CN1468402A - System and related method for dynamically selecting content for publication - Google Patents

Abstract

This paper introduces a method that includes receiving multiple content objects, identifying one or more articles that target the same or similar material, and automatically reducing the occurrence of overlapping and/or duplicate content objects based on user preferences.

Description

System and related method for dynamically selecting content for publication

technical field

The present invention relates generally to the field of printing and, in particular, to a multi-source scalable publishing and editing system and related methods.

background

In the mid-fifteenth century, Johann Gutenberg revolutionized how information was distributed with his invention of movable type printing. With the publication of the Mazarin Bible, a document that was once the exclusive domain of a select few is now widely available to the general public. Nearly 550 years later, the mass media revolution that Gutenberg began exists and is successful, including newspapers such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, magazines such as Newsweek and Sports Illustrated, and literally thousands of other publications.

Although these thousands of publications cover a wide range of interests, from news to sports to fashion to model rockets, they have one thing in common: they are intended to be read by a large market. Unlike in the pre-Gutenberg period, when a document was really only read by one of a very small number of people, publications today with such small readerships are not economically viable, at least in part because of expensive marketing, production and distribution costs. In fact, many of today's publications are largely funded by the advertisements they contain. These advertisers are attracted to publications that can consistently deliver to a large, reliable audience of consumers who will be affected by their advertisements.

While this mass market publication model has worked well for hundreds of years, it is not without its problems. One problem is that a typical readership of a publication has a wide range of interests, and no single mass market publication can satisfy all of these interests. For example, a reader interested in international news, golf, fly fishing, family trees, and computers would need to subscribe to several different publications to satisfy these interests. Of course, because these publications are intended to serve a large market, they also contain a considerable amount of material that our readers are not interested in and will not read. It stands to reason that if a considerable number of material readers do not read, a considerable number of advertising readers also do not read - and a considerable number of newspapers are wasted. Advertisers know this and agree to pay mass market magazines or newspapers for every 1000 presentations of their ad much less than they would pay a direct mailer who would be guaranteed exposure to their ad of people is the demographic group more likely to read and be interested in their ad.

Beyond that, subscribing to and/or reading a large number of publications is neither cost-effective nor time-efficient for most readers. In general, a typical reader only subscribes to a small number of publications that are of most interest to them. While a typical readership may be interested in the editorials in some publications and at least some of the advertising content contained therein, the reduced readership ratings for these publications mean that these publications should those readers choose not to subscribe to these publications. Subscription and advertising revenue received by a publication is reduced when there are more subscribers. If many other readers made the same decision, the continued health of the publication would be in jeopardy and the publication would be forced into bankruptcy. In fact, many publications do go out of business each year because they cannot attract a sustained number of advertisers and readers—even though there are large numbers of readers interested in reading their publications, and a corresponding number of advertisers expecting these readers to be affected by their advertisements. Typically, publications that do not attract a sustained mass market of people willing to pay for and/or read them are discontinued. This is a pity because many of these publications would enrich the variety of information available to all readers and provide income for little-known authors and artists to practice their wares.

In recent years, a new type of publication has emerged: electronic publication. Readers of these publications typically check in on the Internet through their computers and read the publications online. Some of these publications, such as CNN.com and pointcast.com, enable users to declare personal preferences for the type of material they want to read. Typically, these personalized publications include advertisements, usually in the form of banner advertisements placed along the periphery (top, bottom, sides, etc.) of the visual display.

While these electronic publications have been an interesting development in information distribution, they still represent only a small fraction of the information published in the more traditional post-Gutenberg format. Many readers of these electronic publications complain that they are difficult to read (on a video display), especially for very long time periods. While a user may conveniently check in on the Internet to view a brief summary of the latest breaking news on the CNN.com web site, this reader is likely to spend only a few minutes on the site and may still subscribe to more traditional print media such as Newsweek Or The Washington Post. They may also spend more time reading more traditional print publications than they spend reading electronic publications, and thus spend more time being influenced by advertisements in traditional print publications. Thus, print publication continues to prosper today—more than five centuries after Gutenberg made it possible—and more than a decade after the innovation of electronic publication.

Thus, while these publications are certainly beneficial to modern society, for so long no considerable effort has been made to address the underlying problems of these publications as described above. Here is such a solution.

overview

In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, various aspects of an innovative document distribution embodying the teachings of the present invention are presented. According to one aspect of the present invention, a system and related method for dynamically selecting publication content is presented. According to an example implementation of the invention, a method is presented that includes receiving a plurality of content objects, determining one or more articles that focus on similar material, and automatically editing the publication to include articles with similar material covered according to the edited description file. One or more of those content objects.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a document distribution system of one embodiment of the present invention;

2-4 illustrate flowcharts detailing the operation of the transport module and the printing module of the document issuance system of one embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 5 illustrates how to obtain user's profile information from user in one embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 6 shows how to obtain user's profile information from user in one embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 7 shows a printing schedule for document delivery in one embodiment of the invention;

Figure 8 shows how a user can modify the printing schedule of Figure 7;

9A-9B show a document printed by a printing device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 10 shows a document printed by a printing device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

11A-11D show a document printed by a printing device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 12 shows a document printed by a printing device according to one embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 13 illustrates a block diagram of an example editing module embodying the teachings of the present invention;

14 illustrates a block diagram of an example knowledge module including user profile information and content provider information;

Figure 15 is a block diagram of an example virtual sensor according to one embodiment of the invention;

Figures 16A, 16B and 16C graphically illustrate data structures for maintaining user profile information, content provider information, and publication profile information, respectively;

17 illustrates a flowchart of an example method of generating a custom document according to an aspect of the present invention;

18 illustrates a flowchart of an example method of operation for a client component of a document delivery system according to an aspect of the invention;

19 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for arranging custom documents for otherwise unrelated content objects in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

20 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for customizing scheduled delivery of documents according to an aspect of the present invention;

21 illustrates a flow diagram of an example method for tracking distribution of content objects and responding to content providers in accordance with one aspect of the present invention;

22 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for producing a publication using a publication description file, according to an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 23 graphically represents an example graphical user interface (GUI) that enables producers to register and generate publication description files, according to an aspect of the present invention.

Figure 24 graphically illustrates an example document composed of content objects encapsulated in a wrapper by the innovative virtual editor, according to one aspect of the present invention.

25 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for identifying and reducing the occurrence of duplicate/similar content objects prior to publication, according to an aspect of the present invention;

Figures 26 through 30 graphically illustrate example matrices of content objects through several iterations of the method of Figure 25 to reduce the occurrence of duplicate/similar content objects prior to publication in accordance with the teachings of the present invention.

A detailed description

Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram of an innovative document delivery system according to one embodiment of the present invention. The document delivery system 10 includes a document server 100 . In a preferred embodiment, document server 100 is operatively coupled via network 200 to various personal computers, printing devices, and other electronic devices, collectively referred to as devices 300 . As will be described more fully below, the document server 100 includes an editing module 120 having an innovative publishing tool 512, a sending module 150, and a knowledge module 170 to extract from an otherwise Unlinked content objects dynamically generate personalized publications.

As used herein, content provider 50 is intended to include all providers of content publications excluding advertisements, while advertisement provider 80 provides creative material. From a financial business model, these two sources of publication material differ significantly (ie, the operator of the document server pays the content provider 50 a royalty, while the advertiser 80 pays to place advertisements on the resulting publication). However, from an end-user standpoint, they all contribute content to publications. Accordingly, the general term "content provider" is intended to include both content provider 50 and advertisement provider 80 when used without a reference numeral. If a distinction is desired, the source of the content needs to be further clarified by explicitly denoting the appropriate reference number.

Editing module 120 receives content object input from one or more content providers 50, and/or one or more advertising providers 80 to base at least in part on distribution criteria including, for example, user interests, seasons, content providers, and advertising providers. Generate personalized documents based on multiple key criteria such as According to an aspect of the invention described more fully below, editing module 120 includes an innovative set of publishing tools (512) to facilitate the generation/maintenance of publication description files (640) from which editing module 120 obtains content object description files to generate publications.

