APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR DATA COLLECTION, ANALYSIS AND SERVICE MODIFICATION BASED ON ONLINE ACTIVITY

• US 20160241579A1
• Filed: 02/16/2016
• Published: 08/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Harman, Richard, Watson, John W., Turner, Christopher, Arnhold, Phil, Durham, Brian, Stovall, Barbara, Roosenraad, Chris
• Granted Patent: US 10,116,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1425 Traffic logging, e.g. anomaly detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1466 Active attacks involving interception, injection, modification, spoofing of data unit addresses, e.g. hijacking, packet injection or TCP sequence number attacks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for evaluating collected data relating to online activity, and modification of services within a service provider network. In one embodiment, a service provider collects data relating to the online activity of users of third-party services and correlates the data with subscribers of the service provider to generate useful products and analytics (e.g., classifications, behavioral models, etc.) containing information relating to the subscribers'"'"' online activity. The generated products may be used to determine whether and how to modify services provided to individual subscribers, exported for use by third parties, or for other purposes.

Claims

1. Computer readable apparatus comprising a non-transitory storage medium, the non-transitory medium comprising at least one computer program having a plurality of instructions, the instructions configured to, when executed on a processing apparatus:

pre-process first data, at least portion of the first data obtained from a plurality of different data sources and relating to Internet activity;

obtain second data relating to one or more users of a service provider network;

correlate at least portions of the second data to at least a portion of the first data in order to derive at least one metric indicative of a behavior of the one or more users; and

generate data relating to the at least one metric, the data relating to the at least one metric useful for substantially automated management of online activity of the one or more users within the service provider network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pre-processing of the first data comprises at least one of (i) filtration of at least portions of the first data;

(ii) normalization of at least portions of the first data and/or (iii) validation of at least portions of the first data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the obtainment of the second data comprises obtainment from one or more subscriber databases maintained by an operator of the service provider network.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to, when executed, generate, based at least one the generated one or more metrics, one or more logical decision structures for use in subsequent management of the online activity of the user.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the one or more logical decision structures for use in subsequent management of the online activity of the user comprise one or more interactive voice response (IVR) decision trees for implementation on a then-current user IVR support call.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of instructions are further configured to, when executed, generate, based at least one the generated one or more metrics, one or more service modifications for implementation on the user'"'"'s account.

7. A method performed by processing apparatus of an online service provider for modifying services based on collected data relating to online activity, the method comprising:

collecting data from a third-party data source;

transforming the data into information that is indicative of online activity of a plurality of users;

correlating the information with individual subscribers of the online service provider to generate activity records of the individual subscribers; and

modifying services provided to the individual subscribers based at least in part on the generated activity records.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

storing the collected data, the transformed data, and the correlated information in one or more storage devices; and

providing access to the collected data, the transformed data, and the correlated information stored in the one or more storage devices.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

partitioning the correlated information based on variable partitioning criteria;

storing the partitioned information in one or more storage devices; and

providing access to the partitioned information stored in the one or more storage devices.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein transforming the data comprises:

normalizing the data to extract the information that is indicative of the online activity of the plurality of users.

11. A method performed by processing apparatus of an online service provider for modifying services based on collected data relating to online activity comprising:

collecting a plurality of data;

creating a plurality of activity records for a plurality of subscribers based at least in part on the plurality of data, the plurality of activity records being representative of online activity of the plurality of subscribers;

applying a weighting factor to individual ones of the plurality of activity records;

compiling an aggregate score for an individual subscriber based at least in part on weighted activity records;

comparing the aggregate score of the individual subscriber to a pre-determined threshold value; and

modifying services provided to the individual subscriber based at least in part on a result of the comparison of the aggregate score to the pre-determined threshold value.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein collecting the plurality of data comprises:

collecting at least a portion of the plurality of data from one or more third-party data sources.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein collecting the plurality of data comprises:

collecting at least a portion of the plurality of data from a data source of the online service provider.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein creating the plurality of activity records for the plurality of subscribers based at least in part on the plurality of data comprises:

normalizing the plurality of data to extract information relating to online activity of the plurality of subscribers; and

correlating the normalized data with subscriber information to create the plurality of activity records for the plurality of subscribers.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein applying the weighting factor to the individual ones of the plurality of activity records comprises:

categorizing the plurality of activity records based on activity type; and

applying the weighting factor corresponding to the activity type of the individual ones of the plurality of activity records.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein applying the weighting factor to the individual ones of the plurality of activity records comprises:

applying a negative weighting factor to individual ones of the plurality of activity records that are categorized as a negative activity type; and

applying a positive weighting factor to individual ones of the plurality of activity records that are categorized as a positive activity type.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein compiling the aggregate score for the individual subscriber based at least in part on the weighted activity records comprises:

adding both positive and negative scores of individual ones of the plurality of activity records associated with the individual subscriber.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein compiling the aggregate score for the individual subscriber based at least in part on the weighted activity records comprises:

adding only negative scores of individual ones of the plurality of activity records associated with the individual subscriber.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein compiling the aggregate score for the individual subscriber based at least in part on the weighted activity records comprises:

adding only positive scores of individual ones of the plurality of activity records associated with the individual subscriber.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein comparing the aggregate score of the individual subscriber to the pre-determined threshold value comprises:

comparing the aggregate score of the individual subscriber to a threshold value associated with a subscriber type corresponding to the individual subscriber.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein comparing the aggregate score of the individual subscriber to the pre-determined threshold value comprises:

comparing the aggregate score of the individual subscriber to a threshold value that is based on a number of devices associated with a profile of the individual subscriber.

22. The method of claim 11, wherein modifying services provided to the individual subscriber based at least in part on the result of the comparison of the aggregate score to the pre-determined threshold value comprises:

performing a remediation of negative online activity in response to the result of the comparison indicating that the individual subscriber has exceeded a threshold limit of permissible negative online activity.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein performing the remediation comprises one or more of (i) adjusting bandwidth, (ii) disabling service, (iii) disabling one or more features, (iv) re-routing service, (v) requiring verification of identity, or (vi) providing an alert.

24. The method of claim 11, wherein modifying services provided to the individual subscriber based at least in part on the result of the comparison of the aggregate score to the pre-determined threshold value comprises:

providing enhanced services in response to the result of the comparison indicating that the individual subscriber has exceeded a threshold level of positive online activity.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein providing the enhanced services comprises one or more of (i) adjusting bandwidth, (ii) enabling advanced services, (iii) relaxing security measures, and (iv) re-routing service.

26. A system for detecting and remediating illicit online activity within a service provider network, the system comprising a plurality of client devices, the system comprising:

an activity manager in communication with the plurality of client devices via one or more service nodes of the network, the activity manager comprising processing apparatus configured to execute one or more computer programs; and

storage apparatus in data communication with the activity manager and comprising at least one computer program, the at least one computer program configured to, when executed on the processing apparatus;

collect first data relating to online activity;

identify an illicit online activity associated with at least one of said plurality of client devices based on second data relating particularly to the at least one client device and the collected first data; and

in response to said identification of said illicit online activity, cause at least selection and provision of an advertisement or promotion that is contextually related to the identified activity.