Method and system for web page personalization

Abstract

The invention includes a method and system for personalizing displays of published Web pages provided by Web content providers to meet the interests of Web users accessing the pages, based on profiles of the users. The system preferably provides to the requesting user, through a proxy server, an edited version of the HTML file for the original published Web page that is served by a host Web server. The system uses user profiles that may include demographic and psychographic data to edit the requested Web page. The content of a Web page as published by a host Web server may be coded to correlate components of the Web page with demographic and psychographic data. The user profiles may then be used to filter the content of a coded Web page for delivery to a requesting user. The system may rearrange content on a published Web page so that content determined to be of higher interest to a user is more prominently featured or more easily or quickly accessible. The system may also delete content on a published Web page that is determined to be of low interest to a user. In embodiments of the invention, a single proxy server or proxy server system personalizes Web pages from multiple Web servers, using a single user profile for a user.

We claim:  
     
         1 . A method for personalizing a Web page with content for a user, comprising the steps of: 
 providing a profile of the Web page;    providing a profile of the user; and    producing a modified Web page based on the profile of the Web page and the profile of the user.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , said profile of the user including demographic data.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , the step of producing a modified Web page including making a portion of the Web page content generally matching the demographic data more prominent.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , the step of producing a modified Web page including making a portion of the Web page content not matching to the demographic data less prominent.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , said profile of the user including psychographic data.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , the psychographic data including a set of content affinities, the set of content affinities including a subset of higher content affinities, the step of producing a modified Web page including making a portion of the Web page content corresponding to the subset of higher content affinities more prominent.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , the psychographic data including a set of content affinities, the set of content affinities including a subset of lower content affinities, the step of producing a modified Web page including making a portion of the web page content corresponding to the subset of lower content affinities less prominent.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , said profile of the user including geographic data.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , said geographic data being inferred from an IP address or a ZIP code.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , the step of producing a modified web page including providing Web page content matching the geographic data.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the matching Web page content is news or weather information.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of producing a modified Web page includes rearranging a portion of the content of the Web page.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the rearranged portion includes links.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the rearranged portion includes advertisements.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the rearranged portion includes images.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the rearranged portion includes text.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of producing a modified Web page includes eliminating a portion of the content of the Web page.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the eliminated portion includes links.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the eliminated portion includes advertisements.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the eliminated portion includes images.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the eliminated portion includes text.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the step of producing a modified Web page further includes providing a link to the eliminated portion.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1 , the Web page including a content component, said profile of the Web page associating said content component with demographic data, said step of producing a modified Web page including the step of matching the profile of the user to the demographic data for the content component.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 1 , the Web page including a content component, said profile of the Web page associating said content component with psychographic data, said step of producing a modified web page including the step of matching the profile of the user to the psychographic data for the content component.  
     
     
         25 . A method for profiling a Web page, comprising the steps of: 
 obtaining the HTML file for the Web page, the HTML file including one or more content components;    defining a classification scheme including one or more categories; and    parsing the HTML file for the Web page to identify the one or more content components; and    associating at least one of the one or more content components with at least one of the one or more categories.    
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the one or more categories include demographic categories.  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the one or more categories include psychographic categories.  
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 25 , further including the step of associating at least one of the one or more content components with at least one processing instruction.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the classification scheme is related to a classification scheme for user profiles.  
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 25 , further including the step of generating a profile file for the Web page.  
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the one or more content components include key words, the step of associating including using key words.  
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein said content components include links, the step of associating including using a URL database.  
     
     
         33 . A method for personalizing for individual users in accordance with their requests a plurality of Web pages that are published on a plurality of Web content provider sites and accessible to a plurality of users, comprising the steps of: 
 providing profiles of the plurality of Web pages;    providing profiles of the plurality of users;    monitoring requests from the plurality of users;    detecting an individual request for a particular Web page;    obtaining the particular Web page;    obtaining a profile for the particular Web page;    obtaining a profile for the individual user;    producing a modified Web page based on the profile for the particular Web page and the profile for the individual user; and    sending the modified Web page for delivery to the individual user.    
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the step of providing profiles of the plurality of Web pages includes dynamically generating the profile for the particular Web page after detecting an individual request for a particular Web page.  
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the step of providing profiles of the plurality of Web pages includes generating and caching the profile for the particular Web page before detecting an individual request for the particular Web page.  
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the step of providing profiles of the plurality of users includes tracking click-stream data of the plurality of users.  
     
     
         37 . The method  claim 33 , wherein the step of producing a modified Web page includes matching the profile of the particular Web page to the profile of the user and rearranging one or more portions of the particular Web page accordingly.  
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the step of matching the profile of the particular Web page to the profile of the user includes applying a threshold value to a content affinity rating in the profile of the user.  
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the step of rearranging one or more portions of the particular Web page includes eliminating one or more portions of the particular Web page.  
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 33 , further including the step of obtaining processing instructions from the plurality of Web site content providers, including processing instructions for the particular Web page, wherein the step of producing a modified Web page further includes applying the processing instructions for the particular Web page.  
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the profile of a Web page comprises profiles of individual content components, and wherein producing a modified Web page comprises rearranging the content components of the Web page to only or to more prominently display components having profiles matching the profile of the individual user.  
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein a content component comprises a hyperlinked subject heading.  
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein a content component comprises an advertisement.  
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 41 , wherein a content component comprises an article.  
     
     
         45 . A computer for personalizing Web pages in response to detecting user requests for the Web pages, comprising: 
 a memory for storing a program;    a processor operative with the program to: 
 (a) detect a request for a particular Web page by an individual user;  
 (b) obtain a profile of the individual user and a profile of the particular Web page;  
 (c) produce a modified Web page based on the profile of the individual user and the profile of the particular Web page; and  
 (d) send the modified Web page for delivery to the individual user.  
   
     
     
         46 . The computer of  claim 45 , wherein said computer is a proxy server.  
     
     
         47 . The computer of  claim 46 , wherein the program includes a profiler for producing a profile of the particular Web page.  
     
     
         48 . A system for personalizing a Web page from a Web site of a Web content provider in response to a request by a user, comprising: 
 means for detecting a request for a Web page by a user;    means for obtaining the Web page;    means for obtaining a profile of the Web page;    means for obtaining a profile of the user;    means for producing a modified Web page based on the profile of the Web page and the profile of the user; and    means for delivering the modified Web page to the user.    
     
     
         49 . The system of  claim 48 , further including means for generating a profile of the Web page.  
     
     
         50 . The system of  claim 49 , further including means for caching a profile of the Web page.  
     
     
         51 . A system for personalizing a Web page from a Web site of a Web content provider in response to a request by a user, comprising: 
 a first database containing profiles of a plurality of users;    a second database containing profiles of a plurality of Web pages; and    a proxy server including a request generation component for processing a received request for a Web page and generating a valid personalization request and a personalization component for personalizing a Web page in accordance with a profile of the user by generating a modified source file, the proxy server being linked to said first and second databases.    
     
     
         52 . The system of claim  51 , further comprising a profiler to generate the profiles of the plurality of Web pages.  
     
     
         53 . The system of claim  51 , wherein the proxy server is linked to a user computer for providing Web access to a user, the proxy server being linked to receive Web requests of the user and fulfill Web requests of the user.  
     
     
         54 . The system of claim  53 , wherein the proxy server is capable of handling Web requests to a plurality of Web sites.