WO2009087613A2

WO2009087613A2 - Privacy-protecting consumer profiling and recommendation

Info

Publication number: WO2009087613A2
Application number: PCT/IL2008/001690
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ofer Feldman
Original assignee: Ofer Feldman
Priority date: 2008-01-07
Filing date: 2008-12-29
Publication date: 2009-07-16
Also published as: WO2009087613A3

Abstract

A distributed system and method for providing advertisement recommendations for users seeking consumer information over the Internet. A consumer profiling server tracks information related to patterns of a consumer's Internet usage, surfing, and preferences for content, and optionally summarizes this information in cookies stored in the consumer's device. High-level categorization is done by computer from evaluations prepared by human analysis. An advertisement server provides advertisements to the consumer's device according to recommendations of the consumer profiling server according to the stored consumer usage and preference data. Tracking, analysis, and storage of consumer information are done in a manner that cannot be traced back to any individual consumer or consumer device, thus assuring consumer privacy. Furthermore, the consumer profiling server and the advertisement server can be combined or in separate physical devices, permitting the system to be distributed over multiple consumer profiling servers and/or multiple advertisement servers.

Description

PRIVACY-PROTECTING CONSUMER PROFILING AND RECOMMENDATION The present application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application

Number 61/009,992 filed January 7, 2008, which is incorporated by reference herein. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to advertising, and, more particularly, to a system and method for personalizing targeted advertisements and other content to a consumer over an interactive data network. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is a growing demand for targeted and personalized advertisements and other content over interactive networks, because these have been found to be significantly more effective than uniform broadcast advertising. A popular methodology for delivering personalized advertisements to consumers is to install specific client software on the devices used by the consumers. Consumer profiles are defined in an advertisement server, and based on predefined rules the targeted consumers receive the advertisements. U.S. Patent No. 6,847,992 to Haitsuka, et al. ("Haitsuka") discloses such a solution, whereby a client application is mandatory in the consumer's device. The consumer enters his preferences, and the advertisements are displayed in a dedicated client window on the consumer device. Drawbacks of such a solution include the need to install the client application, and confinement of the displayed advertisements to a dedicated window on the consumer device. In addition, the consumer must provide the information collected, which is not anonymous. WO 2007/047310 of Marsh, et al., ("Marsh") recognizes the need for a solution without a mandatory client application, but still assumes the consumer will be willing to cooperate and provide such information. WO 2005/109271 of Kim ("Kim") also assumes that the consumer provides information, but offers this in exchange for personalized services (not restricted to advertisements). The term "consumer" herein denotes any individual who receives a personalized advertisement over an interactive data network, or about whom information is collected which is applicable to the selection and/or personalization of an advertisement or other content to be sent over an interactive data network. The consumer is also often referred to as the "end user". The terms "interactive data network" and "network" herein denote any communication system which supports interaction between the sender and receiver of information, including, but not limited to: IP networks, such as the Internet; telephony networks, such as mobile telephony networks; and broadcast systems which are capable of supporting receiver response, such as satellite and cable television systems, satellite radio systems, and the like. The consumer uses a device to connect and/or to interface with the interactive data network, and the term "consumer device" herein denotes any such device, including, but not limited to any type of: computer; data terminal; telephony apparatus; personal digital appliance (PDA); and/or broadcast receiver.

Additional prior art takes a different approach, whereby behavioral information on the consumer is collected and used to provide targeted advertisements. U.S. Patent Publication number 20060212353 of Roslov et al. ("Roslov") relies on cooperation of the Internet Service Provider (ISP). The ISP tracks the consumer's surfing habits (for example, the sites visited often) and uses this information to provide the targeted advertisements. Cooperation with the ISP may be difficult to attain, however, and in certain circumstances legal issues may arise. U.S. Patent 7,089,194 to Berstis, et al. ("Berstis") also relies on the cooperation of the ISP, and assumes the consumer will grant the ISP a right to collect information on him in exchange for some benefits, such as reduced charges. The term "service provider" (SP) herein denotes any entity which provides a service over a network; and the term "network access service provider" (NASP) herein denotes an entity which provides service to a consumer for accessing an interactive data network, including, but not limited to: an Internet Service Provider (ISP); and a telephony service provider.

