IP Verse

Method and stored program for accumulating descriptive profile data along with source information for use in targeting third-party advertisements

Patent No. US7979307 (titled "Method and stored program for accumulating descriptive profile data along with source information for use in targeting third-party advertisements") on Aug 6, 2008. The application was issued on Jul 12, 2011.

What is this patent about?

’307 is related to the field of data-communications and database management, specifically focusing on the automated collection and commercial brokerage of information attributes. It addresses the technical challenge of aggregating fragmented data points—such as demographic details, browsing habits, or purchase history—into comprehensive profiles that have higher economic value than their constituent parts. The background context involves a shift from selling static databases to a dynamic marketplace where individual data attributes are traded to improve the precision of targeted advertising and actuarial modeling.

The underlying idea behind ’307 is the creation of a centralized brokerage juncture that facilitates the exchange of granular data attributes between unaffiliated third parties. Rather than relying on massive, manual clerical efforts to build databases, the invention treats information as a liquid asset that can be bought, sold, or bartered in real-time. By using a brokerage representation model, the system allows data providers to earn micro-payments or royalties whenever their contributed attributes are used by others, while simultaneously allowing data consumers to fill gaps in their own records by purchasing specific missing attributes.

The claims of ’307 focus on an automated method for updating and maintaining entity profiles through URL redirection. When a user computer accesses a third-party website, the system receives a partial profile via an electronic redirect from a portion of the webpage. The computer system then automatically merges these incoming attributes into a maintained profile associated with that specific entity. Crucially, the claims require the system to track and store an electronic record of which specific third party contributed which attribute, ensuring that the resulting aggregate data can be used for targeted advertising.

In practice, the invention functions as a clearinghouse for digital identities. When a visitor interacts with a website, the site acts as a user of the system, forwarding known attributes—such as a cookie or a specific interest—to the central databank. The system performs a search to find a matching profile, even utilizing null profiles to ensure the search always yields a result. If the incoming data contains new information, the system incorporates it and credits the provider; if the databank contains information the website lacks, a contract is formed to transmit those attributes to the website for a fee.

This approach differentiates itself from prior methods by moving away from the bulk sale of static records toward a dynamic attribute-level marketplace. Traditional systems often merged whole databases in a one-time event, whereas this invention enables continuous, incremental profile enhancement. By implementing a credibility weighting mechanism, the system can also resolve discrepancies between conflicting data sources, effectively 'convoluting' new information with existing records to refine the accuracy and market value of the profile over time.

How does this patent fit in bigger picture?

Technical Landscape

In the late 1990s when ’307 was filed, information commerce was typically implemented using the bulk transfer of entire databases or static mailing lists rather than the granular exchange of individual data points. At a time when systems commonly relied on massive clerical efforts to accumulate transactional records over many years, the integration of disparate data sets was often limited to large-scale merges of whole records, such as combining census data with voting lists. Hardware and software constraints of the era made the real-time brokerage and valuation of discrete information attributes non-trivial, as data management architectures were generally optimized for monolithic record retrieval rather than the dynamic pricing and distribution of specific profile components.

Prosecution Position

The disclosed invention addresses the technical problem of inefficient information commerce caused by the inability to trade and value individual data attributes within a profile. The architectural solution involves a descriptive-profile mercantile system situated at a juncture in a data-communications topology that utilizes a databank of partial profiles and a null-profile search mechanism to ensure continuous matching. This integration enables a technical shift from bulk data sales to a granular brokerage model where specific attributes—such as individual demographic or behavioral data points—can be independently owned, valued, and transferred. The technical effect achieved is the capability to dynamically update and monetize high-resolution profiles through micro-payment royalty structures and automated attribute incorporation, overcoming the constraint of static, low-precision data clusters.

Claims

The patent contains a total of 10 claims, with claims 1 and 9 serving as the independent claims. These independent claims focus on an automated system and a data storage medium for collecting and updating user profiles by receiving partial profile attributes from unaffiliated third-party websites via URL redirection, aggregating this data into a maintained profile, and tracking which third party contributed specific attributes for use in targeted advertising. The dependent claims further specify features such as tracking attribute sources for payment calculations, determining the novelty of received data, maintaining credibility ratings and pricing for profile attributes, and utilizing cookies during the redirection process.

Key Claim Terms New

Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.

Term (Source)	Support for Specification	Interpretation
Maintained profile (Claim 1, Claim 9)	The present invention generally relates to a descriptive-profile mercantile method, for use at a juncture in a data-communications topology having associated therewith a maintained databank of partial profiles. Often, the contents of a database are the result of massive clerical efforts, which usually represent the product of many calendar years of transactional accumulations. Sometimes, whole databases are merged to form higher precision data clusters.	A stored, evolving collection of attributes related to a specific entity that is updated or augmented when new information attributes are received from different sources.
Partial profile (Claim 1, Claim 9)	A collection of attributes that describe a person or an organization or any other entity that can be described by a combination of data. For example, a person profile could be a collection of the following attributes: the person's gender, the person's age, the person's education, the person's interests as reflected in his behavior. The web-site forwards particulars from the visitor's credentials (a partial profile), as well as (optionally) a redirect to a portion of the visitor's page to a server located in cyberspace.	A subset of data containing at least one information attribute describing an entity, such as a person or organization, which may be combined with other data to form a more complete record.
Profile attribute (Claim 1, Claim 9)	In targeted advertising, every attribute, which substantially affects the probability of that advertisement's success, innately has a discrete economic value. Profile attributes include, among other things, attributes that enable the identification of the entity described by the profile such as name, address, URL, cookie. If the user provides a date of birth for a known named person in the data bank, then the user is the owner of that date of birth attribute.	A discrete unit of information that describes a specific characteristic of an entity, which possesses its own economic value and can be owned or brokered independently.
Unaffiliated third parties (Claim 1, Claim 9)	The computer assigns a user selected micro-payment royalty for each elected use of these attributes by any other user. A user designated micro payment royalty (or credit) is assigned to the user for each purchase of that attribute by another user. The owner of the databank may likewise collect for itself a brokerage commission for each use of the attribute.	Separate entities or websites that contribute different attributes to a centralized profile and may receive compensation or royalties when their contributed attributes are used.
URL redirection (Claim 1, Claim 9)	The web-site forwards particulars from the visitor's credentials (a partial profile), as well as (optionally) a redirect to a portion of the visitor's page to a server located in cyberspace. By redirecting a portion of the visitor's page to the server, the visitor's browser reports to the server a cookie the server put on the visitor's computer in the past, if any. This server interconnects the user's transactions and the server own cookie (if used) with a computer having therein software for running the method.	A mechanism where a portion of a web page accessed by a user triggers the browser to report data, such as a cookie or credentials, to a different server located at a juncture in the network topology.

Litigation Cases New

US Latest litigation cases involving this patent.

Case Number	Filing Date	Title
3:25-cv-05721	Jul 8, 2025	Tiktok Inc V. Almondnet, Inc.
1:23-cv-00220	Mar 1, 2023	Almondnet, Inc. V. Freewheel Media, Inc.
1:23-cv-00174	Feb 16, 2023	Almondnet, Inc. V. Viant Technology Inc.

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US7979307

Application Number: US12186918A
Filing Date: Aug 6, 2008
Publication Date: Jul 12, 2011
External Links: Slate, USPTO , Google Patents