Assigning slots to content in a pipeline

• US 8,949,712 B1
• Filed: 02/06/2013
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Johnson, Adam Brent, Days, Adam Lloyd, Fakhari, Yashar Dehkharghani, Sutariya, Mehul Gordhanbhai
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ludwig, Matthew
• Application Number:
  US13/760,485
• Time in Patent Office: 727 Days
• Field of Search: 715/243, 715/246, 715/204, 715/234, 715/26.1, 715/27, 715/28, 707/728, 705/26.1, 705/27.1
• US Class Current: 715/243
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for assigning user interface widgets to page slots associated with a page pipeline. In response to a request to generate a content page, content placement requests are then received from user interface widgets. The page slots are associated with a placement value indicating a value of the page slot relative to other page slots in the page template and can be weighted based upon their location in a page pipeline. The highest ranked user interface widgets according to an effectiveness metric or placement score are scheduled for placement in the content page.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in a computing device, comprising:

code that receives a request to generate a content page from a browser executed on a client device;

code that identifies at least one arrival characteristic associated with the request, the at least one arrival characteristic comprising at least one of;

a referrer link or a user account associated with the request;

code that identifies a page pipeline corresponding to the at least one arrival characteristic;

code that identifies a plurality of page templates corresponding to the page pipeline;

code that identifies a plurality of page slots in the page pipeline specifying a location within the plurality of page templates in which content can be placed, the plurality of page slots further being associated with a respective placement value indicating a value of the location within a respective one of the plurality of page templates;

code that weights the respective placement value of the plurality of page slots according to a probability that a user advances to the respective page template, thereby generating a respective weighted placement value;

code that generates a ranking of a plurality of user interface widgets according to an effectiveness metric, the plurality of user interface widgets configured to generate markup language for placement within the page pipeline;

code that matches the plurality of page slots with at least a subset of the plurality of user interface widgets according to the ranking and the respective weighted placement value; and

code that generates the content page with the markup language generated by a respective plurality of user interface widgets that b matched with a respective plurality of page slots of the content page.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising:

code that receives another request to generate a subsequent content page associated with the page pipeline;

code that generates another ranking of a remainder of the plurality of user interface widgets according to the effectiveness metric, the plurality of user interface widgets configured to generate markup language for placement within a remainder of the page pipeline; and

code that generates the subsequent content page with another subset of the remainder of the plurality of user interface widgets corresponding to the remainder of the page pipeline.

3. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

a content page generation application executable in the at least one computing device, the content page generation application comprising;

logic that receives a request to generate a content page on behalf of a user;

logic that identifies a page pipeline in which to place the user based at least in part upon arrival conditions associated with the request, the page pipeline comprising a plurality of content pages, the arrival conditions comprising at least one of a referrer link or a user account associated with the request, individual ones of the content pages being associated with a respective page template comprising a plurality of page slots, the page slots being ranked according to a respective placement value;

logic that weights the respective placement value of individual ones of the plurality of page slots according to a respective probability that the user advances to a respective one of the content pages, thereby generating a respective weighted placement value;

logic that generates a ranking of a plurality of user interface widgets according to an effectiveness metric, the effectiveness metric being associated with minimizing an abandonment rate of a user;

logic that matches the plurality of page slots of the plurality of content pages with at least a subset of the plurality of user interface widgets according to the ranking and the respective weighted placement value; and

logic that generates the content page with a respective subset of the plurality of user interface widgets.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the content page generation application further comprises:

logic that obtains another request to generate a subsequent content page associated with the page pipeline;

logic that generates a ranking of a remainder of the plurality of user interface widgets according to the effectiveness metric;

logic that matches a remainder of the plurality of page slots of a remainder of the plurality of content pages with a subset of the remainder of the plurality of user interface widgets according to the ranking and the respective weighted placement value; and

logic that generates the subsequent content page with another respective subset of the remainder of the plurality of user interface widgets corresponding to a respective plurality of page slots of the subsequent content page.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the content page generation application further comprises:

logic that obtains a request to generate a new content page outside of the page pipeline;

logic that identifies a new page pipeline based at least in part upon other arrival conditions associated with the request to generate the new content page, the new page pipeline comprising a plurality of other content pages, individual ones of the other content pages being associated with another page template comprising a plurality of other page slots, the other page slots being ranked according to the respective placement value;

logic that weights the respective placement value of individual ones of the other page slots according to the respective probability that the user advances to the respective one of the content pages, thereby generating the respective weighted placement value of the other page slots;

logic that generates another ranking of a plurality of other user interface widgets according to the effectiveness metric;

logic that matches the plurality of other page slots of the plurality of other content pages with at least a subset of the plurality of other user interface widgets according to the other ranking and the respective weighted placement value of the other page slots; and

logic that generates the new content page with a respective subset of the plurality of other user interface widgets corresponding to the plurality of other page slots.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the effectiveness metric is further associated with at least one of a profitability amount, a revenue amount, or a volume of sold items associated with a corresponding user interface widget in an electronic commerce system.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the effectiveness metric is further associated with an engagement metric associated with a corresponding user interface widget, the engagement metric expressing a measure of an amount of user interaction with the corresponding user interface widget.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein the respective placement value is further based at least in part upon a probability that the user advances to a subsequent content page in the page pipeline.

