Patents by Inventor Peter L. Pirolli

Peter L. Pirolli has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6671711
    Abstract: The present invention also provides a system and method for predicting user traffic flow in a collection of hypermedia documents by determining the association strength of the hypermedia links. Hypermedia links are identified among a plurality of documents, where the documents include content items such as keywords that may or may not be relevant to a user information need. The distribution of the content items in the document collection is then determined. An information item is received as input, and is compared to the content items. In response to the comparison, association strengths are assigned to the hypermedia links. A network flow model uses the association strengths of the hypermedia links to predict user traffic flow in response to an initial condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2003
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Peter L. Pirolli, Ed H. Chi, James E. Pitkow
  • Publication number: 20030225699
    Abstract: A rendering system adapted for use in a system for managing use of content and operative to rendering content in accordance with usage rights associated with the content. The system includes a rendering device configured to render the content and a repository coupled to the rendering device and operative to enforce usage rights associated with the content and permit the rendering device to render the content in accordance with a manner of use specified by the usage rights.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2003
    Publication date: December 4, 2003
    Applicant: CONTENTGUARD HOLDINGS, INC.
    Inventors: Mark J. Stefik, Peter L. Pirolli
  • Publication number: 20030225698
    Abstract: A system for controlling the distribution and use of digital works using digital tickets. In the present invention, a “digital ticket” is used to entitle the ticket holder to exercise some usage right with respect to a digital work. Usage rights are used to define how a digital work may be used or distributed. Each usage right may specify a digital ticket which must be present before the right may be exercised. Digital works are stored in repositories which enforce a digital works usage rights. Each repository has a “generic ticket agent” which punches tickets. In some instances only the generic ticket agent is necessary. In other instances, punching by a “special ticket agent” residing on another repository may be needed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2002
    Publication date: December 4, 2003
    Applicant: CONTENTGUARD HOLDINGS, INC.
    Inventors: Mark J. Stefik, Peter L. Pirolli
  • Patent number: 6598054
    Abstract: A system and method for browsing, retrieving, and recommending information from a collection uses multi-modal features of the documents in the collection, as well as an analysis of users' prior browsing and retrieval behavior. The system and method are premised on various disclosed methods for quantitatively representing documents in a document collection as vectors in multi-dimensional vector spaces, quantitatively determining similarity between documents, and clustering documents according to those similarities. The system and method also rely on methods for quantitatively representing users in a user population, quantitatively determining similarity between users, clustering users according to those similarities, and visually representing clusters of users by analogy to clusters of documents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2003
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Hinrich Schuetze, Peter L. Pirolli, James E. Pitkow, Ed H. Chi, Jun Li
  • Publication number: 20030110181
    Abstract: A system and method for browsing, retrieving, and recommending information from a collection uses multi-modal features of the documents in the collection, as well as an analysis of users' prior browsing and retrieval behavior. The system and method are premised on various disclosed methods for quantitatively representing documents in a document collection as vectors in multi-dimensional vector spaces, quantitatively determining similarity between documents, and clustering documents according to those similarities. The system and method also rely on methods for quantitatively representing users in a user population, quantitatively determining similarity between users, clustering users according to those similarities, and visually representing clusters of users by analogy to clusters of documents.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 1999
    Publication date: June 12, 2003
    Inventors: HINRICH SCHUETZE, PETER L. PIROLLI, JAMES E. PITKOW, ED H. CHI, JUN LI
  • Patent number: 6567797
    Abstract: A system and method for browsing, retrieving, and recommending information from a collection uses multi-modal features of the documents in the collection, as well as an analysis of users' prior browsing and retrieval behavior. The system and method are premised on various disclosed methods for quantitatively representing documents in a document collection as vectors in multi-dimensional vector spaces, quantitatively determining similarity between documents, and clustering documents according to those similarities. The system and method also rely on methods for quantitatively representing users in a user population, quantitatively determining similarity between users, clustering users according to those similarities, and visually representing clusters of users by analogy to clusters of documents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2003
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Hinrich Schuetze, James E. Pitkow, Peter L. Pirolli, Ed H. Chi, Jun Li
  • Patent number: 6564202
    Abstract: A system and method for browsing, retrieving, and recommending information from a collection uses multi-modal features of the documents in the collection, as well as an analysis of users' prior browsing and retrieval behavior. The system and method are premised on various disclosed methods for quantitatively representing documents in a document collection as vectors in multi-dimensional vector spaces, quantitatively determining similarity between documents, and clustering documents according to those similarities. The system and method also rely on methods for quantitatively representing users in a user population, quantitatively determining similarity between users, clustering users according to those similarities, and visually representing clusters of users by analogy to clusters of documents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Hinrich Schuetze, Peter L. Pirolli, James E. Pitkow, Ed H. Chi, Jun Li
  • Publication number: 20030074369
