User behavior reporting based on pre-aggregated activity data

• US 7,533,130 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2006
• Issued: 05/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramarao, Vishwanath Tumkur, Narayana, Koushik Deepak, Boyd, John Nathan, Kim, Paul Sokha
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo; Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US11/612,994
• Publication Number:
  US 20080147731A1
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-1041, 707200-206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

User behavior relative to particular web pages is reported on. The user behavior is represented by historical raw transaction data for the users with respect to the web pages. A collection of the historical raw transaction data is processed, including aggregating the historical raw transaction data and storing the aggregated historical raw transaction data. A report query is received and the aggregated historical raw transaction data is processed based on the report query. A report is caused to be generated based on the result of processing the aggregated historical raw transaction data.

Claims

1. A method of reporting on user behavior relative to particular web pages, the user behavior represented by historical raw transaction data for the users with respect to the web pages, the method comprising:

processing a collection of the historical raw transaction data, the collection of historical raw transaction data including a plurality of records, each record including data for at least some of a plurality of keys, the keys generally corresponding to types of reports that may be requested, the processing including aggregating the historical raw transaction data according to at least some of the keys, without regard for particular report queries, and storing the aggregated historical raw transaction data,

wherein aggregating the historical raw transaction data according to at least some of the keys includes, for combinations of values for the at least some of the keys, summarizing the data of the records having those combinations of values of the at least some of the keys and storing the summarized data as the aggregated historical raw transaction data;

receiving a report query indicating at least one key value that is in addition to any of the combinations of key values according to which the historical raw transaction data was aggregated, and processing the aggregated historical raw transaction data based thereon to further aggregate the aggregated historical raw data; and

causing a report to be generated based on the result of further aggregating the aggregated historical raw transaction data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a drill down user request indication with respect to a particular item for which user behavior is reported; and

based on the aggregated historical raw transaction data, individually reporting on activity with respect to sub-items of the particular item.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the aggregated historical raw transaction data includes historical raw transaction data indicating flow to and from particular web page properties.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving a drill down user request indication with respect to a particular property for which user behavior is reported; and

based on the aggregated historical raw transaction data, individually reporting on activity with respect to at least one page of the particular property.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the drill down user request indication indicates the at least one page.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the historical raw transaction data indicating flow to and from particular web page properties is aggregated to a page grain of the property.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the processing includes further aggregating the aggregated historical raw transaction data to a property grain, on the fly in response to the report request.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the aggregated historical raw transaction data includes data regarding page views for particular web page properties.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the data regarding page views for particular web page properties is aggregated to a page grain of the properties.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the aggregated historical raw transaction data includes data relative to activity with respect to advertisements.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the activity with respect to advertisements includes impressions.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the activity with respect to advertisements includes activations.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the data relative to activity with respect to advertisements includes at least one of the group consisting of advertisement position, advertisement category and advertisement type.

14. A system configured to report on user behavior relative to particular web pages, the user behavior originally represented by historical raw transaction data for the users with respect to the web pages comprising:

computer readable media having aggregated historical raw transaction data stored thereon, the aggregated historical raw transaction data resulting from processing a collection of the historical raw transaction data, the collection of historical raw transaction data including a plurality of records, each record including data for at least some of a plurality of keys, the keys generally corresponding to types of reports that may be requested, the processing including aggregating the historical raw transaction data;

wherein aggregating the historical raw transaction data according to at least some of the keys includes, for combinations of values for the at least some of the keys, summarizing the data of the records having those combinations of values of the at least some of the keys and storing the summarized data as the aggregated historical raw transaction data;

an on-the-fly query aggregation service configured to further aggregate the aggregated historical raw transaction data, on the fly in response to a report request, the report request indicating at least one key value that is in addition to any of the combinations of key values according to which the historical raw transaction data was aggregated, and

a reporting service configured to cause a report to be generated based on the result of further aggregating the aggregated historical raw transaction data.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the reporting service is further configured to:

receive a drill down user request indication with respect to a particular item for which user behavior is reported; and

based on the aggregated historical raw transaction data, individually report on activity with respect to sub-items of the particular item.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the aggregated historical raw transaction data includes historical raw transaction data indicating flow to and from particular web page properties.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the reporting service is further configured to:

receive a drill down user request indication with respect to a particular property for which user behavior is reported; and

based on the aggregated historical raw transaction data, individually report on activity with respect to at least one page of the particular property.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein:

the drill down user request indication indicates the at least one page.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein:

the historical raw transaction data indicating flow to and from particular web page properties is aggregated to a page grain of the property.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the on-the-fly query aggregation service configured to further aggregate the aggregated historical raw transaction data is configured to further aggregate the aggregated historical raw transaction data to a property grain, on the fly, in response to the report request.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the aggregated historical raw transaction data includes data regarding page views for particular web page properties.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein:

the data regarding page views for particular web page properties is aggregated to a page grain of the properties.

23. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the aggregated historical raw transaction data includes data relative to activity with respect to advertisements.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein:

the activity with respect to advertisements includes impressions.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein:

the activity with respect to advertisements includes activations.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein:

the data relative to activity with respect to advertisements includes at least one of the group consisting of advertisement position, advertisement category and advertisement type.

27. A computer program product for reporting on user behavior relative to particular web pages, the user behavior originally represented by historical raw transaction data for the users with respect to the web pages, the computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable medium having computer program instructions stored therein which are operable to cause at least one computing device to:

on-the-fly, in response to a report request, further aggregate already-aggregated historical raw transaction data, wherein the collection of historical raw transaction data including a plurality of records, each record including data for at least some of a plurality of keys, the keys generally corresponding to types of reports that may be requested and the already-aggregated historical raw transaction data is a result of processing a collection of the historical raw transaction data, including aggregating the historical raw transaction data according to at least some of the keys, without regard for particular report requests,

wherein aggregating the historical raw transaction data according to at least some of the keys includes, for combinations of values for the at least some of the keys, summarizing the data of the records having those combinations of values of the at least some of the keys and storing the summarized data as the aggregated historical raw transaction data; and

cause a report to be generated based on the result of further aggregating the aggregated historical raw transaction data.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the computer program instructions are further operable to cause the at least one computing device to:

receive a drill down user request indication with respect to a particular item for which user behavior is reported; and

based on the aggregated historical raw transaction data, individually report on activity with respect to sub-items of the particular item.

29. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein:

the aggregated historical raw transaction data includes historical raw transaction data indicating flow to and from particular web page properties.

30. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the computer program instructions are further operable to cause the at least one computing device to:

receive a drill down user request indication with respect to a particular property for which user behavior is reported; and

based on the aggregated historical raw transaction data, individually report on activity with respect to at least one page of the particular property.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein:

the drill down user request indication indicates the at least one page.

32. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein:

the historical raw transaction data indicating flow to and from particular web page properties is aggregated to a page grain of the property.

33. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein:

the on-the-fly query aggregation is configured to further aggregate the aggregated historical raw transaction data to a property grain, on the fly, in response to the report request.

34. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein:

the aggregated historical raw transaction data includes data regarding page views for particular web page properties.

35. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein:

the data regarding page views for particular web page properties is aggregated to a page grain of the properties.

36. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein:

the aggregated historical raw transaction data includes data relative to activity with respect to advertisements.

37. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein:

the activity with respect to advertisements includes impressions.

38. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein:

the activity with respect to advertisements includes activations.

39. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein:

the data relative to activity with respect to advertisements includes at least one of the group consisting of advertisement position, advertisement category and advertisement type.