SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING PERSONALIZATION OF APPLICATIONS BASED ON ANTICIPATION OF USERS' INTERESTS

• US 20100332543A1
• Filed: 09/10/2010
• Published: 12/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Polliam, Joel, Feng, Andrew An
• Granted Patent: US 8,108,425 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/781
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating personalization of applications based on anticipation of users'"'"' interests are described. In one preferred embodiment, a communication session is established with a user. Data related to user activities conducted by the user is collected during the communication session. Finally, collected data is processed according to one or more predetermined rules to obtain anticipated interests data used in personalization of applications for the user and the anticipated interests data is further stored in a user database.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:

establishing, by a session processor, a communication session with a user;

collecting data, by an activities processor, related to user activities conducted by said user during said communication session; and

processing, by a data processor, said data according to at least one predetermined rule to obtain anticipated interests data used in personalization of applications for said user;

wherein said user activities comprise using a calendar application and using an e-mail account and wherein when the calendar application includes no entries, then the email account is displayed shortly after the launch of the calendar application and when the calendar application contains multiple entries, then the email account is displayed after a predetermined period of time, calculated to enable said user to review all the entries.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

storing said anticipated interests data in a user database.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said establishing step further comprises the steps of:

receiving, by receiving processor, a request to initiate said communication session from said user;

when authorization to collect said data is required, transmitting, by a transmitting processor, a personalization form to said user in a message window of an interface area, said personalization form enabling said user to authorize collection of said data; and

receiving said authorization to collect data from said user through said message window of said interface area.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said collecting step further comprises the steps of:

analyzing, by an analyzing processor, said collected data; and

filtering out, by a filtering processor, predetermined user activities performed by said user during said communication session based on predetermined policy requirements.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said collected data further comprise any of types of said user activities, dates and times of said user activities, content sources accessed by said user during said communication session, clickstream events representing web pages visited by said user during said communication session, and transactions performed by said user during said communication session.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said processing step further comprises the steps of:

retrieving, by a receiving processor, said at least one predetermined rule from a rules database;

retrieving, by a retrieving processor, metadata associated with said at least one predetermined rule from a content metadata database; and

applying, by an applying processor, said at least one predetermined rule to said collected data.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said at least one predetermined rule further comprises at least one parameter used to set a state of at least one switch within a user database, each switch being associated with an instance of said anticipated interests data and indicating an anticipated interest by said user in a particular interest area or content source.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said at least one parameter further comprises any of a target parameter indicating traffic in said particular interest area, a predetermined time period parameter for setting said state of said at least one switch, a frequency count parameter within said predetermined time period, and a repetition parameter indicating a repetition of said predetermined time period.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein said applying step further comprises the steps of:

analyzing, by an analyzing processor, said data according to said at least one parameter of said at least one predetermined rule; and

setting, by a state setting processor, said state of said at least one switch within said user database to reflect said anticipated interest of said user.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, by a receiving processor, a request for said anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences associated with said user and stored in a user database;

when said anticipated interests data are available in said user database, retrieving said anticipated interests data;

when said user-specified preferences are available in said user database, retrieving said user-specified preferences; and

transmitting, by a transmitting processor, said retrieved anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences for further predication of a set of personalized services to be displayed for said user.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving, by a receiving processor, a request for said anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences associated with said user and stored in a user database;

when said anticipated interests data are not available in said user database, receiving said anticipated interests data collected and processed in real-time; and

transmitting, by a transmitting processor, said retrieved anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences for further predication of a set of personalized services to be displayed for said user.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein said anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences are used to create a personalized user interface area containing at least one content window, each window including access to an entity preferred by said user.

13. A computer-implemented method comprising the steps of:

establishing, by an establishing processor, an interactive communication session with a user;

receiving, by a first receiving processor, a request to initiate said communication session from said user;

when authorization to collect said data is required, transmitting, by a transmitting processor, a personalization form to said user in a message window of an interface area, said personalization form enabling said user to authorize collection of said data; and

receiving, by a second receiving processor, said authorization to collect data from said user through said message window of said interface area;

collecting, by an activities processor, data related to user activities conducted by said user during said communication session and continuously transmitting said collected data to an anticipation rule engine for further processing; and

receiving, by a third receiving processor, said collected data at said anticipation rule engine and processing said collected data according to at least one predetermined rule to obtain anticipated interests data for use in personalization of applications for said user, said anticipation rule engine analyzing said collected data based on said at least one predetermined rule and, responsive thereto, setting a state of at least one switch within a user database, each said switch being associated with an instance of said anticipated interests data, wherein the state of each switch indicates an anticipated interest by said user in a particular interest area or content source;

wherein said anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences are used to create a personalized user interface area; and

wherein content sources identified as routine by said user in said user-specified preferences are automatically displayed in an advanced manner in said area, wherein a content source is displayed for a particular amount of time and after the particular amount of time, a next content source of said content sources is launched and displayed, said particular amount of time dynamically calculated depending upon the complexity of said displayed content source to enable the user to view all of said displayed content source.