Methods and systems for providing supplemental contextual content

• US 7,127,473 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2002
• Issued: 10/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Agassi, Shai, Willis, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Kindred, Alford W.
• Application Number:
  US10/259,785
• Publication Number:
  US 20030217061A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,485 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 2, 707/6, 707/10, 707100-101, 707/200, 707/103.R, 715500-5011, 715/745
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

Methods and systems for generating supplemental content are disclosed. A supplemental content selector inputs a primary article and, based on supplemental content logic that governs an examination of content metadata associated with individual elements of the primary article, outputs a supplemental article. The supplemental content logic may also include a preference of a user or a system capability of a system of the user. The supplemental content selector can be used as part of a portal generation system in which space in a portal page is reserved for the supplemental article. In this way, the user of the portal generation system will be provided a portal page that is likely to reflect the interests of the user.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for supplementing content, the method comprising:

receiving a request for a portal page from a user;

receiving primary content, including primary discussion objects, from an information source, the primary discussion objects being a portion of content that is displayed to the user;

generating a primary media asset, the primary media asset including the primary content and primary content metadata, the primary content metadata including the primary discussion objects and characterizing the primary discussion objects;

determining criteria for selecting supplemental content based on at least one of a frequency of particular primary discussion objects or an importance level of the primary content;

selecting supplemental content, including supplemental discussion objects, that satisfies the criteria, the supplemental discussion objects being a portion of content that is displayed to the user;

generating a supplemental media asset, including the supplemental content and supplemental content metadata, the supplemental content metadata including the supplemental discussion objects and characterizing the supplemental discussion objects; and

displaying the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset in a portion of the portal page based on a category to which the primary discussion objects and the supplemental discussion objects belong, respectively, and a capacity of a device accessible to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises aggregating the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset for display.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising delivering the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset to the user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein delivering the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset comprises delivering the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset electronically.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein delivering the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset comprises:

formatting a first frame for displaying the primary content; and

formatting a second frame for displaying the supplemental content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the criteria includes determining the criteria based on preference information related to the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the criteria includes determining the criteria based on a particular topic that is specified by the primary discussion objects, for inclusion in the supplemental media asset.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the criteria specifies that the supplemental content should include the primary discussion object.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the supplemental media asset comprises:

determining an amount of space available for displaying the supplemental media asset to the user; and

including the amount of space in the criteria.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the criteria includes determining the criteria based on information related to an availability to a user of a rendering medium.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset to the user in a first and a second frame, respectively.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first frame and the second frame are a first iView and a second iView, respectively.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein aggregating the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset comprises:

assembling a pool of primary media assets;

filtering the pool of primary media assets to obtain a filtered pool;

prioritizing each primary media asset within the filtered pool, based on a preference of the user; and

delivering the primary media assets and the supplemental media asset to the user.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein aggregating the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset comprises including a plurality of supplemental media assets with the pool of primary media assets before the filtering and the prioritizing of the primary media assets.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein aggregating the primary media asset and the supplemental media asset comprises selecting a supplemental media asset for delivery with the primary media assets based on the filtering and the prioritizing of the primary media assets.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating multiple supplemental media assets;

storing the multiple supplemental media assets; and

selecting at least one of the multiple supplemental media assets for delivery to a user upon a request from the user.

17. A computer-implemented system for aggregating content, the system comprising:

an article reader operable to generate a primary article, the primary article including primary content and primary content metadata, the primary content including primary discussion objects, the primary discussion objects being a portion of content that is displayed to a user, and the primary content metadata including and characterizing the primary discussion objects;

a supplemental content selector operable to determine criteria for selecting supplemental content, based on at least one of a frequency of particular primary discussion objects or an importance level of the primary content, and further operable to select a supplemental article for delivery to the user, the supplemental article including supplemental content that satisfies the criteria, and supplemental content metadata, the supplemental content including supplemental discussion objects and the supplemental content metadata including and characterizing the supplemental discussion objects, the supplemental discussion objects being a portion of content that is displayed to a user; and

a pagination engine operable to aggregate the primary article and the supplemental article into personalized content and deliver the primary article and the supplemental article to the user for display in a portion of a portal page based on a category to which the primary discussion objects and the supplemental discussion objects belong, respectively, and a capacity of a device accessible to the user.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the supplemental content selector is further operable to determine the criteria based on information about a type of rendering medium available to the user for rendering the supplemental article.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the supplemental content selector is further operable to determine the criteria based on an amount of space available to the user for rendering the supplemental article.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the supplemental content selector is further operable to determine the criteria based on information relating to a display or content preference of the user.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the pagination engine is further operable to format a first frame for display of the primary article, and a second frame for display of the supplemental article.

22. An apparatus for supplementing content, the apparatus being configured to:

receive a request for a portal page from a user;

receive primary content, including primary discussion objects, from an information source, the primary discussion objects being a portion of content that is displayed to the user;

generate a primary article, the primary article including the primary content and primary content metadata, the primary content metadata including and characterizing the primary discussion objects;

implement a display for displaying more than one article, the display having a first subsection and a second subsection;

associate the primary article with the first subsection based on a category to which the primary discussion objects belong;

determine criteria for selecting supplemental content based on at least one of a frequency of particular primary discussion objects or an importance level of the primary content;

select supplemental content, including supplemental discussion objects, that satisfies the criteria, the supplemental discussion objects being a portion of content that is displayed to the user;

a supplemental article including the supplemental content and supplemental content metadata, the supplemental content metadata including and characterizing the supplemental discussion objects; and

associate the supplemental article with the second subsection based on a category to which the supplemental discussion objects belong.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the first and second subsections display the primary article and the supplemental article, respectively.

24. A system for rendering content, the system comprising:

a media asset reader operable to access primary media assets, the primary media assets including primary content and primary content metadata, the primary content including primary discussion objects and the primary content metadata including and characterizing the primary discussion objects, the primary discussion objects being a portion of content that is displayed to a user;

a frame generator operable to generate a primary set of frames in a display format in which a subset of the primary media assets is to be displayed, and further operable to generate a supplemental frame in the display format; and

a supplemental content generator operable to receive supplemental content, based on at least one of a frequency of particular primary discussion objects or an importance level of the primary content, the supplemental content including supplemental discussion objects, the supplemental discussion objects being a portion of content that is displayed to the user, and further operable to generate a supplemental media asset including the supplemental content and supplemental content metadata, the supplemental content metadata including and characterizing the supplemental discussion objects, for inclusion within the supplemental frame.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the supplemental content generator is further operable to generate the supplemental media asset based on preference information associated with a user.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the frame generator is further operable to dynamically size the primary set of frames and the supplemental frame, based on an amount of space available for display and preference information associated with a user.

27. A system for delivering content, the system comprising:

means for receiving a request for a portal page from a user;

means for receiving primary content, including primary discussion objects, from an information source, the primary discussion objects being a portion of content that is displayed to the user;

means for generating a number of primary articles including the primary content and primary content metadata, the primary content metadata including and characterizing the primary discussion objects;

means for analyzing the number of primary articles to determine criteria for selecting related content, based on at least one of a frequency of particular primary discussion objects or an importance level of the primary content,

means for selecting related content, including related discussion objects, that satisfies the criteria, the related discussion objects being a portion of content that is displayed to the user;

means for determining related articles, the related articles including the related content and related content metadata, the related content metadata including and characterizing the related discussion objects;

means for aggregating the number of primary articles and the related articles; and

means for delivering the number of primary articles and the related articles to a user for display in a portion of the portal page based on a category to which the primary discussion objects and the related discussion objects belong, respectively, and a capacity of a device accessible to the user.