SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING A PROFILE OF A USER

• US 20120191545A1
• Filed: 11/25/2011
• Published: 07/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Kobo Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rakuten Kobo Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Leibu, Daniel, Lewis, Damian, Barlow, Ian, Gamblen, Jason, Dovey, Jim, Christensen, Jordan, Serbinis, Michael, Hilborn, Pamela, Penner, Richard, Toh, Tai, Galperin, Dan, O'Donoghue, Tony, Howard, Jeff
• Application Number:
  US13/304,553
• Publication Number:
  US 20120191545A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.66
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Systems and methods of managing a profile of a user of at least one device having access to electronic content. The systems and methods may involve receiving a user identifier for a user of at least one device configured to access electronic content; storing a profile of the user in a memory, where the profile of the user comprises the user identifier; if a user activity meets at least one event definition, identifying the user activity as an event; receiving data associated with the event; and recording at least a portion of the data associated with the event in the profile of the user.

Claims

1. A method of managing a profile of a user of at least one device having access to electronic content, the method comprising:

receiving a user identifier for a user of at least one device configured to access electronic content;

storing a profile of the user in a memory, wherein the profile of the user comprises the user identifier;

if a user activity meets at least one event definition, identifying the user activity as an event, wherein the identifying step is carried out using a processor;

receiving data associated with the event;

recording at least a portion of the data associated with the event in the profile of the user; and

providing at least of portion of the profile of the user to the at least one device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic content comprises at least one electronic publication.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing a plurality of event definitions.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein identifying the user activity as an event comprises matching input data to at least one of the plurality of event definitions.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

if a plurality of the user activities meet at least one milestone definition, identifying that a milestone has been achieved, wherein the milestone is an aggregation of events; and

recording data associated with the milestone in the profile of the user.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising storing at least one milestone definition.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

determining whether the milestone is associated with a reward;

recording data associated with the reward in the profile of the user; and

providing the reward to the user.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a notification of the occurrence of the event to a social network application.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving data associated with the event further comprises receiving a time period associated with the user accessing the electronic content.

10. The method of claim 2 wherein receiving data associated with the event further comprises receiving a time period associated with the user reading the at least one electronic publication.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving data associated with the event further comprises receiving at least a portion of the electronic content.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving data associated with the event further comprises receiving a location of at least one device configured to access the electronic content.

13. The method of claim 2 wherein the event is associated with at least one of the group consisting of:

interactivity of the user with the device, interactivity of the user with an electronic publication online service, a number of electronic publications in an electronic library associated with the user, turning a number of pages in an electronic publication, adding an electronic publication to an electronic library associated with the user, finishing an electronic publication that is last in a series of electronic publications, finishing an electronic publication by an author, reading an electronic publication in a location, an event on a social networking application, and reading about a character in an electronic publication.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the event is associated with at least one of the group consisting of:

interactivity of the user with the device, interactivity of the user with an online service providing the electronic content, a number of types of electronic content items associated with the user, a number of times the user access an electronic content item, adding a new electronic content item to an electronic library associated with the user, finishing an electronic content item that is last in a series of electronic content items, finishing a electronic content item by an author, accessing an electronic content item in a location, and an event on a social networking application.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

if the user activity meets at least one advertisement definition, providing an advertisement to the user; and

recording data associated with the advertisement in the profile of the user.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

if the user activity meets at least one offer definition, providing an offer to the user, and

recording data associated with the offer in the profile of the user.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

if the user activity meets at least one gift definition, providing a virtual gift to the user, and

recording data associated with the gift in the profile of the user.

18. The method of claim 2 wherein the user activity is associated with the user highlighting a portion of the electronic publication.

19. The method of claim 2 wherein the user activity is associated with the user annotating a portion of the electronic publication.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the user activity is associated with the user interacting with another user.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the user activity is associated with the user commenting on the electronic content.

22. A system for managing a profile of a user of at least one device having access to electronic content, the system comprising:

a profile module configured to;

receive a user identifier for the user of the at least one device configured to access the electronic content;

store a profile of the user in a memory, wherein the profile of the user comprises the user identifier;

an event detection module configured to identify, using a processor, a user activity as an event if the user activity meets at least one event definition, and to receive data associated with the event;

and wherein the profile module is further configured to record at least a portion of the data associated with the event in the profile of the user.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the electronic content comprises at least one electronic publication.

24. The system of claim 22 further comprising:

an event definition module configured to define a plurality of event definitions; and

a rules engine configured to store and manage the plurality of event definitions.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the event detection module is configured to identify an event by interacting with the rules engine to match input data to at least one of the plurality of event definitions.

26. The system of claim 25 further comprising a milestone definition module configured to define at least one milestone definition, wherein a milestone is an aggregation of events;

and wherein the rules engine is configured to store the at least one milestone definition.

27. The system of claim 24 wherein the event detection module is further configured to determine that a plurality of the user activities achieve a milestone if the plurality of the user activities meet at least one milestone definition, wherein a milestone is an aggregation of events;

and wherein the profile module is configured to record data associated with the milestone in the profile of the user.

28. The system of claim 27 further comprising a reward module configured to determine whether the milestone is associated with a reward and provide the reward to the user;

and wherein the profile module is configured to record data associated with the reward in the profile of the user.

29. The system of claim 24 further comprising a social connector configured to provide a notification associated with the event to a social networking application.

30. The system of claim 24 further comprising a social connector configured to receive the user activity from a social networking application.

31. The system of claim 23 wherein the event detection module is configured to receive a time period associated with the user reading the at least one electronic publication.

32. The system of claim 22 wherein the event detection module is configured to receive a time period associated with the user accessing the electronic content.

33. The system of claim 23 wherein the event detection module is configured to receive story content from at least one of the at least one electronic publication.

34. The system of claim 22 wherein the event detection module is configured to receive a location of the device configured to access the electronic content.

35. The system of claim 23 wherein the event is associated with at least one of the group consisting of:

interactivity of the user with the device, interactivity of the user with an electronic publication online service, a number of electronic publications in an electronic library associated with the user, turning a number of pages in an electronic publication, adding an electronic publication to an electronic library associated with the user, finishing an electronic publication that is last in a series of electronic publications, finishing an electronic publication by an author, reading an electronic publication in a location, an event on a social networking application, annotations, comments, speed, social graph, specific content in the electronic publication, and reading about a character in an electronic publication.

36. The system of claim 23 further comprising an event analytics engine further configured to process data associated with events to compute statistical data selected from the group consisting of:

status of current electronic publication, current electronic publication reading, types of electronic publication, genre of electronic publication, graphical representations, number of pages turned, number of hours spent reading, number of pages read every session, rewards achieved, number of magazines completed, number of newspapers completed, number of books read, number of hours per e-book, number of minutes per magazine, number of pages read every session, annotations, comments, speed, social graph, specific content in the electronic publication, and percentage of electronic publications completed in the library.

37. The system of claim 22 wherein the event detection module is configured to run on a server, wherein the server comprises the processor and the server communicates with the at least one device over a network.

38. The system of claim 22 wherein the event detection module is configured to run on the at least one device.

39. The system of claim 22 further comprising at least two event detection modules configured to identify, using the processor, a user activity as an event if the user activity meets at least one event definition, and to receive data associated with the event, and wherein a first event detection module resides on a server and a second event detection module resides on the at least one device.

40. The system of claim 22 further comprising an advertisement engine configured to provide, using the processor, an advertisement to the user if the user activity meets at least one of an advertisement definition, a milestone definition, and a reward definition.