IP Verse

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

Patent No. US8244582 (titled "Method and stored program for accumulating descriptive profile data along with source information for use in targeting third-party advertisements") on May 25, 2011. The application was issued on Aug 14, 2012.

What is this patent about?

’582 is related to the field of data-communications and automated profile management. Specifically, it addresses the technical challenge of aggregating fragmented consumer data across disparate sources to create high-resolution profiles for targeted advertising and actuarial analysis.

The underlying idea behind ’582 is the creation of a mercantile brokerage for information attributes, where individual data points—rather than entire databases—are treated as currency. By facilitating micro-transactions between unaffiliated parties, the system incentivizes the sharing of partial profiles to build a more accurate, centralized composite record.

The claims of ’582 focus on an automated method for collecting profiles via URL redirection. When a user computer accesses a third-party website, the system electronically receives a partial profile through this redirection, merges it into a maintained profile for that specific entity, and logs which third party contributed each specific attribute for the purpose of targeted advertising.

In practice, the invention functions as a clearinghouse that tracks the provenance and credibility weighting of data. When a website redirects a visitor's browser to the system's server, the system can identify the visitor via cookies and either acquire new attributes from the website or sell existing profile data back to the website to improve the visitor's experience.

This approach differs from prior methods by shifting the focus from bulk database sales to a micro-payment royalty model. Instead of a one-time transaction, the system maintains a ledger of contributions, allowing data providers to earn recurring revenue whenever their specific attribute—such as a verified age or interest—is utilized to refine a targeting decision.

How does this patent fit in bigger picture?

Technical Landscape

In the late 1990s when ’582 was filed, information commerce was typically implemented using the sale of monolithic databases or entire records, such as mailing lists or credit reports, rather than discrete data points. At a time when systems commonly relied on massive clerical efforts and multi-year transactional accumulations to build data clusters, the integration of disparate data sources was often limited to large-scale batch processing of whole files. Furthermore, hardware and software constraints made the real-time valuation and exchange of individual information attributes non-trivial, as existing architectures were designed for bulk data transfers rather than granular, attribute-level brokerage.

Prosecution Position

The disclosed invention represents a technical advancement by shifting from bulk data commerce to a granular brokerage architecture that manages individual information attributes. This architectural shift is enabled by a system that dynamically receives partial profiles at a network juncture and performs real-time searching against a databank to identify missing or novel attributes. The technical advancement lies in the integration of a contracting mechanism directly into the data-communications topology, allowing for the automated assignment of economic value to discrete data points and the subsequent merging of these points into existing profiles. This capability enables the creation of high-precision data clusters through incremental, transaction-based updates, overcoming the technical constraints of traditional static database management.

Claims

This patent contains 20 total claims, with claims 1 and 11 serving as the independent claims. The independent claims focus on an automated process and a corresponding data storage medium for gathering user profile data from multiple unaffiliated third parties via URL redirection to facilitate targeted advertising and track the specific sources of the profile attributes. The dependent claims further define the system by introducing features such as payment identification for data contributors, the use of cookies for entity identification, the assessment of data credibility and pricing, and the selection of attributes based on their source.

Key Claim Terms New

Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.

Term (Source)Support for SpecificationInterpretation
Maintained profile
(Claim 1, Claim 11)		The computer system is associated with a databank, having therein an organized ensemble of information attributes. The computer system electronically adds the received partial profile to a maintained profile believed to be related to the same entity. The database incorporates these new attributes and the computer assigns a user selected micro-payment royalty for each elected use of these attributes.An aggregated and stored collection of data attributes related to a specific entity that is updated or built over time by adding new partial profiles from various sources.
Partial profile
(Claim 1, Claim 11)		A profile is a collection of attributes that describe a person or an organization or any other entity that can be described by a combination of data. The web-site forwards particulars from the visitor's credentials (a partial profile) to a server located in cyberspace. It could be that the site does not have a profile of the visitor to that web-site.A subset of data or specific information attributes that describe an entity, such as a person or organization, which may be incomplete on its own but contributes to a larger descriptive set.
Profile attribute
(Claim 1, Claim 11)		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. Profile attributes include, among other things, attributes that enable the identification of the entity described by the profile such as name, address, URL, cookie. In targeted advertising, every attribute, which substantially affects the probability of that advertisement's success, innately has a discrete economic value.A discrete unit of information or a specific characteristic (e.g., age, gender, interests, or identifiers like cookies) that defines a component of an entity's profile.
Unaffiliated third parties
(Claim 1, Claim 11)		The system generates and stores an electronic record of which of the plurality of unaffiliated third parties contributed to the maintained profile particular profile attributes. 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 user designated micro payment royalty (or credit) is assigned to the user for each purchase of that attribute by another user.Multiple independent entities or servers that contribute different attributes to a centralized profile databank and may receive compensation for those contributions.
URL redirection
(Claim 1, Claim 11)		The web-site forwards particulars from the visitor's credentials, 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.An automated electronic process where a portion of a web page accessed by a user triggers a communication to a different server, allowing that server to identify the user or receive data.

Litigation Cases New

US Latest litigation cases involving this patent.

Case NumberFiling DateTitle
3:25-cv-05721Jul 8, 2025Tiktok Inc V. Almondnet, Inc.
1:23-cv-00174Feb 16, 2023Almondnet, Inc. V. Viant Technology Inc.

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US8244582

Application Number
US13115949A
Filing Date
May 25, 2011
Publication Date
Aug 14, 2012
External Links
Slate, USPTO , Google Patents