WikiPatents - Community Patent Review
Create Free Account  |  License or Sell Your Patent  |  WikiPatents Marketplace  |  WikiPatents Blog
Username:  Password:  
    
Advanced Search
System and method for optimal adaptive matching of users to most relevant entity and information in real-time    
United States Patent6134532   
Link to this pagehttp://www.wikipatents.com/6134532.html
Inventor(s)Lazarus; Michael A. (Del Mar, CA), Caid; William R. (San Diego, CA), Pugh; Richard S. (Poway, CA), Kindig; Bradley D. (Poway, CA), Russell; Gerald S. (San Diego, CA), Brown; Kenneth B. (San Diego, CA), Dunning; Ted E. (San Diego, CA), Carleton; Joel L. (San Diego, CA)
AbstractA system and method for selecting and presenting personally targeted entities such as advertising, coupons, products and information content, based on tracking observed behavior on a user-by-user basis and utilizing an adaptive vector space representation for both information and behavior. The system matches users to entities in a manner that improves with increased operation and observation of user behavior. User behavior and entities (ads, coupons, products) and information (text) are all represented as content vectors in a unified vector space. The system is based on an information representation called content vectors that utilizes a constrained self organization learning technique to learn the relationships between symbols (typically words in unstructured text). Users and entities are each represented as content vectors.
   














 Title Information Submit all comments and votes
 
Patent Text Patent PDF Print Page Summary File History
Plain text PDF images Print Summary File History
Drawing from US Patent 6134532
System and method for optimal adaptive matching of users to most
     relevant entity and information in real-time - US Patent 6134532 Drawing
System and method for optimal adaptive matching of users to most relevant entity and information in real-time
Inventor     Lazarus; Michael A. (Del Mar, CA) , Caid; William R. (San Diego, CA) , Pugh; Richard S. (Poway, CA) , Kindig; Bradley D. (Poway, CA) , Russell; Gerald S. (San Diego, CA) , Brown; Kenneth B. (San Diego, CA) , Dunning; Ted E. (San Diego, CA) , Carleton; Joel L. (San Diego, CA)
Owner/Assignee     Aptex Software, Inc. (San Diego, CA)
Patent assignment
All assignments
Publication Date     October 17, 2000
Application Number     08/971,091
PAIR File History     Application Data   Transaction History
Image File Wrapper   Patent Term   Fees
Litigation
Filing Date     November 14, 1997
US Classification     705/14 705/1 705/26
Int'l Classification    
Examiner     Voeltz; Emanuel Todd
Assistant Examiner     Morgan; George D.
Attorney/Law Firm     Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear LLP
Address
Parent Case    
Priority Data    
USPTO Field of Search     705/14 705/10 705/1 705/27 705/20 705/26 707/532
Patent Tags     optimal adaptive matching users most relevant entity information real-time
   
Enter a comma (,) or semicolon (;) between multiple tag words/phrases.
Describe this patent:
 Amusing   
 Clever   
 Complex   
 Efficient   
 Historic   
 Important   
 Innovative   
 Interesting   
 Practical   
 Simple   
[no votes]
Patent WIKI

Share information and news about this patent, including information and news about the technology, inventors, company, ligation and licensing.

 References Submit all comments and votes
 
*references marked with an asterisk below are user-added references
 U.S. References
 
Add a new US reference:  
ReferenceRelevancyCommentsReferenceRelevancyComments
5621812
Deaton et al.

Apr,1997

[0 after 0 votes]
5619709
Caid et al.

Apr,1997

[0 after 0 votes]
5583763
Atcheson et al.

Dec,1996

[0 after 0 votes]
5515270
Weinblatt

May,1996

[0 after 0 votes]
5459306
Stein et al.

Oct,1995

[0 after 0 votes]
5353218
De Lapa et al.

Oct,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
5331544
Lu et al.

