SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING PROFILES

• US 20120191764A1
• Filed: 11/25/2011
• Published: 07/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kobo Inc (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Kobo Inc (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Leibu, Daniel, Gamblen, Jason, Serbinis, Michael, Hilborn, Pamela, Penner, Richard, Toh, Tai, Galperin, Dan, O'Donoghue, Tony, Wu, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,478,757 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/821
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing profiles for electronic content. The methods and systems may involve profiles for a plurality of electronic content items. If a user interaction with an electronic content item of the plurality of electronic content items meets an event definition, the user interaction may be identified as an event associated with the electronic content and recorded in the profile.

Claims

1. A method of managing profiles for electronic content comprising:

storing a plurality of profiles for a plurality of electronic content items, wherein each profile corresponds to an electronic content item selected from the plurality of electronic content items;

if a user interaction with the electronic content item meets an event definition, identifying the user interaction as an event associated with the electronic content item, wherein the identifying step is carried out using a processor;

collecting data corresponding to the event associated with the electronic content item, wherein the data comprises a pagestamp, wherein each pagestamp indicates a reference point within the electronic content item; and

recording at least a portion of the data corresponding to the event as a data entry in the profile corresponding to the electronic content item, wherein the data entry comprises the pagestamp.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of electronic content items is a plurality of electronic publications, and wherein the user interaction with the electronic content item is a user interaction with a page of an electronic publication of the plurality of electronic publications, and wherein the pagestamp corresponds to the page within the electronic publication.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising computing a score for each reference point in the electronic content item using data corresponding to events recorded in the profile of the electronic content item, wherein the score for each reference point is computed by correlating the event data recorded in the profile of the electronic content item with the pagestamp of each data entry.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising computing a score for each page in the electronic publication using data corresponding to events recorded in the profile of the electronic publication, wherein the score for each page is computed by correlating the event data recorded in the profile of the electronic publication with the pagestamp of each data entry.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the score provides an indication of a level of user interest in the page of the electronic publication.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein an event associated with the page of the electronic publication is selected from the group consisting of:

turning to the page, turning the page, commenting on the page, indicating a like or dislike of the page, highlighting a portion of the page, annotating a portion of the page, sharing a portion of the page, bookmarking the page, indicating a like or dislike of a comment, replying to a comment, and indicating a like or dislike to a reply to a comment.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein computing the score for the page comprises computing a plurality of data points for the page and aggregating the plurality of data points.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein each data point of the plurality of data points is associated with a weight factor and wherein computing the score comprises weighting each data point using the corresponding weight factor and aggregating the weighted data points.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the data points are selected from the group consisting of:

number of purchases of the electronic publication, a number of completions of the electronic publication, a number of times users read the electronic publication or the page, average time to read the electronic publication or the page, share rate, annotation rate, highlight rate, comment rate, comment rate compared to annotation rate, bookmark rate, like or dislike ratio;

like or dislike to comment ratio, random noise range, number of users of the electronic publication and page thereof.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising computing a score for the electronic content using the data entries recorded in the profile of the electronic content.

11. A method of displaying electronic content to a user the method comprising:

collecting data about a plurality of user interactions at a reference point within the electronic content;

calculating a score associated with the reference point within electronic content using the data, wherein the calculating step is carried out using a processor; and

displaying a visual indicator representing the score associated with the reference point within the electronic content when the electronic content is displayed to a user.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the electronic content is an electronic publication, and wherein the user interaction is associated with a page of the electronic publication, and wherein the method involves calculating a score for the page of the electronic publication and displaying a visual indicator representing the score for the page of the electronic publication.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the score provides an indication of a level of user interest in the page of the electronic publication.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the user interaction is selected from the group consisting of:

purchasing a book, completing a book, reading a book, turning to the page, turning the page, sharing the page, commenting on the page, indicating a like or dislike of the page, highlighting a portion of the page, annotating a portion of the page, and bookmarking the page.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the calculating step is based on data selected from the group consisting of:

number of purchases of the electronic publication, number of completions of the electronic publication, number of times the electronic publication is read, number of times the electronic publication or the page is read, average time to complete the electronic publication or the page, average time spent reading the electronic publication or the page when not complete yet, share rate;

annotation rate, highlight rate, comment rate, comment rate compared to annotation rate, bookmark rate, like or dislike ratio, like or dislike to comment ratio, random noise range, and number of users reading the electronic publication or the page.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

displaying on the page a link to an interface for collecting data defining whether the users like or dislike the page;

using the interface, collecting data defining whether the users like or dislike the page;

computing a like or dislike reading score for the page based on the data defining whether the users like or dislike the page; and

displaying a visual representation of the like or dislike reading score.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

displaying on the page a link to an interface for collecting comments about the page from the users;

using the interface, collecting comment data about the page from the users;

computing a comment score for the page based on the comment data; and

displaying a visual representation of the comment score and at least a portion of the collected comments.

18. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

collecting statistical data about the user interaction with the electronic content item;

calculating a score associated with the electronic content item using the statistical data, wherein the score represents a level of user interest in the electronic content item;

displaying a visual representation of the score associated with the electronic content item.

19. The method of claim 11 further comprising computing a score for each reference point within the electronic content item using the collected data.

