Providing relevant non-requested content to a mobile device

• US 8,732,234 B2
• Filed: 06/06/2006
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Assets LLC
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Morse, Jason, Grubb, Jonathan
• Primary Examiner(s): BAYARD, DJENANE M
• Application Number:
  US11/422,539
• Publication Number:
  US 20060277308A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,905 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 455/456.1, 455/456.3
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• 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 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A system and method are directed towards providing non-requested content to a mobile terminal based on characteristics of, and tracked usage of the mobile terminal to request content through an online portal service, which provides access to content in multiple subject areas. A mobile user profile is created from the characteristics and patterns of the tracked usage. The tracked usage information includes the time, location, frequency at which the content was requested. Based on the mobile user profile information, content related to previously requested content is provided to the mobile terminal upon a trigger that is related to the requested content. The trigger event may include the mobile terminal returning to a location from which certain content was previously requested. The non-requested content may further be based on a related general user profile that indicates usage of an alternate electronic device to access content through the portal.

Claims

1. A method for providing relevant, non-requested content by a server device to a mobile device, comprising:

determining, by the server device, a mobile user profile from characteristics of a mobile terminal and from tracked usage of the mobile terminal by a user to request content through an online portal and from mobile consumer information communicated to the user with the mobile terminal and third-party information received through an out-of-band communication other than the mobile device, wherein the third-party information is based on a plurality of detected user actions with the mobile device, including actions between third parties and the user;

updating, by the server device, the mobile user profile based on the third-party information and a result of at least one independent test of at least one provided characteristic of the mobile terminal used by the user and other information that is based on at least one of a communication header and an analysis of communication performance for the mobile device;

determining, by the server device, at least one condition that the user most often uses the mobile terminal at one or more times based on at least one provided characteristic of the mobile terminal and the other information;

comparing, by the server device, mobile purchase information from the mobile consumer information for the user to general consumer information in a general user profile for the user that requests content through the online portal, wherein at least a result of the comparison is employed to determine at least one mobile purchasing habit of the user through the mobile terminal;

using the updated mobile user profile and the at least one determined mobile purchasing habit to determine, by the server device, non-requested content and to determine a trigger at which to access the non-requested content; and

communicating, by the server device, the non-requested content to the mobile terminal at the determined trigger.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the general user profile to further determine the non-requested content, wherein the general user profile includes information from tracked usage of an alternate electronic device to access content through the online portal, wherein the alternate electronic device is in communication with the online portal and is associated with the mobile terminal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics of the mobile terminal are determined at least in part from at least one of the following:

a standardized mobile terminal profile; and

independent testing of the mobile terminal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the online portal provides content related to more than one topic.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-requested content comprises at least one of the following:

an advertisement;

a notice of an event related to the requested content; and

content from the same source as the requested content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the mobile user profile comprises:

accessing a predefined mobile terminal profile that describes the characteristics of the mobile terminal;

determining a pattern of mobile usage from the tracked usage of the mobile terminal by the user to access content; and

associating the mobile terminal profile with the pattern.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the pattern comprises a purchasing pattern.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein using the mobile user profile comprises:

accessing the mobile user profile for usage information including at least one of the following;

a time that the mobile terminal accessed the requested content;

a location from which the mobile terminal accessed the requested content; and

a frequency with which the mobile terminal accessed the requested content; and

searching for content that is related to the requested content and the usage information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile user profile includes characteristics of a previously used mobile terminal associated with the user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger comprises at least one of the following:

detecting that the mobile terminal is near a location at which the mobile terminal previously accessed the requested content;

detecting a time near which the mobile terminal previously accessed the requested content; and

detecting a communication from the mobile terminal that is substantially equivalent to a previous communication that was followed by the mobile terminal accessing the requested content.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, comprising instructions executed by a processor for performing actions to provide relevant, non-requested content to a mobile device, including:

determining, by the processor, a mobile user profile from characteristics of a mobile terminal and from tracked usage of the mobile terminal by a user to request content through an online portal and from mobile consumer information communicated to the user with the mobile terminal and third-party information received through an out-of-band communication other than the mobile device, wherein the third-party information is based on a plurality of detected user actions with the mobile device, including actions between third parties and the user;

updating, by the processor, the mobile user profile based on the third-party information and a result of at least one independent test of at least one provided characteristic of the mobile terminal used by the user and other information that is based on at least one of a communication header and an analysis of communication performance for the mobile device;

determining, by the processor, at least one condition that the user most often uses the mobile terminal at one or more times based on at least one provided characteristic of the mobile terminal and the other information;

comparing, by the processor, mobile purchase information from the mobile consumer information for the user to general consumer information in a general user profile for the user that requests content through the online portal, wherein at least a result of the comparison is employed to determine at least one mobile purchasing habit of the user through the mobile terminal;

using the updated mobile user profile and the at least one determined mobile purchasing habit to determine, by the processor, non-requested content and to determine a trigger at which to access the non-requested content; and

communicating, by the processor, the non-requested content to the mobile terminal at the determined trigger.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions executed by a processor for communicating content over a network, which when executed cause a computing device to:

determine, by the processor, a mobile user profile from characteristics of a mobile terminal and from tracked usage of the mobile terminal by a user to request content through an online portal and from mobile consumer information communicated to the user with the mobile terminal and third-party information received through an out-of-band communication other than the mobile device, wherein the third-party information is based on a plurality of detected user actions with the mobile device, including actions between third parties and the user;

update, by the processor, the mobile user profile based on the third-party information and a result of at least one independent test of at least one provided characteristic of the mobile terminal used by the user and other information that is based on at least one of a communication header and an analysis of communication performance for the mobile device;

determine, by the processor, at least one condition that the user most often uses the mobile terminal at one or more times based on at least one provided characteristic of the mobile terminal and the other information;

compare, by the processor, mobile purchase information from the mobile consumer information for the user to general consumer information in a general user profile for the user that requests content through the online portal, wherein at least a result of the comparison is employed to determine at least one mobile purchasing habit of the user through the mobile terminal;

use the updated mobile user profile and the at least one determined mobile purchasing habit to determine, by the processor, non-requested content, to determine a frequency for communicating the non-requested content to the mobile terminal, and to determine a trigger at which to access the non-requested content; and

communicate, by the processor, the non-requested content to the mobile terminal at the determined trigger and at the determined frequency.

13. A system for providing relevant, non-requested content to a mobile device, comprising:

a processor;

a communication interface in communication with the processor and a mobile terminal; and

a memory in communication with the processor and storing machine instructions that cause the processor to perform a plurality of operations, including;

determining a mobile user profile from characteristics of a mobile terminal and from tracked usage of the mobile terminal by a user to request content through an online portal and from mobile consumer information communicated to the user with the mobile terminal and third-party information received through an out-of-band communication other than the mobile device, wherein the third-party information is based on a plurality of detected user actions with the mobile device, including actions between third parties and the user;

updating the mobile user profile based on the third-party information and a result of at least one independent test of at least one provided characteristic of the mobile terminal used by the user and other information that is based on at least one of a communication header and an analysis of communication performance for the mobile device;

determining at least one condition that the user most often uses the mobile terminal at one or more times based on at least one provided characteristic of the mobile terminal and the other information;

comparing mobile purchase information from the mobile consumer information for the user to general consumer information in a general user profile for the user that requests content through the online portal, wherein at least a result of the comparison in employed to determine at least one mobile purchasing habit of the user through the mobile terminal;

using the updated mobile user profile and the at least one determined mobile purchasing habit to determine non-requested content and to determine a trigger at which to access the non-requested content; and

communicating the non-requested content to the mobile terminal at the determined trigger.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the system comprises an online portal server.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the machine instructions cause the processor to further perform the operation of using the general user profile to further determine the non-requested content, wherein the general user profile includes information from tracked usage of an alternate electronic device to access content through the system, wherein the alternate electronic device is in communication with the communication interface and is associated with the mobile terminal.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the machine instructions cause the processor to determine the mobile user profile by further performing the operations of:

accessing a predefined mobile terminal profile that describes the characteristics of the mobile terminal,

determining a pattern of mobile usage from the tracked usage of the mobile terminal by the user to access content; and

associating the mobile terminal profile with the pattern.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the machine instructions cause the processor to use the mobile user profile by further performing the operations of:

accessing the mobile user profile for usage information including at least one of the following;

a time that the mobile terminal accessed the requested content;

a location from which the mobile terminal accessed the requested content; and

a frequency with which the mobile terminal accessed the requested content; and

searching for non-requested content that is related to the requested content and the usage information.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the mobile user profile includes characteristics of a previously used mobile terminal associated with the user.

19. A mobile device for receiving non-requested content, comprising:

a processor;

a communication interface in communication with the processor and an online portal; and

a memory in communication with the processor and storing machine instructions that cause the processor to perform a plurality of operations, including;

communicating an identifier of a mobile terminal to the online portal to enable the online portal to initiate a mobile user profile from characteristics of the mobile terminal and from mobile consumer information communicated to a user with the mobile terminal and third-party information received through an out-of-band communication other than the mobile device, wherein the third-party information is based on a plurality of detected user actions with the mobile device, including actions between third parties and the user;

updating the mobile user profile based on the third-party information and a result of at least one independent test of at least one provided characteristic of the mobile terminal used by the user and other information that is based on at least one of a communication header and an analysis of communication performance for the mobile device;

determining at least one condition that the user most often uses the mobile terminal at one or more times based on at least one provided characteristic of the mobile terminal and the other information;

requesting content through the online portal, enabling the online portal to track requested content and revise the mobile user profile based on the requested content;

receiving non-requested content from the online portal, wherein the non-requested content is related to the requested content and the non-requested content is determined based on the updated mobile user profile, wherein the non-requested content is received upon a trigger related to the requested content, and wherein the non-requested content is further based on at least one mobile purchasing habit of the user through the mobile terminal, determined based at least on a result of a comparison of mobile purchase information from the mobile consumer information for the user to general consumer information in a general user profile for the user that requests content through the online portal.

20. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the mobile terminal comprises a second mobile terminal associated with the mobile user profile and the mobile user profile includes characteristics of a previously used mobile terminal associated with the user.