Methods and apparatus for pixel encoded web page

• US 9,553,923 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2015
• Issued: 01/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wingtips Interactive LLC
• Original Assignee: Parrable, Inc.
• Inventors: Ravi, Dharun
• Primary Examiner(s): BOUTAH, ALINA A
• Application Number:
  US14/621,638
• Publication Number:
  US 20150334158A1
• Time in Patent Office: 711 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.55, 705/15.64, 705/14.51, 705/14.53, 705/14.73, 705/14.25, 709/206, 709/204, 709/203, 709/219, 715/738, 717/178
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• 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 67/53 using third party service providers

Abstract

The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for unobtrusively determining previous actions and information associated with a user via an RGB string and generating web page content based upon previous actions and stored information.

Claims

1. A computing apparatus for providing custom web page content, the computing apparatus comprising:

a communications network access device for accessing an external server in logical communication with a communications network; and

executable software stored on the communications network access device and executable on demand, the software operative with the communications network access device to cause the communications network access device to;

receive an identifier specific to a user profile and logically embedded in an HTML string;

track activity related to a first web page;

store the identifier in association with information regarding the tracked activity related to the first web page on the communications network access device;

transmit the identifier and the associated information regarding the tracked activity to the external server, wherein the external server updates the user profile regarding the tracked activity; and

receive a second web page, wherein content in the second web page is customized based upon the user profile as updated in accordance with the transmitted identifier and the associated information regarding the tracked activity related to the first web page content.

2. The computing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the identifier is associated with an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

3. The computing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the identifier is associated with a unique uniform resource locator (URL).

4. The computing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the user profile comprises information regarding one or more user interests.

5. The computing apparatus of claim 4, wherein the second web page comprises content customized in accordance with the one or more user interests comprising the user profile.

6. A computer apparatus for tracking prior activity by a network access device, the computing apparatus comprising:

a computer server in logical communication with a communications network; and

executable software stored on the computer server and executable on demand, the software operative with the computer server to cause the computer server to;

receive a request for a web page from a network access device, the request including an HTML string, wherein an identifier is embedded in the HTML string;

access a user profile associated with the identifier, wherein the user profile is associated with information regarding activity previously tracked in relation to previously accessed web pages;

generate customized web page content based upon the user profile associated with the identifier embedded in the HTML string; and

transmit the customized web page content to the network access device that sent the identifier.

7. The computing apparatus of claim 6, wherein the HTML string comprises an RGB string.

8. The computing apparatus of claim 6, wherein the identifier is associated with a unique uniform resource locator (URL).

9. The computing apparatus of claim 6, wherein the user profile comprises information regarding one or more user interests.

10. The computing apparatus of claim 9, wherein the web page comprises content customized in accordance with the one or more user interests comprising the user profile.

11. The computing apparatus of claim 6, wherein the HTML string is additionally associated with an RGB canvas.

12. A method for providing custom web page content, the method comprising:

receiving an identifier specific to a user profile and logically embedded in an HTML string;

tracking activity related to a first web page;

storing the identifier in association with information regarding the tracked activity related to the first web page on a network access device;

transmitting the identifier and the associated information regarding the tracked activity to an external server, wherein the external server updates the user profile regarding the tracked activity; and

receiving a second web page, wherein content in the second web page is customized based upon the user profile as updated in accordance with the transmitted identifier and the associated information regarding the tracked activity related to the first web page.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the information regarding the tracked user activity further includes a type of network access device used to access the first web page.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the information regarding the tracked user activity further includes a geolocation of the network access device used by the user to access the first web page.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the information regarding the tracked user activity further includes a time of day that the first web page was accessed by the network access device.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the information regarding the tracked user activity further includes a length of time that the network access device spends online.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the information regarding the tracked user activity further includes a number of pages visited by the network access device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the information regarding the tracked user activity further includes an amount of time spent on each of the pages visited by the network access device.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the information regarding the tracked user activity further includes an operating system of the network access device.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the information regarding the tracked user activity further includes an IP address associated with the network access device.