International Business Machines Corporation

Markus Stolze

Stefan G Hild

Rene Pawlitzek

Walid Rjaibi

Michael Stroebel

Jose-Luis Abad Peiro

The present invention discloses a method, request detector, inference engine, and system for consolidating data from distributed databases into a central database. The method comprises the steps of receiving access information comprising request information to the distributed databases, analyzing the received access information, and aggregating into the central database the data content of the distributed databases in dependence on the analyzed access information.

System for consolidating data from distributed databases

Monitoring events triggered by a computer network. Each event being provided with attribute values allocated to a given set of attributes, and providing an event display, determining a primary attribute and a corresponding display label of the events selected from the given set of attributes presented with attribute values on a cross plot, providing a pattern algorithm to detect whether an arrived event is part of a given pattern, providing a mapping algorithm to map attribute values on the cross plot, allocating a second display label to the events indicating the attributes uncovered as part of the given pattern, plotting events arriving and including an attribute value allocated to a primary attribute into the cross plot, and plotting events arriving within the time period and detected by the pattern algorithm as part of the given pattern into the cross plot with the second display label indicating the given pattern.

Monitoring events in a computer network

A method for completing an address, e.g., a mail address, an e-mail address, or a phone number. For that the method comprises the steps of detecting an incomplete user input of the address, deriving a completion offer to the incomplete user input in dependence on a derivable score, and offering the derived completion offer for completing the address. This allows to design more effective support systems, which help the user to find more quickly addresses that have not been entered in full. The derivable score approximates the probability of the address to be the one intended by a user. The derivable score can be influenced by several factors which can be given but as well as can be chosen or influenced by the user.

Method for automatically completing an incomplete address entry

Automatic data consolidation

Methods are provided for selecting a question to be presented to a user of an electronic product catalog system () to assist identification of a suitable product from a set of potentially suitable products according to the user's needs. The question is selected from a group of questions stored in the system (). The methods use product data, which defines features of products in the product set and product scores associated with respective products in the product set, and rule data which defines rules relating answers associated with the questions to product feature constraints. The product data and rule data are processed to calculate question scores (Q) for respective questions such that the question score (Q) for each question is dependent on at least one of (a) the product scores of any products excluded from the product set if a rule relating to an answer associated with that question is effective, and (b) the product scores of any products retained in the product set if a rule relating to an answer associated with that question is effective. The question to be presented to the user is then selected in dependence on the question scores (Q). The disclosed methods allow questions to be selected to facilitate identification of a suitable product from an arbitrary initial product set, allowing needs-based interviewing to be conducted after feature-based filtering in catalog systems. Corresponding apparatus is also provided.

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Adliswil, Switzerland

Markus Stolze