Content optimization system and method

• US 9,576,001 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2007
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo AD Tech LLC
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Thampy, Sajjit, Ferrante, Daniel, Awadallah, Amr
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, THU V
• Application Number:
  US11/962,751
• Publication Number:
  US 20090113288A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,350 Days
• Field of Search: 715205-207, 715/255, 715/200, 715/234, 715/208, 715/229, 705/14.2, 705/14.19, 705/26.3, 11205-207, 112/55
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a statistical approach, a win share approach, used to assign a win share value to content items. User interaction with content items is tracked, and a win share value is assigned to content items in response to a “winning” action performed by a user. Win shares associated with content items are used to identify content items that are to be presented, and can further be used to identify an optimal presentation, e.g., layout, presentation frequency, etc., of content items that is to be presented.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

tracking, via a computing device, user interaction with a user interface;

recognizing, via the computing device, a predetermined interaction of a user with the user interface, said predetermined interaction identifies a time of the predetermined interaction, the user and a content item with which the user interacted;

identifying, via the computing device, a set of content items from a plurality of content items with which the user interacted prior to the predetermined interaction; and

determining, via the computing device, a share of a winning score to each identified content item in said set of content items based on a number of content items in said set, said determination further comprising assigning said share to each identified content item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning a share of a winning score to each identified content item further comprising:

distributing the winning score evenly across two or more identified content items.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning a share of the winning score to each identified content item further comprising:

distributing the winning score unevenly across two or more identified content items.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein distributing the winning score unevenly across two or more identified content items comprising:

determining a weight for each of the identified content items that is based on a timing of the user'"'"' interaction with the identified content item; and

applying the identified content item'"'"'s weight to the winning score to determine a win share for the identified content item.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein distributing the win share unevenly across two or more identified content items comprising:

determining a weight for each of the identified content items that is based on a newness characteristic associated with the identified content item; and

applying the identified content item'"'"'s weight to a win share value to determine a win share for the identified content item.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying at least one of the plurality of content items to make available via the user interface based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a placement in the user interface of at least one of the plurality of content items based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an ordering of two or more of the plurality of content items in the user interface based on a win share associated with each of the two or more content items.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a frequency with which at least one of the plurality of content items is made available via the user interface based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is a member of a sample of a user population, the method further comprising:

making one or more of the plurality of content items available to the user population based on win shares assigned using the user sample.

11. A method comprising:

making, via a computing device, a user interface available over a network;

making, via the computing device, a plurality of content items available via the user interface, at least one content item of the plurality being made available based on a win share assigned to the content item, wherein a win share is determined by;

tracking, via the computing device, user interaction with the user interface;

recognizing a predetermined interaction of a user with the user interface, said predetermined interaction identifies a time of the predetermined interaction, the user and a content item with which the user interacted;

identifying, via the computing device, a set of content items from the plurality of content items with which the user interacted prior to the predetermined interaction; and

determining, via the computing device, a share of a winning score to each identified content item in said set of content items based on a number of content items in said set, said determination further comprising assigning said share to each identified content item.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a placement in the user interface of at least one of the plurality of content items based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining an ordering of two or more of the plurality of content items in the user interface based on a win share associated with each of the two or more content items.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a frequency with which at least one of the plurality of content items is made available via the user interface based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable program code, that when executed by a computing device, performs a method comprising:

track user interaction with a user interface;

recognize a predetermined interaction of a user with the user interface, said predetermined interaction identifies a time of the predetermined interaction, the user and a content item with which the user interacted;

identify a set of content items from a plurality of content items with which the user interacted prior to the predetermined interaction; and

determining a share of a winning score to each identified content item in said set of content items based on a number of content items in said set, said determination further comprising assigning said share to each identified content item.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the program code to assign a share of a winning score to each identified content item further comprising code to:

distribute the winning score evenly across two or more identified content items.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the program code to assign a share of the winning score to each identified content item further comprising code to:

distribute the winning score unevenly across two or more identified content items.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, the program code to distribute the winning score unevenly across two or more identified content items further comprising code to:

determine a weight for each of the identified content items that is based on a timing of the user'"'"'s interaction with the identified content item; and

apply the identified content item'"'"'s weight to the winning score to determine a win share for the identified content item.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, the program code to distribute the win share unevenly across two or more identified content items further comprising code to:

determine a weight for each of the identified content items that is based on a newness characteristic associated with the identified content item; and

apply the identified content item'"'"'s weight to a win share value to determine a win share for the identified content item.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the program code further comprising code to:

identify at least one of the plurality of content items to make available via the user interface based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the program code further comprising code to:

determine a placement in the user interface of at least one of the plurality of content items based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the program code further comprising code to:

determine an ordering of two or more of the plurality of content items in the user interface based on a win share associated with each of the two or more content items.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the program code further comprising code to:

determine a frequency with which at least one of the plurality of content items is made available via the user interface based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the user is a member of a sample of a user population, the program code further comprising code to:

make one or more of the plurality of content items available to the user population based on win shares assigned using the user sample.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable program code, that when executed by a computing device, performs a method comprising:

making a user interface available over a network;

making a plurality of content items available via the user interface, at least one content item of the plurality being made available based on a win share assigned to the content item, wherein a win share is determined using the program code which further comprises code to;

track user interaction with the user interface;

recognizing a predetermined interaction of a user with the user interface, said predetermined interaction identifies a time of the predetermined interaction, the user and a content item with which the user interacted;

identifying a set of content items from the plurality of content items with which the user interacted prior to the predetermined interaction; and

determining a share of a winning score to each identified content item in said set of content items based on a number of content items in said set, said determination further comprising assigning said share to each identified content item.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, the program code further comprising code to:

determine a placement in the user interface of at least one of the plurality of content items based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, the program code further comprising code to:

determine an ordering of two or more of the plurality of content items in the user interface based on a win share associated with each of the two or more content items.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, the program code further comprising code to:

determine a frequency with which at least one of the plurality of content items is made available via the user interface based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

29. A computing device comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising;

tracking logic executed by the processor for tracking user interaction with a user interface;

determining logic executed by the processor for recognizing a predetermined interaction of a user with the user interface, said predetermined interaction identifies a time of the predetermined interaction, the user and a content item with which the user interacted;

identifying logic executed by the processor for identifying a set of content items from a plurality of content items with which the user interacted prior to the predetermined interaction; and

determination logic executed by the processor for determining a share of a winning score to each identified content item in said set of content items based on a number of content items in said set, said determination further comprising assigning said share to each identified content item.

30. The computing device of claim 29, further comprising:

assigning logic executed by the processor for assigning a share of a winning score to each identified content item; and

communication logic executed by the processor for distributing the winning score evenly across two or more identified content items.

31. The computing device of claim 29, further comprising:

assigning logic executed by the processor for assigning a share of the winning score to each identified content item; and

communication logic executed by the processor for distributing the winning score unevenly across two or more identified content items.

32. The computing device of claim 31, further comprising:

communication logic executed by the processor for distributing the winning score unevenly across two or more identified content items;

determination logic executed by the processor for determining a weight for each of the identified content items that is based on a timing of the user'"'"'s interaction with the identified content item; and

application logic executed by the processor for applying the identified content item'"'"'s weight to the winning score to determine a win share for the identified content item.

33. The computing device of claim 32, further comprising:

communication logic executed by the processor for distributing the win share unevenly across two or more identified content items;

determination logic executed by the processor for determining a weight for each of the identified content items that is based on a newness characteristic associated with the identified content item; and

application logic executed by the processor for applying the identified content item'"'"'s weight to a win share value to determine a win share for the identified content item.

34. The computing device of claim 29, further comprising:

identifying logic executed by the processor for identifying at least one of the plurality of content items to make available via the user interface based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

35. The computing device of claim 29, further comprising:

determination logic executed by the processor for determining a placement in the user interface of at least one of the plurality of content items based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

36. The computing device of claim 29, further comprising:

determination logic executed by the processor for determining an ordering of two or more of the plurality of content items in the user interface based on a win share associated with each of the two or more content items.

37. The computing device of claim 29, further comprising:

determination logic executed by the processor for determining a frequency with which at least one of the plurality of content items is made available via the user interface based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

38. The computing device of claim 29, wherein the user is a member of a sample of a user population, said program logic further comprising:

communication logic executed by the processor for making one or more of the plurality of content items available to the user population based on win shares assigned using the user sample.

39. A computing device comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising;

user interface logic executed by the processor for making a user interface available over a network;

communication logic executed by the processor for making a plurality of content items available via the user interface, at least one content item of the plurality being made available based on a win share assigned to the content item; and

determination logic executed by the processor for determining a win share, said determination comprising;

tracking user interaction with the user interface;

recognizing a predetermined interaction of a user with the user interface, said predetermined interaction identifies a time of the predetermined interaction, the user and a content item with which the user interacted; and

identifying a set of content items from the plurality of content items with which the user interacted prior to the predetermined interaction; and

determining a share of a winning score to each identified content item in said set of content items based on a number of content items in said set, said determination further comprising assigning said share to each identified content item.

40. The computing device of claim 39, further comprising:

determination logic executed by the processor for determining a placement in the user interface of at least one of the plurality of content items based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.

41. The computing device of claim 39, further comprising:

determination logic executed by the processor for determining an ordering of two or more of the plurality of content items in the user interface based on a win share associated with each of the two or more content items.

42. The computing device of claim 39, further comprising:

determination logic executed by the processor for determining a frequency with which at least one of the plurality of content items is made available via the user interface based on a win share associated with the at least one of the plurality of content items.