prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: Why is it important for the sides of the fuselage to be sloped (tumbled home)?

Read the following text and answer briefly.

Context 1: Probably one of the most frustrating things about building experimental aircraft, especially when starting with a minimum of pre-fabricated parts, is to start building and ending up with an unexpected result  Every builder starts a new project by wanting it to go "perfectly " So when things aren't going well, especially at the beginning, the frustration can lead to an unfinished airplane 
This is the first article in a series dedicated to helping builders of the Rand Robinson KR series planes build a straight and true fuselage -- the first part of the construction process  Borrowing from modern boatbuliding techniques, focus will be on the KR-2S, but the principles apply to the entire lineup of KR-1 & KR-2 series planes 
While building the KR-2(s) a common surprise is encountered by builders when the completed fuselage sides are laid into position to form the fuselage box section  With many hours spent building the sides flat, finding the once straight longerons that now bow up from the building surface, form a most dissatisfying "banana" shape  Especially when using the preformed fiberglass parts, this curve in the top longeron is not acceptable  The builder is left wondering what went wrong and no amount of clamping or brute force forming will solve the problem to any degree of satisfaction  The problem is not the builder's fault  The solution starts by understanding the three dimensional relationship of the assembled parts being built 
First understand that the plans show the finished form of the plane  They show the "projected" form as you would expect to see it if viewing an actual plane from the top, ends and from the side  Since the sides are sloped (flared) outward, looking from the side, the distances given by measuring the profile drawing are "foreshortened" and don't give the proper shape for building the fuselage with a flat top longeron  What needs to be done is to "develop" the "true" distances and shape of the flat panel so that when it is curved into position, the longerons lay flat 
Second, understand that the dimensions called for in the plans put a twist in the sides that tends to work the panel in two directions of curvature  This twist makes the panel "undevelopable" meaning that that shape cannot be unrolled into an equivalent flat shape  This is important when laying out the side and bottom panels onto flat plywood  To illustrate this, try forming a piece of paper around a soda can  The paper can be formed flat around the can either straight or at a diagonal to it's length  It has only one direction of curvature and is by definition "developable"  Now try to form the same piece of paper around a baseball  It won't lie flat on the surface without some deformation (folding, wrinkling or tearing) of the paper  The ball has curvature in more that one direction and is a "compounded" shape  Paper (or plywood) can only be readily formed in developable shapes as opposed to aluminum or other metal which can accept in plane deformation  A developable surface is needed to lay out a curved surface when the materials used can't be deformed with any degree of in-plane strain 
Initially, the fuselage sides are laid out flat with reference to the top longeron measured to a straight chalk line  The bowing problem starts when the side panels are bent and sloped to form the fuselage box section  If the sides were not sloped (tumbled home), the section formed would be cylindrical and the longerons would lie flat  Since the sides are tumbled home, the section formed is now conical  When a conical shape is cut with a plane (building surface) not perpendicular to it's axis, the shape formed is elliptical -- exactly what happens with the top longeron  When it's built flat, bent to form a cylindrical section, and sloped to form a conical section, it takes on an elliptical shape firewall to tailstock 
This method borrows heavily from proven techniques used in the marine trades  It should be stressed at this point that although the layout procedure is not complicated, it is important to take your time  If the layout is not going well initially, start over! Better to erase layout errors now than to have them built it and cause surprises later 
Layout to ensure a fair and true fuselage starts by drawing a reference line (baseline) on the building surface  Refer to figures 2 & 3 and use a wire guide to draw a very straight baseline  About 500 lbs  Of tension should be adequate  One could use a chalk line, but we're talking airplanes here, not house framing 
The main layout difference is that the baseline isn't used as a reference for the top longeron  The baseline references the mid point of the firewall for the developed (and true dimensioned) side panel  Although the baseline will still be the reference, the top and bottom longerons will be laid separately 
Layout differences don't end there  Each of the stations (vertical members) will be laid out with a calculated separation so that when the panels are formed into position, they land on the spacing called for in the plans  Another major difference is that the bottom & side panels are applied after forming the fuselage box section  This is mainly to obtain the ability to "fair" the side and bottom surfaces and insure a straight and true shape 
Refer to figure 1 for the layout of the new developed side panel  The firewall (station a) is layed out perpendicular to the baseline  Longitudinal (station) measurements are given along the length of the baseline from the firewall  Vertical dimensions are given to reference the angle and breadths of the station at the baseline 
Notice that the top longeron is bowed outward and that the stations are spaced slightly greater than called out in the plans  When the panels are formed into the box frame section ,they will work into the dimensions specified in the plans 
Strike a centerline, longer than is needed on the building surface using a wire guide  Draw off the firewall line perpendicular to the centerline at one end 
Using the distances listed in the balloons, mark them off on the centerline  Distances are measured to the nearest sixteenth of an inch  Take time to mark them off carefully  Don't mark off the distances in a cumulative fashion  Use the firewall as a common reference 
Using the angles listed at each station, mark off a station line longer than is needed  The angles are measured to the nearest hundredth of a degree  Take time to mark them off carefully 
At each station, start by marking off each short (bottom longeron) line distance from the centerline  Use your set of trammels or beam compass for doing this  Mark the intersection of the short line with the station line 
At each station, mark off each long (top longeron) line distance from the intersection of the short line distance and the station line  Again the trammels or beam compass is best for completing this step  Mark the intersection of the long line distance with the station line 
Using the longeron as a batten, trace out the inside and outside curves of the longeron  After the batten is secure, in between each station, fasten a keeper block inside and outside to preserve the shape of the longeron taking care to avoid potential future interference with the diagonal members to be installed later  The fairing blocks can be removed or left in place if they won't interfere with building  The vertical station members and their diagonals can now be measured and positioned  Remember to refer to the plans for the material thickness direction 
After vertical and diagonal members are cut and fitted, take time to draw their outlines on the building surface to cut down on time and confusion when laying out the opposite side 
Finishing the side panel is accomplished in a manner similar to that called for in the handbook with the exception that the side and bottom skin panels will be attached later 
The next article in the series will discuss jigging and building techniques to ensure alignment and straightness of the flat built side panels  Also covered will be building a "strongback" jig to assure alignment of the side panels when they are formed into their final shape 
Part 3 in the series will cover assembly of the side panels using the jigs  Some joint details will be discussed that will ensure a stronger and more fair fuselage assembly  Also covered will be the layout & attachment of the side and bottom ply skins 
U S  Mail: Densmore Associates, inc 
ANSI "D" size, computer generated plots of all the layout drawings in this series are available from the author for $30 plus postage & handling  Full (true size) scale plots may be made available depending on demand 
"Scarfing" is the practice of splicing plywood so that short pieces of plywood can be used to span long distances  On the KR, it is required on both the fuselage skins and spar webs  The angle of the splice should be 10 to 12 degrees to maintain strength across the joint  Also, joints should coincide with structural members, such as spar webs or fuselage truss members 
This scarfer is made by mating a regular plunge router (this one costs about $50) to a table saw  Obviously, you really only need a table saw to cut the chamfer, but it does make a nice heavy table for scarfing  You could just as easily use a large work table as the base First, set the table saw for a 5 5 degree cut (for a 1:12 joint, or 6 5 degree cut for a 10:1 joint), and run a 1 x 6 through on edge to chamfer a corner on the board  Then drill the board for three router mounting holes (two are countersunk) and connect the assembly to the table saw with two 1/4 inch bolts  Use a long (2-3 inch) straight cutting bit to do the cutting  Adjust the bit so it doesn't interfere with your table top, and go to town  Keep pressure on the plywood to ensure contact with the table while you're scarfing  Make sure you feed your material from the same end as you would if you were sawing, or the router will take your plywood away from you and put a big dent in your garage door 
In the late 60's Ken Rand and Stuart Robinson were working as flight system engineers for Douglas Avionics  Ken was working as an electrical engineer, having previously worked for Sperry as an autopilots project engineer, while Stu's degree was in aeronautical engineering from Northrop University  They were two of the guys at the end of the DC-8,9, and 10 assembly lines responsible for correcting some of the nits and picks in various systems before delivery to the customer 
They both wanted to build a fast, inexpensive airplane which was also economical to maintain  Several designs were considered, and plans were bought first for the Jeanie's Teenie and then the Taylor Monoplane  The Monoplane was more to their liking, but would require some modification to fit their needs  A cooperative redesign effort ensued, with virtually no dimensions left untouched  Only the basic fuselage structure, airfoil, and powerplant were retained  The tail shape was Stu's, and came directly from the big DC-8s parked on the ramp outside his office window  The landing gear was designed by Ken, after seeing the gear on a Dewey Bird at Santa Paula airport 
Ken was killed in his KR2 a short time later while flying over Cajon Pass in what was apparently a bad weather / low fuel accident  Ken's wife Jeanette became owner of RR overnight, and stepped up to keep the plans and parts coming  Much of the engineering needs are handled by Bill Marcy of Denver, who's been helping out since early '79 
To date, almost 6000 KR1, 9200 KR2, and 760 KR2S plan sets have been sold  1200 KR2s are estimated to be flying, with 5 KR2Ss now in the air  Much of the development work done on KR's is now done by the builders themselves  KR builders tend to be innovative, which leads to some interesting modifications  Some of the mods that work eventually creep into the plans  The KR2S is a case in point  Many builders who'd heard of the pitch sensitivity and tight cabin of the KR2 began to build an enlarged version, with the length determined by the most commonly available longeron material  The result is a KR2 that is stretched 2" between firewall and main spar, and 14" behind the main spar  Higher gross weights dictated more wing area, with the new standard becoming the Diehl wing skin  Those who plan to carry passengers commonly stretch the cabin width a few inches, although 1 5 inches is the limit if you still want to use RR's premolded parts 
Mike Stearns addresses the KR Forum crowd 
This year's KR Forum featured guest speakers Mike Stearns, Steve Trentman, and Bill Marcey  Mike Stearns spoke on several topics, including the many sources for KR and homebuilding information available on the Internet  He also mentioned KRNet, the list server devoted entirely to KR aircraft, as well as several notable World Wide Web home pages  He also brought a sample of the new Rand Robinson wing skins with him, and discussed their high temperature core prepreg construction  His KR2S will receive the first set, which is currently being installed at Hinson Composites 
Steve Trentman spoke on his turbine installation  It uses a turbine engine which saw duty as an A7 attack jet starter engine  Total weight is about 85 pounds, while putting out around 90 horsepower  There is a small stockpile of these engines available from government surplus  sources  This engine can only be throttled back to 52% power, which leads to some pretty interesting landings  One inflight failure has been logged so far, with very little damage to the aircraft  More on this exciting development in next month's issue of KROnline 
Les Palmer's KR2 N202LP won Best KR2, Best Engine Installation, and People's Choice awards at the 1995 KR Gathering at Columbia, TN  After researching the KR series, and reading Neil Bingham's "A Critical Analysis of the KR2" (Jan 88 Sport Aviation), Les decided to build his as a single seater, stretched 24" in the tail, while maintaining a stock width firewall  His fuselage is made from Douglas fir, which weighs in at 4 lbs heavier than if constructed from spruce  It is skinned with 1/8" birch plywood  Spars are covered with plywoood on both fore and aft sides, ala KR2S  Diehl wing skins provide the lift  Horizontal stabilizer and elevator were stretched 7" longer on each side, while the vertical stabilizer and rudder were stretched 8" taller    The fuselage to cowling junction was made more graceful by adding 1 5 inches to the height of the firewall end of the fuselage sides 
Les's canopy is a Dragonfly, using a four linkage system to swing forward when opening  The canopy frame fits snugly into a recess in the foward deck, providing an excellent wind and water seal  The fiberglass work is exemplary 
Seating is luxurious for one 
The cowling is also a work of art, and uses NACA ducts for efficiency  Female molds were made for all the fiberglass parts on Les's plane, so he could proabably be persuaded to make more, if demand dictates  Les also machines a multitude of KR aluminum and steel parts which he now offers for sale 
The firewall was reinforced with aluminum brackets and angles bolted between the longerons in anticipation of the 200 lb Subaru EA-81 engine installation  His 100 HP Asian version is outfitted with an American Holley 5200 caburetor and manifold  It uses a PSRU of Les's own design, featuring two spur gears with a 1 69:1 reduction ratio and a toothed belt  Other than tapping the crank for larger bolts to mount the redrive, no other engine modifications were required  Also, this is probably the only air conditioned KR2 on the planet  The prop is a 60/63 Hegy 