U.S. Patent 7,181,488 of Martin, et al. ("Martin") takes a similar approach to Roslov of behavioral targeting, but requires an installation of a client application, thereby eliminating the need for cooperation by the ISP. However, consumers are often reluctant to install applications on their computers.

U.S. Patent Publication number 20070067297 of Kublickis ("Kublickis") takes the approach of behavioral information further, and creates a "market place", in which the consumer plays an active part by sharing information with suppliers and advertisers, for which they are rewarded with a revenue share. Consumers sign up for the service, provide information on their preferences, and according permit the collection of behavioral information.

The inventions mentioned above require that the consumer either provide information, or agree for such information to be collected from him. There is therefore a need for a personalized advertising solution that uses a behavioral targeting approach, but which respects consumer confidentiality, and therefore does not require consumer permission or consent. U.S. Patent 5,614,927 to Gifford, et al ("Gifford") takes a first step by technically dealing with the need to maintain the confidentiality of personal information. Gifford, however, does not focus on collection of behavioral information or methods for presentation of advertisements. There is thus a need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a method and system for collecting behavioral information on an anonymous basis and selectively presenting advertisements to consumers over an interactive data network, while maintaining consumer confidentiality. This goal is met by the present invention. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention is to provide a system and methods for a recommendation service using consumers' profiles for presentation of targeted content such as advertising to consumers over an interactive data network. An associated objective is to provide a framework for cooperative intercommunication with preexisting advertisement servers in the consumer marketplace, whereby recommendations can be furnished to preexisting infrastructure for advertisement and content presentation and management. A specific objective is to be oriented to the interests of the individual consumer, and to advocate those interests to suppliers of advertising and other content. A further objective of the present invention is to isolate collected information about consumers from the entities that actually manage advertisement campaigns. According to the present invention, consumers are not identified individually, and consequently the need for obtaining the consent of the consumers is eliminated.

A still further objective of the present invention is to eliminate the need for cooperation with a network access service provider or any other entity. The solution does not require the creation of a marketplace, and can co-exist with sites that implement different servers for communicating with consumer devices.

Yet an additional objective of the present invention is to provide automatic high-level categorization of consumer interest in website content, by combining predetermined human-knowledge evaluation of the content with computer selection and analysis of the predetermined evaluation.

According to the present invention, there is disclosed a method and system that enables targeted and personalized content such as advertisements to be furnished to a consumer based on information gathered anonymously regarding the consumer, from his or her behavior patterns in accessing servers on the network which offer informational content (generally referred to as "websites" or, equivalently, as "sites"). The term "informational content" includes, but is not limited to: text; audio; graphics and video; data; computer software, and the like; and communication and interaction with computers and other users over the network. The term "informational content" furthermore encompasses the exploration and access of sites on an interactive data network is generally referred to as "surfing" the network. The examination of content offered by a particular site is generally referred to as "browsing". The characteristics of a consumer's past behavior patterns are generally referred to as "surfing habits". Such characteristics include, but are not limited to: context analysis; statistics of any kind; statistics correlated with other factors, such as time-of-day, language, season; and characterizations and statistics related to the content of sites accessed.

Embodiments of the present invention disclose an "advertisement recommendation server", which communicates with other servers such as: advertisement servers, website servers, and the consumer device, in order to display targeted content such as advertisements to the consumer, based on his or her surfing habits when accessing sites supported by a system implemented according to embodiments of the present invention. In embodiments of the present invention, the advertisement recommendation server identifies the consumer device using only a randomly- generated number. The identity of the consumer and/or consumer device is not disclosed to the advertisement recommendation server or to any other entity, and therefore the consumer's identity and personal information is not disclosed. The advertisement recommendation server does not send profiles to the advertisement server or any other server. The advertisement recommendation server sends attributes such as age, gender, student and keywords such as 'Sports', 'Education", and so forth.

