Systems and methods for managing profiles

• US 8,478,757 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2011
• Issued: 07/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kobo Inc (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Kobo Inc (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Leibu, Daniel, Gamblen, Jason, Wu, James, Serbinis, Michael, Hilborn, Pamela, Penner, Richard, Toh, Tai, Galperin, Dan, O'Donoghue, Tony
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Jensu
• Application Number:
  US13/304,565
• Publication Number:
  US 20120191764A1
• Time in Patent Office: 585 Days
• Field of Search: 707/821, 707/736
• US Class Current: 707/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing profiles for electronic content. The methods and systems may involve profiles for a plurality of electronic content items. If a user interaction with an electronic content item of the plurality of electronic content items meets an event definition, the user interaction may be identified as an event associated with the electronic content and recorded in the profile.

Claims

1. A method of managing profiles for electronic publications comprising:

storing a plurality of profiles for a plurality of electronic publications, wherein each profile corresponds to an electronic publication selected from the plurality of electronic publications;

identifying a user interaction as an event when the user interaction meets an event definition, wherein the event is associated with a page of the electronic publication, wherein the identifying step is carried out using a processor, wherein the plurality of event definitions comprise one or more members of the group consisting of;

turning the page, commenting on the page, highlighting a portion of the page, annotating a portion of the page, sharing a portion of the page, bookmarking the page, indicating a like or dislike of a comment, replying to a comment, and indicating a like or dislike to a reply to a comment;

collecting event data corresponding to the event associated with the page of the electronic publication, wherein the event data comprises a pagestamp, wherein the pagestamp corresponds to the page of the electronic publication;

recording the event data as a new data entry in the profile corresponding to the electronic publication, wherein the profile of the electronic publication comprises a plurality of data entries; and

computing a score for each page of the electronic publication by correlating the plurality of data entries in the profile of the electronic publication based on the pagestamp of each data entry.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the score provides an indication of a level of user interest in the page of the electronic publication.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein computing the score for the page comprises computing a plurality of data points for the page and aggregating the plurality of data points.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein each data point of the plurality of data points is associated with a weight factor and wherein computing the score comprises weighting each data point using the corresponding weight factor and aggregating the weighted data points.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the data points comprise one or more members of the group consisting of:

number of purchases of the electronic publication, a number of completions of the electronic publication, a number of times users read the electronic publication or the page, average time to read the electronic publication or the page, share rate, annotation rate, highlight rate, comment rate, comment rate compared to annotation rate, bookmark rate, like or dislike ratio;

like or dislike to comment ratio, random noise range, number of users of the electronic publication and page thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising computing a score for the electronic publication using the data entries recorded in the profile of the electronic publication, wherein the score for the electronic publication provides an indication of a level of user interest in the electronic publication.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the score provides an indication of a level of user interest in the page of the electronic publication.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a visual indicator representing the score associated with the page within the electronic publication when the page is displayed to a user.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a plurality of user interactions with a page of the electronic publication, wherein the identifying, the collecting and the recording steps are carried out for each user interaction of the plurality of user interactions.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the plurality of user interactions correspond to a plurality of users.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising displaying a visual indicator representing the score associated with the page within the electronic publication when the page is displayed to at least one of the plurality of users.

7. A method of displaying an electronic publication to a user the method comprising:

collecting a plurality of data entries about a plurality of user interactions associated with a page within the electronic publication, wherein each data entry comprises a pagestamp corresponding to the page within the electronic publication, wherein the plurality of user interactions comprise one or more members of the group consisting of;

turning, the page commenting on the page, highlighting a portion of the page, annotating portion of the page, sharing a portion of the page, bookmarking the page, indicating like or dislike of a comment, replying to a comment, and indicating a like or dislike to a reply to a comment;

calculating a score associated with the page within the electronic publication by correlating the data entries using the pagestamp of each data entry, wherein the calculating step is carried out using a processor;

collecting data entries and computing a score for each page within the electronic publication using the collected data entries; and

displaying a visual indicator representing the score associated with the page within the electronic publication when the page is displayed to a user.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the calculating step further comprises computing data comprising one or more members of the group consisting of:

