Systems and methods for configuring a network of affiliated websites

• US 8,051,159 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2008
• Issued: 11/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sincro LLC (Ansira, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The Cobalt Group Incorporated (Automatic Data Processing Incorporated)
• Inventors: Muilenburg, Matt, Piesche, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): Salad; Abdullahi
• Application Number:
  US12/243,861
• Publication Number:
  US 20100082778A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,126 Days
• Field of Search: 709200-223, 709/226, 705/7.34, 705/7.29
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration

Abstract

A plurality of affiliated network of websites may be configured to log user interactions thereon. The respective logs may comprise user identification information to allow a profile aggregation service to correlate user interactions across the plurality of websites and to generate respective user profiles, which may be used to configure the websites. A context aware platform (CAP) website may be configured to provide web services for entities in a business hierarchy. The CAP website may capable of presenting content in one of a plurality of operational modes associated with a geographical granularity of the franchise hierarchy. In addition, the CAP website may be configurable according to a user profile generated using user interactions across a plurality of websites and/or on the CAP website.

Claims

1. A system for customizing a website, comprising:

a webserver communicatively coupled to a network, the webserver comprising a processor and computer-readable storage media comprising a configurable website, wherein the configurable website operates in one of a plurality of operational modes, each operational mode corresponding to a geographic granularity of a business hierarchy;

a computer-readable storage media comprising a plurality of user profiles communicatively coupled to the website;

an asset library resistant on a computer-readable storage media comprising assets available for use on the website;

a website configuration module resident on a computer-readable storage media, the website configuration module communicatively coupled to the website, the storage media, and the asset library,

wherein the website configuration module is configured to,

detect a user request directed to the website from a particular user,

obtain a user profile of the particular user from the data storage module,

determine a geographic granularity within the business hierarchy based on the user profile,

select an operational mode from the plurality of operational modes of the website based upon the determined geographic granularity and the user profile,

select a business entity in the business hierarchy based on the determined geographic granularity and location information of the user profile, and

generate a website configuration according to the selected operational mode and the location information using an asset associated with the selected business entity in the asset library.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the website configuration module is configured to transmit the website configuration to the website responsive to the user request.

3. The system of claim 1, where the website is one of a plurality of websites comprising a network of affiliated websites, and wherein the plurality of user profiles stored in the data storage module comprise user profile information obtained by logging user interactions on the plurality of websites in the network of affiliated websites.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of website layout assets available for use on the website, and wherein the website configuration module configures the website to use a selected one of the plurality of website layout assets according to layout preference in the particular user profile of the particular user.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of website content assets available for use on the website, and wherein the website configuration module configures the website to display a selected one or more of the plurality of content assets according to a content preference in the particular user profile of the particular user.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of promotional content items available for use on the website, and wherein the website configuration module configures the website to display a selected one of the plurality of promotional content items according to the user profile of the particular user.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein eligibility for a promotion associated with a particular promotional content item is based upon a user demographic and wherein the website configuration module configures the website to display the particular promotional content item based on a demographic in the user profile of the particular user.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein eligibility for a promotion associated with a particular promotional content item is predicated upon a geographic location and wherein the website configuration module configures the website to use the particular promotional content item based on a geographic location in the user profile of the particular user.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of different interfaces to perform a particular function on the website, and wherein the website configuration module configures the website to use one of the plurality of interfaces based on an interface preference in the user profile of the particular user.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the user profile comprises an indication of a ripeness of a particular user to purchase a product or service offered by the website, and wherein the website configuration module selects content from the asset library based on the ripeness indication in the user profile of the particular user.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of offer-related content items and a plurality of research-related content items, and wherein the website configuration module is to configure the website to display the offer-related content items if the ripeness of the particular user indicates the user is ready to make a purchase of a product or service offered by the website and is to display the research-related content items if the ripeness of the particular user indicates the user is not ready to make a purchase of a product of service offered by the website.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the business hierarchy is a franchise business hierarchy comprising a plurality of franchises offering products of a manufacturer.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of parallel marketing directives capable of being displayed on the website, and wherein the website configuration module selects one or more of the parallel marketing directives to display on the website based on the user profile of the particular user.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the website is a vehicle dealer website, the system further comprising a data aggregation module communicatively coupled to an inventory system of the vehicle dealer to obtain an inventory comprising a plurality of configured vehicles therefrom, and wherein the website configuration module is to configure the website to present one or more of the plurality of configured vehicles based on the user profile of the particular user.

14. The system of 12, wherein the manufacturer is a vehicle manufacturer and the business hierarchy comprises vehicle dealers.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the user profile comprises a vehicle type preference, and wherein the website configuration module is configured to pre-populate an interface on the website with the vehicle type preference.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the interface pre-populated by the website configuration module is a vehicle configurator interface.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the user profile comprises a vehicle option preference, and wherein the website configuration module is configured to pre-populate an interface on the website with the vehicle option preference.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the interface pre-populated by the website configuration module is a vehicle inventory search interface.

