Abstract:
A method and system for associating a visual graphic with an article in a list of articles, to assist the user in identifying and distinguishing different articles in the list. Associated visuals may be selected from visuals embedded within the article, or may be retrieved from a visual pool via text-matching of article titles and text to text stored with the visuals in the visual pool. Embodiments of the invention provide methods for selecting a unique visual for each title in the list, even when the articles do not contain any illustrating visuals and even when illustrating visuals are duplicated among several different articles.

Description:
FIELD 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to automated query systems and, more particularly, to a method for associating visual images with text-based articles for query results. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Automated query systems search archives of text articles according to user queries, and present to the users lists of the titles of articles contained in the archives which are related to the queries. Typically, the article titles serve as links to the articles, so that users may access specific articles by selecting the respective titles from the lists. 
         [0003]    According to schemes currently in use, lists of article titles found by automated query systems typically appear as text only. It is desirable to include a visual element, such as an icon, along with each article title in the list, to assist users in intuitively identifying and relating to the articles, and to serve as links to the respective articles. Typically, a visual embedded within an article could serve as an identifying visual for that article. Not all articles, however, have visuals embedded within, nor are visuals necessarily visually-unique among articles which do have embedded visuals, and it would be confusing to use the same visual to identify and link to different articles. It is therefore highly desirable to have a method for associating visually-unique visual elements with all the article titles in a list, regardless of whether or not the respective articles have unique visuals embedded therein. This goal is met by embodiments of the present invention. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0004]    Embodiments of the present invention provide methods for associating visually-unique visuals with text articles, regardless of whether or not the articles contain embedded visuals, and regardless of whether or not visuals which are embedded are visually-unique. 
         [0005]      FIG. 1A  illustrates a non-limiting example of a list  500  containing references having associated visuals according to an embodiment of the present invention. List  500  has a topic title  501  followed by a list of related article titles (e.g., a title  505 A,  505 B,  505 C,  505 D, and  505 E), including links to the respective actual articles. Associated with each article title is a unique visual to assist the user in identifying and accessing the article. In a non-limiting example, title  505 B is highlighted, such as by a mouseover. Visual  503 B is also highlighted. To access the associated article itself, the user clicks a pointing device when cursor  507  points to the highlighted title or the highlighted visual.  FIG. 1  B illustrates a non-limiting example of a layout  551  on the screen of a smart phone  550 . Visual links  553 A,  553 B,  553 C,  553 D, and  553 E have the appearance of icons, and link to their respective associated articles when the user taps a finger on a selected visual link. 
         [0006]    The present disclosure teaches how to provide unique visual identifiers and links to articles that originally lack such visuals. 
       DEFINITIONS 
       [0007]    According to embodiments of the invention, an “article” is a document which is readable by a human and which is stored in machine-readable form that is accessible and retrievable by devices such as computers, smart phones, tablets, and the like. In specific embodiments, an article is principally a text document which may optionally contain one or more visuals. An article that contains at least one visual is herein denoted as an “illustrated article”; and an article that does not contain any visuals is herein denoted as a “text-only article”. In another embodiment of the present invention, an article may also contain multimedia content. In various embodiments of the present invention, an article is considered to be published, and is accessible and retrievable over a network, such as the Internet and/or via cellular data networks. 
         [0008]    The term “archive” herein denotes a collection of articles that is accessible and searchable by devices such as computers, smart phones, tablets, and the like. A non-limiting example of an archive is an on-line collection of articles that have been published in a particular publication. Such archives are commonly maintained by publishers of newspapers, magazines, and journals. A search may be performed on one or more archives by providing suitable search criteria that describe the subject matter, contents, and/or metadata (e.g., author, publisher, title, etc.) of the article or articles to be found, and articles that are found by the search may be individually selected for access and/or retrieval by a user. In addition, articles may be referenced in other articles, bibliographies, and/or via network links, and thereby be recommended to users independent of searches. According to embodiments of the invention, the articles of an archive are individually accessible by such devices. In certain embodiments of the invention, an article archive is implemented via a database. 
