Value system for dynamic composition of pages

• US 20060161843A1
• Filed: 01/15/2004
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pinterest, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rosensweig, Daniel L., Ebrahimi, Armin G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,574,651 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule

Abstract

Pages are dynamically composed in order to increase the overall value of the page. In one approach, the overall value of the page is a function of the actual values of the page components that compose the page. These, in turn, are functions of the nominal value of the page components and of an effectiveness of the page components on the page. The actual values of the page components are expressed in a same unit of measure, thus facilitating direct comparison of their relative values.

Claims

1-49. -49. (canceled)

50. A method for building a web page comprising:

receiving a request from a user;

dynamically composing a web page in response to the request; and

making the web page available to the user.

51. The method of claim 50 wherein the step of dynamically composing a web page comprises:

identifying a set of candidate components for the web page, each candidate component in the set of candidate components having a nominal value; and

selecting a subset of the candidate components for placement on the web page as page components, wherein the selecting is determined by an optimization of an actual page value of the web page, wherein

the actual page value of the web page is a function of a respective actual value of each page component placed on the web page and wherein an actual value of a page component placed on the web page is determined by a function of a nominal value of the page component and of an effectiveness of the page component on the web page.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein the actual value of each page component placed on the web page is in a common unit of measure.

53. The method of claim 50 wherein the step of receiving a request from a user comprises receiving the request via a browser.

54. The method of claim 51 wherein the subset of candidate components include one or more of a content page component, a link page component, and an advertisement page component.

55. The method of claim 51 wherein:

the actual page value equals a sum of the actual values of the page components on the web page; and

the actual value of each page component on the web page equals the nominal value of the page component multiplied by the effectiveness of the page component on the web page.

56. The method of claim 51 further comprising determining a nominal value of a candidate component in said subset of the candidate components, wherein the nominal value is a function of an aspect of the request.

57. The method of claim 51 further comprising determining a nominal value of a candidate component in said subset of the candidate components, wherein the candidate component is an advertisement page component, and the determining is based on a function of a revenue generated by placement of the advertisement page component on the web page.

58. The method of claim 51 further comprising determining a nominal value of a candidate component in said subset of the candidate components as a function of a relevancy of the candidate component to the request.

59. The method of claim 58 wherein:

the request was generated by a requesting web page; and

the step of determining a nominal value of the candidate component as a function of a relevancy of the candidate component to the request comprises determining a nominal value of the candidate component as a function of a relevancy of the candidate component to the requesting web page.

60. The method of claim 59 wherein the candidate component is a content candidate component.

61. The method of claim 58 wherein the step of determining a nominal value of the candidate component comprises determining a nominal value of the candidate component based on a relevance of the candidate component to a demographic profile of the user.

62. The method of claim 58 wherein the step of determining a nominal value of the candidate component comprises determining a nominal value of the candidate component as a function of a geographic location of the user.

63. The method of claim 58 wherein the step of determining a nominal value of the candidate component comprises determining a nominal value of the candidate component as a function of a relevance of the candidate component to a behavioral profile of the user.

64. The method of claim 58 wherein:

the candidate component has a plurality of versions; and

the step of determining a nominal value of the candidate component comprises determining a nominal value of the candidate component as a function of the version of the candidate component placed on the web page.

65. The method of claim 51 further comprising:

tracking user follow-through on the web page; and

updating the nominal value of a page component on the web page in response to the tracking.

66. The method of claim 65 wherein the step of tracking user follow-through on the web page comprises tracking link follow-through on the web page.

67. The method of claim 51 wherein the effectiveness of the page component is a function of a placement of the page component on the web page.

68. The method of claim 51 wherein the effectiveness of the page component is a function of the identity of another page component on the web page.

69. The method of claim 51 wherein:

the step of identifying said set of candidate components for the web page comprises identifying one or more page components used in a default composition of the web page; and

the step of selecting a subset of the candidate components for placement on the web page as page components comprises eliminating a page components used in the default composition of the web page when such elimination increases the actual page value of the web page.

70. The method of claim 51 wherein the step of selecting a subset of the candidate components for placement on the web page as page components comprises:

for at least one page component, selecting a version of the page component.

71. The method of claim 70 wherein the step of selecting a version of the page component is a function of an available bandwidth for the user.

72. The method of claim 50 wherein the step of dynamically composing a web page in response to the request comprises:

using a static composition for a portion of the web page; and

dynamically composing a remainder of the web page in response to the request.

73. The method of claim 50 wherein the request uniquely identifies a web page.

74. The method of claim 50 wherein the request comprises a search request.

75. The method of claim 50 wherein the step of making the web page available to the user comprises transmitting the web page to the user.

76. The method of claim 50 wherein:

the step of receiving a request from a user comprises receiving a request from the user via the Internet;

the step of dynamically composing a web page in response to the request comprises dynamically composing a web page in response to the request; and

the step of making the web page available to the user comprises transmitting the web page to the user via the Internet.

