Abstract: A data processing system for managing electronic offers, the system comprising: a first logic module adapted to receive a set of recommendation reference data comprising a plurality of items, the plurality of items including at least one product or service, and at least one offer; a second logic module adapted to determine a set of association scores for the plurality of items based on the recommendation reference data; and a third logic module adapted to select a recommended offer based on at least one association score. In an embodiment, the recommended offer is distributed in response to a request for a receipt. In an embodiment, the recommended offer is included in a transaction receipt transmitted to a customer data processing system. In an embodiment, at least one weight is modified based on feedback from an offer redemption, an offer activation, or a purchase.

Abstract: According to an embodiment, a data processing system for facilitating consumer identity resolution comprises: a first logic module adapted to receive at least two collections of consumer records from at least two different sources; a second logic module adapted to compute first trust scores for first data fields of the first collection and second trust scores for second data fields of the second collection; a third logic module adapted to generate a master collection of consumer records comprising at least one master consumer record that is correlated to a record from the first collection and a record from the second collection, the correlation being based on at least on the trust scores; and a fourth logic module adapted to receive a set of contextual transaction data. The data processing system is adapted to identify a consumer based on the contextual transaction data and the master collection of consumer records.

Abstract: Systems and methods to communicate information related to an item described in a user profile are described. The system receives a request over a network from a computer system and associates the request with a user profile that is associated with a user. Next, the system retrieves a description of a first item from the user profile, selects a second item from candidate items, the second item being related to the first item. Finally, the system communicates, over the network, information that is related to the second item.

Abstract: Methods and systems are described herein for monitoring a user accessing a media asset, determining an attentiveness level of the user, and in response to determining that the attentiveness level is above a threshold level, transmitting an instruction to display an advertisement on a display device. By transmitting the advertisement only when a user meets a threshold level of attentiveness, a media application may guarantee to a content/advertisement provider that an advertisement was viewed by the user.

Abstract: A system for providing information on an advertised product includes an advertised product information processing unit for comparing a dominant frequency of the advertised product with user's eyes movement frequency, and, if the frequencies coincide with each other, determining that the user is gazing at the advertised product, extracting information on the advertised product from a storage unit and outputting the extracted information through an output unit.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for providing a custom bumper within a media station. A custom bumper can be created using gathered bumper creation data and a bumper template. Bumper creation data can be any data regarding the media station and can be used to populate an appropriate bumper template. The populated template is a completed custom bumper customized based on the bumper creation data. Further, rewards can be awarded to encourage desired user interactions. Upon a determination that a desired user interaction has occurred a predetermined number of times, a reward can be awarded. The reward can be making available a previously unavailable media item. Bumper creation data indicating the remaining number of times the user interaction has to be performed to achieve the reward to be awarded can be used to create a custom bumper.

Abstract: Systems and methods for facilitating advertising for an advertiser are disclosed. In one example, a method comprises collecting retargeting information for the advertiser, the retargeting information comprising user-behavior information, assigning multiple identifiers for multiple publisher systems to be selectively authorized by the advertiser as retargeting channels in an advertising campaign, receiving a selection of an authorization of at least one publisher system from the advertiser, assigning an advertiser identifier to identify the advertiser, and identifying an advertisement, corresponding to the advertiser identifier, to be served to the user via at least one publisher system, conditioned on the at least one publisher system being an authorized publisher system.

Abstract: A narrowcast advertising system includes a centralized late binding application (LBA) that communicates with one or more respective LBA device components on destination devices associated with a given consumer. The LBA application receives a plurality of advertisements in accordance with ad contracts negotiated between a consumer and an advertising entity. Selected ads are distributed to the respective destination devices for integration with accessible content. Confirmation indications are received by the LBA application from the destination devices so that contract fulfillment records can be updated in accordance with the various options a consumer has for satisfying the negotiated contract.

Abstract: A method of matching advertisements to users is disclosed. A plurality of attributes of a population of users is identified. A selection is received of an attribute of the plurality of attributes to which a target value is to be broadly matched. A correspondence of an advertisement to a user is determined based on a broad matching of the target value to the attribute. The advertisement is matched to the user based at least in part on the determining of the correspondence.

