# US 11,308,164 B2 · Method and system for generating push notifications related to digital news

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 11,308,164 B2
- Document ID: US11308164B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/387,639
- Filed: 2019-04-18
- Published: 2020-03-19
- Granted: 2022-04-19
- Earliest claimed: 2018-09-17
- Assignees: Yandex Europe AG
- Applicants: Yandex Europe AG
- Inventors: Yaroslav Victorovich Akulov
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11308164B2

## CPC

- G06F 16/90348: {by searching ordered data, e.g. alpha-numerically ordered data}
- G06F 16/9035: Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
- G06F 16/906: Clustering; Classification
- G06F 16/908: using metadata automatically derived from the content
- G06F 16/95: Retrieval from the web
- G06F 16/951: Indexing; Web crawling techniques
- H04L 67/02: based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
- H04L 67/55: Push-based network services
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

A method and a system for determining an importance score associated with a digital news item, the importance score for determining push notifications to be provided to a user of an electronic device. The method comprises accessing a digital news item, the digital news item having been electronically published at a news item publication time by a digital news source, the digital news source being accessible via a communication network; determining a source weight of the digital news source; determining the importance score of the digital news item based on the news item publication time and the source weight of the corresponding digital news source; in response to the importance score of the digital news item being above an importance score threshold, generating a push notification based on the digital news item; and transmitting the push notification by the server to the electronic device.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for determining push notifications to be provided to a user of an electronic device, the method executable by a server, the server connectable to the electronic device via a communication network, the method comprising:
accessing, by the server, a plurality of digital news items, the plurality of digital news items having each been electronically published at a news item publication time by a digital news source, the digital news source being accessible via the communication network;
generating a digital news cluster having at least a subset of the plurality of digital news items, wherein each digital news item of the digital news cluster corresponds to a same theme;
determining, by the server, for each digital news item of the digital news cluster, and based on search engine log data, a number of users that accessed a digital news source associated with the respective digital news item over a pre-determined past time interval, wherein the search engine log data indicates click information where clicks are directed to the respective digital news source from a search engine result page displayed to at least one search engine user;
determining, by the server and for each digital news item of the digital news cluster, a source weight of the respective digital news source based on the number of users that accessed the respective digital news source;
determining, by the server, a respective importance score of each digital news item of the digital news cluster based on the respective news item publication time and the source weight of the respective digital news source;
determining, by the server, an importance rank for the digital news cluster based on importance scores of the digital news items of the digital news cluster;
selecting a representative digital news item of the digital news cluster based on a frequency of pre-determined words in the representative digital news item and a publication time of the representative digital news item;
in response to the importance rank of the digital news cluster being above an importance rank threshold, generating, by the server, a push notification based on the representative digital news item; and
transmitting the push notification by the server to the electronic device.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the representative digital news item is based on the time-freshness of the digital news items within the digital news cluster.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the number of users that accessed the digital news source comprises receiving statistics from:
browser logs installed on at least one user electronic device; and
web site metric application installed on the respective digital news source.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the respective importance score of each digital news item of the digital news cluster comprises determining the respective importance score that
is inverse to the news item publication time; and
is proportionate to the source weight.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the respective importance score of a digital news item of the digital news cluster comprises:
determining a publication time function F(t) based on the news item publication time of the digital news item; and
determining the importance score r of the digital news item according to the formula:
r=WS*F(t),
where WS is the source weight of the corresponding digital news source of the digital news item.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, wherein the determining the publication time function F(t) comprises determining:
F(t)=sigm(t0−tpubl),
where
sigm is a sigmoid function; and
(t0−tpubl) is a difference between a sampling time t0 and the news item publication time tpubl.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the importance rank of the digital news cluster comprises:
determining a publication time function Fk(t) of each digital news item of the digital news cluster based on the news item publication time of each digital news item, each of the digital news items being a k-th digital news item, k being an integer between 1 and a number of digital news items m within the digital news cluster;
determining the importance score rk of each digital news item according to the formula:
rk=WkS*Fk(t),
where WkS is the source weight of the corresponding digital news source of the k-th digital news item; and
determining the importance rank of the digital news cluster according to the formula:
R=Σk=1mrk.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, wherein the determining the publication time function Fk(t) comprises determining:
Fk(t)=sigm(t0−tkpubl),
where
sigm is a sigmoid function; and
(t0−tkpubl) is a difference between a sampling time t0 and the news item publication time tkpubl.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to pushing the notification based on the representative digital news item,
verifying whether the representative digital news has been already pushed within a threshold time interval.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises maintaining a push notification database that includes a list of past push notifications, and wherein:
the verifying whether the representative digital news item has been already pushed further comprises comparing an indication of the push notification with indications of past push notifications in the push notification database;
the transmitting the push notification is executed in response to the push notification not matching any of the indications of past push notifications stored in the push notification database; and
wherein the method further comprises updating the push notification database after the transmitting the push notification with the indication of the push notification.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein generating the digital news cluster comprises
determining digital news items published within a cluster publication time period.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the cluster publication time period is prior to a sampling time.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the push notification is one of a plurality of push notifications, and wherein the method further comprises:
determining the importance rank threshold based on a target number of push notifications.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the respective importance score of each digital news item comprises:
analyzing, by the server, a concentration of a number of times the respective digital news item has been published around the respective news item publication time.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the analyzing further comprises taking into account a time span between the respective news item publication time and a current time.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the analyzing is executed at a current time, and wherein the method further comprises taking into account a time span between the respective news item publication time and a pre-determined past time point that occurred between the current time and the respective news publication time.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, wherein the pre-determined past time is a point in time associated with a spike in the concentration of the number of times the respective digital news item has been published.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the representative digital news item of the digital news cluster comprises selecting the representative digital news item based on a title of the representative digital news item.

### Claim 19 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the representative digital news item of the digital news cluster comprises selecting the representative digital news item based on a length of a text body of the representative digital news item.

### Claim 20

A system for determining push notifications to be provided to a user of an electronic device, the system comprising at least one processor, and memory storing a plurality of executable instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
access a plurality of digital news items, the plurality of digital news items having each been electronically published at a news item publication time by a digital news source, the digital news source being accessible via the communication network;
generate a digital news cluster having at least a subset of the plurality of digital news items, wherein each digital news item of the digital news cluster corresponds to a same theme;
determine a respective importance score of each digital news item of the digital news cluster based on the respective news item publication time and a source weight of the respective digital news source;
determine an importance rank for the digital news cluster based on importance scores of the digital news items of the digital news cluster;
select a representative digital news item of the digital news cluster based on comparing a publication time of the representative digital news item to a sampling time of the representative digital news item and based on the source weight of the respective digital news source that published the representative digital news item;
in response to the importance rank of the digital news cluster being above an importance rank threshold, generate a push notification based on the representative digital news item; and
transmit the push notification to the electronic device.