SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED SERVICE RECOMMENDATIONS

• US 20100161600A1
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Davis, Marc Eliot, Higgins, Christopher William
• Granted Patent: US 8,166,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A system and method for automated service recommendations. A request is received over a network, from a user for service recommendations, wherein the request comprises an identification of the user and at least one service selection criteria. A query is formulated so as to search, via the network, for user profile data, spatial data, temporal data, social data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the requesting user, the service selection criteria and to a plurality of services available via the network so as to a identify a subset of the plurality of services available via the network that relate to the request. A list of the identified subset of services is transmitted, via the network, to the requesting user. A selection of at least one of the selected subset of services available received from the user and the user is enrolled in the selected service.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request, over a network, from a user for service recommendations, wherein the request comprises an identification of the user and at least one service selection criteria;

formulating a query so as to search, via the network, for user profile data, spatial data, temporal data, social data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the requesting user, the service selection criteria and to a plurality of services available via the network so as to a identify a subset of the plurality of services available via the network that relate to the request;

transmitting a list of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network that relate to the request to the user;

receiving a selection of at least one of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network;

enrolling the user in the service corresponding to the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein if no service selection criteria are provided, the formulating step uses default service selection criteria.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one service selection criteria comprises spatial, temporal, social and topical criteria.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one service selection criteria are related to one another using standard relational or set operators.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one service selection criteria are stated as a natural language query

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the data relating to a plurality of services available via the network comprise at least one service profile of at least one of the plurality of services.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the data relating to a plurality of services available via the network comprise at least one service profile of at least one of the plurality of services.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the data relating to a plurality of services available via the network comprise at least one target user profile of at least one of the plurality of services.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the data relating to a plurality of services available via the network comprise at least one predictive model relating to at least one of the plurality of services.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the enrolling step comprises prompting the user via a user interface for data required for enrollment in the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the enrolling step comprises formulating a search, via the network, for user profile data, spatial data, temporal data, social data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the user and to the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network so as to retrieve data required for enrollment in the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein if the query in the enrolling step returns all data required for enrollment in the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services, the user is not prompted for any additional information.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein if the query in the enrolling step returns data required for enrollment in the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services that is sensitive user data, the user is prompted to give permission to the enrolling step to retrieve the sensitive user data.

14. The method of claim 1 comprising the additional step of:

receiving an authorization, via the network, from the user to automatically enroll the user in all of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network that relate to the request, wherein the transmitting and receiving a selection steps are bypassed and the enrolling step enrolls the user in all of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the user is enrolled in the each of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network for a trial period.

31. The system of claim 1 wherein the permissions manager is configured to enable users to authorize personal recommender agents to automatically enroll users in all of the subset of a plurality of services available via the network selected in relation to requests for service recommendations.

16. A system comprising:

an agent manager that certifies agent types, stores agent definitions and spawns agents in response to commands to create agents;

a permissions manager that enables users to define permissions granted to agents acting on their behalf and to define user data which is not to be disclosed without authorization;

a proxy manager that verifies that agents have legally sufficient authorization to act as proxies for users, wherein agents spawned by the agent manager register with the proxy manager and are not allowed to execute agent functions until the agents are verified;

a user manager that receives requests for service recommendations from users, wherein the requests each comprise an identification of a user and at least one service selection, wherein for each request, the user manager is configured to command the agent manager to spawn personal recommender agent that identifies a subset of a plurality of services available via the network that relate to the request.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein each personal recommender agent is configured to formulate a query so as to search, via the network, for user profile data, spatial data, temporal data, social data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the requesting user, the service selection criteria and to a plurality of services available via the network so as to identify the subset of the plurality of services available via the network that relate to the request.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the user manager is further configured to transmit lists reflecting the identified subsets of the plurality of services available via the network that relate to requests to requesting users, and wherein the user manager is further configured to receive selections of services from the subsets of the plurality of services available via the network from users.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein for each selected service, the user manager is configured to command the agent manager to spawn an enrollment agent to enroll the requesting user in the selected service.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein if no service selection criteria are provided in a request for service recommendations, the personal recommender agent spawned in response to the request uses default selection criteria.

21. The system of claim 17 wherein the at least one service selection criteria comprises spatial, temporal, social and topical criteria.

22. The system of claim 17 wherein the at least one service selection criteria are related to one another using standard relational or set operators.

23. The system of claim 17 wherein the at least one service selection criteria are stated as a natural language query

24. The system of claim 17 wherein the data relating to a plurality of services available via the network comprise at least one service profile of at least one of the plurality of services.

25. The system of claim 17 wherein the data relating to a plurality of services available via the network comprise at least one composite profile of typical users of at least one of the plurality of services.

26. The system of claim 17 wherein the data relating to a plurality of services available via the network comprise at least one predictive model relating to at least one of the plurality of services.

27. The system of claim 19 wherein enrollment agents are configured to prompt users via a user interface for data required for enrollment in the selected services.

28. The system of claim 19 wherein enrollment agents are configured to formulate a query a to search, via the network, for user profile data, spatial data, temporal data, social data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the users and selected services so as to retrieve data required for enrollment in the selected service.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein if the query formulated by the enrollment agent returns all data required for enrollment in the identified at least one of the subset of the plurality of services, the user is not prompted for any additional information.

30. The system of claim 27 wherein if the query formulated by the enrollment agent returns data required for enrollment in the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services that is sensitive user data, the user is prompted to give permission to the enrollment agent to retrieve the sensitive user data.

32. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for a method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request, over a network, from a user for service recommendations, wherein the request comprises an identification of the user and at least one service selection criteria;

formulating a query so as to search, via the network, for user profile data, spatial data, temporal data, social data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the requesting user, the service selection criteria and to a plurality of services available via the network so as to a identify a subset of the plurality of services available via the network that relate to the request;

transmitting a list of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network that relate to the request to the user;

receiving a selection of at least one of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network;

enrolling the user in the service corresponding to the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein if no service selection criteria are provided, the formulating step uses default service selection criteria.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the at least one service selection criteria comprises spatial, temporal, social and topical criteria.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the at least one service selection criteria are be related to one another using standard relational or set operators.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the at least one service selection criteria are stated as a natural language query

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the data relating to a plurality of services available via the network comprise at least one service profile of at least one of the plurality of services.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the data relating to a plurality of services available via the network comprise at least one service profile of at least one of the plurality of services.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the data relating to a plurality of services available via the network comprise at least one target user profile of at least one of the plurality of services.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the data relating to a plurality of services available via the network comprise at least one predictive model relating to at least one of the plurality of services.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the enrolling step comprises prompting the user via a user interface for data required for enrollment in the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 wherein the enrolling step comprises formulating a to search, via the network, for user profile data, spatial data, temporal data, social data and topical data that is available via the network and relates to the user and to the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network so as to retrieve data required for enrollment in the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 42 wherein if the query in the enrolling step returns all data required for enrollment in the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services, the user is not prompted for any additional information.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 42 wherein if the query in the enrolling step returns data required for enrollment in the selected at least one of the subset of the plurality of services that is sensitive user data, the user is prompted to give permission to the enrolling step to retrieve the sensitive user data.

45. The computer-readable medium of claim 32 comprising the additional step of:

receiving an authorization, via the network, from the user to automatically enroll the user in all of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network that relate to the request, wherein the transmitting and receiving a selection steps are bypassed and the enrolling step enrolls the user in all of user in all of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network.

46. The computer-readable medium of claim 45 wherein the user is enrolled in the each of the subset of the plurality of services available via the network for a trial period.