Encoded-profile targeting from a personal network to external ad sources
A system that monitors activity across devices in a personal (home/edge) network to build user profiles, maps profiles to heuristic profiles, encodes the profile as parameterized data, and sends only the encoded parameters to an external content source which programmatically selects content. The system is intended for gateways, set-top boxes or routers that serve households or small device clusters and for content/ad providers that supply creative assets or streams.
(57) What the patent covered
This write-up was generated by AI from the patent's text and may contain mistakes, so check it against the original patent before relying on it.
The independent claim covers: (a) determining profile information for a user from activities on one or more devices in a personal network; (b) selecting one or more heuristic profiles that correlate to targeted content; (c) encoding the profile information as parameterized data to match the selected heuristic profiles; and (d) communicating that parameterized data to an external content source to retrieve targeted content while protecting the profile information from the content source.
Distinguishing feature: Encoding local profile information to match pre-defined heuristic profiles and sending only parameterized codes to an external content source so the external source can select content without receiving raw profile data.
Novelty 3/5. At filing (2005–2014) device-level profiling and server-side ad selection were common; the novelty is the intermediary encoding/mapping step that hides raw profile attributes from the external content source.
Implementation
A small team would place a lightweight agent or collector on a gateway or primary device to gather event signals (app usage, URLs, media playback) into locally stored profile attributes; implement a heuristic-profile matcher and parameterizer as a microservice (Python/Go) that maps attributes to one or more profile codes; expose an HTTPS API to transmit parameterized codes to external content servers; fetch and cache selected content assets and deliver them to devices. Use existing ad/content servers and JSON over TLS for the external call and local SQLite or Redis for profile state.
Components: Edge gateway or home router with local storage and agents, Activity monitoring agents on devices or an access-point level DPI/telemetry, Heuristic profile library and parameterizer (rules engine), API endpoint to send parameterized selection codes to external content/ad server.
Buildability 5/5. Main work is engineering integration: telemetry collection, a rules engine for mapping to heuristic profiles, and secure API calls; no special hardware required.
Market demand
No demand check has been run for this patent. Likely search terms: edge-profile encoded targeting, gateway-based ad parameterization, personal network content selection. The links in the sidebar open these searches.
Buyers: Household gateway providers; OTT/set-top platform operators; ad networks seeking privacy-preserving signals.
Before manufacturing
This patent has 1 related US patent (continuation, divisional or parent) that may remain in force: US 8,880,677. Review their claims before proceeding.
Patent has lapsed; practical risks are implementation complexity around correct telemetry, privacy/regulatory compliance (GDPR/CCPA), and the market being crowded with server-side and privacy-preserving targeting offerings.
About 1.5% of lapsed patents are later revived by their owners. This page is a research lead, not legal advice. Obtain a freedom-to-operate opinion before manufacturing.