Privacy-centric ad models that leverage social graphs

• US 8,909,546 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2009
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Horvitz, Eric J., Brewer, Brett D., Czerwinski, Mary P., Dunn, Melissa W., Farouki, Karim T., Garms, Jason, Gounares, Alexander G., Mahajan, Milind V., Sharpe, Timothy D., Blegen, Darrell Leroy, Nanduri, Jayaram NM
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Luis A
• Application Number:
  US12/492,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20090265242A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,992 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.64, 705/14.66, 705/14.67, 705/14.49, 705/14.53, 705/14.58, 705/1, 705/8, 705/10, 707/769, 709/218, 709/224, 709/226, 709/228
• US Class Current: 705/14.64
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• 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: Y04S 40/20 Information technology specific aspects, e.g. CAD, simulation, modelling, system security

Abstract

The claimed subject matter relates to an architecture that can mitigate privacy concerns in connection with ad targeting or data collection. In particular, architecture can be included in a personal mobile communication device such as a cell phone. During communication transactions between the host device and a peer device, shared information can be extracted either from content included in the communication or from metadata. Based upon the shared information, a social graph maintained on the host device can be updated. In addition, the host device can receive a large set of ads and select or tailor a custom ad from the set based upon the social graph.

Claims

1. A system that mitigates privacy concerns in connection with ad targeting or data collection, comprising:

a mobile communication host device, comprising;

a communication component that;

1) receives a communication transaction between a mobile communication peer device and the host device, and

2) extracts a first set of shared information from the content of the communication transaction between the host device and the peer device, the first set of shared information associated with the peer device;

a mapping component that;

(1) accesses a social graph stored locally on the host device, the social graph comprising at least;

a) a root node including a host profile associated with the host device or a user thereof, and b) a peer node including a peer profile associated with the peer device or a user thereof, and

(2) updates the root node and the peer node by populating the root node and the peer node with the first set of shared information extracted by the host device;

an advertising component that receives a set of advertisements, stores the set of advertisements locally on the host device, and that selects or tailors a custom ad from the set based upon the updated social graph; and

a presenting component that presents the custom ad on the host device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first set of shared information comprises at least metadata transmitted with the communication transaction between the host device and the peer device.

3. The system of claim 1, the communication component employs at least one of a voice recognition technique or a keyword recognition technique in order to extract the first set of shared information from the content of the communication transaction.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

the communication component that;

extracts a second set of shared information from the content of the communication transaction between the host device and the peer device, the second set of shared information associated with the host device; and

transmits the second set of shared information associated with the host device to the peer device when authorized.

5. The system of claim 2, the communication transaction is at least one of a call, a text message, a media-based message, or an email;

and the first set of shared information is at least one of a social graph or portions thereof determined from the content of the communication transaction, location information or a history thereof determined from the content of the communication transaction, a purchase history determined from the content of the communication transaction, a browse history determined from the metadata transmitted with the communication transaction, a click history determined from the metadata transmitted with the communication transaction, an ad receipt history determined from the metadata transmitted with the communication transaction, a device use history determined from the metadata transmitted with the communication transaction, or a device status or history thereof determined from the metadata transmitted with the communication transaction.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the advertising component further selects or tailors the custom ad from the set based on at least one of (1) information that is stored entirely on the host device;

(2) information that is not available to or not authorized for sharing with an advertiser, an ad host, a data center, or a third party;

or (3) utilizing privacy-based or anonymity-based data transformations; and

wherein the local data includes at least one of an address book, a contact list, a call log, a message log, a calendar, or a personal profile.

7. The system of claim 6, the call log or the message log includes at least one of a time, a frequency, a length/duration, or statistics relating to communication transactions.

8. The system of claim 7, the mapping component adds to the social graph a peer node associated with the peer device or a user thereof when a threshold level of communication transactions occurs between the host device and the peer device.

9. The system of claim 1, the social graph includes at least one of a frequency dimension that relates to a number of communication transactions that occur between the root node and a peer node, a relationship dimension that relates to a social classification or status between the root node and the peer node or operators thereof, or a hierarchy dimension that relates to a degree of separation between the root node and the peer node or operators thereof.

