Template-Based Page Layout for Hosted Social Magazines

• US 20130024757A1
• Filed: 07/21/2011
• Published: 01/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Flipboard Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Flipboard Incorporated
• Inventors: Doll, Evan R., Weskamp, Marcos A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,396,167 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Page layout of content items from a variety of sources is performed. A content processing system queues content items, such as user-generated blogs, tweets, social networking status updates and other postings, received from a variety of sources. Each content item comprises one or more assets from one or more asset types. The asset types include text, images, and video. A page builder retrieves items from the queue and determines the item'"'"'s size constraints. A template is selected from a template database to use as a layout for the items on a page; each template has a number of slots into which content can be placed. A layout module lays out the items into the slots of the selected template based on the respective size and aspect ratio constraints of the items, in order to build a page to serve a client device.

Claims

1. A method of performing page layout of content items based on templates, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of content items from a plurality of sources;

determining size constraints of each of the content items; and

laying out the content items on a page based on a template, comprising;

selecting a cardinality for the content items to place on a page;

selecting a candidate template from a plurality of candidate templates, wherein a candidate template has a number of slots equal to the selected cardinality; and

selectively attempting to place individual ones of the plurality of content items in the slots of the candidate template by matching the size constraints of the content items to sizes of the slots of the candidate template.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content items comprise user-generated posts on social networks.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the content items comprise at least one asset type from a group consisting of text and images.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining size constraints of each of the content items comprises determining a minimum and a maximum aspect ratio of an image.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the candidate templates are templates that lay out a plurality of content items as a single readable page on a display of a client device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a cardinality for the content items to place on a page comprises selecting a number between three and seven.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein laying out the content items on a page based on a template, further comprises:

responsive to having more empty slots in the candidate template than remaining content items to he placed in the candidate template, selecting another candidate template having the selected cardinality.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein laying out the content items on a page based on a template, further comprises:

responsive to having more empty slots in the candidate template than remaining content items to be placed in the candidate template, and

responsive to having no remaining templates of the same cardinality as the candidate template, selecting a different cardinality and a candidate template having the different cardinality for the layout.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

laying out the content items on a page based on another template;

scoring each template slot based on a match between the size of the content item and the size of the slot;

determining a template'"'"'s score by aggregating the scores of the slots of the template; and

selecting a template for the page layout based on the template scores.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the template is designed by a human.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

serving the page to a client.

12. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for performing page layout of content items based on templates, the code for:

receiving a plurality of content items from a plurality of sources;

determining size constraints of each of the content items; and

laying out the content items on a page based on a template, comprising;

selecting a cardinality for the content items to place on a page;

selecting a candidate template from a plurality of candidate templates, wherein a candidate template has a number of slots equal to the selected cardinality; and

selectively attempting to place individual ones of the plurality of content items in the slots of the candidate template by matching the size constraints of the content items to sizes of the slots of the candidate template.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the con s comprise user-generated posts on social networks.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the content items comprise at least one asset type from a group consisting of text and images.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein determining size constraints of each of the content items comprises determining a minimum and a maximum aspect ratio of an image.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the candidate templates are templates that lay out a plurality of content items as a single readable page on a display of a client device,

17. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein selecting a cardinality for the content items to place on a page comprises selecting a number between three and seven.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein laying out the content items on a page based on a template, further comprises:

responsive to having more empty slots in the candidate template than remaining content items to be placed in the candidate template, selecting another candidate template having the selected cardinality,

19. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein laying out the content items on a page based on a template, further comprises:

responsive to having more empty slots in the candidate template than remaining content items to be placed in the candidate template, and

responsive to having no remaining templates of the same cardinality as the candidate template, selecting a different cardinality and a candidate template having the different cardinality for the layout.

20. The computer program product of claim 12, the code further comprising code for:

laying out the content items on a page based on another template;

scoring each template slot based on a match between the size of the content item and the size of the slot;

determining a template'"'"'s score by aggregating the scores of the slots of the template; and

selecting a template for the page layout based on the template scores.

21. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the template is designed by a human.

22. The computer program product of claim 12, the code further comprising code for serving the page to a client.