Issuance module 400 is operatively coupled to document server 100 and, as will be discussed, optionally issues products and/or product subsidies to users based at least in part on the number of sources and content provided to the users.

In a preferred embodiment, the document server 100 is a small computer/server, such as the HP 9000 server sold by Hewlett-Packard Company, although those skilled in the art will appreciate that the document server 100 could perform the functions described herein and still fall within the spirit of the invention and any other computing or electronic device of any kind within the scope. Network 200 is preferably the Internet, although intranets, local area networks, or other types of public or private networks, wired (such as telephone, cable TV, etc.) or wireless (such as satellite, radio, cellular telephone, etc. ).

Figure 1 shows that device 300 can be configured in various ways. For example, personal computer 310 is shown connected to printing device 320 , which prints document 10320 for user 20320 . A personal computer 310 is operatively coupled to the network 200 . In contrast, a printing device 330 that prints a document 10330 for a user 20330 is operatively coupled to the network 200 without intervening with a personal computer or other electronic device. Printing device 350 , which prints document 10350 for user 20350 , is shown connected to electronic device 340 , which may be a set-top box, television, handheld personal digital assistant (PDA), or other type of electronic device operably coupled to network 200 . Finally, a printing device 370 that prints a document 10370 for a user 20370 is connected to an electronic device 360 operatively connected to the network 200 . The printing device shown in Figure 1 may be a printer, such as the HP DiskJet 890 printer, the HP LaserJet V printer, or other types of printers manufactured by HP or others; so-called "mopiers" or other printers capable of printing, faxing, scanning and/or Other multifunction printing devices that make copies, or any other device capable of transmitting information to, for example, glossy paper, specialty paper, transparencies, or other media that can reliably receive such information and that can easily be carried by the user.

The sending module 150 is preferably located at the document server 100 . As shown in FIG. 1, the printing module 380 may be located in any one of the devices 300, such as a personal computer 310, a printing device 330, or an electronic device 340, operatively coupled to the document server 100 through the network 200, or it may be located in the document server 100 itself , as in knowledge module 170. Sending module 150 and printing module 380 represent software instructions executing on suitably programmed microprocessors within device 300 and/or document server 100, according to one embodiment of the present invention. However, it is to be understood that special purpose hardware or other mechanisms may be employed for implementing the inventive features and functions described below.

FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of an editing module 120 embodying the teachings of the present invention. As shown, editing module 120 includes one or more controllers 302, an innovative publishing agent 504, innovative virtual editor 506, memory space 508, and one or more input/output (I/O) interfaces 510, each A coupling as described. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the editing module 120 may also include one or more applications 512 executed by the controller 502 . Indeed, according to one embodiment described more fully below, editing module 120 includes an innovative set of publications that enable a producer (e.g., a registered user) to create a publication description file that is used by editing module 120 to automatically create publications. Tool 512. It should be understood that although described as separate and distinct functional entities, one or more functional blocks 502-510 may also be combined into a general functional entity. Moreover, although described in terms of hardware examples, those skilled in the art understand that editing module 120 and its subcomponents 502-510 may be embodied as a series of executable instructions that, when executed by a host processor, implement the functions of editing module 120 discussed below. Features and functions. In this regard, FIG. 13 merely illustrates the scope and spirit of the claimed invention.

As shown, the controller 502 optionally invokes one or more virtual editors 506 to generate custom documents for requesting and/or subscribing users or publishing agents 504 in order to complete the layout and optimize the delivery schedule of such custom documents. The controller 502 initiates the construction and/or delivery of the custom document in response to user interaction through a user interface (eg, a web page) or to accommodate a user-selected delivery schedule. In this regard, the controller 502 communicates with external applications (eg, web pages) or other elements (eg, user profiles) through an input/output (I/O) interface 510 . In an alternative embodiment, the controller 502 provides a user interface for a user through which to request/create custom documents using one or more applications 512 . For purposes of implementing the teachings of the present invention, however, controller 502 is intended to represent a wide range of components known in the art including, but not limited to, programmable logic arrays (PLAs), microprocessors, application-specific controllers, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and the like. any kind of control device. In an alternative embodiment, the controller 502 is embodied as a series of executable instructions that, when executed, implement the control logic described herein.

Memory device 508 and I/O interface 510 are each intended to represent such devices as are generally known in the art. In particular, it is intended to include those including, but not limited to, direct-connect communication interfaces (e.g., serial, parallel, universal serial bus (USB), accelerated graphics (AGP), etc.), local area network interfaces (e.g., Ethernet, card ring interface, etc.), or one or more of any one of a plurality of communication interfaces well known in the art of the wide area network interface. In this regard, the editing module 120 may communicate with any of a number of external and remote devices using an appropriate one of a number of wired and/or wireless I/O interfaces 510 .

According to one aspect of the invention, virtual editor 506 personalizes publications for unique, composite publications based on multiple factors. As shown, virtual editor 506 includes content manager 518 and build agent 520 . Content manager 518 includes analysis/packaging agent 522 , contract manager function 524 , and transaction agent 526 . The controller 502 optionally invokes the content manager 518 when the editor module 120 receives content from one or more content providers. The analysis/packaging agent 522 analyzes the received content and classifies it based on any one or more of a number of attributes including source, subject matter, length, cost, and the like. In addition, the analysis/wrapper agent 522 wraps the content object in a wrapper with a unique identifier. It should be understood that the encapsulation wrapper enables virtual sensors (not shown) in the document distribution system to accurately track the distribution, receipt and deployment of content objects based on the description to be followed. According to one embodiment, virtual sensors are embedded in the printing module 380 to track the issuance, receipt and deployment of packaged content objects.

According to one aspect of the invention, analysis/packaging agent 522 is optionally invoked to identify and reduce the occurrence of duplicate and/or similar content objects from publication considerations. It should be understood that when receiving (fetching) content objects related to a particular area of interest, the virtual editor 506 must receive overlapping and/or duplicate content. Rather than simply publishing overlapping and/or duplicating content, the analysis/packaging agent 522 can be invoked to reduce and/or eliminate overlapping/duplicating content based on user preferences (expressed in user profiles, publication profiles, etc.) content.

According to one implementation, the analysis/wrapper agent 522 receives content objects in a dynamically created matrix, where the size of the matrix is dictated by the provider (columns) and the number of received content objects (rows). According to another implementation, when receiving an electronic publication comprising chapters, each chapter designates a column with rows populated by content objects comprising that chapter. In either case, according to an example embodiment, a two-dimensional matrix is created. According to one implementation, priority values are assigned to rows and columns based at least in part on the content provider and/or publication chapter from which the content was received. Content provider and/or chapter preferences are provided in one or more user profiles, publication profiles, and the like. Once the matrix is properly organized, the analysis/packaging agent 522 performs matrix sorting for article uniqueness. As described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 25-30 , the analysis/wrapper agent 522 analyzes content objects from higher priority to lower priority to identify redundant or similar objects within and between columns of the matrix. If duplicate or similar content objects are identified based on the location of redundant/similar content objects, the analysis/packaging agent 522 determines whether profile preferences (e.g., user profiles, publication profiles, etc.) allow occurrences with lower priority content object. If not allowed, the content object is deleted and analysis continues. If enabled, parsing/wrapper agent 522 represents redundancy, as layout manager 516 (described below) arranges the pattern in which lower priority content objects appear according to user and/or publication profile preferences. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that the analysis/wrapper agent 522 of the virtual editor 506 identifies and resolves the receipt of duplicate or overlapping content objects according to user preferences.

