System and method for selecting geographic regions for presentation of content based on characteristics of online system users in different geographic regions

• US 10,402,836 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2017
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kukade, Anusaya, Kemp, Patrick James, Shah, Nikhil Tarun
• Primary Examiner(s): Jarrett, Scott L
• Application Number:
  US15/421,391
• Publication Number:
  US 20180218378A1
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/64 using geofenced areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

An online system selects different geographic regions to evaluate content presented by the online system. The online system pairs a geographic region with another geographic region based on similarity of the geographic regions. To assist this pairing, the online system identifies users associated with locations within a threshold distance of different geographic regions and retrieves demographic and other characteristics of users associated with locations within the threshold distance of one or more geographic regions. Based on the retrieved characteristics and characteristics of the geographic regions, the online system generates vectors for different geographic regions. For each possible pairing of geographic regions, the online system computes a distance value and selects a pairing of geographic regions based on the distance values. For example, the online system selects a pair of geographic regions associated with a minimum distance value.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

maintaining, at an online system, information describing characteristics of various users of the online system;

determining locations associated with each of at least a set of the users of the online system;

identifying a plurality of geographic regions by the online system;

for each of the plurality of geographic regions, determining sets of users associated with locations within a threshold distance of the geographic region of the plurality of geographic regions;

retrieving characteristics of users in each set of users from the maintained information;

obtaining characteristics of each of the plurality of geographic regions;

generating vectors for each of the plurality of geographic regions, a vector for the geographic region based on characteristics of users in a set of users associated with the geographic region and obtained characteristics of the geographic region;

determining distance values between each of the vectors;

selecting a pairing of the geographic region and an additional geographic region based on the determined distance values;

presenting a content item to users associated with locations within an additional threshold distance of the geographic region of the selected pairing; and

withholding presentation of the content item to users associated with locations within the additional threshold distance of the additional geographic region of the selected pairing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the pairing of the geographic region and the additional geographic region based on the determined distance values comprises:

identifying a specific vector and the additional vector separated by a minimum distance value; and

selecting a geographic region corresponding to the specific vector and a geographic region corresponding to the additional vector as the pairing of the geographic region and the additional geographic region.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating vectors for each of the plurality of geographic regions comprises:

associating weights with one or more of the characteristics of users in the set of users associated with the geographic region; and

generating the vector for the geographic region based on application of the weights to the associated characteristics of users in the set of users associated with the geographic region.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating vectors for each of the plurality of geographic regions further comprises:

associating additional weights with one or more of the characteristics of the geographic region; and

generating the vector for the geographic region based on application of the additional weights to the associated characteristics the geographic region.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the geographic regions corresponds to a store.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein characteristics of the geographic region are selected from a group consisting of:

a number of sales of a product, an amount of revenue received within a time interval, an amount of revenue received from sales of the product, and any combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the threshold distance of the geographic region is specified by a user associated with the stores corresponding to the geographic regions.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the threshold distance of the geographic region is determined by the online system.

9. A method comprising:

maintaining, at an online system, information describing characteristics of various users of the online system;

determining locations associated with each of at least a set of the users of the online system;

identifying a plurality of geographic regions by the online system;

for each of the plurality of geographic regions, determining sets of users associated with locations within a threshold distance of the geographic region of the plurality of geographic regions;

retrieving characteristics of users in each set of users from the maintained information;

obtaining characteristics of each of the plurality of geographic regions;

generating vectors for each of the plurality of geographic regions, a vector for the geographic region based on characteristics of users in a set of users associated with the geographic region and obtained characteristics of the geographic region;

determining similarities between each of the vectors; and

selecting a pairing of the geographic region and an additional geographic region based on the determined similarities.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a similarity between vectors comprises a cosine similarity between the vectors.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein selecting the pairing of the geographic region and the additional geographic region based on the determined similarities comprises:

selecting a specific vector and another vector having a maximum cosine similarity to each other; and

selecting a geographic region corresponding to the specific vector and a geographic region corresponding to the other vector as the pairing.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein a similarity between vectors comprises a distance value between the vectors.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting the pairing of the geographic region and the additional geographic region based on the determined distance values comprises:

identifying a specific vector and the additional vector separated by a minimum distance value; and

selecting a geographic region corresponding to the specific vector and a geographic region corresponding to the additional vector as the pairing of the geographic region and the additional geographic region.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein generating vectors for each of the plurality of geographic regions comprises:

associating weights with one or more of the characteristics of users in the set of users associated with the geographic region; and

generating the vector for the geographic region based on application of the weights to the associated characteristics of users in the set of users associated with the geographic region.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein generating vectors for each of the plurality of geographic regions further comprises:

associating additional weights with one or more of the characteristics of the geographic region; and

generating the vector for the geographic region based on application of the additional weights to the associated characteristics the geographic region.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the geographic regions corresponds to a retail location.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein characteristics of the geographic region are selected from a group consisting of:

a number of sales of a product, an amount of revenue received within a time interval, an amount of revenue received from sales of the product, and any combination thereof.

18. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

presenting a content item to users associated with locations within an additional threshold distance of the geographic region of the selected pairing; and

withholding presentation of the content item to users associated with locations within the additional threshold distance of the additional geographic region of the selected pairing.

19. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

maintain, at an online system, information describing characteristics of various users of the online system;

determine locations associated with each of at least a set of the users of the online system;

identify a plurality of geographic regions by the online system;

for each of the plurality of geographic regions, determine sets of users associated with locations within a threshold distance of the geographic region of the plurality of geographic regions;

retrieve characteristics of users in each set of users from the maintained information;

obtain characteristics of each of the plurality of geographic regions;

generate vectors for each of the plurality of geographic regions, a vector for the geographic region based on characteristics of users in a set of users associated with the geographic region and obtained characteristics of the geographic region;

determine similarities between each of the vectors; and

select a pairing of the geographic region and an additional geographic region based on the determined similarities.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer readable storage medium further has instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

present a content item to users associated with locations within an additional threshold distance of the geographic region of the selected pairing; and

withhold presentation of the content item to users associated with locations within the additional threshold distance of the additional geographic region of the selected pairing.