U.S. patent application number 14/024465 was filed with the patent office on 2014-08-28 for adaptive layout of content in a digital magazine.
This patent application is currently assigned to Flipboard, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is Flipboard, Inc.. Invention is credited to Troy Brant.
Application Number | 20140245128 14/024465 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 50234670 |
Filed Date | 2014-08-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140245128 |
Kind Code |
A9 |
Brant; Troy |
August 28, 2014 |
Adaptive Layout of Content in a Digital Magazine
Abstract
A digital magazine server generates pages presenting content
items to a user in slots of a page template describing a relative
positioning of content regions presenting content items. A page
template may include a limited number of slots that limits the
number of content regions presented to a user. If a number of
content items selected for presentation to the user exceeds the
limited number of slots in a page template, a plurality of content
items are selected and used to generate a combined content item.
The combined content item identifies each of the selected plurality
of content items and allows a user to view information from various
content items used to generate the combined content item.
Inventors: |
Brant; Troy; (San Francisco,
CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Flipboard, Inc. |
Palo Alto |
CA |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
Flipboard, Inc.
Palo Alto
CA
|
Prior
Publication: |
|
Document Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20140075289 A1 |
March 13, 2014 |
|
|
Family ID: |
50234670 |
Appl. No.: |
14/024465 |
Filed: |
September 11, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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61700307 |
Sep 12, 2012 |
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61752951 |
Jan 15, 2013 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
715/234 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 40/186 20200101;
G06F 40/114 20200101; G06F 40/131 20200101 |
Class at
Publication: |
715/234 |
International
Class: |
G06F 17/24 20060101
G06F017/24 |
Claims
1. A method for generating a page of a digital magazine, the method
comprising: selecting a page template including a plurality of
slots and including a limit on a number of slots, each slot
configured to present one or more content items; identifying one or
more content items for presentation to a user of a digital magazine
server in positions of a display area of a client device specified
by the slots in the selected page template; determining a number of
content items identified for presentation to the user; if the
number of the content items identified for presentation exceeds the
limit on the number of slots of the selected page template,
selecting a plurality of content items so a total of the selected
plurality of content items and unselected content items does not
exceed the limit on the number of slots of the selected page
template; generating a combined content item including information
identifying each of the selected plurality of content items;
selecting a slot from the selected page template for presenting the
combined content item; and generating a page of the digital
magazine presenting the combined content item in place of each of
the selected plurality of content items in the selected slot from
the selected page template as well as presenting one or more
unselected content items in positions determined by the slots
included in the selected page template.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the plurality of
content items comprises: determining an interest score of the user
for each content item identified for presentation to the user based
at least in part on information in a user profile associated with
the user and one or more characteristics of the content items; and
selecting a plurality of content items having an interest score
below a threshold value.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the information in the user
profile associated with the user is selected from a group
consisting of: interests, demographic information, location,
connections to additional users, previous interactions with content
items, and any combination thereof.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more characteristics
of a content item are selected from a group consisting of: a
location associated with the content item, associated demographics,
promotional considerations, content labels, interactions by other
users of the digital magazine server with the content item, and any
combination thereof.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the plurality of
content items comprises: determining a measure of similarity
between content items in various groups of content items identified
for presentation to the user based at least in part on similarity
between information associated with each content item in a group of
content items; and selecting a group of content items having at
least a threshold measure of similarity.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein a group of content items includes
two or more content items.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein the measure of similarity between
content items in a group of content items is based at least in part
on interactions by one or more users of the digital magazine server
with one or more content items in the group.
8. The method of claim 5, wherein the information associated with
each content item in a group of content items comprises one or more
selected from a group consisting of: a location associated with a
content item, a description associated with the content item,
information included in the content item, and any combination
thereof.
9. A method for generating a page of a digital magazine, the method
comprising: selecting a page template including a plurality of
slots and including a limit on a number of slots, each slot
configured to present one or more content items; identifying one or
more content items for presentation to a user of a digital magazine
server in positions of a display area of a client device specified
by the slots in the selected page template; determining a number of
content items identified for presentation to the user; if the limit
on the number of slots of the selected page template exceeds the
number of the content items identified for presentation, combining
one or more slots of the selected page template into a combined
slot; selecting a content item for presentation in the combined
slot; and generating a page of the digital magazine presenting the
selected content item in a position determined by the combined slot
of the selected page template.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the generated page of the
digital magazine further presents one or more additional content
items in positions determined by additional slots in the selected
page template.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting the content item for
presentation in the combined slot comprises: determining an
interest score of the user for each content item identified for
presentation to the user based at least in part on information in a
user profile associated with the user and one or more
characteristics of the content items; and selecting a content item
having an interest score equaling or exceeding a threshold
value.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the information in the user
profile associated with the user is selected from a group
consisting of: interests, demographic information, location,
connections to additional users, previous interactions with content
items, and any combination thereof.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more characteristics
of a content item are selected from a group consisting of: a
location associated with the content item, associated demographics,
promotional considerations, content labels, interactions by other
users of the digital magazine server with the content item, and any
combination thereof.
14. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting the content item for
presentation in the combined slot comprises: receiving an input
from the user identifying the content item for presentation in the
combined slot.
15. The method of claim 9, wherein combining one or more slots of
the selected page template into the combined slot comprises:
identifying a slot associated with a content item; identifying one
or more additional slots adjacent to the identified slot and not
associated with a content item; and generating the combined slot by
combining the identified slot with the one or more additional
slots.