According to one implementation, contract manager 524 is a database-driven component that manages all contractual obligations of users (subscribers, content providers, etc.) of the document delivery system. According to one implementation, contract manager 524 maintains royalty calculations and display agreements for selected content providers (eg, artists), advertising rates for other content providers (eg, advertisers), subscription information for selected users, and the like. Periodically, contract manager 524 accesses one or more content provider databases to identify content object distributions, calculate royalty payments, advertising bills, and subscription bills for distribution through transaction broker 526 to appropriate subscribers. In this regard, contract administrator 524 ensures compliance with the document delivery system's contractual obligations.

Transaction Broker 526 is a document delivery system and a public/private e-commerce financial system (eg, CheckFree ^(TM) financial network provided by CheckFree Corporation). As introduced above, transaction broker 526 is responsible for performing payment and account credit/debit transactions with user accounts based at least in part on the issuance of content objects according to the terms and conditions maintained in contract administrator 524 . It should be noted that although described as an element of the editing module 120, those skilled in the art should understand that the content manager 518 can also be deployed as a separate and independent functional entity without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The build agent 520 of the virtual editor 506 extracts content objects to generate a custom document based on one or more key contributors. As used herein, key contributors include one or more requesting/subscribing user interests, demographics, seasons, document server requirements, and content provider usage criteria, among others. As will be described in more detail below, build agent 520 extracts content objects that may be of interest to a particular user and generates a personalized publication for that user. The build agent 520 utilizes information received through the overt and covert processes of the document delivery system 10 to log the user's interaction and deployment of the receiving material, as well as solicit feedback from the user to improve user satisfaction with subsequent personalized publications . Information gathered as a result of these overt/covert processes is used by build agent 520 to update the user profile associated with that user, which is accessed when generating a personalized publication. In this regard, the build agent 520 performs functions generally associated with, say, a magazine's physical editor: publication content decisions, layout and format decisions, advertising, etc., which also includes, for example, generating personalized publications for millions of individuals. Other key information about personal preferences for the product. Once the construction agent 520 extracts the content objects to generate a publication, it is passed to the publication agent 504 to finalize the layout and scheduled delivery of the personalized publication to the intended recipients.

According to an illustrated example embodiment, a publishing agent 504 including a plan manager 514 and a layout manager 516 is presented. As will be described in more detail below, layout manager 516 receives content objects from build manager 506 and lays out a partial layout of at least a portion of the personalized publication. According to one aspect of the invention, layout manager 516 performs partial layout of content objects according to user format preferences, that is, as indicated by user and/or publication description files. According to one aspect of the invention, the layout manager 516 maintains a record of the time required to complete the layout of at least a portion of the publication in order to determine the complexity of the personalized publication. This indicator of complexity is used later by the publication agent 504 to estimate the time required to lay out future publications that include one or more of the same content objects, and the auxiliary schedule manager 514 to estimate the time required to complete the publication.

Once the layout manager 516 completes the layout of at least a portion of the publication, the schedule manager 514 completes the publication layout (eg, via last-minute content objects, or updates to such objects) and schedules delivery of the personalized publication. According to one embodiment, described more fully below, schedule manager 514 utilizes information from a number of available sources to schedule delivery of publications. More particularly, planning manager 514 utilizes information from the user's personal profile, complexity measures from layout manager 516, and indications from printing devices associated with the user's verification that sufficient quantities and types of media are available to print the publication . Based at least in part on such information, schedule manager 514 operates to establish an optimum publication schedule for one or more personalized publications.

As introduced above, the editing module 120 includes an innovative publishing toolset 512 from which authors can register to publish publications utilizing the innovative features of the document server 100 . According to one implementation, the publishing toolset 512 includes a user interface (UI) that, when invoked, enables a user to create and/or update publication description files. As will be expanded more fully below, a publication description file includes information regarding one or more publication titles, producer contact information, subject or type of publication, scope of publication, content providers used and/or Ad provider, publication layout information, publication schedule, etc. Publication description files created/updated by the publishing toolset 512 are maintained in the knowledge module 170 . In addition to the registration/publication description file UI, the publishing toolset 512 also includes other advanced publishing tools, such as assisting producers in selecting an appropriate publication layout, providing readership demographic information for targeted advertising, and the like. Once the publication description file is set, the publication agent 504 and/or editing module 506 establishes the publication plan based at least in part on the information maintained in the publication description file so that without further call/input from the producer Automatically schedule publication generation and publication. Thus, according to this innovative aspect of the present invention, a producer simply creates a publication description file from which the document server 100 automatically collects suitable content to generate a publication within the schedule specified by the publication description file.

Figure 14 illustrates an example knowledge module 170 according to one embodiment of the invention. As shown, knowledge module 170 includes user descriptive information 602 , content provider information 620 , contract manager information 630 , publication descriptive information 640 and optionally printing module 380 and printing schedule 390 . As introduced above, the document delivery system 10 in general, and the editing module 120 in particular, continuously obtain or request information from users requesting personalized publications from the document delivery system in order to better anticipate the user's informational and advertising needs. In this regard, any of a number of personal information attributes are maintained in the user profile database 602 . Content provider information 620 includes information received from virtual sensors, published throughout the document delivery system, about content object distribution, reception, and user deployment. Contract manager information 630 includes information about usage, usage/layout requirements, fee structure/schedule, etc. of each content provider providing content objects to document delivery system 10 . As introduced above, publication profile information 640 includes information provided by publishers from which document servers (eg, 100) automatically generate and distribute publications. Although described as a functional element of the document server 100, those skilled in the art should appreciate that the knowledge module 170 may also be provided by other document servers (not shown) in the document delivery system 10 without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. ) utilize, or may also be integrated into another and/or separate element of the document delivery system 10.

Figure 15 illustrates a block diagram of an example virtual sensor according to one implementation of the invention. As introduced above, one or more virtual sensors 35000 are optionally distributed throughout the document delivery system 10 to monitor and report on the distribution, receipt and user deployment of content objects. According to one implementation, virtual sensors 35000 are incorporated in printing modules 380 throughout document delivery system 100 . According to the example embodiment illustrated in Figure 15, a virtual sensor 35000 is shown comprising a monitoring agent 35002 and a reporting agent 35004, communicatively coupled as described.

As used herein, monitoring agent 35002 receives network traffic and analyzes the traffic for publication of content objects traceable back to a particular editing module (eg, 120) and/or document delivery server (eg, 100). According to one example implementation, Monitoring Agent 35002 analyzes received network traffic for content objects wrapped in trace wrappers (described more fully below). The tracking packaging information uniquely identifies the content object, and optionally, the authoring module or document delivery server is responsible for distribution of the content object. Reporting Agent 35004 is invoked to compile and publish to one or more Archive Publishing Servers (100) reports identifying document publications, receipts, and user deployments of content objects received. Although illustrated in terms of hardware, virtual sensor 35000 and/or one or more of its constituent elements may well be implemented by a series of executable instructions that perform the functions described more fully below.

Similarly, the content provider information database 620 is used by the document delivery system to maintain a history of content object issuance, receipt, and deployment. According to one aspect of the invention, contract manager 524 utilizes information maintained in content provider information database 620 to periodically calculate royalty payments, advertising bills, and subscription bills. Data structures of example user profile information and content provider information are explained with reference to FIGS. 16A and 16B.

Figure 16A graphically illustrates an example user profile data structure 602 suitable for use by the inventive document delivery system. According to the illustrated example implementation, user profile information data structure 602 includes username field 604, user id field 606, contact information field 608, interest information field 610, subscription information field 612 (e.g., primary source), deployment information field 614, and conflict resolution rules field 616 . As introduced above, some of the information maintained in the user profile data structure 602 is publicly available, for example, by asking the user for such information during registration. Other information, such as deployment information, is publicly obtained by monitoring and tracking the deployment of packages by users, such as how long users spend on specific information, users forward specific information to other users, etc. In this way, the user profile data structure 602 continuously evolves, continuously improving the set of information that reflects the current interests of users of the document delivery system. According to an aspect of the present invention that will be developed more fully below, user profile 602 includes an identifier of a primary source (612) and conflict resolution rules (616) that enable analysis/packaging agent 522 to identify and reduce Multiple occurrences of overlapping and/or duplicate content. According to one implementation, primary sources and/or conflict resolution rules are defined publicly through a user interface (see, eg, FIG. 23 ), while other implementations automatically generate such preferences based on user deployment monitoring.

