Simulating accesses for archived content

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system identifies content for publication by determining a projected usage of unpublished content. The system applies one or more predefined criteria for publication to the projected usage. The content is published in response to the projected usage satisfying the criteria for publication. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for identifying content for publication in substantially the same manners described above.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

Present invention embodiments relate to information systems, and more specifically, to simulating accesses of archived content in order to identify documents that should be published,

2. Discussion of the Related Art

Electronic information sources (e.g., websites) that provide user-searchable content sometimes archive old or infrequently accessed documents. As a result, the documents no longer appear in user searches. For example, a document may relate to a non-current product version. When user accesses of the document fall to a low level, a website manager may archive the document in order to avoid cluttering users' search results with outdated information.

BRIEF SUMMARY

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system identifies content for publication by determining a projected usage of unpublished content. The system applies one or more predefined criteria for publication to the projected usage. The content is published in response to the projected usage satisfying the criteria for publication. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for identifying content for publication in substantially the same manners described above.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Present invention embodiments pertain to identifying content to publish. A simulation estimates usage of the content were the content available for access (e.g., published on the web). The simulation model is based on empirical data, such as accesses of related documents, captured search queries, and keywords and terms of the content.

One aspect of an embodiment of the present invention is to dynamically determine whether content that has been archived would provide value if republished. Another aspect is to relieve content creators from having to re-create content that already exists but is not currently accessible to users. Still another aspect is to ensure that users searching for particular content will be able to find the content if it exists.

In an example scenario, content is created and published on the web to address an issue related to version N of a product. Later, version N+1 of the product is released, the issue does not arise, and the frequency with which users access the content drops accordingly. As a result, the content administrator decides to archive the content. However, the issue resurfaces in version N+2, and users cannot find the solution because the content created to address the issue has been archived. An embodiment of the present invention notifies the administrator that the demand for the archived content has increased to a level that would warrant reinstating it for user access. Alternatively, the administrator may define conditions for automatically republishing the archived content.

An example computing environment for a present invention embodiment is illustrated inFIG. 1. Specifically, the environment includes one or more server systems100, one or more search systems105, one or more client or end-user systems110, one or more archives130, and one or more simulation systems140. Server systems100, search systems105, client systems110, archive130, and simulation system140may be remote from each other and communicate over a network120.

Network120may be implemented by any number of any suitable communications media (e.g., wide area network (WAN), local area network (LAN), Internet, intranet, etc.). Alternatively, any number of server systems100, client systems110, archives130, simulation systems140, and search systems150may be local to each other, and communicate via any appropriate local communication medium (e.g., local area network (LAN), hardwire, wireless link, intranet, etc.).

A server system100may include a content module102and content104. The content module (e.g., web server, electronic help system, online catalog, dictionary, etc.) provides users access to content104.

Search system105includes a search engine106to processes search queries and return search results including information or references to information within content104. Alternatively, the search engine may be local to server system100. The content module and/or search engine may receive feedback from users (e.g., by surveying the users) regarding the extent to which the search results provided the content sought by the user. The content module, search engine, and content may be distributed across plural server systems, search systems, or other systems in communication with the server system.

Client systems110enable users to submit queries to search engine106(e.g., via network120) and receive search results and content. The client systems may present any graphical user (e.g., GUI, etc.) or other interface (e.g., command line prompts, menu screens, etc.) to receive commands from users and communicate with the content module, search engine, and other modules or services.

Archive130contains information absent from content104(e.g., documents that have been removed from content104because they are outdated, rarely accessed, etc.). The archive may be implemented by any conventional or other database or storage unit, may be local to or remote from server system100and simulation system140, and may communicate via any appropriate communication medium (e.g., local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), Internet, hardwire, wireless link, intranet, etc.).

Simulation system140includes a simulation module142and data repository144. Simulation module142uses data from data repository144to project accesses of archived content in order to identify documents that should be republished. The data repository may include information about how users have searched for and accessed documents in the past, mappings of keywords and archived content, and criteria for determining whether items of archived content should be published (e.g., by moving the items into content104).

Server systems100, search system105, client systems110, and simulation system140may be implemented by any conventional or other computer systems preferably equipped with a display or monitor, a base (e.g., including at least one processor20, memories30and/or internal or external network interface or communications devices10(e.g., modem, network cards, etc.), optional input devices (e.g., a keyboard, mouse, or other input device), and any commercially available and custom software (e.g., content module software, search engine software, simulation module software, etc.).

Simulation module142may include one or more modules or units to perform the various functions of present invention embodiments described below (e.g., indexing archived content, gathering information about past searches, simulating usage of archived content, reporting results, determining whether to republish content, etc.), may be implemented by any combination of any quantity of software and/or hardware modules or units, and may reside within memory30of a simulation system, server system and/or client systems for execution by processor20.

A block diagram of a simulation module and data repository for identifying archived content to republish according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIG.2. Data repository144may include a terms-content mapping210, past search information220, and criteria for republishing230. The terms-content mapping210contains terms with which users may attempt to find content (e.g., by submitting the terms to a search engine). Examples of terms include words or phrases found in a text-based document; tags, captions, or other metadata assigned to an image or other data file; uniform resource locators; etc. Terms may include combinations of terms. The mapping may associate terms with archived documents and/or vice versa.

Past search information220contains records of how users have located or attempted to locate content. By way of example, these records may include queries submitted to search engine106(e.g., via client system110, network120, server system100, and content module102) and may further include corresponding search results, documents accessed from the search results, user feedback (e.g., the results of document usefulness surveys), etc.

Criteria for publishing230may specify that content should be published if the projected number or rate of accesses exceeds a predetermined threshold, or if the content would provide a match to recent queries for which no results were found.

