# US 2021/0240749 A1 · Methods and apparatuses for content preparation and/or selection > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2021/0240749 A1 - Document ID: US20210240749A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/236,550 - Filed: 2021-04-21 - Published: 2021-08-05 - Earliest claimed: 2013-12-12 - Assignees: Lana Ivanovna Babayan - Inventors: Samuel S. Epstein - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210240749A1 ## CPC - G06F 16/335: Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles (filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536) - G06F 16/2423: {Interactive query statement specification based on a database schema} - G06F 16/3329: Natural language query formulation - G06F 16/334: Query execution (filtering based on additional data G06F16/335) - G06F 16/951: Indexing; Web crawling techniques - G06F 16/9535: Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation - G06F 16/9536: Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Method, storage medium and apparatus associated with content preparation and/or selection are disclosed herewith. In embodiments, an apparatus may include a content preparation or selection module to receive, as part of a content preparation or selection, a representation of a concept; and determine, for the content preparation or selection, topical relevance of a content item (N) of a content hierarchy to the concept. The content hierarchy may include a plurality of content items, including N, and determining the topical relevance of N to the concept includes determination of propagation of influence among content items of the content hierarchy subject to constraints that bound the number of operations performed by the computing system to determine the propagation of influence among content items of the content hierarchy with a chosen constant. Other embodiments may be disclosed and/or claimed. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A machine implemented method for content preparation or selection, comprising: receiving, as part of a content preparation or selection, by a content preparation or selection module operated by a computing system, a representation of a concept; and determining, for the content preparation or selection, by the content preparation or selection module, topical relevance of a content item (N) of a content hierarchy to the concept; wherein the content hierarchy includes a plurality of content items, including N; and wherein determining the topical relevance of N to the concept includes determination of propagation of influence among content items of the content hierarchy subject to constraints that bound the number of operations performed by the computing system to determine the propagation of influence among content items of the content hierarchy with a chosen constant. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the constraints include a constraint that limits a number of siblings of a given node in the content hierarchy considered in the determination of the propagation of influence among content items of the content hierarchy. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the constraints include a constraint that limits a maximum number of terminal content item hits recognized. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the constraint include a constraint the requires a minimum term-based score for a terminal content item hit to be recognized ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the concept is a search expression, and the constraints include a constraint that limit a number of nodes of the content hierarchy visited to determine the propagation of influence for a content item to m*d*k nodes, where m is a number of terminal content nodes that count as active matches for the search expression, d is a maximum number of ancestors of a node, added to 1, and k is the maximum number of neighbors of a node, including the node as its own neighbor. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, wherein determining the topical relevance of N to the concept includes calculating, initially. term-based scores of terminal content items of the content hierarchy. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein calculating, initially, term-based scores of terminal content items of the content hierarchy, comprises calculating, initially, term-based scores of terminal content items that qualify as active matches. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the concept is a search expression, and the method further comprises pruning the search expression according to a function derived from frequencies of documents of the content items of the content hierarchy. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein the constraints include a constraint that requires a minimum inverse-document-frequency for a term to remain in a pruned search expression. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the concept is a search expression, and to receive further comprises to receive the bound of the number of operations from a user issuing the search expression. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein determination of propagation of influence among content items of the content hierarchy is performed to realize transitivity of relevance among the content items of the content hierarchy. ### Claim 12 An apparatus for content preparation or selection, comprising: one or more processors; and a content preparation or selection module operated by the processor to: receive, as part of a content preparation or selection, a representation of a concept; and determine, for the content preparation or selection, topical relevance of a content item (N) of a content hierarchy to the concept; wherein the content hierarchy includes a plurality of content items, including N; and wherein determining the topical relevance of N to the concept includes determination of propagation of influence among content items of the content hierarchy subject to constraints that bound the number of operations performed by the computing system to determine the propagation of influence among content items of the content hierarchy with a chosen constant.