Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
m
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENHANCINIG E-COMMERCE
TRANSACTIONS BY ASSESSING THE U;~ERS' ECONOMIC
PURCHASE VALUE RELATIVE TO ADVERTISERS
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present invention relates to U.S. patent application Serial No.
091626,695, filed
July 27, 2000, entitled "History Session Logging System and Method for
Enhancing
E-Commerce Transactions by Providing Personalized (Page Content and
Advertising,"
which is filed on even date herewith, which is assigned to the same assignee
as the
present application, and which is attached hereto as Appendix A.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of data processing. Particularly,
this
invention relates to a software system and associated method for use in e-
commerce
advertising with a search engine that searches data maintained in systems that
are
linked together over an associated network such as they Internet. More
specifically, this
invention pertains to a computer software product for creating an Internet
search and
activity history for a user in an Internet search session and using a user
history and
activity profile to assess the economic purchase value of a user to an
advertiser,
allowing advertising fees to be paid based on the perceived purchase value of
the user
to the advertiser.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The World Wide Web (~ is comprised ~of an expansive network of
interconnected computers upon which businesses, governments, groups, and
ARC9-2000-0042 1
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
individuals throughout the world maintain inter-linked computer files known as
web
pages. Users navigate these pages by means of computer software programs
commonly known as Internet browsers. Due to the vast number of WWW sites, many
web pages have a redundancy of information or share a strong likeness in
either
function or title. The vastness of the WWW causes users to rely primarily on
Internet
search engines to retrieve information or to locate businesses. These search
engines
use various means to determine the relevance of a user-defined search to the
information retrieved.
The authors of web pages provide information known as metadata, within the
body
of the hypertext markup language (HTML) document that defines the web pages. A
computer software product known as a web crawler sysi:ematically accesses web
pages
by sequentially following hypertext links from page to page. The crawler
indexes the
pages for use by the search engines using information about a web page as
provided
by its address or Universal Resource Locator (URL), mf~tadata, and other
criteria found
within the page. The crawler is run periodically to updaire previously stored
data and to
append information about newly created web pages. The information compiled by
the
crawler is stored in a metadata repository or database. The search engines
search this
repository to identify matches for the user-defined search rather than attempt
to find
matches in real time.
A typical search engine has an interface with a search window where the user
enters an alphanumeric search expression or keywords. The search engine sifts
through available web sites for the user's search terims, and returns the
search of
results in the form of HTML pages. Each search result includes a list of
individual
entries that have been identified by the search engine as satisfying the
user's search
expression. Each entry or "hit" may include a hyperlink that points to a
Uniform
Resource Locator (URL) location or web page.
ARC9-2000-0042 2
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
In addition to the hyperlink, certain search result pages include a short
summary or
abstract that describes the content of the URL location. Typically, search
engines
generate this abstract from the file at the URL, and provide acceptable
results for URLs
that point to HTML format documents. For URLs that point to HTML documents or
web
pages, a typical abstract includes a combination of values selected from HTML
tags.
These values may include a text from the web page's "title" tag, from what are
referred
to as "annotations" or °'meta tag values" such as "description",
"keywords", etc., from
"heading" tag values (e.g., HI, H2 tags), or from some combination of the
content of
these tags.
More specifically, the popularity of portal sites irhat act as gateways to
very
specialized information sources has grown concurrently with the WWW, both in
complexity and volume of data. The term "portal" is generally synonymous with
gateway, and is typically used to refer to a WWW site 'which is intended to be
a major
starting site or as an anchor site for web users. Current: leading general-
purpose portal
sites include: Yahoo !~, ExciteO, Netscape~, Lycos~, Cnet~, and MSN The
Microsoft
Network. Such portal sites serve as gateways to a wide variety of general-
purpose
information; however, specialized portals have also been gaining popularity in
recent
years.
The portal database is a vast repository of pre-collected, indexed, and
summarized
information, typically gathered from the VWWV using automated crawling tools.
