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AmazonGranted patentSecurity & privacyInterest 6/10

Amazon patents ad system that groups anonymous users without cookies

Amazon describes a system for deciding whether to show ads on websites without using cookies or personal identifiers. Instead of tracking individual users, the system groups requests into "cohorts" based on shared traffic patterns and uses the history of that group to determine if an ad should be displayed.

Why it mattersThis approach is interesting because it offers a technical method for serving targeted ads while respecting user privacy by removing personal identifiers from the data.

In the filing’s own words

A system receives a request for content insertion in a web page for presentation at a device. The request includes contextual information about web traffic between the device and a web server, and the request excludes an identifier of a user of the device. The system associates the request with a cohort that represents a set of previous content insertion requests and characterized by a set of attribute values. The system determines a property of the cohort. The property indicates a count of previously presented content or a decision regarding blocking a future insertion of the content. The system determines that the content can be inserted in the web page. The system sends to the web server in response to the request, an indication to insert the content in the web page. The indication causes the content to be shown in the web page upon presentation at the device.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A system comprising: one or more processors; and one or more memory storing instructions that, upon execution by the one or more processors, configure the system to: receive a first request of a web server for first content insertion in a first web page to be presented at a first device of a user, the first request including first contextual information about first web traffic between the first device and the web server, the first contextual information excluding an identifier of the user based at least in part on the first web traffic being anonymous; generate a plurality of cohorts, a first cohort of the plurality of cohorts comprising a set of previous content insertion requests that have a common set of attribute values, the set of previous content insertion requests associated with the web server; determine that the first request has the common set of attribute values; associate, based at least in part on the first request and the first cohort having the common set of attribute values, the first request with the first cohort; determine a first property of the first cohort, the first property indicating at least one of a first count of first content previously inserted or a first decision to block or unblock a future insertion of the first content; determine that the first content can be inserted in the first web page based at least in part on the first property of the first cohort; and send, to the web server in response to the first request, a first indication to insert the first content in the first web page, the first indication causing the first content to be shown in the first web page upon presentation at the first device.

Facts

Company
Amazon (Amazon Technologies, Inc.)
Official title
Cookie-less network environment and use of cohorts for anonymous traffic approximation
Patent number
US12743477B1
Application number
17951605
Filed
Sep 23, 2022
Granted
Sep 22, 2026
Inventors
4
Claims
20

Classified under

G06F 16/9577 Physics & computingG06Q 30/0201 Physics & computingG06Q 30/0205 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.