Figure 16B illustrates an example data structure including content provider information, according to one embodiment of the present invention. According to the illustrated example embodiment, the content provider information data structure 620 includes a content provider name field 622, a content provider ID field 624, a package ID field 626 for each content object provided by the content provider, a tax table field 628 . Monthly usage field 630 and feedback information field 630 .

Figure 16C graphically illustrates an example data structure including publication profile information according to an example implementation of the invention. As shown, publication description file 640 includes publication name field 642, producer identifier field 644, producer contact information field 646, interest (subject, genre, etc.) information field 648, primary source (content provider 50) information Field 650, Advertisement (Content Provider 80) Information field 652, and Delivery Plan field 654. Information populating user preference profiles (eg, publication profiles, user profiles, etc.) may be obtained overtly (eg, FIG. 23 ) or covertly. As noted above, more or less complex data structures may well be utilized to maintain user profile information and/or content provider information without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Turning to FIGS. 2-4 , flow charts detailing the operation of the first mode of sending module 150 and printing module 380 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention are presented. In FIGS. 2-4 , the flowcharts shown in the left column are executed by the sending module 150 of the document server 100 , and the flowcharts shown in the right column are executed by the printing module 380 .

Referring now to FIG. 2 , the flowchart for the sending module 150 begins at block 1000 and the flowchart for the printing module 380 begins at block 2000 . Since there are substantial interactions between these two flowcharts, as indicated by the dotted line connecting the two columns, the operations of both flowcharts will be described simultaneously.

At block 2100, the user profile data is sent to the document server 100 for storage in the user profile. This user profile data can take many different forms from simple to very detailed. Figure 5 shows the very simple acquisition of user profiles, as used in HP's Immediate Delivery program, the first versions of which are generally available to the public less than a year from the filing date of this application. In this program, there are only three pieces of information stored in the user profile: the type of printer, the email address, and whether HP can contact the user. Figure 6 shows a more complex user profile currently used in HP's Immediate Delivery program, which includes the user's name, email address, company name, city, state, country, area code or zip code, phone number, printer information, and areas of interest. Those skilled in the art will understand that more or less user profile data from those shown in FIGS. At least some of the information may come from sources other than the user. For example, user profile data may also include household income, age, and user gender, among others. Regardless, block 1100 receives the user profile data sent by block 2100 . Block 1200 preferably stores user profile data in knowledge module 170 . Alternatively, user profile data may be stored in device 300 or some other local or remote location.

Block 2200 checks to see if a document should be received from document server 100 . This is done by the check print plan 390 which is preferably stored on the device 300 or the document server 100, but could also be stored at some other local or remote location. Print schedule 390 preferably contains information that can be used to determine when a document should be printed by the printing device, such as upon document creation, upon user request, the elapse of a specified time period, and/or the occurrence of one or more external events (e.g., a stock price or Index reaches the specified value, the final score of the sports event, etc.). Print schedule 390 may be associated with a single user, device, or a group of users and/or devices. Additionally, each entry of print schedule 390 may result in the printing of one or more documents.

Figure 7 shows an example of a print schedule 390 that may be used in an enhanced version of HP's Immediate Delivery program. In this example, the subject of delivery, delivery plan, next delivery data and time, and final delivery status are displayed. Preferably, the user can select when the document should be printed, whether it should be printed on a specific day of the week or month, weekday or weekend, and whether the print schedule should expire after a specified period of time or should continue indefinitely.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the print module 380 monitors the print schedule 390 to see if a document should be requested from the document server 100 or from another source. When block 2200 determines that the document should be requested from the document server 100 or from another source, block 2200 is answered in the affirmative, and block 2300 automatically requests the document from the server 100 or from another source without user intervention, as described further below described in detail. Note that if the printing module 380 is located on the device 300, then block 2200 operates in a "pull" mode - where a document is "pull" from the document server 100 or another source to the device 300. However, if the printing module 380 is located remotely from the device 300, such as on the document server 100, then block 2200 operates in a "push" mode - where the document is "pushed" to the device 300 from the document server 100 or another source. If block 2300 determines that the document is located on document server 100 or on another source accessible through the network, and if device 300 is currently in a disconnected state, wherein it is not operatively coupled to network 200, then block 2300 will sign up to or otherwise A connected state with the network 200 is entered, whereby the device 300 is operatively coupled to the network 200 .

Meanwhile, block 1300 checks to see if a document has been requested from the print module 380 at block 2300 . Block 1400 generates the document for the printing module 380 once it determines that such a document has been requested. Block 1500 then sends the document to the printing module 380 . Block 2400 checks to see if a document has been received from the document server 100 via block 1500 . Once such a document is received, block 2500 automatically prints the document on the printing device without user intervention. The term "without user intervention" means that the user is not directly involved in the printing operation; the document is automatically sent to device 300 to be printed by the printing device. According to this mode of operation, the user does not press any "print" button or otherwise directly engages in the printing process; indeed, the user is not even in the same room, city, state or country as the device 300 during the printing operation. Printing happens automatically and unattended—whether a user is present or not. In addition, if the print schedule 390 is stored in a device-independent manner, such as the document server 100, the traveling user can "log in" to the document server 100 and have his or her customized document sent to the device 300 that is convenient to the user's current location. .

Referring now to FIG. 3, block 2600 checks to see if the document was successfully printed. If not, block 2800 performs error handling, such as trying to print the document again, notifying the user that the printing device is out of paper or has some other error condition, or simply deciding not to print the document. When the document is successfully printed, block 2900 notifies the document server 100 that the document was successfully printed. Block 1600 waits for an indication from the printing module 389 that the document was indeed successfully printed. When such an indication is received, block 1700 updates the user profile with this information.

It should be understood that not all of the blocks in Figures 2-4 need be implemented, or in the order indicated, to fall within the spirit and scope of the invention. More specifically, according to one implementation, control flow moves from block 2600 into block 4100 of FIG. 4 , as will be discussed later, and from block 1500 to block 1300 of FIG. 2 . An alternate implementation is contemplated in which additional information is sent back to the document server 100 at block 2900 in order to update the user profile preferably stored in the knowledge module 170 . This other information may be ink usage (full usage or ready usage by ink color), printable media usage (number of sheets printed, type of media used, etc.), or other types of information. In addition to this, an alternative embodiment has been contemplated in which some or all of the information contained in the user profile stored in the knowledge module 170 comes via the printing module 380 from a source other than the user. For example, publicly or privately available information about the user, and/or the devices 300 he/she/they use, can be obtained from a wide variety of different sources and inserted into the user profile preferably stored in the knowledge module 170 middle.

Block 1800 examines the preferred user profile stored in the knowledge module 170 to determine if the user should be offered product subsidies. For example, if the information in the user profile indicates that this user has copied his 1000th document, such as the "preferred" document containing an advertisement from the advertisement provider 80 or otherwise under the control of the editing module 120, then the guarantee is A user provides a product subsidy. For the purposes of this invention, a "product supplement" may be a printed consumable or other product. "Printing consumer goods" are ink sticks for inkjet printers, ink for such ink sticks, toner sticks for laser printers, or any other product or substance including printing tape, etc. that is used up when a document is printed. Note that the above "inks" are typically of the permanent variety, but erasable inks such as those sold by the Eink Corporation may also be used.

Note that the product subsidy referred to herein is preferably funded at least in part by advertising revenue received from an advertising provider 80 (FIG. 1) Funded from the distribution income received. In any case, information about who printed what (such as satisfaction information) is preferably provided to the content provider 50 and/or the advertisement provider 80 - preferably automatically sent as a document to one or more printers in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. equipment.

