Systems and methods for presenting information extracted from one or more data sources to event participants

Abstract

Systems and methods for dynamically responding to requests for information, derived from one or more data sources, relating to at least one event participant. A notification of a scheduled event is received at a server. The notification identities a plurality of individuals invited to attend or participate in an event. Data attributes relating to the event participants are retrieved from one or more data sources and stored. The data attributes can include personal attributes, professional attributes, and social interaction attributes. Before, during or after an event, requests are received and processed to provide event participants and other interested parties access to contextual information relating event participants to one another, the identities of event participants possessing one or more attributes, and lists of attributes for one or more known event participants. The requests can include images and sound recordings captured during the event.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for responding to requests from a communication terminal for information relating to at least one event participant, the method comprising:
 in an inquiry server in communication with the communication terminal:
 receiving identities of a plurality of invited event participants to a scheduled event; 
 in response to receiving the identities, retrieving data attributes relating to at least some of the plurality of invited event participants; 
 after the retrieving the data attributes, receiving a request from the communication terminal for contextual information relating a first event participant of the plurality of invited event participants to at least a second event participant of the plurality of invited event participants; 
 identifying the first event participant; 
 generating the contextual information from the data attributes; and 
 transmitting, to the communication terminal, a response to the request, the response including the contextual information. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 analyzing an image, received as part of the request, to identify the first event participant.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the request is received during the event and the response is transmitted during the event. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 identifying the first event participant by analyzing a voice sample captured from the first event participant in reference to voice print data for each respective event participant of the plurality of event participants.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the voice sample is captured during the event. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the contextual information comprises contextual data elements and each of the contextual data elements represents a relative distance between a data attribute of the first event participant and the same data attribute of the second event participant. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data attributes are retrieved from at least one data repository associated with a social network during the retrieving. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 requesting authorization, from respective ones of the plurality of invited event participants, before retrieving respective data attributes from a corresponding data source.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the contextual information comprises:
 performing at least one of intersect analysis and difference analysis by reference to the data attributes.   
     
     
         10 . An apparatus to implement an inquiry server for responding to requests from a communication terminal for information relating to at least one event participant, the apparatus comprising:
 a non-transitory computer-readable medium;   one or more processors in communication with the non-transitory computer-readable medium;   processor-executable instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when executed by the one or more processors, direct the one or more processors to:
 receive identities of a plurality of invited event participants to a scheduled event; 
 in response to receipt of the identities, retrieve data attributes relating to at least some of the plurality of invited event participants; 
 after the data attributes are retrieved, receive a request from the communication terminal for contextual information relating a first event participant of the plurality of invited event participants to at least a second event participant of the plurality of invited event participants; 
 identify the first event participant; 
 generate the contextual information from the data attributes; and 
 transmit, to the communication terminal, a response to the request, the response including the contextual information. 
   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further direct the one or more processors to:
 analyze an image, received as part of the request, to identify the first event participant.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the request is received during the event and the response is transmitted during the event. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further direct the one or more processors to:
 identify the first event participant by analyzing a voice sample captured from the first event participant in reference to voice print data for each respective event participant of the plurality of event participants.   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the voice sample is captured during the event. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the contextual information comprises contextual data elements and each of the contextual data elements represents a relative distance between a data attribute of the first event participant and the same data attribute of the second event participant. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein the data attributes are retrieved from at least one data repository associated with a social network during the retrieving. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further direct the one or more processors to:
 request authorization, from respective ones of the plurality of invited event participants, before retrieving respective data attributes from a corresponding data source.   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , wherein to generate the contextual information, the processor-executable instructions direct the one or more processors to:
 perform at least one of intersect analysis and difference analysis by reference to the data attributes.   
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having processor-executable instructions stored thereon for responding to requests from a communication terminal for information relating to at least one event participant, the processor-executable instructions, when executed by one or more processors, direct the one or more processors to:
 receive identities of a plurality of invited event participants to a scheduled event;   in response to receipt of the identities, retrieve data attributes relating to at least some of the plurality of invited event participants;   after the data attributes are retrieved, receive a request from the communication terminal for contextual information relating a first event participant of the plurality of invited event participants to at least a second event participant of the plurality of invited event participants;   identify the first event participant;   generate the contextual information from the data attributes; and   transmit, to the communication terminal, a response to the request, the response including the contextual information.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 19 , wherein the processor-executable instructions further direct the one or more processors to:
 identify the first event participant based on information received with the request.