According to further embodiments of the present invention, the consumer may decide to participate actively in the advertisement recommendation process by supplying preferences and related information, including, but not limited to: gender; age; fields of interest, such as sports and hobbies; content to be preferred and content to be avoided; parental control attributes; preferred advertisement locations and sizes on the screen; and form and formats of the advertising, such as view-only banners, browsable advertising copy; printable coupons; and time of day considerations. Such information can assist the system to define what is denoted herein by the terms "consumer profile" and "profile". In embodiments of the present invention, the consumer profile is stored in the advertisement recommendation server or on the consumer device.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the consumer periodically updates his or her consumer profile. In yet another embodiment, distinct consumer profiles are defined for each of several different consumers using the same consumer device. According to still further embodiments, a consumer profile may be used in several different consumer devices, and a randomly generated identifier is defined and/or the consumer defines his or her own identifier to be used in all consumer devices.

The novelty of the present invention, includes, but is not limited to, the following aspects: • The consumer receives personalized advertisements based on his or her surfing habits in various sites, and / or other domains and sub sites of the same website operator. For example, a consumer surfing a website for the first time will receive personalized advertisements based on his or her surfing habits at other websites which support the present invention.

• The consumer's profile may be defined and stored in the consumer device (distributed architecture) or in the advertisement recommendation server, but not in the advertisement server.

• The consumer can define his or her own preferences for advertisements. • The recommendations may be used for content adaptation other than advertisement selection.

• A community of consumers can be created, whereby consumers can share their interest in advertisements, and whereby a website may gain

¹ access to the advertisement preferences of the community members without disclosing or finding out any of the personal details and identity of the community members.

• The recommendation server may provide a screening mechanism for the content campaign management entity. For example, the content campaign management entity can define a content campaign for students and the recommendation server will send the recommendation "Student" only for consumers with "Student" profile that will receive the content.

• There is a mechanism for recording and analyzing the consumer actions (such as clicks on ads) in order to define the best content, such as advertisements, for this consumer based on his or her past and current actions.

• In certain embodiments, there is a mechanism for redefining the content presentation rules (such as in the advertisement server) based on analysis of the consumers actions (such as click rates on ads or interest in certain content) in order to best match the content (such as advertisement) to the most relevant consumers (profiles) target segment. For example, after analyzing the click rates for a specific advertisement a new presentation rule will be offered to the ad server to present this advertisement only to consumer of gender "Female" with interest in "Sport" and "Health".

• In certain embodiments, the cookie identifier is a unique and randomly- created string that does not disclose the identity of the consumer or the consumer device.

• Personal information of the consumer is not reported to any server, computer, or device.

• The cookie is a property of the recommendation server, and not of the website the consumer is visiting. • There is no requirement to install special client software on the consumer device. .

• Multiple consumer profiles are supported. A consumer profile uniquely identifies usage patterns to identify the user currently using the consumer device. • No involvement or cooperation of the Internet Service Provider (ISP) or any other mediator is required.

• There is no need for a shared cookie, or other shared data, in order to share information between the visited website, the consumer profiling server, and the advertisement server. • The consumer does not have to actively participate in the advertisement recommendation process unless he or she desires to do so.

• Information can be shared between sessions and between websites visited by the consumer.

• Advertisements are displayed in the consumer's browser without requiring an external display window or client.

• Mobile consumer devices are supported for display of recommended advertisements, based on the consumer's surfing habits on the web and on his or her non-mobile consumer devices. Information is collected on each of consumer device, and employed in all of them as appropriate. • Other actions besides displaying personalized advertisements are supported. Non-limiting examples include: recommendations for content; and making recommendations for extensions of the consumer's computing environment to enhance the user's experience. • Advertisements are recommended for a particular website visited by the consumer for the first time based on information about the consumer's preferences collected during visits to other websites, even those that have different advertising servers, or which are part of different advertisement networks. • According to the present invention, the consumer's profiles are separate from the advertisement servers.