    Abstract: A system and method for browsing, retrieving, and recommending information from a collection uses multi-modal features of the documents in the collection, as well as an analysis of users' prior browsing and retrieval behavior. The system and method are premised on various disclosed methods for quantitatively representing documents in a document collection as vectors in multi-dimensional vector spaces, quantitatively determining similarity between documents, and clustering documents according to those similarities. The system and method also rely on methods for quantitatively representing users in a user population, quantitatively determining similarity between users, clustering users according to those similarities, and visually representing clusters of users by analogy to clusters of documents.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 1999
    Publication date: April 17, 2003
    Inventors: Hinrich Schuetze, Francine R. Chen, Peter L. Pirolli, James E. Pitkow, Ed H. Chi, Jun Li
  • Publication number: 20030074368
    Abstract: A system and method for browsing, retrieving, and recommending information from a collection uses multi-modal features of the documents in the collection, as well as an analysis of users' prior browsing and retrieval behavior. The system and method are premised on various disclosed methods for quantitatively representing documents in a document collection as vectors in multi-dimensional vector spaces, quantitatively determining similarity between documents, and clustering documents according to those similarities. The system and method also rely on methods for quantitatively representing users in a user population, quantitatively determining similarity between users, clustering users according to those similarities, and visually representing clusters of users by analogy to clusters of documents.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 1999
    Publication date: April 17, 2003
    Inventors: HINRICH SCHUETZE, FRANCINE R. CHEN, PETER L. PIROLLI, JAMES E. PITKOW, ED H. CHI, JUN LI, ULLAS GARGI
  • Publication number: 20030069849
    Abstract: A system for controlling the distribution and use of digital works using digital tickets. In the present invention, a “digital ticket” is used to entitle the ticket holder to exercise some usage right with respect to a digital work. Usage rights are used to define how a digital work may be used or distributed. Each usage right may specify a digital ticket which must be present before the right may be exercised. Digital works are stored in repositories which enforce a digital works usage rights. Each repository has a “generic ticket agent” which punches tickets. In some instances only the generic ticket agent is necessary. In other instances, punching by a “special ticket agent” residing on another repository may be needed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2001
    Publication date: April 10, 2003
    Inventors: Mark J. Stefik, Peter L. Pirolli
  • Patent number: 6457028
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2002
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: James E. Pitkow, Peter L. Pirolli
  • Publication number: 20010023417
    Abstract: A system for controlling the distribution and use of digital works using digital tickets. In the present invention, a “digital ticket” is used to entitle the ticket holder to exercise some usage right with respect to a digital work. Usage rights are used to define how a digital work may be used or distributed. Each usage right may specify a digital ticket which must be present before the right may be exercised. Digital works are stored in repositories which enforce a digital works usage rights. Each repository has a “generic ticket agent” which punches tickets. In some instances only the generic ticket agent is necessary. In other instances, punching by a “special ticket agent” residing on another repository may be needed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2001
    Publication date: September 20, 2001
    Inventors: Mark J. Stefik, Peter L. Pirolli
  • Patent number: 6286018
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2001
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: James E. Pitkow, Peter L. Pirolli
  • Publication number: 20010014882
    Abstract: A system for controlling the distribution and use of digital works using digital tickets. In the present invention, a “digital ticket” is used to entitle the ticket holder to exercise some usage right with respect to a digital work. Usage rights are used to define how a digital work may be used or distributed. Each usage right may specify a digital ticket which must be present before the right may be exercised. Digital works are stored in repositories which enforce a digital works usage rights. Each repository has a “generic ticket agent” which punches tickets. In some instances only the generic ticket agent is necessary. In other instances, punching by a “special ticket agent” residing on another repository may be needed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2001
    Publication date: August 16, 2001
    Inventors: Mark J. Stefik, Peter L. Pirolli
  • Patent number: 6272507
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2001
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Peter L. Pirolli, James E. Pitkow, Bernardo A. Huberman
  • Publication number: 20010010045
    Abstract: A system for controlling the distribution and use of digital works using digital tickets. In the present invention, a “digital ticket” is used to entitle the ticket holder to exercise some usage right with respect to a digital work. Usage rights are used to define how a digital work may be used or distributed. Each usage right may specify a digital ticket which must be present before the right may be exercised. Digital works are stored in repositories which enforce a digital works usage rights. Each repository has a “generic ticket agent” which punches tickets. In some instances only the generic ticket agent is necessary. In other instances, punching by a “special ticket agent” residing on another repository may be needed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2001
    Publication date: July 26, 2001
    Inventors: Mark J. Stefik, Peter L. Pirolli
  • Patent number: 6182091
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2001
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: James E. Pitkow, Peter L. Pirolli
  • Patent number: 6115718
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2000
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Bernardo A. Huberman, James E. Pitkow, Peter L. Pirolli
  • Patent number: 6098064
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2000
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Peter L. Pirolli, James E. Pitkow
  • Patent number: 6038574
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2000
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: James E. Pitkow, Peter L. Pirolli, Jock D. Mackinlay, Stuart K. Card