System and method for facilitating personalization of applications based on anticipation of users' interests

• US 8,108,425 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2010
• Issued: 01/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Feng, Andrew An, Pulliam, Joel
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Son T
• Application Number:
  US12/879,917
• Publication Number:
  US 20100332543A1
• Time in Patent Office: 508 Days
• Field of Search: 707/781, 707/804
• US Class Current: 707/781
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers

Abstract

Embodiments for facilitating personalization of applications based on anticipation of users'"'"' interests are provided. In one preferred embodiment, a communication session is established with a user. Data related to user activities conducted by the user are collected during the communication session. Finally, collected data are processed according to one or more predetermined rules to obtain anticipated interests data used in personalization of applications for the user and the anticipated interests data are further stored in a user database.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising steps of:

establishing, by a session processor, a communication session with a user;

collecting data, by an activities processor, related to user activities conducted by the user during the communication session; and

processing, by a data processor, the data according to at least one predetermined rule to obtain anticipated interests data used in personalization of applications for the user;

wherein the user activities comprise using a calendar application and using an e-mail account and wherein when the calendar application includes no entries, then the e-mail account is displayed shortly after launching the calendar application and when the calendar application contains multiple entries, then the e-mail account is displayed after a predetermined period of time, calculated to enable the user to review all of the multiple entries.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising steps of:

storing the anticipated interests data in a user database.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the establishing step further comprises steps of:

receiving, by a receiving processor, a request to initiate the communication session from the user;

when authorization to collect the data is required, transmitting, by a transmitting processor, a personalization form to the user in a message window of an interface area, the personalization form enabling the user to authorize collection of the data; and

receiving the authorization to collect the data from the user through the message window of the interface area.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the collecting step further comprises steps of:

analyzing, by an analyzing processor, the collected data; and

filtering out, by a filtering processor, predetermined user activities performed by the user during the communication session based on predetermined policy requirements.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the collected data further comprise any of types of the user activities, dates and times of the user activities, content sources accessed by the user during the communication session, clickstream events representing web pages visited by the user during the communication session, and transactions performed by the user during the communication session.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processing step further comprises steps of:

retrieving, by a receiving processor, the at least one predetermined rule from a rules database;

retrieving, by a retrieving processor, metadata associated with the at least one predetermined rule from a content metadata database; and

applying, by an applying processor, the at least one predetermined rule to the collected data.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the at least one predetermined rule further comprises at least one parameter used to set a state of at least one switch within a user database, each switch being associated with an instance of the anticipated interests data and indicating an anticipated interest by the user in a particular interest area or content source.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the at least one parameter further comprises any of a target parameter indicating traffic in the particular interest area, a predetermined time period parameter for setting the state of the at least one switch, a frequency count parameter within the predetermined time period, and a repetition parameter indicating a repetition of the predetermined time period.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the applying step further comprises steps of:

analyzing, by an analyzing processor, the data according to the at least one parameter of the at least one predetermined rule; and

setting, by a state setting processor, the state of the at least one switch within the user database to reflect the anticipated interest of the user.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising steps of:

receiving, by a receiving processor, a request for the anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences associated with the user and stored in a user database;

when the anticipated interests data are available in the user database, retrieving the anticipated interests data;

when the user-specified preferences are available in the user database, retrieving the user-specified preferences; and

transmitting, by a transmitting processor, the retrieved anticipated interests data and the retrieved user-specified preferences for further predication of a set of personalized services to be displayed for the user.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the anticipated interests data and the user-specified preferences are used to create a personalized user interface area containing at least one content window, each window including access to an entity preferred by the user.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising steps of:

receiving, by a receiving processor, a request for the anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences associated with the user and stored in a user database;

when the anticipated interests data are not available in the user database, receiving the anticipated interests data collected and processed in real-time; and

transmitting, by a transmitting processor, the retrieved anticipated interests data and the user-specified preferences for further predication of a set of personalized services to be displayed for the user.