Automatic management of terms in a user profile in a knowledge management system

Abstract

An agent in a knowledge management system automatically manages profile terms in a user profile by selecting certain terms in a private portion of the user profile and moving the selected terms to a public portion of the profile. Additionally, the selected terms can be further filtered to determine which will be moved. The owner of the user profile also may specify whether a particular term is always moved, never moved, or moved only when the user is alerted that the term is selected and the owner chooses to move the term.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method comprising: 
 constructing a profile of an entity based on a plurality of sets of text associated with the entity, the profile including a plurality of terms; and    providing the entity with exclusive control over disclosure of the terms to another entity.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the entity is a person.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the entity is a group of people.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the profile comprises a first portion and a second portion.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the first portion and the second portion have different access restrictions with respect to another entity.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising placing terms in the first portion and the second portion in a manner specified by the entity.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising updating the first portion and the second portion in the manner specified by the entity.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising: 
 receiving a request from the other entity, the request including a term;  
 servicing the request if the term is located in the first portion of the profile; and  
 prompting the entity for authorization to service the request if the term is located in the second portion of the profile.  
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising allowing access to the second portion of the profile by the other entity with the entity's authorization.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5  wherein terms associated with the entity are placed in the first portion of the profile if the terms satisfy a predetermined criterion.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising allowing the entity to cause the terms to be moved between the first portion and the second portion.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  further comprises presenting a set of terms to the entity for the entity to specify a location of each term within the profile.  
     
     
         13 . A method comprising: 
 creating a profile of a target entity based on a plurality of sets of text associated with the target entity, the profile including a first portion and a second portion;    placing terms associated with the target entity in the first portion and the second portion in a manner specified by the target entity; and    providing the target entity with exclusive control over disclosure of the terms to another entity.    
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising: 
 receiving a request from a query entity;  
 detecting a term located in the request;  
 servicing the request if the term is located in the first portion of the profile of the target entity;  
 prompting the target entity for authorization to service the request if the term is located in a second portion of the profile of the target entity.  
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising updating the first portion and second portion in the manner specified by the entity.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the first portion and the second portion have different access restriction with respect to another entity.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the terms associated with the entity are placed in the first portion of the profile if the terms satisfy a predetermined criterion.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising allowing the entity to cause the terms to be moved between the first portion and the second portion of the profile.  
     
     
         19 . An information gathering system comprising: 
 a profile constructor to construct a profile of an entity based on a plurality of sets of text associated with the entity, the profile including a plurality of terms; and    a profile access module to provide the entity with exclusive control over disclosure of the terms to another entity.    
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19  wherein the profile comprises a first portion and a second portion.  
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 19  wherein the first portion is a public portion and a second portion is a private portion.  
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 21  wherein the first portion and the second portion have different access restrictions with respect to another entity.  
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 21  wherein the entity is a person.