Companion user accounts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11855949-B2
Application number	US-202217740397-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 10, 2022
Priority date	May 10, 2022
Publication date	Dec 26, 2023
Grant date	Dec 26, 2023

Abstract

In an example, a companion user account is generated without a user specifying a username of the companion user account, wherein the companion user account is different than a primary user account of the user. A first interface, that provides access to resources associated with the primary user account, is displayed via a client application. A second interface, that provides access to resources associated with the companion user account, is displayed via the client application. A content targeting profile associated with the companion user account is generated based upon activity associated with the companion user account and/or one or more interests selected by the user. A subset of content items is selected, from among a plurality of content items and based upon the content targeting profile, for presentation via the second interface associated with the companion user account. A content item of the subset of content items is displayed via the second interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
upon installation of an email client application on a client device, generating a companion email account without a user of the client device specifying an email address of the companion email account, wherein the companion email account is different than a primary email account of the user;
displaying, via the email client application, a first email interface that provides access to resources associated with the primary email account;
displaying, via the email client application, a second email interface that provides access to resources associated with the companion email account;
generating a content targeting profile indicative of a location of the client device and associated with the companion email account based upon at least one of:
activity associated with the companion email account; or
one or more interests selected by the user;

receiving, from a plurality of entities, a plurality of content items;
selecting, from among the plurality of content items and based upon the content targeting profile, a subset of content items for presentation via the second email interface associated with the companion email account, wherein the selecting the subset of content items comprises selecting a first content item based upon a determination that the location is within an area associated with the first content item; and
displaying the first content item of the subset of content items via the second email interface associated with the companion email account.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
in response to selecting the subset of content items, transmitting a first email to the companion email account, wherein:
the first email comprises the first content item of the subset of content items; and
the displaying the first content item is performed in response to receiving a request to display the first email.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
displaying, via the second email interface associated with the companion email account, a list of email items comprising a first email item associated with the first email, wherein the request to display the first email is received in response to a selection of the first email item associated with the first email.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the area corresponds to a geographical region of a property associated with the first content item.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the activity associated with the companion email account comprises one or more searches performed using the second email interface associated with the companion email account; and
the content targeting profile comprises one or more search queries of the one or more searches.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
receiving, via the email client application, a request to deactivate the companion email account; and
in response to receiving the request to deactivate the companion email account, deactivating the companion email account.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the generating the companion email account is performed in response to receiving an indication that the user accepts one or more conditions associated with the companion email account.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
a service status of the primary email account changes from a first status to a second status in association with the generating the companion email account;
the method comprises:
when the service status of the primary email account is the first status, providing a first set of services for the primary email account; and
when the service status of the primary email account is the second status, providing a second set of services for the primary email account; and

the second set of services is different than the first set of services.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the providing the second set of services comprises providing one or more email categorization services; and
the first set of services does not comprise the one or more email categorization services.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein:
the providing the one or more email categorization services comprises:
receiving a first email addressed to an email address of the primary email account;
analyzing the first email to determine a first category of the first email;
including the first email in a first group of emails associated with the first category;
receiving a second email addressed to the email address of the primary email account;
analyzing the second email to determine a second category of the second email; and
including the second email in a second group of emails associated with the second category.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein:
the providing the one or more email categorization services comprises:
displaying, via the first email interface associated with the primary email account, a first selectable input and a second selectable input, wherein:
the first selectable input is associated with a first list of email items associated with the first group of emails associated with the first category; and
the second selectable input is associated with a second list of email items associated with the second group of emails associated with the second category.

12. The method of claim 11 , comprising at least one of:
displaying the first list of email items in response to a selection of the first selectable input; or
displaying the second list of email items in response to a selection of the second selectable input.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the generating the companion email account is performed using Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) protocol.

14. A computing device comprising:
a processor; and
memory comprising processor-executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause performance of operations, the operations comprising:
upon installation of a client application on a client device, generating a companion user account without a user of the client device specifying a username of the companion user account, wherein the companion user account is different than a primary user account of the user;
displaying, via the client application, a first interface that provides access to resources associated with the primary user account;
displaying, via the client application, a second interface that provides access to resources associated with the companion user account;
generating a content targeting profile associated with the companion user account based upon at least one of:
activity associated with the companion user account, wherein the activity associated with the companion user account comprises one or more searches performed using the second interface associated with the companion user account, wherein the content targeting profile comprises one or more search queries of the one or more searches; or
one or more interests selected by the user;

receiving, from a plurality of entities, a plurality of content items;
selecting, from among the plurality of content items and based upon the content targeting profile, a subset of content items for presentation via the second interface associated with the companion user account; and
displaying a first content item of the subset of content items via the second interface associated with the companion user account.

15. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein:
the content targeting profile is indicative of a location of the client device; and
the selecting the subset of content items comprises selecting the first content item based upon a determination that the location is within an area associated with the first content item.

Assignees

• Yahoo Ad Tech Llc

Inventors

• Shanmugam Gnanavel

Classifications

• H04L51/42 Primary

  Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes · CPC title

• H04L51/063

  Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content · CPC title

• H04L51/21

  Monitoring or handling of messages · CPC title

• H04L51/52

  for supporting social networking services · CPC title

• H04L67/306 Primary

  User profiles · CPC title