16. A method for generating a page of a digital magazine, the
method comprising: selecting a page template including a plurality
of slots, each slot configured to present one or more content
items; identifying one or more content items for presentation to a
user of a digital magazine in positions of a display area of a
client device specified by the slots in the selected page template;
generating the page of the digital magazine for presentation to the
user by a client device, the page including the one or more content
items presented in positions of a display area determined by the
slots in the selected page template; receiving a selection of a
plurality of content items from the user; generating a combined
content item including information identifying each of the selected
plurality of content items; and generating a modified page of the
digital magazine presenting the combined content item in place of
each of the selected plurality of content items a slot from the
selected page template.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: responsive to the
modified page of the digital magazine including a number of content
items less than a limit on a number of slots in the selected page
template, generating a combined slot including a slot associated
with a position in which a content item is displayed and one or
more slots adjacent to the slot and associated with one or more
positions in which no content item is displayed; and sending an
instruction to present the content item associated with the
selected slot in a position specified by the combined slot.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein the modified page of the
digital magazine further presents one or more additional content
items in positions determined by additional slots in the selected
page template.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Application No. 61/700,308, filed Sep. 12, 2012, which is
incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND
[0002] This invention relates generally to presentation of content
by a digital magazine and more particularly to combining content
items for more efficient display in a digital magazine.
[0003] Publishers provide an increasing amount of content items to
users through digital distribution channels, and users access these
content items through various client devices. However, different
client devices have different capabilities for displaying content
items. For example, different client devices have different display
areas, different display resolutions, different content download
speeds, and different processing capabilities. These variations in
display capabilities make it difficult for publishers to present
content items on different client devices in a consistent
manner.
[0004] For example, if a publisher of a digital magazine seeks to
display a table of contents for a digital magazine or for a section
of the digital magazine, the number of content items displayed by
the table of contents may vary based on the client device. This
variation in displayed content items may be based on variations in
display resolutions or display areas of different client devices.
The wide variety of client devices used to present content items
makes use of device-specific display algorithms impractical. Some
conventional techniques for displaying a table of contents shrink
the display size of each content item to display all content items
in a display area or exclude some content items from display.
However, these techniques limit the ability of a user to view a
comprehensive listing of the content items in a digital magazine or
a section of the digital magazine.
SUMMARY
[0005] A digital magazine is a personalized, customizable
application for displaying content items to a user of a client
device (such as a mobile communication device, tablet, computer,
and any other suitable computing system). Content items presented
by the digital magazine are organized into sections, which may be
further divided into subsections. When a user accesses a digital
magazine, sections of content items selected for the user are based
on the user's interests and preferences and presented to the user
via one or more pages that include content items.
[0006] To present content items to a user, the digital magazine
selects a page template that includes a one or more slots
specifying positions of a display in which content items are
presented. The selected page template may include a limit on a
number of slots for presenting content items. To present content
items to the user via the selected page template, a number of
content items to be presented to the user is compared to the limit
on the number of slots of the selected page template. If the number
of content items exceeds the limit on the number of slots of the
selected page template, a plurality of content items are selected
and used to generate a combined content item that includes
information identifying each of the selected content items. This
allows the user to identify the content items that were combined
via the combined content item, while reducing the display area used
to present content items to the user. Various criteria may be used
to select the content items used to generate the combined content
item, or a user may manually identify content items for generating
the combined content items. In one embodiment, content items are
combined until a total number of combined content items and
uncombined content items is less than or equal to the limit on the
number of slots in the selected page template. Hence, presenting
the combined content item allows a single content region to include
information from various selected content items.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment in which a
digital magazine server operates, in accordance with an embodiment
of the invention.
[0008] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a digital magazine server, in
accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
[0009] FIG. 3 is an example of presentation of content items in a
digital magazine using a page template, in accordance with an
embodiment of the invention.
[0010] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for combining content
regions presented in a digital magazine, in accordance with an
embodiment of the invention.
[0011] The figures depict various embodiments of the present
invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art
will readily recognize from the following discussion that
alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated
herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the
invention described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Overview
[0012] A digital magazine server retrieves content from one or more
sources and generates a personalized, customizable digital magazine
for a user based on the retrieved content. The generated digital
magazine is retrieved by a digital magazine application executing
on a computing device (such as a mobile communication device,
tablet, computer, or any other suitable computing system) and
presented to the user. For example, based on selections made by the
user and/or on behalf of the user, the digital server application
generates a digital magazine including one or more sections
including content items retrieved from a number of sources and
personalized for the user. The generated digital magazine allows
the user to more easily consume content that interests and inspires
the user by presenting content items in an easily navigable
interface via a computing device.
[0013] The digital magazine may be organized into a number of
sections that each include content having a common characteristic
(e.g., content obtained from a particular source). For example, a
section of the digital magazine includes articles from an online
news source (such as a website for a news organization), another
section includes articles from a third-party-curated collection of
content associated with a particular topic (e.g., a technology
compilation), and an additional section includes content obtained
from one or more accounts associated with the user and maintained
by one or more social networking systems. For purposes of
illustration, content included in a section is referred to herein
as "content items" or "articles," which may include textual
articles, pictures, videos, products for sale, user-generated
content (e.g., status updates or other content posted on a social
networking system), advertisements, and any other types of content
capable of display within the context of a digital magazine.
System Architecture
[0014] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system environment 100 for a
digital magazine server 140. The system environment 100 shown by
FIG. 1 comprises one or more sources 110, a network 120, a client
device 130, and the digital magazine server 140. In alternative
configurations, different and/or additional components may be
included in the system environment 100. The embodiments described
herein can be adapted to online systems that are not digital
magazine servers 140.
