Using rules to determine user lists

• US 8,880,697 B1
• Filed: 04/09/2012
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Liu, Xun, Agarwal, Anurag, Swamy, Raghava Hassan Nanjunda, Moonka, Rajas
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Asres, Hermon
• Application Number:
  US13/442,598
• Time in Patent Office: 939 Days
• Field of Search: 709/225, 707/50
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for receiving data including a user identifier associated with a user and one or more key-value pairs associated with the user'"'"'s access of a resource. Each key-value pair includes a key and a value provided by the resource. Upon determining that the received data satisfies one or more rules associated with a user list comprising user identifiers, the user identifier is added to the user list.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving data as a result of a smart pixel executing when a resource is rendered and presented to a user, the received data including a user identifier associated with the user and one or more key-value pairs associated with the user'"'"'s access of the resource, each key-value pair including a key and a value provided by the resource, wherein the key-value pairs are specified by a sponsor of the resource, and wherein the values are determined based on information included in the resource as presented at a time of rendering;

receiving, prior to presentation of the resource to the user, one or more rules for evaluating the received data including one or more rules associated with a first user list, the first user list including a plurality of entries, each entry including a user identifier that is associated with a user that has been determined to satisfy the one or more rules;

determining, by one or more processors, that the received data satisfies the one or more rules associated with the first user list comprising user identifiers;

adding the user identifier to the first user list based on the determination that the received data satisfies the one or more rules;

managing the first user list over time including adding and removing users based on subsequent receipt of data when the smart pixel or other smart pixels associated with the sponsor of the resource are executed; and

remarketing content to users based on their inclusion in the first user list wherein remarketing does not include providing content to the resource in response to receiving the data and wherein remarketing includes selecting content to be served to users included in the first user list based on subsequent requests for content that are received from user devices associated with a respective user after their inclusion in the first user list.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving instructions from a sponsor of the resource to modify the one or more rules associated with the user list;

generating modified rules based on the received instructions; and

determining whether to remove the user identifier associated with the received data from the user list based on whether the received data satisfies the modified rules.

3. The method of claim 1,

wherein the resource comprises content served over the Internet;

and

wherein the key-value pairs included in the received data are defined within the source code of the resource.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the received data is included within a client request for content associated with the resource.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for content, the request associated with a user identifier;

determining that the user identifier is included in the user list; and

selecting and serving content based on determining that the user identifier is included in the user list.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

associating the received data with a timestamp;

determining that an age of the timestamp of the received data exceeds a threshold age; and

removing the user identifier from the user list based on the determination that the age of the timestamp exceeds the threshold age.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the threshold age is a predetermined threshold value associated with the user list.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating and storing a value for an attribute associated with the user identifier, the attribute storing one or more values associated with the user identifier based on applying one or more rules to specified key-value pairs.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the value of the attribute represents a number of times the user has accessed the resource within a predetermined period of time.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the value of the attribute represents a category of resources accessed by the user.

11. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

receiving data as a result of a smart pixel executing when a resource is rendered and presented to a user, the received data including a user identifier associated with the user and one or more key-value pairs associated with the user'"'"'s access of the resource, each key-value pair including a key and a value provided by the resource, wherein the key-value pairs are specified by a sponsor of the resource and the values are determined based on information included in the resource as presented at a time of rendering;

receiving, prior to presentation of the resource to the user, one or more rules for evaluating the received data including one or more rules associated with a first user list, the first user list including a plurality of entries, each entry including a user identifier that is associated with a user that has been determined to satisfy the one or more rules;

determining that the received data satisfies the one or more rules associated with the first user list comprising user identifiers;

adding the user identifier to the first user list based on the determination that the received data satisfies the one or more rules;

managing the first user list over time including adding and removing users based on subsequent receipt of data when the smart pixel or other smart pixels associated with the sponsor of the resource are executed; and

remarketing content to users based on their inclusion in the first user list wherein remarketing does not include providing content to the resource in response to receiving the data and wherein remarketing includes selecting content to be served to users included in the first user list based on subsequent requests for content that are received from user devices associated with a respective user after their inclusion in the first user list.