When a
user enters a query, the portal's search engine attE:mpts to match the
keywords
specified by the user with summarized metadata that have been previously
extracted
from the documents stored in the repository, and then returns an ordered list
of
matches relevant to the user's query.
ARC9-2000-0042 3
r
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
Many web pages contain advertisements that assume various forms such as banner
ads (or advertisements) across the top or bottom of the page. Such ads may
include
scrolled information containing images that change with time. Several attempts
have
been proposed to target users, some of which resorting to cookies to gather
information
about these users. Exemplary advertisement targeting methods are generally
described
in the following publications:
1. U.S. Patent No. 6,064,967 to Speicher;
2. U.S. Patent No. 5,948,061 to Merriman;
3. U.S. Patent No. 5,572,643 to Judson; and
4. U.S. Patent No. 4,833,308 to Humble.
However, disadvantageously from an advertiser's perspective, web users have a
tendency to mentally "tune-out" ads as they read or interact with the
information
displayed on the main work area of a page. Furthermore, by utilizing a portion
of the
valuable "real estate" on a web page for ads, the remaiining available work
area on the
page is reduced from its maximum full-screen capabillities. In order for the
valuable
space dedicated to advertisements to be optimally utilized, the advertisements
need to
be very specifically tailored to each user individually, without overburdening
the
information flow.
Currently, Internet businesses (or ebusinesses) employ the customer's
activities on
their own web sites to focus their sites and advertisements toward the
customer's
interests and needs. However, ebusinesses do not have access to information
from
web pages visited by the user prior to their web page, and are thus at a
competitive
disadvantage due to their inability to closely tailor or target their
ebusinesses,
individually to each customer. As an analogy, each customer visiting a store
is
expected to have his or her individual needs; however, current ebusinesses do
not fully
account for the individuality in taste and needs of the cus>tomers.
ARC9-2000-0042 4
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method that enhance e-commerce
transactions by personalizing the content and the advertisements of web pages
being
browsed by a particular customer, during a particular session. The need for
such a
system has heretofore remained unsatisfied.
In addition, advertising revenue is paid to ebusinE;sses based on the number
of
users that click on the advertiser's banner ads. Currentlly, the fee paid to
the ebusiness
is most likely fixed in that the advertiser pays the same referral fee whether
the users
that click on the banner ads do so by accident or by intE:nt. There is no way
currently to
differentiate the value of the user to the advertiser when the user clicks on
the banner
ad.
Therefore, there is still a need for a system and mel:hod that determine the
value of
a user to an advertiser based on the search and activity history profile,
which would
allow the ebusinesses to charge a higher referral fef: for advertising that
targets a
specific user's needs and to provide access to a potentially more lucrative
clientele
basis. The need for such a system has heretofore remained unsatisfied.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The path tracking and associated method satisfy this need. The system records
the
web user's history and activity and calculates a user "economic purchase
value" based
on the relevance of the user's activity to the web page's topic and the web
page's
advertisers. The referral fee paid to a web page by the advertiser would be
based on a
sliding scale depending on the economic purchase values of the users referred
to the
advertiser's web site. For example, a user whose purchase history indicates a
higher
likelihood of purchasing the advertiser's products andlor services would be
assigned a
higher economic purchase value and thus a correspondingly higher referral fee
than a
ARC9-2000-0042 5
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
user with a lower economic purchase value.
The path tracking system provides numerous advani:ages to the users,
ebusinesses,
and advertisers, among which are the following:
1. The ebusinesses can now target advertising to the perceived individual
needs of the users, maximizing the effectiveness of the banner advertising
and enhancing its attractiveness; and
2. The advertisers' referral fees can be more efficiently allocated, varying
among customers in correspondence to their individual economic purchase
value.
The path tracking system uses a history session logging that sends
information,
such as the user's session history or the user's profile to the current web
server B. To
this end, a proxy server attaches the information to the base domain of the
current web
~ site B, as an extension string or as part of a larger extension string. As
an example, the
URL or base domain for the web site B is: www.URLB.com. The extension string
containing the desired information can be embedded iin the extension string,
which is
then attached to the base domain, as follows: www.URLB.com/extension string.
