INFERRING ATTRIBUTE AND ITEM PREFERENCES

摘要

User-preference datapoints are collected. At least some of these datapoints are associated with user-preference information about an item (e.g., a movie), and some of these datapoints are associated with user-preference information about an attribute (e.g., a movie genre or an actor). A profile of the user is created based, at least in part, on these datapoints. When a new datapoint is collected, the new datapoint is assigned a user-preference “score.” If, for example, the new datapoint does not come with an explicit user-preference rating, then the score is based on related item and attribute datapoints already in the profile. Depending upon the relationship of the new datapoint to the already existing datapoints, a confidence value is assigned to the user-preference score. The profile is then updated with the new datapoint along with its assigned score and confidence rating. The user profile can be used in performing any number of actions.

主权项

1. A method for a profile engine to perform an action based on an input datapoint, the method comprising:
providing, to the profile engine, user-preference scores for a plurality of previous datapoints, the plurality of previous datapoints comprising an item datapoint and an attribute datapoint, the input datapoint distinct from the plurality of previous datapoints; assigning, by the profile engine, a user-preference score to the input datapoint, wherein if the input datapoint is an item datapoint, then the assigning is based, at least in part, on a user-preference score for a previous attribute datapoint, else if the input datapoint is an attribute datapoint, then the assigning is based, least in part, on a user-preference score for a previous item datapoint; based, at least in part, on a comparison of the input datapoint with at least a subset of the plurality of previous datapoints, assigning, by the profile engine, a confidence value to the input datapoint; and based, at least in part, on the user-preference score and on the confidence value assigned to the input datapoint, performing, by the profile engine, an action.