Cookie derivatives

• US 9,104,778 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2009
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Trueffect, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Trueffect, Inc.
• Inventors: Casteel, Glynne, Neal, Greg, Hill, Ron
• Primary Examiner(s): Rostami, Mohammad S
• Application Number:
  US12/629,842
• Publication Number:
  US 20100145960A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,078 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2465 Query processing support for facilitating data mining operations in structured databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

Cookie derivatives and methods for generating cookie derivatives are provided. A cookie derivative comprises a transformation of at least one portion of data associated with a cookie (e.g., a name and/or data value). The cookie derivative may comprise a persistent or non-persistent cookie derivative that may be stored on a user'"'"'s computing device (e.g., within a browser). The cookie derivative may alternatively comprise a virtual cookie derivative that is stored on a server (e.g., in a log file, a cache, or other data storage of the server).

Claims

1. A method for providing a virtual cookie derivative comprising:

receiving a request for content at a first party server, the request for content including at least one cookie associated with a first party domain of an advertiser;

transforming a value component of a name/value pair of cookie data associated with the at least one cookie in response to the request for content to generate a temporary virtual cookie derivative at the first party server, the temporary virtual cookie derivative residing on the first party server for a limited period of time and comprising a derivative data value derived from the data associated with the at least one cookie wherein the operation of transforming cookie data comprises removing privacy related information of the cookie data, wherein the temporary virtual cookie derivative is discarded or written over after a limited number of transactions;

passing the virtual cookie derivative to a third party ad server outside of the first party domain of the advertiser;

evaluating, at the third party ad server, the derivative data value of the cookie derivative against targeting data to determine advertisement content to be returned in response to the request for content; and

returning the determined advertisement content from the third party ad server in response to the request for content,

wherein the at least one cookie is not modified at a client browser.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the cookie data is received at the first party server with a browser request.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein non-cookie data is used in generating the cookie derivative.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the non-cookie data is inserted into a query search string by a web page.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the cookie data is encoded in the cookie derivative.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the cookie data is obfuscated in the cookie derivative.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the cookie data is redacted in the cookie derivative.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual cookie derivative comprises a non-persistent virtual cookie derivative.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual cookie derivative comprises a persistent cookie derivative.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising storing the virtual cookie derivative in a server cache.

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising storing the virtual cookie derivative in a log file.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the virtual cookie derivative comprises a temporary virtual cookie derivative.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual cookie derivative comprises data aggregated from at least two cookies.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the at least two cookies are segregated within the first party domain.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the at least two cookies are originated from different parties within the first party domain.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the operation of transforming cookie data comprises transforming privacy related information of the cookie data.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the operation of transforming privacy related information of the cookie data comprises at least one of the group:

redacting, obfuscating, and encoding the privacy related information of the cookie data.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the operation of passing the virtual cookie derivative comprises embedding the virtual cookie derivative into a URL query string.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the temporary virtual cookie derivative is discarded after the operation of evaluating, at the third party ad server, the derivative data value of the cookie derivative.

26. The method of claim 1 wherein the temporary virtual cookie derivative is discarded after a single or limited number of transactions.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the temporary virtual cookie derivative is written over after the single or limited number of transactions.

28. The method of claim 1 wherein the temporary virtual cookie derivative is stored only in cache such that it will be overwritten on a subsequent transaction.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions for execution on a processor to perform a method comprising:

receiving a request for content at a first party server, the request for content including at least one cookie associated with a first party domain of an advertiser;

transforming a value component of a name/value pair of cookie data associated with the at least one cookie in response to the request for content to generate a temporary virtual cookie derivative at the first party server, the temporary virtual cookie derivative residing on the first party server for a limited period of time and comprising a derivative data value derived from the data associated with the at least one cookie wherein the operation of transforming cookie data comprises removing privacy related information of the cookie data, wherein the temporary virtual cookie derivative is discarded or written over after a limited number of transactions;

passing the virtual cookie derivative to a third party ad server outside of the first party domain of the advertiser;

evaluating, at the third party ad server, the derivative data value of the cookie derivative against targeting data to determine advertisement content to be returned in response to the request for content; and

returning the determined advertisement content from the third party ad server in response to the request for content,

wherein the at least one cookie is not modified at a client browser.

17. A method for providing a virtual cookie derivative comprising:

receiving a request for content at a first party server, the request for content including at least one cookie associated with a content provider domain;

transforming a value component of a name/value pair of cookie data associated with the at least one cookie in response to the request for content to generate a temporary virtual cookie derivative at the first party server, the temporary virtual cookie derivative residing on the first party server for a limited period of time and comprising a derivative data value derived from the data associated with the at least one cookie, wherein the operation of transforming cookie data comprises removing privacy related information of the cookie data, wherein the temporary virtual cookie derivative is discarded or written over after a limited number of transactions;

passing the virtual cookie derivative to a third party server outside of the content provider domain;

evaluating, at the third party server, the derivative data value of the cookie derivative against targeting data to determine advertisement content to be returned in response to the request for content; and

returning the determined advertisement content from the third party server in response to the request for content,

wherein the at least one cookie is not modified at a client browser.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the operation of transforming cookie data comprises integrating data associated with the virtual cookie derivative with a least one other media type.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the at least one other media type includes at least one of a publisher, an ad network, creative customization solutions, third-party ad servers.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the operation of transforming cookie data associated with the at least one cookie to generate a virtual cookie derivative is performed in real time.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein the virtual cookie derivative is configured to be recognized outside of a domain associated with the at least one cookie.