Abstract: Based on a request for an advertisement, a social networking system retrieves information about a user and identifies candidate advertisement (“ad”) objects having targeting criteria satisfied by the information about the user. The social networking system selects a candidate ad object based on associated bid prices and sends a description of the selected candidate ad object to an external system including a bid price for the candidate ad object. Based on bid prices of advertisements stored by the external system and bid price from the description, the external system determines an external clearing price for the candidate ad object and communicates the external clearing price to the social networking system. The social networking system determines a fee for serving an advertisement from the selected candidate ad object based on an internal clearing price for the selected candidate ad object and the external clearing price.

Abstract: Methods and systems for providing audio advertisements to client devices are disclosed. A request for an advertisement may be received at a server computer from a software library on a client device. The request may include one or more targeting criteria. An advertisement may be selected based at least in part on the one or more targeting criteria. The advertisement may be configured as text data. The text data may be encoded using speech synthesis markup language (SSML). The advertisement may be transmitted to the client device from the server computer. The software library may be configured to convert the text data to synthesized sound, and output the sound from the client device. The software library may include a text-to-speech (TTS) software module, which may convert the text data into synthesized sound, and output the sound from the client device.

Abstract: A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a controller to determine a behavioral profile of an end user from packet traffic generated by activities of the end user, and share the behavioral profile with a network element for distributing targeted advertisements to the end user according to the behavioral profile. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A method of managing advertising associated with dynamically expanding content is disclosed. A request for a dynamic expansion of content is detected. The dynamic expansion includes adding additional content to content presented in a user interface. It is determined that a set of advertisements associated with the user interface is to be updated based on an updating criterion. The updating includes replacing an advertisement of the set of advertisements with an additional advertisement. The updating of the set of advertisements is performed.

Abstract: A context of a mobile device is determined. A context preference of a user associated with the mobile device is determined. The context of the mobile device and the user context preference is transmitted to another node and responsively returned data is received. Available free space in the mobile device is determined. All data whose timestamp is within a predetermined threshold is cached. The data is cached in at least a portion of the free space.

Abstract: The present technology is directed to improving the conversion rate of invitational content that is provided to the user of an interactive, content-receiving-and-displaying device. The content of a large number of primary-content sources is analyzed and keyword and/or other context-providing information is extracted from the primary-content sources. The keyword and/or other context-providing information is used to index the primary-content sources into an index according to a hierarchical taxonomy; the hierarchical taxonometric index is used to identify primary-content sources with which a given item of invitational content correlates; and the given item of invitational content is delivered to a user in response to the user accessing a primary-content source with which the given item of invitational content correlates.

Abstract: A method of targeted advertisement distribution based on persona data derived from a social network, wherein the social network includes a plurality of content streams, each content stream associated with a user and a user summary. The method includes the steps of receiving an advertisement request from a third party environment with associated content, identifying a content stream that includes a reference to the third party content, identifying a persona based on the user associated with the identified content stream, and serving an advertisement to the third party environment based on the identified persona.

Abstract: A social networking system user interacts with a terminal associated with a brand, such as kiosk included in a retail location associated with the brand. The terminal provides authorization information to a user device that identifies the terminal and the brand associated with the terminal. Information identifying the user and the authorization information is communicated to the social networking system, which retrieves interactions between the user and objects associated with the brand in the social networking system. The retrieved interactions are communicated to the terminal, which generates content describing the user's interactions with the objects and presents the generated content to the user. A description of the user interaction and/or of the generated content may be communicated to the social networking system for distribution to additional users.

Abstract: Methods and systems for previewing, approving and testing online content, particularly dynamically-created content, are provided. The methods and systems described herein enable a reviewer to access an online content management system through a user interface and view a dynamically-created item of online content as it would be viewed by an online user. In addition, a reviewer is able to create and view a plurality of similar but non-identical items of dynamically-created online content, and then save the underlying build data so that the plurality of items can be regenerated together at a later time. In addition, the build data may be saved to permit it to be transmitted to a third party to enable the third party to regenerate and view the items of online content.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for dynamically providing content to a user. The disclosed embodiments include generating a recommendation matrix based on event data received from a client. In certain embodiments, the client may be configured to generate event data associated with the client or a user associated with the client. The disclosed embodiments may also include generating an offer score matrix based on the recommendation matrix and the event data. In certain aspects, the offer score matrix may include score values associated with a set of offers to be provided to the user. The disclosed embodiments may identify a first offer from the set of offers based on the score values for the offers and provide an identification of the first offer. The disclosed embodiments may also receive content associated with the first offer for display on the client.

