User-targeted advertising

• US 10,198,744 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Datar, Mayur, Miller, Jason C., Hochberg, Michael, Rabii, Bahman, Nance, Megan, Tung, Julie, Harmsen, Jeremiah, Tunguz-Zawislak, Tomasz J., Perez-Bergquist, Andres S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomas, Ashish
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ohba, Mellissa M.
• Application Number:
  US13/617,912
• Publication Number:
  US 20130013646A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,335 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements

Abstract

Structured data sets including one or more attributes are identified, each structured data set associated with, for example, a particular user. Values corresponding the at least one of the one or more attributes in each structured data set are identified. A condition established by a content provider, for instance, an advertiser, is compared to the identified values to determine if the condition is satisfied. When the condition is satisfied, one or more content items are identified to the users associated with the structured data sets containing identified values satisfying the condition.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more processing devices, comprising:

identifying users, each user being associated with user profile data specifying one or more characteristics of the user;

for each user,

extracting, from the user profile data, the one or more characteristics of the user; and

generating a structured data set representing the one or more characteristics of the user;

for each of a plurality of structured data sets, tagging the structured data set with a tag specifying, for each of the one or more characteristics of that structured data set, whether that characteristic satisfies one or more conditions, with a condition specifying a particular characteristic of a structured data set;

wherein each structured data set represents a different user associated with the user profile data;

storing, in a data storage, the plurality of the structured data sets tagged with respective tags;

following the tagging, receiving data specifying at least one of the one or more conditions as being a condition of a content provider;

searching the respective tags of the plurality of structured data sets stored in the data storage to determine one or more structured data sets, of the plurality of structured data sets, that are each associated with a tag specifying a condition that corresponds to the condition of the content provider, the one or more structured data sets representing a first set of users;

following determination of the one or more structured data sets representing the first set of users, identifying one or more content items for presentation to the first set of users;

determining a first expected performance of the one or more content items if the one or more content items are presented to the first set of users, the first expected performance being associated with a first period of time and being based on the first set of users and characteristics currently associated with the first set of users;

determining a second expected performance of the one or more content items if the one or more content items are presented to the first set of users, the second expected performance being associated with a second period of time, different from the first period of time, and being based on the first set of users and the characteristics currently associated with the first set of users; and

presenting the first expected performance and the second expected performance to the content provider;

wherein a particular structured data set representing one or more particular characteristics of a particular user comprises one or more attribute-value pairs, and wherein a particular tag specifies whether one or more values of the one or more attribute-value pairs satisfies one or more conditions of that particular structured data set.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a revised condition from the content provider.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising comparing the revised condition to one or more tags.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining a second set of the users having one or more updated characteristics that satisfy the revised condition.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the one or more content items to the users in the first set of users after presenting the first expected performance and the second expected performance to the content provider.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising identifying a click through rate associated with the one or more content items.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a characteristic is selected from a group of characteristics comprising age, gender, number of friends, interests, zip code, and length of time since previous login.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the condition from the content provider, where the condition identifies one or more required particular characteristics.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising comparing the one or more required particular characteristics with one or more updated characteristics of one or more structured data sets.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one characteristic is identified as public.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one characteristic is identified as private.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining to display the at least one characteristic identified as public to the content provider and determining not to display the at least one characteristic identified as private to the content provider.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first expected performance is for a first time of day and the second expected performance is for a second time of day different from the first time of day.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first expected performance is for a first day of a week and the second expected performance is for a second day of the week different from the first day of the week.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a first expected performance and determining a second expected performance are performed in substantially real time.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the first period of time preceded a current time and the second period of time is subsequent to the current time.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting a change of one or more characteristics for one or more of the plurality of structured data sets, and updating the tags for the respective one or more of the plurality of structured data sets.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first expected performance and the second expected performance are presented to the content provider for performing tasks comprising one or more of modifying the condition or modifying the one or more content items for presentation to the first set of users.

19. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices storing instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

identifying users, each user being associated with user profile data specifying one or more characteristics of the user;

for each user,

extracting, from the user profile data, the one or more characteristics of the user; and

generating a structured data set representing the one or more characteristics of the user;

for each of a plurality of structured data sets, tagging the structured data set with a tag specifying, for each of the one or more characteristics of that structured data set, whether that characteristic satisfies one or more conditions, with a condition specifying a particular characteristic of a structured data set;

wherein each structured data set represents a different user associated with the user profile data;

storing, in a data storage, the plurality of the structured data sets tagged with respective tags;

following the tagging, receiving data specifying at least one of the one or more conditions as being a condition of a content provider;

searching the respective tags of the plurality of structured data sets stored in the data storage to determine one or more structured data sets, of the plurality of structured data sets, that are each associated with a tag specifying a condition that corresponds to the condition of the content provider, the one or more structured data sets representing a first set of users;

following determination of the one or more structured data sets representing the first set of users, identifying one or more content items for presentation to the first set of users;

determining a first expected performance of the one or more content items if the one or more content items are presented to the first set of users, the first expected performance being associated with a first period of time and being based on the first set of users and characteristics currently associated with the first set of users;

determining a second expected performance of the one or more content items if the one or more content items are presented to the first set of users, the second expected performance being associated with a second period of time, different from the first period of time, and being based on the first set of users and the characteristics currently associated with the first set of users; and

presenting the first expected performance and the second expected performance to the content provider;

wherein a particular structured data set representing one or more particular characteristics of a particular user comprises one or more attribute-value pairs, and wherein a particular tag specifies whether one or more values of the one or more attribute-value pairs satisfies one or more conditions of that particular structured data set.

20. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of claim 19, the operations further comprising:

receiving a revised condition from the content provider.

21. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of claim 20, the operations further comprising:

comparing the revised condition to one or more tags.

22. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of claim 21, the operations further comprising:

determining a second set of the users having one or more updated characteristics that satisfy the revised condition.

23. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of claim 19, the operations further comprising:

displaying the one or more content items to the users in the first set of users after presenting the first expected performance and the second expected performance to the content provider.

24. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of claim 23, the operations further comprising:

identifying a click through rate associated with the one or more content items.

25. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of claim 19, wherein the first expected performance is for a first time of day and the second expected performance is for a second time of day different from the first time of day.

26. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices of claim 19, wherein the first expected performance is for a first day of a week and the second expected performance is for a second day of the week different from the first day of the week.