         [0009]      FIG. 2  conceptually illustrates an article archive  350  containing multiple articles  360 . An exemplary article  360 A contains an optional title  370  and one or more optional headings  375  embedded therein. Article  360 A may also contain one or more optional visuals  382 , where a visual may have an optional caption  384 . Headings and visuals are independent of one another; an article may have neither headings nor visuals, visuals but no headings, headings but no visuals, or both headings and visuals. As noted above, illustrated articles  361  (e.g., articles  361 A,  361 B, and  361 C) each contain one or more visuals, whereas text-only articles  362  (e.g., articles  362 A,  362 B, and  362 C) do not contain visuals. 
         [0010]    The noun “visual” herein denotes an image which can be printed and/or displayed on the screen of devices such as computers, smart phones, tablets, and the like. According to various embodiments of the present invention, visuals include, but are not limited to: graphics; drawings and diagrams; maps and charts; icons, logos, and avatars; and photographs. According to an embodiment, a visual is a small, static image such as a “thumbnail” image. According to another embodiment, a visual includes animation clips and video clips. In various embodiments of the invention, visuals are stored in a “visual pool”, which is a repository for holding visuals, each of which has a text descriptor. In certain embodiments of the present invention, a visual pool is implemented via a database. 
         [0011]    According to various embodiments of the invention, a pool of visuals is generated and is continually updated for future reference and use. In a related embodiment, a visual pool is compiled for a specific publisher. As new articles become available (e.g., appear on the publisher&#39;s website), certain articles might be illustrated with visuals. Such illustrative visuals are collected, and those which are not already in the visual pool are then added to the pool. In some embodiments of the invention, when searching for articles according to search or recommendation procedures, each found article must also have an associated visual for presentation with the article&#39;s title lists, such as illustrated in a non-limiting example in  FIG. 1A . As noted previously, a relevant and unique (presently unused) visual may already be embedded in the article, and in such cases that visual is chosen as the visual associated with the article. In cases where no relevant and unique visual is embedded in the article, however, the visual pool is accessed to obtain a unique visual for association with the article. Certain embodiments of the invention provide for enlarging and maintaining the visual pool to optimize this facility. In certain embodiments of the present invention, visuals in a visual pool are processed in various ways to improve usability, non-limiting examples of which include: altering the physical size of the visuals (such as for consistency, through scaling and/or cropping); altering the form factor of the visuals (such as for consistency, through scaling and/or cropping); and processing for uniform visual appearance (through brightness, contrast, and gamma correction). 
         [0012]    The visual pool is the repository for visuals extracted from articles in the article archive. In related embodiments, visuals are accompanied by associated text extracted from those articles. 
         [0013]    Therefore, according to an embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method for associating visuals with articles of an archive, the archive including both text-only articles and illustrated articles having both text and at least one visual, wherein: (a) the articles are categorized into selected articles and unselected articles; (b) the selected articles of the archive include both selected illustrated articles and selected text-only articles; (c) the unselected articles of the archive include both unselected illustrated articles and unselected text-only articles; (d) the method including: (e) for each iterated article of the selected illustrated articles, choosing, by a server, one visual of the visual included in the iterated article, and associating the at least one visual with the iterated article; and (f) for each iterated article of the selected text-only articles, choosing a single visual from the at least one visual included in a plurality of unselected illustrated articles, and associating the single visual with the iterated article. 
         [0014]    In addition, according to another embodiment of the present invention there is provided a method for associating visuals with articles of an archive, the archive including illustrated articles having both text and at least one visual, the method including: (a) obtaining a pool of visuals, wherein each visual of the pool has a text descriptor; (b) selecting a plurality of articles from the archive; (c) for each iterated article of the plurality of articles selected from the archive: (d) extracting all visuals from the iterated article; (e) if an extracted visual from the iterated article is not already associated with another selected article, then associate the visual with the iterated article; (f) if there is no extracted visual from the iterated article that is not already associated with another selected article (i.e., all extracted visuals from the iterated article are already associated with other selected articles), then search the pool of visuals for a visual whose text descriptor is a best text match to a title of the iterated article and which is not already associated with another selected article; (g) if a visual is found in the visual pool whose text descriptor is a best text match to the title of the iterated article and which is not already associated with another selected article, then associate the found visual with the iterated article; and (h) if no visual is found in the visual pool whose text descriptor is a best text match to the title of the iterated article and which is not already associated with another selected article, then remove the iterated article from the plurality of selected articles. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]    The present invention will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of the embodiments thereof, taken together with the drawings in which: 
           [0016]      FIG. 1A  illustrates a list of article titles with associated visuals for presentation to a user according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 1B  illustrates a layout of article visual links for presentation to a user according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 2  conceptually illustrates the components of an article and an article archive. 
