Techniques for improving relevance of social updates distributed offline

• US 9,213,981 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2010
• Issued: 12/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Angani, Kishore, Teotia, Abhinav Singh, Kothari, Pankaj
• Primary Examiner(s): Hwang, Joon H
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALRIYASHI, ABDULKADER MOHAMED
• Application Number:
  US12/973,862
• Publication Number:
  US 20120158843A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,821 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/206, 705/14, 719/318, 715/700
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Methods and system for delivering updates to recipients in a social network includes receiving event related data in response to triggering of an event at a client. In response to the triggering of the event at the client, recipient data related to a recipient that is authorized to receive the event related data is retrieved. An agent is provided for the recipient. The agent includes logic for formatting and delivering the event related data to the recipient. The recipient'"'"'s interaction in response to delivery of the event related data is tracked. The logic within the agent is refined based on the interaction of the recipient. The agent with the refined logic is used for subsequent formatting and delivering of event related data to the recipient.

Claims

1. A method for delivering updates to recipients in a social network, comprising:

a. receiving event related data in response to triggering of an event;

b. retrieving recipient data related to the recipients authorized to receive the event related data, wherein the recipient data includes the event related data targeted for the recipients;

c. assigning an agent for the recipients, the agent including logic for formatting and delivering the event related data to the recipients, wherein the agent is specific to a demographic group, wherein the recipients are members of the demographic group;

d. tracking interaction of the recipients in response to delivery of the event related data;

e. refining the logic of the agent based on the interaction of at least a specific recipient, the interaction identifying the specific recipient'"'"'s behavior toward the delivered event related data, wherein the refining of the logic results in spawning a secondary agent, the secondary agent being specific for the specific recipient; and

f. assigning the secondary agent with refined logic for delivering subsequent event related data to the specific recipient and using the agent to deliver subsequent event related data to rest of the recipients of the demographic group other than the specific recipient subsequent to assigning the secondary agent to the specific recipient, wherein the assigning includes using the refined logic of the secondary agent for selecting, formatting and delivering the event related data to the specific recipient, wherein the event related data delivered by the secondary agent is relevant to the specific recipient,

wherein the event related data is delivered to corresponding recipients upon successful verification that a quality score computed for the event related data specified for the agent and the secondary agent matches a quality threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving further comprises:

generating a feed identifier for the event related data; and

storing event related data in a feed cache along with the feed identifier for subsequent retrieval by the agent or the secondary agent for delivery.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein formatting further comprises:

retrieving the event related data from the feed cache;

determining a preferred delivery channel for delivering event related data; and

dynamically formatting the event related data to comply with requirements of the preferred delivery channel.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the preferred delivery channel is determined based on any one or combination of recipient'"'"'s profile and behavior toward the updates to the event related data, type of updates to the event related data, recipient'"'"'s preference of device used in accessing the updates, and type of interaction of the recipient in response to delivery of a prior event related data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein retrieving recipient data further comprises:

identifying creator of the event related data; and

extracting information associated with the recipient authorized to receive the event related data from a recipient list associated with the identified creator, wherein the information is used for distribution of event related data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein delivering the event related data further comprises:

computing the quality score for the event related data directed to the recipient based on one or more quality metrics associated with the recipient, the quality score determining relevance of the event related data for the recipient; and

discarding the event related data for the recipient when the quality score for the event related data is below a quality threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

identifying a template for delivering the event related data; and

formatting the event related data using the template for delivery, the template defining layout and presentation of content of the event related data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein delivering the event related data further comprises:

determining a delivery threshold for the recipient; and

automatically triggering delivery of the event related data when the delivery threshold for the recipient is met.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the delivery threshold is specific to the recipient.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein delivering the event related data further comprises:

incrementing a cumulative delivery score associated with the recipient when the delivery threshold for the recipient is not met; and

storing the cumulative delivery score along with recipient information for the recipient in a database for subsequent delivery.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the formatting includes prioritizing the event related data based on the interaction of the recipient in response to delivery of prior event related data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking interaction further comprises:

weighting each event related data based on recipient'"'"'s interaction in response to the delivery of the event related data, the recipient'"'"'s interaction identifying relevance of the event related data to the recipient, the weighting used in subsequent delivery of the event related data to the recipient.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the formatting further comprises:

enriching content of the event related data with customization data, the customization data providing information related to one or more of creator, source, recipient or content of the event related data.

14. A method for delivering updates to recipients in a social network, comprising:

receiving event related data in response to triggering of an event, the event related data stored in a feed cache;

retrieving data associated with a plurality of recipients authorized to receive the event related data;

assigning an agent for the plurality of recipients, the agent including logic for formatting and delivering the event related data to the plurality of recipients;

tracking interaction of a specific recipient from the plurality of recipients in response to delivery of the event related data, the specific recipient being a highly engaged recipient;

spawning a second agent from the agent in response to the tracking of interaction of the highly engaged recipient, wherein the logic in the second agent is refined and distinct from the logic in the agent based on the interaction of the highly engaged recipient;

assigning the second agent to the highly engaged recipient, wherein the second agent provides logic for selecting, formatting and delivering event related data targeted for the highly engaged recipient; and

using the second agent for delivering subsequent event related data relevant to the highly engaged recipient and the agent for delivering subsequent event related data relevant to the plurality of recipients other than the highly engaged recipient subsequent to assigning the second agent to the highly engaged recipient,

wherein the event related data is delivered to respective recipients upon successful verification that a quality score computed for the event related data specified for the agent and the secondary agent matches a quality threshold.

15. The method of claim 14 further includes,

tracking interactions of the plurality of recipients including the highly engaged recipient in response to the delivery of the event related data;

and

refining the logic of the agent and the second agent based on the interactions of the plurality of recipients in response to delivery of the event related data, the refined logic of the agent and the second agent used in delivering subsequent event related data to the respective recipients.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein delivering the event related data further comprises:

determining a delivery threshold for each of the plurality of recipients, wherein the delivery threshold is specific to each of the plurality of recipients; and

automatically triggering delivery of the event related data by the respective agent when the delivery threshold for each of the recipients is met.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein delivering the event related data further comprises:

retrieving a cumulative delivery score and a delivery threshold value for each of the plurality of recipients, wherein the cumulative delivery score and the delivery threshold value are distinct for each of the plurality of recipients;

incrementing the cumulative delivery score associated with corresponding ones of the plurality of recipients in response to the triggering of the event;

comparing the cumulative delivery score against the delivery threshold value for each of the plurality of recipients; and

storing the cumulative delivery score along with recipient information for the corresponding ones of the recipients in a database for subsequent delivery when the delivery threshold value for the corresponding ones of the recipients is not met.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein when the delivery threshold value for the corresponding ones of the recipients is met, formatting further comprises:

retrieving the event related data from the feed cache for the corresponding recipients;

determining a preferred delivery channel for delivering event related data for each of the corresponding recipients; and

dynamically formatting the event related data using a template to comply with requirements of the preferred delivery channel for each of the recipients for delivery by respective agents.