• The advertisement recommendation server interoperates with multiple advertisement servers and with multiple websites interfacing with different advertisement servers. Therefore, according to the present invention there is provided a method for recommending and providing an advertisement to a consumer utilizing a browser on a consumer device to access a site on a network, the method including: (a) requesting a cookie from the browser, the cookie optionally containing data relating to network usage patterns and content preferences of the consumer, wherein the cookie has an identifier which does not contain any data identifying the consumer or the consumer device; (b) if the cookie is not found, then creating the cookie and optionally recording the network usage patterns and content preferences of the consumer thereon, and identifying the cookie by an identifier that does not contain any data relating to the consumer or the consumer device; (c) if the cookie is found, then obtaining therefrom the network usage patterns and content preferences of the consumer; (d) utilizing the usage patterns and content preferences of the consumer to generate a recommendation for a recommended advertisement; (e) sending the recommendation for the recommended advertisement to the site; (i) requesting that the recommended advertisement be sent to the site; and (g) displaying the recommended advertisement to the consumer on the browser.

In addition, according to the present invention there is provided a system for recommending and providing an advertisement to a consumer utilizing a browser on a consumer device to access a site on a network, the system including: (a) a consumer profiling server, for compiling information about consumer browsing patterns; (b) an advertisement recommendation server, for recommending the advertisement to the consumer; (c) an advertisement server, for providing the advertisement to the consumer; and (d) a cookie, for storing data relating to network usage patterns and content preferences of the consumer, wherein the cookie has an identifier which does not contain any data identifying the consumer or the consumer device.

Furthermore, according to the present invention there is also provided a system for recommending an advertisement to a consumer utilizing a browser on a consumer device to access a site having content on a network, the system including: (a) a consumer profiling server, for compiling information about consumer browsing patterns, and for generating a consumer profile; (b) a site category database including at least one site category record, wherein the at least one site category characterizes the content; (c) a site integration layer, for transforming the at least one site category record into a profile update vector; (d) a statistical database of predetermined data records quantifying characteristics of consumers interested in the content, wherein the site integration layer utilizes the statistical database in the transforming; and (e) an analyzer, configured to update the consumer profile. BRIEF DESCRIPTION QF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a conceptual diagram of the network communication flow of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a conceptual diagram of the network communication flow of a method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a flowchart of a method for making and fulfilling advertising recommendations according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 is a conceptual diagram of the data flow of content analysis from a website to consumer profile, according to an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The principles and operation of a privacy-protecting for a consumer profiling and advertising and content recommendation method and system according to embodiments of the present invention may be understood with reference to the drawings and the accompanying description.

In the following descriptions and in the drawings associated therewith, embodiments of the present invention are illustrated with non-limiting examples related to Internet applications. It is understood, however, that Internet-related examples are provided for the purpose of illustration, and that the principles of the present invention are not restricted to use in data networks, but are applicable to other communication infrastructure as well. In particular, embodiments of the present invention apply to mobile telephone networks; and to interactive television systems, including, but not limited to cable and satellite television system platforms. In the case of a data network such as the Internet, the consumer device is typically a personal computer. In the case of mobile telephone networks, the consumer device is typically a mobile telephone. In the case of television systems, the consumer device is typically a television receiver.

Additionally, the term "advertisement" is herein expansively construed to denote and encompass all forms of media or informational content having interest to consumers, and is not limited to presentations or material formally identified or classified as "advertising". The term "advertisement" is used herein because such content typically has commercial value, or is related to material having, or associated with commercial value. Such content denoted herein by the terms "advertisement" and "advertising" includes, but is not limited to: commercial advertising for products and/or services; product and service announcements, bulletins, press releases; product and service reviews and comparisons; information on marketing, economic, social, and political trends; information on style, fashion, and the like; and information on lifestyle, health, career, education, leisure, recreation, travel, social events, media, and the like.

Figure 1 conceptually illustrates a configuration and communication flow over a network 101 according to an embodiment of the present invention. A consumer device 103 has a browser 105 which is shown browsing a website supported by a website server 107. According to another embodiment of the present invention, a consumer profiling server 109 and an advertisement server 111 are associated together in the configuration. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, however, consumer profiling server 109 is separate from advertising server 111. It is noted that consumer profiling server 109 and advertisement server 111 are logical and functional entities. In an embodiment of the present invention, consumer profiling server 109 and advertisement server 111 are combined into a single physical device 110. In another embodiment of the present invention, consumer profiling server 109 and advertisement server 111 are physically-separate entities and may be located anywhere on network 101.

