Abstract: A method of efficiently providing information for personalizing a web page includes storing member information for a plurality of members such that the member information for each of at least a portion of the plurality of members includes a plurality of responses to demographic questions associated with one or more answers and a response is associated with one of the answers and is conditionally present in the member information, receiving a first selection of an answer to a demographic question from a first authorized user, temporarily associating a first variable personalization slot storing a Boolean value with an answer to the first selected demographic question, receiving a request from the member to view a web page, and personalizing the web page in accordance with the Boolean value stored in the member's first variable personalization slot.

Abstract: A method of processing data in an information gathering system includes receiving a set of candidate data records and attempting to obtain a set of processing rules associated with the set of candidate data records. If the set of processing rules is successfully obtained, the method includes obtaining a set of quality criteria associated with the obtained set of processing rules, applying the set of processing rules and the set of quality criteria to the set of candidate data records to produce a set of quality indicators, and conditionally applying the set of candidate data records to a database associated with the information gathering system based on the set of quality indicators.

Abstract: A method of generating a personalized offer for a user through an information gathering system disposed on the Internet includes storing a plurality of user profiles for a plurality of registered users in a profile database associated with the information gathering system, receiving an information request message at the information gathering system sent in response to the user activating a hyperlink presented on a participating web site, such that the participating web site is operated independently from the information gathering system and where the user activates the hyperlink in order to access an original intended destination distinct from the information gathering system, determining whether the user is one of the plurality of registered users, and retrieving the user profile from the profile database and sending a redirection message if the user is one of the plurality of registered users.

Abstract: A method of efficiently detecting a visit to a web site participating in an incentive award program, wherein the visit is detected at an information gathering system and wherein the information gathering system provides the incentive award program, the method including receiving a request message from a user including an award identifier, wherein the award identifier is associated with a predefined user activity and wherein the user sends the request message by activating a hyperlink presented on the participating web site during the visit; identifying a desired destination based on the request message received from the user, wherein the hyperlink advertises the desired destination to the user and wherein the desired destination is distinct from an address of the information gathering system at which the request message is received; and sending a redirect message to the user, wherein the redirect message includes an Internet address of the desired destination.

Abstract: A method of performing a query of a database system includes the steps of providing a query user with query attributes in the form of question and answer combinations, constructing a logical expression from the data and the Boolean operators selected by the user, executing a query of the database system using the logical expression targeting members with attribute combinations matching the logical expression, and assigning each answer from the question and answer combination a unique identification in the database system.

Abstract: A method for providing secure and efficient link expiration that includes determining an email address for a member that a link is to be sent; generating a link by encrypting the member's email address; determining an expiration date for the link; and applying a scaling factor to the expiration date. The method also includes combining the expiration date with the link; sending an email message to the member's email address, with the email message including the link embedded therein; taking the member to a web site after receiving data corresponding to selection of the embedded link by the member; determining if the link has expired based on the expiration date with the reduced memory requirement; decrypting the link if it is determined that the link has not expired; and determining if the link is valid.

Abstract: A method for providing efficient target parameter selection ranging includes assigning each record at least one persistent identifier. The persistent identifier may be ordered so that a selected range of the persistent identifier may allow a user to select a number of consecutively-identifiable, but apparently randomly-selected records. By only choosing records from a range of persistent identifiers, mutually exclusive or disjoint sets of records may be efficiently selected without performing a database join operation or storing the lists for comparison or later use. In one example, the persistent identifier may be a large random number assigned to a record at is creation.

Abstract: An enterprise system for processing member requests and storing member data may be evenly and randomly distributed across system components. All system resources such as, for instance, user and client data, applications manipulating the data, and user interface data may be evenly distributed across several discrete server groups connected in parallel. Each discrete server group may contain all system applications used to manipulate the data stored at the group. Further, a system component may randomly assign incoming data to a server group and thereby ensure that the data will be evenly distributed across the system.

Abstract: A method of defining an account statement built from a construction of transaction threads includes receiving data associated with a new transaction for a person; determining if the new transaction is part of an existing thread; adding the new transaction to the existing thread if it is determined that the new transaction is part of the existing thread; establishing the new transaction as a tracking transaction for a new thread if it is determined that the new transaction is not part of an existing thread; receiving an input requesting to view a plurality of transactions for the person that occurred or posted during a first time period; and displaying at least a portion of the plurality of transactions from the first time period in a particular order except for the threads that have multiple transactions, which are grouped together.

Abstract: A robust system architecture based on discrete groups of servers and other components may provide an improved large-population information management system and incentive award system by providing improved system scalability, campaign management, member activity tracking, real-time aggregate counting, and distributed application hosting.

Abstract: A method for providing three-way failover for a database server group includes identifying a master server failure or a master server shutdown, designating a first replication server as a new master server, and copying data from a second replication server to a new replication server while the first replication server functions as the new master server. The method also includes receiving new data at the server group and saving the new data at the hew master server, saving the new data in a queue at the second replication server until the set of data stored on the second replication server has been copied to the new replication server, and reading the new data saved in the queue and applying the new data to the second % replication server after the set of data has been copied to the new replication server.

Abstract: A method of efficiently generating and sending emails including creating an email template, setting up a campaign query, and distributing the email template and a set of information associated with the campaign query to a plurality of server groups. The method also includes running the campaign query on each of the plurality of server groups and obtaining a plurality of matching users; dividing the plurality of matching users into one or more batches; merging the email template with a set of information corresponding to each of the plurality of matching users from a first batch for each of the plurality of server groups, and sending the first batch of the merged emails directly from each of the plurality of server groups without saving copies of the merged emails.

Abstract: Real-time aggregate counting of activity parameters includes receiving activity data relating to one or more activities within a distributed system at a server group, deriving one or more activity parameters from the activity data at the server group, counting each activity parameter to create aggregate count data relating to an aggregate count of the activity parameter at the server group and replicating the aggregate count data to an administrative server group. The aggregate count data may be combined with aggregate count data from other server groups. Decisions may be made and reports may be generated based on the aggregate count data and the combined aggregate count data.

Abstract: A system and method provides web site proprietors with demographics information about the users who visit their web sites, and provides web site visitors with incentive awards (i.e., points) in exchange for providing the demographics information and interacting with the web sites in a predefined manner. Users complete a questionnaire designed to solicit various demographics data of interest to web site proprietors. A profile is then associated with user identification information and stored on a server. The identification information is also stored on the user's local device to identify the user on subsequent visits to participating sites. Users visit the web sites of one or more participating web site proprietors. In so doing the participating user will be awarded points that can be redeemed for products or services at a later date. The system automatically awards points to deserving users without requiring the users to manually leave the web site awarding the points.