Patent ID: 7689433

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: accessing one or more databases that store published quotes that are attributable to one or more business executives, information identifying the one or more business executives to whom the quotes are attributable, information identifying one or more topics of the quotes, and information identifying one or more companies employing the business executives to whom the quotes are attributable; receiving a user selection of a name or topic; selecting the stored quotes that relate to the user-selected name or topic; grouping the selected quotes according to the business executives to whom the quotes are attributable, the companies employing the business executives to whom the quotes are attributable, and the topics of the quotes; calculating a frequency in which the business executives and the companies are quoted among the grouped quotes; comparing the calculated frequency in which the business executives are quoted to a past frequency of quotes attributable to each business executive; predicting that an authority of a particular business executive has risen or fallen when the calculated frequency associated with the particular business executive is greater or less than the past frequency, respectively; and providing a user interface including separate regions for displaying subsets of the quotes grouped according to the business executives to whom the quotes are attributable, the companies employing the business executives to whom the quotes are attributable, and the topics of the quotes, and the user interface identifying the particular business executive and indicating that the authority of the particular business executive has risen or fallen.