Method for analyzing and ranking venues

Abstract

A technique is disclosed for ranking venues and for providing a user with one or more of the ranked venues. To do so, a data processing system trains a model during a first, training sequence, by using a training dataset of past check-ins that were made by users visiting venues. The trained model, representing a learned hypothesis, represents venues that are ranked according to their relevance to users who are also represented by the model. During a second, run-time sequence, the system receives real-time geolocation data that represents users and generates a set of candidate venues for a user by determining venues that are nearby the geolocation of the user. The system then ranks the generated candidate venues by applying the learned hypothesis. One or more of the ranked venues can be provided to a user's wireless terminal, for example, where they can be presented as venue recommendations.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a data-processing system, a geolocation of a first user;   generating, by the data-processing system, a non-empty set of candidate venues based on the geolocation of the first user; and   ranking the candidate venues, by the data-processing system, based on applying, to the candidate venues, a hypothesis that is learned from locations of one or more venues visited by at least one of i) the first user and ii) one or more additional users, wherein the hypothesis incorporates a rule of preferring a visited venue to a non-visited venue.