System and method for presenting categorized content on a site using programmatic and manual selection of content items

• US 7,814,089 B1
• Filed: 09/28/2007
• Issued: 10/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Topix
• Original Assignee: Topix
• Inventors: Torres, Robert, Sawka, Mike, Truel, Robert, Markson, Thomas, Skrenta, Richard, Su, Joy, Peters, Keith, Dole, Bryn
• Primary Examiner(s): Ehichioya; Fred I
• Application Number:
  US11/864,882
• Time in Patent Office: 1,110 Days
• Field of Search: 707/609, 707/709, 707/731, 707/771, 707/802, 715/205, 715/229, 715/733, 715/780
• US Class Current: 707/709
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

Embodiments provide for the creation of network pages or presentations that include pages on which programmatically selected/categorized content and manually-identified content from website users may be combined and displayed.

Claims

1. A method for providing content on a website, the method being implemented by one or more processors that perform steps comprising:

assigning at least one of a plurality of categories to at least a portion of a network page; and

displaying content, including content generated from multiple content items on the network page;

wherein displaying content includes programmatically determining the one or more of the multiple content items that are pertinent to the category of the assigned network page by programmatically (i) defining each category by a set of terms that are relevant to that category, the programmatically defining including terms that are not the name of the category and excluding terms that are not pertinent to the category, and (ii) analyzing a text content of each of the one or more of the multiple content items;

enabling a user of the website to register to become the manual class user for the category of the network page; and

wherein displaying content further includes providing manually-identified content on at least some of the multiple web pages based on a submission of content by the editor class user, wherein the submission of content includes at least one of a link to a content item identified in the submission or a text from or based on the content item identified in the submission.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein accepting a submission by an editorial class user includes accepting a link to a network location where a suggested content item of the editorial class user is located.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein accepting a submission by an editorial class user includes accepting text provided with the link, wherein the text is (i) selected by the editorial class user from the suggested content, or (ii) composed by the editorial class user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying content includes prioritizing the submission from the editorial class user over any content items that are programmatically determined to be pertinent to the category.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein programmatically determining the one or more of the multiple content items are pertinent to the category includes retrieving a plurality of content items from different websites, then analyzing text content contained in each of the plurality of content items, and selecting the one or more of the multiple content items from analyzing the text content of each of the plurality of content items.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning at least one of a plurality of categories includes assigning one of (i) a category about a geographic location, (ii) a current event category, or (iii) a category about a person or business.

7. A method for providing content from a network on a website, the method being implemented by one or more processors that perform steps comprising:

providing a plurality of web pages at the website;

assigning at least a portion of each web page to one or more categories selected from a plurality of categories;

providing at least some programmatically-identified content on each of multiple web pages by programmatically (i) defining each category by a set of terms that are relevant to that category, the programmatically defining including terms that are not the name of the category and excluding terms that are not pertinent to the category, (ii) retrieving content items from a plurality of network sites, (iii) then analyzing individual content items in order to associate each content item with one or more categories, (iv) selecting one or more content items that are associated with any of the one or more categories of at least the portion of that web page, and (v) displaying the programmatically-generated content based on the selected one or more content items;

enabling a user of the website to register to become the manual class user for the category of the network page; and

providing manually-identified content on at least some of the multiple web pages based on a submission of content by the editor class user, wherein the submission of content includes at least one of a link to a content item identified in the submission or a text from or based on the content item identified in the submission.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the submission by the editorial class user includes a link to a network location where a suggested content item of the editorial class user is located.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the submission by the editorial class user includes text provided with the link, wherein the text is (i) selected by the editorial class user from the suggested content, or (ii) composed by the editorial class user.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of categories corresponds to one of (i) a category about a geographic location, (ii) a current event category, or (iii) a category about a person or business.

11. A method for providing content on a website, the method being implemented by one or more processors that perform steps comprising:

displaying a plurality of network pages, each network page being assigned to one or more categories;

enabling individuals of the website to register to become an editor class user that is assigned to at least one of the plurality of network pages, based on a selected category of each individual;

for a given network page in the plurality of network pages,

a. accepting suggested content items from one or more editor class users who are assigned to that network page;

b. programmatically (i) defining each category by a set of terms that are relevant to that category, the programmatically defining including terms that are not the name of the category and excluding terms that are not pertinent to the category, and (ii) identifying other content items located at one or more other websites for display on the network page of the selected category; and

c. displaying content on at least the portion of the network page that is determined to be pertinent to the category of the network page;

wherein displaying the content includes adding content that is for display on the network page based on the suggested content items from the one or more manual class editors, and adding content that is for display on the network page based on the one or more of the programmatically identified other content items after a determination is made that the suggested content items are insufficient.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein adding content that is for display in the network page based on the one or more of the programmatically defined and identified other content items is performed after the determination is made programmatically.

13. The method of claim 11, further performing steps a) thru c) for each of the plurality of network pages.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of categories corresponds to one of (i) a category about a geographic location, (ii) a current event category, or (iii) a category about a person or business.