Patent ID: 8171032

Claim:
A method for providing a user with customized electronic information accessible via an electronic data communication network, wherein user devices of said user and other users are connected via said communication network to a server system which provides the user devices with access to a plurality of target information objects, said method comprising: generating target profiles for said target information objects, each said target profile being generated by a computer system running a profile generation algorithm, from the contents of an associated one of said target information objects, each said target profile having a set of numeric values each of which represents a degree to which a corresponding attribute is present in the target information object; generating at least one user target profile interest summary for a user, each said user target profile interest summary being generated based on said target profiles associated with said target information objects accessed by the user, each said user target profile interest summary having a set of numeric values each of which represents the user's preference for a corresponding attribute, wherein said numeric values are generated without requiring the user to explicitly indicate the user's preference; determining differences between corresponding numeric values of said at least one user target profile interest summary and said target profiles; and automatically creating a customized electronic delivery of target information objects by presenting said user with a customized selection, as a function of said differences, of selected ones of the plurality of target information objects.