9. The system of claim 3, wherein the logic that generates the content page further comprises logic that requests individual ones of the at least a subset of the plurality of user interface widgets to generate markup language for placement within the content page.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the logic that requests the individual ones of the at least a subset of the plurality of user interface widgets to generate markup initiates the requests in parallel.

11. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

logic that determines whether any of the respective subset of the plurality of user interface widgets returns an error in response to the requests to generate markup language; and

logic that initiates another request to generate markup language for a next highest ranked user interface widget according to the ranking that is not among the respective subset of the plurality of user interface widgets.

12. A method, comprising the steps of:

identifying, via the at least one computing device, an arrival condition associated with a request to generate a content page, the arrival condition comprising at least one of a referrer link or a user account associated with the request;

identifying, via the at least one computing device, a page pipeline corresponding to the arrival condition, the page pipeline comprising a plurality of content pages, individual ones of the content pages being associated with a respective page template comprising a plurality of page slots, the plurality of page slots being associated with a respective placement value;

weighting, via the at least one computing device, the respective placement value of individual ones of the plurality of page slots according to a respective probability that the user advances to a respective one of the content pages, thereby generating a respective weighted placement value;

identifying, via the at least one computing device, a plurality of user interface widgets for placement within the page pipeline;

generating, via the at least one computing device, at least one ranking of the plurality of user interface widgets according to an effectiveness metric, the effectiveness metric being associated with minimizing an abandonment rate of a user; and

matching, via the at least one computing device, at least one of the page slots within the page pipeline with a respective user interface widget based at least in part upon the ranking and the respective weighted placement value of the at least one page slot.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the respective placement value is further based at least in part upon a probability that the user advances to a respective content page in the page pipeline.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

generating, via the at least one computing device, another ranking of the plurality of user interface widgets according to the effectiveness metric in response to receiving another request to generate a subsequent content page associated with the page pipeline; and

matching, via the at least one computing device, a remainder of the plurality of page slots of a remainder of the plurality of content pages with a subset of the plurality of user interface widgets according to the ranking and the respective weighted placement value.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the identifying the plurality of user interface widgets for placement within the page pipeline further comprises identifying at least one user interface widget that is relevant to the activity arrival condition.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the effectiveness metric is associated with the probability that the user advances to a subsequent content page of the page pipeline.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the effectiveness metric is associated with the probability that the user takes an action with respect to a product available via an electronic commerce system.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of generating the content page with a subset of the plurality of user interface widgets placed in the respective page slots of the content page.

19. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

an application executable in the at least one computing device, the application comprising;

logic that receives a request for content on behalf of a user;

logic that identifies a behavior pipeline in which to place the user based at least in part upon arrival conditions associated with the request, the behavior pipeline comprising a plurality of pipeline stages, individual ones of the pipeline stages being associated a plurality of content slots, the plurality of content slots being ranked according to a respective placement value and the arrival conditions comprising at least one of a referrer link or a user account associated with the request;

logic that weights the respective placement value of individual ones of the content slots according to a respective probability that the user advances to a respective one of the pipeline stages, thereby generating a respective weighted placement value of the plurality of content slots;

logic that generates a ranking of a plurality of user interface widgets according to an effectiveness metric, the effectiveness metric associated with minimizing an abandonment rate of the user;

logic that matches the plurality of content slots of the plurality of pipeline stages with at least a subset of the plurality of user interface widgets according to the ranking and the respective weighted placement value; and

logic that generates the requested content with a subset of the plurality of user interface widgets corresponding to a respective plurality of content slots.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the application further comprises:

logic that obtains another request to generate subsequent content from the behavior pipeline;

logic that generates another ranking of a remainder of the plurality of user interface widgets according to the effectiveness metric;

logic that weights the respective placement value of a remainder of the plurality of content slots according to the respective probability that the user advances to the respective one of the pipeline stages, thereby generating the respective weighted placement value of the remainder of the plurality of content slots;

logic that matches the remainder of the plurality of content slots with at least a subset of the remainder of user interface widgets according to the other ranking and the respective weighted placement value of the remainder of the plurality of content slots; and

logic that generates the subsequent content from the behavior pipeline with a subset of the remainder of the plurality of user interface widgets corresponding to the subsequent content.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the logic that receives the request to generate subsequent content from the behavior pipeline further comprises logic that receives an indication of the user advancing to a subsequent stage of the behavior pipeline.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the behavior pipeline comprises at least one of:

audio content, a video stream, or a call center workflow.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the behavior pipeline comprises a plurality of stages, wherein a first stage of the behavior pipeline comprises a purchase of an item by the user from a retailer and a second stage of the behavior pipeline comprises an interaction of the user with a site facilitated by the at least one computing device.