Generating product catalogs using tracking pixels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018341981-A1
Application number	US-201715607226-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 26, 2017
Priority date	May 26, 2017
Publication date	Nov 29, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

An online system aggregates content item from third party systems for presentation to users of the online system. To do so, the online system accesses the web pages of third party systems to trigger tracking pixels that have been previously placed by the third party systems. A triggered tracking pixel sends a server call to the online system that includes tracking pixel data such as information about the content item that was available on the web page. Based on the information gathered through various tracking pixels, the online system generates a catalog of the content item that can then be presented to a user of the online system such that the user can browse content items of the third party system while accessing the online system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
accessing, by an online system, a plurality of web pages hosted by a third party system external to the online system, each web page in the plurality of web pages corresponding to a product of the third party system; receiving, by the online system, a plurality of tracking pixel data, each received tracking pixel data due to a triggering of a tracking pixel placed on a browsed web page; identifying a user of the online system to be presented a product catalog; ranking a plurality of products of the third party system based on the received tracking pixel data and information describing the identified user of the online system; generating the product catalog for the user of the online system according to the ranking; and presenting, to the user of the online system, the product catalog.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the tracking pixel data comprises descriptive categories that describe each product in the plurality of products.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the tracking pixel is placed on the browsed web page by the third party system.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the tracking pixel is previously provided by the online system to the third party system.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
identifying a responsible party that triggered the tracking pixel; and
responsive to determining that the online system is the responsible party, storing product information included in the received tracking pixel data.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the responsible party comprises identifying user identifier information received from a stored cookie.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the identified user sends a request to the online system to view the product catalog.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein ranking a plurality of products of the third party system based on the received tracking pixel data and information describing the identified user of the online system comprises:
for each product in the plurality of products:
assigning a weight to each descriptive category of the product obtained from the received tracking pixel data;
adjusting each weight based on the information describing the identified user of the online system; and
generating a score for the product based on the adjusted weights.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the information describing the identified user of the online system corresponds to one or more actions that the user has previously performed.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the product catalog is presented to the user of the online system on a web page hosted by the online system.

11 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer code that, when executed by a processor of a computer, causes the processor to perform the steps comprising:
browsing, by an online system, a plurality of web pages hosted by a third party system external to the online system, each web page in the plurality of web pages corresponding to a product of the third party system; receiving, by the online system, a plurality of tracking pixel data, each received tracking pixel data due to a triggering of a tracking pixel placed on a browsed web page; identifying a user of the online system to be presented a product catalog; ranking a plurality of products of the third party system based on the received tracking pixel data and information describing the identified user of the online system; generating the product catalog for the user of the online system according to the ranking; and presenting, to the user of the online system, the product catalog.

12 . The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the tracking pixel data comprises descriptive categories that describe each product in the plurality of products.

13 . The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the tracking pixel is placed on the browsed web page by the third party system.

14 . The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the tracking pixel is previously provided by the online system to the third party system.

15 . The computer-readable medium of claim 11 further comprising computer code that, when executed by a processor of a computer, causes the processor to perform the steps comprising:
identifying a responsible party that triggered the tracking pixel; and
responsive to determining that the online system is the responsible party, storing product information included in the received tracking pixel data.

16 . The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein identifying the responsible party comprises identifying user identifier information received from a stored cookie.

17 . The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the identified user sends a request to the online system to view the product catalog.

18 . The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein ranking a plurality of products of the third party system based on the received tracking pixel data and information describing the identified user of the online system comprises:
for each product in the plurality of products:
assigning a weight to each descriptive category of the product obtained from the received tracking pixel data;
adjusting each weight based on the information describing the identified user of the online system; and
generating a score for the product based on the adjusted weights.

19 . The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the information describing the identified user of the online system corresponds to one or more actions that the user has previously performed.

20 . The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the product catalog is presented to the user of the online system on a web page hosted by the online system.

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Aftab Hamza
• Kuruvilla Rohan
• Gaudet Eirc
• Khandelwal Shashikant
• Ding Kai
• Chheda Risha Nagin
• Chen Xintao

Classifications

• G06Q30/0272

  Period of advertisement exposure · CPC title

• G06Q30/0201

  Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data · CPC title

• G06Q30/0255 Primary

  based on user history · CPC title

• G06F16/337

  Profile generation, learning or modification · CPC title

• G06Q30/0253

  During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions · CPC title