[0015] A source 110 is a computing system capable of providing
various types of content to a client device 130. Examples of
content provided by a source 110 include text, images, video, or
audio on web pages, web feeds, social networking information,
messages, or other suitable data. Additional examples of content
include user-generated content such as blogs, tweets, shared
images, video or audio, social networking posts, and social
networking status updates. Content provided by a source 110 may be
received from a publisher (e.g., stories about news events, product
information, entertainment, or educational material) and
distributed by the source 110, or a source 110 may be a publisher
of content it generates. For convenience, content from a source,
regardless of its composition, may be referred to herein as an
"article," a "content item," or as "content." A content item may
include various types of content, such as text, images, and
video.
[0016] The sources 110 communicate with the client device 130 and
the digital magazine server 140 via the network 120, which may
comprise any combination of local area and/or wide area networks,
using both wired and/or wireless communication systems. In one
embodiment, the network 120 uses standard communications
technologies and/or protocols. For example, the network 120
includes communication links using technologies such as Ethernet,
802.11, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX),
3G, 4G, code division multiple access (CDMA), digital subscriber
line (DSL), etc. Examples of networking protocols used for
communicating via the network 120 include multiprotocol label
switching (MPLS), transmission control protocol/Internet protocol
(TCP/IP), hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), simple mail transfer
protocol (SMTP), and file transfer protocol (FTP). Data exchanged
over the network 120 may be represented using any suitable format,
such as hypertext markup language (HTML) extensible markup language
(XML), or JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). In some embodiments,
all or some of the communication links of the network 120 may be
encrypted using any suitable technique or techniques.
[0017] The client device 130 is one or more computing devices
capable of receiving user input as well as transmitting and/or
receiving data via the network 120. In one embodiment, the client
device 130 is a conventional computer system, such as a desktop or
a laptop computer. Alternatively, the client device 130 may be a
device having computer functionality, such as a personal digital
assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a smartphone or another
suitable device. In one embodiment, the client device 130 executes
an application allowing a user of the client device 130 to interact
with the digital magazine server 140. For example, an application
executing on the client device 130 communicates instructions or
requests for content items to the digital magazine server 140 to
modify content presented to a user of the client device 130. As
another example, the client device 130 executes a browser that
receives pages from the digital magazine server 140 and presents
the pages to a user of the client device 130. In another
embodiment, the client device 130 interacts with the digital
magazine server 140 through an application programming interface
(API) running on a native operating system of the client device
130, such as IOS.RTM. or ANDROID.TM.. While FIG. 1 shows a single
client device 130, in various embodiments, any number of client
devices 130 may communicate with the digital magazine server
140.
[0018] A display device 132 included in the client device 130
presents content items to a user of the client device 130. Examples
of the display device 132 include a liquid crystal display (LCD),
an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, an active matrix
liquid crystal display (AMLCD), or any other suitable device.
Different client devices 130 may have display devices 132 with
different characteristics. For example, different client devices
132 have display devices 132 with different display areas,
different resolutions, or differences in other characteristics.
[0019] One or more input devices 134 included in the client device
130 receive input from the user. Different input devices 134 may be
included in the client device 130. For example, the client device
130 includes a touch-sensitive display for receiving input data,
commands, or information from a user. Using a touch-sensitive
display allows the client device 130 to combine the display device
132 and an input device 134, simplifying user interaction with
presented content items. In other embodiments, the client device
130 may include a keyboard, a trackpad, a mouse, or any other
device capable of receiving input from a user. In another example,
the input device 134 is configured to receive information from a
user of the client device through a touchless interface. Examples
of a touchless interface include sensors, such as an image capture
device, to receive gestures from a client device user without the
user physically contacting the display device 132 or the client
device 130. Additionally, the client device may include multiple
input devices 134 in some embodiments. Inputs received via the
input device 134 may be processed by a digital magazine application
associated with the digital magazine server 140 and executing on
the client device 130 to allow a client device user to interact
with content items presented by the digital magazine server
140.
[0020] In one embodiment, the digital magazine server 140 receives
content items from one or more sources 110, generates pages in a
digital magazine by processing the received content, and provides
the pages to the client device 130. As further described below in
conjunction with FIG. 2, the digital magazine server 140 generates
one or more pages for presentation to a user based on content items
obtained from one or more sources 110 and information describing
organization and presentation of content items. For example, the
digital magazine server 140 determines a page layout specifying
positioning of content items relative to each other based on
information associated with a user and generates a page including
the content items arranged according to the determined layout for
presentation to the user via the client device 130. This allows the
user to access content items via the client device 130 in a format
that enhances the user's interaction with and consumption of the
content items. For example, the digital magazine server 140
provides a user with content items in a format similar to the
format used by print magazines. By presenting content items in a
format similar to a print magazine, the digital magazine server 140
allows a user to interact with content items from multiple sources
110 via the client device 130 with less inconvenience from
horizontally or vertically scrolling to access various content
items.
[0021] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an architecture of the digital
magazine server 140. The digital magazine server 140 shown in FIG.
2 includes a user profile store 205, a template store 210, a
content store 215, a layout engine 220, a connection generator 225,
a connection store 230, a recommendation engine 235, a search
module 240, an interface generator 245, and a web server 250. In
other embodiments, the digital magazine server 140 may include
additional, fewer, or different components for various
applications. Conventional components such as network interfaces,
security functions, load balancers, failover servers, management
and network operations consoles, and the like are not shown so as
to not obscure the details of the system architecture.
[0022] Each user of the digital magazine server 140 is associated
with a user profile, which is stored in the user profile store 205.
