User description based on contexts of location and time

Abstract

A description of a user is estimated based on the context of a user's past and present locations. A disclosed data-processing system continually receives data points for each user that represent spatial and/or temporal events. These events represent, for example, presence of a person at a specific geographic location such as a geographic area or point of interest (POI). The data-processing system evaluates the received data points in relation to one or more of the geographic locations, yielding results that are also based on the demographic characteristics of each visited location and the commercial characteristics of each visited location. The data-processing system evaluates the data points also to determine patterns exhibited in each user's activity or inactivity, and patterns exhibited in the distance traveled and the type of travel. The data-processing system bases the user descriptions on the results of these evaluations.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a data-processing system, a plurality of data points D that correspond to a first user, wherein each of the data points in the plurality represents at least one of i) a spatial event and ii) a temporal event, and wherein the plurality comprises at least i) a first data point that occurs at a first time t 1 , d(t 1 ), and ii) a second data point that occurs at a second time t.sub.2, d(t 1 );   determining a difference in time between a first time that is represented by the first data point d(t 1 ) and a second time that is represented by the second data point d(t 2 );   evaluating   i) a first characteristic c 1  for a first geographic location l a , yielding a first value c 1  (l 1 ), and   ii) the first data point d(t 1 ) in relation to the first geographic location l 1 , yielding a first result that is based on the first value c 1  (l 1 ); and   estimating a description of the first user, wherein the description is based on i) the determined difference in time and ii) the first result.