Virtual editor and related methods for dynamically generating personalized publications

• US 6,981,214 B1
• Filed: 03/10/2000
• Issued: 12/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Gupta, Al ke, van Zee, Pieter J., Miller, Robert M., Smith, Donald X II
• Primary Examiner(s): Myhre, James W.
• Application Number:
  US09/523,283
• Time in Patent Office: 2,118 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 715/517
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1205 resulting in increased flexibility in print job configuration, e.g. job settings, print requirements, job tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1267 Job repository, e.g. non-scheduled jobs, delay printing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1287 via internet
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A document delivery system comprising a data store to receive a plurality of content objects and a virtual editor to dynamically generate a personalized publication for a requesting user. The virtual editor selectively retrieves one or more of the received content objects to construct a personalized publication for a requesting user based, at least in part, on an accessed personal profile associated with the requesting user.

Claims

1. A document delivery system comprising:

a storage device to store a plurality of received content objects;

a virtual editor, to selectively retrieve the plurality of the received content objects to construct a customized publication, constructed from the plurality of content objects, for a requesting user based, at least in part, on a user profile of the requesting user; and

a layout manager configured to maintain a record of time required to complete at least a partial layout of the publication for estimating a time required to layout and complete future publications containing one or more of the same content objects.

2. A document delivery system according to claim 1, wherein the user profile includes information regarding a user'"'"'s interests and wherein the document delivery system further comprises a schedule manager configured to utilize the user'"'"'s profile, the estimated time from the layout manager and an indication from printing devices associated with the user for determining whether an adequate amount and type of media is available for printing the publication to establish an optimum publication schedule for one or more personalized publications.

3. A document delivery system according to claim 2, wherein the information comprising the user profile acquired using covert processes and overt processes.

4. A document delivery system according to claim 1, wherein the virtual editor constructs the publication based, at least in part, on one or more key contributors and information retrieved from a personal profile.

5. A document delivery system according to claim 4, wherein the key contributors include one or more of a requesting/subscribing user'"'"'s interests, demographics, seasonality, document server requirements, and content provider usage criteria.

6. A document delivery system according to claim 1, wherein the virtual editor comprises:

a content manager, to receive content objects from one or more of a plurality of content providers and store the content objects for subsequent inclusion in publications; and

a construction agent, coupled to the content manager, to retrieve one or more content objects from which a personalized publication is generated for a requesting/subscribing user.

7. A document delivery system according to claim 6, wherein the content manager encapsulates received content objects in a non-invasive marking wrapper including a unique marker to identify distribution, receipt and user disposition of the content object throughout the document distribution system.

8. A document delivery system according to claim 7, further comprising:

one or more virtual sensors, distributed throughout the document delivery system, to identify distribution, receipt and user disposition of content objects and to provide indications of distribution, receipt and user disposition to the content manager.

9. A document delivery system according to claim 8, wherein the content manager initiates financial transactions with one or more of the plurality of content providers based, at least in part, on the indications received from the one or more virtual sensors.

10. A document delivery system according to claim 6, wherein the construction agent retrieves content objects for a publication based, at least in part, on a user profile and one or more content provider key contributors.

11. A document delivery system according to claim 1, wherein the virtual editor constructs a publication based, at least in part, on content provider format recommendations and/or usage criteria.

12. A document delivery system according to claim 11, wherein the content provider format recommendations and/or usage criteria define limitations of publishing select content objects from one content provider with respect to content objects from another content provider.

13. A document delivery system according to claim 1, wherein the virtual editor constructs a publication based, at least in part, on one or more of a season of publication, a location of the requesting user, user demographics, document server requirements, and content provider usage criteria.

14. A method of generating a publication comprising:

receiving a plurality of content objects from one or more content providers;

storing the plurality of the received content objects;

dynamically generating a publication constructed from the plurality of received content objects based, at least in part, on a user profile of a requesting user;

managing contractual obligations of users and content providers of the document delivery system including maintaining royalty information and display agreements of selected content providers, advertising rates for other content providers and subscription information for selected users; and

maintaining a record of time required to complete at least a partial layout of the publication for estimating a time required to layout and complete future publications containing one or more of the same content objects.