At the completion of step 440, the proxy server 221 assigns an economic
purchase
value to the user at step 510. This economic purchase value is based on the
assessment of the user's purchase history or profile and on the goods or
services
provided by the web server B that correspond to the user's profile. In the
above
example, if, prior to visiting web site B, the user has made several visits to
competitive
web sites A and made one or more purchases, this user may be assigned a higher
economic purchase value than a user who has neither made any previous
purchases or
visited competitive sites.
ARC9-2000-0042 6
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
Based on the client's prafile, the path tracking ;>ystem assesses an economic
purchase value to the client, which economic purchase value reflects the
perceived
needs of the user that can be filled by the products and I or services offered
by the
current web server B. In summary, a user with perceived needs that closely
match the
content of the web page would receive a higher economic purchase value than
one
whose needs are not shared with the web server B.
The proxy server assesses a referral fee based on lrhe economic purchase value
of
the client. The referral fee information can be generated by a look up table
that
associates the economic purchase value to a referral fee schedule. This
assessment
can be calculated by the web page server B, by the proxy server 221, or
alternatively,
by an independent proxy server.
In one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for
enhancing
business transactions, comprising compiling user's activity information
gathered from
one or more visits to a prior site; generating a personal profile for the user
from the
activity information, the personal profile including any c~ne or more of a
perceived user
interest or a perceived user need; and based on the user's profile, assessing
an
individual economic purchase value to the user relative i:o an advertiser.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for
enhancing
business transactions comprising a data store for compiling user's activity
information
gathered from one or more visits to a prior site; a proxy :server for
generating a personal
profile for the user from the activity information, the personal profile
including any one
or more of a perceived user interest or a perceived user need; and the proxy
server
assessing an individual economic purchase value to the user relative to an
advertiser,
based on the user's profile.
ARC9-2000-0042 7
r
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
In yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a software program
product
comprising a tracking module for compiling user's aclrivity information
gathered from
one or more visits to a prior site; a proxy server for generating a personal
profile for the
user from the activity information, the personal profile including any one or
more of a
perceived user interest or a perceived user need; and the proxy server
assessing an
individual economic purchase value to the user relatives to an advertiser,
based on the
user's profile.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The various features of the present invention and the manner of attaining them
will
be described in greater detail with reference to the folllowing description,
claims, and
drawings, wherein reference numerals are reused, where appropriate, to
indicate a
correspondence between the referenced items, and wherein:
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary operating environment in
which a
path tracking system of the present invention can be usE~d;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates a high level architecture of the
path tracking
system of FIG. 1, shown used in the context of an ebusiness transaction;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram that provides additional details to the architecture
of the
path tracking system of FIG. 2; and
FIG. 4 is a flow chart that depicts the operation of the path tracking system
of FIGS.
1 - 3.
ARC9-2000-0042 8
--,...,..,..m........",".".,_.""....""_.,.__.._.,.....,...~"",",~..
:a",..r,..~,a.. . v ------. ~ -------.-T,.
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The following definitions and explanations provide background information
pertaining to the technical field of the present inventioin, and are intended
to facilitate
the understanding of the present invention without limiting its scope:
Applet: An application such as a utility or a simple program.
Cookie: Information supplied by a server and placed on a user's side of a
userlserver communication. Cookies typically reside on the user's hard disk
and provide
information to the server about the user. In the majority of cases, cookies
have a finite
lifetime.
Data Stream: A flow of data from one place to another.
Ebusiness: business transactions conducted onlinE~ using the Internet or
another
communications network.
Internet: A collection of interconnected public and private computer networks
that
are linked together with routers by a set of stand protocols to form a global
distributed
network.
Intra-Domain Links: Links to documents within a specific Internet site.
Internet: A collection of interconnected public and ;private computer networks
that
are linked together with routers by a set of standards protocols to form a
global,
distributed network.
Server: A software program or a computer that responds to requests from a web
ARC9-2000-0042 9
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
browser by returning ("serving") web documents.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator): A unique address that fully specifies the
location
of a content object on the Internet. The general format of a URL is
protocol://server-address/path/filename.