Originally built as a taildragger, the fixed gear is made from 4130 steel tubing  Custom cast 6 00x6 aluminum wheels and steel rotors are mated with 6" Cleveland calipers for braking  An early taxi test accident damaged the main gear, and prompted Les to change to tricycle gear  Again, he designed his own fiberglass main gear, and uses a Diehl nose wheel fork with a 4130 strut and 6" wheel up front 
Early tests revealed cooling problems, which prompted a radiator move from the firewall to a lower cowling location 
The first flight was almost a disaster, as test pilot Randy Smith lost power right after takeoff  He managed a 180 with a safe downwind landing with only minor nosewheel pant damage  The culprit proved to be a spark plug with too much reach, which was quickly remedied  Subsequent flights have shown water temp to be about 210 degrees, oil temp is 220-230, and airspeed is about 180 mph 
Shopping for the Partially Built KR 
This story starts about twenty years ago when I first started looking at the KR-2 as the plane I'd like to build  The only problem at that time was a lack of money, lack of knowledge, and a lack of job stability  I liked the design, except for the low ground clearance of the retractable gear and that a KR was going to be a tight fit for me to fly 
Over the past twenty years I've owned a number of planes, but still always wanted to build my own  I needed one that would fit me, my budget requirements, and have the speed and performance that I wanted  When "KITPLANES" published the article featuring Roy Marsh's new KR-2S, it was the first I had heard of any major modifications or improvements to the same old KR design  I believe that article and Roy Marsh's workmanship have probably been the greatest boon to Rand Robinson (RR) in the last twenty years  It certainly caught my eye! Here was the same design I had decided I wanted to build twenty years ago, with all of the improvements I wanted  It was sitting on fixed gear with some reasonable ground clearance  It had the capability to be built large enough to accommodate me  It has enough prefab parts available that it didn't have to be 100% scratch built if I decided to hurry the project along  And it had the speed I wanted  I knew that Roy's published speeds were probably not realistic expectations for the average KR, but after knocking around for the last three years in my Champ, anything over 90 mph seems pretty fast to me 
After purchasing the info kit and the sales video from Rand Robinson, the next step after deciding for sure to build this plane was to order the KR-2 plans and the KR-2S addendum  I finally got my plans and was putting together my first order to start the plane, when my partner in the Champ pointed out that there was a partially completed KR-2S for sale in Trade-a-plane  My initial answer was "No, I don't even want to look at it  I want to build my own from scratch " My partner insisted that for the advertised price and the fact that it wasn't too far away, I ought to at least give the guy a call and investigate it  "No, I don't think I want to buy someone else's problems," I persisted  That night I went home and crunched up some numbers on the calculator and finally came to the conclusion that for the sake of my budget for the next several years, I really should give this guy a call 
Three days later, I flew to his place about 400 miles away to take a look at his project  At this point I should probably mention that I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable about airplane construction, although the vast majority of my experience is with tube and fabric  The rest of this article deals with what I looked for and more importantly what I missed and have had to repair in the last year since I purchased the project 
When we went to the seller's house, I found that the left wing was built using the Dan Diehl wing skins and the right wing skins were leaning against the wall inside the house  Also the canopy was in the house with the canopy covered with paper and tape  I wanted to inspect the fuselage first, so off we went to the shop 
There I found a fuselage sitting on it's gear painted in primer gray  The first step was to inspect the quality of workmanship of what could be seen as it sat  The interior of the fuselage looked as if it had been built with a great deal of care  The fit and finish of all of the interior wood was very nice  Even the gussets looked like they had been painstakingly perfectly fitted  The glass work on the turtle back also looked very precise and clean  It was evenly faired into the vertical and horizontal stabs  The tail also appeared to be well built with the exception of a depression directly over the front and rear spars in the horizontal stabs  He explained that when he moved recently, that he had shot the plane with gray primer to protect it from the weather since he wouldn't have ready access to a shop to put it in right away  It ended up sitting out in the hot south Texas summer sun for a few weeks before he got a shop rented to work in  That caused the glass (or possibly the foam inside the horizontal stab) to swell, except that it held onto the spar, so it was slightly ballooned in front of and behind the spars  His recommendation was to fill it back smooth with micro 
I also found a small linear crack in the lower left wing spar cap on the left wing stub  It appeared to be from over tightening the rear spar wing attach fitting bolts  His explanation was that the crack wasn't important because the rear spars only job is to keep the wings from folding back  I also noticed that the holes for attaching the outer wing to the wing stub were badly rounded out on the rear spar  He explained that the Diehl wing skins require the rear spar to be swept slightly more forward than the stock wings  This won't allow you to use the rear spar attach fittings from RR and that I would need to fabricate a new set of rear spar attach fittings 
I also found that the aileron bellcranks were not built or installed as per plans, but found that they looked professional  I couldn't check for function since the right bellcrank and sheeve wasn't installed, the left wing also wasn't installed, and the right wing didn't exist yet 
Next we pulled the inspection panels off of the fuselage and tail and looked at everything I could see with a good flashlight  I didn't find anything else that might be questionable about the fuselage except for a cracked elevator trim tab that was damaged when it fell off it's hanging place on the wall 
Next we spent some time going over his builders log and builders photo album  I still hadn't seen anything that would dissuade me from buying this project 
At this point it was starting to get late and my ride down needed to get airborne for the flight home  I needed to make a decision about whether I wanted this project or not, but I hadn't inspected the wings and canopy yet  I took a cursory look at the left wing and saw lots on micro built up on it and some bubbles in the leading edge, but nothing that looked seriously wrong to my amateur eye  The right wing was only a set of spars in the shop and the Diehl wing skins in the house, so there wasn't much to look at there  The canopy was wrapped in paper and tape, so there wasn't much to look at there either  I decided that even if there were serious problems in the wing that was built, I would be money ahead to go ahead and buy the project  For the advertised price, I could build a new set of wings and still be way ahead financially  We negotiated a final price, shook hands, took my ride to the airport, and started off in search of a U-haul to haul the project home 
Now, at this point, some of you are thinking about what I surely must have forgotten to inspect and why didn't I take a local A & P or EAA member along for the ride  First of all, I don't know any mechanics locally that have any experience with glass and our EAA chapter of which I am VP is woefully lacking in fiberglass knowledge  Secondly, as you will see, I missed plenty  Some by ignorance, some by just not looking close enough 
Now for a list of the problems that I found over the last year and a few of the fixes that I came up with 
I found that the lower set of rear spar attach fittings on the left rear spar were installed backwards with the longer spaced hole towards the fuselage  Since this is the same place that also had the cracked spar cap, it required a major change  Also in the same area he had drilled through the rear spar with a hole saw to create a place for the aileron cable to pass through and managed to cut out the second from the outside vertical brace in the spar  Then he chose to install the aileron bellcranks in front of the rear spar, and cut another hole through the rear spar for the aileron push rod  He also managed to cut out the outside vertical brace in the spar  Since the holes were already drilled through the spar, the choices were to either cut out that section of spar cap and scarf a new piece in, cut the whole rear spar carrythrough out of the fuselage including ruining the left lower wing skin, or do something else creative to reinforce the spar cap and install a custom built set of attach fittings 
I also found that after I built and installed the right side wing stub ribs and skin that the aileron bellcrank setup would not work as installed  The cable that crosses between the two bellcranks had a sharp uphill from the sheeve to the bellcrank in the last 12 inches on either side  This combined with the radius that the bellcranks turn caused the cross cable to pull up tight when the ailerons were pushed to either end of their travel, but allowed the cables to go very slack when the ailerons were centered  Also the Aileron pushrods needed to pass directly through the lower set of rear wing attach fittings to attach to the aileron  This whole rear spar and aileron bellcrank setup was going to either have to be redesigned or cut out and built to plans  The bottom line is that the problems I observed when I inspected this part were much more serious than expected when I had to fix it 
I decided that I had to remove the rear fittings from the left wing to be replaced with the new set that my neighborhood machinist was cutting out for me  When I put the wing on the work bench to start removing the rear fittings, I thought I had better take a closer look at the bubbles in the leading edge  I found that as I pushed on the leading edge, it delaminated between the glass lay-up on top and the upper and lower wing skin edges that were floxed together underneath  I concluded that that area had to come apart and took a belt sander to the leading edge  What I found was that the leading edge had been floxed together and glassed over, but the mold release had never been scrubbed off the leading edge of the wing  It peeled apart for rebuild quite easily 
When I got back to removing the rear spar attach fittings, I noticed that the woodwork inside the wing looked awfully dull  The reason was that the wing had been closed up without varnishing any of the woodwork  This was rectified with a small hole saw, a number of extensions and a modified undercoating sprayer 
I also found that the aluminum drain fitting in the bottom of the left wing tank had been glassed into place upside down  The tapered pipe threads were tapered the wrong way to install the draincock into the tank  Retapping the fitting the right direction seemed to be a good fix for that problem 
When I finally got around to attaching the wing to the fuselage, I found that the front spar attach fittings were badly misaligned  Although they could be forced into alignment, I didn't think I needed that kind of preload on the main spar fittings  This problem was fixed by calling on my local neighborhood machinist to build me an aligning fixture and reaming the attach holes to the next larger size and ordering the new sized bolts 
On the fuselage I found that although it had new Cleveland wheels and brakes on it, one of the brakes had a severe wobble to it  I must complement the manufacturers for taking care of that problem  One call to the Cleveland factory and they shipped me a new set of wheels and brakes even though the receipt for this set was over four years old and in the original builders name  Their only concern was that this set had never been placed in service yet 
I chose to sand the load of micro off the left wing to see what it was covering  When I got down to the glass, I found that there was no glass for the aft inch and a half of the underside of the wing in front of the aileron hinge  With the Diehl wing skins, you build the wings, then cut the ailerons out of trailing edge of the wing  He had mismeasured and cut too much material off the bottom side of the trailing edge in front of the aileron  It was filled by floxing a piece of spruce into the gap to fill the space between the back edge of the fiberglass and the aileron mount  I chose to wrap the trailing edge of that wing, and the other wing to match with a couple of lay-ups of glass 
When I sanded the primer off the aforementioned damaged trim tab, I found that the hinge was floxed to the leading edge of the foam insides of the tab, but not the glass  I also chose to wrap the front of the trim tab with a lay-up of glass 
I decided to pull the paper off the canopy and take a look at it before I'm ready to bolt it on and fly  The original builder had blown his own canopy and after some of the previous problems, I was beginning to have some concerns about not having looked it over closely enough  The canopy turned out to have been blow a little too large  It ended up with a little larger bubble for headroom, which I didn't object to  However, it had more headroom on the right side than the left  Yes, it was just a little bit lopsided  The main problem was that the canopy is stretched thin enough that it can be easily pushed in with one hand when the weather is warm   My fear was that this is just thin enough that it may decide to lay on my head or in my lap when flying on a warm day  It will have to be replaced 
I'm sure that many that are reading this could see several of the potential problems before I mentioned them, but some others may not have and I'm sure that there could have been many other problems that didn't but could have existed on this project  This is also not intended to be critical of the gentleman that started this project as many parts of it, especially the wood work are better than I could have done and much of his work is outstanding  I prefer to think that I'll end up with a better plane with his woodwork combined with my glasswork  This article is intended to feature some of the problems that you may run into in buying someone else's project 
The final question is, knowing what I have found over the past year, would I have still purchased this project  The answer is yes, but primarily because the price was right in that I am still money and work ahead of where I would be if I had started the project from scratch  There are a few things that I would have done differently, but nothing that I can't live with  Although I won't be able to say that I built it all from scratch, I have built and rebuild enough of the plane that I should have no problem qualifying under the 51% rule 
You can send comments directly to the author via e-mail at "jscott@LANL GOV" 
Here is an brief explanation of how I built my turtledecks  The jig was constructed from scrap plywood and a few 1x4s that I ripped into stringers  I made two temporary bulkheads from the plywood, one for each end  Remember the forward bulkhead needs to be shaped in a way that will closely match the aft end of your canopy frame  Make an aft bulkhead by placing a straight edge at the top of your forward bulkhead and the trailing edge of your horizontal stabilizer  This will give you an idea of how tall your aft bulkhead needs to be  As far as location, I placed my aft bulkhead just forward of the lower/front of my vertical fin  I constructed the jig on the fuselage, it is glued together with automotive bondo 