Jul,1994

[0 after 0 votes]
4996642
Hey

Feb,1991

[0 after 0 votes]
4970681
Bennett

Nov,1990

[0 after 0 votes]
4870597
Seki et al.

Sep,1989

[0 after 0 votes]
4870579
Hey

Sep,1989

[0 after 0 votes]
4833308
Humble

May,1989

[0 after 0 votes]
4723212
Mindrum et al.

Feb,1988

[0 after 0 votes]
 Foreign References
 Other References
 Market Review Submit all comments and votes
   
Market Size
Estimate the gross annual revenues of the relevant market sector:
> $10B
$5B - $10B
$2B - $5B
$500M - $2B
$100M - $500M
$10M - $100M
$1M - $10M
$500K - $1M
$100K - $500K
< $100K
[No votes]
$0
 
$0   $2.5B   $5B   $7.5B   $10B
Market Share
Estimate the percentage of the relevant market sector this invention will capture:
75% - 100%
50% - 74.99%
25% - 49.99%
10 - 24.99%
5 - 9.99%
2 - 4.99%
1 - 1.99%
< 1%
[No votes]
0.0%
 
0%   25%   50%   75%   100%
Reasonable Royalty
What percentage of gross sales should the inventor or assignee be paid?
75% - 100%
50% - 74.99%
25% - 49.99%
10 - 24.99%
5 - 9.99%
2 - 4.99%
1 - 1.99%
< 1%
[No votes]
0.0%
 
0%   25%   50%   75%   100%
Public's "Guesstimation" of Royalty Value
Market SizeN/A[No votes]
xMarket ShareN/A[No votes]
xReasonable RoyaltyN/A[No votes]

N/A

License Availablity
If you are NOT the owner or assignee, answer here:
Yes, license is available for purchase

No, license is not currently available



[No votes]
License Availablity
If you ARE the owner or assignee, answer here:
Yes, license is available for purchase

No, license is not currently available



[No votes]
Competitive Advantage
Does this invention have a significant competitive advantage over similar technologies?
Yes

No



[No votes]
Most helpful competitive advantage comment
[No comments]

Commercial Alternatives
Are there viable commercial alternatives for this invention?
Yes

No



[No votes]
Most helpful commercial alternative comment
[No comments]

 Technical Review Submit all comments and votes
 Claims Submit all comments and votes
 


What is claimed is:

1. A computerized system for associating an observed behavior with items, comprising:

a converter capable of converting the observed behavior to a behavior vector;

a profile adapter capable of modifying a profile vector with the behavior vector; and

a comparater capable of comparing the modified profile vector to a plurality of entity vectors, the entity vectors indicative of the items, so as to identify at least one entity vector closely associated with the observed behavior.

2. The computerized system as defined in claim 1, wherein the observed behavior is selected from the group consisting of: submitting a query to a web site, requesting a web page, purchasing a product, visiting a merchant, visiting a web site, inquiring about a product, watching a TV show, and watching a movie.

3. The computerized system as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one of the items is selected from the group consisting of: a coupon, an advertisement, a solicitation, information relating to a product, information relating to a set of services, a page, section or chapter of a book, a document, a newspaper article, a movie, a TV show, a web site, and a textual material.

4. The computerized system as defined in claim 1, wherein the computerized system is connected to a network, the network selected from the group consisting of: an intranet, a local area network, and the Internet.

5. The computerized system as defined in claim 1, wherein the converter includes a page content vector lookup module which identifies the behavior vector based upon a page identifier.

6. The computerized system as defined in claim 1, wherein the observed behavior comprises a user query, and wherein the converter includes an entity content vector module for transforming the user query into behavior vectors based upon the component words of the user query.

7. The computerized system as defined in claim 1, wherein the profile adapter modifies the profile vector based upon at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of: a threshold by which a behavior vector will be used instead of the entity vector, a learning rate for a profile update, a leaning rate for an entity update, an update rate for a query universe estimate of a mean, an update for a profile universe update of a mean, a forgetting factor for a set of profile vectors, a forgetting factor for a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set profile vectors, and a mean of a set of behavior vectors.