In further embodiments of the present invention, consumer profiling server 109 is combined with an advertisement recommendation server. These are two logically-distinct entities: the consumer profiling server creates and updates consumer profiles, whereas the advertisement recommendation server determines and outputs content recommendations for consumers. In practice, however, these two logical units are closely-connected in the information and processing flow, and are preferably combined into a single unit for efficient operation. This combining of the two units is implicit in the discussions herein, and references to the consumer profiling server are understood to encompass the advertisement recommendation server, and vice versa.

Consumer profiling server 109 communicates with browser 105 over a network connection 153 and can create a cookie 113 on consumer device 113 via a network connection 155, and can also read cookie 113 in cases where cookie 113 is pre-existing on consumer device 113. The term "cookie" herein denotes a small data object stored on a computer connected to a network, containing information including, but not limited to: non-personally-identifiable user identification; user preferences; and optionally records pertaining to network utilization. In the context of the present invention, it is understood that a cookie is a non-limiting means of storing data and information pertaining to such issues as the foregoing. Certain embodiments of the present invention utilize cookies for data storage and retrieval; certain other embodiments utilize other data structures and schemes, including but not limited to: databases, knowledge bases, and record storage of any kind. References herein to "cookies" are understood to reference cookies only as non-limiting examples. Privacy Protection

It is furthermore explicitly understood that specific consumer personal identities are not utilized by embodiments of the present invention and are not stored in conjunction with any information utilized by embodiments of the present invention in any network or on any remote device. Specific consumer personal identities are not stored or utilized by any remote device or software application in connection with embodiments of the present invention. Embodiments of the present invention identify consumers only in terms of arbitrary data references that have no intrinsic personal association with the consumer. In a non-limiting example, a consumer is identified only by a uniquely-assigned random number stored in a cookie on the consumer's computer.

Returning to Figure 1. for this particular session, browser 105 communicates with website server 107 via a network connection 151, and website server 107 in turn communications with advertisement server 111 over a network connection 157 to supply selected advertisements to website server 107 for display to the consumer on browser 105.

In operation, the consumer has chosen to browse the site supported by website server 107, which in turn sends requested web pages to browser 105. Selected advertisements can be relayed from advertisement server 111 through website server 107 to browser 105, or browser 105 can be given a link to advertisements on advertisement server 111 for contacting over a network connection 159.

In each case, based on the characteristics of an advertisement, consumer profiling server 109 requests cookie 113. If cookie 113 does not exist, a new cookie 113 is created on consumer device 103, and the current browsing information is optionally recorded thereon, along with a unique identifier for consumer device 103. In an embodiment of the present invention, the unique identifier is a random number or string. In this manner, consumer device 103 is identified uniquely, but in a manner that is not directly associated with the identity of the consumer. The consumer profile can also be stored on the consumer profiling server. If cookie 113 exists, consumer profiling server 109 learns therefrom the browsing habits of the consumer in supported sites. Learning can be based on classification of the page (such as a news page, or sports page) as well as on contextual analysis of the page as well as on analysis of the search on the page. Consumer profiling server 109 uses the information to recommend preferred advertisement characteristics for the consumer. In a non-limiting example, if the consumer browses mostly news pages, the recommendation will be for advertisements relevant to people consuming news. The recommendation is reported by consumer profiling server 109 to browser 105, which in turn reports the recommendation to website server 107. Upon receipt of an advertisement recommendation, website server 107 requests an advertisement conforming to the recommendation from advertisement server 111, which then returns a suitable advertisement to website server 107 for forwarding to browser 105. In another embodiment of the present invention, advertisement server 111 can return a link to a suitable advertisement to website server 107 for forwarding to browser 105, which thereafter will access the advertisement via the returned link, such as by network connection 159 or other appropriate connection as specified by the returned link. In any case, browser 105 then displays the recommended advertisement for the consumer.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, consumer actions and behavior are reported to Consumer profiling server 109 by browser 105 or advertisement server 111. Consumer profiling server 109 analyses the behavior and finds the preferred match between consumer profiles and the content. Consumer profiling server 109 then updates advertisement server 111 regarding the preferred match between the recommendations and the content. In a non-limiting example, an advertisement is displayed to consumers by advertising server 111. The clicks on the advertisement are analyzed by Consumer profiling server 109 and Consumer profiling server recommends that the ad should be displayed to consumers interested in "Cars" and of gender "male", in order to increase the click rate on the advertisement.

