Personalizing an online service based on data collected for a user of a computing device

• US 8,620,935 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2012
• Issued: 12/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rubin, Mark, Hein, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): MORRISON, JAY A
• Application Number:
  US13/531,337
• Publication Number:
  US 20120330980A1
• Time in Patent Office: 557 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/754
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

An Internet or other online service is personalized or customized based on data collected for a user of a computing device. In one embodiment, a method includes: storing a plurality of person profiles for persons associated with communications received by a user of a computing device; receiving data associated with an online service; and filtering, using at least one processor, the data based on the plurality of person profiles, wherein the filtered data is for display to the user on the computing device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

storing a plurality of person profiles for persons associated with communications received by a user of a computing device, wherein each of the persons associated with the communications received by the user is a sender to the user of one of the communications;

ranking the plurality of person profiles;

creating a list of persons on an online service, the creating using message addresses and online service identifiers to determine persons of the plurality of person profiles that are active on the online service;

receiving data associated with the online service, wherein the data is a feed from the online service that is based on the list of persons, and the feed comprises a respective message from each of the list of persons; and

filtering, using at least one processor, the data based on the plurality of person profiles, wherein the filtered data is for display to the user on the computing device, and wherein the filtering comprises selecting only a portion of the messages in the feed for display based on the ranking.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a mobile device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, or a computing apparatus for presenting information on an advertising display or electronic billboard.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a server includes the at least one processor, and the method further comprising sending the filtered data to the computing device for display.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing data associated with prior activities of the user on the computing device, and wherein the filtering the data is further based on the stored data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device includes the at least one processor, and the method further comprising presenting, using a display of the computing device, the filtered data to the user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the presenting comprises displaying the portion of the messages in the feed from the online service.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising suggesting to the user a list of persons to be followed on the online service based on the persons determined to be active on the online service.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective message is a tweet.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions, which when executed, cause a computing apparatus to:

store, using at least one processor, a plurality of person profiles for persons associated with communications received by a user of a computing device, wherein each of the persons associated with the communications received by the user is a sender to the user of one of the communications;

rank the plurality of person profiles, wherein the ranking is a relevancy ranking;

create a list of persons available on an online service;

receive a feed from the online service that is based on the list of persons, wherein the feed comprises a respective message from each of the list of persons; and

customize the feed based on the plurality of person profiles, wherein the customizing comprises selecting only a portion of the feed from the online service for display to the user based on the ranking.

10. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein a server includes the at least one processor, and the instructions further cause the computing apparatus to send the customized feed to the computing device for display.

11. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the computing apparatus to store data associated with prior activities of the user on the computing device, and wherein the customizing of the feed is further based on the stored data.

12. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one processor to;

store a plurality of person profiles for persons associated with communications received by a user of a computing device, wherein each of the persons associated with the communications received by the user is a sender to the user of one of the communications;

determine a set of persons of the person profiles that are active on an online service;

filter the set of persons to provide a plurality of highly-ranked persons, the filtering based on the plurality of person profiles, and the filtering comprising selecting a portion of a feed from the online service based on a relevancy ranking for each of the plurality of person profiles; and

create a list using the highly-ranked persons, wherein the list is for presentation to the user on the computing device, and the list comprises a respective message from each of the highly-ranked persons.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions are further configured to instruct the at least one processor to collect communications associated with the computing device.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the system further comprises a display, and wherein the instructions are further configured to instruct the at least one processor to present, using the display, the list to the user.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising a database storing the plurality of person profiles.