Method for click-stream analysis using web directory reverse categorization

• US 7,827,274 B1
• Filed: 03/29/2007
• Issued: 11/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ip Ot Sub Ulc
• Original Assignee: Vignette Corporation (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: McCullough, Sean M.
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, ASHOKKUMAR B
• Application Number:
  US11/729,530
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: 707706-716
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• 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: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

A method can be used to profile a user using network addresses, category information, and demographic data when the user requested or received information from those network addresses. A table can be created that includes the user identifier, category information, and demographic data. The user profile can be generated and based at least in part on the user identifier, category information, and at least some of the demographic data.

Claims

1. A method of profiling a user comprising:

accessing first data including a first identifier associated with the user, network addresses accessed by the user, and demographic data related to the user identifier and the network addresses, wherein the first data is determined at a first location remote from the user, wherein said accessing is performed by a server computer comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for profiling a user;

accessing second data at a second location remote from the user and the network addresses, wherein accessing the second data further comprises sending at least some of the network addresses to the second location and receiving corresponding category information including at least one meta tag for each of the at least some network addresses, wherein said accessing is performed by the server computer;

generating a user profile based at least in part on the first identifier, corresponding category information, and at least some of the demographic data by creating a table that includes a first column for user identifiers including the first identifier, a second column for the corresponding category information including at least one meta tag, and a third column for the at least some of the demographic data, wherein said generating is performed by the server computer;

comparing data for the user within the table to existing profiles including a first profile; and

associating the user with the first profile.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the server computer is coupled to a database storing the first data in one or more tables.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the database stores the second data in the one or more tables.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the server computer is coupled to an additional database storing the second data in one or more tables.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the server computer is coupled to a database and wherein generating the user profile comprises:

creating a table in the database that includes a first column for user identifiers including the first identifier, a second column for the corresponding category information, and a third column for the at least some of the demographic information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the server computer is coupled to a client computer, the method further comprising sending information to the client computer from the server computer, wherein the information sent includes information selected based on the first profile.

7. A method of profiling a user comprising:

accessing first data including a first identifier associated with the user, network addresses accessed by the user and demographic data related to the user, wherein the first data is determined at a first location remote from the user, wherein said accessing is performed by a server computer comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for profiling a user;

accessing second data at a second location remote from the user and the network addresses, wherein accessing the second data further comprises sending at least some of the network addresses to the second location and receiving corresponding category information including at least one meta tag for each of the at least some network addresses wherein said accessing is performed by a server computer;

generating a user profile based at least in part on the first identifier, corresponding category information, and at least some of the demographic data information, wherein the user profile can be sorted based on the demographic data or the category information including at least one meta tag, wherein said generating is performed by the server computer;

comparing data for the user to existing profiles including a first profile; and

associating the user with the first profile.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein generating the user profile comprises:

creating a table in a database accessible by the server computer that includes a first column for user identifiers including the first identifier, a second column for the corresponding category information, and a third column for the at least some of the demographic information.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

selecting a first marketing information regarding an item, wherein selecting is based at least in part on the user profile; and

sending the first marketing information to the user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

selecting is performed by a network access provider; and

the first marketing information includes a banner advertisement that is to be displayed near a periphery of a view.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

at least one of the network addresses corresponds to a network site is owned or controlled by a company that sells the item; and

the first marketing information comprises an offer to sell the item.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein:

selecting comprises selecting the first marketing information and a second marketing information; and

the method further comprises applying a filter, wherein;

the second marketing information is filtered out and the first marketing information passes; and

applying the filter is performed before sending.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising selling the user profile.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein:

accessing the second data comprises accessing the corresponding category information from a third-party source; and

the corresponding category information includes meta tags corresponding to the network addresses.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the server computer is coupled to a database storing the first data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the database stores the second data.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the server computer is coupled to an additional database storing the second data.

18. The method of claim 7, wherein the server computer is coupled to a database storing user profile information.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein generating the user profile comprises:

creating a table in the database that includes a first column for user identifiers including the first identifier, a second column for the corresponding category information, and a third column for the at least some of the demographic information.

20. The method of claim 7, wherein the server computer is coupled to a client computer, the method further comprising sending information to the client computer from the server computer, wherein the information sent includes information selected based on the user profile.