After the bulkheads were bondoed to the fuselage I used the stringers that I ripped from the 1x4s and bondoed them to the bulkheads  This gave me a male form to cover with thin plastic or posterboard  I stapled two layers of posterboard to the jig(thin plastic would work better)  The posterboard wraps down two inches onto the fuselage  After I was satisfied with the way it looked, I then covered the entire thing with duct tape (fiberglass will not stick to duct tape) On top of this I wetout one layer of tri-ply cloth (22oz) that I had left over from an earlier project, and one layer of 8oz  bid  Remember to mask off your fuselage so you don't get epoxy on it  If you are not familiar with composite lay-ups, you should plan on razor cutting your lay-ups 4 to 6 hours after wetout while the lay-up is still soft enough to cut with a razorblade 
After the lay-up cured (2 or 3 days) it was removed from the jig, and the jig was removed from the fuselage and discarded  (be careful, the bondo sticks very well to the spruce, you could splinter your wood during removal) I now have a fiberglass skin that tends to hold the shape of the jig but is still flexible enough to work with  I made two bulkheads out of 1/4 last-a-foam (AS&S) using the plywood formers from the jig as a guide  I covered these foam bulkheads with one 8oz layer of glass on each side, with a glass to glass edge on the bottom  After cure these bulkheads were bondoed into place (to the fuselage)and the fiberglass skin was pulled down tight and floxed to the bulkheads  When the flox cured the bondo joints were broken, again being careful not to harm the wood  The turtledeck was removed from the fuselage and 2 inch tapes added to the bulkheads inside and out 
At this point the turtledeck looked great and only weighed about 5lbs  but I noticed you could deform the skin by pushing hard on the outside  So I flipped the turtledeck over and from 1/4 inch last-a-foam, I cut two inch wide strips that would run the entire length, forward and aft inside the turtledeck  In effect these would act as composite stringers, I made enough of these two inch wide strips to make up three stringers  One down the center (sort of a backbone) and one on each side of the "backbone" half the distance to the edge of the turtledeck  I sanded the edge of the foam so that when covered with a layer of bid @ 45degrees there would be a nice transition from the turtledeck skin up onto the foam and then back onto the turtledeck I scuff sanded and glued the foam stringers in with micro  I covered the foam stringers with one layer of 8oz bid @ 45degrees 
Context 2: A system and method for generating a stream of content for a channel  The channel application includes a content categorizer, a scoring engine and a channel engine  The content categorizer categorizes new content items received from heterogeneous data sources  The channel engine identifies a channel category for a user based at least in part on at least one of a historical trend and a user activity  The scoring engine queries the new content items based on the channel category and at least one other channel attribute  The scoring engine retrieves candidate content items that include the channel category and the other channel attribute  The scoring engine then generates a stream of content from the candidate content items for the channel 
This application claims priority under 35 USC §120 to U S  application Ser  No  13/225,209, entitled, “Generating a Stream of Content for a Channel,” filed on Sep  2, 2011, and claims priority under 35 USC §119(e) to U S  Application No  61/424,636, entitled “Scoring Stream Items with Models Based on User Interests” filed Dec  18, 2010, the entireties of which are herein incorporated by reference 
The specification relates to a system and method for generating a stream of content for a channel  In particular, the specification relates to generating a stream of content for a channel based on user interests and historical trends 
Many consumers of digital media have two somewhat contradictory goals: keep apprised of information in the areas they already find interesting and discover new content that is also enjoyable  Keeping apprised of information can become burdensome in the digital age because there is so much information  Hence, there is a need to present the best and most relevant information, without overwhelming the consumer  Furthermore, consumers have varied interests depending on the time of a year or a day  As a result, there is also a need to cater to the time dependent changes in the consumer's interests while presenting information  Similarly, discovering new content is difficult when the consumer is overburdened with existing content 
Prior attempts to solve these problems allow consumers to create personalized sections in feed aggregation websites that are defined by keywords  Often, these personalized sections present any item that includes the keywords even though the item is not of interest to the consumer, per se  In another method, consumers are allowed to manually subscribe to Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds from multiple websites  This method often leads to the consumer viewing multiple items which contain redundant information 
In some examples, the specification describes a system and method for generating a stream of content for a channel using a channel application  The channel application includes a processing unit, a model generation engine, a scoring engine, a collaborative filtering engine, a content categorizer, a channel engine, and a user interface engine  The model generation engine generates a model that is used to determine suggestions for channels  The content categorizer categorizes new content items received from heterogeneous data sources  The channel engine identifies a channel category for a user based on at least one of a historical trend and a user activity  The historical trend is at least one of an increase in a number of new content items for a content category, an increase in a number of times one of the new content items is accessed and an event  A scoring engine queries the new content items based on the channel category and at least one other channel attribute  The scoring engine receives candidate content items that include the channel category and the at least one other channel attribute  The scoring engine then generates a stream of content from the candidate content items for the channel  The scoring engine transmits the stream of content to the channel engine, which generates a channel 
In one embodiment, the user interface engine generates a user interface for the user to define the channel category and the channel attribute  The scoring engine queries the new content items based on the user defined channel category and channel attribute and then generates the stream of content  In another embodiment, the channel engine enables the user to subscribe to an existing channel 
In one embodiment, the channel engine enables the user to share the channel with at least one of a friend of the user, a community, a group, and an internet user 
The specification is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals are used to refer to similar elements 
FIG  1A is a high-level block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a system for generating a stream of content for a channel 
FIG  1B is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a channel application 
FIG  2 is a high-level block diagram illustrating another embodiment of a system for generating a stream of content for a channel 
FIG  3A is a block diagram of one embodiment of the channel engine in more detail 
FIG  3B is a block diagram of one embodiment of the scoring engine in more detail 
FIG  4 is a graphic representation of a user interface that displays the stream of content of a channel 
FIG  5 is a graphic representation of a user interface that allows a user to define or customize a channel 
FIG  6 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of a method for generating a stream of content for a channel 
FIG  7 is a flow diagram of another embodiment of a method for generating a stream of content for a channel 
A system and method for generating a stream of content for a channel is described below  In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the specification  It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the embodiments can be practiced without these specific details  In other instances, structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the specification  For example, the specification is described in one embodiment below with reference to user interfaces and particular hardware  However, the description applies to any type of computing device that can receive data and commands, and any peripheral devices providing services 
Some portions of the detailed descriptions that follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory  These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art  An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result  The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities  Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated  It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like 
It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities  Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” “displaying,” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices 
The specification also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations herein  This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer  Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, flash memories including USB keys with non-volatile memory, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, each coupled to a computer system bus 
An embodiment can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment containing both hardware and software elements  A preferred embodiment is implemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, etc 
Furthermore, an embodiment can take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system  For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device 
FIG  1A illustrates a block diagram of a system 100 for generating a stream of content for a channel according to one embodiment  The system 100 includes user devices 115 a, 115 n that are accessed by users 125 a, 125 n, a social network server 101, a third party server 107, a ratings server 139, an email server 141, an entertainment server 137, and a search server 135  The ratings server 139 includes websites for rating places, people or objects (e g  Google Hotpot)  The entertainment server 137 includes websites with entertaining information, such as news articles  In FIG  1A and the remaining figures, a letter after a reference number, such as “115 a” is a reference to the element having that particular reference number  A reference number in the text without a following letter, such as “115,” is a general reference to any or all instances of the element bearing that reference number  In the illustrated embodiment, these entities are communicatively coupled via a network 105 
In one embodiment, the channel application 103 a is operable on the social network server 101, which is coupled to the network via signal line 104  The social network server 101 also contains a social network application 109 and a social graph 179  Although only one social network server 101 is shown, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that multiple social network servers 101 may be present  A social network is any type of social structure where the users are connected by a common feature, for example, Google+  The common feature includes friendship, family, work, an interest, etc  The common features are provided by one or more social networking systems, such as those included in the system 100, including explicitly-defined relationships and relationships implied by social connections with other online users, where the relationships form a social graph 179  In some examples, the social graph 179 reflects a mapping of these users and how they are related 
In another embodiment, the channel application 103 b is stored on a third-party server 107, which is connected to the network via signal line 106  The third-party server 107 includes software for generating a website (not shown)  In one embodiment, the notifying application generates a user interface that is incorporated into the website  Although only one third-party server 107 is shown, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that multiple third-party servers 107 may be present 
In yet another embodiment, the channel application 103 c is stored on a user device 115 a, which is connected to the network via signal line 108  The user device 115 a is any computing device that includes a memory and a processor, such as a personal computer, a laptop, a smartphone, a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), etc  The user 125 a interacts with the user device 115 a via signal line 110  Although only two user devices 115 a, 115 n are illustrated, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that any number of user devices 115 n are available to any number of users 125 n 
The network 105 is a conventional type, wired or wireless, and may have any number of configurations such as a star configuration, token ring configuration or other configurations known to those skilled in the art  Furthermore, the network 105 may comprise a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) (e g , the Internet), and/or any other interconnected data path across which multiple devices may communicate  In yet another embodiment, the network 105 may be a peer-to-peer network  The network 105 may also be coupled to or includes portions of a telecommunications network for sending data in a variety of different communication protocols  In yet another embodiment, the network 105 includes Bluetooth communication networks or a cellular communications network for sending and receiving data such as via short messaging service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), direct data connection, WAP, email, etc  While only one network 105 is coupled to the user devices 115 a, 115 n, the social network server 101, and the third party server 107, in practice any number of networks 105 can be connected to the entities 
The channel application 103 receives data for generating a stream of content for a channel from heterogeneous data sources  In one embodiment, the channel application 103 receives data from a third-party server 107, a social network server 101, user devices 115 a, 115 n, a search server 135 that is coupled to the network 105 via signal line 136, an entertainment server 137 that is coupled to the network 105 via signal line 138, a ratings server 139 that is coupled to the network 105 via signal line 140 and an email server 141 that is coupled to the network 105 via signal line 142  In one embodiment, the search server 135 includes a search engine 143 for retrieving results that match search terms from the Internet  In one embodiment, the search engine 143 is powered by Google®  In one embodiment, the channel application 103 generates a model based on the data from the heterogeneous data sources, identifies a channel category based on a user's activities and historical trends, receives candidate content items that include the channel category from heterogeneous data sources, scores the candidate content items by comparing them to the model, and generates a stream of content for the channel 
