Rendering contextual related content with a document, such as on a web page for example

• US 8,407,665 B1
• Filed: 12/30/2005
• Issued: 03/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Felker, Jerry, Ghosemajumder, Shuman, Lucash, Nathan, Walk, Hunter, Eddings, Jeffery
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Ted T
• Application Number:
  US11/323,302
• Time in Patent Office: 2,643 Days
• Field of Search: 717106-109, 717/120, 717/122, 717/123
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

Content owners (e.g., Website publishers) are provided with a simple mechanism to automatically summarize and display information (news, images, maps, etc.) related to inferred interests of a user or users visiting their Website. The targeting can driven by a variety of mechanisms including, for example, an automated contextual understanding of the content of the Web page, profile-based information derived from personal data supplied by, or inferred from actions by, the user visiting the Website, location-targeted information (e.g., inferred by the Website visitor'"'"'s current geography), etc. “Related Content Units” may be used to help content owners render useful, related, content by allowing for a variety of targeting methods to gather related pieces of Internet content and present them integrated into an HTML iFrame or a JavaScript/XML feed which can be easily integrated by the Website publisher onto the Web pages of their Website.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a) accepting information for generating executable code responsive to at least one selection made by a publisher of a document that is obtainable from a document server, the executable code being adapted to facilitate obtaining unspecified content, selected from candidate content, determined by a related content server to relate to content of the document by matching one or more concepts identified from the document with one or more concepts associated with the candidate content;

b) generating the executable code using the accepted information for requesting the unspecified content determined by the related content server to relate to the content of the document; and

c) making the generated executable code available for retrieval and insertion into the document,

wherein the unspecified content determined to relate to the content of the document by the related content server includes at least two different types of content selected from the candidate content.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of the at least two different types of content selected from the candidate content is presented in a separate tab of a multi-tabbed iFrame of the document.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each of the at least two different types of content is selected from a respective group of the candidate content consisting of news, searches, Web pages, images, blogs, RSS feeds, audio files, videos files, and maps.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the unspecified content determined to relate to the content of the document is determined independent of information expressly entered by an advertiser for purposes of targeting.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the unspecified content determined to relate to the content of the document is determined without regard to advertising revenue.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least two different types of content selected from the candidate content correspond to types of content selected by the publishers the document.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the document is a Web page.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the document is a Website.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a) obtaining, at a client device from a document server, a document having executable code that is adapted to facilitate obtaining unspecified content selected from candidate content, the unspecified content determined to relate to content of the document by a related content server, the executable code being inserted into the document after being generated using information for generating the executable code, the information being accepted responsive to at least one selection made by a publisher of the document;

b) the client device issuing to the related content server a request for the unspecified content by executing the executable code; and

c) the related content server identifying the unspecified content that is related to the content of the document by matching at least one concept obtained from the document with at least one concept associated with the candidate content,

wherein the unspecified content determined to relate to the content of the document includes at least two different types of content that are specified by the at least one selection made by a publisher of the document.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the at least one concept obtained from the document and the at least one concept associated with the candidate content are each weighted based on the content of the document.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein each of the at least one concept obtained from the document and wherein and the at least one concept associated with the candidate content is weighted using a probabilistic hierarchical inferential learner cluster based on the content of the document.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein each of the at least two different types of content is presented in response to the request from the client device in a separate tab of a multi-tabbed iFrame of the document.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein each of the at least two different types of content is selected from a group consisting of news, searches, Web pages, images, blogs, RSS feeds, audio files, videos files, and maps.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the unspecified content determined to relate to the content of the document by the related content server is determined independent of information expressly entered by an advertiser for purposes of targeting.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the unspecified content determined to relate to the content of document by the related content server is determined without regard to advertising revenue.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the document is a Web page.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the document is a Website.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein issuing the request to the related content server comprises issuing the request responsive to the client device loading the document for presentation.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a) processor means for accepting information for generating executable code responsive to at least one selection made by a publisher of a document that is obtainable from a document server, the executable code being adapted to facilitate obtaining unspecified content selected from candidate content, the unspecified content determined by a related content server to relate to content of the document by matching at least one concept identified from the document with one or more concepts associated with the candidate content;

b) processor means for generating the executable code using the accepted information for requesting the unspecified content from the related content server; and

c) processor means for making the generated executable code available for retrieval and insertion into the document,

wherein the unspecified content determined to relate to the content of the document by the related content server includes at least two different types of content selected from the candidate content.

20. A client device, comprising:

a) processor means for obtaining a document from a document server, the document having executable code that is adapted to facilitate obtaining unspecified content selected from candidate content, the unspecified content determined by a related content server to relate to content of the document, the executable code being inserted into the document after being generated using information for generating the executable code, this information being accepted responsive to at least one selection made by an owner of the document;

b) processor means for issuing, to the related content server from the client device, a request for the unspecified content by executing the executable code; and

c) processor means for determining, at the related content server using the candidate content, the unspecified content that relates to the content of the document by matching at least one concept obtained from the document with at least one concept associated with the candidate content,

wherein the unspecified content determined to be related to the content of the document by the related content server includes at least two different types of content that are specified by the executable code.

