Method and system for managing digital assets

• US 7,526,728 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Issued: 04/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Waterson, Christopher Robert, Apparao, Vidur, Bandhauer, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu; Kieu D
• Assistant Examiner(s): TANK, ANDREW L
• Application Number:
  US11/428,350
• Publication Number:
  US 20070005389A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,033 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 707/E17.009, 715/745, 715/744, 715/853, 715/739, 715/760, 715/733, 715/738
• US Class Current: 715/745
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution

Abstract

A digital asset management system and method is responsive to user interactions with digital assets. A ranking of digital assets is generated based upon user interaction, to reflect the value of the digital assets to the user. The ranking is based in part on access frequency and recency, and the number and types of uses of the digital assets. An access hierarchy is derived from the ranking, wherein higher ranked digital assets are more easily accessed than the lower ranked digital assets. Different types of uses can be distinguished, so that some types of uses imbue an asset with greater value than others. The types of uses may include passive viewing or playback, file sharing, transport, and editing. Subjective values may be assigned by the user to each digital asset that can be factored into the ranking independently of usage patterns. A volatility-dampening attribute moderates volatility in the access hierarchy.

Claims

1. A method for managing digital assets, comprising the steps of:

monitoring any of access and navigation to said digital assets by a user through at least one of a plurality of devices associated with a network;

identifying one or more types of use of any of said accessed and navigated digital assets by said user associated with said monitoring step, wherein said types of use comprise any of visitation, playback, viewing, activation, sharing, transporting, and editing;

assigning a score based on each identified type of use by said user associated with said monitoring step;

ranking said accessed digital assets based on accumulation of said assigned scores of said digital assets; and

providing an access hierarchy comprising any of hierarchical storage and hierarchical listing of said ranked digital assets in a memory based on said ranking step, wherein highly ranked digital assets are more easily accessed by the same said user than lower ranked digital assets, and wherein said memory is accessible to each of the plurality of devices over said network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said ranking step is based at least partially on any of recency of use, frequency of use, and number of uses of said digital assets.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said ranking step further comprises the step of:

applying a user-assigned value when generating said access hierarchy.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

re-ranking said digital assets only if a score of a first digital asset exceeds a score of a second previously higher ranked digital asset by a predetermined threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said accessed digital assets comprise any of a digital image and a digital audio file.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said transporting comprises any of transmitting and receiving said digital assets.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said monitoring step comprises the step of:

monitoring a Web browser'"'"'s navigation history.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of:

assigning a first score to a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) based on the length of time spent by said user visiting a Web page represented by said URL and a second score if said user downloads digital information from a Web site associated with said URL; and

wherein said ranking step further comprises the step of processing at least one of said first and said second scores.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

assigning cumulative scores to a plurality of URL'"'"'s activated by said user; and

re-ranking said plurality of URL'"'"'s only if a cumulative score assigned to a first URL exceeds a cumulative score assigned to a second previously higher ranked URL by a predetermined threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

sharing said access hierarchy with a plurality of networked devices.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of said networked devices comprises any of a computer, a CD player, an MP3 player, and a DVD player.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said memory is any of resident of one of the devices, or distributed amongst a plurality of the devices.

13. A system for managing digital assets, comprising:

means for monitoring any of access and navigation to said digital assets by a user through at least one of a plurality of devices associated with a network;

means for identifying one or more types of use of any of said accessed or navigated digital assets by said user associated with said monitored access or navigation, wherein said types of use comprise any of visitation, passive playback, passive viewing, activation, sharing, transporting, and editing;

means for assigning a score based on each identified type of use by said user associated with said monitored access or navigation;

a ranking module in communication with said score assignment means to rank said digital assets based on accumulation of said assigned scores; and

means for providing an access hierarchy comprising any of hierarchical storage and hierarchical listing of said ranked digital assets in a memory based on said rank of said digital assets, whereby higher ranked digital assets are more easily accessed by the same said user than lower ranked digital assets and wherein said memory is accessible to each of the plurality of devices over said network.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said digital assets comprise any of digital images and digital audio files.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said ranking module assigns a first score to a first digital asset when said user accesses or navigates to said first digital asset for viewing and assigns a second score to a second digital asset if said user accesses or navigates to said second digital asset for editing.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein said ranking module ranks said digital assets at least in part based on user-assigned values.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein said ranking module comprises an inertia algorithm that prevents a re-ranking of said digital assets unless a score of a first digital asset exceeds a score of a second previously higher ranked digital asset by a predetermined threshold.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein said ranking module comprises an input for receiving data representative of use of said digital assets including any of frequency of use, recency of use, and number of uses of said digital assets, said ranking module being configured to factor in said data representative of said use.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein said digital assets comprise digital images, and wherein said transporting comprises any of transmitting and receiving of said digital images.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein said digital assets comprise URL'"'"'s.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said ranking module comprises an inertia algorithm that prevents a re-ranking of said URL'"'"'s unless a score of at least one of said URL'"'"'s exceeds a score of another of said URL'"'"'s by a predetermined threshold.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein any of said access and navigation is provided through a device comprising any of a computer, a CD player, an MP3 player, and a DVD player.

23. A method for managing a list of uniform resource locators (URL'"'"'s) that is automatically responsive to a Web navigation of a user, comprising the steps of:

creating a Web navigation history associated with one or more browsing sessions by said user through at least one of a plurality of devices associated with a network, wherein said navigation history comprises any of Web sites visited by said user, URL'"'"'s activated by said user, URL'"'"'s shared by said user, and URL'"'"'s transported by said user;

identifying types of use by said user associated with said navigation history, wherein said types of use comprise any of visitation, activation, sharing, and transporting;

assigning scores corresponding to each identified type of use by said user of said URL'"'"'s in said Web navigation history based on use of said URL'"'"'s;

ranking said URLs based on accumulation of said assigned scores; and

providing an access hierarchy comprising any of hierarchical storage and hierarchical listing of said ranked URL'"'"'s in a memory based on said ranking step, wherein higher ranked URL'"'"'s are more easily accessed from said memory by the same said user than lower ranked URL'"'"'s, and wherein said memory is accessible to each of the plurality of devices over said network.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said access hierarchy of said ranked URL'"'"'s is accessible through a plurality of said devices associated with said network over said one or more browsing sessions.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein at least one of said devices comprises any of a computer, a CD player, an MP3 player, and a DVD player.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein said step of creating a Web navigation history comprises recording the recency and frequency with which each of said URL'"'"'s are activated.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein said step of creating said Web navigation history comprises the step of:

determining whether data downloaded from Web sites corresponding to said URL'"'"'s were edited or shared by said user.

28. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of:

receiving user-assigned values for each of said URL'"'"'s, said step of assigning scores further comprising the step of factoring in said user-assigned values.

29. The method of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

updating said Web navigation history to record Web site site visits made by said user;

assigning scores to each of said URL'"'"'s in said updated Web navigation history based on said user'"'"'s use of said URL'"'"'s; and

updating said access hierarchy if a score assigned to a first URL exceeds a score assigned to a second previously higher ranked URL by a predetermined threshold.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of:

allowing said user to define said predetermined threshold.