Patent ID: 8086480

Claim:
A computer-implemented method to recommend items to a target user, the method comprising: receiving data indicating historical activities of a user community, the historical activities including historical activities of the target user; selecting a reference group of users from the user community based on analysis of the historical activities of the target user, the selecting of the reference group of users being performed by a processor and comprising: defining multiple activity clusters by grouping the historical activities with identifiable similarities into individual activity clusters; creating an activity network for the target user, the activity network comprising those activity clusters that include one or more historical activities of the target user; and selecting users whose historical activities are included in those activity clusters of the activity network for the target user; the defining of the multiple activity clusters comprising: receiving a first identifiable activity associated with a first group of users; receiving a second identifiable activity associated with a second group of users, the second group of users being a subset of the first group of users; computing a ratio of the second group of users to the first group of users to determine a percentage of users engaging in the second identifiable activity subsequent to engaging in the first identifiable activity; comparing the ratio to a predetermined threshold; and based on the ratio being above the predetermined threshold, selectively clustering the first identifiable activity with the second identifiable activity to produce an activity cluster of the multiple activity clusters; receiving generally current time activities of the reference group of users, the generally current time activities including those activities that have occurred within a defined time window; and recommending items to the target user based on the generally current time activities of the reference group of users being substantially similar to the historical activities of the target user.