8. The computerized system as defined in claim 1, wherein the comparater includes a vector closeness determination module to calculate the distance between the modified profile vector and any one of the entity vectors.

9. A system for selecting advertisements in a computer environment, comprising:

a database of electronic advertisements; and

an electronic advertisement management system, comprising:

a converter capable of converting an observed behavior of a user computing device in the computer environment to a behavior vector,

a profile adapter capable of modifying a profile vector indicative of the user with the behavior vector,

a comparater capable of comparing the modified profile vector to a plurality of entity vectors, the entity vectors indicative of the electronic advertisements, so as to identify at least one entity vector closely associated with the observed behavior, and

a selector accessing the electronic database with the identified entity vector so as to select at least one electronic advertisement to communicate to the user computing device.

10. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the selector includes inventory management to allow selection of an entity that is under-selected according to the selection schedule and to inhibit the selection of an entity that is over-selected according to the selection schedule.

11. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the selector includes inventory management to allow selection of the entity vector based upon a presentation delivery schedule.

12. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the observed behavior is selected from the group consisting of: submitting a query to a web site, requesting a web page, purchasing a product, visiting a merchant, visiting a web site, inquiring about a product, watching a TV show, and watching a movie.

13. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the computer environment is connected to a network, the network selected from the group consisting of: an intranet, a local area network, and the Internet.

14. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the converter includes a page content vector lookup module which identifies the behavior vector based upon a page identifier.

15. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the observed behavior is selected from the group consisting of: a user query, a page view, or a purchase of a product.

16. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the profile adapter modifies the profile vector based upon at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of: a threshold by which a behavior vector will be used instead of the entity vector, a learning rate for a profile update, a leaning rate for an entity update, an update rate for a query universe estimate of a mean, an update for a profile universe update of a mean, a forgetting factor for a set of profile vectors, a forgetting factor for a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set profile vectors, and a mean of a set of behavior vectors.

17. The system as defined in claim 9, wherein the comparater includes a vector closeness determination module to calculate the distance between the modified profile vector and any one of the entity vectors.

18. A computerized system for adapting an entity vector, comprising:

a converter capable of converting an observed behavior of a user into a behavior vector;

a profile adapter capable of modifying a profile vector indicative of the user based on the behavior vector; and

an entity adapter capable of modifying an entity vector indicative of an item based on the profile vector or the behavior vector.

19. The system as defined in claim 18, wherein at least one of the items is selected from the group consisting of: a coupon, an advertisement, a solicitation, information relating to a product, information relating to a set of services, a page, a section or a chapter of a book, a document, a newspaper article, a movie, a TV show, a web site, and a textual material.

20. The system as defined in claim 18, wherein the observed behavior is selected from the group consisting of: submitting a query to a web site, requesting a web page, purchasing, a product, visiting a merchant, visiting a web site, inquiring about a product, watching a TV show, and watching a movie.

21. The system as defined in claim 18, wherein the computerized system is connected to a network, the network selected from the group consisting of: an intranet, a local area network, and the Internet.

22. The system as defined in claim 18, wherein the converter includes a page content vector lookup module which identifies the behavior vector based upon a page identifier.

23. The system as defined in claim 18, wherein the observed behavior is selected from the group consisting of: a user query, a page view, or a purchase of a product.

24. The system as defined in claim 18, wherein the profile adapter modifies the profile vector based upon at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of: a threshold by which a behavior vector will be used instead of the entity vector, a learning rate for a profile update, a learning rate for an entity update, an update rate for a query universe estimate of a mean, an update for a profile universe update of a mean, a forgetting factor for a set of profile vectors, a forgetting factor for a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set profile vectors, and a mean of a set of behavior vectors.