12. The system of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

receiving instructions from a sponsor of the resource to modify the one or more rules associated with the user list;

generating modified rules based on the received instructions; and

determining whether to remove the user identifier associated with the received data from the user list based on whether the received data satisfies the modified rules.

13. The system of claim 11,

wherein the resource comprises content served over the Internet;

and

wherein the key-value pairs included in the received data are defined within the source code of the resource.

14. The system of claim 11,

wherein the received data is included within a client request for content associated with the resource.

15. The system of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

receiving a request for content, the request associated with a user identifier;

determining that the user identifier is included in the user list; and

selecting and serving content based on determining that the user identifier is included in the user list.

16. The system of claim 15, the operations further comprising:

associating the received data with a timestamp;

determining that an age of the timestamp of the received data exceeds a threshold age; and

removing the user identifier from the user list based on the determination that the age of the timestamp exceeds the threshold age.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the threshold age is a predetermined threshold value associated with the user list.

18. The system of claim 11, the instructions further operable to perform operations further comprising:

generating and storing a value for an attribute associated with the user identifier, the attribute storing one or more values associated with the user identifier based on applying one or more rules to specified key-value pairs.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the value of the attribute represents a number of times the user has accessed the resource within a predetermined period of time.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the value of the attribute represents a category of resources accessed by the user.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving data as a result of a smart pixel executing when a resource is rendered and presented to a user, the received data including a user identifier associated with the user and one or more key-value pairs associated with the user'"'"'s access of the resource, each key-value pair including a key and a value provided by the resource, wherein the key-value pairs are specified by a sponsor of the resource, and wherein the values are determined based on information included in the resource as presented at a time of rendering;

receiving, prior to presentation of the resource to the user, one or more rules for evaluating the received data including one or more rules associated with a first user list, the first user list including a plurality of entries, each entry including a user identifier that is associated with a user that has been determined to satisfy the one or more rules;

determining that the received data satisfies one or more rules associated with the first user list comprising user identifiers;

adding the user identifier to the user list based on the determination that the received data satisfies the one or more rules;

managing the first user list over time including adding and removing users based on subsequent receipt of data when the smart pixel or other smart pixels associated with the sponsor of the resource are executed; and

remarketing content to users based on their inclusion in the first user list wherein remarketing does not include providing content to the resource in response to receiving the data and wherein remarketing includes selecting content to be served to users included in the first user list based on subsequent requests for content that are received from user devices associated with a respective user after their inclusion in the first user list.

22. The medium of claim 21, the operations further comprising:

receiving instructions from a sponsor of the resource to modify the one or more rules associated with the user list;

generating modified rules based on the received instructions; and

determining whether to remove the user identifier associated with the received data from the user list based on whether the received data satisfies the modified rules.

23. The medium of claim 21,

wherein the resource comprises content served over the Internet;

and

wherein the key-value pairs included in the received data are defined within the source code of the resource.

24. The medium of claim 21,

wherein the received data is included within a client request for content associated with the resource.

25. The medium of claim 21, the operations further comprising:

receiving a request for content, the request associated with a user identifier;

determining that the user identifier is included in the user list; and

selecting and serving content based on determining that the user identifier is included in the user list.

26. The medium of claim 25, the operations further comprising:

associating the received data with a timestamp;

determining that an age of the timestamp of the received data exceeds a threshold age; and

removing the user identifier from the user list based on the determination that the age of the timestamp exceeds the threshold age.

27. The medium of claim 26, wherein the threshold age is a predetermined threshold value associated with the user list.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21, further comprising instructions to perform operations further comprising:

generating and storing a value for an attribute associated with the user identifier, the attribute storing one or more values associated with the user identifier based on applying one or more rules to specified key-value pairs.

29. The medium of claim 28, wherein the value of the attribute represents a number of times the user has accessed the resource within a predetermined period of time.

30. The medium of claim 28, wherein the value of the attribute represents a category of resources accessed by the user.