20. A method of customizing a website, comprising:

detecting an incoming request from a particular user to the website;

determining an identifier from the user request;

obtaining a user profile of the particular user from a data storage module using the identifier;

determining a geographic granularity within a business hierarchy based on the user profile;

selecting an operational mode from a plurality of operational modes based upon the determined geographic granularity and the user profile;

selecting a business entity in the business hierarchy based on the determined geographic granularity and location information of the user profile;

accessing an asset associated with the selected business entity in an asset library comprising a plurality of assets available for use on the website; and

generating a website configuration for the website according to the selected operational mode and the location information and the asset associated with the selected business entity.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising transmitting the generated website configuration to the website responsive to the user request.

22. The method of claim 20, where the website is part of a network of affiliated websites, and the user profile of the particular user comprises user profile information obtained by logging user interactions of the particular user on a plurality of the plurality of websites in the network of affiliated websites.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of website layout assets available for use on the website, and wherein generating a website configuration comprises selecting one of the plurality of website layout assets according to layout preference in the user profile of the particular user.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of website content assets available for use on the website, and wherein generating a website configuration comprises selecting one or more of the plurality of content assets according to a content preference in the user profile of the particular user.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of promotional content items available for use on the website, and wherein generating a website configuration comprises selecting one or more of the plurality of promotional content items according to the user profile of the particular user.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein eligibility for a promotion associated with a particular promotional content item is predicated on a user demographic and wherein generating a website configuration comprises selecting the particular promotional item based on a demographic in the user profile of the particular user.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein eligibility for a promotion associated with a particular promotional content item is predicated upon a geographic location of a user and wherein generating a website configuration comprises selecting the particular promotional item based on a geographic location in the user profile of the particular user.

28. The method of claim 20, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of interfaces, wherein each of the plurality of interfaces is to perform substantially the same function on the website, and wherein generating a website configuration comprises selecting one of the plurality of interfaces to perform the function based on an interface preference in the user profile of the particular user.

29. The method of claim 20, wherein the user profile comprises an indication of a ripeness of the particular user to purchase a product or service offered by the website, and wherein generating a website configuration comprises selecting content from the asset library based on the ripeness indication.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of offer-related content items and a plurality of research-related content items, and wherein generating a website configuration comprises selecting the offer-related content items if the user profile of the particular user indicates the user is ready to make a purchase of a product or service offered by the website and to configure the website to display the research-related content items otherwise.

31. The method of claim 20, wherein the business hierarchy comprises a plurality of franchises offering products of a manufacturer.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the asset library comprises a plurality of parallel marketing directives capable of being displayed on the website, and wherein generating a website configuration comprises selecting one or more of the parallel marketing directives for display on the website based on the user profile of the particular user.

38. The method of claim 20, wherein the website is a vehicle dealer website, the method further comprising:

accessing an inventory system of the vehicle dealer to obtain an inventory comprising a plurality of configured vehicles therefrom; and

selecting one or more of the plurality of configured vehicles based on the user profile of the particular user,

wherein generating a website configuration comprises configuring the website to present the one or more selected configured vehicles.

33. The method of 31, wherein the manufacturer is a vehicle manufacturer and the business hierarchy comprises vehicle dealers.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the user profile comprises a vehicle type preference, and wherein the method further comprises pre-populating an interface on the website with the vehicle type preference.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the interface is a vehicle configurator interface.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the user profile comprises a vehicle option preference, and wherein the method further comprises pre-populating an interface on the website with the vehicle option preference.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the interface is a vehicle inventory search interface.

39. A system for configuring a website comprising:

a website on a web server communicatively coupled to a network, wherein the website is configured to operate according to one of a plurality of operational modes, each operational mode corresponding to a geographic granularity of a business hierarchy;

a data storage module comprising a plurality of user profiles communicatively coupled to the network of affiliated websites;

an asset library comprising a plurality of assets available for use on the website; and

a website configuration module to perform a method for configuring the website, comprising;

detecting a user request directed to the website from a particular user,

determining a user profile identifier from the user request,

obtaining a user profile of the particular user from the data storage module using the identifier,

determining a geographic granularity within a business hierarchy based on the user profile,

selecting an operational mode from the plurality of operational modes based upon the determined geographic granularity and the user profile,

selecting a business entity in the business hierarchy based on the determined geographic granularity and location information of the user profile,

selecting a plurality of assets associated with the selected business entity from the asset library,

determining if the website has access to the selected plurality of assets, and

providing the plurality of assets to the website if the website does not yet have access to the selected plurality of assets.