IP Library Granted Patent US 9,251,527
Granted Patent B2
US 9,251,527 · App. 13/598,124 · Granted Feb 2, 2016

System and method for providing personalized recommendations

Inventors: Devavrat Shah (Newton, MA); Vivek Francis Farias (Cambridge, MA); Srikanth Jagabathula (New York, NY); Ammar Tawfiq Ammar (Cambridge, MA)
Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
G06Q30/0201G06Q30/0204
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,251,527
App. No.
13/598,124
Granted
Feb 2, 2016
Kind
B2
Abstract

A system and method for providing a personalized recommendation from a series of partial preferences is presented. A preference distribution of a population including a plurality of weighted ranked lists is identified. A revealed preference of a user is compared to the plurality of ranked lists. An affinity weight between the user and each of the plurality of ranked lists is assigned, and a weighted average of each of the affinity weights is taken.

Claims (22)

1. A method for inferring the preferences of a user in relation to a population with a computer comprising a processor and a memory containing non-transitory instructions configured to be executed by the processor, comprising the steps of:

producing a sparse preference distribution of said population comprising a plurality of complete ranked lists and a weight of each of said plurality of ranked lists;

comparing a revealed preference of said user to one of said plurality of ranked lists;

assigning, based upon said comparing, an affinity weight between said user and each of said plurality of ranked lists;

taking a weighted average of each of said affinity weights; and

representing each of said plurality of ranked lists as a two dimensional partial comparison matrix of entries comprising a first index and a second index,

wherein each index indicates an item and each entry of said matrix of entries is set to a first value if said first index item is preferred to said second index item, and otherwise set to a second value if said second index item is preferred to said first index item.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said affinity weight between said user and a ranked list is proportional to how similar said revealed preference of said user is to said ranked list.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said first value is one and said second value is zero.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

receiving, by said computer, a plurality of partial preferences;

learning said sparse preference distribution from said plurality of partial preferences; and

processing said sparse distribution to rank a first preference list against a second preference list.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising the step of selecting said plurality of partial preferences from said first preference list and said second preference list.

6. A method for inferring the preferences of a user in relation to a population with a computer comprising a processor and a memory containing non-transitory instructions configured to be executed by the processor, comprising the steps of:

identifying a sparse preference distribution of said population comprising a plurality of ranked lists and a weight of each of said plurality of ranked lists;

comparing a revealed preference of said user to one of said plurality of ranked lists;

assigning, based upon said comparing, an affinity weight between said user and each of said plurality of ranked lists;

taking a weighted average of each of said affinity weights; and

representing each of said plurality of ranked lists as a two dimensional partial comparison matrix of entries comprising a first index and a second index,

wherein each index indicates an item and each entry of said matrix of entries is set to a first value if said first index item is preferred to said second index item, and otherwise set to a second value if said second index item is preferred to said first index item.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said first value is one and said second value is zero.

Assignments (2)
CONFIRMATORY LICENSE Recorded Jul 31, 2013
From: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
To: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Reel/Frame 030921/0289 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 13, 2012
From: AMMAR, AMMAR TAWFIQ; SHAH, DEVAVRAT; FARIAS, VIVEK FRANCIS; JAGABATHULA, SRIKANTH
To: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Reel/Frame 029283/0927 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 61528751 · Aug 29, 2011
Related Publication 20130054498A1 · Feb 28, 2013