DATA SOURCE ATTRIBUTION SYSTEM

• US 20150248493A1
• Filed: 05/14/2015
• Published: 09/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LiveRamp, Inc. (LiveRamp Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LiveRamp, Inc. (LiveRamp Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: HOFFMAN, Auren, SHAH, Manish, LIZT, Jeremy, SODERA, Vivek
• Granted Patent: US 10,346,487 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A data attribution system uses a unique identifier (UID) that uniquely identifies a particular individual. A search is conducted of different data sources and, different types of profile information associated with the UID is extracted from the data sources. The different types of profile information associated with the same UID is aggregated together and displayed in a same screen presentation on a user interface.

Claims

1. A method for accumulating and displaying profile information, comprising:

conducting a search of different websites for different types of profile information associated with a particular person;

extracting any of the different types of profile information associated with the particular person identified on the different websites;

aggregating together the different types of profile information associated with the identified person;

displaying the different types of profile information extracted from the different websites together from a same website on a series of one or more web pages; and

identifying in the one or more web pages which of the different websites provided which of the different types of profile information.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying on the same web pages when the particular person last actively accessed the different websites that supplied the different types of profile information displayed on the web pages.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying on the same web pages how long the particular person has been a member of the different websites that supplied the different types of profile information displayed on the web pages.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining a same type of profile information from multiple different websites;

identifying reliability factors for the different websites; and

prioritizing which of the same type of profile information is displayed on the web pages according the reliability factors identified for the different websites.

5. The method according to claim 4 further comprising assigning the reliability factors to the different websites according to how long the particular person has been a member of the different websites or according to when the particular person last accessed the different websites.

6. The method according to claim 4 further comprising assigning the reliability factors to the different websites according to a classification of the websites'"'"' overall content and reliability.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising selectively preventing displaying selectable different types of the profile information or identities of selectable different websites that supplied the different types of profile information.

8. A website including one or more processors, comprising:

an administration module configured to identify unique identifiers;

a backend data indexer module configured to search for and extract different types of profile information associated with the unique identifiers from different data sources;

a database system configured to accumulate and index the different types of profile information extracted from the different data sources; and

a user interface module configured to display together part or all of the different types of accumulated profile information obtained from the different data sources.

9. The website of claim 8 wherein:

the indexer module is configured to include source identifiers with the different types of information extracted that identify which of the different data sources provided the different types of information; and

the user interface module is configured to display the source identifiers together with the different types of accumulated information on the user interface.

10. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein at least some of the different data sources are contained on different social websites and the indexer module is configured to automatically search the multiple different social websites to extract at least some of the different types of profile information from personal profile data contained on the social websites.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein the indexer module is configured to extract at least some of the different types of profile information from particular individuals associated with the unique identifiers.

12. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein the administration module is configured to identify users who have accessed the different types of profile information associated with the unique identifiers and display the users on the user interface.

13. A method, comprising:

identifying priorities for different types of profile information for a person, wherein the profile information is contained on different websites;

searching the different websites in an order based on the priorities for the different types of profile information for the person;

aggregating together the different types of profile information associated with the person;

displaying the different types of profile information aggregated together; and

identifying which of the different websites provided which of the different types of profile information.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

comparing the priorities and the different types of profile information from the different websites;

identifying same types of the profile information on the different websites; and

displaying one of the same types of profile information from one of the websites having a higher priority.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising identifying the priorities for the different types of profile information based on how long the person has been a member of the different websites.

16. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

identifying activity times of the user on the different websites; and

identifying the priorities for the different websites based on the activity times.

17. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

identifying a first one of the websites having a highest priority;

extracting a first one of the different types of profile information from the first one of the websites;

identifying a second one of the different types of profile information missing from the first one of the websites;

identifying a second one of the websites having a second highest priority;

extracting the second one of the different types of profile information from the second one of the websites; and

aggregating the first one of the different types of profile information from the first one of the websites with the second one of the different types of profile information from the second one of the websites.

18. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

extracting some of the profile information from a first one of the websites;

extracting some of the profile information from a second one of the websites;

identifying a portion of the profile information from the first one of the websites and a portion of the profile information from the second one of the websites as being a same one of the different types of profile information; and

displaying the portion of the profile information from the first one of the websites or the portion of the profile information from the second one of the websites having a higher reliability.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

logic circuitry configured to;

identify a unique identifier (UID) identifying an individual;

conduct a search of different data sources and extract profile information associated with the UID;

identify priorities for the different data sources;

combine together the profile information extracted from the different data sources based on the priorities assigned to the different data sources; and

display the profile information combined together from the different data sources.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to assign the priorities to the different data sources based on how long the individual has been affiliated with the different data sources.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to assign the priorities to the different data sources based on when the individual last accessed the different data sources.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the logic circuitry is further configured to:

identify a first one of the data sources having a highest priority;

extract a first portion of the profile information from the first one of the data sources;

identify a second portion of the profile information missing from the first one of the data sources;

identify a second one of the data sources having a second highest priority;

extract the second portion of the profile information from the second one of the data sources; and

aggregate the first portion of the profile information from the first one of the data sources with the second portion of the profile information from the second one of the data sources.