Methods and systems for signals management

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing signals by signal owners. Signals are indicators of data that are derived from data sources and abstracted to protect the underlying data. The signal owner first converts its own underlying data into a “signal” or indicator that represents the data without disclosing it or providing it. Signal sellers determine if they wants share signals based upon buyer, price, and other rules, including limitations on signal use. Signal buyers determine signal value based upon their objectives.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for managing indicator constructs in a virtual marketplace system comprising a plurality of networked computers connected over the Internet, comprising:
 a data source computer creating raw data and storing the raw data on a memory of the data source computer;   the data source computer constructing at least one indicator construct from the raw data on the data source computer, the raw data including structured data and unstructured data;
 wherein the structured data and the unstructured data include records of interaction with one or more objects, wherein the at least one indicator construct represents the raw data without being the raw data and without disclosing the raw data, and wherein the raw data remains localized on the data source computer; 
 wherein the at least one indicator construct anonymizes the one or more objects by correlating the at least one indicator construct with a common identifier associated with the one or more objects and assigning the common identifier to the at least one indicator construct, wherein the common identifier does not disclose identities of the one or more objects and other personally identifiable information; 
 wherein each of the at least one indicator construct conforms to a common structure, wherein the common structure includes a source, a destination, a transaction identifier, a transaction time, a delivery channel, and/or a payload; 
 providing the at least one indicator construct by sending the at least one indicator construct and the common identifier to a centralized database over a network; 
   correlating the at least one indicator construct and the common identifier to corresponding external requests and external object observations and feedback to create indicator construct correlations on a remote server computer;   providing and storing an indicator construct index in the centralized database based on the indicator construct correlations, wherein the indicator construct index includes the at least one indicator construct, and wherein each of the at least one indicator construct in the indicator construct index conforms to the common structure, thereby creating a common taxonomy for exchange of the at least one indicator construct;   the data source computer defining a predetermined use of the at least one indicator construct;   determining and assigning a value to the at least one indicator construct based on the predetermined use and a given objective, wherein the at least one indicator construct is constructed to be bought or sold via the virtual marketplace system for a price based on the value of the at least one indicator construct;   the indicator construct buyer computer providing input parameters for the at least one indicator construct and requesting the price of the at least one indicator construct;   the data source computer providing an offer response based on the input parameters;   the indicator construct buyer computer accepting the offer response provided by the data source computer; and   transmitting the at least one indicator construct over the network to the indicator construct buyer computer for the predetermined use.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising monitoring performance of the at least one indicator construct compared with the given objective, reporting the performance as feedback, updating the centralized indicator construct index to include the feedback, and automatically adjusting the indicator construct correlations of the at least one indicator construct based on the feedback. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising limiting indicator construct availability to indicator construct buyers and/or to the centralized data marketplace based upon a rules engine that enforces limitations by any party in a transaction for the at least one indicator construct, and wherein the rules engine includes rules regarding: buyer identity, campaign type, indicator construct requested, price, redemption indicator construct type, purchase quantity, past performance of indicator construct, past performance of campaign type, past performance of buyer, and/or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising defining use and an agreement to report on a result of use with the indicator construct buyer computer or a counterparty. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving information from indicator construct buyers confirming receipt of the at least one indicator construct and compliance with the predetermined use of the at least one indicator construct. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one indicator construct includes information about a change in state, a relationship to another object, a relationship to another behavior, economic indicators, near-real-timeliness, frequency, recency, predictive accuracy, fidelity, and/or reputation of the at least one indicator construct. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the remote server computer receives inputs from third party observers that inform as to an efficacy of indicator construct use and correlation across a multitude of participants and multitude of indicator construct uses. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data source computer corresponds to an indicator construct owner, wherein the indicator construct owner is a mobile operator and the at least one indicator construct includes mobile browsing activity and mobile phone location. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data source computer corresponds to an indicator construct owner, wherein the indicator construct owner is a retailer and the at least one indicator construct includes use of encrypted consumer ID within a retailer purchase history to confirm a purchase. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data source computer is operable to create the raw data based on a wireless network hotspot detecting a presence of at least one device. 