10. The system of claim 1, the mapping component classifies information included in the social graph into a distinct access category, the distinct access category is one of public information, which has no restriction on dissemination beyond a trusted network defined by the social graph;

trusted information in which dissemination is restricted at least to the trusted network defined by the social graph or a portion thereof;

or private information that is not disseminated and is only available to the host device;

or the mapping component employs a transformation to convert trusted or private information into public information.

11. The system of claim 1, the advertising component examines public information included in the social graph and transmits a subset of the public information to an ad host that provides the set of advertisements to the advertising component.

12. The system of claim 11, the advertising component selects the subset of public information to be shared with the ad host based upon a context associated with the root node of the social graph;

the context associated with the root node is determined based upon at least one of private information or trusted information.

13. The system of claim 11, the advertising component determines or infers the subset based upon public information that is suitable to the ad host for selecting a contextually relevant group of advertisements;

the advertising component receives the contextually relevant group of advertisements from the ad host as the set of advertisements and selects or tailors the custom ad based upon at least one of trusted information or private information included in the social graph, the custom ad is selected for display on the host device or for delivery by the communication component to the peer device.

14. The system of claim 1, the advertising component selects feedback for the ad host from public information included in the social graph.

15. The system of claim 14, the feedback includes a number of times the custom ad was rendered, the content included in the custom ad, or indicia associated with the effectiveness of a rendered custom ad;

the indicia is at least one of a time when the custom ad was rendered, a duration for which the custom ad was displayed, a period between when the custom ad was rendered and recent use of an associated device, a recent purchase or related transaction, an orientation or velocity of an associated device during which the custom ad was displayed, a photovoltaic reading of the associated device during which the custom ad was displayed, or a state or setting of an associated device during which the custom ad was displayed.

16. A computer implemented method carried out by a server running on a processor for mitigating privacy concerns associated with data aggregation or customization in connection with ad targeting, comprising:

at a mobile communication host device;

establishing a communication with a peer device;

during the communication, the host device extracting shared information intended for the host device from the content of the communication;

accessing a social graph stored locally on the host device, the social graph comprising at least;

a) a root node including a host profile associated with the host device or a user thereof, and b) a peer node including a peer profile associated with the peer device or a user thereof;

updating the root node and the peer node by populating the root node and the peer node with the shared information extracted from the content of the communication;

obtaining a set of advertisements;

storing the set of advertisements locally on the host device;

based on the updated social graph, choosing, using the processor, a custom ad from the set; and

presenting the custom ad on the host device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising at least one of the following acts:

embedding a second set of shared information intended for the peer device in a second communicative transaction between the host device and the peer device;

transmitting the second set of shared information as metadata included in the second communicative transaction;

updating the root node of the social graph based at least on the second set of shared information private information;

updating, when a communication threshold is satisfied, the peer node of the social graph based at least on the second set of shared information included in or received by the host device;

classifying information included in the social graph as public information, private information, or trusted information;

or

including in the social graph at least one of a frequency dimension, a relationship dimension, or a hierarchy dimension.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising at least one of the following acts:

transmitting a select subset of public information to an ad host for indicating a contextually appropriate set of advertisements for the ad host to transmit to the host device;

employing at least one of private information or trusted information for selecting the subset of public information to transmit to the ad host;

displaying the custom ad on the host device;

transmitting the custom ad to the peer device for display;

choosing from public information included in the social graph select feedback for the ad host in connection with the custom ad;

or

including in the feedback at least one of a number of times the custom ad was rendered or displayed, the content included in the custom ad, or indicia associated with the effectiveness of the rendered custom ad.

19. A system that facilitates sharing of potentially sensitive information among a trusted network in order to mitigate privacy concerns in connection with ad profiling, comprising:

a mobile communication host device, comprising;

a communication component that extracts shared information from the content of a communication transaction between the host device and a peer device;

a mapping component that;

(1) constructs a locally stored social graph based upon at least one communication log stored locally on the host device, the social graph comprising at least a root node including a host profile associated with the host device or a user thereof and a peer node including a peer profile associated with the peer device or a user thereof;

(2) classifies information included in the social graph as one of public information, trusted information, or private information; and

(3) updates the social graph stored locally on the host device by populating the root node and the peer node with the shared information extracted from the content of the communication transaction between the host device and the peer device;

(4) an advertising component that receives a set of advertisements, stores the set of advertisements locally on the host device, and that selects or tailors a custom ad from the set based upon the updated social graph; and

(5) a presenting component that presents the custom ad on the host device.