Referring now to FIG  1B, the channel application 103 is shown in detail  FIG  1B is a block diagram of a computing device 200 that includes the channel application 103, a memory 237 and a processor 235  In one embodiment, the computing 200 device is a social network server 101  In another embodiment, the computing device 200 is a third party server 107  In yet another embodiment, the computing device 200 is a user device 115 a 
The processor 235 comprises an arithmetic logic unit, a microprocessor, a general purpose controller, or some other processor array to perform computations and provide electronic display signals to a display device  The processor 235 is coupled to the bus 220 for communication with the other components via signal line 236  Processor 235 processes data signals and may comprise various computing architectures including a complex instruction set computer (CISC) architecture, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture, or an architecture implementing a combination of instruction sets  Although only a single processor is shown in FIG  1B, multiple processors may be included  The processing capability may be limited to supporting the display of images and the capture and transmission of images  The processing capability might be enough to perform more complex tasks, including various types of feature extraction and sampling  It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that other processors, operating systems, sensors, displays, and physical configurations are possible 
The memory 237 stores instructions and/or data that may be executed by processor 235  The memory 237 is coupled to the bus 220 for communication with the other components via signal line 238  The instructions and/or data may comprise code for performing any and/or all of the techniques described herein  The memory 237 may be a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device, a static random access memory (SRAM) device, flash memory, or some other memory device known in the art  In one embodiment, the memory 237 also includes a non-volatile memory or similar permanent storage device and media such as a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a CD-ROM device, a DVD-ROM device, a DVD-RAM device, a DVD-RW device, a flash memory device, or some other mass storage device known in the art for storing information on a more permanent basis 
In one embodiment, the channel application 103 comprises a processing unit 202, a model generation engine 207, a scoring engine 211, a collaborative filtering engine 217, a content categorizer 250, a channel engine 240, and a user interface engine 260 that are coupled to a bus 220 
The processing unit 202 is software including routines for receiving information about a user's interests, activities and social connections and for storing the information in the memory 237  In one embodiment, the processing unit 202 is a set of instructions executable by the processor 235 to provide the functionality described below for processing the information  In another embodiment, the processing unit 202 is stored in the memory 237 of the computing device 200 and is accessible and executable by the processor 235  In either embodiment, the processing unit 202 is adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 235, the model generation engine 207, and other components of the computing device 200 via signal line 222 
The processing unit 202 obtains information about users from user input and/or prior actions of a user across a range of heterogeneous data sources including search (such as web, video, news, maps, alerts), entertainment (such as news, video, a personalized homepage, blogs, a reader, gadget subscriptions), social activity (such as interactions through email, profile information, text messaging such as short message service (SMS), microblogs, geographical locations, comments on photos, a social graph and other social networking information), and activity on third-party sites (such as websites that provide ratings, reviews and social networks where users indicate that they approve of content)  This information is obtained, for example, from a user's search history, browsing history and other interactions with the Internet  The processing unit 202 stores the information with a designation of the source of the information 
In one embodiment, there are multiple processing units 202 that each receive data from a different heterogeneous data source  In another embodiment, the user information is received by the same processing unit 202  The processing unit 202 transmits the user information to memory 237 for storage  In one embodiment, the memory 237 partitions the user information from each heterogeneous data source in a separate data storage location  In another embodiment, the user information from heterogeneous data sources is stored in the same location in the memory 237  In yet another embodiment, the memory 237 partitions the model and the stream of content into separate storage locations as well 
The model generation engine 207 is software including routines for retrieving the user information from the memory 237 and generating a model based on the user information  In one embodiment, the model generation engine 207 is a set of instructions executable by the processor 235 to provide the functionality described below for generating the model  In another embodiment, the model generation engine 207 is stored in the memory 237 of the computing device 200 and is accessible and executable by the processor 235  In either embodiment, the model generation engine 207 is adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 235, the processing unit 202, the scoring engine 211, the channel engine 240 and other components of the computing device 200 via signal line 224 
The model generation engine 207 receives user information from a variety of sources including, for example, queries, clicks, news clicks, gadgets, email interactions, etc , extracts features from the information and generates a model based on the extracted features  The model determines the relevance of items to users, along with floating point values to indicate the extent to which the relevance holds  Examples include liking a source, a primary location and a list of interests  The interests are generated from explicit information and inferred information  Explicit information is derived, for example, from a user's list of interests on a social network or indicating that they liked a particular content item  Inferred information takes into account a user's activities 
The model generation engine 207 will infer that a user is interested in a particular subject, for example, if the subject matter appears in search terms  For example, the model generation engine 207 infers that a user who searches for information about different types of butterflies is interested in butterflies  The model generation engine 207 can even infer information based on the user's friends' activities  For example, content items that interest the user's friends might also interest the user  As a result, in one embodiment, the model includes the user's friends' interests 
In one embodiment, the model generation engine 207 also generates a model that contains several pieces of global meta-information about the user's consumption patterns including how frequently the user consumes the stream of content of a channel and global statistics on how likely the user is to reshare various types of items  Lastly, the model includes a sequence of weights and multipliers that are used to make predictions about the user's likelihood of clicking on, sharing or otherwise engaging with stream items 
The model generation engine 207 generates the model from the user information across the heterogeneous data sources  In one embodiment, the model generation engine 207 builds extensions to the model that employ the patterns of behavior of other users  For example, the model predicts the user's behavior based on the reaction of similar users  All the data that is derived from other users is anonymized before it is incorporated into the model 
In one embodiment, the model generation engine 207 generates a model based on user information, for example, based on the user's search history or third-party accounts  Alternatively, the model generation engine 207 receives periodic updates (one hour, one day, one week, etc ) from the heterogeneous data sources and in turn updates the model 
In yet another embodiment, the model generation engine 207 generates a model each time it receives a request for generating a stream of content for a channel  The advantage of this method is that the newest updates are included and the model is current  The disadvantage is that generating the model and then comparing the candidate content items to the model to generate the stream of content takes more time than comparing the candidate content items to a pre-existing model  The model generation engine 207 transmits the model to memory 237 for storage 
The content categorizer 250 is software including routines for receiving and categorizing new content items from heterogeneous sources according to at least one category and other features  In one embodiment, the content categorizer 250 is a set of instructions executable by the processor 235 to provide the functionality described below for receiving and categorizing new content items  In another embodiment, the content categorizer 250 is stored in the memory 237 of the computing device 200 and is accessible and executable by the processor 235  In either embodiment, the content categorizer 250 is adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 235, the scoring engine 211 and other components of the computing device 200 via signal line 227 
The content categorizer 250 receives new content items from heterogeneous data sources and annotates them with specific tags, such as features, global scores, etc  In this embodiment, the heterogeneous data sources include a search engine 143, an entertainment server 137, an email server 141, a ratings server 139, a social network server 101, and a third-party server 107  Once the items are annotated, the content categorizer 250 indexes each new content item based on the features and stores the content items in the memory 237  The new content items, in one embodiment, are indexed according to an identification format (MediaType#UniqueItemID, for example, “YOUTUBE#video_id” and “NEWS#doc_id”), an item static feature column that holds an item's static features (title, content, content classification, context, etc ), an item dynamic feature column that holds an item's dynamic features (global_score, number of clicks, number of following, etc ), a source (src) static feature column where the source is a publisher of an item (magazine in news, video uploading in YouTube, etc ) and a src dynamic feature column that holds the source's dynamic features  The content categorizer 250 categorizes the new content items to make their retrieval more efficient and fast 
The channel engine 240 is software including routines for generating a channel for a user  In one embodiment, the channel engine 240 is a set of instructions executable by the processor 235 to provide the functionality described below for generating a channel for a user  In another embodiment, the channel engine 240 is stored in the memory 237 of the computing device 200 and is accessible and executable by the processor 235  In either embodiment, the channel engine 240 is adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 235, the scoring engine 211, the model generation engine 207, the user interface engine 240, and other components of the computing device 200 via signal line 230 
In one embodiment, the channel engine 240 identifies a channel category for a user based on historical trends and the user's activities, interests and social connections  The channel engine 240 submits a request for a stream of content that includes the channel category and channel attributes to the scoring engine 211  The channel engine 240 then receives a stream of content from the scoring engine 211 and generates the channel  The generated channel is either public or private depending on the user's settings  The channel engine 240 is explained in greater detail below with regard to FIG  3A 
The scoring engine 211 is software including routines for generating a stream of content for a channel  In one embodiment, the scoring engine 211 is a set of instructions executable by the processor 235 to provide the functionality described below for globally scoring content items and for generating a stream of content for a channel  In another embodiment, the scoring engine 211 is stored in the memory 237 of the computing device 200 and is accessible and executable by the processor 235  In either embodiment, the scoring engine 211 is adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 235, the processing unit 202, the collaborative filtering engine 217, the model generation engine 207, the channel engine 240 and other components of the computing device 200 via signal line 228 
In one embodiment, the scoring engine 211 receives the request from the channel engine 240 and queries the new content items stored in memory 237  In another embodiment, the scoring engine 211 directly queries the heterogeneous data sources  The scoring engine 211 receives candidate content items that include the channel category and the channel attributes  The scoring engine 211 then compares the candidate content items to the model to determine whether the user would find the candidate content items interesting 
In one embodiment, the scoring engine 211 first performs the query and then compares the results to the model to determine whether the user would find them interesting  In another embodiment, these steps are performed simultaneously  In yet another embodiment, the scoring engine 211 compares candidate content items to the model and then filters the results according to the subject matter of the queries  The scoring engine 211 is explained in greater detail below with regard to FIG  3B 
The collaborative filtering engine 217 is software including routines for generating additional candidate content items for the channel through collaborative filtering and transmitting the additional candidate content items to the scoring engine 211 that were derived from collaborative filtering  In one embodiment, the collaborative filtering engine 217 is a set of instructions executable by the processor 235 to provide the functionality described below for generating additional candidate content items for the channel  In another embodiment, the collaborative filtering engine 217 is stored in the memory 237 of the computing device 200 and is accessible and executable by the processor 235  In either embodiment, the collaborative filtering engine 217 is adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 235, the scoring engine 211 and other components of the computing device via signal line 226 
The collaborative filtering engine 217 obtains additional candidate content items that are socially relevant from a stream of content derived from people with whom the user has a relationship and transmits them to the scoring engine 211  For example, the stream of content is derived from friends in a social network such as the social network application 109 or people that the user frequently emails  The more important that the person appears to be to the user, the more likely that the user will be interested in the candidate content item  Thus, in one embodiment, the collaborative filtering engine 217 applies a weight to candidate content items based on the social relationship of the user to the friend  For example, users that are friends receive higher weights than candidate content items from second generation friends of the user (i e , a friend of a friend)  In one embodiment, the collaborative filtering engine 217 receives information about relationships between users from the social graph 179 