Other forms of products contemplated to be funded by the present invention include printable media such as glossy paper, specialty paper, transparencies, etc., and also devices 300 such as printing devices, electronic devices, and personal computers. Indeed, alternative implementations have been envisioned where other products are funded, such as subscription prices for documents, or even products not directly related to the document delivery system shown here, such as soap or dog food. If block 1800 determines that such a subsidy is warranted, then block 1900 requires the issuance module 400 to provide such a subsidy to the user. In one embodiment, the issuance module 400 simply mails products, such as printed consumables or other products of the types described above, to the user at the address specified in the user profile. In another embodiment, the issuance module 400 mails or electronically generates coupons that users can use to receive free or discounted products of the types described above. Regardless of whether block 1800 is answered affirmatively or negatively, control flow returns to block 1300 ( FIG. 2 ) to see if another document has been requested from printing module 380 .

Referring again to FIG. 3 , after block 2900 notifies the document server 100 that the document was successfully printed, control flow moves to block 4100 ( FIG. 4 ), which checks the document server 100 to see what the current version of the printing module 380 is. Block 3100 checks to see if and when such a request has been received, and block 3200 sends information to the printing module 380 about the current version of the printing module. Block 4200 compares this information from the document server 100 with its own version and determines if a newer version of the print module is available. For example, if the printing module 380 runs version 4.0, and the document server 100 indicates that version 4.1 is the current version of the printing module 380, block 4200 will determine that a newer version of the printing module 380 is available, and flow control will move to block 4300. Block 4300 checks to see if a download of this updated version of printing module 380 should be requested. Whilst the user will typically be asked whether such a download should be requested, and will typically be performed at a convenient time, such steps can also be performed automatically without user intervention. If such a download is requested, block 4400 is answered in the affirmative, and block 3500 downloads the updated print module, which is then installed at block 4500. Regardless of how blocks 4200 and 4300 are answered, control flow moves to block 4600, which checks to see if the disconnected state should be entered. If block 2300 (FIG. 2) determines that device 300 was in a disconnected state when the document was requested, as described above (ie, not operably coupled to network 200), then block 4600 is answered in the affirmative, and block 4700 re-enters the disconnected state. In any event, control flow returns to block 2200 of FIG. 2 .

Referring again to the print schedule 390 shown in FIG. 7, it can be seen that many different types of documents can be requested to be printed. For example, the title of document 11000 specifies a network address, such as an Internet Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that contains a network location where the document is to be printed. Note that this URL can be partially or fully hidden from the user, as is the case with the URL for document 15000. In this scenario, the editing module 120 of the document server 100 simply goes to the Internet indicated by the URL (which is shown in FIG. 380 to send it to the printing device. Alternatively, device 300 may go directly to the URL itself without the help of document server 100; in this case, block 2300 (FIG. Documentation 11000 from another source.

In contrast, document 12000 is not a document originating from content provider 50 via the Internet, but is stored directly on device 300 such as a printing device, personal computer, or other electronic device. An example of such a document might be a calendar of a program like Microsoft Outlook, which the user requests to be automatically printed on his printer every weekday at 7 am without any user intervention. In such an embodiment, printing module 380 need not request a document from document server 100 because it does not need access to network 200 to access the document. In this embodiment, block 2300 of FIG. 2 requests a document from another source—device 300 . While block 2900 still preferably indicates printing the document, and while block 1700 still preferably updates the user profile in the knowledge module 170, printing such a document preferably does not generate any type of credit to the product subsidy because such a document is not Documents considered to be "preferred", eg, are not under the control of the editing module 120 .

Referring again to FIG. 7, a print schedule for document 13000 is shown. Document 13000 is referred to as a "personalized document". A “personalized document” is a document that may be populated by the editing module 120 of the document server 100 from a plurality of content providers 50 and advertising providers 80 based on information contained in the user profile stored in the knowledge module 170 . For example, document 13000 is a "personalized document". Our users request that document 13000 - their personalized newspaper - be printed at 6:00 every morning. The editing module 120 examines the user's interests specified in the user profile stored in the knowledge module 170 to populate the document from selected content providers 50 of which the user indicates interest. Editing module 120 also inserts advertisements from selected advertisement providers 80 based again on the user profile stored in knowledge module 170 .

FIG. 8 shows how a user can edit the print schedule 390 of FIG. 7 . The user can use the publisher's suggested schedule, use the default schedule set by the user, or use the delivered custom schedule. If a fixed plan is selected, the user may select daily, weekly, or monthly delivery, or select delivery every specified number of days or every specified weekday. In addition, the time of day can be specified: once at a specified time, multiple times in a day, or divided into multiple times by a specified time period. Although not shown here, the user can also edit the print schedule 390 to require that the document be sent as soon as it is created, or as soon as an external event occurs.

9A-9B show a document 11000 printed by a printing device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Note that this document comes from a content provider 50 via the network 200 (either via the document server 100 or directly), and does not contain advertisements. While document 11000 is preferably formatted by content provider 50 so that the information contained in the document is optimized for printing, such formatting is not required.

Figure 10 shows a document 12000 printed by a printing device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Note that this document comes directly from the device 300 and not from the user's calendar of the document server 100 via the network 200 .

11A-D show a document 13000 printed by a printing device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Note that this document is the user's personalized newspaper containing information indicated by the user as specific interests stored in the user profile in the knowledge module 170 . Note also that this document contains advertisements that the editing module 120 determines, again based on the information contained in the user profile stored in the knowledge module 170, that the user would be interested. As already discussed, when a user prints a sufficient number of such "preferred" documents, the user may receive a product credit for printing consumable or other products.

Figure 12 shows a document 14000 printed by a printing device according to one embodiment of the present invention. Note that document 14000 is the HP Immediate Delivery Times—a document located on document server 100. Although this document itself does not include advertisements, it is still considered a "preferred document" because it is under the control of the editing module 120 . Document 14000 notifies the user about a new release of the Immediate Delivery Program or the Immediate Delivery of new information.

Having described the basic operation of document delivery system 10 above, Figures 17-21 provide additional operational information regarding selected aspects of the present invention.

Accordingly, turning to FIG. 17, a flow illustrating an example method for generating a personalized document is presented. As shown, the method begins at block 1010 where the editing module 120 receives a content object from the content provider 50 and/or the advertisement provider 80 and optionally invokes an instance of the content manager 518 . In response, the content manager 518 analyzes, classifies, packages and stores each received content object in block 1015 . More specifically, as introduced above, the content manager 518 invokes an instance of the analysis/wrapper agent 522 to analyze and package the received content object in a tracking wrapper with a unique identifier. According to one implementation, the analysis agent 522 identifies metadata in received content objects in order to classify the content objects. According to one aspect of the present invention, the analysis/packaging agent 522 also analyzes the received content to identify and reduce the occurrence of overlapping/duplicate content objects according to the conflict resolution rules of the user profile and/or publication profile (see FIG. 25- 30).

Once the analysis agent 522 has classified and packaged the received content object in a package, the content manager 518 updates the content provider information data structure 620 associated with the provider of the content object to indicate the package identifier for the received content object.

In block 1300, the editing module 120 identifies whether an indication to build a personalized document has been received. As introduced above, such indications are generated by the requesting user through a user interface (eg, a web page), or in response to indications received from print schedule 390, for example. In either case, if an indication is received, editing module 120 invokes an instance of innovative virtual editor 506 to generate a personalized publication for delivery to the identified user. In this regard, the virtual editor 506 invokes an instance of the build agent 520 containing information from the user profile associated with the identified user in order to determine user interests, block 1410 . At block 1415, the build agent 520 obtains information from the user profile 602 in order to determine selected media (e.g., e-mail publication, send by fax, send to the user's local printer, etc.), interests, preferences, and/or history of receiving information Methods.