number of purchases of the electronic publication, number of completions of the electronic publication, number of times the electronic publication is read, number of times the electronic publication or the page is read, average time to complete the electronic publication or the page, average time spent reading the electronic publication or the page when not complete yet, share rate;

annotation rate, highlight rate, comment rate, comment rate compared to annotation rate, bookmark rate, like or dislike ratio, like or dislike to comment ratio, random noise range, and number of users reading the electronic publication or the page.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

displaying a mechanism for collecting the plurality of data entries about the plurality of user interactions;

wherein the step of collecting the plurality of data entries involves using the mechanism.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

displaying a mechanism for collecting comments about the page from the users;

using the mechanism, collecting comment data about the page from the users;

computing a comment score for the page based on the comment data; and

displaying a visual representation of the comment score and at least a portion of the collected comments.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

collecting statistical data about the plurality of user interactions with the page of the electronic publication;

calculating the score associated with the page within the electronic publication using the statistical data, wherein the score represents a level of user interest in the page of the electronic publication.

13. The method of claim 7 further comprising displaying a visual indicator representing the calculated score for each page within the electronic publication.

31. The method of claim 7 wherein each data entry of the plurality of data entries is associated with a weight factor and wherein computing the score comprises weighting each data entry using the corresponding weight factor and aggregating the weighted data entries.

32. The method of claim 7 wherein the calculating step further comprises calculating data points comprising one or more members of the group consisting of:

number of purchases of the electronic publication, number of completions of the electronic publication, number of times users read the electronic publication or the page, average time to read the electronic publication or the page, share rate, annotation rate, highlight rate, comment rate, comment rate compared to annotation rate, bookmark rate, like or dislike ratio;

like or dislike to comment ratio, random noise range, number of users of the electronic publication and page of the electronic publication.

14. A method of managing a network of users and electronic publications comprising:

storing a plurality of profiles for a plurality of users, wherein each user profile is associated with a user of at least one device configured to access at least one electronic publication in a memory, wherein each user profile comprises a user identifier identifying the user;

storing a plurality of 0rofites for a;

plurality of electronic publications, wherein each electronic publication comprises a plurality of pages;

identifying a user interaction as an event when the user interaction meets an event definition, wherein the event is associated with a page of an electronic publication of the plurality of electronic publications, wherein the identifying step is carried out using a processor, wherein the plurality of event definitions comprises one or more members of the group consisting of;

turning the page, commenting on the page, highlighting a portion of the page, annotating a portion of the page, sharing a portion of the page, bookmarking the page, indicating a like or a dislike of a comment, replying to a comment, and indicating a like or dislike to a reply to a comment;

collecting event data corresponding to the event associated with the page of the electronic publication, wherein the event data comprises a pagestamp and a user identifier, wherein the pagestamp indicates the page in the electronic publication and wherein the user identifier indicates the user associated with the user interaction;

recording the event data as a new data entry in the profile of the electronic publication, where the profile of the electronic publication comprises a plurality of data entries; and

computing a score for each page of the electronic publication by correlating the plurality of data entries in the profile of the electronic publication based on the pagestamp of each data entry.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising storing a plurality of event definitions.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein identifying the user interaction as an event comprises matching input data to at least one of the plurality of event definitions.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising providing a notification of an occurrence of the event to a social network application.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein collecting event data further comprises receiving a time period associated with reading the electronic publication.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein collecting event data further comprises receiving content from at least one electronic publication.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein collecting event data further comprises receiving a location of the at least one device configured to access the at least one electronic publication.

21. The method of claim 14 wherein the event is associated with at least one of the group consisting of:

adding the electronic publication to an electronic library, finishing the electronic publications, reading the electronic publication in a location, reading about a location on the page, and reading about a character on the page.