The collaborative filtering engine 217 increases the weights applied to candidate content items from friends when the user positively responds to the items  For example, if the user comments on the item or indicates that the user found the item interesting, the collaborative filtering engine 217 increase the weight so that more candidate content items from the friend become part of the stream of content 
The user interface engine 260 is software including routines for generating a user interface that, when rendered on a browser, displays a channel generated for a user and enables the user to customize the channel
Context 3: 2015-05-14 Assigned to ROVI GUIDES, INC  reassignment ROVI GUIDES, INC  MERGER (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS)  Assignors: TV GUIDE, INC 
2015-05-14 Assigned to UV CORP  reassignment UV CORP  MERGER (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS)  Assignors: UNITED VIDEO PROPERTIES, INC 
2015-05-14 Assigned to TV GUIDE, INC  reassignment TV GUIDE, INC  MERGER (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS)  Assignors: UV CORP 
Methods and systems are described herein for quickly and easily displaying supplemental information about an event occurring in a media asset  In some embodiments, a media application may use a content-recognition module to determine the context of an event and distribute itemized tasks to multiple entities in order to generate the supplemental information about the event 
While viewing media assets (e g , a television program), users may wish to learn more information about an event (e g , a statement made by a person appearing in the media asset, the validity of a claim in an advertisement, etc ) occurring in the media asset  While some media assets allow a user to select additional options or added features (e g , pop-up biographies about the cast and crew), when the added features appear and what topic the added features concern are determined by the content producer and not the user  Furthermore, as the added feature is derived from the content producer, the added feature may be biased or may present limited viewpoints about an event  Therefore, added features provided by a content producer may not provide the added information about an event that a user desires 
In order to gain the added information that a user desires, the user may use additional devices (e g , a laptop computer) to search (e g , using an Internet search engine) for more information about the event  However, without knowing the proper context (e g , who said the statement, what was the tone of the statement, when was the statement said, etc ) of the event or what search terms to use to describe the context of the event (e g , how to describe the tone of the statement), a user may not be able to determine (even using a search engine) more information about the event  Moreover, the use of general search terms may not provide the accuracy or precision needed by the user  Furthermore, even if a user may eventually determine the information, the effort and time required may distract the user from the media asset 
Accordingly, methods and systems are described herein for quickly and easily displaying supplemental information about an event occurring in a media asset  In some embodiments, a media application may use a content-recognition module to determine the context of an event in a media asset and distribute itemized tasks to multiple users in order to generate the supplemental information about the event  The context-recognition module prevents the user from being distracted from the media asset (e g , while the user attempts to describe the context of the event or search for information about the event)  In addition, by distributing tasks to multiple entities (e g , crowd-sourcing), the media application may collect large amounts of information in relatively short periods of time (or in real-time) and aggregate and/or filter the information to generate the supplemental information about the event based on multiple viewpoints and/or sources  By using multiple viewpoints and/or sources, the media application enhances the completeness (e g , by providing unbiased information) and accuracy of the supplemental information 
For example, when a statement or action is made by a character or person appearing on a media asset (e g , a television program), a user may request supplemental information about the statement or action  In response, the media application may determine the context of the statement (e g , who said the statement and to what the statement was referring) or action (e g , what was the reason for the action)  After determining the context of the statement or action, the media application may itemize into tasks the additional information it requires in order to generate the supplemental information  The media application may then transmit requests including the tasks to a plurality of other users  Based on the responses from the plurality of other users, the media application may generate the supplemental information for display to the user 
In some embodiments, a media application may use multiple types of content-recognition modules and/or algorithms to determine the context of an event  For example, the media application may process data associated with the event in order to determine the context of an event  In some embodiments, processing the various types of data may include cross-referencing the data in a database indicating the different contexts the event may have 
In some embodiments, a media application may generate supplemental information about an event in a media asset in response to a user request  In order to generate the supplemental information, the media application may transmit, to multiple users, a request for additional information regarding a context of an event shown in a media asset  Upon receiving messages from the plurality of users that include the requested additional information, the media application may generate the supplemental information associated with the context of the event based on the messages 
It should be noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems, methods and/or apparatuses 
FIG  9 is a flowchart of illustrative steps for generating supplemental information based on additional information provided by a plurality of users in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure 
Accordingly, methods and systems are described herein for quickly and easily displaying supplemental information about an event occurring in a media asset  The methods and systems described herein alleviate the need for a user to determine the proper context (e g , who said a statement, what was the tone of the statement, when was the statement said, etc ) of an event in a media asset, or the search terms to use to describe the event (e g , the proper search terms to describe the tone of the statement), in order to determine more information about the event  In addition, the methods and systems increase the completeness and accuracy of the information compared to information gathered using traditional searching methods (e g , an Internet search engine), without distracting the user from the media asset 
In some embodiments, a media application may receive a user input from a user device for supplemental information about the context of an event shown in a media asset  The media application may determine additional information required to generate the supplemental information about the context of the event shown in a media asset, and transmit requests for the additional information to one or more users  The media application may receive one or more messages, which include the requested additional information, from the one or more users and generate the supplemental information based on the one or more message  The media application may then instruct the user device to display the supplemental information 
As used herein, “supplemental information” refers to any information related to or associated with an event in a media asset  For example, supplemental information may include, but is not limited to, the verification of a statement or claim in a media asset, further descriptions and/or information about objects or entities shown and/or described in a media asset, and/or any other information, including, but not limited to, a video or audio segment, that may interest a user about an event in a media asset  In some embodiments, the media application may generate supplemental information based on one or more pieces of additional information 
As used herein, “additional information” refers to any information used to generate supplemental information  For example, in an embodiment in which supplement information is the verification of a statement made by a person displayed in a media asset, and a request for the additional information from the media application includes a request for a fact needed to verify the factual basis of the statement, the additional information may be the fact used to verify the statement  For example, if an advertisement claims to have the best product on the market, the media application may use additional information such as the name of the product in question, a list of all other products in the market, and the results of a comparison study of the product in question to all other products to determine whether or not the product is actually the “best” product on the market  Additionally or alternatively, the media application may request industry and/or user reviews related to the event (e g , reviews indicating the quality of the product)  The media application may then use the information in the reviews to generate the supplemental information 
As used herein, an “event” is any action (e g , a verbal statement, opinion and/or physical movement), segment (e g , a portion of a news broadcast featuring a particular topic), or other occurrence during a media asset that may be of particular interest to a user  For example, in some embodiments an event may be a statement or gesture made by a character or person in a media asset affirming or denying a claim 
As referred to herein, the terms “media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean an electronically consumable user asset, such as television programming, as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e g , streaming content, downloadable content, Webcasts, etc ), video clips, audio, content information, pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles, books, electronic books, blogs, advertisements, chat sessions, social media, applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/or combination of the same  Media applications also allow users to navigate among and locate content  As referred to herein, the term “multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at least two different content forms described above, for example, text, audio, images, video, or interactivity content forms  Content may be recorded, played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also be part of a live performance 
As referred to herein, the phrase “user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronic device,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “media device” should be understood to mean any device for accessing the content described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), a digital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, a BLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationary telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a portable music player, a portable gaming machine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computing equipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same 
In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screen and a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angled screens  In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing camera and/or a rear facing camera  On these user equipment devices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same content available through a television  Consequently, media may be available on these devices, as well  The media provided may be for content available only through a television, for content available only through one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or for content available both through a television and one or more of the other types of user equipment devices  The media applications may be provided as on-line applications (i e , provided on a website), or as stand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices  Various devices and platforms that may implement media applications are described in more detail below 
In some embodiments, a media application may transmit, to a plurality of users, a request for additional information regarding a context of an event shown in a media asset  As used herein, a “plurality of users” may include, but is not limited to any device, entity, or source of information that may process a request for additional information  For example, the plurality of users may include a person operating a user equipment device  In some embodiments, the person may receive (e g , via e-mail, Internet posting, advertisement, or any other applicable information delivery method) the request from the media application for additional information, and in response generate a message (e g , via a return e-mail, an answer to the Internet posting, a user input in the advertisement, or any other applicable method of transmitting information) that includes the additional information  It should be noted that in some embodiments, transmitting a request to a plurality of users may also include querying one or more databases (e g , an Internet search engine or any other storage device, including, but not limited to, databases containing previously generated supplemental information and/or additional information) or consulting one or more data gathering services (e g , a intelligent personal assistant application) for the additional information 
In some embodiments, a media application may use a content-recognition module or algorithm to determine the context of an event and distribute itemized tasks to multiple users in order to generate the supplemental information about the event  The content-recognition module may use object recognition techniques such as edge detection, pattern recognition, including, but not limited to, self-learning systems (e g , neural networks), optical character recognition, on-line character recognition (including but not limited to, dynamic character recognition, real-time character recognition, intelligent character recognition), and/or any other suitable technique or method to determine the objects and/or characteristics in media assets  For example, the media application may receive media assets in the form of a video  The video may include a series of frames  For each frame of the video, the media application may use a content-recognition module or algorithm to determine the context (e g , the person that is speaking or a facial gesture affirming or denying a statement) of an event occurring during the frame or series of frames 
In some embodiments, the content-recognition module or algorithm may also include speech recognition techniques, including but not limited to Hidden Markov Models, dynamic time warping, and/or neural networks (as described above) to translate spoken words into text  The content-recognition module may also use other techniques for processing audio and/or visual data  For example, the media application may monitor the volume of a statement in a media asset to determine the tone of the statement (e g , a high volume may indicate an angry tone) 
