Streams of Attention Method, System, and Apparatus

摘要

A stream of attention method, system, and apparatus determines a first focus of attention by applying a probabilistic analysis to a first set of syntactical elements. The syntactical elements may be derived from external communications or from communications generated internally by a computer-implemented system. Alternatively, the syntactical elements may be determined based on their association with images accessed from an external or internal source. Actions are performed by the computer-implemented system that are expected to reduce uncertainty with respect to the focus of attention. Such actions may include posing syntactical-based interrogatives directed to external entities or internally, searching a corpus of content, and/or moving to a new location and receiving input at the new location. Syntactical or image-based information resulting from the actions form the basis for determining a second focus of attention by re-applying to the information the process applied with respect to the previous focus of attention.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a first set of information; identifying automatically a first plurality of syntactical elements, wherein one or more of the first plurality of syntactical elements correspond to each of a plurality of subsets of the first set of information; accessing a plurality of probabilities that are associated with the first plurality of syntactical elements; selecting automatically one or more syntactical elements of the first plurality of syntactical elements to serve as a basis for a computer-implemented system's first focus of attention, wherein the selecting is based upon the plurality of probabilities; determining automatically an action that is in accordance with an expectation that the action has the potential to reduce an uncertainty that is associated with the focus of attention, wherein the uncertainty is embodied as one or more probabilities of the plurality of probabilities; performing automatically the action; receiving a second set of information that is generated in response to the action; adjusting automatically the one or more probabilities in accordance with the second set of information; determining automatically a second plurality of syntactical elements, wherein one or more of the second plurality of syntactical elements correspond to each of a plurality of subsets of the second set of information; and selecting automatically one or more syntactical elements of the second plurality of syntactical elements to serve as a basis for the computer-implemented system's second focus of attention, wherein the selecting is influenced by the adjusted one or more probabilities.