Figure 2 conceptually illustrates a configuration and communication flow over a network 101 according to another embodiment of the present invention, wherein a client application 201 has been installed on consumer device 103, which interacts with consumer profiling server 109 via a network connection 203. In this embodiment, the consumer elects to receive personalized advertisements. In this case the consumer fills in a preferences form and includes his or her advertisement preferences and other information including, but not limited to: gender; parental control specifications; and any other information that may be used to offer personalized or targeted advertisements. The consumer may approve the installation of client application 201 on his or her computer. If the consumer does not approve such installation, his or her preferences are stored anonymously (using an encrypted or automatically generated unique ID on the server) on one or more servers. If the consumer does approve the installation, however, he or she uses browser

105 to browse specific sites which support the present embodiment. Browser 105 communicates with website server 107 and client application 201. Website server 107 sends requested pages to browser 105, including advertisements from advertisement server 111, either via website server 107 or by redirection as previously described. For each of the page requests, and based on the characteristics thereof (non-limiting examples of which include: video; lead form; banner; popup; and so forth), consumer profiling server 109 communicates with consumer device 103 and requests cookie 113. Based on this, consumer profiling server recommends advertisements and/or provides information for recommending advertisements. These recommendations are reported to browser 105, and consumer device 103 is updated with the new browsing information.

If the consumer has elected to install a client application on his or her device, the consumer profiling server communicates with client application 201 in order to recommend advertisements for the consumer. In accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention, the client is capable of recording the actions of the consumers (such as mouse movement, scrolls, clicks etc.) without affecting their browsing habits. By analyzing the consumer actions, historic data, and consumer profile, the client application defines the consumer profile.

Reference is now made to Figure 3, which is a flowchart of a method for making and fulfilling advertising recommendations according to an embodiment of the present invention. In a step 301 the consumer browses a website using his or her computer's browser. Responding in a step 307, the website sends a requested page 303 to the consumer's browser. Requested page 303 may contain a redirection link 305 along with data embedded therein. Redirection link 305 directs the browser to advertisement server 111 and/or to consumer profiling server 109, or in server 110 combining both, as previously discussed. For redirection link 305, in a step 309 the browser redirects the request as specified.

Next, in a step 311, advertisement server 111 requests a browser cookie 313containing an ID 315 from the browser. At a decision point 317, if cookie 313 is not found, in a step 319, cookie 313 is created, followed by a step 321 to record browsing information therein. If cookie 313 is found, however, in a step 323 the consumer's browsing habits are retrieved therefrom, and browsing information and patterns are recorded. In either case, in a step 325 advertising recommendations are made, after which the recommendations are reported to the website in a step 327. Then, in a step 329 the website requests an advertisement from advertisement server 111 and returns the advertisement according to the site request in a step 331. Finally, in a step 333 the advertisement is displayed to the consumer.

According to embodiments of the present invention, consumer information is updated constantly with the browsing information thereof according to factors which include, but are not limited to: consumer clicking on an advertisement; consumer filling in of an advertisement lead, categories most-frequently browsed by the consumer; and so forth. According to other embodiments, if a client application is installed on the consumer device, as previously discussed, consumer information maybe collected during computer use. If a client application is not installed, however, then the information is updated each time the consumer profiling server communicates with the browser on the consumer device.

According to further embodiments of the present invention advertisement server 111 is combined with consumer profiling server 109 into server 110 (as previously discussed and illustrated in Figure 1 and Figure 2), and communicates directly with consumer device 103 without having the communication to be passed through website server 107.

According to additional embodiments of the present invention, advertisement server 111 and consumer profiling server 109 are separate servers; advertisement server 111 is configured to interoperate with multiple consumer profiling servers and with multiple website servers; and consumer profiling server 109 is configured to interoperate with multiple advertising servers and with multiple website servers.

