System and method for presenting targeted content

Abstract

A method and system for presenting targeted content to users over the internet is provided. The method includes enabling a user to sign into a website. An identifier is generated for the user, if the user is signing into the website for the first time. Information corresponding to the user is mined and the information is linked to the user. Further, verification is made to determine whether the generated identifier matches with existing identifiers. If the generated identifier matches with an existing identifier, then existing information corresponding to the matched identifier is linked to the user. Targeted content is presented to the user by processing at least the information linked to the user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, performed by an aggregator computer system, for providing an entity of content targeting a specific user to a first computer system operating a first website, the aggregator computer system having access to a database storing, for each of a plurality of users, a respective user identifier used to identify the respective user and respective aggregated activity information of the respective user, the method comprising steps of:
 receiving, from a computing device of a first user, by the aggregator computer system, a first set of identification information of the first user identifying the first user;   generating, by the aggregator computer system, a first user identifier using the received first set of identification information of the first user, and storing the generated first user identifier in the database such that the first user becomes added to the plurality of users of the database and the stored first user identifier becomes the respective user identifier used to identify the first user;   aggregating, by the aggregator computer system, activity information about the first user from each of a group of two or more website computer systems each operating a respective website, to form the aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database, the stored respective aggregated activity information of the first user including two or more sets of activity information of the first user each indicating prior activities which the first user conducted on the respective website of one website computer system among the group of website computer systems;   receiving, from the first computer system, by the aggregator computer system, a content request targeting the first user including a second set of identification information of the first user, and matching, by the aggregator computer system, the received second set of identification information of the first user, with the stored first user identifier of the first user;   acquiring, in response to the content request targeting the first user, by the aggregator computer system, an entity of content targeting the first user using the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database; and   sending, to the first computer system, by the aggregator computer system, the acquired entity of content targeting the first user, for the first computer system to present the acquired entity of content by incorporating the acquired entity of content into a content page of the first website displayable on a user terminal visiting the first website.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein, for each of the group of website computer systems, the aggregating of activity information of the first user from the respective website computer systems, comprises steps of:
 receiving, from the respective website computer system, by the aggregator computer system, a respective set of data packets containing a respective set of identification information of the first user identifying the first user as well as a respective set of activity information of the first user indicating prior activities which the first user conducted on the respective website of the respective website computer system;   matching, by the aggregator computer system, the received respective set of identification information of the first user with the stored first user identifier of the first user; and   aggregating, by the aggregator computer system, the received respective set of activity information of the first user, to the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database such that the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database includes the received respective set of activity information of the first user.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the matching of the respective set of identification information of the first user received from one of the group of website computer systems, with the stored first user identifier of the first user, comprises steps of:
 acquiring, by the aggregator computer system, a respective second user identifier using the received respective set of identification information of the first user;   checking, by the aggregator computer system, whether the respective second user identifier satisfactorily matches with the stored first user identifier of the first user; and   determining, by the aggregator computer system, that the received respective set of identification information of the first user indeed matches with the stored first user identifier of the first user if the checking operation returns a positive result.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the respective second user identifier, as acquired by the aggregator computer system, is included in the received respective set of identification information of the first user. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the checking of whether the respective second user identifier satisfactorily matches with the stored first user identifier of the first user, comprises:
 deciding whether the respective second user identifier exactly or partially matches with the stored first user identifier of the first user;   if, by the deciding operation, the respective second user identifier is found to be an exact match with the stored first user identifier of the first user, then returning a positive result;   otherwise if, by the deciding operation, the respective second user identifier is found to be a partial match with the stored first user identifier of the first user, and if the partial match is found to be satisfactory to link the respective second user identifier with the partially matched first user identifier of the first user, then returning a positive result; and   otherwise returning a non-positive result.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the matching of the second set of identification information of the first user received from the first computer system, with the stored first user identifier of the first user, comprises steps of:
 acquiring, by the aggregator computer system, a second user identifier using the received second set of identification information of the first user;   checking, by the aggregator computer system, whether the second user identifier satisfactorily matches with the first user identifier of the first user stored in the database; and   determining, by the aggregator computer system, that the received second set of identification information of the first user matches with the stored first user identifier of the first user if the checking operation returns a positive result.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the checking of whether the second user identifier satisfactorily matches with the first user identifier of the first user stored in the database, comprises:
 deciding whether the second user identifier exactly or partially matches with the stored first user identifier of the first user;   if, by the deciding operation, the second user identifier is found to be an exact match with the stored first user identifier of the first user, then returning a positive result;   otherwise if, by the deciding operation, the second user identifier is found to be a partial match with the stored first user identifier of the first user, and if the partial match is found to be satisfactory to link the second user identifier with the partially matched first user identifier of the first user, then returning a positive result; and   otherwise returning a non-positive result.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received first set of identification information identifying the first user includes a subset of the first name, the last name, the date of birth, a location, and an email address of the first user. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database includes information about prior purchase-related activities of the first user which the first user conducted on the respective website of one of the group of website computer systems. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the entity of content targeting the first user, as acquired by the aggregator computer system, is first generated using the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the entity of content targeting the first user, as acquired by the aggregator computer system, is first generated by the aggregator computer system using the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein collaborative filtering is employed in the acquiring of the entity of content targeting the first user, and the employed collaborative filtering uses the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database to generate the entity of content targeting the first user as acquired by the aggregator computer system. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the acquired entity of content comprises an advertisement targeting the first user; and
 wherein the advertisement targeting the first user is first generated using the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first user is a friend in an online social network of a second user;
 wherein the second user operates a user terminal of the second user to visit the first website, and the visiting of the first website causes the user terminal of the second user to display the content page of the first website incorporating the acquired entity of content targeting the first user;   wherein the entity of content targeting the first user, as incorporated into the content page of the first website, comprises one or more gift recommendations targeting the first user; and   wherein the one or more gift recommendations targeting the first user are acquired by the aggregator computer system using the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the entity of content targeting the first user, as acquired by the aggregator computer system, is first generated using a graph associating the first user with goods or services; and
 wherein the graph is generated using information of various categories from among the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one website computer system of the group of website computer systems, comprises a first social networking platform;
 wherein the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database comprises a first set of social networking information of the first user indicating prior social networking activities which the first user conducted on the first social networking platform; and   wherein the entity of content targeting the first user, as acquired by the aggregator computer system, is first generated using the first set of social networking information of the first user.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the first set of social networking information of the first user stored in the database includes one or more social feeds of the first user, and the acquiring of the entity of content targeting the first user comprises steps of:
 identifying one or more keywords in a pre-set category from the social feeds of the first user;   identifying potential liking of the first user based on the identified key words in the pre-set category using sentiment analysis; and   generating the entity of the content targeting the first user using the identified potential liking of the first user.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the aggregator computer system operates a second website;
 wherein the aggregator computer system is one of the group of website computer systems from which the respective aggregated activity information of the first user is aggregated; and   wherein the respective aggregated activity information of the first user includes a set of activity information of the first user aggregated from the aggregator computer system and indicating prior activities which the first user conducted on the second website of the aggregator computer system.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first computer system is one of the group of website computer systems from which the respective aggregated activity information of the first user is aggregated; and
 wherein the respective aggregated activity information of the first user includes a set of activity information of the first user aggregated from the first computer system and indicating prior activities which the first user conducted on the first website of the first computer system.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first website of the first computer system comprises a social networking platform of the first computer system. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database comprises first activity information of the first user indicating that the first user has visited a website operated by one of the group of website computer systems; and
 wherein the acquiring of the entity of content targeting the first user is performed using the first activity information of the first user.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the respective set of identification information of the first user identifying the first user, as received from the respective website computer system, has been stored using one-way hash function aimed to protect the privacy of the first user. 
     
