PRIORITIZING AND PROVIDING INFORMATION ABOUT USER CONTACTS

• US 20130191462A1
• Filed: 01/20/2012
• Published: 07/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Hartzler, Matthew Jon
• Granted Patent: US 9,218,629 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

The present disclosure provides for prioritization and display of relevant news information for at least one watched contact in order to present only news of interest about a user'"'"'s contacts to a user. A news information spike analysis of news information associated with a watched contact determines whether the watched contact has experienced a news information spike during a time period. News information associated with a news information spike is retrieved and at least one news information item representative of the news information spike are selected and presented in a user interface.

Claims

1. A method of prioritizing and presenting news information related to contacts, comprising:

for a plurality of contacts, associating news information found within a time period with the contact of the plurality of contacts to which the news information pertains;

for each watched contact, of a set of watched contacts of the plurality of contacts, performing a news information spike analysis of news information associated with the watched contact and determining from the performed news information spike analysis at least one of the watched contacts that has experienced a frequency of news information occurring during the time period that is greater than a frequency threshold value and representative of a news information spike during the time period;

for at least one of the watched contacts that has experienced the news information spike, retrieving news information associated with the watched contact and selecting at least one news information item representative of the news information spike; and

providing the at least one news information item representative of the news information spike.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising prioritizing the at least one news information item over news information presented about other contacts of the plurality of contacts;

and

presenting the at least one news information item in accordance with the prioritizing.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the news information spike analysis of news information associated with the watched contact further comprises:

calculating a periodic news information count of the news information associated with the watched contact for a plurality of periods;

forming a statistical model based on the periodic news information count for the watched contact for the plurality of periods from which the frequency of news information occurring during the time period is determined; and

comparing the determined frequency of news information to the frequency threshold value to determine whether a news information spike has occurred.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining from the statistical model a mean count for the watched contact for the plurality of periods; and

identifying as a news information spike each period in which the periodic news information count for the watched contact is greater than the mean count for the watched contact for the plurality of periods.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

determining from the statistical model a weighted average for the watched contact for the plurality of periods; and

identifying as a news information spike each period in which the periodic news information count for the watched contact is greater than the weighted average for the watched contact.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting further comprises:

displaying on a display the at least one news information items representative of the news information spike.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising displaying the at least one news information item in one or more of an update message, an email summary message, in a user'"'"'s dashboard graphical interface of a device, and in a user'"'"'s dashboard graphical interface of a browser.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting further comprises identifying a subject of the news information spike for the at least one watched contact and presenting the subject of the news information spike.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising clustering the news information associated with the at least one watched contact to identify the subject of the news information spike and a representative news information item of the at least one news information items representative of the news information spike.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

acquiring the plurality of contacts from at least one of a user device, a third party contact source, and a user providing the plurality of contacts via a user interface.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface having an option by which the set of watched contacts of the plurality of contacts is selected.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface having an option by which the set of watched contacts is automatically determined.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

a service acquiring from the Internet the news information found within the time period for the plurality of contacts and storing the acquired news information in a news information database.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting in a user interface the at least one news information item representative of the news information spike.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a server comprising a processor and an associated contacts and news information database to prioritize and present news information related to contacts, comprising:

for a plurality of contacts associating news information found within a time period with the contact of the plurality of contacts to which the news information pertains;

for each watched contact of a set of watched contacts of the plurality of contacts, performing a news information spike analysis of news information associated with the watched contact and determining from the performed news information spike analysis at least one of watched contacts that has experienced a frequency of news information occurring during the time period that is greater than a frequency threshold value and representative of a news information spike during the time period;

for at least one of the watched contacts that has experienced the news information spike, retrieving news information associated with the watched contact and selecting at least one news information item representative of the news information spike; and

providing the at least one news information items representative of the news information spike.

16. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a contacts and news information database coupled to the processor in which a plurality of contacts and news information about the plurality of contacts are stored, the processor and contacts and news information database configured to;

for a plurality of contacts associating news information found within a time period with the contact of the plurality of contacts to which the news information pertains;

for each watched contact of a set of watched contacts of the plurality of contacts, perform a news information spike analysis for each watched contact of the set of watched contacts of news information associated with the watched contact and determine from the performed news information spike analysis at least one of the watched contacts that has experienced a frequency of news information occurring during the time period that is greater than a frequency threshold value and representative of a news information spike during the time period;

for at least one watched contact of the at least one of the watched contacts that has experienced the news information spike during, retrieve news information associated with the watched contact and select at least one news information item representative of the news information spike; and

provide the at least one news information item representative of the news information spike.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein news information is associated with the plurality of contacts by pairing news information as it is received with a contact of the plurality of contacts to which the news information relates.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor and the contacts and news information database are further configured to attach a pointer from the news information to the contact to which the news information resides.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein to perform the news information spike analysis the processor and the contacts and news information database are further configured to:

calculate a periodic news information count of the news information associated with the watched contact for a plurality of periods;

form a statistical model based on the periodic news information count for the watched contact for the plurality of periods from which the frequency of news information occurring during the time period is determined; and

compare the determined frequency of news information to the frequency threshold value to determine whether a news information spike has occurred.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor and the contacts and news information database are further configured to:

determine from the statistical model a mean count for the watched contact for the plurality of periods; and

identify as a news information spike each period where the periodic news information count for the watched contact is greater than the mean count for the watched contact for the plurality of periods.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor and the contacts and news information database are further configured to:

determine from the statistical model a weighted average for the watched contact for the plurality of periods; and

identify as a news information spike each period where the periodic news information count for the watched contact is greater than the weighted average for the watched contact.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor and the contacts and news information database are further configured to:

prioritize the one or more news information items representative of the news information spike for the at least one watched contact over news information presented about other contacts of the plurality of contacts; and

present the at least one news information item representative of the news information spike in accordance with the prioritized at least one news information item representative of the news information spike.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein to present the at least one news information item representative of the news information spike the processor and the contacts and news information database are further configured to:

identify a subject of the news information spike for the at least one watched contact and present the subject of the news information spike.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the processor and the contacts and news information database are further configured to cluster the news information associated with the at least one watched contact to identify the subject of the news information spike and a representative news information item of the at least one news information item representative of the news information spike.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor and the contacts and news information database are further configured to provide a user interface having an option by which the set of watched contacts of the plurality of contacts is selected.

26. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor and the contacts and news information database are further configured to provide a user interface having an option by which the set of watched contacts is automatically determined.

27. The system of claim 16, the processor and contacts and news information database further configured to present in a user interface the at least one news information item representative of the news information spike.