Activity Record Deduplication via Identifying Portion Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Social networking sites often create duplicate entries and loops when interconnected, leading to inefficient data management and storage issues due to the propagation of entries across multiple platforms.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that analyze new entries to determine their originating service and type, comparing them to a list of prior entries using an identifying portion to prevent duplicates by excluding, hiding, or collapsing matching entries, thereby reducing duplicate postings and loops.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If entries are propagated across multiple interconnected social networking sites, then information sharing and cross-platform visibility are improved, but duplicate entries and loops are created leading to storage inefficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the identifying portion from each entry and stores it in a deduplicated list. When a new entry arrives, the system extracts its identifying portion and checks against the list of prior entries. If a match is found, the duplicate entry is excluded. This extraction approach allows the system to maintain cross-platform sharing while preventing storage of duplicate content.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a simplified copy (identifying portion) of each entry for comparison purposes rather than storing the entire entry. This copying mechanism enables efficient duplicate detection by comparing only the essential identifying elements (such as user ID, activity type, and location) without duplicating the full entry data across multiple platforms.
2Reliability
If entries are continuously pushed and pulled between social networking sites, then information synchronization is improved, but loops are created causing continuous propagation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary checking of the identifying portion against the list of prior entries before allowing an entry to be propagated further. This preliminary action prevents entries that would create loops from being propagated in the first place, thereby maintaining synchronization reliability while preventing infinite propagation cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains a list of prior entries that serves as feedback information. Each new entry is checked against this feedback list, and if a match is found, propagation is blocked. This feedback mechanism ensures that the system can detect and prevent loops while maintaining accurate information synchronization across platforms.
3Loss of information
If all entries from multiple sites are displayed on a user's page, then comprehensive information coverage is improved, but duplicate postings increase clutter
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary filtering mechanism that checks each incoming entry against the list of prior entries before displaying it on the user's page. This intermediary layer ensures that comprehensive information coverage is maintained by displaying all unique entries while preventing display clutter by blocking duplicate postings from being shown to the user.
Data Source
AI summary
The claimed subject matter decreases duplicate entries and loops in an activity record. An exemplary method comprises analyzing a new entry from a user to determine an originating service and a type of activity and extracting an identifying portion of the new entry. The identifying portion includes a predetermined number of characters at a beginning of the entry. Additionally, the predetermined number of characters is based on a likelihood of duplicates in the activity record. The identifying portion is compared to a list of prior entries from the user, and an exclusion action is performed, if the new entry matches one in the list of prior entries. The exclusion action may be to hide the new entry, to delete the new entry, or to collapse the new entry into a matching prior entry.