Patent Document ID: 5537586
Application ID: 08239421
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of extracting a preferred set of stored textual records from a database, comprising the steps of: assigning, to selected ones of a plurality of predefined category structures, a priority value, wherein said selected ones of said plurality of predefined category structures and assigned priority values form a profile associated with a subscriber; assigning to each stored textual record a relevance value associated with each category structure; associating each stored textual record with each category structure for which the record's relevance value associated with that category structure exceeds a predetermined threshold; maintaining, for each category structure, a list of associated textual records; retrieving from the database, for each selected category structure, the textual records associated with that category structure; selecting, from the set of retrieved textual records, a plurality of preferred textual records in a manner responsive to the priority value assigned to each category structure; assembling the plurality of preferred textual records to form the preferred set; collecting usage information from the subscriber for the retrieved textual records forming the preferred set; and assigning a new priority value for category structures associated with said profile based on the usage information collected for said subscriber associated with the profile, said step of assigning a new priority value comprising: ranking the category structures in order of subscriber usage of textual records associated with the category structures to determine a usage rank for each category structure; and comparing the usage rank with the original priority value for each category structure to determine the new priority value for the category structures, said step of comparing comprising: assigning a first numerical weight to each category structure determined by its original priority value in the associated profile; assigning a second numerical weight to each category structure determined by the usage of textual records associated with the category structure by the subscriber; assigning a third numerical weight to each category structure determined by the usage of the textual records associated with the category structure by other subscribers previously determined to be peers; and assigning the new priority value for each category structure determined by summing the first, second and third numerical weights assigned for each category structure.