Identifying user segment assignments

• US 8,838,522 B1
• Filed: 03/10/2011
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brundage, Michael L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hill, Stanley K
• Application Number:
  US13/044,609
• Time in Patent Office: 1,286 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 706/54
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 7/01 Probabilistic graphical models, e.g. probabilistic networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for identifying segment assignments of users within segments of interest. Historical user behavior associated with users for whom segment assignments within segments of interest is analyzed. Probabilities associating possible segment assignments within a segment of interest with user behavior are calculated. User behavior of anonymous users and/or users for which segment assignments are unknown can be determined along with a confidence score.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in a computing device, the program comprising:

code that identifies a plurality of users for which at least one segment assignment in at least one segment of interest is known based upon a respective user account of individual ones of the plurality of users;

code that identifies at least one of a plurality of historical user-behaviors that is logged by the computing device and that is associated with at least a subset of the users;

code that calculates for the at least one of the plurality of historical user behaviors, a percentage of the users in each possible segment assignment associated with the at least one segment of interest that exhibit the at least one of the plurality of historical user-behaviors;

code that stores the percentage in a data store;

code that identifies a subsequent user by observing a behavior associated with the subsequent user, the behavior corresponding to an interaction between the subsequent user and the computing device;

code that identifies one of the plurality of historical user behaviors corresponding to the behavior;

code that identifies a first segment of interest associated with the one of the plurality of historical user behaviors;

code that associates the subsequent user with a first segment assignment in the first segment of interest associated with the highest percentage of users for which the first segment assignment is known who have exhibited the behavior; and

code that calculates a confidence score associated with the first segment assignment of the subsequent user.

2. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device;

a data store in communication with the at least one computing device; and

a user behavior application executable in the at least one computing device, the user behavior application comprising;

logic that identifies at least one segment of interest among a user population;

logic that identifies a plurality of users from the user population with a known segment assignment in the at least one segment of interest based upon a respective user account associated with individual ones of the plurality of users;

logic that identifies at least one behavior of interest in connection with at least one of the plurality of users, the at least one behavior of interest retrieved from historical behavior data associated with a plurality of tracked user sessions stored in the data store;

logic that calculates a percentage of the plurality of users in each of a plurality of possible segment assignments associated with the at least one segment of interest who exhibit the at least one behavior of interest;

logic that stores the percentage in a data store;

logic that observes a user behavior associated with a subsequent user of the at least one computing device;

logic that determines whether the user behavior corresponds to the at least one behavior of interest; and

logic that assigns the subsequent user to a segment assignment in the at least one segment of interest associated with a highest percentage of users who are known to have exhibited the at least one behavior of interest.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the user behavior application further comprises logic that targets the subsequent user with content relevant to the segment assignment within the at least one segment of interest.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one behavior of interest further comprises a search term submitted to a search engine by the subsequent user.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one behavior of interest further comprises a hyperlink activated by the subsequent user.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one segment of interest further comprises at least one demographic category, the at least one demographic category being at least one of:

sex, age, income, race, marital status, familial status, home ownership status, employment status, language or a geographic location associated with the user.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the user behavior application further comprises logic that calculates a confidence score associated with the assignment of the subsequent user to the segment assignment based at least upon the highest percentage of users who are known to have exhibited the at least one behavior of interest.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the user behavior application further comprises:

logic that observes a second user behavior associated with the subsequent user;

logic that determines whether the second user behavior corresponds to another historical behavior associated with the at least one segment of interest;

logic that assigns the subsequent user to a segment assignment corresponding to the another historical behavior within the at least one segment of interest; and

logic that updates the confidence score associated with the assignment of the subsequent user to the segment assignment based at least upon the percentage associated with the segment assignment and the second user behavior.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the segment of interest further comprises a demographic category in which a user can be associated with at least one segment assignment.

10. A method, comprising:

identifying, in at least one computing device, a plurality of users for which at least one segment assignment in at least one segment of interest is known based upon a respective user account of individual ones of the plurality of users;

identifying, in the at least one computing device, at least one historical user behavior associated with at least a subset of the users;

calculating, in the at least one computing device, for the at least one historical user behavior, a percentage of users in at least one possible segment assignment associated with the at least one of segment of interest that exhibit the at least one historical user behavior;

storing, in the at least one computing device, the percentage in a data store accessible to the at least one computing device;

establishing, in the at least one computing device, a session associated with a subsequent user for which the at least one segment assignment in at least one segment of interest is unknown;

observing, in the at least one computing device, a behavior associated with the user;

identifying, in the at least one computing device, the at least one historical behavior corresponding to the behavior associated with the user;

identifying, in the at least one computing device, a segment of interest associated with the at least one historical behavior; and

associating, in the at least one computing device, the user with a first segment assignment in the segment of interest that is associated with a highest percentage of users for which the first segment assignment is known who have exhibited the observed behavior.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising targeting the subsequent user with content that is relevant to the first segment assignment in the segment of interest.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising calculating, in the at least one computing device, a confidence score associated with the first segment assignment.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the confidence score is based at least upon at least one of:

the percentage or a number of observations of user behavior.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

observing, in the at least one computing device, a plurality of subsequent behaviors associated with the subsequent user;

identifying, in the at least one computing device, at least one corresponding historical behavior corresponding to at least one of the subsequent behaviors;

identifying, in the at least one computing device, at least one segment of interest associated with the at least one corresponding historical behavior; and

updating, in the at least one computing device, the calculation of the confidence score when the at least one segment of interest associated with the at least one corresponding historical behavior is identical to the segment of interest.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein updating the calculation of the confidence score further comprises calculating, in the at least one computing device, an aggregate probability based at least upon on a plurality of observations of user behavior associated with the segment of interest, the confidence score that is updated being based at least upon the aggregate probability.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the confidence score is based at least upon a previous N observations of user behavior.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein updating the calculation of the confidence score further comprises performing, in the at least one computing device, a Bayesian inference on a plurality of observations of user behavior associated with the segment of interest.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one segment of interest further comprises a demographic category in which a user can be associated with at least one segment assignment.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one segment of interest further comprises at least one of:

sex, age, income, race, marital status, familial status, home ownership status, employment status, language or a geographic location associated with the user.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one behavior of interest further comprises a search term submitted to a search engine by a user.

21. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one behavior of interest further comprises a hyperlink activated by a user.