System and computer method for visually guiding a user to a current interest

• US 9,323,786 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2015
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ask Sydney, LLC
• Original Assignee: Hungry-For-More Enterprises, L.L.C.
• Inventors: Epstein, Sydney Nicole, Epstein, Paul Lawrence, Mari, Luka
• Primary Examiner(s): Pond, Rob
• Application Number:
  US14/827,205
• Publication Number:
  US 20160048537A1
• Time in Patent Office: 256 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

System and computer-implemented method of analyzing tags associated with a sequence of images presented to a user to present a current interest of the user is disclosed. An image from among a plurality of images is presented on an electronic display. The image is associated with a set of tags. An input is received indicating a user'"'"'s preference for the image. A plurality of tags is processed based on the preference and the set of tags to determine a next set of tags from the plurality of tags. A next image is determined from the plurality of images based on the next set of tags. The next image represents a physical object, different from a physical object represented by the previous image. A sequence of images is generated by repeating the above process with the next image in place of the previous image for present a user'"'"'s current interest.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, from an electronic device associated with a user, an indication of an instance of an application executed on the electronic device, wherein the application, together with one or more computer devices, is configured to direct the user to a current interest associated with a category of physical objects;

determining, by the one or more computer devices, a plurality of tags specific to the user, from among a pool of tags, based on each tag of the plurality of tags specific to the user being associated with a profile of the user;

transmitting, from the one or more computer devices, one electronic image, from among a plurality of electronic images stored on the one or more computer devices, to the electronic device, the one electronic image representing a physical object within the category of physical objects and being associated with one set of tags from the plurality of tags specific to the user, each tag of the one set of tags describing or characterizing attributes of the physical object represented by the one electronic image;

causing a presentation of only the one electronic image from among the plurality of electronic images on a display of the electronic device;

receiving, from the electronic device, an input from the user indicating a preference for the physical object represented by the one electronic image;

processing, by the one or more computer devices, the plurality of tags specific to the user based on the preference and the one set of tags to determine a next set of tags from the plurality of tags specific to the user, the processing including;

in response to the preference for the physical object represented by the one electronic image being negative and the one electronic image being a first electronic image presented to the user during a session of directing the user to the current interest, removing the tags of the one set of tags from the plurality of tags specific to the user that are processed to determine the next set of tags, for a remainder of the session of directing the user to the current interest;

in response to the preference for the physical object represented by the one electronic image being negative and the one electronic image being not the first electronic image presented to the user during the session of directing the user to the current interest, removing tags of the one set of tags that are new relative to an immediately previous set of tags from the plurality of tags specific to the user that are processed to determine the next set of tags, for the remainder of the session of directing the user to the current interest; and

in response to the preference for the physical object represented by the one electronic image being positive, determining at least one additional tag from the plurality of tags specific to the user to add to the one set of tags, generating the next set of tags, the determining the at least one additional tag comprising;

determining weightings of the tags within the plurality of tags specific to the user based, at least in part, on (i) a number of times each tag of the plurality of tags specific to the user appears with at least one of the one or more tags of the one set of tags for the plurality of electronic images, and (ii) a number of times each tag of the plurality of tags specific to the user is associated with a positive and/or a negative preference by the user; and

determining the at least one additional tag based on the at least one additional tag having a highest weighting among the plurality of tags specific to the user;

determining, by the one or more computer devices, a next electronic image from the plurality of electronic images associated with the next set of tags, the next electronic image representing a different physical object within the category of physical objects and the next set of tags describing or characterizing attributes of the different physical object represented by the next electronic image; and

generating a sequence of electronic images presented to the user one at a time on the display of the electronic device by repeating the transmitting, the causing, the receiving of the input, the processing, and the determining of the next electronic image during the session with the next electronic image in place of the one electronic image to direct the user to the current interest associated with the category of physical objects.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one set of tags includes primary tags and secondary tags, and the tags removed from the plurality of tags specific to the user are only the primary tags.

3. The method of claim 1, in response to the preference for the physical object represented by the one electronic image being negative, the processing of the plurality of tags further comprising:

determining tags, from the plurality of tags specific to the user are, having a threshold association with one or more tags of the one set of tags; and

removing the tags having the threshold association from the plurality of tags specific to the user are that are processed to determine the next set of tags, for the remainder of the session.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the weightings of the tags is based, at least in part, on the profile of the user, physical objects associated with the tags satisfying a threshold association, locations corresponding to the physical objects associated with the tags satisfying a threshold association, entities corresponding to the physical objects associated with the tags satisfying a threshold association, or a combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 1, in response to the preference for the physical object represented by the one electronic image being neutral, the processing of the plurality of tags comprising:

determining the next set of tags based on the next set of tags not including the one set of tags corresponding to the electronic image, for a remainder of the session.