In addition, the media application may use multiple types of optical character recognition and/or fuzzy logic, for example, when determining the context of a keyword(s) retrieved from data (e g , media data, translated audio data, subtitle data, user-generated data, etc ) associated with the media asset (or when cross-referencing various types of data with databases indicating the different contexts of events as described below)  For example, the particular data field may be a textual data field  Using fuzzy logic, the system may determine two fields and/or values to be identical even though the substance of the data field or value (e g , two different spellings) is not identical  In some embodiments, the system may analyze particular data fields of a data structure or media asset frame for particular values or text  The data fields could be associated with characteristics, additional information, and/or any other data required for the function of the embodiments described herein  Furthermore, the data fields could contain values (e g , the data fields could be expressed in binary or any other suitable code or programming language) 
As used herein, the “context” of an event refers to the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event that influence or affect the meaning of the event  For example, when determining the context of a written and/or spoken statement, the media application may determine who or what authored/stated the statement, the written and/or spoken words and/or other statements that preceded and/or followed the statement, the tone of the statement, and/or any other conditions that may alter the connotation of the statement 
FIG  1 shows an illustrative example of a media application that may be used to display supplemental information in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure  Display 100 illustrates a display on a user device displaying a media asset  Display 108 illustrates a display featuring supplemental information as described and/or generated in FIGS  6-9  It should be noted that display 100 and display 108 may be presented on any of the devices shown in FIGS  3-4  For example, in some embodiments, display 100 and display 108 may be displayed on user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG  4) 
In FIG  1, display 100 represents a display of a media asset (e g , a streaming television program) on a user device (e g , user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG  4))  Display 100 includes entity 102 and entity 104  In display 100, entity 104 is currently speaking as indicated by event 106  As shown in FIG  1, event 106 is a statement (e g , “We export a lot of coal”) by a person in the media asset 
In some embodiments, display 108 represents the continued display of the media asset on a user device, after a user has requested supplemental information about event 106  For example, a media application may have received a user input (e g , via user input interface 310 (FIG  3)) while entity 104 was speaking  Using the systems and methods described herein (e g , FIGS  6-9), the media application generated supplemental information 110  Supplemental information 110 represents more information about event 106 
For example, the media application (e g , media application 206 (FIG  2)) may have determined the context of event 106  Specifically, the media application may determine via a content-recognition module or algorithm the words spoken and/or actions by the person during the event  Additionally or alternatively, the media application may analyze the words and/or action during a predetermined amount of time (e g , ten seconds) before and/or after the event (e g , in order to better understand the context of the event)  Furthermore, by cross-referencing the words and/or other information obtained by the content-recognition module (e g , as discussed below in relation to FIG  5) with a database, the content-recognition module determines that the term “we,” the person in the media asset refers to an organization or body



ground_truth: The sides of the fuselage are sloped to create a conical section when the fuselage is formed.

prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: How does the scoring engine generate a stream of content for the channel?

Read the following text and answer briefly.

Context 2:  In one embodiment, the user interface engine 260 is a set of instructions executable by the processor 235 to provide the functionality described below for generating a user interface  In another embodiment, the user interface engine 260 is stored in the memory 237 of the computing device 200 and is accessible and executable by the processor 235  In either embodiment, the user interface engine 260 is adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 235, the channel engine 240 and other components of the computing device 200 via signal line 232 
The user interface engine 260 receives instructions from the channel engine 240 for generating a display  The user interface includes options for viewing a channel, requesting a new channel, modifying the user interests, and following suggested channels 
FIG  2 is a high-level block diagram illustrating another embodiment of a system for generating a stream of content for a channel  In this embodiment, the components of the channel application 103 are divided among various servers so that the information is efficiently processed  The system includes a search server 135, an entertainment server 137, a ratings server 139, an email server 141, a content categorizer 250, a data storage server 265, a model server 255, a scoring server 262, a social network server 101, a user device 115, and a channel application 103 
A content categorizer 250 crawls the heterogeneous data sources (search server 135, entertainment server 137, ratings server 139, and email server 141) are crawled for new content items by the content categorizer 250 or the new content items are directly transmitted to the content categorizer 250 
The content categorizer 250 categorizes the new content items as mentioned above with regards to FIG  1B and stores them in the database 267 of the data storage server 265  The content categorizer 240 also includes a processing unit 202 for processing user information (activities, interests and social connections)  In one embodiment, the processing unit 202 stores the database 267 
In one embodiment, the data storage server 265 dynamically phases out the old content items  For example, news items expire after 24 hours, videos expire after 48 hours and feeds are kept for 24 hours or only the 10 most recent items, whichever is larger, etc 
The content categorizer 250 also transmits the new content items to the scoring server 262 for a global user ranking  The global scores are transmitted from the scoring server 262 to the data storage server 265, which stores the global scores in association with the new content items  The global scores are helpful for organizing the new content items in the data storage server 265 according to the more popular items 
Turning now to the model server 255, the model server 255 receives the user's activity, interests and social connections from the processing unit 202 or the data storage server 265  The model generation engine 207 generates a model based on user input and/or prior actions  The model server 255 transmits a model to the scoring server 262 and the channel application 103 periodically or upon request 
The channel application 103 includes a channel engine 240 and a user interface engine 260  In one embodiment, the channel engine 240 requests the model from the model server 255 and identifies a channel category that a user would find interesting  The channel engine 240 then transmits a request for a stream of content to the scoring server 262  The channel engine 240 receives the stream of content from the scoring server 262 and generates the channel  The user interface engine 260 generates a user interface for displaying a user interface that includes the channel and transmits it to the user device 115  In addition, the user interface engine 260 generates a user interface to allow the user to customize the channel or define a new channel  These user interfaces are explained in greater detail below with regard to FIGS  4-5 
In one embodiment, the channel engine 240 transmits a query based on the channel category to the scoring server 262  The scoring server 262 queries and receives candidate content items from the data storage server 265  The scoring server 262 also queries and receives candidate content items from the social network server 101  The candidate content items from the social network server 101 are pre-scored by the collaborative filtering engine 217 and, in one embodiment, the unread candidate content items are saved to a cache on the social network server 101  These items are saved to a cache because the quantity of social updates can be large enough that performing the scoring during write time enables faster reads 
In one embodiment, the scoring engine 211 requests the model from the model server 255  The scoring server 262 then compares the candidate content items to the model and scores the candidate content items  The scoring engine 211 compares the candidate content items received from the social network server 101 to the model and rescores them according to the model  In another embodiment, the scoring engine 211 scores the candidate content items according to the category and any keywords associated with a channel  In either embodiment, the scoring engine 211 generates a stream of content based on the scored candidate content items and transmits the stream of content to the channel application 103 
Referring now to FIG  3A, one embodiment of a channel engine 240 is shown in more detail  The channel engine 240 includes a historical analyzer 372, a category identifier 374, a subscription module 376 and a channel generator 378 that are each coupled to signal line 230 
The historical analyzer 372 is used to identify when a user will be interested in a particular category  The historical analyzer 372 identifies, for example, a time of the day or a year that a user will be interested in a category by analyzing historical trends associated with the category  In one embodiment, the historical analyzer 372 performs such analyses by measuring the increase or decrease in the number of new content items that are categorized under a content category or by measuring an increase or decrease in the number of times a new content item is accessed  For example, the number of times a tutorial on filing taxes is accessed would be very high during February-April  In another embodiment, the historical analyzer 372 also keeps track of events such as holidays, festivals, etc  Tracking such events is advantageous as, for example, many users might be interested in costume rentals during Halloween or camping during the Memorial Day and July 4th weekends 
The category identifier 374 identifies a channel category for a user based on the user's interests, activities and social connections  In one embodiment, the category identifier 374 requests the model generated by the model generation engine 207 to identify the channel category  For example, the category identifier 374 identifies sports cars as a channel category because it is an explicit interest of the user  The category identifier 374 suggests channels including a source, a category, keywords, a media type, a size of a content item, and a location for a channel  For example, for a user that is interested in foreign politics, especially relations between the United States and China, the category identifier 374 suggests the category of U S  and Chinese relations (e g , entity=“us_china_relations”), keywords such as trade and deficit because the user is particularly interested in the economic aspect of the relationship between China and the United States, a source such as The Economist (source=“economist com”) because the user prefers The Economist over U S  media outlets and the media being news articles because the user does not enjoy viewing videos 
In one embodiment, the category identifier 374 uses the analyses of the historical analyzer 374 for identifying a channel category for the user  This is advantageous as a user who has searched for US taxes might not be interested in knowing about it throughout the year, but it is beneficial for the user to have a separate channel for US taxes during the tax filing season  In yet another embodiment, the category identifier 374 uses contextual cues of the user for identifying channel categories  For example, the category identifier 374 identifies skiing in Switzerland as a channel category because winter sports is listed as an interest of the user and the user's current IP address is in Switzerland 
The subscription module 376 enables a user to subscribe to existing channels that are public  In one embodiment, the subscription module 376 enables a user to subscribe to a pre-defined channel (such as breaking news, most popular videos, updates from a social group, etc )  The channel application 103 generates the stream of content for pre-defined channels based on global scores of the new content items  Subscribing to pre-defined channels such as breaking news is advantageous as it helps the user to keep apprised of current information and discover new interests  Furthermore, because in one embodiment the breaking news channel is personalized since the content items are compared to a model for the user, the breaking news channel is more relevant than simply a list of popular or recent news items 
In another embodiment, the subscription module 376 enables a user to subscribe to another user's channel (a friend, a famous person, etc ) that is public  Subscribing to another user's channel is advantageous because, for example, a user who is interested in the stock market will benefit by viewing the stream of content that is viewed by a famous stock market analyst  In yet another embodiment, the subscription module 376 enables the user to search for channels that are public using the search engine 143  The subscription module 376, suggests such channels that are viewed by other users based on the interests of the user  In another embodiment, the subscription module 376 communicates with the collaborative filtering engine 217 to suggest channels viewed by other users with whom the user has a relationship 
The channel generator 378 submits a request for a stream of content for a channel to the scoring engine 211  The request includes the channel category identified by the category identifier 374 and channel attributes  The channel attributes include any attribute known to a person with ordinary skill in the art such as a source, presence of keywords, absence of keywords, a media type, a location, a time, a size of a content item, a date, etc  In one embodiment, the channel category and the channel attributes are defined by the user  In another embodiment, channel generator 378 defines the channel attributes for the channel category based on the user's preferences and activities  For example, if a user always reads news articles and seldom watches news videos, the channel generator 378 would define the media type for the channel as text based articles  At any point in time, the user can customize both the channel category and the channel attributes  The channel generator 378 then resubmits the request based on the changes made by the user 
In response to the request, the channel generator 378 receives a stream of content from the scoring engine 211 and generates the channel for the user  The generated channel is either public or private depending upon the user's preferences  In one embodiment, the user shares the channel to a community, a group of people or any internet user  The channel is then displayed to the user with an interface generated by the user interface engine 260 
