Rockstar Consortium US LP et al v. Google Inc

Filing 158

CLAIM CONSTRUCTION BRIEF filed by NetStar Technologies LLC, Rockstar Consortium US LP. (Attachments: # 1 Appendix A, # 2 Exhibit 1 - 969 patent, # 3 Exhibit 2 - 245 patent, # 4 Exhibit 3 - 970 patent, # 5 Exhibit 4 - 178 patent, # 6 Exhibit 5 - 183 patent, # 7 Exhibit 6 - 883 patent, # 8 Exhibit 7 - Barron's 5th ed. - client and server, # 9 Exhibit 8 - Webster's 8th ed. - client, # 10 Exhibit 9 - Newton's Telecom - client and server, # 11 Exhibit 10 - Webster's College 1999 - interface, # 12 Exhibit 11 - Federal Standard 1037C - link, # 13 Exhibit 12 - NTC Am English Learners - correlate and match, # 14 Exhibit 13 - Webster's College 1999 - database, # 15 Exhibit 14 - Newton's Telecom - database, # 16 Exhibit 15 - Modern Dictionary of Electronics - database, # 17 Exhibit 16 Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms - database, # 18 Exhibit 17 Webster's Third Intl - refine, # 19 Exhibit 18 Webster's College 1999 - refine, # 20 Exhibit 19 - IBM Dictionary - sort, # 21 Exhibit 20 - Roget's Thesaurus - change and update)(Tribble, Max)

Exhibit 4

111111

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
US007895178B2

(54)

United States Patent

(10)

Skillen et al.

(12)

(45)

ASSOCIATIVE SEARCH ENGINE

Patent No.:
US 7,895,178 B2
Date of Patent:
Feb. 22,2011

5,589,892 A
5,659,732 A

(75)

Inventors: Richard Prescott Skillen, Mississauga
(CA); Frederick Caldwell Livermore,
Stittsville (CA)

5,724,521 A

( *)

12/1996 Knee et al. .................... 725/43

*

8/1997

Kirsch ............................... 111

3/1998

Dedrick ....................... 705/26

4/1998

5,745,882 A
5,751,956 A

(73)

*
*
*

Bixler et al.

5/1998

Kirsch ........................ 7091203

8/1998

Goldhaber et al.

Assignee: Nortel Networks Corporation,
Montreal (CA)

5,794,210 A

Notice:

6,119,101 A

912000

6,243,375 Bl

6/2001

Speicher

6,253,188 Bl

6/2001

Witek et aI.

5,987,446 A

Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
patent is extended or adjusted under 35
U.S.c. 154(b) by 499 days.

(21)

Filed:

1111999 Corey et al.

........................ 111

Peckover

Appl. No.: 111767,584

(22)

*

Jun. 25, 2007

(65)

* cited by examiner

Prior Publication Data
US 2007/0244885 Al

Primary Examiner-Greta L Robinson
Assistant Examiner-Jeffrey Chang
(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Garlick Harrison &
Markison; Bruce E. Garlick

Oct. 18,2007

Related U.S. Application Data
(63)

(51)

(52)
(58)

Continuation of application No. 09/351,747, filed on
Jul. 8, 1999, now Pat. No. 7,236,969, which is a continuation of application No. 081798,747, filed on Feb.
13, 1997, now Pat. No. 6,098,065.
Int. Cl.
G06F 7/00
(2006.01)
G06F 17/30
(2006.01)
U.S. Cl. ...................................................... 7071706
Field of Classification Search . ... ... ... ..... ... ... 707/2,
707/5,706,765; 705/26, 14.4
See application file for complete search history.
References Cited

(56)

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,283,731 A
5,515,098 A

*

(57)

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to an advertisement machine which
provides advertisements to a user searching for desired information within a data network. The machine receives, from a
user, a search request including a search argument corresponding to the desired infonnation and searches, based upon
the received search argument, a first database having data
network related information to generate search results. It also
correlating the received search argument to a particular advertisement in a second database having advertisement related
information. The search results together with the particular
advertisement are provided by the machine to the user.

