Patent ID: 9721035
Date: 2017-08-01
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A method comprising: receiving, over a network, a request for recommended content from a requester, the request comprising a content unit, the content unit being associated with a respective plurality of content sources, each respective content source comprising a respective content recommendation methodology and at least one respective data source, wherein the respective content source identifies links to recommended content items by applying the respective content recommendation methodology to the at least one respective data source, wherein the respective content recommendation methodology comprises multiple algorithms selected using a weighting factor based on at least one of installation, category, or sub-category, a first algorithm of the algorithms to be selected for retrieving the links based on at least one respective input parameter included in the request, the at least one respective input parameter specifying a minimum number of links to be chosen using the first algorithm and a maximum number of links to be chosen using a second algorithm of the algorithms, and wherein the content unit defines the format and position of a user interface element on a webpage, the user interface element to be generated for display of recommended content on the webpage; selecting, using a computing device, one content source of the plurality of content sources; identifying, using the computing device, a plurality of links to recommended content items accessible over the network using the one content source of the plurality of content sources, wherein the plurality of links is retrieved from the first algorithm; determining that a number of links returned by the one content source is less than the minimum number; in response to determining that the number of links returned by the one content source is less than the minimum number, utilizing the second algorithm to select an additional number of links to meet the minimum number; determining that the additional number of links is greater than the maximum number; in response to determining that the additional number of links is greater than the maximum number, randomly selecting a subset of the links returned by the second algorithm; and transmitting, over the network, in accordance with the maximum number of links, the plurality of links to recommended content items to the requester.