Referring now to FIG  3B, one embodiment of a scoring engine 211 is shown in more detail  The scoring engine 211 includes a query generator 301, a global scorer 302 and a content stream generator 304 that are each coupled to signal line 228 
The global scorer 302 is used to rank new content items that are stored in the data storage server 265 or memory 237 (depending upon the embodiment)  The global scorer 302 uses signals from the different verticals to compute a global user-independent score for each item to approximate its popularity or importance within the stream that produced it  The global scorer 302 normalizes the score across streams so that items from various streams are comparable to aid in generating a quick yet reasonable ranking of items  The global score is a combination of its quality specific to the source stream (depending on the rank of the source, number of known followers of a source, etc ) and its global popularity (trigger rate on universal search, relevance to trending queries, number of clicks, long clicks received, etc ) 
The global scorer 302 transmits the global score to storage where it is associated with the item  The global score helps rank the items for faster retrieval  For example, if the query generated by the query generator 301 includes a request for the top ten items about skiing, those items are already organized in the data storage server 265 or memory 237 according to the global score 
The query generator 301 receives a request for a stream of content for a channel from the channel engine 240  The query generator 301 generates a query based on the channel attributes that are included in the request  The query generator 301 queries the data storage server 265 or memory 237 depending upon the embodiment  The following is an example query generated by the query generator 301: ((Category: Politics) AND (global_score>80) AND (source: NewsWebsite) AND (media type: Text)) 
The content stream generator 304 receives candidate content items that include the channel attributes  The content stream generator 304, for the above mentioned query, receives text based articles that include the channel category politics and have a global score greater than 80  Additionally, the text based articles are from the source NewsWebsite  In one embodiment, the content stream generator 304 generates the stream by ordering the content items in order of their scores  In another embodiment, the content stream generator 304 determines an interestingness of each candidate content item to the user  The content stream generator 304 determines the interestingness by comparing the candidate content items with a model generated for the user by the model generation engine 207 and scoring them 
where p is a property, that is, a setting A=a of the attributes  The latter quantity, Pr(p|user) is approximated from the user's history of interactions with content items as well as the user's search history and other opt-in data  Similarly, the former quantity, Pr(item|p) is approximated by the (suitably weighted) reciprocal of the number of items with property p (e g , if it is expected that p=((Politics) AND (global_score>80) AND (source: NewsWebsite) AND (media type: Text)) to generate 300 items, take Pr(item|p) to be 1/300) 
where the properties p are summed over single-attribute properties (as opposed to all possible settings of an entire collection of attributes), and G is an exponential function of the form G(x)=2(100 x), so that when applied in this form, if there are several values of p for which Pr(item|p) Pr(p|user) is large, the sum of their G-values slowly increases 
Once the scores are calculated, the content stream generator 304 generates a stream of content for the channel that is ordered according to the candidate content item scores  In one embodiment, only the candidate content items that exceed a certain threshold are included in the stream of content for the channel 
Turning now to the user interface engine 260, FIG  4 is a graphic representation 400 of a user interface generated by the user interface engine 260 for displaying the stream of content of a channel  In this example, the user interface 400 also includes channels 405 that are pre-defined, channels 410 that are suggested for the user and channels 415 that are subscribed to by the user  The user can also define new channels and attributes by clicking the link 420 
The example includes the stream of content for the user's soccer channel 425  The stream of content includes news items 445, videos 450 and social network news feeds 455 from the content sources 440 defined by the user  The candidate content items are listed in decreasing order of their scores  The user interface engine 260 lists five candidate content items with the highest scores in the hot items section 430  The remaining candidate content items are listed in the other items section 435  In another embodiment, the entire stream of content is listed in a single section 
FIG  5 is a graphic representation 500 of a user interface that is generated by the user interface engine 260 for a user to define a new channel or customize an existing channel  In this example, the user interface includes all the channel categories 505 that have been either pre-defined, suggested to the user, or subscribed by the user, and the content sources 510 for each channel category  The user customizes a channel by adding or removing content sources for the channel  In one embodiment, the user edits more advanced channel attributes such as media type, size of the content items, etc  by clicking on the link 515  The user makes the channel public, private or restricts it to a group of people by clicking on link 520  Additionally, the user can also define a new channel by adding a new channel category 
Referring now to FIGS  6-7, various embodiments of the method of the specification will be described  FIG  6 is a flow diagram 600 of one embodiment of a method for generating a stream of content for a channel  The channel engine 240 defines 602 a channel category and submits a request for a stream of content  The request includes channel attributes including any of a category, a source, keywords, a media type, a location, a size of a content item, and a date  The channel category is defined based on a model for a user that is generated by the model generation engine 207 or the channel is defined by a user  The scoring engine 211 receives 604 the request including the channel category and generates 606 a stream of content based on the channel category  The channel engine 240 generates 608 a channel with the stream of content and transmits it to the user 
FIG  7 is a flow diagram 700 of another embodiment of a method for generating a stream of content for a channel  The content categorizer 250 categorizes 702 new content items that are received from heterogeneous data sources  The new content items that are received from heterogeneous data sources include, for example, news articles, microblogs, blogs, videos, photos, etc  The content categorizer 250 categorizes the content according to a category and other features  The content categorizer 250 also stores 704 the new content items in a data storage server 265 or a memory 237, depending upon the embodiment  The global scorer 302 generates 706 a global score for each new content item  The category identifier 374 identifies 708 a channel category for a user based on the user's activities and a historical trend identified by the historical analyzer 372  The user's activity includes a search (such as web, video, news, maps, alerts), entertainment (such as news, video, a personalized homepage, blogs, a reader, gadget subscriptions), social activity (such as interactions through email, profile information, text messaging such as short message service (SMS), microblog, comments on photos, a social graph, and other social networking information), and activity on third-party sites (such as websites that provide ratings, reviews and social networks where users indicate that they approve of content) In one embodiment, the category identifier 374 also uses contextual information of the user to identify the channel category 
The query generator 301 generates a query based on the channel category and the channel attributes and queries 710 the new content items stored on the data storage server 265  The content stream generator 304 receives 712 candidate content items that include the channel category and channel attributes  In one embodiment, the content stream generator 304 receives additional candidate content items from the collaborative filtering engine 217 
The content stream generator 304 scores 714 each candidate content item by comparing it to a model generated by the model generation engine 207  The score is calculated by determining an interestingness of the candidate content item to the user  The content stream generator 304 then generates 716 the stream of content based on the scores for each candidate content item  The channel engine 240 then generates 718 a channel with the stream of content and transmits it to the user 
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description  It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the specification to the precise form disclosed  Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching  It is intended that the scope of the embodiments be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims of this application  As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the examples may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof  Likewise, the particular naming and division of the modules, routines, features, attributes, methodologies, and other aspects are not mandatory or significant, and the mechanisms that implement the description or its features may have different names, divisions and/or formats  Furthermore, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art, the modules, routines, features, attributes, methodologies, and other aspects of the specification can be implemented as software, hardware, firmware, or any combination of the three  Also, wherever a component, an example of which is a module, of the specification is implemented as software, the component can be implemented as a standalone program, as part of a larger program, as a plurality of separate programs, as a statically or dynamically linked library, as a kernel loadable module, as a device driver, and/or in every and any other way known now or in the future to those of ordinary skill in the art of computer programming  Additionally, the specification is in no way limited to implementation in any specific programming language, or for any specific operating system or environment  Accordingly, the disclosure is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the specification, which is set forth in the following claims 
providing, with the one or more processors, the customized stream of content 
2  The computer-implemented method of claim 1 comprising removing pre-existing content items included in the customized stream of content for the channel 
3  The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the historical trend is one of an increase in a number of the new content items for a content category and an increase in a number of times one of the new content items is accessed 
categorizing the new content items 
5  The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein the heterogeneous data sources include at least two from the group of a news article post, a news feed, a social feed, a blog post, a micro-blog post, a photo, a video, an audio, an email message, and a text based message 
6  The computer-implemented method of claim 1 comprising receiving a request from the user to subscribe to an existing channel 
7  The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the channel category is also based on an interest of the user and a connection of the user 
8  The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the user activity is an interaction of the user with an application, wherein the interaction of the user with the application includes providing at least one of a user preference, a user interest, a comment, a tag, and a search 
provide the customized stream of content 
10  The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer readable program when executed on the computer also causes the computer to remove pre-existing content items included in the customized stream of content for the channel 
11  The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the historical trend is one of an increase in a number of the new content items for a content category and an increase in a number of times one of the new content items is accessed 
categorize the new content items 
13  The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the heterogeneous data sources include at least two from the group of a news article post, a news feed, a social feed, a blog post, a micro-blog post, a photo, a video, an audio, an email message, and a text based message 
14  The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the computer readable program when executed on the computer also causes the computer to receive a request from the user to subscribe to an existing channel 
15  The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the channel category is also based on an interest of the user and a connection of the user 
16  The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the user activity is an interaction of the user with an application, wherein the interaction of the user with the application includes providing at least one of a user preference, a user interest, a comment, a tag, and a search 
18  The system of claim 17 wherein the system is further configured to remove pre-existing content items included in the customized stream of content for the channel 
19  The system of claim 17 wherein the historical trend is one of an increase in a number of the new content items for a content category and an increase in a number of times one of the new content items is accessed 
21  The system of claim 20 wherein the heterogeneous data sources include at least two from the group of a news article post, a news feed, a social feed, a blog post, a micro-blog post, a photo, a video, an audio, an email message, and a text based message 
22  The system of claim 17 wherein the system is further configured to receive a request from the user to subscribe to an existing channel 
23  The system of claim 17 wherein the channel category is also based on an interest of the user and a connection of the user 
24  The system of claim 17 wherein the user activity is an interaction of the user with an application, wherein the interaction of the user with the application includes providing at least one of a user preference, a user interest, a comment, a tag, and a search 
Adamic et al , "Search in power-law networks," Physical Review E, 2001, vol  64, HP Labs/Stanford University, The American Physical Society 
Boyd, et al , "Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship," Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, International Communication Association, 2008, pp  210-230  8 
MediaSift Ltd , DataSift: Realtime Social Data Mining Platform, Curate and Data Mine the Real Time Web with DataSift, Dedipower, Managed Hosting, May 13, 2011, 1 pg 
Ring Central, Inc , Internet, retrieved at http://www ringcentral com, Apr  19, 2007, 1 pg  28 
Singh et al , "CINEMA: Columbia InterNet Extensible Multimedia Architecture," Department of Computer Science, Columbia University, May 2002 pp  1-83 
Yu et al , "It Takes Variety to Make a World: Diversification in Recommender Systems," 2009, pp  1-11, downloaded from https://openproceedings org/2009/conf/edbt/YuLA09 pdf 



ground_truth: By comparing candidate content items to a model and scoring them.

