Electronic commerce personalized content delivery system and method of operation

• US 7,050,989 B1
• Filed: 03/16/2000
• Issued: 05/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Coremetrics Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Hurt, Brett A., Henning, Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): DURAN, ARTHUR D
• Application Number:
  US09/526,754
• Time in Patent Office: 2,259 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14
• US Class Current: 705/14.51
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A personalized content delivery system provides personalized content to e-commerce customers visiting client web pages. A content management server, a data aggregation server, a personalization/segmentation database and a content management interface server interconnect via a data network or the Internet/WWW. Client web pages reside upon client web servers and upon third party web servers and contain personalized content delivery code (PCDC), which is executed when a customer computer receives the web page. Upon execution of the PCDC, the customer computer sends a query across the Internet to the content management server, the query identifying the client and the customer computer identity and may include a secondary client identifier. In response to the query, the content management server identifies personalized content corresponding to the client and to the customer computer identity. The personalized content is an image, an executable file, video content, audio content, streamed media, a banner ad or other content. The personalized content address and additional information is then returned to the customer computer, which then retrieves the personalized content for presentation to the e-commerce customer.

Claims

1. A system for providing personalized content to an e-commerce customer at a customer computer, the system comprising:

a web page stored on a client web server and that is downloadable to the customer computer, the web page comprising;

at least one image to be displayed on the customer computer; and

personalized content delivery code to be executed by the customer computer that causes the customer computer to;

retrieve an identity of the e-commerce customer if saved on the customer computer;

create an identity of the e-commerce customer if the identity of the e-commerce customer is not saved on the customer computer;

retrieve a session ID if saved on the customer computer;

create a session ID if the session ID is not saved on the customer computer or if the session ID that is saved on the customer computer is expired; and

send a query to a content management server that includes the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer, and the session ID;

a content management server that receives the query from a customer computer via a data network;

the content management server identifying personalized content to be displayed to the e-commerce customer on the customer computer, wherein the personalized content is identified based upon the identity of the client and the identity of the e-commerce customer; and

the content management server returning a response to the customer computer via the data network that identifies the personalized content.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the query also includes a secondary identifier that relates to the client; and

the content management server also uses the secondary identifier to identify the personalized content.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the identity of the personalized content corresponds to an image to be displayed to the e-commerce customer on the customer computer.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the identity of the personalized content corresponds to an executable file to be executed by the customer computer.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the content management server identifies the personalized content via a table lookup operation in which the identity of the e-commerce customer serves as an index.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data aggregation server that receives e-commerce customer information corresponding to the query from the content management server, the e-commerce customer information including the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer and the identity of the personalized content.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising a personalization/segmentation database coupled to the data aggregation server, the personalization/segmentation database storing e-commerce customer information for a plurality of e-commerce customers.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

a content management interface server coupled to the personalization/segmentation database and to the content management server;

wherein the content management interface server supports the association of personalized content to segments of e-commerce customers;

wherein the content management interface server creates an association of personalized content with the segments of e-commerce customers; and

wherein the content management interface server downloads the association of personalized content with the segments of e-commerce customers to the content management server.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the content management server comprises a plurality of separate server computers, each of which services a particular set of queries; and

the system further comprises a load balancing server coupled to the plurality of separate server computers and to the data network, wherein the load balancing server routes queries to the plurality of separate server computers.

32. The system of claim 1, wherein the session ID is deemed expired when it is no longer relevant to current browsing activity of the customer computer.

10. A method for providing personalized content to an e-commerce customer, the method comprising:

receiving a query from a customer computer via a data network, the query including the identity of a client, the identity of the e-commerce customer, and a session ID, the query produced by personalized content delivery code executed by the customer computer that caused the customer computer to;

retrieve an identity of the e-commerce customer if saved on the customer computer;

create an identity of the e-commerce customer if the identity of the e-commerce customer is not saved on the customer computer;

retrieve a session ID if saved on the customer computer;

create a session ID if the session ID is not saved on the customer computer or if the session ID that is saved on the customer computer is expired; and

send the query to a content management server that includes the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer, and the session ID;

identifying personalized content to be displayed to the e-commerce customer on the customer computer, wherein the personalized content has been identified based upon the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer, and the session ID; and

returning a response to the customer computer via the data network that identifies the personalized content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the query also includes a secondary identifier that relates to the client; and

the secondary identifier is also used to identify the personalized content.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the identity of the personalized content corresponds to an image to be displayed to the e-commerce customer on the customer computer.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the identity of the personalized content corresponds to an executable file to be executed by the customer computer.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying the personalized content includes performing a lookup operation with which the identity of the e-commerce customer serves as an index.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

generating an e-commerce customer record based upon the query, the e-commerce customer record including the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer and the identity of the personalized content; and

storing the e-commerce customer information for future reference.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

segmenting the e-commerce customers into a plurality of segments; and

associating particular personalized content with each of the plurality of segments of e-commerce customers.

33. The method of claim 10, wherein the session ID is deemed expired when it is no longer relevant to current browsing activity of the customer computer.

