Consumer profiling and advertisement selection system
First Claim
1. A method for profiling a consumer based on consumer purchases, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) receiving a computer-readable detailed purchase record of said consumer wherein said computer-readable detailed purchase record has an associated unique consumer identification;
(b) retrieving product characterization information;
(c) calculating a consumer characterization vector from said computer-readable detailed purchase record and said product characterization information; and
(d) storing said consumer characterization vector on a computer-readable medium.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Computer network method and apparatus provides targeting of appropriate audience based on psychographic or behavioral profiles of end users. The psychographic profile is formed by recording computer activity and viewing habits of the end user. Content of categories of interest and display format in each category are revealed by the psychographic profile, based on user viewing of agate information. Using the profile (with or without additional user demographics), advertisements are displayed to appropriately selected users. Based on regression analysis of recorded responses of a first set of users viewing the advertisements, the target user profile is refined. Viewing by and regression analysis of recorded responses of subsequent sets of users continually auto-targets and customizes ads for the optimal end user audience.
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Citations
98 Claims
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1. A method for profiling a consumer based on consumer purchases, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving a computer-readable detailed purchase record of said consumer wherein said computer-readable detailed purchase record has an associated unique consumer identification; (b) retrieving product characterization information; (c) calculating a consumer characterization vector from said computer-readable detailed purchase record and said product characterization information; and (d) storing said consumer characterization vector on a computer-readable medium. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A method for profiling consumer demographics based on consumer purchases, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving a computer-readable detailed purchase record of a consumer wherein said computer-readable detailed purchase record has an associated unique consumer identification, and wherein said computer-readable detailed purchase record contains information regarding the purchase of an item; (b) retrieving a demographic characterization vector wherein said demographic characterization vector is retrieved based on said associated unique consumer identification and wherein said demographic characterization vector contains a probabilistic measure of the demographic characteristics of said consumer; (c) retrieving a set of heuristic rules wherein said set of heuristic rules contains a probabilistic measure of the demographic characteristics of a purchaser of said item; (d) calculating a new demographic characterization vector from said demographic characterization vector and said set of heuristic rules; and (e) storing said new demographic characterization vector on a computer-readable medium. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for profiling consumer preferences based on consumer purchases, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving a computer-readable detailed purchase record of a consumer wherein said detailed purchase record has an associated unique consumer identification, and wherein said computer-readable detailed purchase record contains information regarding a purchased item; (b) retrieving a product preference vector wherein said product preference vector is retrieved based on said associated unique consumer identification and wherein said product preference vector contains a measure of the characteristics of prior purchases by said consumer; (c) creating a product purchase vector from said computer-readable detailed purchase record wherein said product purchase vector contains a representation of at least one feature of said purchased item; (d) calculating a new product preference vector from said product preference vector and said product purchase vector; and (e) storing said new product preference vector on a computer-readable medium. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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11. A data processing system for profiling a consumer, said data processing system comprising:
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(a) computer processing means for processing data; (b) storage means for storing data on a storage medium; (c) first means for retrieving a consumer characterization vector; (d) second means for receiving a computer-readable detailed purchase record of said consumer wherein said detailed purchase record has an associated unique consumer identification; and (e) third means for updating said consumer characterization vector based on creating a weighted sum of product characterization information with said consumer characterization vector, wherein an updated consumer characterization vector is stored on said storage medium. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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14. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium for profiling a consumer based on the purchase of at least one item, said computer program comprising:
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(a) a consumer purchase source code segment for receiving a detailed consumer purchase record wherein said detailed consumer purchase record has an associated unique consumer identification; (b) a updating code segment for retrieving a consumer characterization vector and updating said consumer characterization vector based on creating a weighted sum of product characterization information with said consumer characterization vector; and (c) a storage source code segment for storing said consumer characterization vector on a computer-readable medium. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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16. In a networked environment having a plurality of computers interconnected for the purpose of instantaneously transmitting and receiving data, a method for determining the applicability of an advertisement to a consumer, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving a computer-readable ad characterization vector at a first computer wherein said computer-readable ad characterization vector contains a description of discretionary characteristics which correspond to a target group for said advertisement; (b) receiving a unique consumer ID at said first computer; (c) retrieving a consumer characterization vector from storage in said first computer based on said unique consumer ID; (d) calculating a correlation factor between said computer-readable ad characterization vector and said consumer characterization vector; (e) transmitting said correlation factor from said first computer to a second computer. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. In a networked environment having a plurality of computers interconnected for the purpose of instantaneously transmitting and receiving data, a method for targeting an advertisement to consumers of a specific good, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving a computer-readable advertisement characterization vector at a first computer wherein said advertisement characterization vector contains a description of a target market, and wherein said description of said target market contains at least one indicator corresponding to a target product; (b) receiving a unique consumer ID at said first computer; (c) retrieving a consumer characterization vector from a storage unit in said first computer based on said unique consumer ID wherein said consumer characterization vector contains a plurality of purchase indicators, said purchase indicators representing previous purchases of said consumer; and (d) calculating a correlation factor between said advertisement characterization vector and said consumer characterization vector; and (e) transmitting said correlation factor to a second computer. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26)
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27. A data processing system for determining the applicability of an advertisement to a consumer and for determining a price for displaying said advertisement, said data processing system comprising:
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(a) computer processing means for processing data; (b) storage means for storing data on a storage medium; (c) first means for receiving an ad characterization vector wherein said ad characterization vector corresponds to said advertisement; (d) second means for receiving a unique consumer ID; (e) third means for retrieving a consumer characterization vector based on said unique consumer ID; (f) fourth means for determining a correlation factor wherein said correlation factor is determined from the correlation of said ad vector with said consumer characterization vector; (g) fifth means for retrieving a pricing function; and (h) sixth means for determining said price for displaying said advertisement to said consumer wherein said price is determined from said correlation factor and said pricing function. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium for determining the applicability of an advertisement to a consumer, said computer program comprising:
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(a) an advertisement source code segment for receiving an ad characterization vector; (b) a consumer characterization code segment for receiving a unique consumer ID and retrieving a consumer characterization vector corresponding to said unique consumer ID; and (c) a correlating source code segment for calculating a correlation factor between said ad characterization vector and said consumer characterization vector. - View Dependent Claims (33)
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34. A method for constructing a subscriber characterization vector and for allowing access to the subscriber characterization vector without revealing specific viewing habits, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) creating a record of the viewing habits of at least one subscriber in a household; (b) determining a subscriber characterization vector based on the record of the viewing habits, wherein the subscriber characterization vector does not contain specific viewing information; and (c) allowing access to the subscriber characterization vector to determine applicability of an advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (35)
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36. A method for constructing a consumer characterization vector and for allowing access to the consumer characterization vector without revealing specific purchases, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) creating a record of purchases; (b) determining a consumer characterization vector based on the purchases, wherein the consumer characterization vector does not contain specific purchase information; and (c) allowing access to the consumer characterization vector to determine applicability of an advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (37)
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38. A method for profiling a consumer based on multiple purchases made by the consumer that are accumulated in detailed purchase records of the consumer, the method comprising:
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retrieving the detailed purchase records; retrieving product characterization information associated with products included in the detailed purchase records; and generating a profile of the consumer based on the detailed purchase records and the product characterization information. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A method for profiling a consumer based on transactions performed by the consumer at multiple locations, the transactions being recorded and accumulated in detailed transaction records for the consumer, the method comprising:
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retrieving the detailed transaction records, wherein the detailed transaction records include an inventory of the recorded transactions of the consumer; and generating a profile of the consumer based on the detailed transaction records and a set of heuristic rules associated with transactions within the detailed transaction records, the set of heuristic rules defining a probabilistic measure of demographic characteristics of a person performing the transactions. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57)
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58. A method for updating an initial consumer profile based on multiple purchases made by the consumer and accumulated in intermediate detailed purchase records of the consumer, the method comprising:
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retrieving the initial profile of the consumer; retrieving the intermediate detailed purchase records which include an inventory of the purchases of the consumer for a predefined time frame; generating an intermediate consumer profile based on the intermediate detailed purchase records; and calculating a new consumer profile as a weighed average of the initial consumer profile and the intermediate consumer profile.
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59. A system for profiling a consumer based on multiple purchases made by the consumer that are accumulated in detailed purchase records of the consumer, the system comprising:
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means for retrieving the detailed purchase records; means for retrieving product characterization information associated with products included in the detailed purchase records; and means for generating a profile of the consumer based on the detailed purchase records and the product characterization information. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
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67. A method for selecting an advertisement to be presented to a consumer by determining the similarity between a profile of the consumer which is generated from detailed purchase records of the consumer and a profile of the advertisement which identifies discretionary characteristics of an intended target market of the advertisement, the method comprising:
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receiving the advertisement profile for the advertisement; retrieving the consumer profile, wherein the detailed purchase records used to generate the consumer profile include multiple point-of-sale transactions; and calculating a correlation factor between the advertisement profile and the consumer profile. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83)
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84. A method for determining how applicable an advertisement is to a consumer by comparing a profile of the consumer which is generated from multiple transactions of the consumer to a profile of the advertisement which identifies discretionary characteristics of an intended target market of the advertisement, the method comprising:
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receiving the advertisement profile for the advertisement; retrieving the consumer profile, wherein the multiple transactions used to generate the consumer profile include purchases of the consumer from multiple points-of-sale; and calculating a correlation factor between the advertisement profile and the consumer profile. - View Dependent Claims (85, 86, 87, 88)
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89. A system for selecting an advertisement to be presented to a consumer by determining the similarity between a profile of the consumer which is generated from detailed purchase records of the consumer and a profile of the advertisement which identifies discretionary characteristics of an intended target market of the advertisement, the system comprising:
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a storage medium; means for receiving the advertisement profile for the advertisement; means for retrieving the consumer profile, wherein the detailed purchase records used to generate the consumer profile include multiple point-of-sale transactions; and means for calculating a correlation factor between the advertisement profile and the consumer profile. - View Dependent Claims (90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96)
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97. A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium for determining how applicable an advertisement is to a consumer by comparing a profile of the consumer which is generated from multiple transactions of the consumer to a profile of the advertisement which identifies specific characteristics of an intended target market of the advertisement, the computer program comprising:
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a source code segment for receiving the advertisement profile for the advertisement; a source code segment for retrieving the consumer profile, wherein the multiple transactions used to generate the consumer profile include purchases of the consumer from multiple points-of-sale; and a source code segment for calculating a correlation factor between the advertisement profile and the consumer profile. - View Dependent Claims (98)
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Specification