22. A system for managing profiles for electronic publications, the system comprising:

a profile module configured to;

store a plurality of profiles for a plurality of electronic publications in a memory, wherein each profile comprises an electronic publication identifier associated with the corresponding electronic publication;

an event detection module configured to;

identify, using a processor, a user interaction as an event when the user interaction meets at least one event definition, wherein the event is associated with a page of an electronic publication of the plurality of electronic publications, wherein the plurality of event definitions comprises one or more members of the group consisting of;

turning the page, commenting on the page, highlighting a portion of the page, annotating a portion of the page, sharing a portion of the page, bookmarking the page, indicating a like or dislike of a comment, replying to a comment, and indicating a like or dislike to a reply to a comment; and

collect event data associated with the event, wherein the event data includes a pagestamp indicating the page of the electronic publication;

and wherein the profile module is further configured to record the event data as a new data entry in the profile of the electronic publication, wherein the profile of the electronic publication comprises a plurality of data entries; and

an analytics engine configured to compute a score for each page in the electronic publication by correlating the plurality of data entries in the profile of the electronic publication based on the pagestamp.

23. The system of claim 22 further comprising:

an event definition module configured to define a plurality of event definitions; and

a rules engine configured to store and manage the plurality of event definitions.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein the event detection module is configured to identify an event by interacting with a rules engine to match input data to the at least one event definition.

33. The system of claim 22 wherein the event data comprises a plurality of data points, wherein each data point of the plurality of data points is associated with a pagestamp and a weight factor and wherein the analytics engine is configured to compute the score by weighting each data point using the corresponding weight factor and aggregating the weighted data points using the pagestamp.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the analytics engine is configured compute additional data points comprising one or more members of the group consisting of:

number of purchases of the electronic publication, number of completions of the electronic publication, number of times users read the electronic publication or the page, average times to read the electronic publication or the page, share rate, annotation rate, highlight rate, comment rate, comment rate compared to annotation rate, bookmark rate, like or dislike ratio, like or dislike to comment ratio, random noise range, number of users of the electronic publication and page of the electronic publication.

25. A method of managing profiles for electronic publications comprising:

storing a plurality of profiles for a plurality of electronic publications, wherein each profile corresponds to an electronic publication selected from the plurality of electronic publications;

detecting on a device a user interaction with a page of an electronic publication of the plurality of electronic publications;

identifying the user interaction as an event associated with the page of the electronic publication when the user interaction meets an event definition, wherein the identifying step is carried out using a processor, wherein the plurality of event definitions comprise one or more members of the group consisting of;

turning the page, commenting on the page, highlighting a portion of the page, annotating a portion of the page;

sharing a portion of the page, bookmarking the page, indicating a like or dislike of a comment, replying to a comment, and indicating a like or dislike to a reply to a comment;

collecting event data corresponding to the event, wherein the event data comprises a pagestamp, wherein the pagestamp indicates the page within the electronic publication;

recording the event data as a new data entry in the profile corresponding to the electronic publication, wherein the profile of the electronic publication comprises a plurality of data entries;

computing a score for each page in the electronic publication by correlating the plurality of data entries in the profile of the electronic publication based on the pagestamp of each data entry, wherein the score provides an indication of a level of user interest in the page of the electronic publication, and

displaying a visual indicator representing the score for each page of the electronic publication when the page of the electronic publication is displayed on the device.

26. A system of managing profiles for electronic publications comprising:

a profile module configured to store a plurality of profiles for a plurality of electronic publications, wherein each profile corresponds to an electronic publication selected from the plurality of electronic publications;

an event detection module configured to;

detect on a device a user interaction with a page of an electronic publication of the plurality of electronic publications;

use a processor to identify the user interaction as an event associated with the page of the electronic publication when the user interaction meets an event definition, wherein the plurality of event definitions comprise one or more members from the group consisting of;

turning the page, commenting on the page, highlighting a portion of the page, annotating a portion of the page;

sharing a portion of the page, bookmarking the page, indicating a like or dislike of a comment, replying to a comment, and indicating a like or dislike to a reply to a comment;

collecting event data corresponding to the event, wherein the event data comprises a pagestamp, wherein the pagestamp indicates the page within the electronic publication, wherein the profile module is further configured to record the event as a new data entry in the profile of the electronic publication, wherein the profile of the electronic publication comprises a plurality of data entries; and

an analytics engine configured to use the process to compute a score for each page in the electronic publication by correlating the plurality of data entries in the profile of the electronic publication based on the pagestamp of each data entry, wherein the score provides an indication of a level of user interest in the page of the electronic publication,

wherein the profile module is further configured to

display a visual indicator representing the score for each page of the electronic publication when the page of the electronic publication is displayed on the device.