WO2017059087A1 - A system and method for generating consumer profiles - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for method for generating a consumer profile to a user of a user device are provided. The method includes receiving electronically by a user device at least one document containing usage information associated with a service provided to the user; analyzing the at least one document using at least one machine vision technique; identifying a plurality of characteristics associated with the user based on the analysis; generating a consumer profile to the user based on the plurality of characteristics; searching through at least one web source for an optimal consumption package based on the consumer profile; and providing a notification to the user device upon identification of the optimal consumption package.

Description

A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING CONSUMER PROFILES

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[001] This application claims the benefit of US provisional application No. 62/236,163, filed on October 2, 2015, which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[002] This disclosure generally relates to a system and method for users' profiling method and more specifically to a system and method for generating consumer profiles.

BACKGROUND

[003] The competition among companies which provide services to consumers, in all fields, is growing fast. Companies invest enormous efforts to provide the best service with the most competitive price, and that may be the reason why companies update their services and products lines frequently. Despite the competitive market, users are not always able to enjoy that benefit. Due to the lack of available information, and the vast amount of the offers for services, finding the right deal can be a challenging task.

[004] Monitor systems described in the related art provide a variety of ways for generation of users' classification and value scores.

[005] However, such systems lack the ability to assist users in identifying the right products and services for customers as time progresses. It would therefore be advantageous to provide a solution that overcomes the limitations of the prior art by enabling users to identify optimal consumption packages based on their past consumption.

SUMMARY

[006] A summary of several example aspects of the disclosure follows. This summary is provided for the convenience of the reader to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments and does not wholly define the breadth of the disclosure. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated embodiments, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more embodiments in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later. For convenience, the term some or certain embodiments may be used herein to refer to a single embodiment or multiple embodiments of the disclosure.

[007] Certain embodiments disclosed herein include a method for generating a consumer's profile to a user of a user device, the method comprising: receiving electronically by a user device at least one document containing usage information associated with a service provided to the user; analyzing the at least one document using at least one machine vision technique; identifying a plurality of characteristics associated with the user based on the analysis; generating a consumer profile to the user based on the plurality of characteristics; searching through one or more web sources for an optimal consumption package based on the consumer profile; and, providing a notification to the user device upon identification of the optimal consumption package.

[008] Certain embodiments disclosed herein include a system for generating a consumer's profile to a user of a user device, the method comprises: a processing circuity; and, a memory connected to the processing unit, the memory contains therein instruction that when executed by the processing circuity, configure the system to receive electronically by a user device at least one document containing usage information associated with a service provided to the user; analyze the at least one document using an at least one machine vision technique; identify a plurality of characteristics associated with the user based on the analysis; generate a consumer profile to the user based on the plurality of characteristics; search through one or more web sources for an optimal consumption package based on the consumer profile; and, provide a notification to the user device upon identification of the optimal consumption package.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [009] The subject matter that is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0010] Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of a system for generation of consumer profiles according to an embodiment; and,

[0011] Figure 2 is a flowchart describing a method for generation of a consumer profiles in accordance with the user characteristics, according to embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] It is important to note that the embodiments disclosed herein are only examples of the many advantageous uses of the innovative teachings herein. In general, statements made in the specification of the present application do not necessarily limit any of the various claimed embodiments. Moreover, some statements may apply to some inventive features but not to others. In general, unless otherwise indicated, singular elements may be in plural and vice versa with no loss of generality. In the drawings, like numerals refer to like parts through several views.

[0013] A system for generation of consumer profiles. The system receives electronically via a user device at least one document containing usage information for services provided to a user. The system analyzes the document using one or more machine vision techniques. Based on the analysis, the system generates a consumer's profile to the user. The system is then configured to search for optimal consumption package for the user based on the generated consumer's profile.

[0014] Fig. 1 shows an exemplary and non-limiting schematic diagram 100 of a system for generation of consumer profiles. A network 1 10 is coupled to several components that comprise the system 100. The network 1 10 can be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a metro area network (MAN), the worldwide web (WWW), the Internet, implemented as wired and/or wireless networks, and any combinations thereof. A server 120 is communicatively connected to the network 1 10. The server 120 includes a processing unit, such as processor 123 and a memory 125 that contains instructions executed by the processor 123. The system 100 includes one or more user devices 130, i.e., 130-1 through 130-n, that are also communicatively connected to the network 1 10. Further coupled to the network 1 10 are a plurality of web sources 140-1 through 140-m. Each web source of the web sources 140 is operated by a service provider.

