DATA SOURCE ATTRIBUTION SYSTEM

• US 20100088313A1
• Filed: 09/04/2009
• Published: 04/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LiveRamp, Inc. (LiveRamp Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rapleaf, Inc. (TowerData, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shah, Manish, Lizt, Jeremy, Sodera, Vivek, Hoffman, Auren
• Granted Patent: US 9,064,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A data attribution system uses a unique identifier (UID) that uniquely identifies a particular individual. A search is conducted of different data sources and, different types of profile information associated with the UID is extracted from the data sources. The different types of profile information associated with the same UID is aggregated together and displayed in a same screen presentation on a user interface.

Claims

1. A method for providing data attribution, comprising:

obtaining a unique identifier (UID) that uniquely identifies a particular individual;

conducting a search of different data sources and extracting different types of profile information associated with the UID;

aggregating together the different types of profile information extracted from the different data sources associated with the UID; and

displaying, in a same screen presentation on a user interface, the different types of profile information aggregated together from the different data sources.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising identifying, in the same screen presentation, identities of the different data sources where the different types of profile information are obtained.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the identities of the different data sources include both private and public data sources.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the different types of profile information include age, gender, location, occupation, interests, educational background, or email address of the particular individual associated with the UID.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the user can update data sources directly through the user interface.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein at least one of the data sources is a third party data source.

7. The method according to claim 1 farther comprising:

storing the different types of profile information aggregated together in a database;

periodically and automatically conducting new searches in the different data sources and automatically identifying any new or updated profile information associated with the UID not currently stored in the database; and

automatically updating the aggregated profile information stored in the database with the new or updated profile information.

8. The method according to claim 7 further allowing the user to update within the database information that is incorrect.

9. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

using an Internet electronic mail (Email) address for the person as the UID;

searching personal user profiles on different online social websites, community sites, forums, and message boards for the profile information associated with the Email address;

obtaining at least some of the profile information from the personal user profiles on the social websites associated with the Email address; and

aggregating the profile information obtained from the personal user profiles together with other profile information in the database associated with the same UID.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the particular individual associated with the UID is prevented from controlling which of the different data sources are used for extracting the different types of profile information.

11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the particular individual associated with the UID can selectively control which types of profile information are displayed on the user interface and which of the different data sources are used in extracting the different types of profile information.

12. A method for accumulating and displaying profile information, comprising:

conducting a search of different websites for different types of profile information associated with a particular person;

extracting any of the different types of profile information associated with the particular person identified on the different websites;

aggregating together the different types of profile information associated with the identified person;

displaying the different types of profile information extracted from the different websites together from a same website on a series of one or more web pages; and

identifying in the one or more web pages which of the different websites provided which of the different types of profile information.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

displaying on the same web pages when the particular person last actively accessed the different websites that supplied the different types of profile information displayed on the web pages.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

identifying on the same web pages how long the particular person has been a member of the different websites that supplied the different types of profile information displayed on the web pages.

15. The method according to claim 12 further comprising:

obtaining a same type of profile information from multiple different websites;

identifying reliability factors for the different websites; and

prioritizing which of the same type of profile information is displayed on the web pages according the reliability factors identified for the different websites.

16. The method according to claim 15 further comprising assigning the reliability factors to the different websites according to how long the particular person has been a member of the different websites or according to when the particular person last accessed the different websites.

17. The method according to claim 15 further comprising assigning the reliability factors to the different websites according to a classification of the websites'"'"' overall content and reliability.

18. The method according to claim 15 further comprising selectively preventing displaying selectable different types of the profile information or identities of selectable different websites that supplied the different types of profile information.

19. A website including one or more processors, comprising:

an administration module configured to identify unique identifiers;

a backend data indexer module configured to search for and extract different types of profile information associated with the unique identifiers from different data sources;

a database system configured to accumulate and index the different types of profile information extracted from the different data sources; and

a user interface module configured to display together part or all of the different types of accumulated profile information obtained from the different data sources.

20. The website of claim 19 wherein:

the indexer module is configured to include source identifiers with the different types of information extracted that identify which of the different data sources provided the different types of information; and

the user interface module is configured to display the source identifiers together with the different types of accumulated information on the user interface.

21. The apparatus according to claim 19 wherein at least some of the different data sources are contained on different social websites and the indexer module is configured to automatically search the multiple different social websites to extract at least some of the different types of profile information from personal profile data contained on the social websites.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21 wherein the indexer module is configured to extract at least some of the different types of profile information from particular individuals associated with the unique identifiers.

23. The apparatus according to claim 19 wherein the administration module is configured to identify users who have accessed the different types of profile information associated with the unique identifiers and display the users on the user interface.