Patent Document ID: 20020199186
Application ID: 10168808
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A distributed system for predicting items likely to appeal to a user, based on a client-server collaborative filtering engine, wherein ratings are predicted for said items on the client side using correlation factors downloaded from the server, said correlation factors being computed on the server side from preference profiles anonymously posted to said server from a plurality of clients, said system comprising: a plurality of clients; a server side, said clients in intermittent communication with said server side over a network connection; a list of rated items from each client, wherein said lists are periodically transmitted to said server and aggregated into a single list; means for filtering said rated items based on frequency; a matrix for each unique pair of items, wherein said matrix tallies ratings for each item of said pair; means for computing a correlation between items of said pair from said matrix; means for filtering non-significant correlations; a list of correlating items, said list comprising a list of all significant correlations, wherein said list is periodically transmitted to at least one client from said server side; and client-side means for predicting a rating for an unrated item based on the correlations provided in the list of correlating items.