Method and device for publishing cross-network user behavioral data

• US 20060136528A1
• Filed: 09/14/2005
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gula Consulting Limited Liability Company (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Claria Corporation
• Inventors: Martin, Anthony, Bennett, Dominic V., Petersen, Roger, Goulden, David L., Paczkowski, Remigiusz K.
• Granted Patent: US 7,693,863 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/337 Profile generation, learning or modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/345 Summarisation for human users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols

Abstract

The present invention relates to summarizing cross-network user behavioral data. The summarizing cross-network user behavioral data may particularly include publishing the data to one or more data structures that become accessible to a server hosting an authorized domain when a user accesses the authorized domain.

Claims

1. A method of publishing behavioral data collected by a behavior watching module operating on a user'"'"'s computer, including:

summarizing cross-network user behavior data recorded to memory, the summarizing including, for a multiplicity of subject categories, one or more of

(1) categorizing recency of visiting a web site in at least some of the subject categories,

(2) categorizing user category involvement from user visits to web sites in at least some of the subject categories by rolling up indicators of visits into categorical time segments,

(3) categorizing recency of selections of a banner ad to obtain additional information in the subject category by evaluating a most recent visit time-date indicator, or

(4) categorizing user category involvement from user selections of a banner ad to obtain additional information in at least some of the subject categories by rolling up indicators of visits into categorical time segments; and

publishing the summarized cross-network behavior data from a behavior summarizing module to a memory structure that becomes accessible via a network to a server at an authorized domain when the user accesses the authorized domain.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the categorizing the user category involvement includes rolling up the indicators of visits into non-overlapping categorical time segments of differing lengths.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the categorizing user category involvement includes representing granular time segments with flags to indicate user category involvement during the granular time segment and summarizing a portion of the granular time segments by aggregation into categorical time segments.

4. The method of claim 1, further including prioritizing a multiplicity of subject categories, selecting a plurality of the multiplicity of subject categories, and publishing the summarized cross-network behavior data for the plurality of subject categories to a single memory structure.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the cross-network behavioral data includes visits to a plurality of web sites or selections of banner ads that are not all associated with a particular behavioral data collection network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the cross-network behavioral data includes visits to a plurality of web sites or selections of banner ads that are not all associated with a particular portal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the cross-network behavioral data includes visits to a plurality of web sites or selections of banner ads that are not all associated with a particular virtual storefront.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the cross-network behavioral data includes visits to a plurality of web sites or selections of banner ads that are not all associated with a particular content provider.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the cross-network behavioral data includes behavioral data corresponding to a plurality of visits to web sites or selections of banner ads that are not all associated with a particular behavioral data collection network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein publishing takes place on a periodic basis.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein publishing takes place on an update basis, after one or more web sites have been visited or one or more banner ads have been selected.

12. The method of claim 1, further including receiving at the user'"'"'s computer advertising targeted using the summarized cross-network user behavior data published to the memory structure that became accessible when the user used the network to access the authorized domain.

13. A machine readable memory including instructions to carry out the method of claim 1.

14. A device including one or more servers having logic and resources adapted to practice the method of claim 1.

15. A method of publishing behavioral data from a client computer via a network to an authorized domain using a cookie, including:

observing cross-network user behavior data using a behavior watching module operating on a user'"'"'s computer, wherein the cross-network user behavior includes

accessing web sites that are not all associated with a particular user behavior data collection network,

observing at least one of a mouse click-through, enter keystroke or other selection action, and

deriving at least one keyword from context of the selection action;

for a particular cross-network user behavior, selecting a subject category from a multiplicity of subject categories and deriving a summary metric of the user'"'"'s degree of involvement in the selected subject category; and

publishing the summary metric from the behavior summarizing module to a memory structure.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein data in the memory structure is periodically reported via a network to a server.

17. A method of publishing behavioral data from a client computer via a network to an authorized domain, including:

summarizing observed cross-network user behavior data using a behavior summarizing module operating on a user'"'"'s computer,

wherein the observed cross-network user behavior includes

access to web sites that are not all associated with a particular content provider, and

at least one keyword derived from context of the access;

wherein the summarizing for a particular observed cross-network user behavior includes deriving a summary metric of the user'"'"'s degree of interest in subject categories from a multiplicity of subject categories; and

publishing the summary metric from the behavior summarizing module to a memory structure.

18. The method of claim 17, further including prioritizing the multiplicity of subject categories, selecting a plurality of the multiplicity of subject categories, and publishing the summarized cross-network behavior data for the plurality of subject categories to a single memory structure.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the memory structure is accessible via a network to a server at an authorized domain when the user accesses the authorized domain.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the cross-network behavioral data includes behavioral data corresponding to a plurality of visits to web sites or selections of banner ads that are accessed using more than one browser on the user'"'"'s computer.

21. The method of claim 17, further including receiving at the user'"'"'s computer advertising targeted using the summarized cross-network user behavior data published to the memory structure that became accessible when the user used the network to access the authorized domain.

22. A machine readable memory including instructions to carry out the method of claim 17.

23. A user'"'"'s computer having logic and resources adapted to practice the method of claim 17.