     
         23 . A method, performed by a first computer system operating a first website, for receiving an entity of content targeting a first user from an aggregator computer system, the aggregator computer system having access to a database storing, for each of a plurality of users, a respective user identifier used to identify the respective user and respective aggregated activity information of the respective user, the first user included in the plurality of users of the aggregator computer system, the stored respective aggregated activity information of the first user including two or more sets of activity information of the first user aggregated from a group of two or more website computer systems each operating a respective website, each set of activity information of the respective aggregated activity information of the first user indicating prior activities which the first user conducted on the respective website of one website computer system among the group of website computer systems, the method comprising steps of:
 sending, by the first computer system, to the aggregator computer system, a first set of identification information identifying the first user, such that the aggregator computer system, upon receiving the first set of identification information, matches the first set of identification information with the respective user identifier of the first user stored in the database and acquires an entity of content targeting the first user using the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database; and   receiving, from the aggregator computer system, by the first computer system, the entity of content targeting the first user, and incorporating, by the first computer system, the received entity of content into a content page of the first website displayable on a user terminal visiting the first website.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the first set of identification information identifying the first user includes a subset of the first name, the last name, the date of birth, a location, and an email address of the first user. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database includes information about prior purchase-related activities of the first user which the first user conducted on the respective website of one of the group of website computer systems. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the received entity of content targeting the first user, as acquired by the aggregator computer system, is first generated using the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the received entity of content targeting the first user comprises an advertisement targeting the first user; and
 wherein the advertisement targeting the first user is first generated using the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the first user is a friend in an online social network of a second user;
 wherein the second user operates a user terminal of the second user to visit the first website, and the visiting of the first website causes the user terminal of the second user to display the content page of the first website incorporating the received entity of content targeting the first user;   wherein the received entity of content, as incorporated into the content page of the first website, comprises a set of one or more gift recommendations; and   wherein the set of one or more gift recommendations targeting the first user is acquired by the aggregator computer system using the respective aggregated activity information of the first user stored in the database.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the first set of identification information identifying the first user has been stored using a one-way hash function aimed to protect the privacy of the first user.