Collection and use of fine-grained user behavior data

• US 10,134,044 B1
• Filed: 05/26/2009
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Inventors: Shoemaker, Austin, Bhumkar, Soujanya, Rathnam, Aditya, Zwiegincew, Arthur
• Primary Examiner(s): Munson, Patricia H
• Application Number:
  US12/472,270
• Time in Patent Office: 3,465 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics

Abstract

A user behavior monitoring module logs the operation of an image browser and sends the logged information to a personalization system. The personalization system includes a monitoring management module, a client statistics data store, a recommender system, and a content refinement module. The monitoring management module receives the logged information sent by the user behavior monitoring module and stores it in the client statistics data store. The recommender system determines user preferences based on the information stored in the client statistics data store. The content refinement module refines a set of content items based on the user preferences determined by the recommender system. The set is refined so that the resulting content items (and their ordering) are more relevant to the user operating the image browser. The refined set of content items is displayed to the user by the image browser.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

executing, in a web browser executed by a processor, an image browser, the image browser configured to display one or more content items;

pre-fetching, by the image browser, the one or more content items, each of the content items associated with a uniform type identifier (UTI) and a role of either content or advertisement, the pre-fetching comprising retrieving one or more uniform resource identifiers (URIs) of the one or more content items from a web server;

displaying, by the image browser, the one or more content items based on the one or more URIs;

reading, by a user behavior monitoring module executed by the processor, a configuration file, the configuration file including at least one transmission trigger and sampling settings, the sampling settings defining a percentage of events to log;

generating, by the user behavior monitoring module based on the sample settings, a log of events representing interactions with the image browser by;

detecting, by the user behavior monitoring module, that a current event associated with a displayed content item has occurred, the current event being associated with a type and a timestamp,

identifying, by the user behavior monitoring module, at least one historical event associated with a second content item, the historical event having the same type as the current event and the second content item having the same role and UTI as the content item, and

generating, by the user behavior monitoring module, an aggregated event, the aggregated event including the type of the event, the UTI, the role, and a number representing how many events are in the aggregated event;

generating, by the user behavior monitoring module, a client statistics report including at least a portion of the log in response to determining that a transmission trigger has occurred; and

transmitting, by the user behavior monitoring module over a network, the client statistics report to a remote personalization system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the type comprises displaying a content item in thumbnail mode, displaying a content item in intermediate mode, or displaying a content item in full-screen mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a content item is further associated with a uniform resource identifier (URI) that points to the content item.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a content item is further associated with a uniform resource identifier (URI) that points to the image representing the content item.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the type comprises downloading a content item, bookmarking a content item, or broadcasting a content item.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein the type comprises sending a message referencing a content item.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein the type comprises playing a video.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether a trigger associated with one or more events occurs; and

responsive to determining the trigger occurs, determining preferences for content items based on the stored events.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the trigger comprises a trigger selected from a trigger type consisting of:

a number of stored events reaching a first threshold, a number of stored events having a specified type reaching a second threshold, expiration of a time interval, or completion of a session operating the image browser.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer code for execution by a processor, the computer code causing the processor to perform steps comprising:

executing, in a web browser executed by the processor, an image browser, the image browser configured to display one or more content items;

pre-fetching, by the image browser, the one or more content items, each of the one or more content items associated with a uniform type identifier (UTI) and a role of either content or advertisement, the pre-fetching comprising retrieving one or more uniform resource identifiers (URIs) of the one or more content items from a web server;

displaying, by the image browser, the one or more content items based on the one or more URIs;

reading, by a user behavior monitoring module executed by the processor, a configuration file, the configuration file including at least one transmission trigger and sampling settings, the sampling settings defining a percentage of events to log;

generating, by the user behavior monitoring module based on the sample settings, a log of events representing interactions with the image browser by;

detecting, by the user behavior monitoring module, that a current event associated with a displayed content item has occurred, the current event being associated with a type and a timestamp,

identifying, by the user behavior monitoring module, at least one historical event associated with a second content item, the historical event having the same type as the current event and the second content item having the same role and UTI as the content item, and

generating, by the user behavior monitoring module, an aggregated event, the aggregated event including the type of the event, the UTI, the role, and a number representing how many events are in the aggregated event;

generating, by the user behavior monitoring module, a client statistics report including at least a portion of the log in response to determining that a transmission trigger has occurred; and

transmitting, by the user behavior monitoring module over a network, the client statistics report to a remote personalization system.

9. The medium of claim 8, wherein the type comprises displaying a content item in thumbnail mode, displaying a content item in intermediate mode, or displaying a content item in full-screen mode.

10. The medium of claim 8, wherein the type comprises downloading a content item, bookmarking a content item, or broadcasting a content item.

11. A system comprising:

a processor;

a storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the stored program logic comprising;

image browser execution logic executed in a web browser executed by the processor for executing an image browser, the image browser configured to display one or more content items;

pre-fetch logic executed by the image browser for pre-fetching, by the image browser, the one or more content items, each of the one or more content items associated with a uniform type identifier (UTI) and a role of either content or advertisement, the pre-fetching comprising retrieving one or more uniform resource identifiers (URIs) of the one or more content items from a web server;

display logic, executed by the image browser, for displaying the one or more content items based on the one or more URIs;

reading logic executed by a user behavior monitoring module executed by the processor for reading a configuration file, the configuration file including at least one transmission trigger and sampling settings, the sampling settings defining a percentage of events to log;

first generating logic executed by the user behavior monitoring module for generating, based on the sample settings, a log of events representing interactions with the image browser, the first generating logic comprising;

detecting logic executed by the user behavior monitoring module for detecting that a current event associated with a displayed content item has occurred, the current event being associated with a type and a timestamp,

identifying logic executed by the user behavior monitoring module for identifying at least one historical event associated with a second content item, the historical event having the same type as the current event and the second content item having the same role and UTI as the content item, and

second generation logic executed by the user behavior monitoring module for generating an aggregated event, the aggregated event including the type of the event, the UTI, the role, and a number representing how many events are in the aggregated event;

third generating logic executed by the user behavior monitoring module for generating a client statistics report including at least a portion of the log in response to determining that a transmission trigger has occurred; and

transmitting logic executed by the user behavior monitoring module for transmitting, over a network, the client statistics report to a remote personalization system.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the type comprises displaying a content item in thumbnail mode, displaying a content item in intermediate mode, or displaying a content item in full-screen mode.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the type comprises downloading a content item, bookmarking a content item, or broadcasting a content item.