The simulation module may communicate with the archive, from which it receives content placed in the archive by content administrator240, and with data repository144to read and write (e.g., for initializing or updating) the term-content mapping, past search information, and search criteria. The simulation module generates a decision250whether content should be published or should remain in the archive.

A manner in which the simulation module identifies archived content to publish (e.g., via simulation system140, server system100, and/or client system110) according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated inFIG. 3. At step310, the data repository is initialized or updated with new data. For example, the simulation module may read content from archive130and analyze the content to identify terms for archived content and generate the terms-content mapping. If the search engine is local to the content provider, the simulation module may gather some or all past queries and associated search results, document accesses, and user feedback from the search engine and/or content module102and store the data in past search information220. Past queries may include both recent queries (e.g., queries since a document was archived) and historical queries (e.g., queries from a time when the document was available in content104and could be found via search engine106, before it was archived). The simulation module may analyze past queries to identify terms associated with past accesses of a document. If the search engine is not local to the content provider (e.g., it is a general purpose web search engine), the simulation module, an administrator, or other agent may request past search information from the operator of the search engine. For example, information about queries containing terms associated with archived content (e.g., terms appearing in the terms-content mapping) and/or queries for which a user selected a document from content104may be requested. The content administrator can define criteria for publishing and configure the simulation module to issue a notice when content should be republished or to automatically republish the content.

The simulation module loops over each item of content in the archive to identify content that should be published. At step320, the simulation module initializes a projected usage [U] to zero for an item of archived content. The simulation module then loops over a category of queries, retrieving a query of the category at step330.

The simulation module then loops over past queries belonging to a predetermined category. The category may include all queries in the past search information, recent queries (i.e., queries submitted within a preceding time interval [T], (e.g, an hour, week, month, quarter, year, etc.)), queries for which zero search results were returned, etc. The simulation module retrieves a past query at step330. At step340the simulation module determines an estimated probability [p] that the current item of archived content would have been selected and used from the search results of the cu ent query.

To estimate [p], the search module may compare search terms and accesses from when the content was available at content104against search terms and access activity since the item was archived (and removed from content104). By way of example, consider a document that was accessed 95% of the time that a search query contained four particular search terms when the document was on the web. User feedback associated with those accesses was 80% positive. Since the document was archived, the search engine returns only three results when the same four terms are used, and the feedback associated with those results is 70% negative. Based on this information, the simulation module ray project that user satisfaction for such searches would increase (e.g., by about 56%, i.e., 80% of the 70% negative feedback might turn positive) if that archived document were restored to the web. User feedback information is not required. For example, it may be assumed constant for all queries, and the projected usage may be based number of accesses alone.

Another manner of determining [p] is to determine or estimate where the archived content would have ranked in the search results for the current query if the content had been available. The estimate [p] can be an average of the accesses of documents preceding and following the content in the search results. The average may be weighted, e.g., by proximity in rank and user satisfaction. If content would not appear in the search results, the estimate of [p] is zero.

At step350, the simulation module accumulates the projected usage for the current item of archived content. For example, [p] is added to [U]. In addition, the simulation module may track any other statistics or properties. By way of example, there may be a separate usage projection for queries that return zero search results or results with low average user satisfaction.

At step360the simulation module determines whether any queries in the category remain to be analyzed. If so, processing returns to330where the next query is retrieved. Otherwise, the loop over queries ends and [U] provides a basis for projecting usage of the document. For example, [U]/[T] may represent an estimate of the frequency with which the document would be accessed in the future were it published.

The simulation module determines whether the document should be published by applying the criteria for publishing to the projected usage of the document at step370. For example, the document may be designated for publication if an estimate of the rate at which the document would be accessed exceeds a threshold. If the document should be republished, the simulation module notifies the content administrator at step380. The system may be configured to automatically publish the document. At step390, the simulation module determines whether any more items of content in the archive remain to be analyzed. If so, processing returns to step320and the usage of the next document is projected. Otherwise, processing ends. Further identification of archived content to publish may occur in a similar manner. For example, the data repository may be updated with the addition of new information (e.g., new user searches, new archived documents, reconfigured criteria for publishing, etc.) regularly or from time to time, and identification of archived content to publish may recur accordingly.

It will be appreciated that the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings represent only a few of the many ways of implementing embodiments for simulating accesses of archived content in order to identify documents that should be published.

The software of the present invention embodiments (e.g., simulation module, client software, server software, etc.) may be available on a computer useable or recordable medium (e.g., magnetic or optical mediums, magneto-optic mediums, floppy diskettes, CD-ROM, DVD, memory devices, etc.) for use on stand-alone systems or systems connected by a network or other communications medium.

The system may employ any number of any conventional or other libraries, databases, data stores or storage structures (e.g., files, databases, data structures, data or other repositories, etc.) to store information (e.g., content, past searches information, term-content mapping, criteria for publishing, etc.). The database system may be implemented by any number of any conventional or other databases, data stores or storage structures (e.g., files, databases, data structures, data or other repositories, etc.) to store information (e.g., content, past searches information, term-content mapping, criteria for publishing, etc.). The simulation module and/or data repository may be included within or coupled to the simulation, server and/or client systems.

The present invention embodiments are not limited to the specific tasks, algorithms, network/environment, or types of content described above, but may be utilized for simulating accesses of content of any kind (e.g., web pages, product catalogs, libraries media, blog entries, social media posts, text-based documents, images, binary data, directories, etc.). Present invention embodiments may use any methods of projecting content usage based on past empirical access data (e.g., frequency analysis, reliability and fuzzy matching, language processing, semantic analysis, information retrieval, automated reasoning, machine learning, etc.).