics, ease of use, eye-catching ability, interest, communicability, comfort, and convenience of the document, thereby giving a designer a measure of the quality of the template in the variable content document context.

Abstract: Text, images, and/or graphics of variable content documents should be organized and laid out by a template to provide effective and quality documents. The best such template depends upon the variable content interaction with the template for each individual document. To analyze the qualitative nature of the template in quantifiable terms, the each variable content document is measure using various quantifiable factors; such as, balance, uniformity, white space management, alignment, consistency, legibility, etc.; that impact a qualitative nature of a document. Such quantifiable factors are then used to quantize the aesthetics, ease of use, eye-catching ability, interest, communicability, comfort, and convenience of the document, thereby giving a designer a measure of the quality of the template in the variable content document context.

Abstract: What is disclosed is a system and method for method for fitness evaluation to be used with a directly calculated or iterative optimization method for automatic document assembly. The method for fitness evaluation includes the steps of first capturing the creator's desire as a set of relative weights to be applied to an intent vector. Then, calculating for each candidate document assembly a set of value-property functions that evaluate properties considered to be factors in a good design (e.g., the balance of the document component on the page). Next, an inferred intent vector needs to be determined for each candidate document assembly as a function of the calculated value property function. Note that if the inferred intent vector is determined by a matrix multiplication applied to the vector of value property function results then the relative weights and intent definition matrix can be multiplied together to provide a weight vector that can be applied directly to the value properties.

Abstract: What is disclosed is a system and method for specifying a custom document as a multi-criteria constraint optimization problem, and a method to automatically create the specified document using existing constraint optimization solving algorithms. The present method specifies the document, its content components, its layout requirements, and its desired aesthetic criteria are expressed as elements of a constraint optimization problem which when solved, results in an automated document layout for the set of content components that satisfies not only certain primitive content and layout constraints, but which also advantageously fulfills desired design properties and which provides a way to ensure that the generated document is well designed.

Abstract: What is disclosed is a case-based method which specifies previously created documents as cases in a case base, and provides a generalized method for using these previous documents to create a new desired document. The new problem (i.e., the document you are trying to create) is expressed, using any/all case features (e.g., new problem constraints, creator intent, document-genre, etc.). A matching process is performed in order to retrieve documents similar to the desired document from the case base. A selection process chooses one or several of the best matching cases as starting points for creating the new document. The retrieved document(s) are then adapted to create the new desired document. This new document is optionally stored back into the case base as a new case.

Abstract: What is disclosed is a system and method for method for fitness evaluation to be used with a directly calculated or iterative optimization method for automatic document assembly. The method for fitness evaluation includes the steps of first capturing the creator's desire as a set of relative weights to be applied to an intent vector. Then, calculating for each candidate document assembly a set of value-property functions that evaluate properties considered to be factors in a good design (e.g., the balance of the document component on the page). Next, an inferred intent vector needs to be determined for each candidate document assembly as a function of the calculated value property function. Note that if the inferred intent vector is determined by a matrix multiplication applied to the vector of value property function results then the relative weights and intent definition matrix can be multiplied together to provide a weight vector that can be applied directly to the value properties.

Abstract: A system and method specify a custom document as a constraint satisfaction problem to create the specified document using existing constraint solving algorithms wherein the document, its content components, and its layout requirements as elements of a constraint satisfaction problem which when solved, results in an automated document layout for the set of content components. The system and method enables an automated custom document creation process, providing a wider array of output documents.

Abstract: What is disclosed is a system and method for specifying a custom document as a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) to create the specified document using existing constraint solving algorithms wherein the document, its content components, and its layout requirements as elements of a constraint satisfaction problem which when solved, results in an automated document layout for the set of content components. This enables an easier (i.e., automated) custom document creation process while providing a wider array of output documents.

Abstract: A scheduler for a machine includes a selector and a traverser. The selector selects the traverser and selects policies from a library based on a model of the machine. The traverser looks for a preferred itinerary. The scheduler includes a first module to choose an itinerary, a second module to calculate a combined weight, and logic to repeatedly operate the first and second modules to choose additional itineraries from the group of itineraries and calculate their combined weight until an end condition is reached. The end condition includes one or more of when a calculated combined weight for an itinerary exceeds a predetermined threshold, when a predetermined time has elapsed, when a combined weight for each of a predetermined number of itineraries has been calculated, and when a combined weight for each itinerary in the group of itineraries has been calculated. The first module chooses an itinerary from either a list of all of the itineraries or a sub-set of the itineraries.

Abstract: A method of scheduling jobs in a printing machine includes choosing configuration and selection policies and model and store traversers from a library based on a model of the machine, traversing the model of the machine to prepare and store a list of valid itineraries based on the configuration policies and traversing the stored list of valid itineraries to locate a valid itinerary to process a job. An itinerary is a schedule of the printer modules and capabilities through which a sheet must pass to perform a print job. The step of traversing the model of the machine includes evaluating all possible itineraries to preparing the list of valid itineraries based on the configuration policies and storing the list in a memory. The step of traversing the stored list of valid itineraries to locate the valid itinerary to process a job includes evaluating the list based on the selection policies and the job description.

Abstract: A scheduler for a machine includes a selector to select a traverser and to select policies from a library based on a model of the machine and the traverser selected by the selector. The traverser includes a search algorithm that is selected by the selector from a search algorithm library so that the traverser is abstracted from dependence on any particular search algorithm. Alternatively, the traverser includes a search algorithm shell and a plurality of search algorithm fragments that are selected by the selector from a search algorithm library based on a strategy design pattern so that the traverser is abstracted from dependence on any particular search algorithm shell and from dependence on any particular search algorithm fragment.