!!!!! !!!!!! CrowdLogic White Paper. for more information July, 2014

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CrowdLogic White Paper July, 2014 for more information www.

1 CrowdLogic White Paper July, 2014 for more information C o n c e r t T e c h n o l o g y

OVERVIEW Mobile social networking is growing rapidly, due in part to the availability of highly capable smartphones offering advanced web access, messaging and location-awareness.

2 OVERVIEW Mobile social networking is growing rapidly, due in part to the availability of highly capable smartphones offering advanced web access, messaging and location-awareness. Advances in device technologies are complemented by an explosion of location-based applications enabled by open mobile platforms such as Apple s iphone and Google s Android. Web 2.0-based social networking applications are becoming increasingly mobile MySpace and Facebook both have significant entries into the mobile social networking market, threatening established mobile social networks such as Brightkite, Plazes and Loopt. While new mobile applications such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Buzzd are rapidly creating new social networks around mobile location-based gaming and entertainment. Beyond existing mobile social networking and location-based search applications, a significant opportunity exists for augmenting any and all types of mobile applications with social and geographical context. However, serious barriers exist to widespread adoption of these technologies, including lack of interoperability between competing services, and user data privacy issues. Further, as adoption does increase, a new set of challenges emerge. Users will find themselves flooded with data about their local surroundings and their social networks. To make sense of this data, users will need sophisticated but easy to use relevance filters, as well as intuitive and flexible graphical user interfaces and displays. The CrowdLogic project is designed to generate state-of the-art mobile, social and location-based technology which explores these and other issues critical to the success of this market segment. HOW IT WORKS The CrowdLogic technology allows mobile users on multiple platforms (mobile phones, netbooks and laptops) to access aggregated, anonymous profile and crowd characterization information about groups of people in their local area. It also provides a platform, to which third party web services and mobile applications can take advantage, to mix-in this data, augmenting their existing functionality. Rather than define a social data silo (yet another social networking profile, social graph or other proprietary data set), the CrowdLogic system is designed to leverage existing social data from wellestablished social networking applications (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) and emerging semantic data sources, normalizing profile information so that crowd characterization and interest profiles can be utilized across many applications. Users submit their current location and profile information to the system, and once processed, the information is available as realtime or historical data to other users as part of an aggregate crowd characterization, at all times protecting the anonymity of individual members of the crowd. This aggregate profile and crowd characterization data C o n c e r t T e c h n o l o g y

3 can be used directly by the user for social navigation, or can be utilized by other applications to augment their existing functionality. Additionally, the aggregate characterizations can be leveraged by third party services, for example, for contextually targeted advertising. All of this is achieved while offering an unprecedented level of user-data privacy, where recognizable user information, including location history or profile information that can identify an individual user, is not persisted on the server. END USER RATIONALE Users benefit from social contextual awareness in many ways people are social creatures and our propensity for human interaction drives our behavior to gather. Knowing more about your social context enables richer behaviors than today s LBS-enhanced dating, friend-finding and location-based search applications. Knowing whether you are in a crowd of people with similar or dissimilar interests, knowing current or past popular themes of a venue or knowing how many people around you know each other are some examples of information that can help a person select a desirable setting ultimately improving their real-life social experience. RESEARCH THEMES Privacy Technology providing mobile contextual awareness has in the past sacrificed user privacy. Many users, especially in older demographic segments, are unwilling to relinquish their privacy and therefore, are wary of signing on for these services. With CrowdLogic, removing this functionality/privacy tradeoff frees the user to participate in socially-aware services, contributing to the positive network effect for the ecosystem as a whole. Crowd Characterization This research theme focuses on forming and characterizing groups of people into crowds, and performing subsequent analysis of the crowd in ways which directly benefit a user. Beyond aggregated interest profiles, other characteristics such as best- and worst-case degree of separation between people in the crowd and other data can help users better understand their immediate surroundings. Crowd characterization data can also be used by third-party services or applications, such as friend-finder or targeted advertising applications to augment their existing functionality. C o n c e r t T e c h n o l o g y

Social Navigation This research theme focuses on providing contextual clues to users about where to go in their immediate surroundings, based on their expressed interests and the interests of the

4 Social Navigation This research theme focuses on providing contextual clues to users about where to go in their immediate surroundings, based on their expressed interests and the interests of the crowds in the user s vicinity. Watching a venue for changes in clientele, receiving alerts, calculating routes around town based on friendly gatherings and guiding users to places of interest are all areas of exploration. New User Interfaces A main focus of the CrowdLogic project is to leverage the user s virtual social world in order to facilitate social behavior in the real world. Existing user interfaces for location-based services are centered around a birds-eye map view. Although this interface is good for some applications, this research theme explores new, more intuitive user interfaces that provide the user with a more subtle, glance-able interaction with mobile technology that complements this real-world focus. Semantic Web Technologies Another major focus of the CrowdLogic project is to leverage existing social data from Web 2.0 sources such as Facebook and align with potential future (Web 3.0) social data sources such as FOAF (Friend-of-a-Friend), APML, RDF and other existing or emerging data portability standards. This research theme explores the feasibility of existing Semantic Web technologies with an eye toward intersection with the availability of rich semantic data on the Web. C o n c e r t T e c h n o l o g y

Services are exposed to third-party applications through a web services API. A web application is also hosted to provide a point-ofpresence on the Web.

