POLICY BASED DISTRIBUTION MODELING VIA INFORMATION MODELS

1 . A method for creating a user profile, comprising:

loading a user record comprising a set of user values describing a user;

loading a policy record comprising a set of mappings, each mapping associating at least one user value to at least one information source;

creating the user profile with default user values and associating the user profile with the user record;

determining if the policy record is applicable to the user record; and

if the policy record is applicable:

extracting a set of information sources from the mappings of the policy record; and

amending the user profile to reflect the set of information sources.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining applicability comprises:

reading from the policy record a set of requirements for applicability; and

evaluating the set of requirements against the user record.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the policy record comprises a section outlining the set of requirements.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein reading a set of requirements comprises:

for each mapping in the policy record:

extracting the user value associated with the mapping; and

storing the extracted user values in a set.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the set of requirements comprises a set of discrete user values.

6 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the set of requirements comprises a set of user value ranges.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the policy record is partially applicable to the user record.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein extracting a set of information sources comprises, for each mapping within the policy record:

determining if the mapping is applicable to the user record;

if so, extracting the information source associated with the mapping; and

storing the extracted information sources in a set.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein extracting a set of information sources comprises:

for each mapping in the policy record:

extracting the information sources associated with the mapping; and

storing the extracted information sources in a set.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of information sources comprises only unique entries of information sources.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of information sources comprises only information sources that the user can be mapped to.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein amending the user profile comprises:

creating a temporary user profile using the set of information sources; and

replacing the user profile comprising the default user values with the temporary user profile.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein reflecting the set of information sources comprises adding the set of information sources.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein reflecting the set of information sources comprises adding only information sources from the set of information sources that are not already present in the user profile.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein reflecting the set of information sources comprises replacing an existing set of information sources with the set of information sources.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein reflecting the set of information sources comprises removing a set of existing information sources that are inconsistent with the set of information sources.

17 . A method for creating a user profile, comprising:

loading a user record comprising a set of user values describing a user;

loading a set of policy records, each policy record comprising a set of mappings, each mapping associating at least one user value to at least one information source;

creating the user profile with default user values and associating the user profile with the user record;

for each policy record:

determining if the policy record is applicable to the user record;

if the policy record is applicable:

extracting a set of information sources from the mappings of the policy record; and

amending the user profile to reflect the set of information sources.

18 . A method for creating a set of user profiles, comprising:

loading a set of user records, each user record comprising a set of user values describing a user;

loading a policy record comprising a set of mappings, each mapping associating at least one user value to at least one information source;

for each user record:

creating a user profile with default user values and associating the user profile with the user record;

determining if the policy record is applicable to the user record;

if the policy record is applicable:

extracting a set of information sources from the mappings of the policy record; and

amending the user profile to reflect the set of information sources.

19 . A method for creating a set of user profiles, comprising:

loading a set of user records, each user record comprising a set of user values describing a user;

loading a set of policy records, each policy record comprising a set of mappings, each mapping associating at least one user value to at least one information source;

for each user record:

creating a user profile with default user values and associating the user profile with the user record;

for each user record and each policy record:

determining if the policy record is applicable to the user record;

if the policy record is applicable:

extracting a set of information sources from the mappings of the policy record; and

amending the user profile to reflect the set of information sources.

20 . A method for creating a user profile using a profile generator, comprising:

specifying a user record comprising a set of user values describing a user;

specifying a policy record comprising a set of mappings, each mapping associating at least one user value to at least one information source; and

executing the profile generator;

wherein the profile generator is adapted to create the user profile by:

loading the user record;

loading the policy record;

creating the user profile with default user values and associating the user profile with the user record;

determining if the policy record is applicable to the user record;

if the policy record is applicable:

extracting a set of information sources from the mappings of the policy record; and

amending the user profile to reflect the set of information sources;

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the method is executed in response to an update of a user record.

22 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the method is executed in response to an update of a policy record.

23 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the method is executed by manual input.

24 . The system of claim 20 , wherein the method is executed automatically.

25 . A system adapted to create a user profile, comprising:

a profile generator;

a user record store;

a policy record store; and

a user profile store;

wherein the profile generator is adapted to generate the user profile by:

loading a user record from the user record store, the user record comprising a set of user values describing a user;

loading a policy record from the policy store, the policy record comprising a set of mappings, each mapping associating at least one user value to at least one information source;

creating the user profile with default user values and associating the user profile with the user record;

determining if the policy record is applicable to the user record; and

if the policy record is applicable:

extracting a set of information sources from the mappings of the policy record; and

amending the user profile to reflect the set of information sources.

26 . The system of claim 25 , wherein at least two members of the group consisting of the profile generator, the user record store, the policy record store and the user profile store are connected by a network.

27 . The system of claim 25 , wherein at least two members of the group consisting of the profile generator, the user record store, the policy record store and the user profile store reside on a same computer system.

28 . A computer readable medium having program instructions stored thereon that, when executed, causes a computer system to:

load a user record comprising a set of user values describing a user;

load a policy record comprising a set of mappings, each mapping associating at least one user value to at least one information source;

create a user profile with default user values and associating the user profile with the user record;

determine if the policy record is applicable to the user record; and

if the policy record is applicable:

extract a set of information sources from the mappings of the policy record; and

amend the user profile to reflect the set of information sources.