Patent ID: 9251527
Filing Date: 2016-02-02
CPC Classification: G06Q

Claim Text:
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.