Adaptive Layout of Content in a Digital Magazine

• US 20140245128A9
• Filed: 09/11/2013
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Flipboard Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Flipboard Incorporated
• Inventors: Brant, Troy
• Granted Patent: US 10,061,760 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/114 Pagination
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/131 Fragmentation of text files, e.g. creating reusable text-blocks; Linking to fragments, e.g. using XInclude; Namespaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates

Abstract

A digital magazine server generates pages presenting content items to a user in slots of a page template describing a relative positioning of content regions presenting content items. A page template may include a limited number of slots that limits the number of content regions presented to a user. If a number of content items selected for presentation to the user exceeds the limited number of slots in a page template, a plurality of content items are selected and used to generate a combined content item. The combined content item identifies each of the selected plurality of content items and allows a user to view information from various content items used to generate the combined content item.

Claims

1. A method for generating a page of a digital magazine, the method comprising:

selecting a page template including a plurality of slots and including a limit on a number of slots, each slot configured to present one or more content items;

identifying one or more content items for presentation to a user of a digital magazine server in positions of a display area of a client device specified by the slots in the selected page template;

determining a number of content items identified for presentation to the user;

if the number of the content items identified for presentation exceeds the limit on the number of slots of the selected page template, selecting a plurality of content items so a total of the selected plurality of content items and unselected content items does not exceed the limit on the number of slots of the selected page template;

generating a combined content item including information identifying each of the selected plurality of content items;

selecting a slot from the selected page template for presenting the combined content item; and

generating a page of the digital magazine presenting the combined content item in place of each of the selected plurality of content items in the selected slot from the selected page template as well as presenting one or more unselected content items in positions determined by the slots included in the selected page template.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the plurality of content items comprises:

determining an interest score of the user for each content item identified for presentation to the user based at least in part on information in a user profile associated with the user and one or more characteristics of the content items; and

selecting a plurality of content items having an interest score below a threshold value.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the information in the user profile associated with the user is selected from a group consisting of:

interests, demographic information, location, connections to additional users, previous interactions with content items, and any combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more characteristics of a content item are selected from a group consisting of:

a location associated with the content item, associated demographics, promotional considerations, content labels, interactions by other users of the digital magazine server with the content item, and any combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the plurality of content items comprises:

determining a measure of similarity between content items in various groups of content items identified for presentation to the user based at least in part on similarity between information associated with each content item in a group of content items; and

selecting a group of content items having at least a threshold measure of similarity.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a group of content items includes two or more content items.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the measure of similarity between content items in a group of content items is based at least in part on interactions by one or more users of the digital magazine server with one or more content items in the group.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the information associated with each content item in a group of content items comprises one or more selected from a group consisting of:

a location associated with a content item, a description associated with the content item, information included in the content item, and any combination thereof.

9. A method for generating a page of a digital magazine, the method comprising:

selecting a page template including a plurality of slots and including a limit on a number of slots, each slot configured to present one or more content items;

identifying one or more content items for presentation to a user of a digital magazine server in positions of a display area of a client device specified by the slots in the selected page template;

determining a number of content items identified for presentation to the user;

if the limit on the number of slots of the selected page template exceeds the number of the content items identified for presentation, combining one or more slots of the selected page template into a combined slot;

selecting a content item for presentation in the combined slot; and

generating a page of the digital magazine presenting the selected content item in a position determined by the combined slot of the selected page template.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the generated page of the digital magazine further presents one or more additional content items in positions determined by additional slots in the selected page template.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting the content item for presentation in the combined slot comprises:

determining an interest score of the user for each content item identified for presentation to the user based at least in part on information in a user profile associated with the user and one or more characteristics of the content items; and

selecting a content item having an interest score equaling or exceeding a threshold value.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the information in the user profile associated with the user is selected from a group consisting of:

interests, demographic information, location, connections to additional users, previous interactions with content items, and any combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more characteristics of a content item are selected from a group consisting of:

a location associated with the content item, associated demographics, promotional considerations, content labels, interactions by other users of the digital magazine server with the content item, and any combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting the content item for presentation in the combined slot comprises:

receiving an input from the user identifying the content item for presentation in the combined slot.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein combining one or more slots of the selected page template into the combined slot comprises:

identifying a slot associated with a content item;

identifying one or more additional slots adjacent to the identified slot and not associated with a content item; and

generating the combined slot by combining the identified slot with the one or more additional slots.

16. A method for generating a page of a digital magazine, the method comprising:

selecting a page template including a plurality of slots, each slot configured to present one or more content items;

identifying one or more content items for presentation to a user of a digital magazine in positions of a display area of a client device specified by the slots in the selected page template;

generating the page of the digital magazine for presentation to the user by a client device, the page including the one or more content items presented in positions of a display area determined by the slots in the selected page template;

receiving a selection of a plurality of content items from the user;

generating a combined content item including information identifying each of the selected plurality of content items; and

generating a modified page of the digital magazine presenting the combined content item in place of each of the selected plurality of content items a slot from the selected page template.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

responsive to the modified page of the digital magazine including a number of content items less than a limit on a number of slots in the selected page template, generating a combined slot including a slot associated with a position in which a content item is displayed and one or more slots adjacent to the slot and associated with one or more positions in which no content item is displayed; and

sending an instruction to present the content item associated with the selected slot in a position specified by the combined slot.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the modified page of the digital magazine further presents one or more additional content items in positions determined by additional slots in the selected page template.