Customizing content displayed for a user based on user preferences of another user

• US 9,053,189 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2010
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ifwe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Ifwe Inc.
• Inventors: Hoag, Andrew J., Fitch-Cook, Elisha J.
• Primary Examiner(s): WENG, PEI YONG
• Application Number:
  US12/728,176
• Publication Number:
  US 20110231778A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,908 Days
• Field of Search: 715/745
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation

Abstract

In one embodiment, a server receives a request from a first user to share content from a first forum (e.g., a webpage) with a second user. In response, the server generates a link to the content for use by the second user. This link includes a pointer to a first user preference associated with the first user. In some instances, the first user preference is stored in conjunction with a unique identifier associated with the first user. Subsequently, when the second user attempts to access the content, the server generates a second webpage that includes the content. The server customizes the webpage (that is to be displayed to the second user) by using the user preferences associated with the first user.

Claims

1. A method for displaying personalized information, the method comprising:

generating a first plurality of preferences for a first user based on a monitoring of usage histories of the first user in a first forum;

providing an option for the first user to select, from the first forum, a content associated with a subset of the first plurality of preferences;

receiving a request from the first user to share, with a second user, the selected content associated with the subset of the first plurality of preferences;

in response to the request from the first user to share the selected content associated with the subset of the first plurality of preferences, generating, for use by the second user, a link to the selected content, wherein said generating comprises including, in the link to the selected content, a pointer to the first plurality of preferences; and

upon receiving an access request from the second user to access the link to the selected content associated with the subset of the first plurality of preferences, generating, based on the pointer to the first plurality of preferences included in the link, a customized presentation of a second forum for display to the second user, said generating comprising generating customized content based on the first plurality of preferences associated with the pointer included in the link, wherein the customized presentation is generated to include the customized content and the selected content shared by the first user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a first unique identifier for the first user; and

storing the first plurality of preferences in conjunction with the first unique identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first forum is a first webpage, and the second forum is a second webpage.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first webpage and the second webpage are customized variations of web content displayed by a given website provider.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the link to the selected content is a URL to the second forum.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a second plurality of preferences for the second user based on the monitoring of usage histories of the second user in the second forum; and

providing a second option for the second user to select a second content associated with a subset of the second plurality of preferences, wherein the second plurality of preferences is stored in conjunction with a second unique identifier associated with the second user.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a second request from either the first user or the second user to share, with a third user, the second content associated with the subset of the second plurality of preferences;

generating, for use by the third user, a second link to the second content associated with the subset of the second plurality of preferences, wherein said generating comprises including, in the second link to the second content, the pointer to the first plurality of preferences of the first user and a pointer to the second plurality of preferences of the second user;

upon receiving a second access request from the third user to access the second link to the second content associated with the subset of the second plurality of preferences, generating, based on the pointers to the first and second plurality of preferences included in the second link, a second customized presentation of a third forum for display to the third user, said generating comprising generating second customized content based on the first and second plurality of preferences associated with the pointers included in the second link, wherein the second customized presentation is generated to include the second customized content and the second content shared by either the first user or the second user.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

generating a third plurality of preferences for the third user based on the monitoring of usage histories of the third user in the third forum;

providing a third option for the third user to select a third content associated with a subset of the third plurality of preferences;

maintaining a preference network comprising links to the first plurality of preferences, the second plurality of preferences, and the third plurality of preferences, wherein the preference network includes a combination of the first plurality of preferences, the second plurality of preferences, and the third plurality of preferences.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized content associated with the first plurality of preferences comprises any of:

a customized advertisement, a customized local event listing, a customized news article, movie suggestion, or music suggestion.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions for implementing a method for customizing content displayed in a webpage, comprising:

instructions for generating a first plurality of preferences for a first user based on a monitoring of usage histories of the first user in a first webpage provided by a first website provider;

instructions for providing an option for the first user to select, from the first webpage, a first content associated with a subset of the first plurality of preferences;

