Adaptive layout of content in a digital magazine

• US 10,061,760 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2013
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Flipboard Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Flipboard Incorporated
• Inventors: Brant, Troy
• Primary Examiner(s): Dyer, Andrew R
• Application Number:
  US14/024,465
• Publication Number:
  US 20140075289A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,812 Days
• Field of Search: 715234, 715243, 715246, 715255
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/114 Pagination
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/131 Fragmentation of text files, e.g. creating reusable text-blocks; Linking to fragments, e.g. using XInclude; Namespaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

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.

Claims

1. A method for generating a digital magazine table of contents, 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 sections of the digital magazine;

identifying sections 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, each section corresponding to a set of content items having a common characteristic;

determining that a number of sections identified for presentation to the user exceeds the limit on the number of slots of the selected page template;

responsive to determining that the number of the sections identified for presentation exceeds the limit on the number of slots of the selected page template,

determining an interest score of the user for each content item in each identified section, the interest score for a content item determined by;

determining a base interest score for the content item based on a number of interactions with the content item by other users of the digital magazine server,

determining that the location associated with the content item is within a threshold distance of the location associated with the user, and

responsive to determining that the location associated with the content item is within the threshold distance of the location associated with the user, modifying the base interest score based on the location associated with the content item and the location associated with the user by increasing the base interest score for the content item; and

selecting two or more identified sections for combination into a combined section, the two or more identified sections have content items each having an interest score below a threshold value;

generating a combined section from the selected two or more identified sections wherein each of the selected sections are individually identifiable from information included in the combined section;

selecting a slot from the selected page template for presenting the combined section; and

generating a digital magazine table of contents presenting the combined section instead of the selected sections that were used to generate the combined section in the selected slot from the selected page template as well as presenting one or more unselected sections in positions determined by the slots included in the selected page template, wherein content items from each of the selected sections of the combined section are individually identifiable from information included in the generated digital magazine table of contents presented to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interest score for the content item is further determined based on one or more characteristics selected from a group consisting of:

associated demographics, promotional considerations, content labels, and any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the two or more of the identified sections comprises:

determining a measure of similarity between content items in various groups of content items corresponding to subsets of the sections 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 the two or more sections responsive to content items in the selected sections having at least a threshold measure of similarity.

4. The method of claim 3, 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.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the two or more of the identified sections comprises selecting the two or more identified sections so that a total of one or more combined sections and unselected sections does not exceed the limit on the number of slots in the selected page template.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a plurality of sections from the user;

generating another combined section wherein each of the selected plurality of sections are individually identifiable from information included in the combined section; and

generating a modified table of contents presenting the other combined section instead of each of the selected plurality of sections in another slot from the selected page template.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein generating the modified table of contents comprises:

responsive to the modified table of contents including a number of sections less than the limit on the number of slots in the selected page template, generating a combined slot including a slot associated with a position in which a sections 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 other combined sections in a position specified by the combined slot.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the modified table of contents further presents one or more additional sections in positions corresponding to additional slots in the selected page template.

9. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code executable to a cause a processor to perform steps 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 sections of the digital magazine;

identifying sections 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, each section corresponding to a set of content items having a common characteristic;

determining that a number of sections identified for presentation to the user exceeds the limit on the number of slots of the selected page template;

responsive to determining that the number of the sections identified for presentation exceeds the limit on the number of slots of the selected page template,

determining an interest score of the user for each content item in each identified section, the interest score for a content item determined by;

determining a base interest score for the content item based on a number of interactions with the content item by other users of the digital magazine server,

determining that the location associated with the content item is within a threshold distance of the location associated with the user, and

responsive to determining that the location associated with the content item is within the threshold distance of the location associated with the user, modifying the base interest score based on a location associated with the content item and a location associated with the user by increasing the base interest score for the content item; and

selecting two or more identified sections for combination into a combined section, the two or more identified sections have content items each having an interest score below a threshold value;

generating a combined section from the selected two or more identified sections wherein each of the selected sections are individually identifiable from information included in the combined section;

selecting a slot from the selected page template for presenting the combined section; and

generating a digital magazine table of contents presenting the combined section instead of the selected sections that were used to generate the combined section in the selected slot from the selected page template as well as presenting one or more unselected sections in positions determined by the slots included in the selected page template, wherein content items from each of the selected sections of the combined section are individually identifiable from information included in the generated digital magazine table of contents.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the interest score for the content item is further determined based on one or more characteristics selected from a group consisting of:

associated demographics, promotional considerations, content labels, and any combination thereof.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein selecting the two or more of the identified sections comprises:

determining a measure of similarity between content items in various groups of content items corresponding to subsets of the sections 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 the two or more sections responsive to content items in the selected sections having at least a threshold measure of similarity.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, 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.

13. The method of claim 11, 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.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the steps further comprise:

receiving a selection of a plurality of sections from the user;

generating another combined section wherein each of the selected plurality of sections are individually identifiable from information included in the combined section; and

generating a modified table of contents presenting the other combined section instead of each of the selected plurality of sections in another slot from the selected page template.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein generating the modified table of contents comprises:

responsive to the modified table of contents including a number of sections less than the limit on the number of slots in the selected page template, generating a combined slot including a slot associated with a position in which a section 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 other combined section in a position specified by the combined slot.

16. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein selecting the two or more of the identified sections comprises selecting the two or more identified sections so that a total of one or more combined sections and unselected sections does not exceed the limit on the number of slots in the selected page template.