A user profile includes declarative information about the user that
was explicitly shared by the user and may also include profile
information inferred by the digital magazine server 140. In one
embodiment, a user profile includes multiple data fields, each
describing one or more attributes of the corresponding social
networking system user. Examples of information stored in a user
profile include biographic, demographic, and other types of
descriptive information, such as gender, hobbies or preferences,
location, or other suitable information. A user profile in the user
profile store 205 also includes data describing interactions by a
corresponding user with content items presented by the digital
magazine server 140. For example, a user profile includes a content
item identifier, a description of an interaction with the content
item corresponding to the content item identifier, and a time when
the interaction occurred.
[0023] In some embodiments, information in a user profile is used
to select content items presented to a user associated with the
user profile. For example, if a page template includes a limited
number of slots for displaying content items, information in a user
profile may be used to select the content items for presentation in
the slots of the page template or to identify content items that
are combined to be presented as a combined content item in a single
slot. Examples of relevant user profile information for selecting
content items include demographic information, user-specified
interests or preferences, and user location.
[0024] While user profiles in the user profile store 205 are
frequently associated with individuals, allowing individuals to
provide and receive content items via the digital magazine server
140, user profiles may also be stored for entities such as
businesses or organizations. This allows an entity to provide or
access content items via the digital magazine server 140. An entity
may post information about itself, about its products or provide
other content items associated with the entity to users of the
digital magazine server 140. For example, users of the digital
magazine server 140 may receive a digital magazine or section
including content items associated with an entity via the digital
magazine server 140.
[0025] The template store 210 includes page templates each
describing a spatial arrangement ("layout") of content items
relative to each other on a page for presentation by a client
device 130. A page template includes one or more slots, each
configured to present one or more content items. In some
embodiments, slots in a page template may be configured to present
a particular type of content item or to present a content item
having one or more specified characteristics. For example, a slot
in a page template is configured to present an image while another
slot in the page template is configured to present text data. Each
slot has a size (e.g., small, medium, or large) and an aspect
ratio. One or more page templates may be associated with types of
client devices 130, allowing content items to be presented in
different relative locations and with different sizes when the
content items are viewed using different client devices 130.
Additionally, page templates may be associated with sources 110,
allowing a source 110 to specify the format of pages presenting
content items received from the source 110. For example, an online
retailer is associated with a page template to allow the online
retailer to present content items via the digital magazine server
140 with a specific organization. Examples of page templates are
further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/187,840,
filed on Jul. 21, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference
in its entirety.
[0026] The content store 215 stores objects that represent various
types of content. For example, the content store 215 stores content
items received from one or more sources 115 within a threshold time
of a current time. Examples of content items stored by the content
store 215 include page post, a status update, a photograph, a
video, a link, an article, video data, audio data, a check-in event
at a location, or any other type of content. A user may specify a
section including content items having a common characteristic, and
the common characteristic is stored in the content 215 store along
with an association with the user profile or the user specifying
the section.
[0027] The layout engine 220 retrieves content items from one or
more sources 110 or from the content store 215 and generates a page
including the content items based on a page template from the
template store 210. Based on the retrieved content items, the
layout engine 220 may identify candidate page templates from the
template store 210, score the candidate page templates based on
characteristics of the slots in different candidate page templates
and based on characteristics of the content items. In some
embodiments, a score of a candidate page template is based in part
on the likely user interest in various content items. For example,
a measure of a user's interest in one or more content items is
determined based on prior user interactions with content items
having a threshold similarity to a content item or interactions
between users with a threshold social proximity to the user to be
presented with the content item. The measure of the user's interest
in various content items may be a characteristic used when
selecting a candidate page template or when selecting content items
for presentation to the user. Based on the scores associated with
candidate page templates, the layout engine 220 selects a page
template and associates the retrieved content items with one or
more slots to generate a page where the retrieved content items are
presented relative to each other and sized based on their
associated slots. When associating a content item with a slot, the
layout engine 220 may associate the content item with a slot
configured to present a specific type of content item or to present
content items having one or more specified characteristics. An
example of using a page template to present content items is
further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/187,840,
filed on Jul. 21, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference
in its entirety.
[0028] One or more page templates from the template store 210 may
include a limited number of slots for presenting content items. If
the number of content items to be presented to a user exceeds the a
limit on a number of slots presented using a selected page
template, the layout engine 220 selects a plurality of content
items from the content items to be presented and generates a
combined content item that identifies each of the selected
plurality of content items. The content items used to generate the
combined content item may be manually selected by user input,
selected based at least in part on user preferences, selected based
on characteristics of various content items (e.g., number of
additional content items associated with a content item, a measure
of user interest in various content items, connection between the
user and various content items, similarity between content items
and content items with which the user previously interacted,
etc.).
[0029] The combined content item is then presented to the user in a
single slot of the selected page template rather than each of the
plurality of selected content item. For example, the combined
content item includes data identifying each of the selected content
items used to generate the combined content item. By interacting
with the combined content item when it is displayed as a content
region of a page, data from one or both of the content items may be
presented to the user.
[0030] The connection generator 225 monitors interactions between
users and content items presented by the digital magazine server
140. Based on the interactions, the connection generator 225
determines connections between various content items, connections
between users and content items, or connections between users of
the digital magazine server 140. For example, the connection
generator 225 identifies when users of the digital magazine server
140 provide feedback about a content item, access a content item,
share a content item with other users, or perform other actions
with content items. In some embodiments, the connection generator
225 retrieves data describing user interaction with content items
from the user's user profile in the user profile store 205.
