Content distribution

• US 9,336,237 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2014
• Issued: 05/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Rolonews LP
• Original Assignee: Rolonews LP
• Inventors: Meier, Paul, Capp, Karl, Khelifa, Boumediene Mourad
• Primary Examiner(s): Arjomandi, Noosha
• Application Number:
  US14/267,266
• Publication Number:
  US 20140330838A1
• Time in Patent Office: 740 Days
• Field of Search: 707/724, 707/725, 707/743, 707/769, 706/12, 705/26.3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2028 eliminating a faulty processor or activating a spare
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

The distribution of content items, such as news items, is dependent in part upon the geographic relevance of the content item and the geographic community to which the target reader belongs. The geographic relevance of content items is determined and compared to a geographic profile for the reader at the distribution target. Where the function of geographic relevance exceeds a predetermined threshold, the content item is delivered to the target. As a result the reader is presented with content items that are more closely relevant to his geographic profile and desired interest threshold.

Claims

1. A method for distributing content in accordance with geographic relevance, the method comprising:

acquiring a content item;

parsing, by a processor, the content item to extract text information and metadata, said text information including at least one named entity;

obtaining contextual information associated with the named entity from a knowledge source;

where said contextual information includes a geographic context, generating, by the processor, a spatial definition in accordance with the geographic context and appending the spatial definition to metadata associated with the content item;

obtaining a profile item for a distribution target, the profile item including profile text information and profile metadata, the profile metadata including a profile spatial definition;

calculating, by the processor, a metric of attraction between the content item spatial definition and the profile spatial definition;

determining, by the processor, a level of relevance of the content item to the distribution target on the basis of the metric of attraction;

providing the content item to the distribution target only when the level of relevance is determined to exceed a threshold level associated with the distribution target; and

tracking activity at the distribution target and updating the profile spatial definition in accordance with the tracked activity, wherein the tracked activity includes one of (i) active feedback from the distribution target indicating an evaluation of the distributed content item and (ii) passive feedback from the distribution target indicating whether the distributed content item was consumed at the distribution target.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the profile spatial definition includes metadata corresponding to a plurality of geographic locations.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the knowledge source is structured as an ontology graph and wherein the step of obtaining contextual information includes consulting the ontology graph to find at least one ontology for the named entity and retrieving contextual information from the ontology found.

4. A system for distributing content in accordance with geographic relevance, the system comprising:

a memory for storing content items;

a communications interface which operates to transfer data between the system and at least one knowledge source and between the system and a distribution target; and

a processor which in operation acquires a content item from the memory, parses the content item to extract text information and metadata, said text information including at least one named entity and obtains contextual information associated with the named entity from a knowledge source, where said contextual information includes a geographic context, the processor is arranged to generate a spatial definition in accordance with the geographic context and to append the spatial definition to metadata associated with the content item;

the processor is further configured to obtain a profile item for the distribution target, the profile item including profile text information and profile metadata, the profile metadata including a profile spatial definition, to calculate a metric of attraction between the content item spatial definition and the profile spatial definition; and

to determine a level of relevance of the content item to the distribution target on the basis of the metric of attraction;

wherein the processor is configured to instruct the communications interface to transfer content items to the distribution target only when the level of relevance is determined to exceed a threshold level associated with the distribution target; and

wherein the processor is further configured to track activity at the distribution target and to update the profile spatial definition in accordance with the tracked activity, wherein the tracked activity includes one of (i) active feedback from the distribution target indicating an evaluation of the distributed content item and (ii) passive feedback from the distribution target indicating whether the distributed content item was consumed at the distribution target.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the profile spatial definition includes metadata corresponding to a plurality of geographic locations.

6. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the knowledge source is structured as an ontology graph and wherein the processor obtains contextual information by consulting the ontology graph to find at least one ontology for the named entity and retrieving contextual information from the ontology found.