21. A non-transitory data processing system readable medium having code embodied therein, the code including instructions executable by a data processing system, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the data processing system to perform a method of profiling a user, the method comprising:

providing a system comprising a code element for accessing first data, a code element for accessing second data and a code element for generating a user profile at the data processing system;

accessing first data using the code element for accessing first data including a first identifier associated with the user, network addresses accessed by the user and demographic data related to the user, wherein the first data is determined at a first location remote from the user and passing the first data to the code element for generating the user profile;

accessing second data using the code element for accessing second data at a second location remote from the user and the network addresses, wherein accessing the second data further comprises sending at least some of the network addresses to the second location and receiving corresponding category information including at least one meta tag for each of the at least some network addresses and passing the second data to the code element for generating the user profile;

generating a user profile using the code element for generating the user profile based at least in part on the first identifier, corresponding category information, and at least some of the demographic data, wherein the user profile can be sorted based on the demographic data or the category information including at least one meta tag;

comparing data for the user to existing profiles including a first profile; and

associating the user with the first profile.

22. The data processing system readable medium of claim 21,

wherein generating the user profile comprises:

creating a table in a database coupled to the data processing system that includes a first column for user identifiers including the first identifier, a second column for the corresponding demographic information, and a third column for the at least some of the temporal information.

23. The data processing system readable medium of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:

selecting a first marketing information regarding an item, wherein selecting is based at least in part on the user profile; and

sending the first marketing information to the user.

24. The data processing system readable medium of claim 23, wherein:

selecting is performed by a network access provider; and

the first marketing information includes a banner advertisement that is to be displayed near a periphery of a view.

25. The data processing system readable medium of claim 24, wherein:

selecting comprises selecting the first marketing information and a second marketing information; and

the method further comprises applying a filter, wherein;

the second marketing information is filtered out and the first marketing information passes; and

applying the filter is performed before sending.

26. The data processing system readable medium of claim 23, wherein:

at least one of the network addresses corresponds to a network site is owned or controlled by a company that sells the item; and

the first marketing information comprises an offer to sell the item.

27. The data processing system readable medium of claim 21, wherein:

accessing the second data comprises accessing the corresponding category information from a third-party source; and

the corresponding category information includes meta tags for the network addresses.

28. A method of profiling a user comprising:

obtaining first data from a first location related to an access of a set of network addresses by a user, wherein the first data comprises a first identifier associated with the user, network addresses accessed by the user and demographic data related to the user wherein the obtaining is performed by a server computer configured to profile users on a network;

obtaining at the server computer second data from a second location remote from the user and the set of network addresses, wherein obtaining the second data further comprises sending at least some of the network addresses to the second location and receiving category information including at least one meta tag for corresponding to at least some of the set of network addresses from the second location;

generating a user profile based at least in part on the first data and the second data, wherein the user profile can be sorted based on the demographic data or category information including at least one meta tag, wherein generating the user profile comprises populating a database coupled to the server computer;

comparing data for the user to existing profiles including a first profile; and

associating the user with the first profile.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the category information comprises at least one meta-tag corresponding to the set of network addresses.

30. A system comprising:

a user profile database storing user profile data;

a server computer coupled to the user profile database, the server computer comprising a processor and a non-transitory tangible computer readable medium storing computer program code executable to perform a method comprising;

accessing over network connection first data including a first identifier associated with the user, network addresses accessed by the user and demographic data related to the user, wherein the first data is determined at a first location remote from the user;

accessing over the network connection second data at a second location remote from the user and the network addresses, wherein accessing the second data further comprises sending at least some of the network addresses to the second location and receiving corresponding category information including at least one meta tag for each of the at least some network addresses; and

generating a user profile based at least in part on the first identifier, corresponding category information, and at least some of the demographic data information, wherein the user profile can be sorted based on the demographic data or the category information including at least one meta tag;

storing information for the user profile in the user profile database; and

sending web page content to a client computer, wherein the web page content comprises content selected based on a request from the client computer and the user profile.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the user profile database comprises the first location and the second location.

32. The system of claim 30, further comprising the client computer, wherein the client computer coupled to the server computer and is configured to issue web page requests,

generating content for the client computer based on the user profile;

and

sending the content to the client computer.