instructions for receiving a request from the first user to share, with a second user, a target link to the first content of the first webpage;

instructions for generating a link address to the target link, wherein said generating comprises storing a first unique identifier associated with the first user in conjunction with the first plurality of preferences and including, in the link address, a pointer to the first unique identifier;

instructions for providing the link address to the first user to enable the first user to share the link address with the second user;

instructions for identifying an access request by the second user to access the target link through the link address; and

instructions for generating a presentation of a second webpage for display to the second user, said generating comprising generating customized content based on the first plurality of preferences stored in conjunction with the first unique identifier included in the link address, wherein the presentation of the second webpage is generated to include the customized content and the first content associated with the subset of the first plurality of preferences.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, further comprising:

instructions for generating a second plurality of preferences for the second user based on the monitoring of usage histories of the second user in the second webpage; and

instructions for providing a second option for the second user to select, from the second webpage, a second content associated with a subset of the second plurality of preferences, wherein the second plurality of preferences is stored in conjunction with a second unique identifier associated with the second user.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein, subsequent to the instructions for providing the second option for the second user to select the second content associated with the subset of the second plurality of preferences, further comprising:

instructions for identifying a second access request from the first user to access a given webpage provided by the first website provider; and

instructions for generating second customized content for the given webpage for display to the first user based on the second plurality of preferences of the second user.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein, subsequent to the instructions for providing the second option for the second user to select the second content associated with the subset of the second plurality of preferences, further comprising:

instructions for identifying a second access request from the first user to access a given webpage provided by the first website provider; and

instructions for generating second customized content for the given webpage based on a combination of the first plurality of preferences and the second plurality of preferences.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, further comprising:

instructions for storing a link between the first plurality of preferences and the second plurality of preferences;

instructions for maintaining a common set of user preferences shared between the first plurality of preferences and the second plurality of preferences; and

instructions for utilizing the common set of user preferences for generating customized webpages requested by the first user and/or the second user.

14. A method for customizing content displayed in a webpage, the method comprising:

identifying, by an administration server, a first user of a first webpage provided by a first website provider;

assigning, by the administration server, a first unique identifier to the first user;

generating, by the administration server, a first plurality of preferences for the first user based on a monitoring of usage histories of the first user in the first webpage;

storing, by the administration server, an association between the first plurality of preferences and the first unique identifier;

receiving, by the administration server, a request from the first user to share, with a second user, a given target of the first webpage, the given target including given content associated with a subset of the first plurality of preferences of the first user;

generating, by the administration server, a link address to the given target, wherein said generating comprises including, in the link address to the given target, a pointer to the first unique identifier, the first unique identifier pointing to the first plurality of preferences of the first user based on the stored association;

identifying, by the administration server, an access request by the second user to access the given target through the link address; and

generating, by the administration server, customized content of a second webpage for display to the second user based on the first plurality of preferences associated with the first unique identifier that is included in the link address to the given target, wherein the customized content is generated to include new content associated with the first plurality of preferences and the given content included in the given target shared by the first user.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

generating, by the administration server, a second plurality of preferences for the second user based on the monitoring of usage histories of the second user in the second webpage;

identifying, by the administration server, a second access request by the first user to access a given webpage provided by the first website provider; and

generating, by the administration server, a given customized content of the given webpage for display to the first user based on the second plurality of preferences of the second user.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

identifying a third access request by the first user to access a second given webpage provided by the first website provider; and

generating a second given customized content of the second given webpage based on a combination of the first plurality of preferences and the second plurality of preferences.