Web browser: A software program that allows users to request and read
hypertext
documents. The browser gives some means of viewing the contents of web
documents
and of navigating from one document to another.
Web document or page: A collection of data available on the World Wide Web and
identified by a URL. In the simplest, most common case', a web page is a file
written in
HTML and stored on a web server. It is possible for the server to generate
pages
dynamically in response to a request from the user. A web page can be in any
format
that the browser or a helper application can display. They format is
transmitted as part of
the headers of the response as a MIME type, e.g. "textlhtml", "image/gif'. An
HTML
web page will typically refer to other web pages and Internet resources by
including
hypertext links.
Web site: A database or other collection of inter-IinN;ed hypertext documents
("web
documents" or "web pages") and associated data entities, which is accessible
via a
computer network, and which forms part of a larger, dlistributed informational
system ,
such as the WWW. In general, a web site corresponds to a particular Internet
domain
name, and includes the content of a particular organiz;~tion. Other types of
web sites
may include, for example, a hypertext database of a corporate "intranet"
(i.e., an
internal network which uses standard Internet protocols), or a site of a
hypertext system
that uses document retrieval protocols other than those of the WWW.
ARC9-2000-0042 10
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
World Wide Web (~: An Internet user - server hypertext distributed information
retrieval system.
FIG. 1 portrays the overall environment in whit;h a path tracking system 10
according to the present invention may be used. The system 10 includes a
software or
computer program product that is typically embedded within, or installed at
least in part,
on a host server 15. Alternatively, the system 10 can be saved on a suitable
storage
medium such as a diskette, a CD, a hard drive, or like devices. While the
system 10 will
be described in connection with the WWW, the system 10 can be used with a
stand-alone database of terms that may have been derived from the WWW and I or
other sources.
The cloud-like communication network 20 is comprised of communication lines
and
switches connecting servers such as servers 25, 27, to gateways such as
gateway 30.
The servers 25, 27 and the gateway 30 provide the communication access to the
WWW Internet. Users, such as remote Internet users, are represented by a
variety of
computers such as computers 35, 37, 39, and can query the host server 15 for
desired
information through the communication network 20.
The host server 15 is connected to the network 20 via a communications link
such
as a telephone, cable, or satellite link. The servers 25, 27 can be connected
via
high-speed Internet network lines 44, 46 to other computers and gateways. The
servers
25, 27 provide access to stored information such as hypertext or web documents
indicated generally at 50, 55, and 60. The hypertext documents 50, 55, 60 most
likely
include embedded hypertext link to other locally stored pages, and hypertext
links 70,
72, 74, 76 to other webs sites or documents 55, 60 that are stored by various
web
servers such as the server 27.
ARC9-2000-0042 11
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
FIG. 2 illustrates the system 10 of FIG. 1 in relation to a user or a
graphical user
interface (GUI) 140 and the WWW 20. The system 10 records all the actions
performed
by a user (illustrated as a computer 35) via a browser or graphical user
interface 140.
The user's actions can be, for example, queries, searches, clicks on intra-
domain links,
etc.
A proxy server 221 is used in conjunction with the system 10 and acts as an
interface between a service provider 100 and the sy:>tem 10. In this
illustration, the
system 10 is shown implemented on the user's computer 35, and the proxy server
221
is shown implemented by the service provider 100 in order to protect the
user's private
information from unauthorized hacking. It should howE:ver be understood that
from a
technical aspect, the proxy server 221 and the system 10 can be integrated
into a
single application or software program, and can reside either on the user's
computer 35
or on the server of the service provider 100.
Searches on the WWVV are performed by the search service provider 100 that
generally comprises a web crawler 200, a search engine repository 210, an
indexing
engine 220, a query transformer 230, a search engine 240, a search results
transformer
250, and an indexed data repository 260: In use, the crawler 200 crawls the
WWW 20
and downloads web documents to the search engine repository 210 where they are
stored and updated systematically. The abstractlindexing engine 220 indexes
the web
documents and generates abstracts for the documents. The abstracts and the
indexed
data are stored in the abstracts/indexed data repository 260 for later use by
the search
engine 240, as appropriate.
