System and method for displaying quotations

• US 9,405,732 B1
• Filed: 12/06/2006
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Topix
• Original Assignee: Topix
• Inventors: Rubinstein, Steven, Skrenta, Richard, Peters, Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): Padmanabhan, Kavita
• Assistant Examiner(s): Burke, Tionna
• Application Number:
  US11/567,691
• Time in Patent Office: 3,527 Days
• Field of Search: 715/200
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/10 Text processing natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30; processing or translation of natural language G06F40/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191

Abstract

Embodiments described herein provide a method for identifying at least one quotation from a text content source and selecting at least one of the identified quotations for prominent display on a presentation. In one embodiment, the presentation that displays the selected quotation is a webpage viewable over the Internet.

Claims

1. A method for displaying text, the method comprising:

programmatically selecting a quotation of a third person from text of a content item, wherein the quotation is representative of a topic or theme of the content item, and wherein the selected quotation (i) comprises only a portion of the text of the content item, so that the text of the content item includes non-quotation content, (ii) is attributable to the third person who is not an author of the content item, and (iii) is programmatically deemed to be representative of the topic or theme of the content item; and

creating a presentation based, at least in part, on the text of the content item, wherein creating the presentation includes placing at least a portion of the selected quotation in prominence on the presentation, wherein placing at least the portion of the selected quotation in prominence on the presentation includes copying at least the portion of the quotation onto a region of the presentation that is separate from another region of the presentation where content from the text of the content item is displayed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein programmatically selecting the quotation of the third person includes detecting one or more markers that indicate a location of the quotation in the text of the content item.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein detecting one or more markers that indicate the location of the quotation in the text of the content item includes determining a style of quotation markers for the content item.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the style of quotation markers for the content item includes determining whether the content item utilizes a single quotation marker symbol or a double quotation marker symbol.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein copying at least the portion of the quotation onto the region of the presentation includes placing the quotation in proximity to a picture.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising selecting the picture for use on the presentation from a collection of pictures.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the presentation is a webpage.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein programmatically selecting the quotation of the third person includes selecting the quotation based at least in part on one or more of (i) a length of the quotation, (ii) a placement of the quotation in the text of the content item, and (iii) one or more words that are contained in the quotation.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the quotation based in part on comparing one or more words contained in the quotation with subject matter of the text of the content item.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein comparing one or more words contained in the quotation with subject matter of the text of the content item includes at least one of (i) comparing the one or more words contained in the quotation to a title of the text of the content item, (ii) comparing the one or more words contained in the quotation to the text of the content item, and (iii) comparing the one or more words contained in the quotation with one or more keywords contained in the text of the content item.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the text of the content item is content from an online source.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein programmatically selecting the quotation of the third person includes discarding from selection any quotation in which a number of words that are capitalized exceeds a designated threshold.

13. A computer implemented method for identifying a quotation in text content, the method comprising:

selecting a quotation of a third person from text of a content item, wherein the quotation is representative of a topic or theme of the content item, and wherein the selected quotation (i) comprises only a portion of the text of the content item, so that the text of the content item includes non-quotation content, (ii) is attributable to the third person who is not an author of the content item, and (iii) is programmatically deemed to be representative of the topic or theme of the content item, wherein selecting a representative quotation is based, at least in part, on one or more markers that identify a location of the quotation; and

displaying the quotation for prominence when displaying the text content or portions of the text content, wherein displaying the quotation for prominence includes copying at least a portion of the quotation onto a region of a presentation that is separate from another region of the presentation where content from the text of the content item is displayed.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein displaying the quotation for prominence includes creating the presentation in which the selected quotation is displayed in conjunction with the text of the content item.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein creating the presentation includes formatting the quotation based on one or more of (i) a number of words included in the selected quotation, (ii) a font size of the text of the content item, and (iii) a space available in the presentation for display of the selected quotation.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein selecting the quotation of the third person includes identifying one or more quotation markers in the text of the content item.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the quotation markers include one or more of (i) a single quotation symbol, (ii) a double quotation symbol, (iii) a pair of bracket symbols identifying a string of words in the text of the content item, (iv) a paragraph indentation, (v) a text formatting of a string of words included in the text of the content item, and (vi) a paragraph spacing of a string of words in the text of the content item.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the quotation markers include one or more of the single quotation symbol, and wherein selecting a representative quotation in a text of a content item includes determining that none of the one or more single quotation symbols are for a text contraction.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein selecting the quotation of the third person includes extracting a quotation that extends to two or more paragraphs.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein selecting the quotation of the third person includes extracting a quotation that is separated by an attribution.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein displaying the quotation for prominence includes using a set of rules or factors to determine which quotation is to be selected.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein selecting the quotation of the third person includes identifying a quotation separated by one or more of (i) line breaks, (ii) paragraph breaks, (iii) column breaks, or (iv) an attribution.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying instructions for displaying text content, wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform steps comprising:

selecting a quotation of a third person from text of a content item, wherein the quotation is representative of a topic or theme of the content item, and wherein the selected quotation (i) comprises only a portion of the text of the content item, so that the text of the content item includes non-quotation content, (ii) is attributable to the third person who is not an author of the content item, and (iii) is programmatically deemed to be representative of the topic or theme of the content item; and

creating a presentation based at least in part on the text of the content item, wherein creating the presentation includes placing at least a portion of the selected quotation in prominence on the presentation, wherein placing at least a portion of the selected quotation in prominence on the presentation includes copying at least the portion of the quotation onto a region of the presentation that is separate from another region of the presentation where content from the text of the content item is displayed.