Associating objects in databases by rate-based tagging

• US 8,713,009 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2008
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Walker, Hubert M., Morrison, Noel C., Lara, Ankarino S., Bedard, Scott, Blake, Stephen James
• Primary Examiner(s): SYED, FARHAN M
• Application Number:
  US12/238,324
• Publication Number:
  US 20100082576A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,042 Days
• US Class Current: 707/731
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/81 Indexing, e.g. XML tags; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide automatic systems and methods for associating objects in databases of a web site by rate-based tagging. The frequencies of users entering specific tag terms for objects stored in the databases of the web site are used to determine hard associations between objects and tag terms and between objects. When the frequencies of user tags exceed established thresholds, hard associations between objects and tag terms are established. When objects are identified or determined to have hard association with tag terms, the objects are determined to be more clearly associated with the corresponding tag terms. Therefore, they should be highlighted or featured in more prominent locations on web pages of the web site to increase users'"'"' confidence in content of the web site. To identify hard-associated objects, more weights can be assigned to the hard-associated objects, which allows them to be more likely to be selected for display in prominent locations. In addition, objects that are determined to have hard associations with tag terms can also have hard associations with one another due to the common tag terms they share. The hard association relationship between objects can be displayed through links to associated objects when an object is selected for display.

Claims

1. A method for automatically generating a hard association of an object with a tag term entered by users for the object of a web site, comprising:

receiving tag terms entered by users for objects of the web site and placing the received tag terms with corresponding objects in at least one database;

determining a criteria of hard association for objects to establish hard associations with tag terms entered for the corresponding objects, wherein the object that passes the criteria of hard association is weighted more during selection of objects to display in a prominent location of a web page of the web site and is more likely to be selected;

processing data in the at least one database of the web site to identify an object and a corresponding tag term that pass the criteria of hard association; and

automatically creating a database to store the identified object and the corresponding tag terms that pass the criteria of hard association, wherein the criteria of hard association includes a percentage of users entering a particular corresponding tag term for an object, and the percentage of users entering a particular corresponding tag term for the object is greater than or equal to a predefined percentage, and wherein the automatically created database includes a column of object identification, a column of corresponding tag term for the object, a column of a number of users entering the corresponding tag term for the object, and a column of a percentage of users who enter a particular corresponding tag term for the object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding tag terms entered by users describe the content of the objects.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the criteria of hard association includes a number of users entering a particular corresponding tag term for an object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the objects can be photos, music pieces, videos, user comments, discussion boards and blogs, and text-based description.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a weight assigned to the object correlates to a number of users, or a percentage of users entering the corresponding tag term, or a combination of both.

6. A method for automatically establishing a hard association between two objects through a common tag term and displaying the hard association of the two objects in a web page of a web site, comprising:

processing data in at least one database storing objects having hard associations with corresponding tag terms to identify the two objects that have hard associations with the common tag term and to define a hard association between the two identified objects; and

automatically creating a database to store the two identified objects and the common tag term, wherein when one of the two identified objects is selected for displaying on a web page of the web site, a link to the other object is displayed along with the object selected, wherein the hard associations of the objects having hard associations with the corresponding tag terms are defined by a minimal number of users or a minimal percentage of users who enter the corresponding tag terms for the objects, wherein an object that passes a criteria of hard association is weighted more during selection of objects to display in a prominent location of the web page of the web site and is more likely to be selected, and wherein the automatically created database includes a column of object identification, a column of corresponding tag term for the object, a column of a number of users entering the corresponding tag term for the object, and a column of a percentage of users who enter a particular corresponding tag term for the object.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the database has a column of objection identification of one of the two objects and a column of object identification for the other object.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the database further includes a column of tag term that the two identified objects have hard associations.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the two objects can be photos, music pieces, videos, user comments, discussion boards and blogs, and text-based description.

10. A system for automatically creating hard associations of objects with corresponding tag terms entered by users for the object of a web site, comprising:

at least a server for storing objects in the web site;

a server with an algorithm for collecting tag terms entered by users for objects in the web site;

a server for storing in a database hard associations of objects with corresponding tag terms entered by users; and

a server for storing algorithm of automatically creating hard associations between the objects with the corresponding tag terms, wherein the hard associations of the objects having hard associations with the corresponding tag terms are defined by a minimal number of users, or a minimal percentage of users who are detected to have entered the corresponding tag terms for the objects, wherein an object that passes a criteria of hard association is weighted more during selection of objects to display in a prominent location of a web page of the web site and is more likely to be selected, and wherein the database includes a column of object identification, a column of corresponding tag term for the object, a column of a number of users entering the corresponding tag term for the object, and a column of a percentage of users who enter a particular corresponding tag term for the object.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the hard associations of the objects having hard associations with the corresponding tag terms are further defined by a combination of a minimal number of users and a minimal percentage of users who enter the corresponding tag terms for the objects.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the server for storing databases of hard associations of objects further includes databases of objects having hard associations by having common tag terms, and wherein the objects and the common tag terms have hard associations.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the server for algorithm of automatically creating hard associations between the objects with the corresponding tag terms also include an algorithm for assigning weights to the objects having hard associations with the corresponding tag terms.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the server for storing databases of hard associations of objects include at least a database for storing weights assigned to the objects.