25. The system as defined in claim 18, wherein the entity adapter modifies the entity vector based upon at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of: a threshold by which a behavior vector will be used instead of the profile vector, a leaning rate for a profile update, a learning rate for an entity update, an update rate for a query universe estimate of a mean, an update for a profile universe update of a mean, a forgetting factor for a set of profile vectors, a forgetting factor for a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set profile vectors, and a mean of a set of behavior vectors.

26. A system for generating a profile vector in a computer environment, comprising:

a converter capable of converting a plurality of observed behaviors of a user into an associated plurality of behavior vectors; and

a profile adapter capable of repeatedly modifying a profile vector indicative of the user based on the plurality of behavior vectors.

27. The system as defined in claim 26, wherein at least one of the plurality of observed user behaviors is selected from the group consisting of: submitting a query to a web site, requesting a web page, purchasing a product, visiting a merchant, visiting a web site, inquiring about a product, watching a TV show, and watching a movie.

28. The system as defined in claim 26, wherein the computer environment is connected to a network, the network selected from the group consisting of: an intranet, a local area network, and the Internet.

29. The system as defined in claim 26, wherein the observed behavior is selected from the group, consisting of: a user query, a page view, or a purchase of a product.

30. The system as defined in claim 26, wherein the profile adapter includes modifies the profile vector based upon at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of: a threshold by which a behavior vector will be used instead of the profile vector, a learning rate for a profile update, a learning rate for an entity update, an update rate for a query universe estimate of a mean, an update for a profile universe update of a mean, a forgetting factor for a set of profile vectors, a forgetting factor for a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set profile vectors, and a mean of a set of behavior vectors.

31. A computerized system for adapting an entity vector, comprising:

a converter capable of converting an observed behavior of a user into a behavior vector; and

an entity adapter capable of modifying an entity vector indicative of an item based on the behavior vector.

32. The system as defined in claim 31, wherein observed behavior is selected from the group consisting of: submitting a query to a web site, requesting a web page, purchasing a product, visiting a merchant, visiting a web site, inquiring about a product, watching a TV show, and watching a movie.

33. The system as defined in claim 31, wherein the computerized system is connected to a network, the network selected from the group consisting of: an intranet, a local area network, and the Internet.

34. The system as defined in claim 31, wherein the converter includes a page content vector lookup module which identifies the behavior entity vector based upon a page identifier.

35. The system as defined in claim 31, wherein the observed behavior is selected from the group consisting of: a user query, a page view, or a purchase of a product.

36. The system as defined in claim 31, wherein the item is selected from the group consisting of: a coupon, an advertisement, a solicitation, information relating to a product, information relating to a set of services, a page, a section or a chapter of a book, a document, a newspaper article, a movie, a TV show, a web site, and a textual material.

37. A system for selecting advertisements in a computer environment, comprising:

a database of electronic advertisements; and

an electronic advertisement management system, comprising:

a converter capable of converting an observed behavior of a user computing device in the computer environment to a behavior vector,

a comparater capable of comparing the behavior vector to a plurality of entity vectors, the entity vectors indicative of the electronic advertisements, so as to identify at least one entity vector closely associated with the observed behavior, and

a selector accessing the electronic database with the identified entity vector so as to select at least one electronic advertisement to communicate to the user computing device.

38. The system as defined in claim 37, wherein the computer environment is connected to a network, the network selected from the group consisting of: an intranet, a local area network, and the Internet.

39. The system as defined in claim 37, wherein the converter includes a page content vector lookup module which identifies the behavior vector based upon a page identifier.

40. The system as defined in claim 37, wherein the observed behavior is selected from the group consisting of: a user query, a page view, or a purchase of a product.

41. The system as defined in claim 37, wherein the comparater includes a vector closeness determination module to calculate the distance between the behavior vector and any one of the entity vectors.

42. The system as defined in claim 37, wherein the selector includes inventory management to allow selection of the entity vector of an entity being under-selected according to a selection schedule and inhibit the selection of an entity that is over-selected according to the selection schedule.