6. The method of claim 5, in response to the preference for the physical object represented by the one electronic image being neutral, the processing of the plurality of tags further comprising:

determining tags, from the plurality of tags specific to the user are, having a threshold association with one or more tags of the one set of tags; and

determining the next set of tags based on the next set of tags not including a tag from the one set of tags and a tag from the tags having the threshold association, for the remainder of the session.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the plurality of electronic images from the pool of electronic images based on each electronic image of the plurality of electronic images being associated with at least one tag of the plurality of tags specific to the user are.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

randomly selecting the one electronic image from among the plurality of electronic images as a first electronic image of the sequence of electronic images of the session.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a location associated with the user, the electronic device, or a combination thereof; and

selecting the plurality of electronic images from the pool of electronic images based on each electronic image of the plurality of electronic images being associated with the location.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

logging the one or more inputs during the generating of the sequence of electronic images as interactions of the user with one or more tags, one or more sets of tags, one or more electronic images, one or more physical objects, one or more physical entities associated with the physical objects, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

modifying associations between (1) tags, (2) sets of tags, (3) an electronic image and a tag, a set of tags, or a combination thereof, or (4) a combination thereof based on the interactions.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, via the user interface of the electronic device, an input by the user indicating that a last electronic image of the sequence of electronic images presented to the user represents the current interest of the user.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a location associated with the user, the electronic device, or a combination thereof; and

presenting, via the display of the electronic device, a list of physical entities proximate the location that provide a physical object represented by the last electronic image.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, via the user interface of the electronic device, an input by the user selecting one of the physical entities provided in the list; and

presenting, via the display of the electronic device, a user interface element displaying a profile associated with the selected physical entity.

15. One or more computer-readable, non-transitory, storage media encoding machine-readable instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause operations to be carried out, the operations comprising:

receiving, from an electronic device associated with a user, an indication of an instance of an application executed on the electronic device, wherein the application, together with one or more computer devices, is configured to direct the user to a current interest associated with a category of physical objects;

determining, by the one or more computer devices, a plurality of tags specific to the user, from among a pool of tags, based on each tag of the plurality of tags specific to the user being associated with a profile of the user;

transmitting, from the one or more computer devices, one electronic image, from among a plurality of electronic images stored on the one or more computer devices, to the electronic device, the one electronic image representing a physical object within the category of physical objects and being associated with one set of tags from the plurality of tags specific to the user, each tag of the one set of tags describing or characterizing attributes of the physical object represented by the one electronic image;

causing a presentation of only the one electronic image from among the plurality of electronic images on a display of the electronic device;

receiving, from the electronic device, an input from the user indicating a preference for the physical object represented by the one electronic image;

processing, by the one or more computer devices, the plurality of tags specific to the user based on the preference and the one set of tags to determine a next set of tags from the plurality of tags specific to the user, the processing including;

in response to the preference for the physical object represented by the one electronic image being negative and the one electronic image being a first electronic image presented to the user during a session of directing the user to the current interest, removing the tags of the one set of tags from the plurality of tags specific to the user that are processed to determine the next set of tags, for a remainder of the session of directing the user to the current interest;

in response to the preference for the physical object represented by the one electronic image being negative and the one electronic image being not the first electronic image presented to the user during the session of directing the user to the current interest, removing tags of the one set of tags that are new relative to an immediately previous set of tags from the plurality of tags specific to the user that are processed to determine the next set of tags, for the remainder of the session of directing the user to the current interest; and

in response to the preference for the physical object represented by the one electronic image being positive, determining at least one additional tag from the plurality of tags specific to the user to add to the one set of tags, generating the next set of tags, the determining the at least one additional tag comprising;

determining weightings of the tags within the plurality of tags specific to the user based, at least in part, on (i) a number of times each tag of the plurality of tags specific to the user appears with at least one of the one or more tags of the one set of tags for the plurality of electronic images, and (ii) a number of times each tag of the plurality of tags specific to the user is associated with a positive and/or a negative preference by the user, and

determining the at least one additional tag based on the at least one additional tag having a highest weighting among the plurality of tags specific to the user;

determining, by the one or more computer devices, a next electronic image from the plurality of electronic images associated with the next set of tags, the next electronic image representing a different physical object within the category of physical objects and the next set of tags describing or characterizing attributes of the different physical object represented by the next electronic image; and

generating a sequence of electronic images presented to the user one at a time on the display of the electronic device by repeating the transmitting, the causing, the receiving of the input, the processing, and the determining of the next electronic image during the session with the next electronic image in place of the one electronic image to direct the user to the current interest associated with the category of physical objects.