Patent ID: 8131733

Claim:
A method comprising: locating a user profile of a user requesting a webpage from a web server, wherein the user profile includes a user interest score and a user content category identifier; utilizing one of a plurality of decay rates to decay the user interest score over time such that responsive to the user interest score surpassing a threshold, the user interest score is reduced by a first decay rate, and responsive to the user interest score decreasing below another threshold, the user interest score is reduced according to a second decay rate which reduces the user interest score at a greater rate than the first decay rate; increasing the user interest score by an amount responsive to a content category of the webpage matching the user content category identifier; selecting an advertisement based on the user interest score; providing the webpage and the advertisement; and deleting the user interest score corresponding to a particular content category from the user profile responsive to the user interest score of the particular content category decreasing below a predetermined threshold.