15. A method according to claim 14, further comprising:

publishing the dynamically generated publication in accordance with content provider usage criteria;

distributing the publication to the requesting user; and

periodically accessing databases of one or more content provider to identify content object distribution, compute royalty payments, advertising bills and subscription bills for distribution to appropriate users to ensure adherence of contractual obligations of the document delivery system.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein the content provider usage criteria define limitations on publishing content objects of one content provider with respect to content objects from another content provider.

17. A method according to claim 15, wherein the content provider usage criteria limit publication of content objects from competing content providers.

18. A method according to claim 15, wherein the publication is distributed through an electronic document delivery system and wherein the managing contractual obligations further includes dynamically acquiring and maintaining accurate information on the distribution, receipt and user disposition of publications at the content object level to provide accurate accounting to content providers for royalty or licensing fee purposes.

19. A method according to claim 18, further comprising:

receiving indications from one or more sensors distributed throughout the document delivery system denoting distribution, receipt and/or user disposition of one or more of the content objects comprising the publication.

20. A method according to claim 19, further comprising:

updating user profile information based, at least in part, on the received indications.

21. A method according to claim 19, wherein the received indications include information regarding one or more of an amount of time the user spent on the received publication, whether the user saved the publication, whether the user forwarded the publication to another, whether the user edited/altered the publication.

22. A method according to claim 19, further comprising:

initiating financial transactions with one or more select content providers based, at least in part, on the received indications.

23. A method according to claim 14, wherein storing the received content objects comprises:

encapsulating the received content objects in a unique, non-invasive wrapper uniquely identifying the content objects, the non-invasive marking wrapper being used to identify distribution, receipt and user disposition of the content object throughout the document distribution system; and

saving the encapsulated content objects in an accessible storage medium for subsequent use.

24. A method according to claim 23, further comprising:

distributing constructed publication to one or more requesting users through an electronic document delivery system.

25. A method according to claim 24, further comprising:

receiving indications from one or more sensors distributed throughout the document delivery system denoting distribution, receipt and user disposition of at least one or more content objects associated with the publication.

26. A method according to claim 25, wherein the one or more sensors identify the at least one or more content objects by their non-invasive markers.

27. A method according to claim 25, further comprising:

initiating financial transactions with one or more select content providers based, at least in part, on the received indications.

28. A method according to claim 25, further comprising:

updating user profile information based, at least in part, on the received indications.

29. A storage device comprising a plurality of executable instructions including at least a subset of which that, when executed, implement a virtual editor service to receive a plurality of content objects from one or more content providers, store the received content objects, and to selectively retrieve content objects to construct a customized publication constructed from the plurality of content objects in accordance with a user profile of a requesting users, a knowledge module having a database driven component configured to receive information from printers of the requesting users for dynamically and automatically receiving printing habits of users that includes at least one of total ink usage or usage broken out by ink color and printable media usage that includes a number of pages printed and type of media used for dynamically and automatically updating the user profiles, and a layout manager configured to maintain a record of time required to complete at least a partial layout of the publication for estimating a time required to layout and complete future publications containing one or more of the same content objects.

30. A storage device according to claim 29, wherein the virtual editor service constructs the publication in accordance with other key contributors including one or more of a season of publication, a geographic location of the requesting user, document server features/limitations and/or content provider usage criteria and wherein the knowledge module examines the updated user profile and sends at least one advertisement for a print consumable to users that have updated user profiles with information indicating that a pre-specified number of documents has been printed.

31. A storage device according to claim 29, wherein the virtual editor service encapsulates received content objects in a unique, non-invasive wrapper uniquely identifying each of the content objects, the non-invasive marking wrapper including a unique marker to identify distribution, receipt and user disposition of the content object throughout the document distribution system.

32. A storage medium according to claim 31, wherein the virtual editor receives indications denoting distribution, receipt and user disposition of one or more content objects distributed with the publication to the requesting user through a document delivery system.

33. A storage medium according to claim 32, wherein the virtual editor updates user profile information based, at least in part, on the received indications.

34. A storage medium according to claim 32, wherein the virtual editor initiates financial transactions with one or more select content providers based, at least in part, on the received indications.