Approach for identifying and providing targeted content to a network client with reduced impact to the service provider
First Claim
1. A system for providing targeted content to a client of a network, comprising:
- a replication device configured to replicate a data stream transmitted between at least one network server and a plurality of clients of the network via a service provider;
a server system configured to;
(i) receive the replicated data stream from the replication device;
(ii) for each of the plurality of clients, identify a portion of the replicated data stream attributable to the client and update a profile of the client based on information derived from the identified portion of the replicated data stream; and
(iii) store a plurality of channels, wherein each channel includes associated triggering criteria and further indicates content;
a channel selection engine configured to receive a request from the data stream for the content to be delivered to a select client of the plurality of clients, and select a channel by comparing the updated profile of the select client to the triggering criteria of each of the plurality of channels; and
a forwarding module configured to forward a request for the content indicated by the selected channel to a content provider, wherein the content provider is configured to provide the content requested by the forwarding module to the select client.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A client network is provided, whereby an internet service provider can anonymously acquire behavioral, contextual, and/or demographic information on a client specific basis. The behavioral information may include a historical digest of network activity by the client, such as webpages visited by the client user, content downloaded to the client device, and/or information requested by the client user. The contextual information may include a representation of the current state of the client, such as the most recent webpages loaded by the client browser as well as the content associated with these webpages. As one example, the anonymously acquired client information may be used to enable the delivery of customized content to the client, such as targeted advertising.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A system for providing targeted content to a client of a network, comprising:
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a replication device configured to replicate a data stream transmitted between at least one network server and a plurality of clients of the network via a service provider; a server system configured to; (i) receive the replicated data stream from the replication device; (ii) for each of the plurality of clients, identify a portion of the replicated data stream attributable to the client and update a profile of the client based on information derived from the identified portion of the replicated data stream; and (iii) store a plurality of channels, wherein each channel includes associated triggering criteria and further indicates content; a channel selection engine configured to receive a request from the data stream for the content to be delivered to a select client of the plurality of clients, and select a channel by comparing the updated profile of the select client to the triggering criteria of each of the plurality of channels; and a forwarding module configured to forward a request for the content indicated by the selected channel to a content provider, wherein the content provider is configured to provide the content requested by the forwarding module to the select client. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of selecting targeted content for delivery to a client of a wide area computer network, the method comprising:
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replicating a data stream transmitted between a network server and a plurality of network clients; attributing a portion of the replicated data stream to a particular client of the plurality of clients; storing information derived from the portion of the replicated data stream in a client profile; receiving a content request from the particular client, retrieving the client profile based on a comparison of the content request received at the server system and a replicated content request provided to the server system via the network tap; selecting content to be delivered to the particular client from a group of content based on the client profile; and forwarding a request for the selected content to a content provider, wherein the content provider is configured to provide the selected content to the particular client indicated by the second unique identifier. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17)
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18. A method, comprising:
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at a switching device, intercepting a data stream directed to a network server from a network client and redirecting a first hypertext transfer protocol portion of the data stream to a server system; and returning a unique identification tag to the network client from the server system via the switching device, wherein the unique identification tag is configured to include a unique identifier with a hypertext transfer protocol data stream subsequently transmitted by the client; at the switching device, intercepting the data stream directed to the network server from the client and replicating a second hypertext transfer protocol portion of the data stream including the unique identifier, and passing the data stream to the network server; at the server system, receiving the replicated data and the unique identifier from the switching device, and storing information derived from the replicated data with the unique identifier in memory; selecting an advertisement from a plurality of advertisements based on the derivative information stored in memory for the unique identifier responsive to an advertisement request received from the network client; and providing the selected advertisement to the network client indicated by the unique identifier. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A system implemented at a service provider for acquiring client activity on a wide area network, comprising:
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a switching device configured to intercept a data stream directed to a network server from a network client and redirect a first hypertext transfer protocol portion of the data stream; and a server system configured to receive the redirected first hypertext transfer protocol portion of the data stream and return a unique identification tag to the network client via the switching device, wherein the unique identification tag upon reception by the client is configured to transmit a unique identifier with subsequent hypertext transfer protocol data provided by the client; wherein the switching device is further configured to replicate a second hypertext transfer protocol portion of the data stream including the transmitted unique identifier, and pass the data stream to the network server, and wherein the server is further configured to store information derived from the replicated data with the unique identifier.
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Specification