Systems and methods for inferring matches and logging-in of online users across devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10026097-B2
Application number	US-201514625419-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2015
Priority date	Feb 18, 2015
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for associating a plurality of Internet-enabled devices with a common user profile for targeting Internet content or advertising. One method includes: receiving, from a plurality of Internet-enabled devices, a plurality of requests for electronic content or advertising; extracting, from each of the plurality of requests, a source IP address and a unique identifier associated with the respective Internet-enabled device; identifying each possible pair of devices from which requests were received; calculating for each possible pair of devices a probability that the pair of devices are owned or operated by a common user; and prompting a user to either confirm a characteristic of a prior browsing session or to log-in to an account associated with the common user based on a comparison of the calculated probability to one or more thresholds.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for identifying users on a network by associating a plurality of Internet-enabled devices with a common user profile, the method comprising:
receiving, from a plurality of Internet-enabled devices, a plurality of requests for electronic content;
extracting, from each of the plurality of requests, a source internet protocol (IP) address and a unique identifier associated with the respective Internet-enabled device;
for a first source IP address for which requests were received over a predetermined time period, identifying at least one pair of devices, comprising two Internet-enabled devices, from which requests were received;
determining whether the pair of devices has been identified for a second source IP address over the predetermined time period;
upon determining that the pair of devices has been identified associated with the first source IP address, and that the pair of devices has been identified associated with the second source IP address over the predetermined time period, calculating a probability that the pair of devices are owned or operated by a common user; and
upon determining that the probability that the pair of devices are owned or operated by the common user exceeds a predetermined threshold, prompting a user to confirm a characteristic of a prior browsing session, the characteristic of the prior browsing session comprising at least one of a time of the prior browsing session, a location of the prior browsing session, one or more web pages or domains visited during the prior browsing session, one or more user inputs made during the prior browsing session, a browser used during the prior browsing session, and an operating system used during the prior browsing session, and/or to log-in to an account associated with the common user, an account name associated with the common user being provided to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
if the calculated probability exceeds a first predetermined threshold, prompting the user to confirm a characteristic of a prior browsing session; and if the probability exceeds a second predetermined threshold, prompting the user to log-in to an account associated with the common user.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
for each additional source IP address with which the pair of devices has also been identified, increasing the probability to determine a second probability that the pair of devices are owned or operated by the common user.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
normalizing the probability and the second probability;
combining the probability and the second probability to create an combined probability; and
calculating an overall probability that the pair of devices are owned or operated by the common user based at least in part on the combined probability.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating a probability that the pair of devices are owned or operated by a common user comprises:
determining, for each pair of devices, whether the pair of devices initiated a web event at the first source IP address at a time period when users are statistically likely to be at home; and
weighting web events that occur when users are statistically expected to be at home less heavily, when calculating the probability, than web events that occur at time periods when users are statistically likely to be away from home.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating a probability that the pair of devices are owned or operated by a common user comprises:
determining, for each pair of devices, whether the pair of devices initiated a web event at the first source IP address at a time period when users are statistically likely to be at home; and
weighting web events that occur when users are statistically expected to be at home at least as heavily, when calculating the probability, as web events that occur at time periods when users are statistically likely to be away from home.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
inferring, based on each of the plurality of requests, a device type and local time associated with each request; and
further calculating a probability that the pair of devices are owned or operated by a common user based on inferred device type and local time associated with the request of each device.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
accessing, in a database, demographic or browsing history information generated from the common user's use of a first device of the pair of devices, the demographic or browsing history information being stored in the database in relation to the unique identifier; and
identifying, based on the demographic or browsing history information, an advertisement to display at a second device of the pair of devices, wherein the demographic or browsing history information is synchronized and associated with the common user's first device and the common user's second device.

9. A system for identifying users on a network by associating a plurality of Internet-enabled devices with a common user profile for targeting Internet content or advertising, the system including:
a data storage device storing instructions for identifying users on a network by associating a plurality of Internet-enabled devices with a common user profile for targeting Internet content; and
a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform a method including:
receiving, from a plurality of Internet-enabled devices, a plurality of requests for electronic content;
extracting, from each of the plurality of requests, a source internet protocol (IP) address and a unique identifier associated with the respective Internet-enabled device;
for a first source IP address for which requests were received over a predetermined time period, identifying at least one pair of devices, comprising two Internet-enabled devices, from which requests were received;
determining whether the pair of devices has been identified for a second source IP address over the predetermined time period;
upon determining that the pair of devices has been identified associated with the first source IP address, and that the pair of devices has been identified associated with the second source IP address over the predetermined time period, calculating a probability that the pair of devices are owned or operated by a common user; and
upon determining that the probability that the pair of devices are owned or operated by the common user exceeds a predetermined threshold, prompting a user to confirm a characteristic of a prior browsing session, the characteristic of the prior browsing session comprising at least one of a time of the prior browsing session, a location of the prior browsing session, one or more web pages or domains visited during the prior browsing session, one or more user inputs made during the prior browsing session, a browser used during the prior browsing session, and an operating system used during the prior browsing session, and/or to log-in to an account associated with the common user, an account name associated with the common user being provided to the user.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured for:
if the calculated probability exceeds a first predetermined threshold, prompting the user to confirm a characteristic of a prior browsing session; and if the probability exceeds a second predetermined threshold, prompting the user to log-in to an account associated with the common user.

11. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:
for each additional source IP address with which the pair of devices has also been identified, increasing the probability to determine a second probability that the pair o

Assignees

• Aol Advertising Inc
• Oath Americas Inc

Inventors

• Demsey Seth Mitchell
• Patton Matthew

Classifications

• G06Q30/0269

  based on user profile or attribute · CPC title

• H04L67/146

  Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding · CPC title

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• G06Q30/0255 Primary

  based on user history · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title