System and method for aggregating and sharing accumulated information

Abstract

An accumulated information data store may include topic nodes, each having a text description of limited length and (in some cases) one or more attributes. A particular topic node may be associated as a parent topic node or a child topic node such that the topic nodes form at least one data tree. An information processing engine may access information in the accumulated information data store and determine that a plurality of topic node text descriptions are similar and classify them as similar topic nodes. At least a part of the text description associated with one of the similar topic nodes may be selected as a favorable text description for the similar topic nodes. The system may also unify the similar topic nodes as identical topic nodes when they are currently grouped together as having the same upper tree hierarchy.

1 . A system to summarize textual content, by way of hierarchical relations between texts, comprising:
 an accumulated information data store, including:
 a plurality of topic nodes, each topic node having a text description of limited length, 
 wherein a particular topic node is associated as a parent topic node to one or more other child topic nodes such that the topic nodes in the accumulated information data store form at least one data tree; and 
   an information processing engine, comprising:
 a computer processor; and 
 a memory storage device including instructions that when executed by the computer processor enable the system to:
 (i) access information in the accumulated information data store, 
 (ii) determine that a plurality of topic node text descriptions are similar and classifying them as similar topic nodes, 
 (iii) automatically identify topic nodes in the accumulated information data store that have the same text description as one of the similar topic nodes and merge the identified topic nodes with the similar topic nodes, wherein the similar topic nodes and the identified topic nodes are now classified as similar to each other, 
 (iv) unify the similar topic nodes as identical topic nodes when they are currently grouped together as having the same upper tree hierarchy, and 
 (v) couple together all child topic nodes of identical topic nodes to become child topic nodes of each of the identical topic nodes, wherein coupled child topic nodes that are similar are also unified and become identical. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein texts contain from a single word to a paragraph. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the topic nodes are associated with metadata comprising at least one or more attributes. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein at least some of the metadata associated with unified topic nodes is automatically mathematically combined. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein the information processing engine is further programmed to select at least a part of the text description associated with one of the similar topic nodes as a favorable text description for the similar topic nodes, to represent them in the system. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein execution of the instructions by the computer processor of the information processing engine further enable the system to:
 determine that a plurality of topic nodes which are not similar, but have text descriptions that, when combined with each of their upper tree hierarchy's text descriptions, form a similar combination, comprise identical topic nodes,   unify the non-similar identical topic nodes,   as a result of unification, at least some of the metadata of the non-similar, identical topic nodes is automatically mathematically combined, and   as a result of unification of non-similar topic nodes, couple together all child topic nodes of identical topic nodes to become child topic nodes of each of the identical topic nodes, wherein coupled child topic nodes that are similar are also unified.   
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein execution of the instructions by the computer processor of the information processing engine further enable the system to:
 dynamically unify the similar topic nodes as identical topic nodes when they are currently grouped together as having the same upper tree hierarchy and un-unify them to become similar but not identical when they are not.   
     
     
         8 . A system, comprising:
 an accumulated information data store, including:
 a plurality of topic nodes, each topic node having a text description of limited length and at least some of the topic nodes being associated with one or more attributes, 
 wherein a particular topic node is associated as a parent topic node to one or more other child topic nodes such that the topic nodes in the accumulated information data store form at least one data tree; and 
   an information processing engine, comprising:
 a computer processor; and 
 a memory storage device including instructions that when executed by the computer processor enable the system to:
 (i) access information in the accumulated information data store, 
 (ii) determine that a plurality of topic node text descriptions are similar and classifying them as similar topic nodes, 
 (iii) select at least a part of the text description associated with one of the similar topic nodes as a favorable text description for the similar topic nodes, 
 (iv) automatically identify all other topic nodes in the accumulated information data store that have the same text description as one of the similar topic nodes and merge all of the other identified topic nodes with the similar topic nodes, wherein the similar topic nodes and all of the other identified topic nodes are now classified as similar to each other and retain their associated attributes, 
 (v) unify the similar topic nodes as identical topic nodes when they are currently grouped together as having the same upper tree hierarchy, and 
 (vi) classify the unified topic nodes that are also similar topic nodes as a single topic node represented by the favorable text description, wherein any attribute associated with the unified topic nodes is automatically mathematically combined. 
 
