TARGETED CONTENT DELIVERY MECHANISM BASED ON NETWORK APPLICATION DATA

• US 20100191692A1
• Filed: 01/26/2010
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kindsight Incorporated
• Inventors: Lee, Denny Lung Sun, Gassewitz, Michael, Gaudet, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 8,984,047 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A system and method are provided for delivering targeted content to a subscriber coupled to a service provider network. Network application data generated by the subscriber is received and processed by a network application element deployed in the service provider network associated with a network identifier of the subscriber'"'"'s computing device. The network application data is generated from user interaction with a server coupled to the service provider network or through a public communication network. The network application data is converted to web events associated with the network identifier. The web events are filtered to remove irrelevant data from received web events. A subscriber profile can then be generated base upon the filtered web events associated with the subscriber. Targeted content can then be delivered to the subscriber based upon the subscriber'"'"'s profile.

Claims

1. A system for delivering targeted content to a subscriber of the system, the system comprising:

a service provider network coupling the subscriber'"'"'s computing device one or more communication networks;

a network application element deployed in the service provider network for processing network application data associated with a network identifier of the subscriber'"'"'s computing device, the network application data generated from user interaction with a server coupled to the service provider network or through a public communication network;

a data preparation element deployed in the service provider network for receiving the network application data from the network application element and generating web events associated with the network identifier based on the network application data, the web events conforming to a common data scheme;

a profiler coupled to the service provider network for maintaining a profile of the subscriber generated from the web events associated with the subscriber, the profile characterizing the subscriber'"'"'s interests inferred from a type of the network application data monitored by the network application element; and

a content server in communication with the profiler for selecting and delivering targeted content to the subscriber based upon the subscriber'"'"'s profile.

2. The system of claim 1 where in the network application data is hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-based traffic and the web event is an HTTP header.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising an event processing unit for receiving the generated web events and filtering irrelevant data from received web events.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the event processing unit further comprises filtering the web events to remove data with personal and/or sensitive information (PSI).

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the event processing unit further anonymizes the filtered web events to disassociate the web event from the network identifier and stores the event in a storage device.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising an event analyzer for retrieved the stored web events and generating one or more profiling algorithms by applying behavioural recognition analysis to subscriber browsing and the associated content defined in the retrieved web events.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the profile modelling algorithm is generated in non-real-time, and each profile modelling algorithm comprises a set of rules that take web events as input and generate profile scores as output, the profile score reflect interests of an entity being profiled, and each profile score can be associated with one of a plurality of categories of interest or descriptors of interest.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the user profile identifies the entity being profiled identifying a subscriber'"'"'s household interests defining the aggregate of all web activity associated with a single subscriber ID or personality interests within the subscriber household defining one or more sub-sets of web activities associated with a single subscriber ID but attributed to one of a plurality of personalities.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the network application element is configured within the service provider network based upon the type of application provided where the network application element application is selected from the group comprising:

an endpoint that the subscriber communicates with;

part of the communication data path;

or can indirectly receive network application data in an offline function and need not participate in the communication data path.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising a network application element manager for providing management of a network application elements including, configuration, fault monitoring, and performance management functions.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the web events are selected from the group comprising:

search events, website visit events, advertisement (ad) click events, e-Commerce interaction events, and online video selection events.

12. A computer implemented method of delivering targeted content to a subscriber coupled to a service provider network, the method comprising:

receiving and processing subscriber network application data generated from a subscriber'"'"'s computing device coupled to the service provider network;

generating web events, by data preparation and event generation element, the web events based upon the received subscriber network application data;

updating a subscriber profile using one or more profiling algorithms and the web events; and

providing web content to a web server, in response to a content request based upon the subscriber profile.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising filtering irrelevant data from the generated web events prior to updating a subscriber profile.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein filtering the web events further comprises removing data with personal or sensitive information (PSI).

15. The method of claim 13 wherein processing the web event further comprises:

anonymizing the filtered web events to remove potential subscriber identification information;

storing the anonymized filtered web events;

applying behavioural pattern recognition analysis to the anonymized filtered web events to generate a profile modelling algorithm; and

generating a subscriber profile when a subscriber profile does not exist using the profile modelling algorithm.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the one or more profile modelling algorithms are generated in non-real-time, and each profile modelling algorithm comprises a set of rules that take web events as input and generate profile scores as output, the profile score reflect interests of an entity being profiled, and each profile score can be associated with one of a plurality of categories of interest or descriptors of interest.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the user profile identifies the entity being profiled identifying a subscriber'"'"'s household interests defining the aggregate of all web activity associated with a single subscriber ID or personality interests within the subscriber household defining one or more sub-sets of web activities associated with a single subscriber ID but attributed to one of a plurality of personalities.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein the subscriber network application data is hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-based traffic and the web event is an HTTP header.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein receiving and processing the network application data further comprises removing the content portion of HTTP web traffic.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the web events are selected from the group comprising:

search events, website visit events, advertisement (ad) click events, e-Commerce interaction events, and online video selection events.

21. The method of claim 12 where providing web content to a web server further comprises:

receiving a request for target content from the web server;

querying a subscriber profile based upon an Internet Protocol (IP) addresses associated with a subscriber associated with the request;

retrieving a profile associated with the subscriber IP address;

selecting content from a plurality of content based upon a content score identified in the profile; and

forwarding the selected content to the web server for display to the subscriber.

22. The method of claim 12 wherein updating the user profile further comprises:

processing received web events to determine changes in user preferences;

updating the user profile; and

storing the user profile.