Systems and methods for configuring a website having a plurality of operational modes

• US 8,438,310 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2008
• Issued: 05/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sincro LLC (Ansira, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ADP Dealer Services Incorporated (CDK Global Incorporated)
• Inventors: Muilenburg, Matt, Piesche, Stefan, Zackrone, Keith D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Osman, Ramy Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US12/243,852
• Publication Number:
  US 20100082780A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,679 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/221, 709/224, 709/225, 709/246, 709/223, 709/203, 709/218, 705/27, 705/14
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

A plurality of affiliated websites are configured to log user interactions. The logs comprise user identification information that allows a profile aggregation service to correlate user interactions across the affiliated websites and to generate respective user profiles. The user profiles 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 business hierarchy. In addition, the CAP website may be configurable according to a user profile generated by a profile aggregation service.

Claims

1. A system for providing web services for a business hierarchy, comprising:

a web server comprising a processor and computer-readable storage media communicatively coupled to a network;

a website resident on the storage media of the webserver and made available on the network by the webserver, wherein the website is configurable to display content to a user in one of a plurality of operational modes, each operational mode corresponding to a geographic granularity of the business hierarchy, the operational modes including a local mode comprising content pertaining to a particular location, a regional mode comprising content pertaining to a plurality of locations, and a national mode comprising information pertaining to a plurality of regions; and

a configuration module communicatively coupled to the website to configure the website to display content to a user in a selected operational mode responsive to a request from the user for content from the web server, wherein the operational mode is selected based on a geographic granularity associated with the user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of operational modes corresponds to different geographic granularity within a franchise business hierarchy.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of operational modes comprises one or more operational modes corresponding to a business relationship within a franchise business hierarchy.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of operational modes comprises one or more operational modes corresponding to an advertising association within the business hierarchy.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of operational modes comprises one or more operational modes corresponding to an advertising campaign of the business hierarchy.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of operational modes comprises one or more operational modes corresponding to a marketing directive of the business hierarchy.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the configuration module is configured to detect an incoming request for content from a user and to determine an operational mode of the website using the incoming request.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the user request is generated by a search engine, and wherein the configuration module determines the operational mode of the website using a search term submitted to the search engine.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the user request comprises a network identifier, and wherein the configuration module determines the operational mode of the website using the network identifier.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the identifier is one selected from the group consisting of an Internet protocol address, a media access control value, and a hardware identifier.

11. The system of claim 7, further comprising a data storage module comprising a plurality of user profiles, and wherein the user request comprises a user identifier, and wherein the configuration module accesses a user profile from the data storage module using the user identifier.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the user profile comprises a preferred operational mode of the user, and wherein the website configuration module configures the website according to the preferred operational mode.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the website configuration module is to change an operational mode of the website responsive to user interaction with the website.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the user interaction with the website comprises a user selection of a region on a map interface of the website.

15. A method of providing web services for a business hierarchy, comprising:

providing a website capable of simultaneously operating in one of a plurality of operational modes, wherein each of the plurality of operational modes corresponds to a respective geographic granularity of the business hierarchy, the operational modes including a local mode comprising content pertaining to a particular location, a regional mode comprising content pertaining to a plurality of locations, and a national mode comprising information pertaining to a plurality of regions;

detecting an incoming request for web content from a user using a configuration module operating on a processor;

selecting an operational mode responsive to the request based upon a geographic granularity associated with the user; and

configuring the website to present content to the user according to the selected operational mode.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of operational modes comprise operational modes that correspond to a business relationship within the business hierarchy.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of operational modes comprise operational modes that correspond to an advertising association within the business hierarchy.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of operational modes comprise operational modes that correspond to a marketing directive of the business hierarchy.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining an operational mode of the website using the incoming request.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the incoming request is generated by a search engine, and wherein determining the operational mode comprises using a search term submitted to the search engine to determine one of the plurality of operational modes of the website.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the incoming request comprises a network identifier, and wherein the operational mode is determined using the network identifier.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the identifier is one selected from the group consisting of an Internet protocol address, a media access control value, and a hardware identifier.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the incoming request comprises a user identifier, the method further comprising accessing a user profile using the user identifier and using the user profile to determine the operational mode of the website.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the user profile comprises a preferred operational mode of the user, and wherein determining the operational mode of the website comprises selecting the preferred operational mode from the user profile.

25. The method of claim 15, further comprising changing an operational mode of the website responsive to activity of a user on the website.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the user activity comprises a user selection of a region on a map displayed on the website.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the user activity comprises a user input of a location identifier to the website.

28. The method of claim 15, further comprising managing search engine marketing at one or more search engines for the business hierarchy.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein managing search engine marketing comprises managing bidding for one or more keywords relevant to the business hierarchy.

30. A method of providing web services for a business hierarchy, comprising:

providing a website capable of simultaneously operating in one of a plurality of operational modes, wherein each of the plurality of operational modes corresponds to a respective geographic granularity of the business hierarchy, the operational modes including a local advertising association mode comprising content of a local advertising association, an advertising association mode comprising content of a plurality of local advertising associations, and a national mode comprising content of a plurality of advertising associations;

detecting an incoming request for web content from a user using a configuration module operating on a processor;

selecting an operational mode responsive to the request based upon a geographic granularity associated with the user; and

configuring the website to present content to the user according to the selected operational mode.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the plurality of operational modes comprise operational modes that correspond to advertising business relationships within the business hierarchy.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the plurality of operational modes comprise operational modes that correspond to a marketing directive of the business hierarchy.

33. The method of claim 30, further comprising determining an operational mode of the website using the incoming request.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the incoming request is generated by a search engine, and wherein determining the operational mode comprises using a search term submitted to the search engine to determine one of the plurality of operational modes of the website.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the incoming request comprises a network identifier, and wherein the operational mode is determined using the network identifier.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the identifier is one selected from the group consisting of an Internet protocol address, a media access control value, and a hardware identifier.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the incoming request comprises a user identifier, the method further comprising accessing a user profile using the user identifier and using the user profile to determine the operational mode of the website.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the user profile comprises a preferred operational mode of the user, and wherein determining the operational mode of the website comprises selecting the preferred operational mode from the user profile.

39. The method of claim 30, further comprising changing an operational mode of the website responsive to activity of a user on the website, wherein the user activity comprises one of a user selection of a region on a map displayed on the website and a user input of a location identifier to the website.