Apparatus and method for profiling users

Abstract

Provided is a process of profiling a user of a mobile computing device, the process including: obtaining a location history of a user, the location history being based on signals from a mobile computing device of the user; obtaining a location-attribute score of a location identified in, or inferred from, the location history; determining, with a computer, a user-attribute score based on the location-attribute score; and storing the user-attribute score in a user-profile datastore.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 accessing, with one or more processors, location records of computing devices, the location records being indicative of past geolocations of respective computing devices, at least some of the computing devices being associated with a plurality of different locations in the accessed location records;   identifying, with one or more processors, places visited by the computing devices based on the location records;   accessing, with one or more processors, attributes of the places visited by the computing devices; and   profiling, with one or more processors, users associated with the computing devices based on the attributes of the places visited by the computing device associated with the respective user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 at least some of the locations are obtained as a batch from an affiliate network and are based on locations of mobile computing devices to which the affiliate network served advertisements;   at least some of the locations are obtained intermittently as a batch from a cellular service provider, wherein:
 identifying places visited by the computing devices comprises accessing a geographic information system that segments geographic areas in a grid. 
   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 analyzing a given user profile by:
 assigning a first aspect of the user profile to a first computing device; 
 assigning a second aspect of the user profile to a second computing device; and 
 concurrently processing the first aspect and the second aspect with the first computing device and the second computing device, respectively. 
   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 querying computing devices configured to concurrently analyze places for data about an attribute and aggregating responses from the computing devices.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 assigning places to each of a plurality of computing devices;   identifying users passing through the places based on the identified places; and   concurrently adjusting attributes of the places based on attributes of users passing through the places.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 grouping at least some of the users in a plurality of groups, each group corresponding to a respective place visited by users in the respective group, at least some users being in a plurality of groups;   assigning at least some of the places to different computing devices in a concurrent data processing system;   assigning at least some of the groups to different computing devices, the groups being assigned to computing devices assigned a place associated with the respective group; and   concurrently profiling the at least some of the users with computing devices to which places and groups are assigned.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising performing steps for obtaining location histories from a plurality of different providers. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 at least some of the locations are associated with a confidence score;   at least some of the places are associated with a plurality of attributes and respective scores for each of the attributes; and   at least some of the places are associated with a density score.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 normalizing the accessed attributes.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 determining whether an accessed attribute of a place is consistent with an attribute of an adjacent place.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the location records include anonymized identifiers.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , comprising:
 after profiling uses, receiving another location record; and   matching data based on the other location record to data based on a previous location record based on a hash value associated with the other location record and the previous location record.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein profiling users comprises, for a given user:
 associating the given user with anonymized identifiers of each of a plurality of respective location data sources;   associating the given user with more than 10 attributes; and   associating each of the 10 attributes with a respective score, sample size, and measure of variance;   wherein the user profile does not reveal the identity of the given user, and   wherein attributes of places are obtained from a geographic information system that segments a geographic area in a format other than tiles to uniquely specify places.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 profiling users comprises identifying places adjacent at least some of the visited places and adjusting attributes of profiles of the users based on attributes of places adjacent the at least some of the visited places.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 profiling users comprises associating a given user with an attribute and calculating a confidence score for the attribute.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein:
 the confidence score is based on a similarity of places adjacent a place visited by the given user; and   adjusting a score for the attribute based on the confidence score.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 determining that a given place has an attribute that is an outlier for a given user; and   filtering out the attribute of the given place in response to the determination.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 updating an index of users keyed to attributes; and   updating an index of places keyed to users having attributes.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 performing steps for concurrently processing data.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 serving an advertisement to a computing device of a profiled user based on the profiled user's profile.