43. The system as defined in claim 37, wherein the selector includes inventory management to allow selection of the entity based upon a presentation delivery schedule.

44. A method of associating an observed behavior with items on a computer including a data storage, comprising:

converting an observed behavior to a behavior vector;

modifying a profile vector with the behavior vector, and comparing the modified profile vector to a plurality of entity vectors, the entity vectors indicative of the items, so as to identify at least one entity vector closely associated with the observed behavior.

45. The method as defined in claim 44, wherein the observed user behavior is selected from the group consisting of: submitting a query to a web site, requesting a web page, purchasing a product, visiting a merchant, visiting a web site, inquiring about a product, watching a TV show, and watching a movie.

46. The method as defined in claim 44, wherein at least one of the items is selected from the group consisting of: a coupon, an advertisement, a solicitation, information relating to a product, information relating to a set of services, a page, a section or a chapter of a book, a document, a newspaper article, a movie, a TV show, a web site, and a textual material.

47. The method as defined in claim 44, wherein the converting step identifies the behavior vector based upon a page identifier.

48. The method as defined in claim 44, wherein the observed user behavior comprises a user query, and the converting step transforms the user query into vectors based upon the component words of the user query.

49. The method as defined in claim 44, wherein the comparing step calculates the distance between the modified profile vector and any one of the entity vectors.

50. A method of selecting advertisements in a computer environment, comprising:

providing a database of electronic advertisements;

converting an observed behavior of a user computing device in the computer environment to a behavior vector, modifying a profile vector indicative of the user with the behavior vector;

comparing the modified profile vector to a plurality of entity vectors, the entity vectors indicative of the electronic advertisements, so as to identify at least one entity vector closely associated with the observed behavior;

accessing the electronic database with the identified entity vector; and

selecting at least one electronic advertisement to communicate to the user computing device.

51. The method as defined in claim 50, wherein the selecting includes selecting an electronic advertisement that is under-selected according to a selection schedule and to inhibit the selection of an electronic advertisement that is over-selected according to the selection schedule.

52. The method as defined in claim 50, wherein the selecting includes selecting the entity vector based upon a presentation delivery schedule.

53. The method as defined in claim 50, wherein the modifying includes modifying the profile vector based upon at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of: a threshold by which a behavior vector will be used instead of the entity vector, a learning rate for a profile update, a learning rate for an entity update, an update rate for a query universe estimate of a mean, an update for a profile universe update of a mean, a forgetting factor for a set of profile vectors, a forgetting factor for a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set profile vectors, and a mean of a set of query vectors.

54. The method as defined in claim 50, wherein the electronic advertisement is communicated to the user computing device via a network, the network selected from the group consisting of an intranet, a local area network, and the Internet.

55. The method as defined in claim 50, wherein the observed user behavior is selected from the group consisting of: submitting a query to a web site, requesting a web page, purchasing a product, visiting a merchant, visiting a web site, inquiring about a product, watching a TV show, and watching a movie.

56. The method as defined in claim 50, wherein the converting includes identifying the behavior vector based upon a page identifier.

57. The method as defined in claim 50, wherein the observed user behavior comprises a user query, and the converting includes transforming the user query into behavior vectors based upon the component words of the user query.

58. A method for adapting an entity vector on a computer including a data storage, comprising:

converting an observed behavior of a user into a behavior vector;

modifying a profile vector indicative of the user based on the behavior vector; and

modifying an entity vector indicative of an item based on the profile vector or the behavior vector.

59. The method as defined in claim 58, wherein at least one of the items is selected from the group consisting of: a coupon, an advertisement, information relating to a solicitation, information relating to a product, a set of services, a page, a section or a chapter of a book, a document, a newspaper article, a movie, a TV show, a web site, and a textual material.

60. The method as defined in claim 58, wherein the modifying the profile

vector includes modifying the profile vector based upon at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of: a threshold by which a behavior vector will be used instead of the entity vector, a learning rate for a profile update, a learning rate for an entity update, an update rate for a query universe estimate of a mean, an update for a profile universe update of a mean, a forgetting factor for a set of profile vectors, a forgetting factor for a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set profile vectors, and a mean of a set of behavior vectors.