According to still further embodiments of the present invention, the consumer may elect to define a user name and/or other identifier and/or an e-mail address which will be used to identify him or her to consumer profiling server 109 and/or advertisement server 111 and/or in a community of consumers. Such a consumer name may be used for various purposes including, but not limited to: personalized advertisements; recognition in a community of consumers; recommendation of advertisements to other consumers; feedback reports; consumer surveys; marketing promotions; automatic generation of leads; automatic fill-out of lead forms; and so forth.

According to yet other embodiments of the present invention, consumer profiling server 109 and advertisement server 111 may also communicate via consumer device 103 with other applications (a non-limiting example of which is an instant messaging applications) that are associated with a website or a vendor thereon, and display personalized and targeted advertisements therein, using methods described herein.

It is to be appreciated by those skilled in the art that no personal identity information is reported by consumer device 103 to consumer profiling server 109 or to advertisement server 111. In embodiments of the present invention, consumer device 103 is known only by a unique and randomly-created identifier stored in a cookie, nor is any personal information concerning the consumer himself or herself (including, but not limited to: name; physical address; e-mail address) stored or reported according to embodiments of the present invention. Unique identifiers for consumer device 103 including, but not limited to: IP address, Mac address, physical location, router etc., are not used by consumer profiling server 109 nor by advertisement server 111, nor reported thereto, unless the consumer has explicitly elected and agreed to provide such information.

It is also to be appreciated by those skilled in the art, that no involvement of the Internet Service Provider, or any other mediator, is necessary to accomplish methods according to embodiments of the present invention. Information is maintained on consumer device 103, and on consumer profiling server 109 alone. Furthermore, involvement of consumer is not mandatory as well, and personal and targeted advertisements will be displayed regardless of the consumer's actions (including, but not limited to: granting rights, filling in preference forms).

According to other embodiments of the present invention, consumer device 103 may be a mobile device (non-limiting examples of which include cellular telephones and the like), and the consumer may use the mobile equipment for various purposes, including, but not limited to: telephony; surfing the Internet; playing games; send SMS and MMS messages; etc. Advertisements may be presented to the consumer on such a device, using each of the respective applications and utilizing advertisement recommendations made by consumer profiling server 109 and advertisement server 111; mobile applications communicate with consumer profiling server 109 and advertisement server 111 in the same general manner as do browser 105 in the methods previously discussed. A cookie or other means may be used to establish the unique qualities of the consumer, to recommend the most appropriate advertisement. It is therefore to be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention can recommend advertisements based on the consumer's habits on various platforms. In a non-limiting example, when knowledge of the surfing and usage habits of mobile consumers is limited (such as due to low usage), advertisements on a mobile consumer device will be based on the usage habits collected during the consumer's web surfing on PC, satellite and cable television systems, and vice-versa. Site Integration

Figure 4 conceptually illustrates the data flow of content analysis from a website "A" 403a in a server 401a to a consumer profile 413, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Also illustrated is a website "B" 403b in a server 401b to show how the content from multiple websites can be evaluated and factored into consumer profile 413.

A predetermined site category 405a for website "A" 403a is a data structure characterizing the website content, which is prepared in advance with human assistance as a record in a site category database 406. In a non-limiting example, a site particular site category is structured hierarchically, and appears as:

"Sport/soccer/world leagues".

Where "Sport" is a main category, "soccer" is a sub-category of "Sport", and "world leagues" is a subcategory of "soccer", etc., such that the site category can be thus analyzed and utilized with a variable and selectable level of detail.

Likewise, a predetermined site category 405b for website "B" 403b is also prepared in advance with human assistance.

In conjunction with categorizing the site, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a multivariate visitor statistical database 404 is also provided which has predetermined data records of consumer statistical distributions for the age, gender, etc., of visitors to the site and/or site categories, thereby quantifying characteristics of consumers interested in the content of the site. For the non-limiting example presented above, it has been predetermined that a randomly-selected visitor to the site has an 85% probability of being male, and a 65% probability of being between the ages of 22 and 28. The term "content of the site" is herein expansively construed to include without limitation the categories of site content as well as the content itself.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a site integration layer 407a in server 401a transforms site category 405a into a profile update vector 408a by utilizing statistical database 404. Profile update vector 408a is a normalized browsing vector which reflects the characteristics of the typical visitor of website

403a and/or site categories. Likewise, a site integration layer 407b in server 401b transforms site category 405b into a profile update vector 408b, utilizing the corresponding statistical data from statistical database 404 as applicable to website

403b. In an embodiment of the present invention, statistical database 404 is included in site category database 406.

