Consolidating information from different signals into an event

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for consolidating information from different signals into an event. Aspects of the invention used a multiphase approach to consolidating information from different signals into (e.g., deduplicating) an event. Detected events are held in the event holding cache for some amount of time after detection in accordance event holding criteria. As events are detected, an information consolidator compares currently detected events to previously cached events. Events determined to be the same event are grouped into an event group. When holding criteria expire for an event in the event group, the event group is published to one or more entities. As such, each new detection of the event does not trigger a corresponding new notification. Different portions of content from the same signal can also be monitored to reduce duplicate detections based on different content types in the same signal.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 detecting a first event from content of a first normalized signal of a first signal content type, wherein detecting the first event comprises:
 processing raw signal content of a first type with a first processing pipeline; 
 processing raw signal content of a second type with a second processing pipeline; 
 determining that the raw signal content of the first type and the raw signal content of the second type correspond to a same raw signal; 
 generating the first normalized signal of the raw signal that includes an output from the first processing pipeline and an output from the second processing pipeline; and 
 detecting the first event from the first normalized signal; 
   determining that the first event is not a redetection of another event;   detecting a second event from content of a second normalized signal of a second signal content type that is different from the first signal content type;   determining that the second event is a redetection of the first event;   grouping the first event and the second event into an event group;   determining that the event group satisfies a publication preference associated with a recipient; and   publishing the event group, including the first event and the second event, to the recipient.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising caching the event group in an event group cache concurrently with publishing the event group to the recipient. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising caching the first event in an event holding cache until a first holding period expires and caching the event group in a sent group cache until a second holding period expires. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising accessing the first holding period and the second holding period from administrator settings. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising accessing the first holding period and the second holding period from recipient preferences. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 detecting a third event from content of a third normalized signal;   comparing the third event to one or more event groups cached in the sent groups cache, including comparing the third event to the event group;   determining that the third event belongs to the event group; and   publishing the third event to the recipient to supplement publication of the event group.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising configuring one of: the first holding period or the second holding period based on computation processing times. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein detecting the first event from content of the first normalized signal comprises:
 assigning a unique identifier to the first normalized signal; and   determining that the raw signal content of the first type and the raw signal content of the second type correspond to the first normalized signal based on association with the unique identifier.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 deriving the first normalized signal from a first raw signal; and   deriving the second normalized signal from a second raw signal that is different from the first raw signal.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein processing raw signal content of a first type with a first processing pipeline comprises processing one of: a social signal, a web signal, or a streaming signal. 
     
     
         11 . A computer system comprising:
 a processor;   system memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions configured to cause the processor to:
 detect a first event from content of a first normalized signal of a first signal content type, including instructions configured to:
 process raw signal content of a first type with a first processing pipeline; 
 process raw signal content of a second type with a second processing pipeline; 
 determine that the raw signal content of the first type and the raw signal content of the second type correspond to a same raw signal; 
 generate the first normalized signal of the raw signal that includes an output from the first processing pipeline and an output from the second processing pipeline; and 
 detect the first event from the first normalized signal; 
 
 determine that the first event is not a redetection of any cached event of the first cached events; 
 detect a second event from content of a second normalized signal of a second signal content type that is different from the first signal content type; 
 determine that the second event is redetection of the first event; 
 group the first event and the second event into an event group; 
 determine that the event group satisfies a publication preference associated with a recipient; and 
 publish the event group, including the first event and the second event, to the recipient. 
   
     
     
         12 . The computer system of  claim 11 , further comprising instructions configured to cache the event group in an event group cache concurrently with publishing the event group to the recipient. 
     
     
         13 . The computer system of  claim 11 , further comprising instructions configured to cache the first event in the event holding cache until a first specified holding period expires and to cache the event group in a sent group cache until a second specified holding period expires. 
     
     
         14 . The computer system of  claim 13 , further comprising instructions configured to access the first holding period and the second holding period from administrator settings. 
     
     
         15 . The computer system of  claim 13 , further comprising instructions configured to access the first holding period and the second holding period from recipient preferences. 
     
     
         16 . The computer system of  claim 13 , further comprising instructions configured to:
 detect a third event from content of a third normalized signal;   compare the third event to one or more event groups cached in the sent groups cache, including comparing the third event to the event group;   determine that the third event belongs to the event group; and   publish the third event to the recipient to supplement publication of the event group.   
     
     
         17 . The computer system of  claim 13 , further comprising instructions configured to configure one of: the first holding period or the second holding period based on computation processing times. 
     
     
         18 . The computer system of  claim 11 , wherein instructions configured to detect an event from content of a normalized signal comprise instructions configured to:
 assign a unique identifier to the normalized signal; and   determine that the raw signal content of the first type and the raw signal content of the second type correspond to the first normalized signal based on association with the unique identifier.   
     
     
         19 . The computer system of  claim 11 , further comprising instructions configured to:
 derive the first normalized signal from a first raw signal; and   derive the second normalized signal from a second raw signal that is different from the first raw signal.   
     
     
         20 . The computer system of  claim 11 , wherein instructions configured to process raw signal content of a first type with a first processing pipeline comprise instructions configured to process one of: a social signal, a web signal, or a streaming signal.