System and method for facilitating personalization of applications based on anticipation of users' interests

• US 7,797,338 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2004
• Issued: 09/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pulliam, Joel, Feng, Andrew An
• Primary Examiner(s): Jalil; Neveen Abel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hoang; Son T
• Application Number:
  US11/010,238
• Publication Number:
  US 20060168250A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,105 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/781
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating personalization of applications based on anticipation of users'"'"' interests. In one preferred embodiment, a communication session is established with a user. Data related to user activities conducted by the user is collected during the communication session. Finally, collected data is processed according to one or more predetermined rules to obtain anticipated interests data used in personalization of applications for the user and the anticipated interests data is further stored in a user database.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

establishing an interactive communication session with a user;

receiving a request to initiate said communication session from said user;

when authorization to collect said data is required, transmitting a personalization form to said user in a message window of an interface area, said personalization form enabling said user to authorize collection of said data; and

receiving said authorization to collect data from said user through said message window of said interface area;

collecting data related to user activities conducted by said user during said communication session and continuously transmitting said collected data to an anticipation rule engine for further processing; and

receiving said collected data at said anticipation rule engine and processing said collected data according to at least one predetermined rule to obtain anticipated interests data for use in personalization of applications for said user, said anticipation rule engine analyzing said collected data based on said at least one predetermined rule and, responsive thereto, setting a state of at least one switch within a user database, each said switch is associated with an instance of said anticipated interests data, wherein the state of each switch indicates an anticipated interest by said user in a particular interest area or content source;

wherein said anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences are used to create a personalized user interface area;

wherein content sources identified as routine by said user in said user-specified preferences are automatically displayed in said area, each of said content sources displayed for a particular amount of time, said particular amount of time dynamically calculated depending upon the complexity of said displayed content source to enable the user to view all of said displayed content source; and

wherein a calendar application and an e-mail account are each a content source and wherein when the calendar application includes no entries, then the e-mail account is displayed shortly after the launch of the calendar application and when the calendar application contains multiple entries, then the e-mail account is displayed after a predetermined period of time, calculated to enable said user to review all the entries.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

storing said anticipated interests data in a user database.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said collecting step further comprises the steps of:

analyzing said collected data; and

filtering out predetermined user activities performed by said user during said communication session based on predetermined policy requirements.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said collected data further comprises any of types of said user activities, dates and times of said user activities, content sources accessed by said user during said communication session, clickstream events representing web pages visited by said user during said communication session, transactions performed by said user during said communication session.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said processing step further comprises the steps of:

retrieving said at least one predetermined rule from a rules database;

retrieving metadata associated with said at least one predetermined rule from a content metadata database; and

applying said at least one predetermined rule to said collected data.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said at least one predetermined rule further comprises at least one parameter, which further comprises any of target parameters indicating traffic in a particular interest area, predetermined time period parameters for setting said state of said at least one switch, frequency count parameters within said predetermined time period, and repetition parameters indicating a repetition of said predetermined time period.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said applying step further comprises the steps of:

analyzing said data according to said at least one parameter of said at least one predetermined rule; and

setting said state of said at least one switch within said user database to reflect said anticipated interest of said user.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request for said anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences associated with said user and stored in a user database;

when said anticipated interests data is available in said user database, retrieving said anticipated interests data;

when said user-specified preferences are available in said user database, retrieving said user-specified preferences; and

transmitting said retrieved anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences for further predication of a set of personalized services to be displayed for said user.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein said anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences are used to create a personalized user interface area containing at least one content window, each window including access to an entity preferred by said user.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request for said anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences associated with said user and stored in a user database;

when said anticipated interests data is not available in said user database, receiving said anticipated interests data collected and processed in real-time; and

transmitting said retrieved anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences for further predication of a set of personalized services to be displayed for said user.

11. A method comprising the steps of:

establishing an interactive communication session with a user;

receiving a request to initiate said communication session from said user;

when authorization to collect said data is required, transmitting a personalization form to said user in a message window of an interface area, said personalization form enabling said user to authorize collection of said data; and

receiving said authorization to collect data from said user through said message window of said interface area;

collecting data related to user activities conducted by said user during said communication session and continuously transmitting said collected data to an anticipation rule engine for further processing;

receiving said collected data at said anticipation rule engine and processing said collected data according to at least one predetermined rule to obtain anticipated interests data for use in personalization of applications for said user, said anticipation rule engine analyzing said collected data based on said at least one predetermined rule and, responsive thereto, setting a state of at least one switch within a user database, each said switch is associated with an instance of said anticipated interests data, wherein the state of each switch indicates an anticipated interest by said user in a particular interest area or content source;

receiving a request for said anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences associated with said user and stored in a user database;

when said anticipated interests data is available in said user database, retrieving said anticipated interests data;

when said user-specified preferences are available in said user database, retrieving said user-specified preferences; and

transmitting said retrieved anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences for further predication of a set of personalized services to be displayed for said user;

wherein said anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences are used to create a personalized user interface area;

wherein content sources identified as routine by said user in said user-specified preferences are automatically displayed in said area, each of said content sources displayed for a particular amount of time, said particular amount of time dynamically calculated depending upon the complexity of said displayed content source to enable the user to view all of said displayed content source; and

wherein a calendar application and an e-mail account are each a content source and wherein when the calendar application includes no entries, then the e-mail account is displayed shortly after the launch of the calendar application and when the calendar application contains multiple entries, then the e-mail account is displayed after a predetermined period of time, calculated to enable said user to review all the entries.

12. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

memory to carry out the steps of;

establishing an interactive communication session with a user;

receiving a request to initiate said communication session from said user;

when authorization to collect said data is required, transmitting a personalization form to said user in a message window of an interface area, said personalization form enabling said user to authorize collection of said data; and

receiving said authorization to collect data from said user through said message window of said interface area;

collecting data related to user activities conducted by said user during said communication session and continuously transmitting said collected data to an anticipation rule engine for further processing; and

receiving said collected data at said anticipation rule engine and processing said collected data according to at least one predetermined rule to obtain anticipated interests data for use in personalization of applications for said user, said anticipation rule engine analyzing said collected data based on said at least one predetermined rule and, responsive thereto, setting a state of at least one switch within a user database, each said switch is associated with an instance of said anticipated interests data, wherein the state of each switch indicates an anticipated interest by said user in a particular interest area or content source;

wherein said anticipated interests data and user-specified preferences are used to create a personalized user interface area;

wherein content sources identified as routine by said user in said user-specified preferences are automatically displayed in said area, each of said content sources displayed for a particular amount of time, said particular amount of time dynamically calculated depending upon the complexity of said displayed content source to enable the user to view all of said displayed content source; and

wherein a calendar application and an e-mail account are each a content source and wherein when the calendar application includes no entries, then the e-mail account is displayed shortly after the launch of the calendar application and when the calendar application contains multiple entries, then the e-mail account is displayed after a predetermined period of time, calculated to enable said user to review all the entries.