Lastly, an analyzer 409 takes profile update vectors 408a and 408b to produce an incremental update 411 to consumer profile 413.

It is also to be appreciated that an advertisement recommendation according to embodiments of the present invention can be used for other purposes besides presenting advertisements. In non-limiting examples, based on the classification of the consumer (as a non-limiting example, a consumer who likes sports), the application, the application's owner, or the website can recommend content, adjust the consumer's surfing experience etc. Such specific non-limiting examples may include: colors and skin of a mobile portal page; content recommendation; and more. The present invention may thus also be used to recommend actions, in addition to advertisement presentation, for the consumer. It is also understood that the system according to the invention, may be a suitably programmed computer. Likewise, the present invention contemplates a computer program being readable by a computer for executing a method of the present invention. The present invention further contemplates a computer program product, being a machine-readable memory or storage tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a machine for executing a method of the present invention.

While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications and other applications of the invention may be made.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method for recommending and providing an advertisement to a consumer utilizing a browser on a consumer device to access a site on a network, the method comprising: • requesting a cookie from the browser, wherein said cookie has an identifier which does not contain any data identifying the consumer or the consumer device;

• if said cookie is not found, then creating said cookie by recording said network usage patterns and content preferences of the consumer, identifying said cookie by an identifier that does not contain any data relating to the consumer or the consumer device;

• if said cookie is found, then obtaining therefrom said network usage patterns and content preferences of the consumer;

• utilizing said usage patterns and content preferences of the consumer to generate a recommendation for a recommended advertisement;

• sending said recommendation for said recommended advertisement to the site; and

• requesting that said recommended advertisement be sent to the site;.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said cookie stores data relating to network usage patterns and content preferences of the consumer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying said recommended advertisement to the consumer on the browser.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said identifier is a random number.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a consumer preference from a client application in the consumer device.

6. A system for recommending and providing an advertisement to a consumer utilizing a browser on a consumer device to access a site on a network, the system comprising:

• a consumer profiling server, for compiling information about consumer browsing patterns;

• an advertisement recommendation server, for recommending the advertisement to the consumer; and • a cookie, wherein said cookie has an identifier which does not contain any data identifying the consumer or the consumer device.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising an advertisement server, for providing the advertisement to the consumer.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein said cookie stores data relating to network usage patterns and content preferences of the consumer.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein said advertisement recommendation server includes a screening mechanism to selectively send content to consumers according to a consumer profile.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the consumer device is one of: • a personal computer;

• a mobile telephone; and

• a television receiver.

11. The system of claim 6, further comprising a client application for obtaining an advertisement preference from the consumer.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein said identifier is a random number.

13. The system of claim 6, wherein the site has content and wherein said consumer profiling server generates a consumer profile, the system further comprising:

• a site category database comprising at least one site category record, wherein said at least one site category characterizes said content;

• a site integration layer, for transforming said at least one site category record into a profile update vector; and

• an analyzer, configured to update said consumer profile.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising a statistical database of predetermined data records quantifying characteristics of consumers interested in the content of the site, and wherein said site integration layer utilizes said statistical database in said transforming.

15. A system for recommending an advertisement to a consumer utilizing a browser on a consumer device to access a site having content on a network, the system comprising:

• a consumer profiling server, for compiling information about consumer browsing patterns, and for generating a consumer profile;

• a site category database comprising at least one site category record, wherein said at least one site category characterizes the content; • a site integration layer, for transforming said at least one site category record into a profile update vector;

• a statistical database of predetermined data records quantifying characteristics of consumers interested in the content, wherein said site integration layer utilizes said statistical database in said transforming; and

• an analyzer, configured to update said consumer profile.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said integration layer tracks the consumer's access of the content, performs an analysis of said access, and based on said analysis offers updated advertisement presentation rales for an advertisement server.