Method and system for tagging of content

• US 10,163,090 B1
• Filed: 10/04/2012
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Gildfind, Andrew Joseph Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Chbouki, Tarek
• Application Number:
  US13/645,424
• Time in Patent Office: 2,273 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit

Abstract

A system and machine-implemented method for providing a user with a set of user-generated labels for tagging an item, the method including providing an item for display to a user, receiving an indication of a request from a user to tag the item, identifying a user-generated label set including a plurality of user-generated labels uniquely associated with the item, wherein a user-generated label is associated with an item in response to one or more of the user-generated label being previously used to tag the item or the user-generated label being pre-assigned to the item, each user-generated label of the plurality of user-generated labels representing a sentiment regarding the item and being associated with a fitness value, selecting one or more user-generated labels of the plurality of user-generated labels in response to receiving the indication and providing the one or more user-generated labels for display to the user.

Claims

1. A method executed on one or more computing devices for providing a user with a set of user-generated labels for tagging an item, the method comprising:

providing, via an electronic network, an item of online content for display to a user at a computing device operably connected to the electronic network;

receiving an indication of a request from a user to tag the item;

identifying a user-generated label set comprising a plurality of user-generated labels uniquely associated with and representing a plurality of sentiments regarding the item, each user-generated label of the plurality of user-generated labels being provided via the electronic network by a respective user,

wherein the plurality of user-generated labels are selected based on the respective sentiments of the user-generated labels and respective fitness values for the plurality of user-generated labels, and wherein a fitness value comprises a weighted popularity of association of a respective sentiment with the user-generated label as a function of time;

determining, for each user-generated label of the selected user-generated labels, display characteristics including a relative spatial position of the user-generated label with respect to the other user-generated labels of the selected user-generated labels based on a comparison of the respective sentiments of the selected user-generated labels; and

providing, via the electronic network, the selected user-generated labels for display to the user at the computing device according to the determined display characteristics, wherein the user may select a user-generated label from the displayed set or input a new user-generated label.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the plurality of user-generated labels comprises:

identifying a content identifier corresponding to the item; and

identifying the plurality of user-generated labels based on the content identifier.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the content identifier comprises a Universal Resource Locator (URL) corresponding to the item.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the content identifier comprises a qualified content identifier including a content identifier for locating the item and context information associated with the specific instance of the item that the user is interacting with.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the user-generated labels comprises:

selecting using the one or more computing devices at least one of the selected user-generated labels from the plurality of user-generated labels based on a variance of the respective sentiments of the user-generated labels over a period of time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the user-generated labels comprises selecting according to a fitness proportionate selection algorithm based on the fitness value of the user-generated labels.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, using the one or more computing devices, display information corresponding to displayed user-generated labels of the selected user-generated labels, wherein the display information indicates the manner in which the displayed user-generated labels are displayed to the user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the display information comprises information for visually representing an indication of the fitness value of each displayed user-generated label in relation to at least one other displayed user-generated label.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the display information comprises information for visually representing an indication of the sentiment of each displayed user-generated label in relation to other displayed user-generated labels.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the display information comprises information regarding one or more of the size of the visual representation of each displayed user-generated label of the displayed user-generated labels, a color of the visual representation of each displayed user-generated label of the displayed user-generated labels or a spatial location of the visual representation of each displayed user-generated label of the displayed user-generated labels.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a user-selection of a user-generated label of the selected user-generated labels by the user for tagging the item; and

updating the fitness value of the user-selected user-generated label using the one or more computing devices to reflect the selection using the one or more computing devices.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a graphical component for display along with the selected user-generated labels, the graphical component configured to enable the user to enter an alternative user-generated label corresponding to the item, wherein the alternative user-generated label is different from the selected user-generated labels.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving an entry of an alternative user-generated label for tagging the item from the user within the graphical component; and

updating the user-generated label set in response to receiving the entry.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein updating the user-generated label set comprises:

determining if the alternative user-generated label is similar to an existing user-generated label of the plurality of user-generated labels;

adding the alternative user-generated label to the plurality of user-generated labels if the alternative user-generated label is not similar to an existing user-generated label of the plurality of user-generated labels; and

updating the fitness value of the existing user-generated label in response to the determination if the alternative user-generated label is similar to an existing user-generated label of the plurality of user-generated labels.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the weighted popularity is based on a number of times the respective sentiment was associated with the item and each time at which the respective sentiment was associated with the item.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein in a case where a first user-generated label and a second user-generated label of the selected user-generated labels represent opposing sentiments, the relative spatial position of the first user-generated label is diagonally opposite to that of the second user-generated label.

17. A system for providing a user with user-generated labels for tagging content, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving, via an electronic network, an indication of a request to tag online content representing an item being provided for display to a user at a computing device operably connected to the network, while the user is interacting with the content, the content comprising a content identifier;

identifying a collection of user-generated labels corresponding to the content identifier, each user-generated label of the collection being provided via the electronic network by a respective user, and representing a sentiment regarding the item, and being associated with a fitness value based on a weighted popularity of association of a respective sentiment with the user-generated label as a function of time, wherein selecting user-generated labels of the collection of user-generated labels is based on the fitness value of the user-generated labels;

determining, for each user-generated label of the selected user-generated labels, display characteristics including a relative spatial position of the user-generated label with respect to the other user-generated labels of the selected user-generated labels based on a comparison of the respective sentiments of the selected user-generated labels; and

providing, via the electronic network, the selected user-generated labels for display to the user at the computing device according to the determined display characteristics, wherein the user may select a user-generated label from the displayed collection or input a new user-generated label.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein selecting user-generated labels comprises selecting the user-generated labels from the collection of user-generated labels according to the fitness proportionate selection algorithm based on a selection probability of each of the user-generated labels, and wherein the selection probability of each user-generated label is based on its fitness value.

19. The system of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

identifying display information regarding the user-generated labels, the display information providing a visual representation of the fitness value and sentiment provided by each of the user-generated labels in relation to the other user-generated labels of the set of user-generated labels, wherein the display information includes one or more of size, color or location information for visually representing the user-generated labels; and

providing the user-generated labels for display to the user for tagging the item according to the display information, in response to the request.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the weighted popularity is based on the number of times a user-generated label representing the respective sentiment has been selected for tagging the item and each time at which the user-generated label was used to tag the item.

21. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

detecting a user request to tag an item of online content, while the item is being displayed to the user at a computing device operably connected to an electronic network;

identifying a content identifier corresponding to the item;

selecting user-generated labels from a plurality of user-generated labels corresponding to the content identifier, each of the plurality of user-generated labels being provided via the electronic network by a respective user and representing a sentiment regarding the item, wherein the selection of a respective one of the user-generated labels is based on a fitness criteria and a relation of the sentiment represented by the respective user-generated label to a pre-defined set of basic emotions, the fitness criteria comprising a weighted popularity of association of the sentiment with the user-generated label as a function of time;

wherein the user-generated labels are selected to provide a full spectrum of sentiments regarding the item, such that at least two of the user-generated labels of the selected user-generated labels provide opposite sentiments from one another; and

determining, for each user-generated label of the selected user-generated labels, display characteristics including a relative spatial position of the user-generated label with respect to the other user-generated labels of the selected user-generated labels based on a comparison of the respective sentiments of the selected user-generated labels; and

providing, via the electronic network, the selected user-generated labels to be displayed to the user on a display area at the computing device based on the determined display characteristics, wherein the user may select a displayed user-generated label or input a new user-generated label.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the weighted popularity is based on a number of times the sentiment was associated with the item and each time at which the sentiment was associated with the item.