77. A method for building a database of page components for use in building a web page in response to a request from a user, the method comprising:

receiving information describing a plurality of page components;

registering the plurality of page components in a database of page components to reflect the received information;

receiving a request from a user;

identifying a set of candidate components from the database of page components, each candidate component having a nominal value;

selecting a subset of the candidate components for placement on the web page as page components, wherein the selecting is determined by an optimization of an actual page value of the web page, wherein

the actual page value of the web page is a function of a respective actual value of each page component placed on the web page and wherein an actual value of a page component placed on the web page is determined by a function of the nominal value of the page component and of an effectiveness of the page component on the web page; and

making the web page available to the user.

78. The method of claim 77 wherein:

the step of receiving a request from a user comprises receiving a request from a web server on behalf of a browser operated by the user; and

the step of making the web page available to the user comprises identifying the subset of candidate page components to the web server for composition of the web page.

79. The method of claim 77 wherein:

the received information comprises a category for classifying a page component in said plurality of page components; and

the step of identifying a set of candidate components from the database of page components comprises identifying the candidate component based at least in part on the category of a page component in the database of page components.

80. The method of claim 77 wherein:

the received information comprises a plurality of versions of a page component in the plurality of page components; and

the step of selecting a subset of the candidate components for placement on the web page as page components comprises selecting a specific version of the page component.

81. The method of claim 80 wherein the received information further comprises a bandwidth rating for a version of the page component in the plurality of versions of the page component.

82. The method of claim 77 wherein for each page component in at least a portion of the page components in the plurality of page components, the received information comprises relevant date information for the page component.

83. The method of claim 77 wherein:

the received information comprises a target demographic for a page component in the plurality of page components; and

a nominal value for the page component is a function of a match between the target demographic and a demographic profile of the user.

84. The method of claim 77 wherein:

the received information comprises a subject matter descriptor for a first page component in the plurality of page components; and

the step of identifying a set of candidate components from the database of page components comprises identifying the first page component based at least in part on the subject matter descriptor for the first page component.

85. The method of claim 84 wherein the subject matter descriptor comprises a keyword.

86. The method of claim 77 wherein the received information is in a format based on a predefined template.

87. The method of claim 77 wherein the received information is received via a predefined application program interface.

88. The method of claim 77 wherein the step of receiving information describing the plurality of page components comprises:

crawling through a network of web pages; and

generating information describing a plurality of page components within the network of web pages.

89. A computer system for building a web page in response to a request from a user, the system comprising:

a runtime database comprising runtime information describing a plurality of page components that can be used to compose a web page; and

a runtime server coupled to the runtime database, the runtime server comprising;

instructions for receiving a request from a user;

instructions for accessing the runtime database to dynamically compose the web page in response to the request; and

instructions for making the web page available to the user.

90. The system of claim 89 wherein the runtime server further comprises:

instructions for identifying a set of candidate components for the web page, each candidate component having a nominal value; and

instructions for selecting a subset of the candidate components for placement on the web page as page components,

wherein the selecting is determined by an optimization of an actual page value of the web page, wherein

the actual page value of the web page is a function of a respective actual value of each page component placed on the web page and wherein an actual value of a page component placed on the web page is determined by a function of the nominal value of the page component and of an effectiveness of the page component on the web page.

91. The system of claim 90 wherein the runtime server further comprises:

instructions for calculating the actual page value as a sum of the actual values of the page components on the web page; and

instructions for calculating the actual value of a page component as the nominal value of the page component multiplied by the effectiveness of the page component on the web page.

92. The system of claim 90 further comprising:

a relevancy engine coupled to the runtime server, the relevancy engine comprising instructions for determining a nominal value of a candidate component as a function of a relevancy of the candidate component to the request.

93. The system of claim 90 further comprising:

a profiling engine coupled to the runtime server, the profiling engine comprising instructions for determining a nominal value of at least one candidate component as a function of a relevance of the candidate component to a demographic profile of the user.

94. The system of claim 90 further comprising:

a profiling engine coupled to the runtime server, the profiling engine comprising instructions for determining a nominal value of at least one candidate component as a function of a relevance of the candidate component to a behavioral profile of the user.

95. The system of claim 90 further comprising:

a link tracking system coupled to the runtime server, the link tracking system comprising instructions for tracking link follow-through on the web page, wherein the runtime server further comprises instructions for updating the nominal value of a page component in response to an instance of the instructions for tracking.

96. The system of claim 90 wherein the effectiveness of a page component is a function of an identity of another page component on the web page.

97. The system of claim 90 further comprising:

a management server coupled to the runtime server, wherein the management server comprises instructions for receiving information describing the set of candidate components;

wherein the management server and the runtime server further collectively comprise instructions for registering the set of candidate components.

98. The system of claim 97 wherein the management server further comprises instructions for communicating a component registration change to the runtime server.