HARVESTING APPLICATION METADATA

• US 20100131505A1
• Filed: 02/26/2009
• Published: 05/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Erickson, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,496 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/736
• 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 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method for harvesting application metadata includes receiving metadata from a web application and storing the metadata to a metadata collection. The metadata indicates a characteristic of a web application user. The metadata collection identifies the user and may include metadata from other web applications. The advertisement is then characterized. For example, keywords may be associated with the advertisement. An affinity between the advertisement and the user is then determined and an indication of the affinity is recorded. When the affinity exceeds a predetermined threshold, the user may be identified as a potential target of the advertisement. The service provider may then identify the potential targets to the advertiser or provide the advertisement to the targets on behalf of the advertiser. The web application may be compensated for providing the metadata. The compensation may occur in response to the metadata resulting in identifying the user as a potential target.

Claims

1. A method for harvesting application metadata, comprising:

receiving metadata from a web application, wherein the metadata is indicative of a characteristic of a user of the web application;

storing the received metadata to a metadata collection, the metadata collection including an identifier for the web application user and metadata for the web application user from a plurality of web applications;

characterizing an advertisement;

based on the characterization of the advertisement and the metadata collection, determining an affinity between the advertisement and the web application user; and

recording an indication of the affinity to a storage device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the affinity exceeds a predetermined threshold, identifying the user as a potential target of the advertisement.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

informing a source of the advertisement of a set of potential targets for the advertisement.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said informing comprises charging a fee to the source for said informing.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

targeting the user to receive the advertisement.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

charging a source of the advertisement a fee for said providing.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the fee charged is based at least in part on a magnitude of the affinity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata includes chronological information indicative of when the user interaction occurs.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata includes location information indicative of a geographic location associated with the user interaction.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the user characteristic is selected from the group consisting of a preference, an interest, a consumption, and a behavior of the user.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving is performed for a first plurality of users, wherein each of the first plurality of users corresponds to one of a first plurality of user metadata collections.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

compensating an entity associated with the web application for the metadata.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said compensating accrues when said metadata is used to identify the user as a potential target of the advertisement.

14. A computer program product, comprising computer readable storage media including instructions for harvesting metadata, the instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving metadata each of a plurality of web applications, wherein the metadata is indicative of a characteristic of a user of the corresponding application;

collecting the metadata from the plurality of web applications for a specified user in a user profile;

responsive to receiving an indication of an item selected from a product, service, or advertising criteria, determining an affinity between a user profile and the item;

disseminating information based on the affinity information to a vendor of the product or service; and

responsive to including metadata information relevant to a particular item, compensating an entity associated with the applicable web application.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein disseminating information based on the affinity information includes indicating whether a particular user is a member of a target group.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the affinity is indicative of a relevance of the item to the user.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the characteristic of the user represents a preference, interest, consumption pattern, or a behavior of the user.

18. A computing device including processor and memory, accessible to the processor, including processor executable instructions for harvesting metadata, the instructions comprising instructions for:

grouping metadata received from a plurality of web applications into user profiles, each user profile representing metadata for a corresponding user, the metadata being indicative of a characteristic of a web application user;

determining an affinity between a user represented by a user profile and a product or service represented by an advertisement or advertisement criteria;

making targeted marketing information, based on the determined affinity, available to a vendor; and

compensating web application owners based on a value of metadata provided by their respective web applications.

19. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the characteristic is selected from a preference of the user, a consumption history of the user, and a behavior of the user.

20. The computing device of claim 18, wherein making targeted marketing information available includes providing an indication of a group of users wherein having affinities exceeding a specified threshold.

21. The computing device of claim 18, wherein making targeted marketing information available includes determining from a group of advertisements which are best suited for a specified user.