prompt_front: Now, answer the following question based on the text below, only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: How does a media application determine the context of an event?

Read the following text and answer briefly.

Context 3:  The content-recognition module or algorithm may also determine that the term “export” refers to shipping goods out of a country  The content-recognition module or algorithm may also determine that the term “a lot” refers to a particular numerical amount  Finally, the content-recognition module or algorithm may also determine that the term “coal” refers to a mineral of fossilized carbon 
The content-recognition module or algorithm may also determine the relationships between words and/or other information obtained by the content-recognition module  For example, by processing the relationship between the words, the media application determines that event 106 is a statement regarding a particular amount of a particular substance shipped out of a particular country  Therefore, the media application determines that the request for supplemental information is likely a request to determine the validity of the statement  The media application then generates the supplemental information 
The media application may also have stored supplemental information generated by previous requests (e g , supplemental information generated in response to the same or different user viewing the media asset at an earlier date), and display the supplemental information again during the event (either in response to a user input requesting supplemental information or automatically without a user requesting supplemental information) 
FIG  2 shows an illustrative example of a system that may be used to generate supplemental information (e g , supplemental information 110 (FIG  1)) based on additional information provided by a plurality of users in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure  For example, in some embodiments, system 200 may be used to generate supplemental information (e g , supplemental information 110 (FIG  1)) on a display (e g , display 108 (FIG  1)) of a user device (e g , user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG  4))  It should be noted that in some embodiments, the devices shown in FIG  2 may correspond to one or more devices in FIGS  3-4 
FIG  2 shows system 200  In system 200, a user is currently accessing a media asset on display 202  In some embodiments, display 202 may correspond to display 100 (FIG  1))  During an event (e g , event 106 (FIG  1)) a user may have requested supplemental information about an event (e g , event 106 (FIG  1)) in display 202 using user device 204  Media application 206, which in some embodiments, may be implemented on user device 204 or at a remote location (e g , supplemental information source 418 (FIG  4)), receives the request for supplemental information 
Media application 206 determines the context of the event (e g , who said the statement making up the event and to what the statement was referring)  After determining the context of the statement, the media application may itemize into one or more tasks, additional information (e g , facts) it requires in order to generate the supplemental information (e g , a verification or correction of the factual basis of the statement)  For example, if the event is a statement about the amount of coal that is exported from the United States (e g , as described in relation to FIG  1 above), media application 206 may determine the fact required to generate the supplemental information is the exact numerical amount of coal that is exported from the United States  The media application may then transmit requests for the additional information (e g , a request for the exact numerical amount of coal that is exported from the United States) to a plurality of other users 
In FIG  2, users operating user device 208, user device 210, and user device 212 represent a plurality of users  Having determined the additional information it requires in order to generate the supplemental information, media application 206 requests the additional information from the plurality of users  In system 200, media application 206 has transmitted the same task (e g , the same question) to each of the plurality of users  In some embodiments, one or more of the users may receive different tasks  For example, by breaking the additional information into small, independent tasks, media application 206 may increase the speed (e g , multiple users may work concurrently to solve different parts of a problem) and accuracy (e g , reducing the tasks to smaller, less complex problems reduces the chance of human error) of the additional information returned by the plurality of users 
In addition, by breaking the additional information into small, independent tasks, the plurality of users may not know to what they are contributing (enhancing the privacy of the user that requested the supplemental information), however, the plurality of users can still be effective in their individual tasks  In addition, by breaking the additional information into small, independent tasks, the media application may more easily outsource the requests for additional information  For example, one or more of the tasks used to generate the additional information may be the same as one or more of the tasks used to generate other additional information (e g , additional information used to generate different supplemental information in response to a request for supplemental information about the same or a different event issued by the same or a different user)  The response to each of the request and/or the additional information may be stored (e g , on any of the devices accessible by communications network 414 (FIG  4)) for subsequent retrieval 
Based on the responses, transmitted as messages including the additional information, from the plurality of other users, media application 206 may generate the supplemental information (e g , supplemental information 110 (FIG  1)) for display to the user on the user device 204  For example, media application may aggregate, append, and/or compare the additional information in each of the messages received from the plurality of users  The supplemental information may then be generated based on the aggregated, appended, and/or compared additional information (e g , as described in FIG  9 below) 
In some embodiments, the plurality of users may receive summary information about the event with the request for additional information  (e g , a video clip of a portion or segment of the media asset, a textual description, etc ), which may help the plurality of users provide additional information  For example, in some embodiments, the media application may instead of (or in addition to) determining the context of an event, determine a particular portion of the event that would be needed for the plurality of users to provide additional information about the event 
For example, the media application may use progress information associated with the progress of the media asset (e g , line 506 (FIG  5)) to determine at what point during the progression of the media asset the event occurred, and in response, transmit a portion of the media asset beginning ten second before that point and ending ten seconds after that point  For example, if the event is a statement made by a character or person in a media asset, the media application may determine when the statement began (e g , the point of progress of the media asset in which the statement began) and ended  The media application may then include the portion containing the entire statement (and the event) in the request for additional information sent to the plurality of users 
The selected portion may include any amount of summary information that the media application determines is necessary for the user or any one of the plurality of users to understand the main action sequence  This summary information (e g , a portion of the media asset) may be included with the request for additional information (e g , in a file transmitted with the request), or may be included with the generated supplemental information as a reference for the user  For example, the media application may select a segment of the play length of the media asset or a particular scene of the media asset, which includes the event, for to display to the plurality of users along with the request for additional information 
For example, if an event (e g , a statement) was in response to a question, the media application may also determine when the question began and ended, and send the entire question (or the play length of the media asset corresponding to the question) to the plurality of users as well  After determining the portion to provide to the plurality of users (e g , a segment including the ten seconds before and the ten seconds after the event), the media application may provide the summary information of the event and any other material needed by the plurality of users to understand the event and/or request for supplemental information from the user 
In some embodiments, a portion of the media asset containing the event, as selected by the media application, may also include any amount of the play length of the media asset, or any amount of scenes or segments from the media asset  In some embodiments, the portion may include segments of the play length of the media asset or scenes from the media asset that are not adjacent during the normal playback of the media asset  For example, in some embodiments, a portion of the media asset may include one or more sequences or scenes of interest to the plurality of users, even though the particular sequences or scenes are featured at different points in the play length of the media asset  The media application may determine the segments or scenes to include based on a content recognition file (e g , data structure 500 (FIG  5)) describing the media asset  For example, if a plot point or other information, which may be relevant to an event is displayed earlier in the media asset, the summary information may include a portion of the media asset displaying the plot point 
In some embodiments, the length of a portion may be determined based on the genre of the media asset  In some embodiments, the length of the portion may depend on a user profile for the user or for anyone of the plurality of users  For example, a user profile and/or a content recognition file (e g , data structure 500 (FIG  5)) may indicate that a particular user may require more or less additional content  For example, the user may be aware of particular characters or plot points in the media asset and, therefore, may not require the additional content to introduce those aspects 
In some embodiments, the plurality of users may receive a particular user interface, which organizes the data about the event (e g , a clip of the actual event, summary information about the event, information about the request for supplemental information issued by the user, etc )  The interface may also include an automatic submission form, which may be used to generate a message, which is sent to the media application 
In some embodiments, the media application may also receive user input from the user requesting the supplemental information that further affects the generation of supplemental information by the media application  For example, the user may request the supplemental information includes particular information (e g , the factual basis of a statement), may request a multimedia format of the supplemental information (e g , textual description, a video clip, etc ), may request a form of the supplemental information (e g , a short description about the event, an Internet link to other sources of information on the event, or a true or false designation about the event) by entering user inputs (e g , via user input interface 310 (FIG  3)) 
It should be noted that any information or process referred to in this disclosure that is referred to as being in response to a user input may alternatively and/or additionally be performed automatically by the media application (e g , via control circuitry 304 (FIG  3))  For example, in some embodiments, a user may request a true or false designation (e g , an on-screen pop-up box indicating whether an event was true or false)  Additionally and/or alternatively, in some embodiments, the true or false designation may appear automatically based on predetermined settings indicating to the media application to display a true or false designation in response to detecting an event 
In some embodiments, an indicator that supplemental information has previously been generated or is currently ready to generate (e g , a plurality of users are available) may be displayed to a user (e g , on display 100 (FIG  1) during the event)  The indicator may also indicate the particular information, the multimedia format, and/or the form of supplemental information that is available  An indicator may also appear with the supplemental information (e g , supplemental information 110 (FIG  1)), which allows the user to request additional supplemental information or provide feedback/responses (e g , rating the quality of the supplemental information) to the media application and/or plurality of users 
In some embodiments, a user may also access (e g , via selection of an indicator and/or automatically upon the supplemental information being generated) summary information about the event  For example, in some embodiments (e g , when the supplemental information is not generated in real-time), the media asset may have progressed to a different point by the time the supplemental information is ready for display  Therefore, the media application may need to provide a video clip of the event or other summary information, so that the user remembers about what or why the supplemental information was requested 
FIG  3 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure  It should be noted that the components shown in FIG  3 may be used to store, receive, transmit, and/or display the media assets, additional information, and/or supplemental information as described herein  For example, media application 206 (FIG  2) may be implemented on user equipment device 300, and may issue instructions (e g , displaying supplemental information 110 (FIG  1)) via control circuitry 304 
Users may access media assets and the media application (and its display screens described above and below) from one or more of their user equipment devices  FIG  3 shows a generalized embodiment of illustrative user equipment device 300  More specific implementations of user equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG  4  User equipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output (hereinafter “I/O”) path 302  I/O path 302 may provide content (e g , broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, content available over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includes processing circuitry 306 and storage 308  Control circuitry 304 may be used to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable data using I/O path 302  I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (and specifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communications paths (described below)  I/O functions may be provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG  3 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing 
Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitry such as processing circuitry 306  As referred to herein, processing circuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc , and may include a multi-core processor (e g , dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or any suitable number of cores) or supercomputer  



ground_truth: It uses a content-recognition module or algorithm.