Patent ID: 8423483

Claim:
A computer implemented method for allowing at least one user to control updates to an existing policy that is enforced by a computer program, the method comprising: communicating, by a computer system to the at least one user, data regarding one or more decisions made by the program according to one or more versions of the policy, wherein policy data for the policy is stored in a machine readable format in a memory coupled to the computer system, wherein the computer system comprises at least one processor coupled to a memory; storing in a machine readable format user feedback data indicative of feedback by the at least one user regarding the one or more decisions made by the program according to the policy; determining, by the computer system, based on the user feedback data regarding the one or more decisions made by the program, one or more potential variations to the existing policy using a neighborhood procedure, wherein the one or more potential variations are generated using neighborhood operators; ranking, by the computer system, the one or more potential variations to the existing policy based on a score of an objective function, wherein the objective function comprises a plurality of function elements, wherein the plurality of function elements comprises a user satisfaction function element and at least one other function element that comprises a quantitative measure of understandability of the one or more potential variations to the existing policy for the at least one user that measures an extent to which the one or more potential variations are likely to be understandable by the at least one user; communicating, by the computer system to the at least one user, one or more suggested modifications to the existing policy based on the ranking of the one or more potential variations to the existing policy, wherein the one or more suggested modifications can assist the one or more users refine the existing policy; receiving, by the computer system, one or more selections from the user that are responsive to the one or more suggested modifications to the existing policy communicated to the at least one user; and modifying, by the computer system, the policy data stored in the memory based on the one or more selections by the at least one user in response to the communication of the one or more suggested modifications to the at least one user to generate an updated policy for the at least one user.