Granted Patent B2

US 8,099,496 · App. 11/923,621 · Granted Jan 17, 2012

Abstract

Claims (59)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a data file containing records of a plurality of HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) transactions of a plurality of users, each of the HTTP transactions including at least one URL (Uniform Resource Locator);

converting the data file into a common file format;

cleansing the data file in the common file format by applying a plurality of URL rules to remove session identifiers while accounting for the use of proxies, thereby producing a cleansed data file containing at least one modified URL;

performing a panel selection process, comprising:

conducting a periodic survey of a subset of Internet users to determine characteristics of an Internet community that includes the subset of Internet users, the characteristics including demographic characteristics;

selecting a panel of users from the subset of Internet users, the panel of users having a targeted combination of the demographic characteristics;

retaining the data file only when it contains a user identifier of a user in the panel of users;

for each user in the panel of users, using a computer, performing a transformation process, comprising:

selecting a user,

removing from the data file those URLs that do not contain the user identifier of the selected user;

determining which URLs in the data file belong to a session of the selected user in the panel of users;

assigning a session identifier to the session;

creating a plurality of session data files, each of which contain the selected user identifier, a time stamp, the URLs in the data file that belong to the session, and the session identifier;

decomposing, using software modules and a cluster of machines that run parallel calculations to decompose, the URLs in each of the plurality of session data files so that the URLs in each of the plurality of session data files are decomposed URLs; and

hashing the decomposed URLs so that the decomposed URLs are hashed, decomposed URLs;

calculating a metric of user behavior based upon the hashed, decomposed URLs;

merging the metric of user behavior into a file containing a plurality of metrics of user behavior; and

transmitting to a remote machine the file containing the plurality of metrics of user behavior, wherein the file containing the plurality of metrics of user behavior enables a third party to match a distribution list for a product or service catalog to a region.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the file containing the plurality of metrics of user behavior further enables the third party to test a price adjustment of a product or service.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein based on the results of the test, the highest point of price indifference is determined.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the price adjustment is made with a limited set of consumers to determine a consumer sensitivity before making more extensive price changes offline.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the file containing the plurality of metrics of user behavior further enables the third party to optimize pricing of a product or service.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the product is a media content.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the URL rules is generated by the computer.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the parallel calculations include the calculating of the metric of user behavior based upon the hashed, decomposed URLs.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein converting the data file into a common file format includes:

identifying a data provider for the data file; and

applying a set of rules specific to the data provider to the data file.

10. A host computer, comprising:

a data collection facility that receives a data file containing records of a plurality of HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) transactions of a plurality of users, each of the HTTP transactions including at least one URL (Uniform Resource Locator); checks for integrity of the data file and the records; and converts the data file into a common file format;

a pre-calculation facility including one or more computers, the pre-calculation facility being configured to perform a cleansing process, a panel selection process, and a transformation process, wherein

the cleansing process comprises:

cleansing the data file in the common file format by applying a plurality of URL rules to remove session identifiers while accounting for the use of proxies, thereby producing a cleansed data file containing at least one modified URL;

the panel selection process comprises:

conducting a periodic survey of a subset of Internet users to determine characteristics of an Internet community that includes the subset of Internet users, the characteristics including demographic characteristics;

selecting a panel of users from the subset of Internet users, the panel of users having a targeted combination of the demographic characteristics;

retaining the data file only when it contains a user identifier of a user in the panel of users;

the transformation process comprises, for each user in the panel of users:

selecting a user;

removing from the data file those URLs that do not contain the user identifier of the selected user;

determining which URLs in the data file belong to a session of the selected user in the panel of users;

assigning a session identifier to the session;

creating a plurality of session data files, each of which contain the selected user identifier, a time stamp, the URLs in the data file that belong to the session, and the session identifier;

decomposing, using software modules and a cluster of machines that run parallel calculations to decompose, the URLs in each of the plurality of session data files so that the URLs in each of the plurality of session data files are decomposed URLs; and

hashing the decomposed URLs so that the decomposed URLs are hashed, decomposed URLs; and

a calculation facility that calculates a metric of user behavior based upon the hashed, decomposed URLs, performs a post-calculation process, and transmits to a remote machine a file containing a plurality of metrics of user behavior, wherein the file containing the plurality of metrics of user behavior enables the third party to match a distribution list for a product or service catalog to a region, and wherein

the post-calculation process comprises:

merging the metric of user behavior into a file containing a plurality of metrics of user behavior.

11. The host computer system of claim 10 , wherein the region is identified by a zip code.

12. The host computer system of claim 10 , wherein the file containing a plurality of metrics of user behavior further enables the third party to match a distribution list for direct mail advertising to a region.

13. The host computer system of claim 12 , wherein the region is identified by a zip code.

14. The host computer system of claim 10 , wherein the region is identified by an IP address.

15. The host computer system of claim 10 , wherein the product is a media content.

16. The host computer system of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the URL rules is generated by the host computer system.

17. The host computer system of claim 10 , wherein the parallel calculations include the calculating of the metric of user behavior based upon the hashed, decomposed URLs.

18. The host computer of claim 10 , wherein the data collection facility converts the data file into a common file format by:

identifying a data provider for the data file; and

applying a set of rules specific to the data provider to the data file.

Assignments (6)