Abstract: A system and method for selecting an advertisement to present to a consumer includes detecting facial regions in the image, identifying one or more consumer characteristics (mood, gender, age, etc.) of said consumer in the image, identifying one or more advertisements to present to the consumer based on a comparison of the consumer characteristics with an advertisement database including a plurality of advertisement profiles, and presenting a selected one of the identified advertisement to the consumer on a media device.

Abstract: A trading community platform, method and system is provided, comprising a monitoring module to monitor the behavior of at least one user both off-line and on-line, wherein the user is a member of a community; a profiling module, wherein the profiling module uses data collected from the user monitoring module and generates an enhanced user profile; and a matching module, configured to use data from the monitoring module and profiling module to suggest possible matches between at least a first member of the community and at least a second member of the community or to at least one content item or to at least one prospective service.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method is disclosed herein. The method includes the step of receiving, at a processing device of a commerce server, at least one of a video signal and an audio signal from a head mountable unit. The method also includes the step of deriving, at the processing device, a demographic value in response to the at least one of the video signal and the audio signal. The demographic value is indicative of at least one of a gender and an age of a user of the head mountable unit. The method also includes the step of obtaining, at processing device, an advertisement in response to the demographic value. The method also includes the step of transmitting the advertisement to the head mountable unit with the processing device of the commerce server.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method for displaying advertisements to members of a network comprises identifying one or more communities of members, identifying one or more influencers in the one or more communities, and placing one or more advertisements at the profiles of one or more members in the identified one or more communities.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for determining eligible content items. In one example, the determination is based, at least in part, on information about at least one previously presented content item.

Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and computer program products are described and claimed that provide for automatically and positively determining that an associate accessing a business domain/application using an application-specific associate identifier is the same associate that is accessing another business domain/application using another application-specific associate identifier. Once the positive determination of same associate is made, a federated identifier key is generated and applied to all of the platforms in which the associate can be positively identified, so as to globally identify the associates across multiple enterprise-wide domains/applications. As such, the present invention eliminates the need to manually analyze associate data to determine if an associate interfacing with one domain/application is the same associate interfacing with another domain/application.

Abstract: Architectures and techniques are described to determine a reading level of an electronic book. In particular, words, phrases, clauses, and parts of speech of an electronic book may be tagged and used to determine the reading level of the electronic book. In some cases, the reading level of the electronic book is based on a level of complexity of sentences of the electronic book and a level of complexity of words of the electronic book.

Abstract: A method and system provides a targeted advertisement on a package to be delivered to a recipient. The advertisement is specifically directed towards the recipient of the package. Advertisement information is received from an advertiser that includes one or more advertisements that the advertiser desires to be placed. The advertisement information is associated with advertisement selection criteria. A request for a package to be delivered to the recipient is received. The package has one or more package characteristics, and the recipient has one or more recipient characteristics including at least one location characteristic. The advertisement selection criteria associated with an advertisement are analyzed in conjunction with the package characteristics and recipient characteristics associated with the package and its recipient.

Abstract: A disclosed method of serving web page requests includes detecting a client request for a web page that contains an object. A preloader application is invoked to execute while the object is downloading to the client. The preloader application displays a preloader message during at least part of the downloading interval. At least a part of the preloader message is an advertisement or is otherwise unrelated to a progress of the downloading of the object. A size of the object may exceed a specified threshold and/or a type of the object may match any of a set of predetermined object types. The set of predetermined object types may include a Java® object type, a Flash® object type, or another object type suitable for implementing motion graphics. In some embodiments, the preloader application resides on a third party web site.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for serving targeted advertisements over a communications network and motivating users to view the advertisements by compensating the users after they view an advertisement and verify that they are human and have viewed the advertisement. The targeting is based on target information provided by an advertiser being compared with user information provided by a user who is registered and logged into the system.

Abstract: A system may include a unified content platform configured to obtain an unsponsored content group from unsponsored content group sources, each unsponsored content group having at least one unsponsored content element, wherein the unsponsored content groups are obtained based on a relevance of at least some unsponsored content elements to a characteristic of a user. The system may further include a sponsored content platform configured to generate a master content group based on the unsponsored content groups and a sponsored content group, the sponsored content group having at least one sponsored content element and an associated bid, wherein the master content group is obtained based on the relevance of the at least some unsponsored content elements and a relevance of the sponsored content element to the characteristic of the user and the associated bid.