Alternatively, user interactions with content items are
communicated to the connection generator 225 when the interactions
are received by the digital magazine server 140. The connection
generator 225 may account for temporal information associated with
user interactions with content items. For example, the connection
generator 225 identifies user interactions with a content item
within a specified time interval or applies a decay factor to
identified user interactions based on times associated with
interactions. The connection generator 225 generates a connection
between a user and a content item if the user's interactions with
the content item satisfy one or more criteria. In one embodiment,
the connection generator 225 determines one or more weights
specifying a strength of the connection between the user and the
content item based on user interactions with the content item that
satisfy one or more criteria. Generation of connections between a
user and a content item is further described in U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 13/905,016, filed on May 29, 2013, which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
[0031] If multiple content items are connected to a user, the
connection generator 225 establishes implicit connections between
each of the content items connected to the user. In one embodiment,
the connection generator 225 maintains a user content graph
identifying the implicit connections between content items
connected to a user. In one embodiment, weights associated with
connections between a user and content items are used to determine
weights associated with various implicit connections between
content items. User content graphs for multiple users of the
digital magazine server 140 are combined to generate a global
content graph describing connections between various content items
provided by the digital magazine server 140 based on user
interactions with various content items. For example, the global
content graph is generated by combining user content graphs based
on mutual connections between various content items in user content
graphs.
[0032] In one embodiment, the connection generator 225 generates an
adjacency matrix from the global content graph or from multiple
user content graphs and stores the adjacency matrix in the
connection store 230. The adjacency matrix describes connections
between content items. For example, the adjacency matrix includes
identifiers of content items and weights representing the strength
or closeness of connections between content items based on the
global content graph. As an example, the weights indicate a degree
of similarity in subject matter or similarity of other
characteristics associated with various content items. In other
embodiments, the connection store 230 includes various adjacency
matrices determined from various user content graphs; the adjacency
matrices may be analyzed to generate an overall adjacency matrix
for content items provided by the digital magazine server 140.
Graph analysis techniques may be applied to the adjacency matrix to
rank content items, to recommend content items to a user, or to
otherwise analyze relationships between content items. An example
of the adjacency matrix is further described in U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 13/905,016, filed on May 29, 2013, which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
[0033] In addition to identifying connections between content
items, the connection generator 225 may also determine a social
proximity between users of the digital magazine server 140 based on
interactions between users and content items. The digital magazine
server 140 determines social proximity, or "social distance,"
between users using a variety of techniques. For example, the
digital magazine server 140 analyzes additional users connected to
each of two users of the digital magazine server 140 within a
social networking system to determine the social proximity of the
two users. In another example, the digital magazine server 140
determines social proximity between a first and a second user by
analyzing the first user's interactions with content items posted
by the second user, whether the content item is posted using the
digital magazine server 140 or on another social networking system.
Additional examples for determining social proximity between users
of the digital magazine server 140 are described in U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 13/905,016, which is incorporated by reference
in its entirety. In one embodiment, the connection generator 225
determines a connection confidence value between a user and an
additional user of the digital magazine server 140 based on the
user's and the additional user's common interactions with
particular content items. The connection confidence value may be a
numerical score representing a measure of closeness between the
user and the additional user. For example, a larger connection
confidence value indicates a greater similarity between the user
and the additional user. In one embodiment, if a user has at least
a threshold connection confidence value with another user, the
digital magazine server 140 stores a connection between the user
and the additional user in the connection store 230.
[0034] Using data from the connection store 230, the recommendation
engine 235 identifies content items from one or more sources 110
for recommending to a digital magazine server user. Hence, the
recommendation engine 235 identifies content items potentially
relevant to a user. In one embodiment, the recommendation engine
235 retrieves data describing interactions between a user and
content items from the user's user profile and data describing
connections between content items, and/or connections between users
from the connection store 230. In one embodiment, the
recommendation engine 235 uses stored information describing
content items (e.g., topic, sections, subsections) and interactions
between users and various content items (e.g., views, shares,
saved, links, topics read, or recent activities) to identify
content items that may be relevant to a digital magazine server
user. For example, content items having an implicit connection of
at least a threshold weight to a content item with which the user
interacted are recommended to the user. As another example, the
recommendation engine 235 presents a user with content items having
one or more attributes in common with a content item with which an
additional user having a threshold connection confidence score with
the user interacted. Recommendations for additional content items
may be presented to a user when the user views a content item using
the digital magazine, may be presented as a notification to the
user by the digital magazine server 140, or may be presented to the
user through any suitable communication channel.
[0035] In one embodiment, the recommendation engine 235 applies
various filters to content items received from one or more sources
110 or from the content store 215 to efficiently provide a user
with recommended content items. For example, the recommendation
engine 235 analyzes attributes of content items in view of
characteristics of a user retrieved from the user's user profile.
Examples of attributes of content items include a type (e.g.,
image, story, link, video, audio, etc.), a source 110 from which a
content item was received, time when a content item was retrieved,
and subject matter of a content item. Examples of characteristics
of a user include biographic information about the user, users
connected to the user, and interactions between the user and
content items. In one embodiment, the recommendation engine 235
analyzes attributes of content items in view of a user's
characteristics for a specified time period to generate a set of
recommended content items. The set of recommended content items may
be presented to the user or may be further analyzed based on user
characteristics and on content item attributes to generate more
refined set of recommended content items. A setting included in a
user's user profile may specify a length of time that content items
are analyzed before identifying recommended content items to the
user, allowing a user to balance refinement of recommended content
items with time used to identify recommended content items.
[0036] The search module 240 receives a search query from a user
and retrieves content items from one or more sources 110 based on
the search query. For example, content items having at least a
portion of an attribute matching at least a portion of the search
query are retrieved from one or more sources 110. The user may
specify sources 110 from which content items are received through
settings maintained by the user's user profile or by identifying
one or more sources in the search query. In one embodiment, the
search module 240 generates a section of the digital magazine
including the content items identified based on the search query,
as the identified content items have a common attribute of their
association with the search query. Presenting identified content
items identified from a search query allows a user to more easily
identify additional content items at least partially matching the
search query when additional content items are provided by sources
110.
