Transferring behavioral profiles anonymously across domains for behavioral targeting

• US 20080147480A1
• Filed: 12/19/2006
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Wu, Sarma, Joydeep Sen
• Granted Patent: US 8,660,899 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for transferring a behavior profile anonymously across multiple domains. The behavior profile may be established from a first domain, but transferred anonymously such that it is accessible by other domains. The behavior profile may be used for generating targeted advertisements.

Claims

1. A system for transferring a behavior profile comprising:

an advertisement server;

a first webserver coupled with the advertisement server and including instructions configured to anonymously transfer a behavior profile to the advertisement server, wherein the instructions provide for the transfer of the behavior profile to the advertisement server; and

a second webserver coupled with the advertisement server and configured to receive the behavior profile from the advertisement server, wherein the behavior profile is used to select targeted advertisements for displaying web pages associated with the second webserver.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a database coupled with the advertisement server and configured to store behavior profile.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a user device configured to communicate with the first webserver and the second webserver, wherein the targeted advertisements and the displayed web pages are displayed on the user device.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the behavior profile is stored as a cookie on the user device.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the user device requests a web page from the first webserver.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the behavior profile includes browsing habits within the web page from the first webserver.

7. The system of claim 3 wherein the user device requests and displays the web pages associated with the second webserver from the second webserver.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the targeted advertisements are based on the behavior profile and displayed in the web pages associated with the second webserver.

9. A method for transferring a behavioral profile comprising:

receiving a request from a user for access to a web page;

storing a behavioral profile as a cookie on a user device based at least in part on the user'"'"'s interaction with the web page;

providing beacon instructions associated with the web page for transferring the behavioral profile;

transferring the behavioral profile to a beacon server based on the beacon instructions; and

providing the behavioral profile to other web pages upon request to the beacon server.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the other web pages are associated with the beacon server.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the behavior profile is stored in a database coupled with the beacon server and accessible by the first webserver and the second webserver.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the web page is associated with a first webserver and the other web pages are associated with a second webserver.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the behavioral profile is provided to the second webserver upon request of one of the other web pages.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the other web pages include advertisements.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the advertisement is added to the other web pages before display to a user, wherein the advertisement is targeted to the user based on the behavior profile.

16. In a computer readable storage medium having stored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmed processor for transferring a behavior profile, the storage medium comprising instructions for:

providing instructions associated with a first webserver;

receiving a behavior profile from the first webserver based on the instructions upon a request for data from the first webserver, wherein the behavior profile is established based on browsing habits of a user with the data from the first webserver;

storing the behavior profile; and

transferring the behavior profile to a second webserver upon a request for data from the second webserver.

17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein the behavior profile is stored as a cookie.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein the behavior profile is stored in a database accessible by the first webserver and the second webserver.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein the step of receiving a behavior profile occurs at an advertisement server that stores the behavior profile.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19 wherein the step of transferring is from the advertisement server to the second webserver.

21. (canceled)

22. (canceled)

23. A method for selecting a targeted advertisement comprising:

receiving a behavioral profile from a first webserver upon a request for a web page from the first webserver, wherein the behavioral profile includes data on habits of a user;

storing the behavioral profile;

providing access to the behavioral profile for a second webserver; and

selecting the targeted advertisement to be displayed on a web page from the second webserver based on the transferred behavioral profile.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the step of storing comprises storing the behavioral profile in a cookie accessible by a second webserver.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the cookie is stored on the user device and accessible by the second webserver.

27. The method of claim 23 wherein the behavioral profile and data on habits of a user comprises a browsing history on a plurality of web pages.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein targeted advertisement is related to the browsing history of the user.

24. (canceled)