[0015] The system 100 further includes a plurality of agents 150-1 through 150-O which are communicatively coupled to the server 120 over the network 1 10. The agent 150 can be implemented in hardware, software, microcode, firmware or any combination thereof. The agents 150 are configured by the server 120 to crawl through the plurality of web sources 140 in order to identify optimal consumption packages based on instructions received from the server 120 as further described herein below. Consumption packages are deals offered over the network 1 10 that are determined by the system 100 as an optimal fit to the client's needs and consumption characteristics.

[0016] For example, and without limitation, a businessman who speaks on his cellular phone 5 hours a day, may need a different communication consumption package than an employee who speaks on his cellular phone only 1 hour a day. The difference between the packages may be the price per minute, a permanent discount, extended service, etc. Another component of the system 100 is a database 160 which communicatively coupled to the server 120. The server 120 stores in the database 160 data based on users' characteristics and respective consumption packages.

[0017] According to an embodiment, the server 120 is configured receive electronically by a user device 130 at least one document containing usage information associated with a service provided to a user associated with the user device 130. The document may be for example a receipt, an electronic receipt, usage statement, etc. The server 120 is then configured to analyze the at least one document using at least one machine vision technique. The machine vision technique may be for example, optical character recognition (OCR). To this end, the server 120, in an embodiment, includes an OCR processor.

[0018] The server 120 is further configured to identify a plurality of characteristics associated with the user, based on the analyzed data. The characteristics may be, for example, whether the user is a senior client or not, a time pointer indicative of when the user makes his purchase, from which location the user makes his purchase, and so on. The plurality of identified characteristics may be retrieved from the user device 130 and/or from the at least one document. The server 120 is configured to generate a consumer's profile to the user based on the plurality of characteristics. A consumer profile is a set of values indicative of a user's consumption preferences, behavior, needs, etc.

[0019] The classification may be determined by comparing one user's consumption characteristics to consumption characteristics of other users, or by comparing users' consumption characteristics to consumption profiles that exist in the database 160, etc. For example, if a first user pays $ 500 USD for his television (TV) cables package to a particular provider, and other users pay an average of $ 100 USD for their packages, the server 120 may check whether the cheaper package fits the first user's consumption behavior and if so, the server 120 shall provide a notification respective thereof to the first user. Upon generation of the consumer profile, the server 120 causes the agent(s) 150 to crawl through one or more web sources 140 associated with service providers, for identification of an optimal consumption package.

[0020] The server 120 is then configured to send a notification to the user device 130 that includes the optimal consumption package as well as details of how to engage therewith. The notification may further include additional metadata such as, for example, why a certain consumption package is identified as optimal for the user. [0021] According to a further embodiment, after execution of the optimal consumption package, the server 120 continuously analyzes the user's characteristics to check that the consumption package is still the optimal one for the user's current characteristics. Upon identification that the consumption package is not optimal for the user anymore, the server 120 is configured to initialize the agents 150 to identify an optimal consumption package for the current user's characteristics.

[0022] Fig. 2 depicts an example flowchart 200 of a method for generation of a consumer's profile according to an embodiment. In S210, a document containing usage information based on a service provided to the user is received. The service may be, for example, a communication carrier service, TV cables service, bank service, mortgage services, other financial services, etc. The document, generated by the service providers, could be a paper document or electronic document, and may include data in accordance with the debit amount of the user, number of subscribers associated to the user, the period of debit, etc. The document may be captured by the camera of the user device 130.

[0023] In S220, the data extracted from the document is analyzed. In S230, characteristics based on a user associated with the user device 130 is identified. The identified characteristics may be extracted from the at least one captured document as well as from the user device 130. For example, and without limitation, the characteristics may be the specific location of the user, dial area, previous purchases made through the user device 130, etc. In S240, the consumer profile is generated based on the user characteristics.