   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein texts contain from a single word to a paragraph. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein at least some of the attributes are associated with at least one of: (i) a rating score reflecting an importance of a topic node, (ii) a description field having pre-determined values that describe an aspect of a topic node, (iii) a popularity value, and (iv) a date value. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the mathematical combination of attributes for unified topic nodes is associated with at least one of: (i) an averaging process, (ii) a summing process, (iii) a selection of a minimum value, (iv) a selection of a maximum value, (v) a selection of an earliest date, and (vi) a selection of a latest date. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the information processing engine is further programmed to automatically determine unification of similar topic nodes with the same upper tree hierarchy when each of the parent lines of the similar topic nodes are similar until: (i) a shared parent node is reached, (ii) identical parent nodes are reached, or (iii) the head of each tree is reached. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the information processing engine is further programmed to classify information about child topics of similar but not identical parent topic nodes to one of the parent topic nodes, as if they were the parent topic node's child topic nodes, temporarily making these children currently coupled with the original parent topic's children. 
     
     
         14 . A method to summarize textual content, by way of hierarchical relations between texts, comprising:
 accessing, by a computer processor of an information processing engine, data in an accumulated information data store, the accumulated information data store including a plurality of topic nodes, each topic node having a text description of limited length, wherein a particular topic node is associated as a parent topic node to one or more other child topic nodes such that the topic nodes in the accumulated information data store form at least one data tree;   determining that a plurality of topic node text descriptions are similar and classifying them as similar topic nodes;   automatically identifying topic nodes in the accumulated information data store that have the same text description as one of the similar topic nodes and merge the identified topic nodes with the similar topic nodes, wherein the similar topic nodes and the identified topic nodes are now classified as similar to each other;   unifying the similar topic nodes as identical topic nodes when they are currently grouped together as having the same upper tree hierarchy;   determining that a plurality of topic nodes which are not similar, but have text descriptions that, when combined with each of their upper tree hierarchy's text descriptions, form a similar combination, comprise identical topic nodes; and   unifying the non-similar identical topic nodes.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein texts contain from a single word to a paragraph. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the topic nodes are associated with metadata which includes at least one or more attributes. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein at least some of the metadata associated with unified topic nodes is automatically mathematically combined. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the information processing engine is further programmed to select at least a part of the text description associated with one of the similar topic nodes as a favorable text description for the similar topic nodes, to represent them in the system. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein as a result of unification of both similar and non-similar topic nodes, couple together all child topic nodes of identical topic nodes to become child topic nodes of each of the identical topic nodes, wherein coupled child topic nodes that are similar are also unified and become identical. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the information processing engine is further programmed to dynamically unify the similar topic nodes as identical topic nodes when they are currently grouped together as having the same upper tree hierarchy and un-unify them to become similar but not identical when they are not. 
     
     
         21 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having executable instructions stored therein, the medium comprising instructions associated with a method to summarize textual content, by way of hierarchical relations between texts, comprising:
 accessing, by a computer processor of an information processing engine, data in an accumulated information data store, the accumulated information data store including a plurality of topic nodes, each topic node having a text description of limited length, wherein a particular topic node is associated as a parent topic node to one or more other child topic nodes such that the topic nodes in the accumulated information data store form at least one data tree;   determining that a plurality of topic node text descriptions are similar and classifying them as similar topic nodes;   automatically identifying topic nodes in the accumulated information data store that have the same text description as one of the similar topic nodes and merge the identified topic nodes with the similar topic nodes, wherein the similar topic nodes and the identified topic nodes are now classified as similar to each other;   unifying the similar topic nodes as identical topic nodes when they are currently grouped together as having the same upper tree hierarchy;   determining that a plurality of topic nodes which are not similar, but have text descriptions that, when combined with each of their upper tree hierarchy's text descriptions, form a similar combination, comprise identical topic nodes; and   unifying the non-similar identical topic nodes.   
     
     
         22 . The medium of  claim 21 , wherein texts contain from a single word to a paragraph. 
     
     
         23 . The medium of  claim 21 , wherein the topic nodes are associated with metadata which includes at least one or more attributes.