Abstract: A method for operating an electronic publishing system to display one or more advertisements, comprising the steps of: receiving user content to be displayed on the electronic publishing system; determining the one or more advertisements as a function of the user content and the user's behavior on the electronic publishing system; displaying the user content on the electronic publishing system in a specific format conducive for display of such user content; and displaying the determined advertisements on the electronic publishing system using the specific format to resemble the user content.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and system are provided for implementing resource and/or location-based matching services between a wireless terminal (e.g., mobile phone) user and one or more resources. A novel infrastructure supports resource and/or location based matching services over a wireless network. A back-end system includes a database, server, and match engine that are configured match a user with one or more resources based on the user's characteristics, preferences, and/or location. Such resources include (1) other users, (2) targeted advertising, (3) businesses/networking opportunities, and/or (4) locate a nearby service or store. A flexible database architecture supports application-specific resources which facilitate the deployment of various matching services. Application developers are thus able to implement different resource-matching applications for wireless devices through a common back-end infrastructure.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing an automatically upgradeable software application includes targeted advertising based upon demographics and user interaction with the computer. The software application includes a display region used for banner advertising that is downloaded over a network such as the Internet. The software application is accessible from a server via the network and demographic information on the user is acquired by the server and used for determining what advertising will be sent to the user. The software application further targets the advertisements in response to normal user interaction with the computer. Data associated with each advertisement is used by the software application in determining when a particular advertisement is to be displayed. This includes the specification of certain programs that the user may have so that, when the user runs the program (e.g., a spreadsheet program), a relevant advertisement will be displayed (e.g., an advertisement for a stock brokerage).

Abstract: An advertisement delivery management apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a predictive information storage, a counting unit, and an allocating unit. The predictive information storage unit stores information including user attributes of a plurality of delivery target users predicted as a future advertisement delivery destination. The counting unit counts a total of the number of user attributes of delivery target users which are not allocated on an advertisement delivery order request among the plurality of delivery target users. The an allocating unit allocates the delivery target user on the advertisement delivery order request so that a decrease in a total of the number of user attributes counted by the counting unit is minimized before and after the delivery target user is allocated on the advertisement delivery order request.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to sharing access to end user information in a multi-screen environment for the purpose of enhancing application functionality and end user experience including advertising functionality and experience. The invention includes storing end user information obtained from a first screen environment in an end user context database (ECD), and accessing the end user information in the ECD for use in a second screen environment. The multi-screen environments include a television, a network access device, such as a personal computer configured to provide access to the Internet, a telephone and other mobile and home devices such as PDAs. The first screen environment is different from the second screen environment.

Abstract: An apparatus and method use client information to automatically select products appropriate for the client. According to one aspect of the invention, client information, information about the products, ancillary data, and decision criteria pertaining to selection from among the products are stored in a storage device Decision-making logic circuitry use the stored data to select the products. An output device prepares a client communication identifying the selected products and incorporates a portion of the client information and a portion of the product information into the client communication.

Abstract: Methods for determining a predictive rating are disclosed. In an embodiment, an active user is compared to a set of clusters. One or more of the clusters are determined to be most similar to the active user. From the one or more clusters, K users are determined to be most similar to the active user. Prior ratings for an item by the K users may be used to predict a rating for the item for the active user.

Abstract: A method and system for providing advertising effectiveness searching capabilities, predictive modeling capabilities and usage mining in a location-based services system is disclosed. During operation of the location-based services system, usage information for advertising campaigns placed on the location-based services system is stored. Advertisers are provided with the ability to enter a search request form on a remote terminal to mine the usage information. The search request is then transmitted to an application that searches usage information to generate a response to said search request.

Abstract: A method and system provides a targeted advertisement on a package to be delivered to a recipient. The advertisement is specifically directed towards the recipient of the package. Advertisement information is received from an advertiser that includes one or more advertisements that the advertiser desires to be placed. The advertisement information is associated with advertisement selection criteria. A request for a package to be delivered to the recipient is received. The package has one or more package characteristics, and the recipient has one or more recipient characteristics including at least one location characteristic. The advertisement selection criteria associated with an advertisement are analyzed in conjunction with the package characteristics and recipient characteristics associated with the package and its recipient.

