Patent ID: 8312273

Claim:
One or more tangible computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of providing a personalized online experience, the method comprising: collecting, at a computing device, user data for an individual user; transmitting at least a portion of the user data to a community vault based on user privacy settings that define sharing limits of the user data, wherein the community vault receives a combination of user data from multiple users, wherein the community vault uses differential privacy to protect a source of the user data, such that user data applying to below a first threshold number of users is meaningless, while maintaining viability of user data applying to above a second threshold number of users, and wherein the community vault generates segment rules associated with user segments based on the combination of user data, wherein an individual user segment describes interests of a generic user associated with the individual user segment, and wherein a segment rule defines criteria that are used to determine whether the generic user belongs to the individual user segment, receiving one or more segment rules from the community vault; assigning a specific user segment to the individual user based on the one or more segment rules and the user data; communicating the specific user segment to a content provider; and receiving personalized content based on the specific user segment.