[0037] To more efficiently identify content items based on search
queries, the search module 240 may index content items, groups (or
sections) of content items, and user profile information. In one
embodiment, the index includes information about various content
items, such as author, source, topic, creation data/time, user
interaction information, document title, or other information
capable of uniquely identifying the content item. Search queries
are compared to information maintained in the index to identify
content items for presentation to a user. The search module 140 may
present identified content items based on a ranking. One or more
factors associated with the content items may be used to generate
the ranking. Examples of factors include: global popularity of a
content item among users of the digital magazine server 140,
connections between users interacting with a content item and the
user providing the search query, and information from a source 110.
Additionally, the search module 240 may assign a weight to the
index information associated with each content item selected based
on similarity between the index information and a search query and
rank the content items based on their weights. For example, content
items identified based on a search query are presented in a section
of the digital magazine in an order based in part on the ranking of
the content items.
[0038] To increase user interaction with the digital magazine, the
interface generator 245 maintains instructions associating received
input with actions performed by the digital magazine server 140 or
by a digital magazine application executing on a client device 130.
For example, instructions maintained by the interface generator 245
associate types of inputs or specific inputs received via an input
device 132 of a client device 130 with modifications to content
presented by a digital magazine. As an example, if the input device
132 is a touch-sensitive display, the interface generator 245
includes instructions associating different gestures with
navigation through content items or presented via a digital
magazine. Instructions from the interface generator 245 are
communicated to a digital magazine application or other application
executing on a client device 130 on which content from the digital
magazine server 140 is presented. Inputs received via an input
device 132 of the client device 130 are processed based on the
instructions when content items are presented via the digital
magazine server 140 is presented to simplify user interaction with
content presented by the digital magazine server 140.
[0039] The web server 250 links the digital magazine server 140 via
the network 120 to the one or more client devices 130, as well as
to the one or more sources 110. The web server 250 serves web
pages, as well as other content using technologies such as
JAVA.RTM., FLASH.RTM., XML and so forth. The web server 250 may
retrieve content item from one or more sources 110. Additionally,
the web server 250 communicates instructions for generating pages
of content items from the layout engine 220 and instructions for
processing received input from the interface generator 245 to a
client device 130 for presentation to a user. The web server 250
also receives requests for content or other information from a
client device 130 and communicates the request or information to
components of the digital magazine server 140 to perform
corresponding actions. Additionally, the web server 250 may provide
application programming interface (API) functionality to send data
directly to native client device operating systems, such as
IOS.RTM., ANDROID.TM., WEBOS.RTM., WINDOWS.RTM., or
BlackberryOS.
[0040] For purposes of illustration, FIG. 2 describes various
functionalities provided by the digital magazine server 140.
However, in other embodiments, the above-described functionality
may be provided by a digital magazine application executing on a
client device 130, or may be provided by a combination of the
digital magazine server 140 and a digital magazine application
executing on a client device 130. For example, combining content
items to reduce the number of content items displayed to a user may
be performed by the layout engine 220 of the digital magazine
server 140 or by an application associated with the digital
magazine server 140 and executing on the client device 130.
Page Templates
[0041] FIG. 3 illustrates an example page template 302 having
multiple rectangular slots each configured to present a content
item. Other page templates with different configurations of slots
may be used by the digital magazine server 140 to present one or
more content items received from sources 110. As described above in
conjunction with FIG. 3, in some embodiments, one or more slots in
a page template are reserved for presentation of content items
having specific characteristics or for presentation of a specific
type of content item. In the example of FIG. 3, when a digital
magazine server 140 generates a page for presentation to a user,
the digital magazine server 140 populates slots in a page template
302 with content items. Information identifying the page template
302 and associations between content items and slots in the page
template 302 is stored and used to generate the page. For example,
to present a page to a user, the layout engine 220 identifies the
page template 302 from the template store 210 and retrieves content
items from one or more sources 110 or from the content store 215.
The layout engine 220 generates data or instructions associating
content items with slots within the page template 302. Hence, the
generated page includes various "content regions" presenting one or
more content items associated with a slot in a location specified
by the slot. In some embodiments, a page template 302 has a limit
on a number of content regions presented by a page generated based
on the template. For example, the page template 302 limits the
number of content items displayed to the number of slots included
on the page template 302.
[0042] A content region 304 may present image data, text, data, a
combination of image and text data, or any other information
retrieved from a corresponding content item. For example, in FIG.
3, the content region 304A represents a table of contents header,
and content associated with the various sections are presented in
content regions 304B-304H. For example, content region 304A
includes text or other data indicating that the presented data is a
table of contents, such the text "Cover Stories Featuring,"
followed by one or more identifiers associated with various
sections of the digital magazine. In one embodiment, an identifier
associated with a section describes a characteristic common to at
least a threshold number of content items in the section. For
example, an identifier refers to the name of a user of a social
network from which content items included in the section are
received. As another example, an identifier associated with a
section specifies a topic, an author, a publisher (e.g., a
newspaper, a magazine) or other characteristic associated with at
least a threshold number of content items in the section.
Additionally, an identifier associated with a section may further
specify content items selected by a user of the digital magazine
server 140 and organized as a section. Content items included in a
section may be related topically and include text and/or images
related to the topic.