           [0019]      FIG. 3  conceptually illustrates the components of a visual and a visual pool according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 4  illustrates a method for compiling a visual pool according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0021]      FIG. 5  illustrates a method for associating a visual with a listed article according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0022]      FIG. 6  conceptually illustrates a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0023]    The principles and operation of embodiments of the present invention may be understood with reference to the drawings and the accompanying description. 
         [0024]      FIG. 3  conceptually illustrates the components of a visual  310  and a visual pool  300  according to an embodiment of the present invention. Visual pool  300  contains multiple visuals, including visuals  310 A,  310 B, and  310 C as illustrated in  FIG. 3 , and serves as a repository of visuals for association with article titles in a list (as shown in  FIG. 1A ) or as article links in a layout (as shown in  FIG. 1B ). Visual  310  contains: graphical content  312 , which includes data formatted for display of the visible visual; and an associated text data structure  314 , which is metadata relating to the visual. In some embodiments, graphical content  312  is a still picture in a standard format, non-limiting examples of which include “jpeg” and “gif” format. In other embodiments, graphical content  312  is a graphical illustration, an animation, or a multi-media item with a visual component. According to an embodiment of the invention, an article can have multiple embedded visuals. In additional embodiments, a link to a related article within a currently-presented article is displayed with an associated visual. 
         [0025]    Each visual in pool  300  is associated with some text, which typically describes the visible content and appearance of the visual. According to various embodiments of the present invention, associating text with visuals is essential in order to facilitate conducting text-based searches for visuals. 
         [0026]    In some embodiments of the invention, associated text  314  includes an article identifier  316  which identifies the article in which visual  310  was originally embedded. An association type  317  indicates the nature of the association of the text with graphical content  312 , including but not limited to: an article title; a picture caption; a nearby heading (such as a heading for a section of the article in which the visual appears); or other type of association. Text content  318  is the character string data of the associated text itself. A non-limiting example of text content is “Julius Caesar (100 BCE-44 BCE), Roman statesman and general”. Extracted concepts  319  include post-processing on the text. Non-limiting examples of extracted concepts for this content include: “Julius Caesar”, “Julius Caesar 01”; “Julius Caesar, ¾ bust”, “Roman statesman”, “Roman general”, and the like. 
         [0027]    In a related embodiment of the invention, there are multiple associated text data structures  314  indicating that visual  310  is embedded in more than one different article. 
         [0028]      FIG. 4  illustrates a method for compiling visual pool  300  according to an embodiment of the present invention. A step  128  begins a loop that iterates on each article  365  of archive  350  (also see  FIG. 2 ). A step  124  begins a loop that iterates on each visual on the article being iterated in the loop beginning at step  128 . A step  100  extracts an iterated visual  105  from the iterated article (e.g., visual  105 A, visual  105 B, visual  105 C, etc.). A step  110  associates text  107  with visual  105  (e.g., text  107 A with visual  105 A, text  107 B with visual  105 B, text  107 C with visual  105 C, etc.), to form combined visual with associated text  109  (e.g., visual/text  109 A, visual/text  109 B, visual/text  109 C, etc.). Then, in a step  120  visual with text  109  is entered into visual pool  300  for later access and retrieval. A loop end step  125  returns to step  124  for the next visual of currently-iterated article  365 , and if there are no more visuals in currently-iterated article  365 , a loop end step  129  is executed, which returns to step  128  for the next iterated article  365  of archive  350 , and if there are no more articles in archive  350 , the method concludes. According to another embodiment of the invention, when a new article is entered into article archive  350 , loop  124 - 125  is executed for the new article as a continuous and on-going process. When there is a continual flow of new articles into article archive  350 , visual pool  300  continues to grow. 
