Demographic information acquisition system

• US 7,464,155 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2003
• Issued: 12/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Siemens Canada Limited (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Canada Limited (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Joslin, Jeff, Mousavi, Kianoosh
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar; Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nawaz; Asad M
• Application Number:
  US10/395,496
• Publication Number:
  US 20040249930A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,087 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-224, 709202-207, 4554561-457
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Methods and systems for acquiring demographic information are disclosed. Demographic information is acquired from monitoring internet traffic. The demographic information is stored in a management server and analyzed to generate a demographic profile. Various business decisions, such as advertising, can be based on the demographic profile.

Claims

1. A method for acquiring demographic information for a geographic location comprising:

monitoring internet traffic for the geographic location;

storing information related to the internet traffic;

analyzing the information utilizing an artificial intelligence architecture to generate a demographic profile for the geographic location, the artificial intelligence architecture including at least one of a neural network, pattern recognition, and fuzzy logic;

selecting at least one internet transaction of a user that occurred during a first temporal period from the internet traffic, the first temporal period including at least one of a day, a portion of the day, a week, a portion of the week, a month, and a portion of the month;

assigning at least one category to the at least one internet transaction and a weight to at least one category for the first temporal period;

determining movement of the user between the geographic location and an additional geographic location by monitoring internet traffic for the user at the additional geographic location occurring during a second temporal period; and

displaying content at the geographic location at a time based on said demographic profile for the geographic location, the weight of the at least one category, and comparison of time to the first temporal period and second temporal period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring internet traffic comprises monitoring internet traffic from at least one location node.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each location node comprises at least one communication device for communicating with the internet.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the communication devices communicate with the internet via a aired or wireless connection.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein each location node comprises a static location node, a dynamic location node or a hybrid location node.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing the information generates demographic profiles for the location nodes.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprises forming business decisions based on the information.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the business decisions comprise adaptive static advertising, adaptive dynamic advertising, direct advertising, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprises forming business decisions based on the information.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the business decisions comprises adaptive static advertising, adaptive dynamic advertising, direct advertising, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

acquiring user information of users to generate a user profile; and

correlating the user information with information from monitoring internet traffic to generate a demographic profile.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the analyzing the information generates demographic profiles for the location nodes.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprises forming business decisions based on the information.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the business decisions comprise adaptive static advertising, adaptive dynamic advertising, direct advertising, or a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprises forming business decisions based on the information.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the business decisions comprises adaptive static advertising, adaptive dynamic advertising, direct advertising, or a combination thereof.

17. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said content is an advertisement.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein said advertisement is based upon a category accessed by a threshold number of users.

19. A demographic acquisition system for a geographic location having a management server comprising:

processor for monitoring internet traffic for a geographic location including at least one internet transaction of a user that occurred during a first temporal period, the first temporal period including at least one of a day, a portion of the day, a week, a portion of the week, a month, and a portion of the month;

memory for storing information related to the internet traffic for analysis;

a communication link for receiving information about monitored internet traffic for the user at an additional geographic location during a second temporal period;

an artificial intelligence architecture analyzing the internet traffic to generate a demographic profile for the geographic location, assign at least one category to the at least one internet transaction and a weight to the at least one category for the first temporal period, and determine movement of the user between the geographic location and the additional geographic location by comparing the first temporal period and the second temporal period; and

a display, said display being operably connected to said processor and located in said geographic location, said display for displaying content, wherein the display displays content at a time based on the demographic profile for the geographic location, the weight of the at least one category, and the movement of the user.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein said content is an advertisement.

21. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein said advertisement is based upon a category accessed by a threshold number of users.

22. A method of generating a demographic profile for a geographic location comprising:

monitoring internet traffic for the geographic location;

storing information related to the internet traffic;

analyzing the information to generate the demographic profile for the geographic location;

selecting at least one internet transaction of a user that occurred during a first temporal period from the internet traffic, the first temporal period including at least one of a day, a portion of the day, a week, a portion of the week, a month, and a portion of the month;

assigning at least one category to the at least one internet transaction and a weight to the at least one category for the first temporal period;

determining movement of the user between the geographic location and an additional geographic location by monitoring internet traffic for the user at the additional geographic location occurring during a second temporal period; and

displaying content at the geographic location at a time based on said demographic profile for the geographic location and comparison of the time to the first temporal period and second temporal period.

23. The method as claimed in claim 22, wherein said content is an advertisement.

24. The method as claimed in claim 23, wherein said advertisement is based upon a category accessed by a threshold number of users.