[0043] Sections may be further organized into subsections, with
content items associated with one or more subsections presented in
content regions. Information describing sections or subsections,
such as a characteristic common to content items in a section or
subsection, may be stored in the content store 215 and associated
with a user profile to simplify generation of a section or
subsection for the user. A page template associated with a
subsection may be identified, and slots in the page template
associated with the subsection used to determine presentation of
content items from the subsection relative to each other. Referring
to FIG. 3, the content region 304H includes a content item
associated with a newspaper to indicate a section including content
items retrieved from the newspaper. When a user interacts with the
content region 304, a page template associated with the section is
retrieved, as well as content items associated with the section.
Based on the page template associated with the section and the
content items, the digital magazine server 140 generates a page
presenting the content items based on the layout described by the
slots of the page template. For example, in FIG. 3, the section
page 306 includes content regions 308, 310, 312 presenting content
items associated with the section. The content regions 308, 310,
312 may include content items associated with various subsections
including content items having one or more common characteristics
(e.g., topics, authors, etc.). Hence, a subsection may include one
or more subsections, allowing hierarchical organization and
presentation of content items by a digital magazine.
Content Region Limit and Merging
[0044] FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of method 400 for limiting a
number of content regions presented in a page of a digital
magazine. In other embodiments, the method 400 may include
different and/or additional steps than those shown in FIG. 4. The
functionality described in conjunction with FIG. 4 may be provided
by the layout engine 220, in one embodiment, or may be provided by
any other suitable component or components.
[0045] In one embodiment, a page template is selected 410 from page
templates in the template store 210. As described above, the
selected page template has one or more slots specifying locations
in which content items are displayed in a page of a digital
magazine. Additionally, in the example of FIG. 4, the selected page
template has a limit on the number of slots for presenting content
items. Selection of the page template may depend on various
factors, such as a type of client device 130 on which the content
items are to be presented, or the size and/or resolution of a
display device 132 associated with the client device 130.
[0046] One or more content items are identified 420 to present to a
user of the digital magazine server 140 in positions of a display
area specified by slots in the selected page template. For example,
the recommendation engine 235 of the digital magazine server 140
identifies 420 content items, or a combination of the layout engine
220 and the interface generator 245 identify 420 content items. The
number of content items identified 420 for presentation is
determined 430 by the layout engine 220. Alternatively, an
application associated with the digital magazine server 140
executing on a client device 130 receives the one or more
identified content items and determines 430 the number of content
items for presentation.
[0047] If the determined number of content items identified 420 for
presentation exceeds the limit on the number of slots in the
selected page template, a plurality of content items are selected
440. For example a number of content items are selected 440 so the
total number of selected content items and unselected content items
is less than or equal to the limit on the number of slots in the
selected page template. Different criteria may be used to select
440 content items to combine. Examples of criteria for selecting
440 content items to combine include a measure of similarity
between various content items, a user's interest score for various
content items, a number of content items selected 440 for
presentation, or any combination thereof.
[0048] In one embodiment, a user's interest score for a content
item is determined based on preferences and/or interests included
in a user profile associated with the user, interests of the user
inferred from the user's previous interactions with content items,
or interests of the user inferred from the user's connections to
other users via the digital magazine server 140 or via one or more
social networking systems; additional demographic information
(e.g., location, language, age, education, or employment history,
etc.) may also be used to infer interests of the user. For example,
a base interest score is initially computed from global information
maintained by the digital magazine server 140; in one embodiment,
information such as total interactions associated with a content
item and/or similar content items, other users' interactions with a
content item and/or similar content items, and promotional
considerations (i.e., revenue resulting from display of a content
item) are used to generate a base interest score for a content
item. Based on user-specific information, the base interest score
is modified to determine an interest score representing a user's
likely interest in the content item. Information from the user
profile store 205 and connection store 230 may be used to determine
a user's interest score for a content item. For example, if user
profile information for a user indicates that a content item is
likely of interest to a user, the content item is less likely to be
selected 440 for combination with another content item and more
likely to be displayed. As another example, if a location
associated with a content item is within a threshold distance of a
location associated with a user, the content item is less likely to
be selected 440 for combination with another content item.
[0049] Alternatively, the plurality of content items are selected
440 based on a similarity score between content items determined
from information in the connection store 230 or from analyzing
descriptions associated with various content items. The similarity
score provides a measure of the similarity of the content included
in various content items. For example, if multiple users associate
a similar description with a pair of content items, then the pair
of content items are more likely to be selected 440 for
combination. Other examples of factors used to determine a
similarity score include location associated with content items,
descriptions or comments associated with content items, and
information included in content items.
[0050] A combined content item is generated 450 from the selected
content items. The combined content item includes information
identifying each of the selected content items from which the
combined content item was generated 450. While FIG. 4 describes
generation of a combined content item, in other embodiments the
selected content items may be partitioned into various groups of
content items with a different combined content item generated 450
for each group of content items; alternatively, a user may specify
generation of a number of combined content items, which are
generated from the selected content item. The information in the
combined content item identifying each selected content item may
include text, images, and/or videos. Including information
identifying each of the selected content items allows the user to
more easily identify different content items used to generate 450
the combined content item.
[0051] A slot from the selected page template is selected 460 for
presentation of the generated combined content item. Selection of a
slot for presentation of a content item is further described above
in conjunction with FIG. 2. The combined content item is presented
rather than individually presenting the selected content items that
were used to generate 450 the combined content item. Rather, the
information identifying each of the selected content items included
in the combined content item presents information about these
content items to the user. A page of the digital magazine is
generated 470 that presents the combined content item.
Additionally, the page of the digital magazine may also present one
or more unselected content items in positions determined by the
slots included in the selected page template. In one embodiment
where all of the identified content items are selected 440 for
combination, a single combined content item is displayed in the
generated page.