61. The method as defined in claim 58, wherein the modifying the entity vector includes modifying the profile vector based upon at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of: a threshold by which a behavior vector will be used instead of the profile vector, a learning rate for a profile update, a learning rate for an entity update, an update rate for a query universe estimate of a mean, an update for a profile universe update of a mean, a forgetting factor for a set of profile vectors, a forgetting factor for a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set profile vectors, and a mean of a set of behavior vectors.

62. The method as defined in claim 58, wherein the computer is connected to a network, the network selected from the group consisting of: an intranet, a local area network, and the Internet.

63. The method as defined in claim 58, wherein the observed user behavior is selected from the group consisting of: submitting a query to a web site, requesting a web page, purchasing a product, visiting a merchant, visiting a web site, inquiring about a product, watching a TV show, and watching a movie.

64. The method as defined in claim 58, wherein the converting includes identifying identifies the behavior vector based upon a page identifier.

65. The method as defined in claim 58, wherein the observed user behavior comprises a user query, and the converting includes transforming the user query into vectors based upon the component words of the user query.

66. A method of generating a profile vector in a computer environment on a computer including a data storage, comprising:

converting a plurality of observed behaviors of a user into an associated plurality of behavior vectors; and

repeatedly modifying a profile vector indicative of the user based on the plurality of behavior vectors.

67. The method as defined in claim 66, wherein the computer environment is connected to a network, the network selected from the group consisting of: an intranet, a local area network, and the Internet.

68. The method as defined in claim 66, wherein the observed user behavior is selected from the group consisting of: submitting a query to a web site, requesting a web page, purchasing a product, visiting a merchant, visiting a web site, inquiring about a product, watching a TV show, and watching a movie.

69. The method as defined in claim 66, wherein the converting includes identifying the behavior vector based upon a page identifier.

70. The method as defined in claim 66, wherein the observed user behavior comprises a user query, and the converting includes transforming the user query into vectors based upon the component words of the user query.

71. A method of adapting an entity vector on a computer including a data storage, comprising:

converting an observed behavior of a user into a behavior vector, and

modifying an entity vector indicative of an item based on the behavior vector.

72. The method as defined in claim 71, wherein at least one of the items are selected from the group consisting of: a coupon, an advertisement, a solicitation, information relating to a product, information relating to a set of services, a page, a section or chapter of a book, a document, a newspaper article, a movie, a TV show, a web site, and a textual material.

73. The method as defined in claim 71, wherein the computer is connected to a network, the network selected from the group consisting of: an intranet, a local area network, and the Internet.

74. The method as defined in claim 71, wherein the observed user behavior is selected from the group consisting of: submitting a query to a web site, requesting a web page, purchasing a product, visiting a merchant, visiting a web site, inquiring about a product, watching a TV show, and watching a movie.

75. The method as defined in claim 71, wherein the converting includes identifying the behavior vector based upon a page identifier.

76. The method as defined in claim 71, wherein the observed user behavior comprises a user query, and the converting includes transforming the user query into vectors based upon the component words of the user query.

77. The method as defined in claim 71, wherein the modifying step including modifying for the entity vector modifies the behavior vector based upon at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of: a threshold by which a behavior vector will be used instead of the profile vector, a learning rate for a profile update, a learning rate for an entity update, an update rate for a query universe estimate of a mean, an update for a profile universe update of a mean, a forgetting factor for a set of profile vectors, a forgetting factor for a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set of entity vectors, a mean of a set profile vectors, and a mean of a set of behavior vectors.

78. A method of selecting advertisements in a computer including a data storage, comprising:

providing a database of electronic advertisements;

converting an observed behavior of a user computing device in the computer to a behavior vector;

comparing the behavior vector to a plurality of entity vectors, the entity vectors indicative of the electronic advertisements, so as to identify at least one entity vector closely associated with the observed behavior;

accessing the electronic database with the identified entity vector, and

selecting at least one electronic advertisement to communicate to the user computing device.

