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Content filtering, ordering by relevance, and caching

Content filtering, ordering by relevance, and caching description/claims

The present invention relates generally to data processing systems, and more specifically to a technique for organizing content items.

In certain situations, it may be desirable to filter, order by relevance, and/or cache content items for delivery to a user. As an illustrative example, consider the world wide network of computers commonly known as the Internet. A hypertext information and communication system known as the World Wide Web (“WWW”) operates on the Internet, according to a client-server model using HyperText Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”), to make content on a web site on the WWW accessible to users. The accessible content on the web site may be of many different types including text, graphics, images, sound, and video.

In a given situation, a web developer/administrator may wish to organize some of the content items available on a web site. This organization may involve, for example, filtering some of the content items for display. In another situation, the web developer/administrator may wish to organize the content items to reflect a particular user's preferences. In yet another situation, the web developer/administrator may wish to cache frequently accessed content items. Known techniques for organizing content items in this manner typically require complex database queries, possibly involving multiple table joins in each case. As will be appreciated, such complex database queries may be costly in terms of data processing resources consumed, possibly limiting the flexibility of a web developer/administrator in organizing the content items as desired. Thus, a more efficient technique for organizing content items is needed.

There is provided a method, system and computer readable medium for organizing content items. The organizing may include filtering, ordering by relevance, and/or caching.

In an embodiment, “characteristics” of a “content item” may be defined, with each characteristic being assigned an ordinal in an array (e.g. a “bit position” in a “bit string”) sufficiently long to accommodate the characteristics. For example, the characteristics for a news article content item may be a list of related “subject areas”.

A “content filter” may be assembled to filter the characteristics of a content item by filtering the content item's “content item bit string”. A content filter comprises at least one filter rule concerning one or more unique bit positions in a content item bit string. A more complex content filter may be assembled from a plurality of filter rules using one or more logical operators (e.g. AND, OR, XOR, NAND, etc.).

The content filter may be compared to a content item bit string to determine whether there are any matching characteristics. In an embodiment, if at least one characteristic matches, then the content item may pass through the content filter and be displayed. In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, each filter rule in the content filter and may be compared to each content item bit string simply by performing a bitwise AND operation.

“User preferences” may be stored in a “user preference bit string”, with each bit position in the user preference bit string corresponding to a characteristic, such as “subject area”. In an embodiment, a user preference bit string applies to all users having the same characteristic preferences. Each user preference bit string may be converted to a cache key value for identifying a cache of content items. As an example, a hexadecimal equivalent of the user preference bit string may be used as a cache key.

A content item bit string and a user preference bit string may be compared to determine whether there are any matching characteristics between the content item and a user's preferences. In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, the content item bit string and user preference bit string may be compared simply by performing a bitwise AND operation.

The number of matching characteristics in a comparison between the user preference bit string and the content item bit string may be used to calculate a “relevance value” for each content item. The calculated relevance value may be used to order the content items for delivery according to the user's preferences.

In an aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of organizing a plurality of content items, comprising:

(i) assigning to each content item a content item array, wherein each ordinal of the content item array indicates a characteristic of the content item;

(ii) applying a content filter to the plurality of content items, the content filter including at least one filter rule concerning at least one characteristic of each content item.

In an embodiment, the array comprises a bit string, and the ordinal comprises a unique bit position in the bit string.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises associating a display area with the content filter, and facilitating display in the display area of any content items that pass through the content filter.

In an embodiment, the content filter is assembled from at least one filter rule, and multiple filter rules, if present, are combined by a logical operator.

In an embodiment, applying a content filter in (ii) comprises performing a bitwise AND operation between each filter rule of the content filter and each content item bit string.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises, before (i), defining each possible characteristic of a content item, and assigning to each possible characteristic a unique bit position.

In an embodiment, the characteristic comprises whether or not a defined subject area relates to the content item, and the content item bit string indicates, at each unique bit position, such a characteristic.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises:

(iii) assigning to each user of the plurality of content items a user preference bit string, wherein each unique bit position in the user preference bit string indicates whether the user has a preference for a corresponding characteristic of the content items;

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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