Method and system to facilitate interaction between and content delivery to users of a wireless communications network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9623336-B2
Application number	US-201314083225-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2013
Priority date	Apr 13, 2001
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

A system and method of creating affinity groups of portable communication device users, and distributing targeted content to said users is disclosed. The user affinity groups may be formed by comparing user profiles with each other or with a predefined affinity group profile definition.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for distributing content to an affinity group of portable communications device users, the system comprising:
a wireless network to facilitate communication between a content server computing device and a portable communication device and further between the portable communication device and said users;
a storage device to store profile data relating to each of said users, wherein the storage device is operatively connected to the content server computing device; and
the content server computing device to serve as a content selection device to perform one or more content selection functions, wherein the content server computing device is centrally-located in the system and includes a processor, a memory, and an input/output interface, wherein the content server computing device to:
compare, by the processor, the profile data of different ones of said users, and associating users with the affinity group based on the profile data comparison to create the group;
receive, by the processor, a request from a portable communications device user to be associated with the affinity group;
associate, by the processor, the portable communications device user with the affinity group in response to the request and based on the comparison; and
select, by the processor, content for and distribute the content to the users based on their association with the affinity group.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the profile data comprises information selected from the group comprising one or more of: user news preferences, user sports preferences, user advertisement preferences, user purchase preferences, user electronic game preferences, user interactive game preferences, user game skill level, user virtual reality character characteristics, user portable communications device capabilities, user portable communications device model, user portable communications device usage level, user occupation, user income level, user education level, user residence, user sex, user religion, and user frequent location,
wherein the profile data further comprises one or more of information selected from the group consisting of user electronic game preferences, user interactive game preferences, user game skill level, user virtual reality character characteristics, and user portable communications device capabilities,
wherein the portable communications device user includes a previous user being excluded from the affinity group and seeking to rejoin the affinity group or a new user seeking to join the affinity group for a first time, and wherein the request includes an input from the previous user to overcome the exclusion of the previous user from the affinity group.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the interactive game preferences comprise information selected from the group comprising one or more of: user individual game selection history, user game genre selection history, and user ranking of interest in games, and wherein the targeted content comprises a game application.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the wireless network comprises a plurality of portable communications devices, and wherein the storage device comprises a memory device located in each portable communications device.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the content server computing device comprises a centrally located server computing device, and wherein the storage device comprises a memory device associated with the centrally located server computing device.

6. A system for distributing content to an affinity group of portable communications device users, the system comprising:
a wireless network to facilitate communication between said users;
a storage device to store profile data relating to each of said users, wherein the storage device is operatively connected to a content server computing device;
the content server computing device to serve as a content selection device to perform one or more content selection functions, wherein the content server computing device is centrally-located in the system and includes a processor, a memory, and an input/output interface, wherein the content server computing device to:
compare, by the processor, the profile data of each of said users with a predefined affinity group definition, and associating users with the affinity group based on the comparison of user profile data with the predefined affinity group definition to create the group;
receive, by the processor, a request from a portable communications device user to be associated with the affinity group;
associate, by the processor, the portable communications device user with the affinity group in response to the request and based on the comparison; and
select, by the processor, content for and distribute the content to the users based on their association with the affinity group.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the profile data comprises information selected from the group comprising one or more of: user news preferences, user sports preferences, user advertisement preferences, user purchase preferences, user electronic game preferences, user interactive game preferences, user game skill level, user virtual reality character characteristics, user portable communications device capabilities, user portable communications device model, user portable communications device usage level, user occupation, user income level, user education level, user residence, user sex, user religion, and user frequent location, and
wherein the profile data further comprises one or more of information selected from the group consisting of user electronic game preferences, user interactive game preferences, user game skill level, user virtual reality character characteristics, and user portable communications device capabilities,
wherein the portable communications device user includes a previous user being excluded from the affinity group and seeking to rejoin the affinity group or a new user seeking to join the affinity group for a first time, and wherein the request includes an input from the previous user to overcome the exclusion of the previous user from the affinity group.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the interactive game preferences comprise information selected from the group comprising one or more of: user individual game selection history, user game genre selection history, and user ranking of interest in games, and wherein the targeted content comprises a game application.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the wireless network comprises a plurality of portable communications devices, and wherein the storage device comprises a memory device located in each portable communications device.

10. The system of claim 6 , wherein the content server computing device comprises a centrally located server computing device, and wherein the storage device comprises a memory device associated with the centrally located server computing device.

11. A system of distributing targeted content to an affinity group of portable communications device users, the system comprising:
a wireless network to facilitate wireless communication between a plurality of users;
a storage device to store profile data relating to said users, wherein the storage device is operatively connected to a content server computing device; and
the content server computing device to serve as a content selection device to perform one or more content selection functions, wherein the content server computing device is centrally-located in the system and includes a processor, a memory, and an input/output interface, wherein the content server computing device to:
receive, by the processor, the profile data relating to selected ones of said users;
compare, by the processo

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Simon Daniel
• Westling Mark Ford
• Wherry Phillip

Classifications

• G06Q30/02 Primary

  Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising · CPC title

• A63F2300/204

  the platform being a handheld device · CPC title

• A63F2300/5566

  by matching opponents or finding partners to build a team, e.g. by skill level, geographical area, background, play style · CPC title

• A63F2300/406

  Transmission via wireless network, e.g. pager or GSM · CPC title

• A63F2300/5506

  using advertisements · CPC title