RATING THE RELEVANCE OF NEWS STORIES FOR RECIPIENTS OF A NEWS FEED

1 . A method, comprising:

receiving, by a server, a new story;

calculating, by a server, a base score for the new story;

identifying, by the server, a set of stories received prior to the new story with which the new story overlaps, wherein each of the set of stories has been assigned a score that has decayed over a time interview due to the publication of related stories over the time interval;

for each story in the set of stories, computing, by the server, a current score that the story in the set of stories would receive if the story in the set of stories were received at the same time as the new story, wherein the current score is indicative of publication after the time interval has expired;

identifying, by the server, a lower bound story in the set of stories having an original score and having a current score nearest to and lower than the base score for the new story and an upper bound story in the set of stories having an original score and having a current score nearest to and higher than the base score for the new story; and

assigning, by the server, a score to the new story based on the current score of the lower bound story and the current score of the upper bound story.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein,

when there are no identified stories in the set of stories that overlap with the new story,

assigning, by the server, the base score of the new story to the new story.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein,

when there is an identified lower bound story but no identified upper bound story,

assigning, by the server, a score to the new story that is higher than the current score of the identified lower bound story.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein,

when there is an identified upper bound story but no identified lower bound story,

assigning, by the server, a score to the new story that is lower than the current score of the identified upper bound story.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein,

when there is an identified upper bound story and an identified lower bound story, and the original score of the identified upper bound story is larger than the current score of the identified lower bound story,

assigning, by the server, a score to the new story that is lower than the current score of the identified upper bound story but higher than the current score of the identified lower bound story.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein,

when there is an identified upper bound story and an identified lower bound story, and a current score of the identified lower bound story is larger than a current score of the identified upper bound story,

assigning, by the server, a score to the new story that is larger than the current score of the identified lower bound story.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein,

when there is an identified upper bound story and an identified lower bound story, and a current score of the identified lower bound story is larger than a current score of the identified upper bound story,

assigning, by the server, a score to the new story that is the mean of the current score of the identified lower bound story and the current score of the upper bound story.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein attempting to identify, by the server, a lower bound story and an upper bound story further comprises:

identifying, by the server, all stories in the set of stories having an overlap with the new story; and

assigning, by the server, the score to the new story based on the current scores of the stories in the set of stories having an overlap with the new story.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning, by the server, a score to the new story based on the original score of the lower bound story and the current score of the upper bound story further comprises assigning, by the server, a score to the new story based on a weighting function applied to the current score of the lower bound story and to the original score of the upper bound story.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, adding, by the server, the new story and the assigned score of the new story to a list of relevant stories.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving, by the server, a request from a client for the list of relevant stories or the server initiates pushing to the client the list of relevant stories; and

transmitting, by the server to the client, the list of relevant stories in order from the story having the highest assigned score to the story having the lowest assigned score.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the list of relevant stories pertain to a topic.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the list of relevant stories is generated over a period of time.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the list of relevant stories is taken from a set of low cost or free news feeds.

15 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the received prior set of stories are taken from a set of premium cost news feeds.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a score for a story is calculated or assigned based on a plurality of terms appearing most prominently in the story.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the score for the story is equal to a score corresponding to scores of the sum of the plurality of terms appearing most prominently in the story.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein an overlap between the new story and a story in the set of stories is an overlap of one or more terms in a set of key terms appearing most prominently in the new story and the story in the set of stories.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a score for a term appearing most prominently in a story is decreased each time a story is received.

20 . A system, comprising:

a memory;

a server, operatively coupled to the memory, the server to:

receive a new story;

calculate a base score for the new story;

identify a set of stories received prior to the new story with which the new story overlaps, wherein each of the set of stories has been assigned a score that has decayed over a time interview due to the publication of related stories over the time interval;

for each story in the set of stories, compute a current score that the story in the set of stories would receive if the story in the set of stories were received at the same time as the new story, wherein the current score is indicative of publication after the time interval has expired;

identify a lower bound story in the set of stories having an original score and having a current score nearest to and lower than the base score for the new story and an upper bound story in the set of stories having an original score and having a current score nearest to and higher than the base score for the new story; and

assign a score to the new story based on the current score of the lower bound story and the current score of the upper bound story.

21 . The system of claim 20 , wherein,

when there is an identified upper bound story and an identified lower bound story, and the current score of the identified upper bound story is larger than the current score of the identified lower bound story,

assign a score to the new story that is lower than the current score of the identified upper bound story but higher than the current score of the identified lower bound story.

22 . The system of claim 20 , wherein,

when there is an identified upper bound story and an identified lower bound story, and a current score of the identified lower bound story is larger than a current score of the identified upper bound story,

assign a score to the new story that is larger than the current score of the identified lower bound story.

23 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a server, cause the server to:

receive, by a server, a new story;

calculate, by the server, a base score for the new story;

identify, by the server, a set of stories received prior to the new story with which the new story overlaps, wherein each of the set of stories has been assigned a score that has decayed over a time interview due to the publication of related stories over the time interval;

for each story in the set of stories, compute, by the server, a current score that the story in the set of stories would receive if the story in the set of stories were received at the same time as the new story, wherein the current score is indicative of publication after the time interval has expired;

identify, by the server, a lower bound story in the set of stories having an original score and having a current score nearest to and lower than the base score for the new story and an upper bound story in the set of stories having an original score and having a current score nearest to and higher than the base score for the new story; and

assign, by the server, a score to the new story based on the current score of the lower bound story and the current score of the upper bound story.

24 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 23 , wherein the server is further to,

when there is an identified upper bound story and an identified lower bound story, and the current score of the identified upper bound story is larger than the current score of the identified lower bound story,

assign, by the server, a score to the new story that is lower than the current score of the identified upper bound story but higher than the current score of the identified lower bound story.

25 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 23 , wherein the server is further to,

when there is an identified upper bound story and an identified lower bound story, and a current score of the identified lower bound story is larger than a current score of the identified upper bound story,

assign, by the server, a score to the new story that is larger than the current score of the identified lower bound story.