17. A method for displaying personalized content, the method comprising:

generating a first plurality of preferences for a first user based on a monitoring of usage histories of the first user in a first forum;

providing an option for the first user to select a content associated with a subset of the first plurality of preferences;

receiving a request from the first user to share, with a second user, the content from the first forum, the content associated with the subset of the first plurality of preferences;

generating a link to the content for use by the second user, wherein said generating comprises including, in the link to the content, a pointer to a combined user preference network, the combined user preference network including the first plurality of preferences and a selected plurality of preferences associated with selected one or more other users; and

upon receiving an access request from the second user to access the link, generating, based on the pointer to the combined user preference network included in the link, a customized presentation of a second forum for display to the second user, said generating comprising generating customized content based on the combined user preference network, wherein the customized presentation is generated to include the customized content and the content shared by the first user.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

establishing unique identifiers for the first user and the selected one or more other users; and

storing the first plurality of preferences and the selected plurality of preferences in conjunction with the unique identifiers.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the first forum is a first webpage, and the second forum is a second webpage.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first webpage and the second webpage are customized variations of web content displayed by a given website provider.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the link to the content is a URL to the second forum.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

generating a second plurality of preferences for the second user based on the monitoring of usage histories of the second user in the second forum; and

providing a second option for the second user to select a second content associated with a subset of the second plurality of preferences, wherein the second plurality of preferences is stored in conjunction with a second unique identifier associated with the second user resulting in an updated combined user preference network.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving a second access request from the first user or the second user to share a given content with a third user;

generating a second link to the given content for use by the third user, wherein said generating comprises including, in the second link to the given content, a pointer to the updated combined user preference network, the updated combined user preference network including pointers to the first plurality of preferences, the selected plurality of preferences, and the second plurality of preferences; and

upon receiving a second access request from the third user to access the second link, generating, based on the updated combined user preference network included in the second link, a second customized presentation of a third forum for display to the third user.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

generating a third plurality of preferences for a third user based on the monitoring of usage histories of the third user in the third forum; and

providing a third option for the third user to select a third content associated with a subset of the third plurality of preferences, the third plurality of preferences stored in conjunction with a third unique identifier associated with the third user;

maintaining the combined preference network, wherein the combined preference network includes a combination of the second plurality of preferences, the selected plurality of preferences, the second plurality of preferences, and the third plurality of preferences.

25. A system for customizing content displayed in a webpage, the system comprising:

a hardware memory storage device;

a preference manager configured to generate a first plurality of preferences for a first user based on a monitoring of usage histories of the first user in a first webpage provided by a first website provider;

a first receiver module configured to receive a request from a first user to share, with a second user, a target link of the first webpage provided by the first website provider, wherein the target link includes target content associated with a subset of the first plurality of preferences;

a link address generation module, in communication with the preference manager, configured to;

store the first plurality of preferences in association with a first unique identifier associated with the first user;

generate a link address to the target link, wherein to generate comprises to include, in the link address, a pointer to the first unique identifier associated with the first user, the first unique identifier pointing to the first plurality of preferences of the first user based on the stored association;

provide the link address to the first user to enable the first user to share the link address with the second user;

a second receiver module configured to identify an access request by the second user to access the target link through the link address; and

a content generation module configured to generate a content of a second webpage for display to the second user based on the first plurality of preferences associated with the first unique identifier that is included in the link address, wherein the content of the second webpage is generated to include new content associated with the first plurality of preferences and the target content included in the target link shared by the first user.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising an identifier module to generate the first unique identifier of the first user.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the preference manager is further configured to:

generate a second plurality of preferences for the second user based on the monitoring of usage histories of the second user in the second webpage.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein:

the identification module is further configured to identify an access request by the first user to access a given webpage provided by the first website provider; and

the content generation module is further configured to generate, for display to the first user, a given content of the given webpage based on the second plurality of preferences associated with the second user.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the preference manager is further configured to:

store a link between the first plurality of preferences and the second plurality of preferences;

maintain a common set of user preferences shared between the first plurality of preferences and the second plurality of preferences; and

generate customized content of webpages by utilizing the common set of user preferences upon a given request by any of the first user or the second user.

29. The system of system 27, wherein:

the identification module is further configured to identify an access request by the first user to access a given webpage provided by the first website provider; and

the content generation module is further configured to generate, for display to the first user, a given content of the given webpage based on a combination of the first plurality of preferences and the second plurality of preferences.