211994 Lalonde et al.
511996 Carles ......................... 725/35

25 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets

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US 7,895,178 B2
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ASSOCIATIVE SEARCH ENGINE

According to a third broad aspect, the invention provides a
system for providing advertisements to a user searching for
desired information within a data network, comprising;
means for receiving, from the user, a search request including
a search argument corresponding to the desired information;
means for searching, based upon the received search argument, a first database having data network related information
to generate search results; means for correlating the received
search argument to a particular advertisement in a second
database having advertisement related information; and
means for providing the search results together with the particular advertisement to the user.
According to a fourth broad aspect, the invention provides
a system for searching for desired information within a data
network, comprising: means for receiving, from a user, a
search request including a search argument corresponding to
the desired information; means for searching, based upon the
received search argument and user profile data, a database of
information to generate a search result; and means for providing the search results to the user.
Conventional search engines, for example OpenText, provide a basis on which the methodology according to this
invention may be implemented. In a particular embodiment,
the invention is manifested by an advertising system including an associative search engine that may be tied into and
form an integral part of the conventional search engine. When
an end user accesses the conventional search engine, the
associative engine of the selling system examines the user's
choices and search instructions, that have been input by the
user, and formulates the necessary strategy and tactics to offer
products that would appeal to the end user based on hislher
inputs an choices up until that point in the search. Since the
process is dynamic the strategy and tactics can be continually
refined and the results presented to the end user in a predictive
order and fashion that relates to that end user's past preferences (either for the immediate search underway or including
all prior search data stored for that user) and a contextual
database. This effectively provides unobtrusive, related and
useful data and options to the end user who is searching for
information. The processor used for the advertising and selling mechanism can be a part of or interconnected with the
search engine.
Some examples will illustrate how this invention can have
high value to an end user. An end user's profile data may
contain such information as the make, model and year of
automobile he/she owns or leases. When tires are needed, the
manufacturers recommended tire types and options may be
considered as sort criteria provided within a contextual database. Another example relates to when airline reservations are
being sought. All of a person's preferences, which today are
normally sorted one by one through a travel agent, could be
utilized by the advertising and selling mechanism to provide
the informed response.
In addition to the search criterion, as users interacts with
the advertising system, it will continue to compile preference
data (e. g. a list of keywords ) for each user. All preferences, for
example, can be left in a type of default mode or even presented to the user for him/her to edit and re-prioritize in order
to look for diversity or alternatives. The system can detect
exceptions and contradictions so that the end user can be
shown immediately that some of the options would violate
natural tendencies.
Some of the search patterns or preferences will be keyed off
of natural interests also such as: social, family, political, technological, geographical, enviroumental, educational and so
on. Once these preferences are known, then an advertisement
or a proposed customized product brochure can be prepared.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED
APPLICATIONS
The present application is a continuation of U.S. Utility
Application Ser. No. 09/351,747, filed luI. 8, 1999, now U.S.
Pat. No. 7,236,969 which is a continuation of U.S. Utility
applicationSer. No. 081798,747, filed Feb. 13, 1997, issued as
U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,065, all of which are hereby incorporated
herein by reference in their entirety.

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention generally relates to search engines and, in
particular, to an associative search methodology, based on a
contextual search engine, for retrieving related information.
The Intemet provides an excellent vehicle for access to
information about goods and services on a global basis. In
theory, anyone can access information about any product. In
practice, the problem is one of finding the correct information. Many techniques for solving this problem are known,
including: indexing systems such as Yahoo, graphical electronic malls, hall of malls, directories, and text search
engines, such as OpenText. These techniques and tools for
searching and retrieving information, in their present form,
can inundate the user with large amounts of unwanted material.
This later problem can be alleviated somewhat by enabling
the user to provide search statements as a set of criteria which
are combined with logical operators, such as 'AND', 'OR'
and 'NOT' operators. However, many problems still exist
with this. One of them is that the user is left to hislher own
imagination to try to think of all the alternative descriptions
(i.e. keywords) of a product or service. As search engines and
techniques become ever more powerful in the number and
diversity of databases they can access, the amount of information which it is possible to present to a user can quickly
become excessively large. The problem or opportunity still
remains to quickly find the relevant information for which the
user is looking.

