Electronic profile development, storage, use, and systems therefor

Abstract

Examples of the present invention include profiling systems that store, manage, and utilize profile information to take predictive or deterministic action. Embodiments of the invention allow the profiling system to be used as a trusted intermediary where the profile owning entity controls access to their profile information across their network of devices and services.

1 - 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . A method for electronic profile management by a profiling system configured to serve as a trusted intermediary between an entity and a provider, the method comprising:
 storing a plurality of electronic profiles in an electronic storage medium, each electronic profile from the plurality of electronic profiles associated with a respective entity from a plurality of entities, and each electronic profile from the plurality of electronic profiles including at least one preference of the respective entity and permissions configurable by the respective entity for access to the electronic profile;   receiving, at a profiling system in communication with the electronic storage medium, a request from an electronic device associated with a provider to evaluate a plurality of content items of the provider for a first entity, wherein the provider is different from the first entity;   if permissions associated with an electronic profile of the first entity are configured to allow access to the electronic profile of the first entity for evaluating content items of the provider, accessing, by the profiling system, the electronic profile associated with the first entity, the electronic profile associated with the first entity being inaccessible directly by the provider; and   computing a degree of relevance of each content item from the plurality of content items to the electronic profile of the first entity based in part on information retrieved from the electronic profile of the first entity including a preference of the first entity.   
     
     
         32 . The method according to  claim 31  further comprising:
 transmitting to the electronic device associated with the provider at least one of the computed degrees of relevance, an indication of selected content items based on the computed degrees of relevance, or combinations thereof. 
 
     
     
         33 . The method according to claim  1 , wherein storing a plurality of electronic profiles in an electronic storage medium comprises storing electronic profiles in a relational database on the electronic storage medium. 
     
     
         34 . The method according to claim  1 , wherein the first entity comprises a person, a thing, a segment of people, or a segment of things. 
     
     
         35 . The method according to claim  1 , wherein computing a degree of relevance comprises generating an index by indexing the plurality of content items according to terms, and querying the index using a preference of the entity. 
     
     
         36 . The method according to  claim 35 , wherein computing a degree of relevance further comprises computing a relevance number based on term frequency and inverse document frequency calculations for each content item using the preference of the first entity. 
     
     
         37 . The method according to  claim 36 , wherein the preference of the first entity comprises a plurality of preference terms, the relevance number computed in part by summing term frequency and inverse document frequency calculations using each preference term from the plurality of preference terms. 
     
     
         38 . The method according to  claim 36 , wherein the electronic profile of the first entity comprises a plurality of preferences, and the relevance number is computed in part by summing respective relevance numbers calculated using each of the plurality of preferences. 
     
     
         39 . The method according to  claim 38 , wherein summing respective relevance numbers comprises taking a weighted sum of the respective relevance numbers, and wherein a weight associated with each preference from the plurality of preferences is determined in part based on a context of the first entity. 
     
     
         40 . The method according to  claim 31  further comprising:
 receiving from the first entity a preference term of the first entity; and 
 disambiguating the received preference term. 
 
     
     
         41 . The method according to  claim 40 , wherein disambiguating the received preference term comprises identifying relevant documents in a content store using the received preference term and identifying a relevant keyword from at least one of the identified relevant documents, the method further comprising storing the relevant keyword in the electronic storage medium as part of the preference of the first entity. 
     
     
         42 . The method according to  claim 41 , wherein the content store is selected from a group of content stores based in part on the preference. 
     
     
         43 . The method according to  claim 41 , wherein the act of computing the degree of relevance comprises utilizing a neural network to compute the degree of relevance. 
     
     
         44 . The method according to  claim 43 , further comprising receiving feedback from an entity regarding the degree of relevance and modifying the neural network based on the feedback. 
     
     
         45 . A profiling system comprising:
 a profile management system in communication with one or more electronic storage media configured to store a plurality of electronic profiles, each electronic profile from the plurality of electronic profiles associated with a respective entity from a plurality of entities, and each electronic profile from the plurality of electronic profiles including at least one preference of the respective entity and permissions configurable by the respective entity for access to the electronic profile; and   an analysis engine configured to receive a request from a requestor to evaluate options of the requestor for a first entity, the requestor being different from the first entity, the analysis engine further configured to access an electronic profile of the first entity if permissions associated with the electronic profile of the first entity are configured to allow access to the electronic profile of the first entity for evaluating options of the requestor, the electronic profile of the first entity being inaccessible directly by the requestor, the analysis engine further configured to compute a relevance number for each of the respective options based on the electronic profile of the first entity including a preference of the first entity.   
     
     
         46 . The profiling system of  claim 45 , wherein the profile management system is further configured to generate a profile for a respective entity based on profile information received by the profile management system from the respective entity, the profile information including the at least one preference of the respective entity. 
     
     
         47 . The profiling system of  claim 45 , wherein the plurality of electronic profiles include entries in a relational database, each electronic profile including a data table containing data associated with the respective entity and a related user preferences table containing preference IDs for each preference associated with the respective entity. 
     
     
         48 . The profiling system of  claim 46 , wherein each electronic profile further includes a user preferences terms table related to the user preferences table, the user preferences terms table containing term IDs for each term associated with a preference. 
     
     
         49 . The profiling system of  claim 48 , wherein each electronic profile further includes a preference terms table, the preference terms table related to the user preference terms table, the preference terms table containing at least one term associated with a respective term ID. 
     
     
         50 . The profiling system of  claim 45  further comprising:
 a disambiguation engine configured to receive the preference of the first entity, identify terms related to the preference of the first entity, and store at least one identified term in an electronic storage medium in which the electronic profile of the first entity is stored. 
 
     
     
         51 . The profiling system of  claim 50  further comprising:
 an indexing engine configured to index a plurality of content items according to terms contained in the plurality of content items and store the indexed content items in an indexed content store; and 
 wherein the disambiguation engine is coupled to the indexed content store and configured to identify terms related to the preference of the first entity by querying the indexed content store with the preference of the first entity. 
 
     
     
         52 . The profiling system of  claim 51 , wherein the indexing engine is configured to generate a plurality of indexed content stores, each corresponding to a respective category, the disambiguation engine configured to select a category-specific content store of the plurality of content stores. 
     
     
         53 . The profiling system of  claim 45 , wherein the analysis engine is configured to compute the relevance number for each of the respective options based in part on calculating, for each option, term frequency and inverse document frequency numbers for each term in the preference of the first entity. 
     
     
         54 . The profiling system of  claim 45 , wherein the analysis engine is further configured to provide the requestor with at least a portion of the calculated relevance numbers, an indication of options associated with selected relevance numbers, or combinations thereof.