     
     
         11 . A method for managing indicator constructs in a virtual marketplace system on the Internet comprising a plurality of networked computers, comprising:
 a data correlation engine on a data source computer constructing at least one indicator construct using raw data, the raw data including structured data and unstructured data, wherein the structured data and the unstructured data include records of interaction of an object with at least one event or at least one activity, wherein constructing the at least one indicator construct transforms the raw data into the at least one indicator construct, wherein each of the at least one indicator construct conforms to a common structure, wherein the common structure includes a source, a destination, a transaction identifier, a transaction time, a delivery channel, and/or a payload;   wherein the raw data underlies the at least one indicator construct, wherein the at least one indicator construct transforms the raw data into a form that is relevant for a predetermined use in at least one advertising campaign, wherein the at least one indicator construct represents the raw data without being the raw data and without disclosing the raw data, and wherein the raw data remains localized on the data source computer;   wherein the at least one indicator construct is constructed to be bought or sold in the virtual marketplace system comprising the plurality of networked computers over the Internet;   selecting a price of the at least one indicator construct based on a value the at least one indicator construct provides to the at least one advertising campaign;   providing the at least one indicator construct for use in advertising by sending the at least one indicator construct to a centralized database of a marketplace order computer over a network, wherein the at least one indicator construct originates from the data source computer and the at least one indicator construct is controlled by an indicator construct owner;   generating an indicator construct index and indicator construct correlations to objects and external data, and listing the index and associated correlations in the centralized database of the marketplace order computer, wherein the indicator construct index includes indicator constructs constructed from distributed information and data from different distributed data sources controlled by different owners, wherein the indicator construct index includes the at least one indicator construct, and wherein each indicator construct in the indicator construct index conforms to the common structure, thereby creating a common taxonomy for exchange of the indicator constructs;   generating an indicator construct value for value-based exchange of the at least one indicator construct on the marketplace order computer;   the data source computer anonymizing the at least one indicator construct by correlating the at least one indicator construct to a common identifier and assigning a corresponding at least one unique key to the at least one indicator construct to facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers of indicator constructs; and   transmitting the at least one indicator construct over the network to an indicator construct buyer computer for the predetermined use in the at least one advertising campaign.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising monitoring performance of the at least one indicator construct compared with a given objective, wherein an indicator construct quality and an indicator construct reputation are automatically generated based upon an assessment of indicator construct performance compared with the given objective. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising limiting indicator construct availability based upon a rules engine that automatically considers buyer identity, campaign type, indicator construct requested, price, redemption indicator construct type, purchase quantity, past performance of the at least one indicator construct, past performance of campaign type, past performance of buyer, and/or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising automatically updating the indicator construct index and/or creating new listings of indicator construct indices. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising automatically determining the value of the at least one indicator construct and a relevance to the given objective for the at least one indicator construct based on a comparison with consumer feedback and consumer behavior. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising receiving feedback from the indicator construct buyer computer regarding relevance, correlation, and/or strength of the at least one indicator construct. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising receiving inputs from third party observers that inform as to an efficacy of indicator construct use and correlation across a multitude of participants and multitude of indicator construct uses. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising automatically correlating how the value of the at least one indicator construct decays over time and with respect to relevance to the given objective. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one indicator construct includes information about a change in state, a relationship to another object, a relationship to another behavior, economic indicators, near-real-timeliness, frequency, recency, predictive accuracy, fidelity, and/or reputation of the at least one indicator construct. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 an indicator construct buyer application on the indicator construct buyer computer receiving request data, wherein the request data includes a request for the at least one indicator construct, an information payload, including a planned usage, an expiry time, a minimum fill, a maximum fill, and/or a reference point;   writing the request data into the indicator construct buyer computer application;   writing the request data to a data file of a marketplace order computer application on a marketplace order computer;   the marketplace order computer application prompting the indicator construct buyer computer application to send a requestor file to the marketplace order computer application;   a marketplace execution application monitoring a queue on the marketplace order computer application for notification that the request data has been written to the data file of the marketplace order computer application on the marketplace order computer;   the marketplace execution application reading the request data of the data file of the marketplace order computer application;   the marketplace order computer application writing the request data to a data file of a data source computer application on the data source computer;   notifying the marketplace order computer application to send an indicator construct file to the data source computer application;   the marketplace execution application monitoring the queue on the marketplace order computer application for notification that the request data has been written to the data file of the data source computer application; and   monitoring an indicator construct read file from the marketplace order computer application for notification that the request data has been read from the requestor computer application data file by the data source computer application.