[0052] In one embodiment, selection of content items to combine,
generation of a combined content item, and selection of a page
template slot to present the combined content item are repeated
until a total number of combined and uncombined content items does
not exceed the limit on the number of slots of the selected page
template. In an alternative embodiment, content items are selected
440 and one or more content items are generated 450 parallel until
a total number of combined and uncombined content items is less
than or equal to the limit on the number of slots of the selected
page template. Additional embodiments may modify the ordering
and/or the repetition of steps of the method 400.
[0053] In an alternate embodiment, one or more identified 420
content items may be removed from consideration for presentation in
the selected page template before, during, or after combination of
content items. For example, methods in addition to combining
content items may be used to limit the number of content regions to
less than or equal to the number of slots in the selected page
template. As an example, one or more of the identified content
items may not be presented in the generated page. In an alternate
embodiment, the selected page template may be modified to include
additional slots to increase the limit on the number of slots in
the selected page template. For example, the size of one or more
slots in the selected page template is reduced to include
additional slots in the selected page template. A slot to reduce in
size may be identified based on characteristics of a content item
to be presented using the slot based on similar information as
described above regarding selection of content items for
combination.
[0054] In some embodiments, the user may use an input device 134 to
manually choose content items presented to the user by a client
device 130 for combination. For example, a page template is
selected and one or more content items for presentation to the user
are identified, as described above. A page of the digital magazine
is generated that includes the identified one or more content items
presented in positions of a display device 132 of the client device
130 determined by slots in the selected page template. The user
selects a plurality of the content items presented by the page, and
the selected content items are identified to the digital magazine
server 140 or to an application associated with the digital
magazine server 140 executing on the client device 130. For
example, the user selects content items by accessing content
regions presenting different content items. As described above, a
combined content item is generated from information in each of the
selected content items; the combined content item includes
information identifying each of the selected content items,
allowing the user to easily identify information from the selected
content items. A modified page of the digital magazine that
includes the combined content item rather than each of the selected
content items is generated and presented to the user via a client
device. As described above, the modified page may present the
combined content item in a slot of the selected page template as
well as content items not used to generate the combined content
item in various slots of the selected page template.
[0055] In some circumstances, such as when a user generates a
combined content item by manually selecting content items, the
number of slots for presenting content items may exceed the number
of content items to be presented. Rather than present empty slots
to the user, one or more content regions in which content items are
presented may be increased in size by combining slots associated
with the content regions into a combined slot. For example,
multiple content regions are combined to increase the size of a
content region by combining the slots associated with different
content regions. The content region chosen for enlargement may be
selected according to metrics similar to those used to select 440
content items for combination and/or adjacency of display space
associated with a content region displaying a content item to empty
display space associated with a content region corresponding to a
slot that is not associated with a content item. For example, a
content region displaying a content item may be displayed adjacent
to one or more content regions corresponding to slots that are not
associated with a content item, so nothing is displayed in the one
or more content regions. For example, an instruction is
communicated from the digital magazine server 140 to a client
device 110 to present a content item associated with a slot in a
position determined by a combination of slots to increase the size
of the content region used to display the content item.
[0056] When the content region is enlarged, it is combined with one
or more of the adjacent content regions corresponding to slots that
are not associated with a content item, so the display that was not
previously displaying content is used to display the content item,
or content items, associated with the enlarged content region. In
another example, a content item displayed in a content region has a
high interest score because at least a threshold number of other
users connected to the user interacted with the content item, so
the content region displaying the content item is selected for
enlargement. In an alternate embodiment, content items are selected
440 to be combined so the total number of combined and uncombined
content items is less than the number of slots in the selected page
template, and content regions are selected for enlargement to
occupy display area corresponding to slots that are not associated
with a content item. Additionally, if the user identifies
additional content items to be presented, an enlarged content
region is modified back to its original size, allowing the
additional content items to be displayed based on sizes associated
with one or more slots in the page template used to display the
content items.
SUMMARY
[0057] The foregoing description of the embodiments of the
invention has been presented for the purpose of illustration; it is
not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the
precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can
appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in
light of the above disclosure.
[0058] Some portions of this description describe the embodiments
of the invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic
representations of operations on information. These algorithmic
descriptions and representations are commonly used by those skilled
in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work
effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations, while
described functionally, computationally, or logically, are
understood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalent
electrical circuits, microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has
also proven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements of
operations as modules, without loss of generality. The described
operations and their associated modules may be embodied in
software, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof.
[0059] Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein
may be performed or implemented with one or more hardware or
software modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In
one embodiment, a software module is implemented with a computer
program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing
computer program code, which can be executed by a computer
processor for performing any or all of the steps, operations, or
processes described.
[0060] Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus
for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be
specially constructed for the required purposes, and/or it may
comprise a general-purpose computing device selectively activated
or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such
a computer program may be stored in a non-transitory, tangible
computer readable storage medium, or any type of media suitable for
storing electronic instructions, which may be coupled to a computer
system bus. Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the
specification may include a single processor or may be
architectures employing multiple processor designs for increased
computing capability.
[0061] Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a product
that is produced by a computing process described herein. Such a
product may comprise information resulting from a computing
process, where the information is stored on a non-transitory,
tangible computer readable storage medium and may include any
embodiment of a computer program product or other data combination
described herein.
[0062] Finally, the language used in the specification has been
principally selected for readability and instructional purposes,
and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the
inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope
of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but
rather by any claims that issue on an application based hereon.
Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is
intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the
invention, which is set forth in the following claims.
* * * * *