DYNAMIC AGGREGATION AND DISPLAY OF CONTEXTUALLY RELEVANT CONTENT

• US 20080306913A1
• Filed: 06/18/2007
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Assets LLC
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Newman, Eric, Lockett, James
• Granted Patent: US 7,917,840 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• 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: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking

Abstract

A web-based system scans content for specific terms, and transforms occurrences of the terms into hypertext links. Each hypertext link provides access to a dynamically generated web page which contains aggregated content related to the respective term. The aggregated content may be gathered through a distributed keyword search of various content sources, including web sites and other sources on a wide area network. The results of the keyword search are aggregated into a single page or document, preferably with filtering to remove page elements not well suited for display on a mobile device. Occurrences of specific terms on this dynamically generated page may similarly be transformed into links, such that the user can browse content from various sources within a confined environment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

generating a first web page containing textual content that is responsive to a request from a user computing device, wherein generating the first web page comprises scanning the textual content for each of a plurality of terms, and in response to detecting an occurrence of a first term of said plurality of terms, transforming the occurrence of the first term into a first hyperlink;

transmitting the first web page to the user computing device for display to a user;

generating a second web page which is responsive to the first hyperlink, wherein generating the second web page comprises (a) using the first term to execute a keyword search, (b) aggregating a plurality of content items located by the keyword search, (c) scanning the plurality of content items for occurrences of individual terms of said plurality of terms, and (d) transforming occurrences of individual terms of said plurality of terms into respective hyperlinks; and

transmitting the second web page to the user computing device in response to user selection of the first hyperlink on the first web page.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the second web page is performed in response to user selection of the first hyperlink.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the second web page is performed prior to the user'"'"'s selection of the first hyperlink, and is stored in a cache.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by a server system that hosts a first web site, and wherein generating the second web page comprises removing, from the aggregated plurality of content items, hyperlinks that point to web sites other than said first web site.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein transforming occurrences of individual terms of said plurality of terms into respective hyperlinks comprises creating links that point to said first web site.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the respective hyperlinks comprise respective HTTP query strings.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the respective query strings include the respective occurrences of individual terms of said plurality of terms.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the respective query strings further include at least one disambiguator.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of terms comprises a set of terms stored in a taxonomy database.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the set of terms are associated with a group.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating the plurality of content items comprises aggregating web content extracted from a plurality of web sites, and wherein the method further comprises extracting predefined types of content elements from said web content to facilitate display of the second web page on a screen of a handheld device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein extracting predefined types of content elements comprises extracting at least one of the following types of content elements:

IFRAMES, EMBED objects, FLASH content, rich media advertisements, tables, JavaScript, HTML forms, DHTML, AJAX.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein extracting predefined types of content elements comprises extracting at least the following types of content elements:

IFRAMES, EMBED objects, FLASH content, rich media advertisements, tables, JavaScript, HTML forms, DHTML, AJAX.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the second web page comprises selecting, from a search result set of said keyword search, a most highly ranked subset of content items to include in the second web page.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the keyword search comprises executing a search that encompasses a plurality of Internet domains, such that the second web page comprises content extracted from each of multiple independent web sites.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein executing the keyword search that encompasses a plurality of Internet domains comprises providing the keyword to a query routing module.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the query routing module is configured to route the keyword search to a plurality of systems and content sources in parallel.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of terms are represented in a taxonomy in which specific terms are associated with specific topics, and wherein generating the second web page comprises executing a topic-specific keyword search which is substantially limited in scope to a topic associated with the first term.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first term is associated with a plurality of topics in the taxonomy, and the method comprises selecting, from said plurality of topics, a particular topic to which to limit said keyword search.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the particular topic is selected based, at least in part, on a context in which the first term appears in said textual content.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising automatically refining the taxonomy over time based on monitored user actions of a plurality of users, said actions reflective of which terms are most useful to users.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising providing, on said second web page, at least one control for enabling the user to nominate a term to add to the taxonomy.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the control is a drag-and-drop control that enables the user to drag and drop a term appearing on the second web page to a particular display area to cause the term to be submitted for nomination.

24. A computer system configured to perform a method, the method comprising:

generating a first web page containing textual content that is responsive to a request from a user computing device, wherein generating the first web page comprises scanning the textual content for each of a plurality of terms, and in response to detecting an occurrence of a first term of said plurality of terms, transforming the occurrence of the first term into a first hyperlink;

transmitting the first web page to the user computing device for display to a user;

generating a second web page which is responsive to the first hyperlink, wherein generating the second web page comprises (a) using the first term to execute a keyword search, (b) aggregating a plurality of content items located by the keyword search, (c) scanning the plurality of content items for occurrences of individual terms of said plurality of terms, and (d) transforming occurrences of individual terms of said plurality of terms into respective hyperlinks; and

transmitting the second web page to the user computing device in response to user selection of the first hyperlink on the first web page.

25. A system for providing dynamic generation of network content, comprising:

a first module configured to;

determine that a term in a web page is present in a database of terms;

convert the term into a hypertext link in the web page;

receive a user request to access the hypertext link; and

generate a search request based on the hypertext link;

a second module configured to;

receive the generated search request;

determine a plurality of external sources to receive the search request; and

send the search request to each of the external sources in parallel.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the second module is further configured to receive a response to the search request from each of the external sources and aggregate the received responses into a single web page.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the second module is further configured to send the single web page to the first module.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the first module is further configured to extract predefined types of content elements from said web content to facilitate display of the single web page on a screen of a handheld device.

29. A method of dynamically generating web pages, the method comprising:

automatically determining that a first object displayable on a first web page matches a first predefined object in a set of objects of interest;

in response to the determining, automatically establishing the first object as a first hypertext link on the first web page; and

in response to selection of the first hypertext link by a user, displaying a second web page to the user, wherein the second web page is generated by at least;

accessing results of a search for web-accessible content based on the first predefined object;

aggregating portions of one or more results of the search into the second web page; and

additionally determining that a second object displayable on the second web page matches a second predefined object in a set of objects of interest; and

in response to the additionally determining, establishing the second object as a second hypertext link on the second web page.

30. A computer-implemented method of generating a web page, the method comprising:

determining that a term appearing in a first web page is present in a record of a database table storing a plurality terms, wherein the record includes metadata about the term, the metadata including a plurality of words, each of the plurality of words being related to one of a plurality of possible meaning for the term;

creating a query string based on the term;

scanning the first web page for an instance of any of the plurality to words;

locating at least one of the plurality of words in the first web page;

modifying the query string based on the at least one located word; and

generating a second web page based on the modified query string, wherein generating the second web page comprises using the modified query string to execute a keyword search, and aggregating a plurality of content items located by the keyword search.