Personalization techniques using image clouds

• US 9,405,830 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2008
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Assets LLC
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Simmons, James D. Jr., Macadaan, Mike, Liu, David J., Perlson, Wendy Charlene, Wetherell, William G., Metzgar, Rob
• Primary Examiner(s): LONG, ANDREA NATAE
• Application Number:
  US12/018,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20080209349A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,114 Days
• Field of Search: 715/745, 715/808
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/54 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Systems and methods for personalization using image clouds to represent content. Image clouds can be used to identify initial user interest, present recommended content, present popular content, present search results, and present user profile information. Image clouds are interactive, allowing users to select images displayed in the image cloud, which can contribute to presenting more personalized content as well as updating a user'"'"'s profile.

Claims

1. In a computer system comprising a user interface configured to display content, a method for personalizing content for a particular user, the method comprising:

displaying a first bootstrap image cloud including a plurality of first category images based on popular content associated with a default demographic, the plurality of first category images being grouped and displayed adjacent or in close proximity with each other in one predefined area so as to minimize navigation methods required for the plurality of first category images;

receiving input from a user selecting at least one category image on the first bootstrap image cloud;

identifying one or more features and one or more interests associated with the selected category image and using at least one of the identified one or more features and one or more identified interests to develop a user profile, the user profile comprising user-specific personalization data;

displaying a plurality of content feeds along with a plurality of content images based on a profile image cloud generated based on the user profile;

receiving input from a user electing to restart development of the user profile for the user;

displaying a second bootstrap image cloud including a plurality second category images based on popular content associated with the default demographic and user demographic, the user demographic being based on the selected at least one category image on the first bootstrap image cloud; and

updating the user profile based on received input from the user selecting at least one category image associated with the second bootstrap image cloud.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining the plurality of second category images to display to the user using at least one of the following:

past search history known about the user;

or

random categories.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a plurality of content feeds related to a category of the at least one category image selected by the user, wherein accessing a plurality of content feeds related to the category of the at least one category image selected by the user comprises accessing content feeds specifically related to an actual content of the category images.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a plurality of content feeds related to a category of the at least one category image selected by the user, wherein accessing a plurality of content feeds related to the category of the at least one category image selected by the user comprises accessing content feeds not specifically related to an actual content of the category images.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of content images are linked to one of the plurality of content feeds such that when the user selects either one of the linked content feed or linked content image, the same content is displayed related to the selected content feed or content image.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of content images are not linked to one of the plurality of content feeds such that when the user selects a content feed or content image, different content is displayed with each selected content feed or content image.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input from the user selecting a content feed of the at least one category image on the first bootstrap image cloud; and

identifying one or more features and one or more interests associated with the selected content feed and further using the identified features and interests associated with the selected content feed to develop the user profile for the user.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising

prior to receiving input from a user selecting at least one category image on the first bootstrap image cloud, displaying a popup abstract including a summary of the plurality of content feeds related to the category of the at least one category image in response to a hovering over the at least one category image.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining the plurality of second category images to include in the second bootstrap image cloud based on prior expressions of approval made by the user, the prior expressions of approval comprising selections of approval icons individually linked to the at least one category image on the first bootstrap image cloud.

8. In a computer system comprising a user interface configured to display content, a method for personalizing content for a particular user, the method comprising:

displaying a first bootstrap image cloud including a plurality of initial images based on popular content associated with a default demographic, the plurality of initial images being grouped and displayed adjacent or in close proximity with each other in one predefined so as to minimize navigation methods required for the plurality of initial images;

receiving input from a user selecting at least one initial image on the first bootstrap image cloud;

identifying one or more features and one or more interests associated with the at least one initial image and using at least one of the identified one or more features and one or more identified interests to develop a user profile,the user profile comprising user-specific personalization data;

displaying a plurality of content feeds along with a plurality of content images based on a profile image cloud generated based on the user profile;

receiving input from a user electing to restart development of the user profile for the user;

displaying a second bootstrap image cloud including a plurality of category images based on popular content associated with the default demographic and a user demographic, the user demographic being determined based on the selected at least one initial image on the first bootstrap image cloud; and

updating the user profile based on received input from a user selecting at least one initial image associated with the second bootstrap image cloud.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising determining the plurality of category images to display to the user using at least one of the following:

past search history known about the user;

or

random content.

10. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of content images are linked to one of the plurality of content feeds such that when the user selects either one of the linked content feed or linked content image, the same content is displayed related to the selected content feed or content image.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of content images are not linked to one of the plurality of content feeds such that when the user selects a content feed or content image, different content is displayed with each selected content feed or content image.

14. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

prior to receiving the input from the user selecting the at least one initial image on the first bootstrap image cloud, displaying a popup abstract including a summary of the plurality of content feeds related to the feature set and interest set of the at least one initial image in response to a hovering over the at least one initial image.

15. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising determining the plurality of category images to include in the second bootstrap image cloud based on prior expressions of approval made by the user, the prior expressions of approval comprising selections of approval icons individually linked to each initial image of the first bootstrap image cloud.

16. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein each of the initial images is associated with a feature set and interest set based on actual content of the initial image, the feature set defining one or more terms associated with the initial image and the interest set defining a level of importance assigned to each term of the feature set.