CONTENT RANKING AND SERVING ON A MULTI-USER DEVICE OR INTERFACE

• US 20130317828A1
• Filed: 05/25/2012
• Published: 11/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Greenzeiger, Michael Froimowitz, Sanghavi, Mehul K., Phulari, Ravindra
• Granted Patent: US 9,633,368 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute

Abstract

The effectiveness of targeted content delivery at a multi-user interface can be directly linked to a proper targeting of users. A way of improving targeted content delivery at a multi-user interface can be to determine which users should be targeted based on one or more criteria. The present technology provides various methodologies for selecting one or more users associated with a multi-user interface to receive targeted content. Such users can be selected based on criteria associated with a ranking or priority of the users, criteria associated with an analysis of their interactions with the multi-user interface, criteria based on their most common characteristics, or any combination thereof. The user characteristics associated with such identified used can then be utilized to determine which content should be delivered to the multi-user interface.

Claims

1. A method for providing content at a multi-user interface, comprising:

obtaining user characteristics for a plurality of users associated with the multi-user interface;

applying a set of derivation rules to the user characteristics to derive a set of user characteristics for the multi-user interface; and

selecting content for the multi-user interface based on the set of user characteristics.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining further comprises:

receiving registration information for at least one user of the plurality of users; and

accessing stored user data to retrieve the user characteristics for the one user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining further comprises:

associating a portion of user interactions at the multi-user interface to one user of the plurality of users; and

generating the user characteristics for the one user based at least on the portion of the user interactions.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the user interactions comprise of at least one of an audio interaction, a visual interaction, a textual interaction, or gestural interaction.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of derivation rules specify selecting as the set of user characteristics a portion of the user characteristics most common among the plurality of users.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the applying further comprises computing a ranking for the plurality of users, and wherein the set of derivation rules further specify a weighting for determining the portion of the user characteristics based on the ranking.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality instructions for causing a computing device to perform the steps of:

ascertaining user characteristics for a plurality of users associated with the multi-user interface;

applying a set of derivation rules to the user characteristics to derive a set of user characteristics for the multi-user interface; and

forwarding the set of derivation s rules to a content delivery system.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the ascertaining further comprises:

analyzing user interactions at the multi-user interface;

attributing each of the user interactions to one of the plurality of users to yield attributed interactions;

associating a user characteristic to each of the plurality of users based on the attributed interactions.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the user interactions comprise of at least one of an audio interaction, a visual interaction, a textual interaction, or gestural interaction.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the analyzing further comprises determining at least one of a type, a content, or a biometric characteristic of the user interaction.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the applying further comprises computing a ranking for the plurality of users, and wherein the set of derivation rules specify selecting as the set of user characteristics a portion of the user characteristics associated with a portion of the plurality of users associated with a rank meeting a ranking criteria.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the obtaining of the ranking further comprises:

identifying a hierarchical structure for the plurality of users; and

determining the ranking based on the hierarchical structure.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the set of derivation rules specify that if the set of user characteristics fails to meet a minimum set criteria, selecting a default set of user characteristics.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the selecting further comprises determining the content based at least on the set of user characteristics and a current content of the multi-user interface.

15. A system for providing content at a multi-user interface, comprising:

a characteristic selection system that obtains user characteristics for a plurality of users associated with the multi-user interface and applies a set of derivation rules to the user characteristics to derive a set of user characteristics for the multi-user interface; and

a content delivery system for selecting content for the multi-user interface based on the set of user characteristics.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the characteristic selection system obtains the user characteristics by receiving registration information for at least one user of the plurality of users and accessing stored user data to retrieve the user characteristics for the one user.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the characteristic selection system obtains the user characteristics by associating a portion of user interactions at the multi-user interface to one user of the plurality of users and generating the user characteristics for the one user based at least on the portion of the user interactions.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the characteristic selection system further computes a ranking for the plurality of users, and wherein the set of derivation rules specify selecting as the set of user characteristics a portion of the user characteristics associated with a portion of the plurality of users associated with a rank meeting a ranking criteria.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of derivation rules specify that if the set of user characteristics fails to meet a minimum set criteria, selecting a default set of user characteristics.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the content delivery system selects the content by determining the content based at least on the set of user characteristics and a current content of the multi-user interface.

21. A method for providing content at a multi-user interface, comprising:

ascertaining user characteristics for a plurality of users associated with the multi-user interface based on user interactions at the multi-user interface;

applying a set of derivation rules to the user characteristics to derive a set of user characteristics for the multi-user interface; and

forwarding the set of derivation s rules to a content delivery system.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the ascertaining further comprises:

analyzing the user interactions at the multi-user interface;

attributing each of the user interactions to one of the plurality of users to yield attributed interactions;

associating a user characteristic to each of the plurality of users based on the attributed interactions.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the user interactions comprise at least vocal interactions at the multi-user interface.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the analyzing further comprises determining the biometrical aspects of the vocal interactions.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the applying further comprises obtaining a ranking and wherein obtaining the ranking further comprises:

analyzing user interactions at the multi-user interface;

comparing the user interactions for the plurality of users to an interaction criteria to determine the ranking.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the interaction criteria specifies at least one of a frequency criteria, a type criteria, or a content criteria associated with a higher ranking.