The search engine repository 210 is a data store maintained by a web
information
gatherer such as the web crawler 200. The search engine repository 210
maintains
information or metadata from previously encountered web pages. This metadata
is
ARC9-2000-0042 12
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
used by the indexing engine 220 to prepare the index. Preferably, the search
engine
repository 210 is maintained centrally by the search service provider 100.
Alternatively,
the search engine repository 210 may be located and maintained on an
independently
provided system to which the search service provider 100 has access. The
indexing
engine 220 generates a description for each web document from the metadata
stored in
the search engine repository 210. The query transformE~r 230, prompted by the
browser
140, applies an internal query request to the indexed data stored in the
indexed data
repository 260, and generates a search result with mai,ches (or query results)
270 that
are specific to the user's query.
The system 10 records the user's actions during a visit to a web server A,
which is
representative or the web sites visited by the user prior to browsing the
current web
server B. The user's actions include for example the queries made by the user,
the
URLs visited by the user, the products and/or services purchased by the user,
the
quotes requested by the user, the prices provided to the user, individual
session
profiles, etc. In addition, the user can manually enter additional information
about
himself or herself, such as hobbies, resume information, etc.
The bulk of this information is referred to herein as "user profile," and can
be saved
on the user's computer 35 for privacy reason, or, if authorized by the user,
it can be
saved on a secure site such as a dedicated repository provided by the service
provider
100, or on an independently maintained server. The information forming the
user profile
is indexed by an indexing engine for ease of access. The user profile can be
saved for
either a short time, such as the duration of the session to the current web
server B, or
for an extended period of time for use in future sessions.
FIG. 4 illustrates a method of operation 400 of the system 10 of FIGS. 1 - 3.
At step
405, the user logs on one or more web servers, illustrated by the web server
A. At step
ARC9-2000-0042 13
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
410, the proxy server 221 opens session A and ~~tarts logging selected session
information such as the URL of the web site A and the ;>tart time of session
A. The user
performs any one or more of the actions describecl herein, and the data stream
generated by such actions is logged as a user profile, apt step 415, by the
system 10 on
the user's computer 35.
At step 420, the user clicks on an inter-domain link or explicitly enters the
URL of the
web server B, causing the proxy server 221 closes :>ession A and opens a
current
session B associated with the visit to the web server B (step 425). The proxy
server 221
and the system 10 append the data stream from the web server B to the data
compiled
from visits to the previous web server A, as discussed earlier in connection
with steps
410 and 415.
At step 440, the web server B can expressly query the proxy server 221 for the
user's session history saved by the proxy server 221, or for more detailed
information
such as the complete user's profile saved by the system 10, as explained
earlier.
Alternatively, the proxy server 221 and/or the system 10 can automatically
selected
information from the session A logged at step 410 by the proxy server 221,
andlor the
user's profile stored by the system at step 415, without being queried by the
web server
B. As a privacy precautionary measure, the user can clisable this function at
will, thus
preventing the web server B from accessing session information or the user
profile.
In order to send the information (i.e., the user's ses~~ion history or the
user's profile)
to the current web server B, the proxy server 221 (or the system 10) attaches
this
information to the base domain of the web site B, as an extension string or as
part of a
larger extension string. As an example, the URL or base domain for the web
site B is:
www.URLB.com. The extension string containing the: desired information can be
embedded in the extension string, which is then attached to the base domain,
as
ARC9-2000-0042 14
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
follows: www.URLB.com/extension string.
The web server B, now in possession of the exten:~ion string, uses the
information
contained therein to provide the user with personalized page content andlor
advertising.
For example, the web server B can perform price comparison, and provide the
user with
competitively priced products or services.
Another way to implement the method 400 is for the proxy server 221 (or the
web
server B) to send an applet or cookie to the system 10. When the applet or
cookie is
executed, it queries the system 10 for the user's profile, Alternatively, the
web server B
can send an applet or a cookie to the proxy server 221, which, when recognized
by the
proxy server 221, is executed to query for the session information logged at
step 410.
