Providing regional content by matching geographical properties

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9652474-B2
Application number	US-201414329603-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2014
Priority date	Aug 13, 2008
Publication date	May 16, 2017
Grant date	May 16, 2017

Abstract

A method and a system provide regional content to users by associating data files with geographical properties and matching the geographical property of a data file with the geographical property of the user. The system extracts geographical information from a data file, and associates the data file with a source geographical property corresponding to the extracted geographical information according to a geographical information database. Upon obtaining a user geographical property of a user, the system provides the data file to the user if the source geographical property matches the user geographical property. The method and the system may be implemented using a geographical name lexicon or a geographical name suffix lexicon.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing regional content, the method comprising:
extracting geographical information from a data file, comprising:
identifying multiple geographical information pieces from the data file; and
taking a geographical information piece which has the highest frequency of appearance in the data file to be the geographical information extracted from the data file, wherein:
a geographical information database contains a plurality of geographical information pieces and affiliating relationships among the plurality of geographical information pieces, and
frequency of appearance of each geographical information piece takes into account the appearances of at least some of the affiliated geographical information pieces having an affiliating relationship with the geographical information piece;

associating the data file with a source geographical property corresponding to the extracted geographical information according to the geographical information database;
obtaining a user geographical property of a user, comprising:
obtaining the user geographical property by collecting a focus point of online browsing by the user, the focus point relating to a geographical location that has been searched for or inquired by the user within a period of time;

comparing a user administrative level of the user geographical property with an administrative level of the extracted geographical information, comprising:
comparing a first administrative level of the user geographical property with a first administrative level of the extracted geographical information, the first administrative level of the user geographical property corresponding with the first administrative level of the extracted geographical information; and
in the event that the first administrative level of the user geographical property does not match the first administrative level of the extracted geographical information:
comparing a second administrative level of the user geographical property with a second administrative level of the extracted geographical information, the second administrative level of the user geographical property corresponding with the second administrative level of the extracted geographical information, the first administrative level of the user geographical property being finer than the second administrative level of the user geographical property; and
in the event that the second administrative level of the user geographical property matches the second administrative level of the extracted geographical information, determining that the administrative level of the extracted geographical information matches the user administrative level of the user geographical property; and

providing the data file to the user if the administrative level of the extracted geographical property matches the user administrative level of the user geographical property.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein extracting the geographical information from the data file comprises:
providing a geographical name lexicon containing a plurality of geographical keyword entries;
finding a keyword in the data file matching one of the plurality of geographical keyword entries; and
taking the matching keyword as at least a part of the geographical information extracted from the data file.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the plurality of geographical keyword entries include either geographical names or phrases indicative of geographical names, or both the geographical names and the phases indicative of geographical names.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein extracting the geographical information from the data file comprises:
providing a geographical name suffix lexicon containing a plurality of geographical name suffixes;
finding a phrase in the data file frequently preceding a keyword matching one of the plurality of geographical name suffixes; and
taking the phrase as at least a part of the geographical information extracted from the data file.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein each geographical information piece comprises a geographical name or a phrase indicative of a geographical name.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein each geographical information piece comprises a geographical name or a phrase indicative of a geographical name, and wherein the frequency of appearance of each geographical information piece takes into account appearances of subordinate geographical names have been an affiliated relationship with the said geographical name.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the affiliated relationship between the subordinate geographical names and the geographical name is defined by a physical relationship therebetween including any one or more of territorial relationship, jurisdiction relationship, administrative relationship, municipal relationship, and political relationship.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein obtaining the user geographical property comprises any one or more of the following:
obtaining the user geographical property by inquiring the user's IP address;
obtaining the user geographical property by inquiring the user's registered address;
obtaining the user geographical property by inquiring a geographical location set by the user; and
obtaining the user geographical property by obtaining coordinate information of the user.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the user administrative level of the user geographical property relates to one of a country, a province level, a country level, a city level, a prefecture level, a village level, or a street level; and
the administrative level of the extracted geographical information relates to one of a country, a province level, a country level, a city level, a prefecture level, a village level, or a street level.

10. A method for providing regional content, the method comprising:
providing a geographical information database;
extracting geographical information from a data file, comprising:
identifying multiple geographical information pieces from the data file; and
taking a geographical information piece which has the highest frequency of appearance in the data file to be the geographical information extracted from the data file, wherein:
the geographical information database contains a plurality of geographical information pieces and affiliating relationships among the plurality of geographical information pieces, and
frequency of appearance of each geographical information piece takes into account the appearances of at least some of the affiliated geographical information pieces having an affiliating relationship with the geographical information piece;

identifying in the geographical information database a source geographical property corresponding to the extracted geographical information;
associating the data file with the source geographical property;
obtaining a user geographical property of a user, comprising:
obtaining the user geographical property by collecting a focus point of online browsing by the user, the focus point relating to a geographical location that has been searched for or inquired by the user within a period of time;

comparing a user administrative level of the user geographical property with an administrative level of the extracted geographical information, comprising:
comparing a first administrative level of the user geographical property with a first administrative level of the extracted geographical information, the first administrative level of the user geographical property corresponding with the first administrative level of the extracted geographical information; and
in the event that the first administrative leve

Assignees

• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd

Inventors

• Lei Guo Ping
• Li Xiao Shuan
• Ma Na
• Liu Wei Jia
• Chen Chuan Wen
• Wang ming you
• Zhou Hong Xi
• Wang Xuan

Classifications

• G06F17/30241 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30867

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/30106

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06Q30/02 Primary

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title

• G06F16/148

  File search processing · CPC title