20. The method of claim 11 further comprising displaying a visual indicator representing the calculated score for each reference point within the electronic content item.

21. A method of managing a network of users and electronic publications comprising:

storing a plurality of profiles for a plurality of users, wherein each user profile is associated with a user of at least one device configured to access at least one electronic publication in a memory, wherein each user profile comprises a user identifier identifying the user;

storing a plurality of profiles for a plurality of electronic publications, wherein each electronic publication comprises a plurality of pages;

if a user interaction with a page of one of the plurality of electronic publications meets an event definition, identifying the user interaction as an event associated with the page of the electronic publication, wherein the identifying step is carried out using a processor;

collecting data corresponding to the event associated with the page of the electronic publication, wherein the data comprises a pagestamp and the user identifier, wherein the pagestamp indicates the page in the electronic publication, and wherein the user identifier indicates the user associated with the user interaction; and

recording at least a portion of the data corresponding to the event as a data entry in the profile of the electronic publication, wherein the data entry comprises the pagestamp and the user identifier.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising storing a plurality of event definitions.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein identifying the user interaction as an event comprises matching input data to at least one of the plurality of event definitions.

24. The method of claim 21 further comprising providing a notification of an occurrence of the event to a social network application.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein receiving data associated with the event further comprises receiving a time period associated with reading the electronic publication.

26. The method of claim 21 wherein receiving data associated with the event further comprises receiving content from the at least one electronic publication.

27. The method of claim 21 wherein receiving data associated with the event further comprises receiving a location of the at least one device configured to access the at least one electronic publication.

28. The method of claim 21 wherein the event is associated with at least one of the group consisting of:

commenting on the page, annotating the page, indicating a like or dislike about the page, turning a number of pages in the electronic publication, adding the electronic publication to an electronic library, finishing the electronic publications, reading the electronic publication in a location, and reading about a character on the page.

29. A system for managing profiles for electronic content, the system comprising:

a profile module configured to;

store a plurality of profiles for a plurality of electronic content items in a memory, wherein each profile comprises an electronic content identifier associated with the corresponding electronic content item;

an event detection module configured to identify, using a processor, a user interaction with a reference point within the electronic content item as an event if the user interaction meets at least one event definition, and to receive data associated with the event, wherein the data includes a pagestamp indicating the reference point within the electronic content;

and wherein the profile module is further configured to record at least a portion of the data associated with the event in the profile of the electronic content item.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the electronic content item is an electronic publication, and wherein the user interaction is with a page of the electronic publication, and wherein the pagestamp indicates the page within the electronic publication.

31. The system of claim 29 further comprising:

an event definition module configured to define a plurality of event definitions; and

a rules engine configured to store and manage the plurality of event definitions.

32. The system of claim 29 wherein the event detection module is configured to identify an event by interacting with the rules engine to match input data to the at least one event definition.

33. The system of claim 30 further comprising an analytics engine configured to process data associated with events to compute the scores for each page in the electronic publication by correlating the data associated with the events based on the pagestamp.

34. A method of managing profiles for electronic publications comprising:

storing a plurality of profiles for a plurality of electronic publications, wherein each profile corresponds to an electronic publication selected from the plurality of electronic publications;

detecting on a device a user interaction with a page of an electronic publication of the plurality of electronic publications;

if the user interaction with the page of the electronic publication meets an event definition, identifying the user interaction as an event associated with the page of the electronic publication, wherein the identifying step is carried out using a processor;

collecting data corresponding to the event, wherein the data comprises a pagestamp, wherein each pagestamp indicates the page within the electronic publication;

recording at least a portion of the data corresponding to the event as a data entry in the profile corresponding to the electronic publication, wherein the data entry comprises the pagestamp;

computing a score for each page in the electronic publication using data corresponding to events recorded in the profile of the electronic publication, wherein the score for each reference point is computed by correlating the event data recorded in the profile of the electronic content item with the pagestamp of each data entry, wherein the score provides an indication of a level of user interest in the page of the electronic publication, and

displaying a visual indicator representing the score for each page of the electronic publication when the page of the electronic publication is displayed on the device.

35. A system of managing profiles for electronic publications comprising:

a profile module configured to store a plurality of profiles for a plurality of electronic publications, wherein each profile corresponds to an electronic publication selected from the plurality of electronic publications;

an event detection module configured to;

detect on a device a user interaction with a page of an electronic publication of the plurality of electronic publications;

if the user interaction with the page of the electronic publication meets an event definition, use a processor to identify the user interaction as an event associated with the page of the electronic publication;

collect data corresponding to the event, wherein the data comprises a pagestamp, wherein each pagestamp indicates the page within the electronic publication; and

an event analytics engine configured to use the processor to compute a score for each page in the electronic publication using data corresponding to events recorded in the profile of the electronic publication, wherein the score for each reference point is computed by correlating the event data recorded in the profile of the electronic content item with the pagestamp of each data entry, wherein the score provides an indication of a level of user interest in the page of the electronic publication,

wherein the profile module is further configured to;

record at least a portion of the data corresponding to the event as a data entry in the profile corresponding to the electronic publication, wherein the data entry comprises the pagestamp; and

display a visual indicator representing the score for each page of the electronic publication when the page of the electronic publication is displayed on the device.