Insertion of User Information into Headers to Enable Targeted Responses

• US 20120079135A1
• Filed: 09/27/2010
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Kalepu, Kalyan
• Granted Patent: US 9,235,843 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

An intermediary device configured to insert at least one of user interest categories or a client device location in the header portion of a message received from a client device is described herein. The insertion enables a server receiving the message from the intermediary device to target content to the client device based on the at least one of the user interest categories or the client device location.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving from a client device, by an intermediary device, a message destined for a server, the message including a header portion;

inserting, by the intermediary device, at least one of user interest categories or a client device location in the header portion of the message, the insertion enabling the server to target content to the client device based on the at least one of the user interest categories or the client device location; and

transmitting, by the intermediary device, the message to the server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising gathering user activity information associated with the client device, the user activity information including at least network browsing activity involving the client device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining the user interest categories based at least on the user activity information and on a rules base.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising providing the determined user interest categories to another device for storage.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the user activity information to another device to enable the other device to determine the user interest categories based at least on the user activity information and on a rules base.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the user interest categories from another device that stores the user interest categories.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the other device is a policy control rules function (PCRF) node of a telecommunication network, the PCRF node storing at least the user interest categories, location-coordinate-to-zip-code mappings, and policies or rules associated with the client device.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising performing the inserting based at least on the policies or rules associated with the client device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving location coordinates associated with the client device;

providing the location coordinates to another device; and

receiving from the other device a zip code associated with the location coordinates, the intermediary device using the received zip code as the client device location.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the header portion is an extended header of a hypertext transfer protocol request message.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the client device is a telecommunication device and the intermediary device is a gateway support node of a telecommunication network, the telecommunications network being associated with a telecommunications service provider that provides telecommunication services to the client device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the server is a web server and the targeted content is advertising associated with content requested from the web server in the message.

13. A method comprising:

receiving from a gateway device, by a computing device, a request associated with a telecommunication device, the request including telecommunication device location coordinates; and

providing to the gateway device, by the computing device, a zip code associated with the telecommunication device location coordinates and user interest categories associated with the telecommunication device to enable the gateway device to insert at least one of the zip code or user interest categories in headers of messages transmitted from the telecommunication device to servers through the gateway device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the computing device is policy control rules function (PCRF) node of a telecommunication network, the PCRF node storing at least the user interest categories, location-coordinate-to-zip-code mappings, and policies or rules associated with the telecommunication device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining the zip code based on the telecommunication device location coordinates and on the location-coordinate-to-zip-code mappings.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving the user interest categories from at least one of the gateway device, a plurality of gateway devices, or an offline analysis node.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interest categories are specific to the zip code, specific to the gateway device, or based on user activity data gathered at a plurality of gateway devices associated with a plurality of locations.

18. A gateway device of a telecommunication network, comprising:

a processor; and

a plurality of executable instructions configured to be operated by the processor to perform operations including;

receiving, from a policy device of the telecommunication network, user interest categories associated with a telecommunication device, the user interest categories based at least in part on user activities observed by a plurality of gateway devices associated with a plurality of locations,

receiving, from the telecommunication device, a message destined for a server, the message including a header portion,

inserting at least one of a telecommunication device location or the user interest categories in the header portion of the message, the insertion enabling the server to target content to the telecommunication device based on the at least one of the telecommunication device location or the user interest categories, and

transmitting the message to the server.

19. The gateway device of claim 18, wherein the operations further include:

receiving location coordinates associated with the telecommunication device;

providing the location coordinates to the policy device; and

receiving from the policy device a zip code associated with the location coordinates, the gateway device using the received zip code as the telecommunication device location.

20. The gateway device of claim 18, wherein the server is a web server and the targeted content is advertising associated with content requested from the web server in the message.