System and method for web-based personalization and ecommerce management

• US 20030217332A1
• Filed: 04/15/2002
• Published: 11/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Smith, Greg, Bergman, Robert, Olander, Daryl B., Cook, Thomas A., Stamm, Tom
• Granted Patent: US 7,499,948 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/513
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

The invention utilizes a personalization system that uses rules to adjudicate and characterize a customer, or a customer'"'"'s actions, and then to personalize a business function, such as a displayed page, based on the outcome of those rules. In one embodiment the invention provides a system for web-based personalization, that allows for personalizing the content or business functioning of a web-based application to reflect the characteristics of a particular user of said web-based application, said system comprising: a user profiler, for determining a snapshot of a particular user of a web-based application; a rules editor for inputting a set of rules governing the business functioning of said web-based application; a rules engine, that accepts input from said rules editor and said snapshot of said particular user, and uses said set of rules to make decisions about said particular user and the business functioning of said web-based application; and, a personalization process or that uses the output of said rules engine to determine the content or business functioning of said web-based application as it applies to said particular user.

Claims

1. A system for web-based personalization, that allows for personalization of the content or functionality of a web-based application or web site, comprising:

a server, configured to allow a user to access a web site or web application;

an event listener, for receiving notification of events and associating those events with a user profile, to create a snapshot of the user; and

,

a rules engine, configured to use rules, and the snapshot of the user, to determine the content or functioning of the web-based application or web site.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a rules editor for inputting a set of rules governing the business functioning of said web-based application.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a rules repository for storing said rules.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein said rules are stored as XML documents within the rules repository.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said rules may be updated and applied to the rules engine in real-time to effect real-time changes to the functionality or content of the web site or web application.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein a subset of said rules can be used to define a scenario of events to be understood by the rules engine.

7. A system for web-based personalization, that allows for personalization of the content or business functioning of a web-based application to reflect the characteristics and interactions of a user of the web-based application, wherein the user has an associated user profile, said system comprising:

a rules editor for inputting a set of rules governing the business functioning of said web-based application;

an event listener, for receiving notification of web-based events and associating the events with the profile of a user, to create a snapshot of the user at a point in time or operation of the application;

a rules engine, that accepts input from the rules editor, and uses the snapshot of the user, and the rules, to make decisions about the user and the business functioning of said web-based application; and

,

an application personalization processor that uses the output of the rules engine to determine the content or business functioning of the web-based application for that user at that point in time or operation of the application.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising a rules repository for storing said rules.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein said rules are stored as XML documents within the rules repository.

10. The system of claim 7 wherein said rules may be updated and applied to the rules engine in real-time to effect real-time changes to the functionality or content of the web site or web application.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein a subset of said rules can be used to define a scenario of events to be understood by the rules engine.

12. A method for customizing the content or functionality of a web site or web application, comprising:

allowing a user or an automated process to access or use a web site or web application;

receiving notification of web-based events and associating the events with the profile of a user, to create a snapshot of the user at a point in time or operation of the application;

using the snapshot of the user, and a set of rules, to make decisions about the user; and

,

using a rules engine to determine an action to be taken by the web site or web application for that user.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

inputting, via a rules editor, a set of rules governing the business functioning or content providing of said web-based application;

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the rules are stored, and can be edited or updated, as XML documents within a rules repository.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the rules determine actions to be undertaken by the web-based application, and wherein the web-based application is hosted on or at a personalization server.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the rules may be updated in real-time to effect changes to the personalization server.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein a set of said rules can be grouped together and used to determine a scenario of events to be understood by the web-based application.