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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and
improved associative search methodology for retrieving
related information.
The invention, therefore, according to a first broad aspect
provides a method of providing advertisements to a user
searching for desired information within a data network,
comprising the steps of receiving, from the user, a search
request including a search argument corresponding to the
desired information; searching, based upon the received
search argument, a first database having data network related
information to generate search results; correlating the
received search argument to a particular advertisement in a
second database having advertisement related information,
and providing the search results together with the particular
advertisement to the user.
According to a second broad aspect, the invention provides
a method of searching for desired information within a data
network comprising the steps of: receiving, from a user, a
search request including a search argument corresponding to
the desired information; searching, based upon the received
search argument and user profile data, a database of information to generate a search result; and providing the search
results to the user.

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This invention is also enhanced by advances in technology
occurring in the emerging ubiquitous data world, such as new
software languages. One example is "Java". Java is an environment that can be exported to an end users platform to run
an application which may include graphics, moving demonstrations, cartoon like explanations or even video. The Java
like environment could be used to customize with more than
name, it can be used to customize with detailed examples.
One other opportunity presented to service providers is the
potential to create new and better ways to improve the environment presented to end users of various classes by remembering what was effective for a sale to occur. In this way, key
elements of a presentation or search that have higher success
can be put into a higher priority or category for further use and
therefore more rapid development through even more intense
feedback due to subsequent use.
While this invention can be integrated with traditional
Internet search engines (such as Yahoo or Lycos), full advantage can be obtained by integrating the invention with an
Internet Access provider. An Internet Access Provider can
maintain a more complete user database. Customers are localized, so individual databases will contain fewer users. This
allows more database space to be allocated to each user. In
addition, more detailed information can be maintained, such
as geographical location, type of home computer system, and
any additional information the user may choose to provide to
the Internet Access Provider.
It is anticipated that the Java environment will develop so
that it too will learn and adapt. As a user continues to stop
presentations at certain points, scan, re-scan, look for further
input at certain points, abort a negotiation and so on at certain
points, then such points or logic routines could be avoided or
alternatives considered. The present invention proposes such
a dynamic and relational preferences methodology in order to
more rapidly and more effectively couple a user's needs with
product or service offerings.
It is also recognized that these techniques may be applied to
an educational environment where, for example, a student
may be able to have an environment that is aurally enhanced,
another one that is visually enhanced, another one that is
textually enhanced and yet another that is anecdotally as
opposed to logically enhanced. There are many other opportunities due to different personal proclivities, strengths, skills
or disabilities.

personal computer (PC) or Macintosh executing an appropriate browser application, such as, Netscape Navigator which
functions as an interface to the World Wide Web (WWW) of
the Internet. Functionality provided by the advertising
machine 10 may be implemented using an appropriately programmed conventional data processing server platform.
The advertising machine 10, in this particular embodiment,
comprises a database search engine 16 and an associative
search engine 18 which may access a database 20 having
contextual data 22 and product data 24. The database search
engine 18 is conventional technology, an example of which is
the OpenText engine that provides searches based on subject,
strings, boolean, text, etc. Such input search arguments may
be received from an end user via the data processing device 12
and data link 14 and, accordingly, the database search engine
16 effects a search of the contextual data 22 in the database 20
and returns results of the search to the end user, as a page
displayed on the device 12. The contextual database typically
contains information relating to the Internet, for instance,
keywords associated with respective WWW site locations.
The associative search engine 18, in accordance with the
present invention, may contain rule based software algorithms or non-precise techniques, such as, fuzzy logic that can
correlate a search argument derived from the user and
changes in the argument during a single session, to particular
product data within the product database 24. The associative
search engine 18 selects the most logical product from its
available data 24 and then provides an advertisement insert
that is added to the end user's search page, in an attempt to
present the end user with the product that is closest to the need
as determined by the associative search engine 18 of the
selling machine 10.
In operation, for example, the process effected when an end
user at the device 12 accesses the advertising machine 10 is as
follows.
1) The end user device 12 sends a search request outlining
the search argument to the database search engine 16.
2) The search engine 16, having carried out a traditional
search of Internet related information in the contextual data
22, passes the argument and results of the its search to the
associative search engine 18 which then looks for a match in
the product data 24 of the database 20. The associative search
engine 18 may determine a logical product fit to the initial
search argument, or it may create a logical tree analysis of
possible product fits and selects a probable best product for an
advertisement window to be displayed with the search results.
3) The associative engine 18 passes the data of the selected
product to the search engine 16 which in turn provides the
results of the search against the given argument together with
the initial product advertisement to the device 12 for displaying to the end user.
4) The end user refines his or her search by either clicking
on a displayed result or refining their search through additional arguments or search criteria.
5) The associative search engine 18 and the database search
engine 16 again work together in providing refined data as in
(2) above. In the case of the end user clicking on (i.e., selecting) a specific search result, the associative search engine 18
further refines its logical tree strategy and selects the probable
best fit product and generates an advertisement.
6) The end user search results advertisement window is
continually updated on each selection or refinement using a
technology such as Java providing the end user with a continually updated product advertisement that is considered to
be most relevant (best fit) at that point in the search. In