[0024] In S250, optimal consumption package is searched through one or more web sources of the web sources 140, respective the consumer's profile. In S260, upon identification of the optimal consumption package, a notification respective of the identification is sent to the user device 130. The optimal consumption package which identified by the server 120 may include data regarding prices, payment conditions, engagement terms with the service provider, location of user, etc. [0025] In S270, user's characteristics are continuously analyzed for determining whether one or more of the user's characteristics have changed, and as a result the consumer's profile has changed as well. In case consumer's profile has changed, the execution continues with S250; otherwise, the execution continues with S280. In S280 it is checked whether to continue the operation and if so, execution continues with S210; otherwise, the execution terminates.

[0026] The embodiment disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. Moreover, the software is preferably implemented as an application program tangibly embodied on a program storage unit or computer readable medium. The application program may be uploaded to, and executed by, a machine comprising any suitable architecture. Preferably, the machine is implemented on a computer platform having hardware such as one or more central processing units ("CPUs"), a memory, and input/output interfaces. The computer platform may also include an operating system and microinstruction code. The various processes and functions described herein may be either part of the microinstruction code or part of the application program, or any combination thereof, which may be executed by a CPU, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown. In addition, various other peripheral units may be connected to the computer platform such as an additional data storage unit and a printing unit.

[0027] All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the disclosed embodiments and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure.

028] A person skilled-in-the-art will readily note that other embodiments of the invention may be achieved without departing from the scope of the disclosed invention. All such embodiments are included herein. The scope of the invention should be limited solely by the claims thereto.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1 . A computerized method for generating a consumer profile to a user of a user device, comprising:

receiving electronically by a user device at least one document containing usage information associated with a service provided to the user;

analyzing the at least one document using at least one machine vision technique;

identifying a plurality of characteristics associated with the user based on the analysis;

generating a consumer profile to the user based on the plurality of characteristics;

searching through at least one web source for an optimal consumption package based on the consumer profile; and

providing a notification to the user device upon identification of the optimal consumption package.

2. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the at least one document further comprises:

capturing by a camera of the user device the at least one receipt.

3. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the at least one document further comprises:

extracting from the database of the user device the at least one receipt.

4. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one machine vision technique comprises an optical character recognition (OCR).

5. The computerized method of claim 1 , wherein generating the consumer profile further comprises:

receiving data from the user device based on the user characteristics; receiving data from the at least one document respective the user consumption characteristics; and,

analyzing the collected data.

6. The computerized method of claim 1 , further comprising:

consistently analyzing the user characteristics for determining whether one or more of the user's characteristics have changed.

7. A system for generating a consumer's profile to a user of a user device, the system comprises:

a processing circuity; and,

a memory connected to the processing circuity, the memory contains therein instruction that when executed by the processing circuity, configure the system to:

receive electronically by a user device at least one document containing usage information associated with a service provided to the user;

analyze the at least one document using at least one machine vision technique; identify a plurality of characteristics associated with the user based on the analysis;

generate a consumer profile to the user based on the plurality of characteristics; search through at least one web source for at least one optimal consumption package based on the consumer profile; and

provide a notification to the user device upon identification of the at least one optimal consumption package.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the system is further configured to:

capture by a camera of the user device the at least one document.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the system is further configured to:

extract from a database connected to the user device the at least one document.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the system further includes an optical character recognition (OCR) configured to analyze the at least one document using at least one machine vision technique.

1 1 . The system of claim 7, wherein the system is further configured to:

receive data from the user device based on the user characteristics;

receive data from the at least one document based on the user consumption characteristics; and,

analyze the collected data.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the system is further configured to:

consistently analyzing the user characteristics for determining whether one or more of the user's characteristics have changed.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for causing one or more processing units to execute a process for generating a consumer profile of a user of a user device, the process comprises: receiving electronically by a user device at least one document containing usage information associated with a service provided to the user;

analyzing the at least one document using at least one machine vision technique;

identifying a plurality of characteristics associated with the user based on the analysis;

generating a consumer profile to the user based on the plurality of characteristics;

searching through at least one web source for an optimal consumption package based on the consumer profile; and providing a notification to the user device upon identification of the optimal consumption package.