Method for consumer profile consolidation using mobile network identification

• US 9,818,133 B1
• Filed: 10/20/2014
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Bell, Timothy L., Dugan, Sara M., Schroeder, Wayne W., Shashindranath, Ashwin
• Primary Examiner(s): Long, Meredith A
• Application Number:
  US14/518,504
• Time in Patent Office: 1,121 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions

Abstract

A method of consolidating consumer profiles based on mapping an external identifier of a mobile communication device to a mobile network identification by an authentication network element computer. The method comprises receiving, by an advertisement (ad) bidder server computer, an ad bid request with an external consumer identifier and consumer profile information of a mobile communication device, and receiving, by a mobile communication network, a pixel tag request from the mobile communication device with the external consumer identifier embedded in the pixel tag request, wherein the mobile communication network is maintained by a mobile network carrier that maintains the ad bidder. The method further comprises identifying a mobile network identification of the mobile communication device by the mobile communication network, and storing a mapping between the external consumer identifier and the mobile network identification.

Claims

1. A method of consolidating consumer profiles based on mapping an external identifier of a mobile communication device to a mobile network identification by an authentication network element computer, comprising:

receiving, by an advertisement (ad) bidder server computer from a mobile communication device, an ad bid request with an external consumer identifier and consumer profile information of the mobile communication device;

transmitting, by the ad bidder server computer to the mobile communication device, a bid response with a pixel tag embedded in the bid response, wherein the external consumer identifier is embedded in the pixel tag;

detecting, by the authentication network element computer via a mobile communication network, that a pixel tag request is being sent via the mobile communication network from the mobile communication device, where the external consumer identifier is embedded in the pixel tag request, wherein the mobile communication network is maintained by a mobile network carrier that maintains the ad bidder;

capturing, by the authentication network element computer, the pixel tag request and extracting the external consumer identifier from the pixel tag request;

identifying, by the authentication network element computer, a mobile network identification associated with the mobile communication device that sent the pixel tag request via the mobile communication network;

creating and storing, by the authentication network element computer, a first mapping between the external consumer identifier and the mobile network identification;

transmitting, by the authentication network element computer, a notification comprising the first mapping to a network server;

in response to transmission of the notification, creating, by the network server, a second mapping that associates the external consumer identifier to an internal consumer profile maintained by the mobile communication network based on the first mapping between the external consumer identifier and the mobile network identification; and

updating the internal consumer profile based on the second mapping to the consumer profile information embedded in the ad bid request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the ad bid request is transmitted from an ad exchange after an application on the mobile communication device transmits an ad request to the ad exchange.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the external consumer identifier is encoded and then embedded in the bid response to be transmitted to the ad exchange.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the external consumer identifier is one of a Google advertising identifier and an Apple identifier for advertisers (IDFA).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile network identification is one of a network access identifier (NAI), an equipment identifier, a MAC address, or a subscriber identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a targeted advertisement is transmitted via the mobile communication network to the mobile communication device based on the updated internal consumer profile when the ad bidder wins a second ad auction to present a second ad impression on the mobile communication device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein when the ad bidder wins the second ad auction, the mapping between the external consumer identifier and the mobile network identification is examined by the ad bidder server computer to determine whether or not the mapping stays valid.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the internal consumer profile is updated based on new consumer profile information, embedded in the second ad bid request with the external consumer identifier, that was added to a data store maintained by the mobile network carrier between the first ad auction win and the second ad auction win.

9. A method of consolidating consumer profiles based on mapping an external identifier of a mobile communication device to a mobile network identification by an authentication network element computer, comprising:

receiving, by an advertisement (ad) bidder server computer from a mobile communication device, an ad bid request with an external consumer identifier and consumer profile information of the mobile communication device;

storing, by the ad bidder server computer, the consumer profile information and the external consumer identifier embedded in the ad bid request in a data store;

transmitting, by the ad bidder server computer to the mobile communication device, a bid response with a pixel tag encoded and embedded in the bid response, wherein the external consumer identifier is embedded in the pixel tag;

detecting, by the authentication network element computer via a mobile communication network, that a pixel tag request is being sent via the mobile communication network from the mobile communication device, where the external consumer identifier is embedded in the pixel tag request, wherein the mobile communication network is maintained by a mobile network carrier that maintains the ad bidder;

capturing, by the authentication network element computer, the pixel tag request and extracting the external consumer identifier from the pixel tag request;

identifying, by the authentication network element computer, a mobile network identification associated with the mobile communication device that sent the pixel tag request via the mobile communication network;

creating and storing, by the authentication network element computer, a first mapping between the external consumer identifier and the mobile network identification;

transmitting, by the authentication network element computer, a notification comprising the first mapping to a network server;

in response to transmission of the notification, creating, by the network server, a second mapping that associates the external consumer identifier to an internal consumer profile maintained by the mobile communication network based on the first mapping between the external consumer identifier and the mobile network identification;

updating the internal consumer profile based on the second mapping to the consumer profile information embedded in the ad bid request; and

selecting an advertisement to be transmitted to the mobile communication device based on the updated internal consumer profile in response to the ad bidder server computer winning a second ad auction;

whereby more highly targeted advertisement selection for the mobile communication device is promoted by combining consumer profile information stored on the mobile communication device and internal consumer profile information maintained by the mobile network carrier.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the mobile communication device is one of a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a media player, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a wearable computer, or a headset computer.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the mobile communication device establishes a wireless communication with a radio access network according to a code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless communication protocol, a global system for mobile communication (GSM) wireless communication protocol, a long-term evolution (LTE) wireless communication protocol, or a world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) wireless communication protocol.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the consumer profile information comprises information associated with at least one of the age, gender, location, hobby, shopping preference of a user or a subscriber of the mobile communication device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the external consumer identifier is assigned by an application on the mobile communication device.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the external consumer identifier is assigned by an ad exchange that performs an ad auction and determines which ad bidder wins the ad auction.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein a bidding price for the second ad auction is adapted based on the updated internal consumer profile with the mobile network identification that is mapped to the external consumer identifier.

16. A method of consolidating consumer profiles based on mapping an external identifier of a mobile communication device to a mobile network identification by an authentication network element computer, comprising:

receiving, by an advertisement (ad) bidder server computer from a mobile communication device, an ad bid request with an external consumer identifier of the mobile communication device;

transmitting, by the ad bidder server computer to the mobile communication device, a bid response with the external consumer identifier embedded in the bid response;

detecting, by the authentication network element computer via a mobile communication network, that a pixel tag request is being sent via the mobile communication network from the mobile communication device, where the external consumer identifier is embedded in the pixel tag request;

capturing, by the authentication network element computer, the pixel tag request and extracting the external consumer identifier from the pixel tag request;

identifying, by the authentication network element computer, a mobile network identification associated with the mobile communication device that sent the pixel tag request via the mobile communication network;

creating and storing, by the authentication network element computer, a mapping between the external consumer identifier and the mobile network identification; and

transmitting, by the authentication network element computer, a notification comprising the mapping to a network server.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the mobile network identification is kept confidential from an ad exchange that performs an ad auction and determines which ad bidder wins the ad auction.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the mobile network identification is one of a network access identifier (NAI), an equipment identifier, a MAC address, or a subscriber identifier.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the external consumer identifier is encoded and embedded in the pixel tag by the ad bidder server computer, and wherein the pixel tag is embedded in the bid response.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein an internal consumer profile, maintained by a mobile network carrier that maintains the ad bidder, is updated based on consumer profile information embedded in the ad bid request.