User-Specific Working Sets for Enterprise Search

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Solution Overview

Problem

Providing fast and reliable search services across enterprise environments is challenging due to the large volume of information spread across various applications, requiring improved methods to facilitate user-specific content retrieval.

Innovation Solution

An enhanced service environment utilizing user-specific working sets, where working set agents in application services communicate event signals to a working set service to nominate and include relevant events in a user-specific working set, indexed for efficient searching, incorporating both content and social graph data.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If enterprise search services crawl and index all content across multiple applications, then search completeness is improved, but search speed and reliability deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesearch completenessVSAvoidsearch speed and reliability
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts only the most relevant content items into user-specific working sets based on contextual signals (recently viewed items, shared items, calendar events, contact information) rather than indexing all enterprise content. This selective extraction maintains search completeness for relevant items while dramatically improving search speed and reliability by working with a smaller, curated subset of data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary actions by proactively assembling working sets in advance based on user behavior patterns and contextual signals before search queries are submitted. Events are nominated and added to working sets based on user activity, so when a search is performed, the results are already prepared and optimized for that specific user context, eliminating the need for real-time crawling and indexing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Measurement precision

If search results are personalized to individual users, then search relevance is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesearch relevanceVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the enterprise content into multiple user-specific working sets, each tailored to individual users based on their contextual signals and behavior patterns. Instead of maintaining a single complex personalized search system for all users, the content is divided into separate working sets that can be independently managed and optimized, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high personalization.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces working set agents as intermediary components that bridge the gap between raw enterprise content and personalized search results. These agents monitor user activity, nominate relevant events, and assemble working sets based on working set models, thereby simplifying the personalization process by delegating it to specialized intermediary components rather than requiring complex integration across the entire search system.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Measurement precision

If working set models are updated based on user behavior, then personalization accuracy is improved, but processing overhead increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepersonalization accuracyVSAvoidprocessing overhead
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements periodic updates to working set models based on user behavior rather than continuous real-time updates. Working set agents monitor user activity and periodically nominate events for addition to working sets based on accumulated behavioral signals. This periodic approach maintains high personalization accuracy by capturing meaningful user patterns while reducing processing overhead by avoiding constant model retraining and updates.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #19Periodic action

Data Source

PatentEP3077925B1Enhanced service environments with user-specific working sets
Publication Date: 2020.11.18 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC
  • EP3077925B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3077925B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3
  • EP3077925B1 patent drawingFigure 4

AI summary

Systems, methods, and software are disclosed herein for implementing enhanced search environments. In one implementation, an enhanced service environment includes a working set service that receives event signals initiated by working set agents in various application services. The working set agents communicate the event signals to nominate events occurring in the application services for inclusion in a working set of information specific to a user. The nominations may be based at least in part on a working set model specific to the user. In response to receiving the event signals, the working set service determines which of the events qualify for inclusion in the working set of information based at least in part on the working set model. For each event that qualifies for inclusion, the working set is modified to include at least the event.