GUIDING ACQUISITION OF INFORMATION IN A SOCIAL NETWORK

1 . A method of guiding article selection from a plurality of articles accessible to a plurality of users, the method comprising:

employing at least one processor for:

initializing a set of global article successions;

acquiring similarity metrics of each article to designated articles of said plurality of articles;

identifying a selected user accessing a specific article;

determining a complementing article to said specific article based on at least:

said similarity metrics; and

said set of global article successions;

communicating an identifier of said complementing article to said selected user;

detecting access to a subsequent article by said selected user;

and

updating said set of global article successions to account for a transition from said specific article to said subsequent article;

thereby, the method guides acquisition of information from a massive information source.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

acquiring a set of predetermined clusters of said plurality of users;

initializing sets of cluster-specific article successions, each set of cluster-specific article successions corresponding to a respective cluster of users;

associating said selected user with a specific cluster;

updating a respective set of cluster-specific article successions corresponding to said specific cluster; and

revising said determining of said complementing article to said specific article based on:

said similarity metrics;

said set of global article successions; and

said sets of cluster-specific article successions.

3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

retaining data for said selected user comprising said specific article, said complementary article, and a timestamp of said communicating;

determining a time interval between a time indication of said detecting and said timestamp;

updating a compliance score subject to a determination that:

said subsequent article matches said complementary article; and

said time interval is less than a predefined time threshold.

4 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

segmenting said plurality of articles into a collection of primary articles and a collection of secondary articles; and

selecting said designated articles from said collection of primary articles;

said determining comprising a step of restricting said complementing article to be within said collection of primary articles.

5 . An apparatus for guiding article selection from a plurality of articles, the apparatus comprising:

a first set of memory devices storing inter-article affinity coefficients; and

a second set of memory devices storing processor executable instructions forming:

a first module causing a first processor to select complementing articles to reference articles of said plurality of articles based on inter-article affinity coefficients initialized as predetermined inter-article similarity coefficients;

a second module causing a second processor to update inter-article transition scores according to observed article successions to said reference articles; and

a third module causing a third processor to refine said inter-article affinity coefficients based on said inter-article transition scores;

thereby, the apparatus guides acquisition of information from an information source.

6 . The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said first module is configured to:

identify a current user accessing a particular article;

select a complementing article from said plurality of articles according to said inter-article affinity coefficients;

communicate a recommendation to access the complementing article to the current user.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein:

said first module is further configured to associate the current user with a respective cluster of a number of predetermined user clusters;

said second module is configured to:

identify latest preceding article accessed by said current user;

increase an inter-article gravitation score of 2-tuple {latest-preceding-article, particular article} as a global usage-based measure of affinity of the particular article to the latest-preceding-article; and

increase an inter-article attraction score of 3-tuple {latest-preceding-article, particular article, respective cluster} as a focused usage-based measure of affinity of the particular article to the latest-preceding-article.

8 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said second module is further configured to:

identify latest complementing article recommended to the user; and

update an overall compliance score subject to a determination that the particular article is the latest complementing article recommended to the current user.

9 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said first module is further configured to:

initialize a registry of active users as an empty registry;

enter the current user in the registry subject to a determination that the current user is not indicated in the registry.

10 . The apparatus of claim 7 wherein:

each said inter-article affinity coefficient for a directed pair of a first article and a second article is determined as a function of:

a similarity coefficient of the first article and the second article;

a gravitation score of said second article to said first article; and

an attraction score of said second article to said first article.

11 . The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said first module is further configured to:

segment said plurality of articles into a collection of primary articles and a collection of secondary articles; and

derive said inter-article affinity coefficients for only directed article pairs directed to primary articles.

12 - 18 . (canceled)

19 . An apparatus for guiding article selection from a plurality of articles accessible to a plurality of users, the apparatus comprising:

a plurality of hardware processors;

a plurality of input buffers each coupled to a respective processor of said plurality of processors;

a data memory storing article-succession data and inter-article affinity coefficients initialized as predetermined inter-article similarity coefficients;

a network interface configured to:

detect users' selection of articles through a network; and

acquire corresponding metadata;

a distributor for cyclically distributing metadata of detected articles to individual input buffers of said plurality of input buffers;

a dual selector for cyclically providing two-way access of individual processors of said plurality of processors to said data memory;

each said processor executing instructions to:

identify a detected article and associated user from metadata held in a respective input buffer;

determine a complementing article of said detected article based on relevant affinity coefficients retrieved from said data memory; and

communicate an identifier of said complementing article to said associated user through said network interface;

thereby, the apparatus guides acquisition of information from an information source.

20 . The apparatus of claim 19 further comprising a plurality of output buffers each coupled to a respective processor of said plurality of processors, said respective processor transferring said identifier of said complementing article to a respective output buffer.

21 . The apparatus of claim 19 further comprising:

a registry of active users, coupled to said network interface, storing article-selection data for active users detected at said network interface; and

a combiner for cyclically distributing identifiers of complementing articles determined at said plurality of processors to said network interface for transmission to respective users.

22 - 25 . (canceled)

26 . An apparatus for guiding article selection from a plurality of articles accessible to a plurality of users, the apparatus comprising:

a set of hardware processors, each processor designated for a partition of articles of said plurality of articles;

a plurality of input buffers each coupled to a respective processor of said set of processors;

a network interface configured to:

detect users' selection of articles through a network; and

acquire corresponding metadata;

a plurality of data memory devices, each storing article succession data and inter-article affinity coefficients initialized as predetermined inter-article similarity coefficients for a respective partition of articles;

a distributor for distributing metadata of detected articles to respective processors of said set of processors;

said each processor coupled to a respective data memory and executing instructions to:

identify a detected article and associated user from metadata held in a respective input buffer;

determine a complementing article of said detected article based on relevant affinity coefficients retrieved from said respective data memory; and

communicate an identifier of said complementing article to said associated user through said network interface;

thereby, the apparatus guides acquisition of information from an information source.

27 . The apparatus of claim 26 further comprising:

a registry of active users, coupled to said network interface, storing article-selection data for active users detected at said apparatus; and

a module for communicating recommendations to access complementing articles determined at said set of processors to respective users through said network interface.

28 . The apparatus of claim 26 further comprising a plurality of output buffers each coupled to a respective processor of said set of processors, said respective processor transferring said identifier of said complementing article to a respective output buffer for further processing.

29 . The apparatus of claim 26 further comprising a dual cyclic selector for connecting said set of processors to said registry of active users to enable communicating article-succession records from the registry to the set of processors and communicating identifiers of complementing articles to the registry of active users.

30 . (canceled)

31 . The apparatus of claim 26 further comprising a module configured to:

associate each user of the plurality of users with a respective cluster of a number of predetermined user clusters; and

continually refine said inter-article affinity coefficients as a function of said predetermined inter-article similarity coefficients and article successions for users belonging to a same cluster.

32 . The apparatus of claim 26 further comprising a module for increasing an overall compliance score subject to a determination that a user selects a recommended complementary article within a predefined time threshold.