Patent Document ID: 8676645
Application ID: 13611217
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for identifying users for advertising purposes, said method comprising: receiving, by a processor of a computer system, from at least one Internet Service Provider (ISP), first data comprising content of web sites of the Internet accessed by N users and time data pertaining to when each user of the N users accessed the web sites, said access to the web sites provided to the N users by the at least one ISP, wherein N≧4; said processor analyzing the first data, said analyzing comprising determining first attribute values comprising a first value of each attribute of M attributes for each user, wherein M≧2, wherein the first value of each attribute is indicative of a level of interest in each attribute by each user, said analyzing based on an amount of time spent by each user at each website of the first web sites in relation to the content of each website of the first web sites, wherein V n,m,1 denotes the determined first attribute value for attribute m of user n for n=1, 2,. .. , N and m=1, 2,. .. , M; said processor identifying a second network of second web sites of the Internet accessed by the plurality users, said access to the second web sites provided to the N users by a second at least one ISP; said processor determining, from questionnaires completed by the N users, second attribute values comprising a second value of each attribute of the plurality of attributes for each user, wherein the second value is indicative of a level of interest in each attribute by each user, wherein attribute values of the second attribute values have been indicated on the questionnaire by the users of the N users for each attribute to which a keyword relevant to the second web sites has been mapped, and wherein second data pertains to said access of the second web sites by the N users, and wherein V n,m,2 denotes the determined second attribute value for attribute m of user n for n=1, 2,. .. , N and m=1, 2,. .. , M; said processor determining third attribute values that comprise a third value of each attribute of the plurality of attributes for each user, by combining the first attribute values for each user with the second attribute values for each user, wherein the first, second, and third attribute values are binary numbers, or the first, second, and third attribute values are real numbers, or the first, second, and third attribute values are positive integers, wherein said determining V n,m,k for k=1, k=2, or k=3 comprises determining V n,m,k for all user-attribute pairs (n,m) of user n and attribute m for n=1, 2,. .. N and m=1, 2,. .. , M except for a single user-attribute pair (n1,m1) such that n1 is 1, 2,. .. , or N and m1 is 1, 2,. .. , or M, followed by performing the steps of: selecting attribute m2 of the M attributes subject to m2≠m1, said selecting m2 comprising determining that V n,m1,k is linearly correlated with V n,m2,k for a user class consisting of N UC users, wherein the N UC users initially consist of the N users minus user n1 such that N UC =N−1; after said selecting attribute m2, performing a linear regression to determine a regression equation expressing V n,m1,k as a linear function of V n,m2,k for the user class; and computing V n1,m1,1 via the regression equation.