79. The method as defined in claim 78, wherein the selecting includes selecting an electronic advertisement that is under-selected according to a selection schedule and inhibiting the selection of an electronic advertisement that is over-selected according to the selection schedule.

80. The method as defined in claim 78, wherein the selecting includes selecting the entity vector based upon a presentation delivery schedule.

81. The method as defined in claim 78, wherein the comparing includes calculating the distance between the behavior vectors to any one of the entity vectors.

82. The method as defined in claim 78, wherein the at least one electronic advertisement is communicated to the user computing device via a network, the network selected from the group consisting of: an intranet, a local area network, and the Internet.

83. The method as defined in claim 78, wherein the observed user behavior is selected from the group consisting of: submitting a query to a web site, requesting a web page, purchasing a product, visiting a merchant, visiting a web site, inquiring about a product, watching a TV show, and watching a movie.

84. The method as defined in claim 78, wherein the converting includes identifying the behavior vector based upon a page identifier.

85. The method as defined in claim 78, wherein the observed user behavior comprises a user query, and the converting includes transforming the user query into vectors based upon the component words of the user query.
 Description Submit all comments and votes
 


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The invention relates to associating entities and information with behavior. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and a process for targeting and delivering advertising, coupons, products, or informational content to users based upon observed behavior.

2. Description of the Related Technology

The widespread availability of the World Wide Web (web) and Internet services has resulted in a unique set of advertising opportunities. Unlike conventional "broadcast" media, such as television and radio, the web is a "narrowcast" medium that allows the user to have higher levels of control over the information they receive. Since users can control the retrieval of information, the advertising techniques utilized in the conventional broadcast model has become less effective and can alienate potential customers as a result of the "shotgun" effect. The potential of selectively targeting advertisements on a user-by-user basis has been unrealized due to the difficulty in performing meaningful targeting of customers. The current generation of web ad selection engines utilize a number of partially successful techniques to target customers. Typically, the effectiveness of these techniques is measured in terms of audience response rates. Audience response, also called "clickthrough", is evaluated by counting the number of users that click on a "banner advertisement" contained on a web page which is presented to the user. Clicking on the banner advertisement typically takes the user to the web site of the advertiser where additional information about a product or service is provided. In the current Internet advertising environment, clickthrough is the best measure of the effectiveness of advertising techniques. Consequently, the value of advertising is directly related to the effectiveness of the ad. Therefore, the maximization of clickthrough is of paramount importance for most web sites for both practical and financial reasons.

Some current banner advertising selection techniques are listed in the tables below. These techniques are divided into two classes. The first class of advertising selection techniques, shown in Table 1, use simplistic first generation techniques that are based only on static a priori information. The second class of advertising selection techniques, shown in Table 2, utilizes some of the techniques used in the more sophisticated second generation ad selection systems which may take into account some measure of user behavior, such as a user query, or make use of predisclosed user preferences. However, these more sophisticated objectives often only complicate the problem. In Table 1 and Table 2 certain disadvantages of each method are given, however, the Tables are not meant to be all inclusive so not all disadvantages may be shown.

TABLE 1 ______________________________________ First Generation Ad Targeting Techniques. Method Disadvantage ______________________________________ Domain name of Provides no significant user insight; Does not user browser account for user behavior Implies user behavior is related to usage domain Provides poor clickthrough Browser type Implies user behavior is related to usage browser type/version Provides poor clickthrough System type Implies user behavior is related to system type Provides poor clickthrough Service provider Implies user behavior is related to usage domain Provides poor clickthrough Geography/ Requires up-to-date knowledge base of IP address location versus location Provides poor clickthrough Provides no significant user insight Site SIC Code Requires up-to-date knowledge base of SIC code versus IP addre