GENERATING A USER PROFILE BASED ON SELF DISCLOSED PUBLIC STATUS INFORMATION

• US 20110225048A1
• Filed: 03/09/2010
• Published: 09/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nair, Rahul
• Granted Patent: US 10,074,094 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.66
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A method, device and/or medium for generating a user profile based on an online user'"'"'s self disclosed public status information. An indication may be received of updates self-published by the user at one or more sites. At least one context regarding the user may then be determined based on the published updates, and the context(s) may be employed to infer at least one attribute of the user. A profile of the user may then be determined based at least on the inferred attribute(s). The determined profile may be employed to enable an advertisement to be provided to the user. In this way, a heuristic may be provided for predicting advertising content that may be of interest to the user based on self-published information about the user. Thus, relevant advertisements may be more accurately targeted to those users who may be most interested in their content.

Claims

1. A method for providing a profile of an online user based on at least one published update associated with the online user, comprising:

receiving an indication of the at least one published update that is provided by the online user;

determining at least one context regarding the online user based on the at least one published update;

employing the at least one context to determine at least one attribute of the online user;

providing the profile of the online user, based at least in part on the determined at least one attribute; and

employing the profile to enable an advertisement to be provided to the online user, wherein the advertisement is at least associated with the at least one attribute.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the at least one published update is associated with at least one of a blog, a social networking site, a micro-blog, a chat service, an online forum, or an online album.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one published update includes at least one of a location, a product, a service, or an activity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein employing the at least one context to determine at least one attribute of the online user further comprises correlating the at least one context.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one attribute is at least one of a leisure attribute, a professional attribute, a dating attribute, or a demographic attribute for the online user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the profile includes providing a new profile of the online user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the profile includes updating an existing profile of the online user.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising incorporating the provided profile into a general profile of the online user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the profile of the online user is further based on general information associated with the online user and published by the online user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein employing the at least one context to determine the at least one attribute of the online user includes determining a frequency at which the at least one context occurs in the at least one published update, and wherein the at least one attribute is further based on the determined frequency.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein employing the at least one context to determine the at least one attribute of the online user further includes:

determining a number of sites that publish the at least one published update used to determine the at least one context; and

determining that the number of sites exceeds a predetermined threshold number.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the published update is published on a micro-blog.

13. A network device for providing a profile of an online user based on at least one published update associated with the online user, comprising:

a network interface to send and receive data over a network; and

a processor that performs actions, including;

receiving an indication of the at least one published update that is provided by the online user;

determining at least one context regarding the online user based on the at least one published update;

employing the at least one context to determine at least one attribute of the online user;

providing the profile of the online user, based at least in part on the determined at least one attribute; and

employing the profile to enable an advertisement to be provided to the online user, wherein the advertisement is at least associated with the at least one attribute.

14. The network device of claim 13, wherein employing the at least one context to determine at least one attribute of the online user further comprises correlating the at least one context.

15. The network device of claim 13, wherein employing the at least one context to determine the at least one attribute of the online user includes determining a frequency at which the at least one context occurs in the at least one published update, and wherein the at least one attribute is further based on the determined frequency.

16. The network device of claim 13, wherein employing the at least one context to determine the at least one attribute of the online user further includes:

determining a number of sites that publish the at least one published update used to determine the at least one context; and

determining that the number of sites exceeds a predetermined threshold number.

17. A processor readable storage medium storing processor executable instructions for providing a profile of an online user based on at least one published update associated with the online user, that enable a processor to perform actions comprising:

receiving an indication of the at least one published update that is provided by the online user;

determining at least one context regarding the online user based on the at least one published update;

employing the at least one context to determine at least one attribute of the online user;

providing the profile of the online user, based at least in part on the determined at least one attribute; and

employing the profile to enable an advertisement to be provided to the online user, wherein the advertisement is at least associated with the at least one attribute.

18. The processor readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the published update is published on a micro-blog.

19. The processor readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein employing the at least one context to determine the at least one attribute of the online user includes determining a frequency at which the at least one context occurs in the at least one published update, and wherein the at least one attribute is further based on the determined frequency.

20. The processor readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein employing the at least one context to determine the at least one attribute of the online user further includes:

determining a number of sites that publish the at least one published update used to determine the at least one context; and

determining that the number of sites exceeds a predetermined threshold number.