Another alternative would be for the web server B to send the applet or cookie
to the
proxy server 221, which, when executed, causes the proxy server 221 to
transmit the
query from the web server B to the system 10 for execution. Upon, execution of
the
query by the system 10 on the user's computer 35, the system 10 transmits the
query
result back to the proxy server 221, which, in turn, processes (e.g. indexes
and filters)
the data, or transmits the raw data back to the web server B.
The data stream containing the user related information is processed by the
web
server B to better service the user by generating, for example, personalized
banner
ads, or by changing the web page content based on the perceived needs of the
user.
As an example, the user logs onto www:amazon.com (web site A) and queries for
books, and then queries for a compiler software book:
www.amazon.com
books section
compiler software.
ARC9-2000-0042 15
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
The user then visits www.barnesandnoble.com (web site B). The proxy server
closes session A associated with www.amazon.com, and opens session B
associated
with www.amazon.com. The web server B, upon receiving a log in request from
the
user, activates a cookie on the user's computer. The cookie acquires the
information
from the system 10 about the user's previous activities and provides some
filtering of
non-relevant information.
The cookie then queries the proxy server 221 and sends the user history and
profile
to the web server B. Once the web server B receives the history and profile
information,
it can reformat the web-page content and advertising to meet the user's
perceived
needs and interests. For instance, the web server B can redesign its web page
so that
the latter contains information from and about the books section, and also
provides a
compiled list of compiler softwares. The server can also offer products and
services at a
competitive rate based on information provided by the system 10 on products
and
services provided at web sites previously visited by the user.
At the completion of step 440, the proxy server 221 assigns an economic
purchase
value to the user at step 510. This economic pur<;hase value is based on the
assessment of the user's purchase history or profile and on the goods or
services
provided by the web server B that correspond to the user's profile. In the
above
example, if, prior to visiting web site B, the user has made several visits to
competitive
web sites A and made one or more purchases, this user may be assigned a higher
economic purchase value than a user who has neither made any previous
purchases or
visited competitive sites.
The economic purchase value therefore reflects the' perceived needs of the
user
that can be filled by the products and I or services offerE;d by the current
web server B.
ARC9-2000-0042 16
tr CA 02353027 2001-07-12
r
In summary, a user with perceived needs that closely match the content of the
web
page would receive a higher economic purchase value than one whose needs are
not
shared with the web server B.
As an example, the user logs on to www.amazon.com through the portal
www.yahoo.com and queries for music and then queries. for a compact disk:
www.yahoo.com
www.amazon.com
music category
compact disks.
While the user is conducting a specific search for products at the
www.amazon.com
web site, the proxy server 221 builds a session profile. At this stage, the
user would
enjoy a high economic purchase value relative to future web sites B that sell
music and
music products, but not relative to other web sites B i:hat sell gardening
products or
sports equipment.
Based on the economic purchase value of the client, the proxy server 221
assesses
a corresponding referral fee at step 520. The referral fee' information can be
generated
by a look up table that associates the economic purchase value to a referral
fee
schedule. This assessment can be calculated by the web page server B, by the
proxy
server 221, or alternatively, by an independent proxy serl~er.
It is to be understood that the specific embodimE~nts of the invention that
have
been described are merely illustrative of certain application of the principle
of the
present invention. Numerous modifications may be made to the path tracking
system,
and associated methods described herein without departiing from the spirit and
scope of
the present invention. For example, a business alliance between two associated
sites
ARC9-2000-0042 17
CA 02353027 2001-07-12
that wish to promote each other's products andlor services could result in an
"electronic
coupon," which means that a part of the extension string that is appended to
the
domain of URL B (upon link from URL A to URL B) will grant the user certain
discounts
or other special discounts or similar promotions. Moreover, while the present
invention
is described for illustration purpose only in relation to tf ie WWW, it should
be clear that
the invention is applicable as well to databases and other tables with indexed
entries.
ARC9-2000-0042 ~ g