5 ARCHITECTURE The client-server architecture of CrowdLogic consists of a central server providing the core functionality. Backed by a semantic database, the server exposes a mobile client API (Application Programming Interface), a lightweight protocol suitable for low-power mobile devices and PCs alike. Services are exposed to third-party applications through a web services API. A web application is also hosted to provide a point-ofpresence on the Web. Social profiles are retrieved from potentially multiple sources (for example by using Facebook Connect ) and normalized for processing across application boundaries using a plug-in architecture. Markets and Potential Partners The client software is architected as a middleware layer which exposes an API that can be utilized by any number of third-party applications on a mobile device, netbook or laptop. The middleware and API encapsulates all aspects of the CrowdLogic implementation to simplify access to the aggregate profile and crowd characterization data provided by the system. The client software also contains the CrowdLogic Social Navigator application, which provides valuable functionality as well as providing an example implementation of a client implementing the CrowdLogic client API. Mobile Advertising Hyper-Local Marketing and Targeting The CrowdLogic service creates a rich and valuable data set of user behaviors, movements and interests. This data enables local businesses to better profile and understand their existing customer base, as well as the customer base at neighboring establishments, and the customer base at competitive locations. By tapping into social network profiles, the crowd s demographic composition, interests, and psychographic composition are available. Furthermore, crowd patterns and history are tracked, providing an understanding of flows from one establishment or event to another, and an understanding of how and when crowds form and disperse. Finally, the crowd status update capabilities allow a business to listen (and communicate directly) with the crowd to better understand satisfaction and get feedback on customers likes and dislikes. CrowdLogic s data will improve relevance and efficiency as advertising continues to become more targeted, more mobile, and more local. C o n c e r t T e c h n o l o g y

6 Partner User Device Intersection The CrowdLogic project is aimed at the intersection of Location Based Services and Social Networking. Some of the leading companies from those segments are listed below. Partners There are a number of companies that could benefit from CrowdLogic s technology. category example opportunity Friend Finder Services Location Finder Services Loopt Latitude Geodelic Sherpa ulocate More privacy-centric solution to increase usage. Improved relevance via social profile aggregation and matching. Dynamic, real-time discovery of the activity level and crowd profile of nearby locations. Rating/Review Services Yelp Ability to add aggregate crowd information to ratings and reviews (e.g., 4 stars, younger crowd on Thursdays, older crowd on Fridays, dead on Saturdays). Traditional Social Networks Facebook Privacy-centric solution that combines location and social profile data for dynamic and relevant crowd discovery. Novel mobile application relative to offerings by mobile social networks. Mobile Social Networks Brightkite Gowalla Ability to combine aggregate social profile data to location check-ins, enabling demographic and psychographic targeting by local businesses. C o n c e r t T e c h n o l o g y

technology, consumer habits and business models.

7 About Us Digital media distribution is fundamentally changing the relationship between consumers and content. At Concert Technology, we are engaged in R&D directed towards the creation of patented intellectual property which we use to drive licensing programs that derive revenues from the ongoing changes in technology, consumer habits and business models. Rich Media Internet Services Mobile Media Device Technologies Recommendation Systems Social Networking Location Based Services We strive to prototype and develop products that deliver on the promise of the digital media experience: high quality entertainment that is easy to find, discover, organize, share and enjoy. For additional information or to explore partnership opportunities with Concert Technology, please contact C o n c e r t T e c h n o l o g y

8 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS The following is a partial list of US patents and publications that were developed as part of the CrowdLogic project. reference number title Contiguous Location-Based User Networks Automatically Performing User Actions Based on Detected Context-to-User-Action Correlations System And Method For Automated Location Based Widgets Method And System For Associating Co-Presence Information With A Media Item Maintaining a Historical Record of Anonymized User Profile Data By Location For Users in a Mobile Environment System And Method For Filtering and Creating Points-of-Interest Automated Social Routing System And Method For Information Gatekeeper Based on Aggregate Profile Data Mobile Private Assisted Location Tracking Predicting or Recommending A User s Future Local Based on Crowd Data Sparse Profile Augmentation Using a Mobile Aggregate Profiling System Smart Encounters Passive Crowd-Sourced Map Updates and Alternate Route Recommendations Anonymous Crowd Comparison Proximity-Based Social Graph Creation System and Method for Social Browsing Using Aggregated Profiles System and Method for Prevention of Indirect User Tracking Through Aggregate Profile Data Profile Construction Based Upon Location-Based Aggregate Profile Information System and Method for Profile Tailoring in an Aggregate Profiling System User Affinity Concentrations as Social Topography Secondary Indications of User Locations and Use Thereof by a Location-Based Service Anonymous Crowd Tracking C o n c e r t T e c h n o l o g y

9 Modifying a User's Contribution to an Aggregate Profile Based on Time Between Location Updates and External Events Crowd Formation for Mobile Device Users Crowd Creation System for an Aggregate Profiling System Serving a Request for Data From A Historical Record of Anonymized User Profile Data in A Mobile Environment Handling Crowd Requests for Large Geographic Areas Crowd Formation Based on Geographical Boundaries and Other Rules Dynamic Profile Slice Crowd and Profile Based Communication Addresses Fragmented Advertisements for Co-Located Social Groups Crowd Formation Based on Wireless Context Information Relative Item of Interest Explorer Interface Forming Crowds and Providing Access to Crowd Data in a Mobile Environment Status Update Propagation by Crowd or POI Similarity Methods and Systems for Following Crowds Ad-Hoc Micro-Blogging Groups Synchronized Group Location Updates Monitoring Hashtags in Micro-Blog Posts to Provide One or More Crowd-Based Features C o n c e r t T e c h n o l o g y

!!!!! ifolio Portfolio Summary. for more information August, 2014

!!!!! ifolio Portfolio Summary. for more information August, 2014 ifolio Portfolio Summary August, 2014 for more information www.concerttechnology.com bizdev@concerttechnology.com C o n c e r t T e c h n o l o g y Overview The Amazon Kindle, introduced in 2007, help