17. A downloadable web page stored on a client web server, the downloadable web page comprising:

at least one image to be displayed on a customer computer of an e-commerce customer; and

personalized content delivery code to be executed by the customer computer that causes the customer computer to;

retrieve an identity of the e-commerce customer if saved on the customer computer;

create an identity of the e-commerce customer if the identity of the e-commerce customer is not saved on the customer computer;

retrieve a session ID if saved on the customer computer;

create a session ID if the session ID is not saved on the customer computer or if the session ID that is saved on the customer computer is expired; and

send a query to a content management server that includes the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer, and the session ID.

18. The downloadable web page of claim 17, wherein, upon execution, the personalized content delivery code further causes the customer computer:

receive a response from the content management server that includes the address of personalized content;

retrieve the personalized content; and

present the personalized content on the customer computer.

19. The downloadable web page of claim 17, wherein the personalized content comprises an image to be displayed to the e-commerce customer on the customer computer.

20. The downloadable web page of claim 17, wherein the personalized content comprises an executable file to be executed by the customer computer.

34. The downloadable web page of claim 17, wherein the session ID is deemed expired when it is no longer relevant to current browsing activity of the customer computer.

21. A content management server that supports personalized content delivery, the content management server comprising:

a processor;

memory coupled to the processor;

a user interface coupled to the processor;

a network interface coupled to the processor that supports data transmission with a coupled data network; and

the memory storing executable code that comprises;

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause the content management server to receive a query from a customer computer via the data network, the query including the identity of a client, the identity of the e-commerce customer, and a session ID, the query produced by personalized content delivery code executed by the customer computer that caused the customer computer to;

retrieve an identity of the e-commerce customer if saved on the customer computer;

create an identity of the e-commerce customer if the identity of the e-commerce customer is not saved on the customer computer;

retrieve a session ID if saved on the customer computer;

create a session ID if the session ID is not saved on the customer computer or if the session ID that is saved on the customer computer is expired; and

send the query to a content management server that includes the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer, and the session ID;

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause the content management server to identify personalized content to be displayed to an e-commerce customer on the customer computer, wherein the personalized content has been identified based upon the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer, and the session ID; and

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause the content management server to return a response to the customer computer via the data network that identifies the personalized content.

22. The content management server of claim 21, wherein:

the query also includes a secondary identifier that relates to the client; and

the secondary identifier is also used to identify the personalized content.

23. The content management server of claim 21, wherein the personalized content comprises an image to be displayed to the e-commerce customer on the customer computer.

24. The content management server of claim 21, wherein the personalized content comprises an executable file to be executed by the customer computer.

25. The content management server of claim 21, wherein the executable code further comprises:

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause the content management server to generate an e-commerce customer record based upon the query, the e-commerce customer record including the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer and the identity of the personalized content; and

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the processor, cause the content management server to store the e-commerce customer record for future reference.

35. The content management server of claim 21, wherein the session ID is deemed expired when it is no longer relevant to current browsing activity of the customer computer.

26. A computer readable medium that stores executable code that, when executed by a server computer, causes the server computer to provide personalized content to an e-commerce customer, the executable code comprising:

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the server computer, cause the server computer to receive a query from a customer computer via a data network, the query including the identity of a client, the identity of the e-commerce customer, and a session ID, the query produced by personalized content delivery code executed by the customer computer that caused the customer computer to;

retrieve an identity of the e-commerce customer if saved on the customer computer;

create an identity of the e-commerce customer if the identity of the e-commerce customer is not saved on the customer computer;

retrieve a session ID if saved on the customer computer;

create a session ID if the session ID is not saved on the customer computer or if the session ID that is saved on the customer computer is expired; and

send the query to a content management server that includes the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer, and the session ID;

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the server computer, cause the server computer to identify personalized content to be displayed to an e-commerce customer on the customer computer, wherein the personalized content is identified based upon the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer, and the session ID; and

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the server computer, cause the server computer to return a response to the customer computer via the data network that identifies the personalized content.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein:

the query also includes a secondary identifier that relates to the client; and

the secondary identifier is also used to identify the personalized content.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the personalized content comprises an image to be displayed to the e-commerce customer on the customer computer.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the personalized content comprises an executable file to be executed by the customer computer.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the plurality of software instructions further comprise:

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the server computer, cause the server computer to generate an e-commerce customer record based upon the query, the e-commerce customer record including the identity of the client, the identity of the e-commerce customer and the identity of the content; and

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the server computer, cause the server computer to store the e-commerce customer record for future reference.

31. The computer readable medium of claim 30, wherein the plurality of software instructions further comprise:

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the server computer, cause the server computer to segment the e-commerce customers into a plurality of segments;

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the server computer, cause the server computer to associate particular personalized content with each of the plurality of segments of e-commerce customers; and

a plurality of instructions that, upon execution by the server computer, cause the server computer to generate the tables with which the table lookup operations are performed based upon the plurality of segments of e-commerce customers and the associated personalized content.

36. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the session ID is deemed expired when it is no longer relevant to current browsing activity of the customer computer.