21. The client device of claim 20, wherein the processor means for issuing the request to the related content server issues the request responsive to the client device loading the document for presentation.

22. A system for providing related content for a document, the system comprising:

a document server for providing a document to one or more client devices over a network, the document including executable code generated for insertion into the document, the executable code being generated based upon input from a publisher of the document identifying one or more types of unspecified related content to be presented to a user of the document;

a selected one of one or more client devices for requesting the document from the document server over the network, for executing the executable code contained in the document, and for creating a related content request for the unspecified related content based upon information specified in the executable code; and

,

a related content server for receiving the related content request for the unspecified related content from the selected client device over the network, for determining related content by matching at least one concept obtained from the document with at least one concept associated with candidate content, and for providing the matching related content selected from the candidate content to the client device over the network,

wherein the related content server is configured to automatically select and update the candidate content for presentation to a user by periodically analyzing different types of content from one or more content servers without manual intervention.

23. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a related content server, a request for unspecified content related to content in a document from a selected one of one or more client devices,

the request being generated by the selected client device based upon execution of executable code inserted into the document, the executable code being inserted into the document based upon information provided by a publisher of the document regarding the content of the document; and

determining, at the related content server based upon the request for the unspecified content, related content related to the content of the document by matching at least one concept associated with the document with at least one concept associated with candidate content,

wherein the candidate content is automatically selected and updated by the related content server for presentation to a user by periodically analyzing different types of content from one or more content servers without manual intervention.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recorded with a computer program that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform a method comprising:

a) accepting information for generating executable code responsive to at least one selection made by a publisher of a document that is obtainable from a document server, the executable code being adapted to facilitate obtaining unspecified content, selected from candidate content, determined by a related content server to relate to content of the document by matching one or more concepts identified from the document with one or more concepts associated with the candidate content;

b) generating the executable code using the accepted information for requesting the unspecified content determined by the related content server to relate to the content of the document; and

c) making the generated executable code available for retrieval and insertion into the document, wherein the unspecified content determined to relate to the content of the document by the related content server includes at least two different types of content selected from the candidate content.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recorded with a computer program that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform a method comprising:

a) obtaining, at a client device from a document server, a document having executable code that is adapted to facilitate obtaining unspecified content selected from candidate content, the unspecified content determined to relate to content of the document by a related content server, the executable code being inserted into the document after being generated using information for generating the executable code, the information being accepted responsive to at least one selection made by a publisher of the document;

b) the client device issuing to the related content server a request for the unspecified content by executing the executable code; and

c) the related content server identifying the unspecified content that is related to the content of the document by matching at least one concept obtained from the document with at least one concept associated with the candidate content, wherein the unspecified content determined to relate to the content of the document includes at least two different types of content that are specified by the at least one selection made by a publisher of the document.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recorded with a computer program that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving, at a related content server, a request for unspecified content related to content in a document from a selected one of one or more client devices, the request being generated by the selected client device based upon execution of executable code inserted into the document, the executable code being inserted into the document based upon information provided by a publisher of the document regarding the content of the document; and

determining, at the related content server based upon the request for the unspecified content, related content related to the content of the document by matching at least one concept associated with the document with at least one concept associated with candidate content,

wherein the candidate content is automatically selected and updated by the related content server for presentation to a user by periodically analyzing different types of content from one or more content servers without manual intervention.

27. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more processors configured to;

accept information for generating executable code responsive to at least one selection made by a publisher of a document that is obtainable from a document server, the executable code being adapted to facilitate obtaining unspecified content selected from candidate content, the unspecified content determined by a related content server to relate to content of the document by matching at least one concept identified from the document with one or more concepts associated with the candidate content;

generate the executable code using the accepted information for requesting the unspecified content from the related content server; and

make the generated executable code available for retrieval and insertion into the document,

wherein the unspecified content determined to relate to the content of the document by the related content server includes at least two different types of content selected from the candidate content.

28. A client device, comprising:

one or more processors configured to;

obtain a document from a document server, the document having executable code that is adapted to facilitate obtaining unspecified content selected from candidate content, the unspecified content determined by a related content server to relate to content of the document, the executable code being inserted into the document after being generated using information for generating the executable code, this information being accepted responsive to at least one selection made by an owner of the document;

issue, to the related content server from the client device, a request for the unspecified content by executing the executable code; and

determine, at the related content server using the candidate content, the unspecified content that relates to the content of the document by matching at least one concept obtained from the document with at least one concept associated with the candidate content,

wherein the unspecified content determined to be related to the content of the document by the related content server includes at least two different types of content that are specified by the executable code.