METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING AND RANKING NEWS SOURCES

• US 20130159295A1
• Filed: 02/14/2013
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: John N. Gross
• Original Assignee: John N. Gross
• Inventors: Gross, John Nicholas
• Granted Patent: US 8,775,405 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/724
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0243 Comparative campaigns
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements

Abstract

A search engine and/or news aggregator considers events and stories described in electronic documents, a location of a searcher/reviewer, and a situs associated with content of the document to determine how/if they should be presented to users.

Claims

1. A method of presenting news content to a user with a computing system comprising:

a) automatically determining a target geographic region for a first event with the computing system by analyzing content for news stories relating to said first event;

c) automatically selecting one or more local sources with the computing system to collect local content for stories associated with said first event;

wherein said one or more local sources include news sources within or proximate to said target geographic region;

d) presenting news stories to a user with the computing system within a graphical interface based on a news ranking determined for said news stories;

wherein for said presenting said local content from said local sources is given a higher news ranking than content from other reference content sources by the computing system for stories that are associated with said first event.

2. The method of claim 1 further including a step:

giving priority to said one or more local sources within said graphical interface when presenting subsequent updates for said first event.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said one or more local sources are consulted for new content before said reference content sources for updates to said first event.

4. The method of claim 1 further including a step:

removing duplicate content for said first event before presenting news stories for said first event to a user.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein content from a user specified geographic region is presented within said graphical interface.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein a set of additional local sources is predicted and selected from a prediction of story developments for said event.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein advertising is presented within said interface based on a state identified for said first event.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein advertising is presented within said interface based on a temporal sequence identified for said user in reviewing content for said first event.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein advertising is presented within said interface based on an expected mental state of said user predicted based on a state of said first event.

10. The method of claim 1 further including a step:

sorting said news stories in said graphical interface by temporal order based on parameters other than a timestamp or publication time.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein said news rank is determined in part based on computing a timeliness score for said one or more local sources.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said news rank is determined in part based on computing a knowledge score for said first event by said one or more local sources.

13. A method of presenting news content to a user with a computing system comprising:

a) identifying a first event, which first event is identified in electronic news coverage in a plurality of news stories from one or more content sources;

b) automatically identifying a geographic region associated with said first event with the computing system based on analyzing content in said plurality of news stories describing said first event;

c) automatically selecting one or more local sources with the computing system to collect local content on such first event;

wherein said one or more local sources include content sources selected at least in part based on their presence or proximity to said geographic region and/or prior reporting of events associated with said geographic region;

d) presenting news for said first event to a user with the computing system within a graphical interface including from said one or more local sources;

wherein said local content is given a news rank which is higher than ranking of reference content sources by the computing system when presenting said news on said first event to said user.

14. A method of presenting news content to a user with a computing system within a graphical interface comprising:

a) identifying a first breaking news story containing content for a first event;

wherein said first breaking news story is determined by the computing system to be a first instance of an electronic publication of content for said first event from a set of reference content sources;

b) automatically determining a target region associated with said first event by analyzing content of said first breaking news story;

c) automatically selecting one or more local sources with the computing system to collect local content for stories associated with said first event;

wherein said one or more local sources include news sources within or proximate to said geographic region;

d) automatically identifying story updates to said first event by examining content published electronically by said one or more local sources;

wherein for said identifying step (d) said local content is given a news rank higher than rankings of content from other content sources for identifying story updates associated with said first event to be presented to the user within the graphical interface.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said first instance of said first breaking news story is determined by analyzing a temporal rank of said story relative to other stories from set of reference content sources that contain content for said first event.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein before being used said first instance of said first breaking news story is verified by the computing system by referencing other sources.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein said first breaking news story contains content published online from one or more content sources within a recent time interval of less than an hour.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein said first breaking news story contains content published online from one or more content sources within a recent time interval of less than 15 minutes.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein said story updates for said first event are supplemented or verified by soliciting feedback from human reporters within or proximate to said geographic region through a data capture interface.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein said story updates for said first event are verified by querying said reference content sources.

21. The method of claim 14 further including a step:

sorting said news stories in said graphical interface by temporal order based on parameters other than a timestamp or publication time.

22. The method of claim 14 wherein said news rank is determined by computing a timeliness score for said one or more local sources.

23. The method of claim 14 wherein said news rank is determined in part based on computing a knowledge score for said first event by said one or more local sources.

24. The method of claim 14 wherein advertising is presented within said interface based on a temporal sequence identified for said user in reviewing content for said first breaking news story.

25. The method of claim 14 wherein advertising is presented within said interface based on an expected mental state of said user predicted based on a state of said first breaking news story.