At block 1420, build agent 520 determines whether the publication request is unique to a single user, or whether information for another user has already been retrieved. If the content object identified for the publication has already been retrieved to satisfy another user request, the build agent 520 accesses the local storage 508 to quickly retrieve the identified content object, block 1425 . Otherwise, at block 1430, the build agent 520 extracts the appropriate category content objects to use to generate a personalized publication.

At block 1435, the build agent 520 utilizes the extracted information to generate an initial layout of the personalized document. According to one implementation, construction agent 520 identifies additional content objects based at least in part on already extracted content objects and other key contributor criteria (eg, seasonality, locality, etc.) introduced above. Furthermore, the build agent 520 also leaves space in the layout for including content from a local content provider (eg, an ISP) through which a personalized publication will be sent en route to the identified user.

At block 1440, the build agent 520 also optimizes the document layout, updating the content provider information database 620 with an indication of which content objects have been utilized in the build of the personalized document. The personalized document created by the construction agent 520 of the virtual editor 506 is then sent to the publishing agent 504, block 1445. As described below (FIGS. 19 and 20), the Publishing Agent's Layout Manager 516 finalizes the layout and content (except for last-minute, time-sensitive content objects), while the Scheduling Manager 514 optimally plans the delivery of the publication in order to include such last-minute, time-sensitive content objects. The publishing agent 504 then publishes the personalized document for delivery to the user via the sending module 150 and printing module 380 associated with the user.

Turning to FIG. 18 , a flowchart illustrating an example method of operation of the innovative printing module 380 is presented, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. As introduced above, the printing module 380 includes a virtual sensor (not shown) that is a content object detection and identification tracking wrapper that provides the document server 100 with confirmation of receipt of the content object, including received personalized publications.

According to the illustrated example embodiment of FIG. 18, the method begins at block 2695, where the printing module 380 notifies the publication server that the publication has been successfully printed. At block 2900, the document server 100 is notified that the publication has been successfully printed. In response, the content manager 518 updates the usage domain of the content object including the received personalization document for an accurate response from the content provider 50 and advertisement provider 80 . At block 2905, the printing module 380 covertly monitors user interaction with the received publication. As introduced above, this covert monitoring (via sensor 35000, client application, etc.) records one or more distribution of content objects to users, user receipt of content objects, whether objects are printed or viewed on display terminals, viewed The length of time (if via a terminal), whether any editing of the content object occurred, and any other user interaction with the content object.

In parallel, the printing module 380 publicly asks the user for feedback on the received publication in general, and one or more content objects in particular, block 2910, according to one embodiment of the present invention. At block 2915, the printing module determines whether the user has provided feedback.

At block 2920, the printing module 380 weighs the user's satisfaction based at least in part on observed user interactions with the received publication and any received feedback from the user. At block 1695, the printing module 380 records any further distribution of content objects including personalized publications and provides such information to the editing module 120 for updating the user profile and content provider information data structures 602 and 620, respectively.

Turning next to Figures 19 and 20, the operation of the inventive publishing agent 504 is described. Once the build agent 520 compiles the components of the personalized publication, the structure is provided to the publication agent 504, block 1445, as described above. In block 1447, publication agent 504 invokes an instance of layout manager 516 and an internal clock (not shown) engages in monitoring compilation time associated with at least a portion of the layout of the publication. According to one implementation, more complex measurements are made and maintained, such as compilation times at specific times of the day, day of the week, etc. By maintaining this measure of authoring time, however complex or basic, enables publication agent 504 to improve publication and delivery schedules.

At block 1448, the layout manager 516 determines whether the publication contains any time-sensitive material. If so, it is further determined whether the delivery plan must include time to obtain information (content objects) immediately prior to delivery of the publication, block 1451. If the publication does not contain time-sensitive information (1449), or the delivery plan does not require immediate availability of information between deliveries (1451), the layout manager 516 receives content objects from the virtual editor 506 to finalize the layout of the publication, Box 1453. At block 1455, the layout manager analyzes the content objects based on key contributor information and generates a final layout for the document.

If the publication is to include last-minute, time-sensitive information (identified at blocks 1449 and 1451, respectively), once the last-minute content object has been retrieved, block 1454, the layout manager 516 receives the content object from the virtual editor and executes the publication Part of the final layout of , leaving the finalization of the layout to the plan manager 514 .

At block 1457, upon completion of the final or partially final layout of the publication, the layout manager 516, off the internal clock, calculates compilation time and updates the measurement of compilation time. According to one implementation, layout manager 516 generates a measure of publication complexity and maintains estimated compilation time measures for varying degrees of publication complexity. The estimated compilation time is then used to optimally schedule the publication layout job based at least in part on the complexity of the job.

At block 1459, the layout manager 516 determines whether the publication is the only document intended for one user, or whether it is to be "broadcast" to multiple recipients. If it is designated as a single user, the layout manager forwards it to the schedule manager 514 . If it is broadcast to multiple recipients, the layout manager 516 first lists the number of publications at block 1461 before sending the publications to the schedule manager 514 at block 1460 .

Figure 20 provides a flowchart of an example method for optimally scheduling publications according to an aspect of the present invention. As shown, the process begins at block 1465, where the plan manager 514 receives publications from the layout manager 516 and performs initial load balancing calculations. According to one implementation, layout manager 516 provides compilation time estimates to planning manager 514 from which planning manager 514 plans publications to optimally utilize publishing agent's 504 resources. The estimate of authoring time is either a quantitative value (eg, the authoring time of the layout manager layout publication), or a qualitative value (eg, the complexity of the publication is low, medium, or high).

According to another implementation, the schedule manager 514 identifies intended recipients (and associated printing devices) in order to determine print status, print media, media count, and the like. In one embodiment, this information is retrieved from the printing module 380 associated with the user and/or the identified printer. In an alternative embodiment, this information is provided by directly interrogating the printing device. Using this information, along with compilation timing information, schedule manager 514 can best identify which work can be done in a particular time frame and further optimize the publication schedule. The schedule manager 516 then identifies an optimal publication start time based, for example, on the relative complexity of the publication received relative to other scheduled publications. According to one embodiment, schedule manager 514 maintains a publication job queue indicating the start time and estimated processing time for each publication.

At block 1469, the schedule manager 514 determines whether it is time to complete publications and queued publications for delivery. If so, schedule manager 514 joins an internal clock to monitor compilation time, block 1471. As above, the measure of compilation time is useful for future estimates by the plan manager 514 of processing time for jobs of similar complexity, thus iteratively developing a more accurate plan manager 514 .

At block 1473, the schedule manager 514 obtains any last-minute, time-sensitive information for inclusion in the publication, and finalizes the layout of the publication including such content.

At block 1475, the schedule manager 514 continuously monitors whether the publisher agent 504 completed the publication on time within the allotted time. This is especially important during mass publication of eg documents. In such cases, the schedule manager continuously determines whether publication of all documents is likely to occur. Assuming the publisher is currently on schedule, the schedule manager 514 further determines at block 1477 whether publication is complete.

Once publication is complete, schedule manager 514 disengages the internal clock that measures compilation time and records this information for future publication estimation and planning, block 1479 . At block 1481 , the schedule manager 514 generates the document for delivery to the printing module 380 and sends the document to the sending module 150 for delivery to the printing module 380 , block 1495 .

If at block 1475 above, the schedule manager 514 determines that the publisher is unlikely to complete the publication according to the schedule, the schedule manager 514 defaults to the publication at block 1483 so it can maintain its publication by moving on to the next publication job. plan. In such an implementation, the schedule manager 514 notifies system management to adjust the heuristic data and report failed publications, block 1485 . At block 1487 , a non-fulfilling publication is generated and provided to the printing module 380 at block 1481 . In an alternate implementation, rather than not participating in the current publication, the schedule manager 514 re-optimizes the publication schedule, changing the publication jobs in the queue as necessary to ensure publication of the current document.