         [0029]      FIG. 5  illustrates a method for associating unique visuals with articles relating to a current topic  367  according to an embodiment of the present invention. Current topic  367  is determined by the user in one of two modes. In one mode, the user submits a text query  202 A having search criteria to a search engine operating over article archive  350 , and the user&#39;s query and search criteria implicitly establish current topic  367  as being the subject matter of the results retrieved from article archive  350  by the search engine according to the search criteria of query  202 A. In a non-limiting example, it is possible to use the search terms as provided by the user. In the other mode, the user is reading a browsed article  202 B whose subject matter establishes current topic  367 , and an application (a non-limiting example of which is a search engine) retrieves a set of topics related to browsed article  202 B. According to various embodiments of the invention, the application selects related articles on the basis of factors including, but not limited to: recentness, relevance, popularity, and accessibility. 
         [0030]    According to various embodiments of the invention a unique visual is to be associated with each article in a list of articles for presentation to the user. In a step  205  a set  207  of N articles related to listed article  367  are selected from article archive  350 . A predetermined number N  203  is a parameter for the size of set  207 . Depending on the mode, as discussed above, the articles of set  205  may be selected from article archive  350  by well-known search methodologies according to criteria of query  202 A; or, the articles of set  205  may be selected from article archive  350  by well-known recommendation methodologies according to browsed article  202 B. Non-limiting examples of suitable recommendation methodologies include: “similar context”; “popular for a particular group”; and “known to be of interest to this particular user”. Embodiments of the present invention do not depend or rely on the specific methodology or mechanisms employed, so long as the articles of article archive  350  are categorized into selected articles (those in set  207 ) and unselected articles (those not in set  207 ). Articles in article archive  350  in general include both illustrated articles (having at least one visual) and text-only articles, and selected articles in set  207  in general also include both illustrated articles and text-only articles. 
         [0031]    A step  210  begins a loop which iterates over the articles of set  207 , and in a step  211  the visuals (if any) of iterated article  369  are extracted into a set  213  of extracted illustrating visuals. A step  215  represents the end of the code of the loop begun at step  210 ; if there are further articles in set  207  to iterate, step  211  is repeated as necessary. Otherwise, if there are no more articles in set  207  to iterate, the loop ends with no further iterations. Inside each of the loop cycles  210 - 215  there is a decision point  220 . According to an embodiment of the invention, a set  213  contains all images extracted from iterated article  369 . At decision point  220 , if set  213  contains a unique visual  214 , then in a step  221  unique visual  214  is used as the visual associated with iterated article  369 . According to various embodiments of the invention, a visual is “unique” (or “unused”) if that visual is not already associated with another article in set  207 . If, however, decision point  220  decides that no unique visual was found in illustrating visuals set  213 , a step  230  attempts to find a visual in visual pool  300  whose text descriptor is a best text match to a title  377  of iterated article  369 . If matching step  230  finds a unique (unused) visual, then a decision point  255  sets the found visual as visual  214  and then executes step  221 . If, however, matching step  230  fails to find a unique visual for iterated article  369  from visual pool  300 , then decision point  255  executes a step  257  to remove iterated article  369  from set  207 . Although iterated article  369  is removed from set  207 , iterated article  369  may remain in article archive  350  for possible future selection. According to a related embodiment of the invention, an article removed from set  207  is replaced with another article from article archive  350 , in order to maintain a total of N articles in set  207 . 
         [0032]      FIG. 6  conceptually illustrates a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. A server  605  accesses an article storage device  601 , which maintains article archive  350  ( FIG. 2 ), and a visual storage device  603 , which maintains visual pool  300  ( FIG. 3 ). Server  605  performs any of the foregoing methods, and variants thereof, to provide lists of article titles with associated visuals (as illustrated in  FIG. 1A ), and arrangements of visual links to articles (as illustrated in  FIG. 1B ) to user devices such as a computer  611  and a smart phone  613 . 
         [0033]    Embodiments described above provide visuals for articles that are unique for each article in a set of selected visuals, in cases where an article may have no associated visual, or may have a visual that has already been associated with another article of the set. Additional embodiments of the invention handle the case where an article already has a unique visual, but the visual is unsatisfactory for a specific reason. In a non-limiting example, a unique visual embedded in an article may be too small to be used effectively. For instance, the number of pixels in the visual may be below a specified threshold. In such a case, the unsatisfactory visual is ignored. 
         [0034]    While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications and other applications of the invention may be made.