Abstract: The present invention utilizes a web app on both user's mobile device and merchant's website for using biometrics to identify and deliver user information across multiple merchants and allow for targeted advertising to be delivered to the user from the merchant using the identified user's information.

Abstract: An online system, such as a social networking system, may determine user trends and identify actions to be taken by users that may help optimize revenue for an advertiser. A social networking system may generate offers for an advertiser based on the user trends, user characteristics, and claims about users where the offers include actions determined by the social networking system that users may take to help optimize revenue for advertiser. Venues may also sell ad space, ad inventory, and real-time customer data to advertisers through a social networking system.

Abstract: A method of presenting a seller's goods or services to a consumer is provided. The method includes engaging the consumer in conversation with a representative of the seller while the consumer is accessing a webpage of the seller on an Internet browser of a consumer computing device. The method further includes directing the Internet browser to a presentation at a time selected by the representative using a representative computing device, wherein the presentation is configured to provide the consumer with information about at least one of goods and services of the seller.

Abstract: A system includes a processor; a cellular, WiFi, or Bluetooth transceiver coupled to the processor; an accelerometer or a motion sensor coupled to the processor; and a sensor coupled to the processor to sense mood, wherein text, image, sound, or video is rendered in response to the sensed mood.

Abstract: In one embodiment of a method for generating targeted content, an indication of a geographic position is received from a mobile electronic device. An instance of targeted content is generated based upon the geographic position of the mobile electronic device.

Abstract: The demand aggregation system includes deal room sponsored by a third party host. The third party host facilitates commercial transactions between a plurality of buyers and at least one seller. In exchange for sponsorship of such a deal room, the third party host can receive an incentive such as a percentage of sales, seller discount or the like. Furthermore, mechanisms are provided to aid discovery of sellers and/or offers that can be included in a group buying event for a buying group. The buying group receives a greater discount as the total purchase amount in the group buying event increases.

Abstract: Predicting the future location of a user based on predicting the route that the user might take is disclosed. The routes used by the user in the past are indexed to generate a dictionary of routes which can be further augmented with contextual data. The prior routes are encoded within the dictionary such that each term representing a respective one of the prior routes comprises a collection of unique identifiers wherein each of the unique identifiers represents a segment of the respective one of the prior routes. Techniques of text prediction, term frequency for dictionary scores and other language processing techniques are used to predict the further route of the user.

Abstract: A method, and system for implementing the method, comprising the steps of providing an object browser user supporting at least speech communication with the user, permitting user-controlled browsing of objects received through a computer communication network; downloading an object through the computer communication network in dependence on a user input, the object having an associated data file defining a predetermined vocabulary and a predetermined grammar; presenting the downloaded object through the object browser, wherein speech information received from the user is interpreted in conjunction with both the predetermined vocabulary and the predetermined grammar; and selectively generating at least one communication through the computer communication network, in dependence on the interpreted speech information.

Abstract: A social networking system provides a social plug-in that enables advertisers to utilize relevant social context information available for advertising purposes. An advertiser adds the social plug-in next to an ad, where the plug-in is provided with a list of items that are relevant to the ad. The social plug-in communicates with the social networking system to retrieve social context information to provide to a particular viewing user based on the list of items relevant to the ad. The social plug-in also communicates with the social networking system to determine placement of an overlay of the social context information over the ad. A social plug-in may also enable web publishers to allow the social plug-in to serve advertisements alongside other social networking system features, such as recommendations, comments and content sharing.

Abstract: Systems and methods for providing effective and targeted advertisements to consumers through the generations and use of personas and family identities. A persona relates to a user and a contextual environment associated with the user. The personas allow advertisers to provide advertisements related to the contextual environment of a persona. A family identity relates to a set of users associated with at least one device. The family identities allow advertisers to provide advertisements applicable to a set of users.

Abstract: A system for identifying a same user of multiple communication devices is configured to perform the steps of: (a) receiving first data relating to a first device operated by a user; (b) receiving second data relating to a second device operated by a user; (c) determining that the user of the first device is the user of the second device based on identifying that the first data is substantially the same as the second data; and (d) selecting and transmitting a sponsored content to the second device for display thereon, wherein the sponsored content has a relevance to the first and second data and/or a user characteristic datum associated with the user.