Turning next to FIG. 21 , a flowchart of an example method for tracking distribution, receipt, and deployment of personal content objects, including personalized publications, is presented in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. As introduced above, whenever the editorial module 120 receives content (artistic or advertising) it classifies the content objects and encapsulates the objects in tracking wrappers. Tracking packaging is the unique, identifiable mark associated with an object in the document delivery system. Virtual sensors embedded throughout the document delivery system (e.g. in printing modules) recognize receipt and interaction with objects encapsulated in such packaging, implicitly providing the document delivery system with information about which objects, content objects, etc. are of interest to a particular user. Valuable feedback such as the number of releases.

As used herein, trace wrappers are non-intrusive tags, that is, they do not change the content of the content object. For purposes of illustration and not limitation, an example of a personalized publication 6000 including content objects embedded in tracking packages 6002(A)...(N) is provided with reference to FIG. 24 . As shown, a content object 6004 is encapsulated in a tracking wrapper 6002(A) by a "tag" or "tag" 6006 stored in a content offering data structure to uniquely identify the content object.

According to the illustrated example embodiment, the method of FIG. 21 begins at block 5002, where the content manager 518 of the virtual editor 506 receives from one or more virtual sensors that a content object has been sent to, or received by, an identified user Report. In response, the appropriate content manager 518 updates the appropriate user profile (block 5004) and content provider information data structure (block 5006) to reflect the publication, receipt, and/or deployment of the content object. At block 5008, the contract administrator 524 of the content manager 518 periodically initiates financial transactions with the content provider 50, the advertisement provider 80, and the subscribing user.

More specifically, contract administrator 524 initiates payment of royalties for distribution and receipt of content objects provided by selected content providers in accordance with contractual obligations established between the document delivery system and such content providers. In this regard, the contract administrator identifies usage of the content objects associated with the content provider 50 in order to determine the exact royalty payment, and instructs the transaction agent 526 to complete the financial transaction, preferably through one of a plurality of electronic financial services networks. In such an example, transaction agent 526 initiates payment to a financial services network account associated with content provider 50 in an amount determined by contract administrator 524 . Instead, transaction agent 526 initiates printing of a check payable to content provider 50 in the name indicated by contract administrator 524, wherein the check so printed is then mailed to content provider 50.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the degree of accuracy of content issuance and deployment monitored in the document delivery system 10 facilitates "micro-transactions," that is, communication with each system in which a financial obligation (as defined in the contract management information) is created. Operate concurrent electronic transactions. According to an example embodiment, each time a content object associated with content provider 50 is republished, the financial account associated with content provider 50 is credited for the royalty payment. This amounts to hundreds, thousands or millions of microtransactions per content provider per day. The transaction agent 526 initiates an accrued lump sum financial transaction such as a transaction on a periodic basis, or upon reaching a threshold of money (eg, forming a payment of $10 increments). Although described in the context of royalties payments to content provider 50, financial transaction agent 526 instead transfers advertising provider 80 to advertising provider 80 on a micro-transactional, periodic, or other lump sum basis in the same manner as described above. or the Subscriber's account is debited.

Similarly, contract manager 524 periodically calculates ad usage for ad providers 80 , instructing transaction broker 526 to bill identified ad providers 80 based on ad usage, placement, syndication, and the like. As above, the transaction agent 526 preferably completes the billing via the electronic financial network, but instead (or in addition) initiates the printing and mailing of a physical bill to the advertising provider 80 .

Turning to FIG. 22 , an exemplary method of generating a publication using the innovative publishing toolset of editing module 120 is described, according to one embodiment of the present invention. As introduced above, the innovative publishing toolset 512 enables users to generate publications simply by developing a publication description file 640 . The document generation tools of the innovative document server 100, such as the publication agent 504 and the virtual editor 506, utilize the information provided in the publication description file to retrieve content objects appropriate to the subject/genre of the publication and automatically generate the publication on behalf of the producer . It should then be appreciated that the innovative publishing toolset 512, in concert with the document server's automatic document generation tools, enables a single author to create, market and distribute professional-looking publications. As alluded to above, while described as a functional element of the editing module 120, it should be understood that the publishing toolset 512 could also be located outside the document server 100 and, indeed, within the document server 100 without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Delivery system 10 external.

According to the illustrated example implementation, the method begins at block 5502, where an indication to invoke the publishing toolset 512 is received. At block 5504, the user interface (UI) of the publishing toolset 512 is invoked to register and generate/update a publication description file for the requesting producer. As introduced above, the UI enables the producer to generate/update a publication description file 640 that defines the scope, content and schedule of the publication. See Figure 23 for an example user interface.

Turning to FIG. 23, a graphical illustration illustrates an example user interface (UI) suitable for use with publishing toolset 512, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, UI 6000 may also be used to create/update user profiles and/or publication profiles (640), as described above. As shown, the UI 6000 requests the author's name and password for registration, and also requests information related to the scope and content of the publication, publication layout, and publication schedule. In addition to this, according to an aspect of the present invention, the user also indicates the primary content provider and the method for handling overlapping/duplicate content. As illustrated, a user/publisher may choose to include all content of a publication regardless of overlap/duplication considerations. Alternatively, the user/publisher can choose to utilize the most recent content regardless of the provider; choose to utilize content from the primary source only; choose to utilize all content, providing a link from the title/centerline of the secondary provider's content to the primary provider's content ; provide a link from the introductory paragraph of the secondary provider's content to the primary provider's content; etc. This information is received and maintained in the publication description file data structure 640 described above.

Returning to FIG. 22, the automatic document generation tool of the document server 100 uses the information stored in the publication description file to build the publication plan. In block 5506 , a decision whether to publish an indication has been received from the document generation tool, eg, based at least in part on the publication description file 640 . If such an indication is received, the virtual editor 120 obtains the content object from the content provider according to the publication description file 640 . According to one embodiment, once the virtual editor 120 has retrieved the content objects and built the publication according to the layout standards of the publication description file, the usage requirements of contract management information, and other key contributors, the publishing agent 504 is invoked to arrange the built document publication and delivery, as described above.

According to the illustrated example embodiment, once the virtual editor retrieves the content object, an initial publication is created and provided to the producer for editorial input, block 5510. Creates an initial publication, sometimes referred to as an editorial mock-up, from publication description file layout standards, contract management information, content provider usage standards, key contributor information, etc., for browsing by producers. According to one embodiment, edited mockups are sent to the producer via e-mail messages, while in an alternative implementation, the producer logs into the document server 100 during predetermined editing cycles during which the maker can manipulate the mockup publication's Content/Format/Layout.

In block 5512, the document delivery server 100 receives edits from the producer, if any, and modifies the publication to reflect the producer's edit input. At block 1445, the document is sent to the publication agent 504 for publication according to the producer's editorial input and the final publication is created. See FIG. 24 for an illustration of creating an example publication from a publication description file 640 .

As introduced above, the virtual editor 506 of the editing module 120 includes an analysis/packaging agent 522 to analyze and reduce the occurrence of overlapping/duplicate content objects from a publication according to user preferences. See FIG. 25 for an example method for reducing the occurrence of overlapping/duplicate content objects.

25 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for reducing the occurrence of overlapping/duplicate content objects in a publication, according to one aspect of the invention. According to the illustrated example embodiment of FIG. 25, method 7000 begins at block 7002, where virtual editor 506 receives content objects associated with a plurality of publication chapters and/or a plurality of content providers. As introduced above, virtual editor 506 optionally invokes an instance of analysis/wrapper module 522 to create one or more data structures from received objects organized by chapter or provider. According to an example embodiment, utilizing a two-dimensional matrix, where each provider and/or chapter of a publication is assigned to a column in the matrix, rows populated by content objects (or links to them) are associated with the provider/chapter . See Figure 26 for an example of such a matrix.

Turning to FIG. 26, an example classification matrix 8000 is provided in which columns are assigned to particular content providers (or chapters of a publication), and each row contains a title, keyword, or other link to a single content object. According to the illustrated example of FIG. 26 , four (4) columns are illustrated to represent four content providers, four chapters of a received publication, or a combination of both, each chapter including six (6) content objects (or up to link in it). It should be understood that the number of columns and rows is determined at least in part by the number of content providers/sections and articles for each content provider/section. That is, matrices of greater or lesser complexity are contemplated within the scope and spirit of the invention.

Returning to Figure 25, in particular, block 7006, the analysis/wrapper agent 522 prioritizes the columns and rows of the matrix in provider/section order. According to an example implementation illustrated in FIG. 26 , the upper left corner represents the highest priority of the matrix, and the relative priority becomes lower towards the lower right of the matrix.

At block 7008, the analysis/wrapper agent 522 goes through the content objects to identify overlapping/duplicate content objects. According to the example implementation illustrated in FIG. 25 , the analysis/wrapper 522 analyzes objects from higher priority to lower priority to identify redundancies and/or the like in and between columns of the matrix (i.e. providers/sections). content object. At block 7010, if a match is found, the analysis/packaging agent 522 determines whether the publication description file preference allows lower priority to occur, block 7012.

As introduced above, rather than simply eliminating all occurrences of overlapping/duplicate content objects, the analysis/packaging agent 522 applies intelligent editing rules to each case to best reflect the user's publication preferences. In this regard, a number of factors are utilized to determine how best to handle identified redundancies. According to one implementation of the present invention, analysis/packaging agent 522 utilizes one or more of (1) column prioritization; (2) articles per chapter; and/or (3) acceptable duplication level settings to determine how to handle redundancy .

The column priority parameter indicates that the highest ranking column (reflecting provider or chapter preference) has the option to use "trump" priority during the compare and reduce algorithm of FIG. 25 . That is, instead of using the rank of the article when a duplicate is encountered, the article in the higher rank column of the matrix is selected. Depending on one implementation, this is an optional precedence rule that can be allowed/disallowed on a per-chapter basis. According to one implementation, this attribute is optionally enabled/disabled by selecting Primary Source 0 only in the Duplicate Source Resolution field of the UI 6000.

The Articles per Chapter property establishes the number of articles required to appear in each chapter for each provider and/or publication. This attribute can be defined by the user/publisher in creating the publication description file. Alternatively, the virtual editor 506 can also dynamically build articles with per-chapter properties based at least in part on the number of content objects received. According to one implementation of the invention, any articles below the article-per-chapter threshold in the matrix columns after the matrix sorting is complete are ignored for publication purposes.

Repetition Level enables the user/publisher to set a minimum level of repetition (eg via UI 6000). According to one implementation, the duplication level reflects the number of ranked articles that can be placed in any section before duplication is considered. When the repetition level is zero (0), no repetition is allowed. However, when the duplication rating is equal to one (1), then the highest ranking article in each column can be published regardless of duplicates, ie the leading story can be repeated. It should be understood that while the duplication level is set to one, additional user and/or publication description file preferences regarding publication formatting may edit the manner in which such duplication occurs. In one embodiment, for example, a repeating article from a secondary source provides a heading and/or introductory paragraph linking to content from the primary source.

At block 7014, the analysis/packaging agent 522 of the virtual editor 506 determines whether publication of redundant/similar content objects is allowed, given the settings described above. If so, analysis/wrapper agent 522 in combination with layout manager 526 formats lower priority occurrences to reference higher priority occurrences according to user and/or publication profile preferences. If, at block 7014, duplicates are not allowed, the analysis/wrapper agent 522 removes lower priority occurrences from the matrix.

At block 7020, the analysis/packaging agent 522 determines whether the article per chapter limit has been reached. If yes, the process ends. If not, the process continues at block 7008 where the analysis/wrapper agent 522 analyzes additional objects in order of priority to identify overlapping/duplicated content. In this regard, FIG. 25 provides an iterative matrix ordering of received content to reduce and/or eliminate redundant material according to user/publisher preferences indicated in one or more user profiles, publication profiles, or the like.

Having presented the teachings of this aspect of the invention above, Figures 26-30 graphically illustrate multiple iterations of the method 7000 as applied to an example matrix 8000 populated with keyword descriptions for content objects. For purposes of illustration, S1 has column-major order and a repetition level of one (1) is applied to the matrix. Thus, during the initial pass of line 1, the analysis/wrapper agent 522 identifies repeated keywords Peace 8002, 8004 (repeated in italics). In general, the S3 Peace content object 8004 can be removed using S1 with column-major order. However, in this case, the duplication level is set to one (1), so duplication between the highest-ranked content objects between columns is ignored.

In Figure 27, the analysis of the second row of the matrix 8000 is performed, so the analysis/packaging agent 522 identifies repetitions of the key Barak 8006, 8008 between columns S1 and S3. Because of the priority order of the columns, the S3 content objects Barak 8008 are removed from the matrix, and the lower priority content objects of column S3 are moved up one position each. The lowest priority locations in S3 are filled with NULL values/pointers (Figure 28).

To the extent that the per-chapter threshold of the article has not been reached (for illustrative purposes, we only discuss the entire matrix), the analysis continues. In FIG. 29, a conflict among keywords Bosnia (8010, 8012) is identified by the analysis/wrapper agent 522 between columns S1 and S3. In this example, column precedence indicates that Bosnia (8010) is removed from column S3. Again, the analysis/wrapper agent 522 modifies column S3 to reflect the removal of overlapping/duplicate content (Bosnia 8010) by increasing the effective level of all lower level content in the column, and inserting NULL values/pointers at the column's lowest priority position .

Referring to FIG. 30 , further analysis of matrix 8000 identifies redundancies with respect to Bush content objects 8014 and 8016 . Again, because the duplicate rank is set to one (1), the highest ranked articles in the columns of matrix 8000 will not be dropped. However, otherwise the column precedence rules will dictate that the S1 content object will be preserved over all other redundancy. According to the illustrated example embodiment, the level of repetition overrides column precedence (ie the Bush content object is more related to column S2, and thus will stay at column S2 (which, as noted above, represents a chapter of the publication)). Thus in Figure 30, the content object 8014 is removed from S1 and replaced with a NULL object. Further analysis of matrix 8000 revealed no further redundancies, and the analysis ended.

Note, however, that with an article-per-chapter value set to, for example, three (3), the analysis of the content will stop after each column and at least three rows of a unique content object (depending on the repetition level of course). In the case where S1 will not publish the Bosnia content object, it will remain in column S3. That is, the analysis will end before the redundancy between S1 and S3 is identified.

According to one implementation, created documents are published in a publication category where users can browse and select publications of interest to download and/or subscribe to.

Claims (10)

1. A method comprising: receive multiple content objects; identify overlapping/duplicate content objects; and Occurrence of overlapping and/or duplicate content objects is reduced according to user preference. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of content objects are received from a plurality of content providers. 3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: The received content objects are populated according to the content provider into a matrix, each column of the matrix containing a row of content objects related to a particular content provider. 4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising: The content objects in the columns of the matrix are prioritized based at least in part on the content provider's user preferences. 5. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving the content object comprises: read at least a subset of the content objects; identifying keywords characterizing the content object; and Each cell of the matrix is populated with keywords characterizing the associated content object. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying objects of overlapping/duplicating content comprises: Multiple occurrences of a keyword in cells of said matrix are detected. 7. The method of claim 5, wherein reducing the occurrence of overlapping/duplicate content objects comprises: identifying which overlapping/duplicating content object has priority as the primary content object; and The primary content object is retained while other overlapping/duplicating content objects are removed or reduced according to the user's preference. 8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the user's preferences are maintained in one or more user profiles, publication profiles or the like. 9. The method of claim 5, wherein the subset of content objects includes one or more titles, first paragraphs, and/or metadata of the content objects. 10. The method of claim 5, wherein each column of the matrix is populated in a priority order based at least in part on provider preference.

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