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood from the following
detailed description of an advertising machine together with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which.
FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of the advertising
machine including an associative search engine; and
FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the advertising
machine in combination with an Internet Access Service provider.

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to FIG. 1, shown is an advertising machine,
generally referenced by 10, together with a data processing
device 12 and a communications link 14 through which the
device 12 interacts with the advertising machine 10. The
communications link 14 may be provided by a global data
network, typically the Internet, and the data processing device
12 may be any conventional hardware/software combination
supporting functionality for communications over the Internet. Examples of the data processing device 12 include a

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addition, failure of the end user to click on the advertisement
is used as a, criterion in the logical tree in providing the
appropriate advertisement.
7) Once the end user clicks on (selects) the advertisement
displayed on the device 12, an appropriate message is sent to
the advertising machine 10 and, in particular, to the associative search engine 18 which may automatically connect the
end user to the seller of the product, for instance, by forwarding the browser of the end user device 12 to the WWW site
address of the seller. In the product data 24 for this seller, the
associative search engine may record that this transaction
occurred, in order that a toll for bringing a buyer and seller
together may be extracted.
Moreover, user profile data may be maintained on end user
device 12 and accessed by the associative search engine 18.
The profile data contains, for example, end user preferences
and previous search arguments which may be used to augment the individual search arguments received with the
search request to select a best fit product advertisement. The
associative search engine 18 retrieves and updates the profile
data on the device 12, using appropriate messages exchanged
over the communications link 14. For example, the search
arguments from the current search session may be added to
the user profile data.
Turning to the system illustrated in FIG. 2, the advertising
machine 30 (similar to the machine 10 in FIG. 1) is integrated
as part of the functionality embodied at an Internet access
provider equipment site 32 which typically includes a telephone network terminating equipment 34, a router 36 through
which TCP/IP packets are transmitted to and received from
the Internet, and a server 38 which in general controls operation and couples data calls terminated by equipment 34 to
router 36. The link 39 represents a data call established
through the telephone network to the access provider site 32.
The associative search engine 40 of machine 30 contains
software algorithms or non-precise techniques, such as, fuzzy
logic that correlates a search argument derived from the user
and changes in the argument during a single session with the
product database 42 whereby the most logical product from
its available list may be selected. It then provides an advertisement insert that is added to the end user's search page in an
attempt to offer the end user with the product that is closest to
the need as determined by the associative search engine 40.
The access provider site 32, incorporating the advertising
machine 30, is the sole channel available to the end user for
accessing the Internet. When an end user carries out a search
using the search engine 44 and clicks on (selects) a specific
result or chooses an alternate information site address, the
information is passed to the associative search engine 40 of
that access provider 32. Thus, not only the page with the
search results but also the home page of the access provider
can be updated with the appropriate advertisement which is
selected by the associative search engine 40 from the product
database 42. In addition, since the data processing device 12
of the end user is connected through the access provider site
32 for all destinations within the Internet, a comprehensive
user profile database 48 may be maintained by the associative
search engine 40, about the end users preferences and previous search arguments which may be used to augment the
individual search argument received with the search request
to select a best fit product advertisement.
In operation, for example, the process effected when an end
user at the device 12 accesses the Internet through access
provider site 32 is as follows.
1) The end users access the search engine 44, provided as a
basic service by the access provider, and requests a search
outlining the search argument.

2) The search engine 44 passes the argument and results of
its search in database 46 to the associative search engine 40
which looks for a match in the product database 42 determining a logical product fit to the initial search argument. The
associative search engine 40 creates a logical tree analysis of
possible product fits, and selects or creates a probable best
product advertisement for the advertisement window on the
search results. In this case, the associative search engine 40
also can utilize the maintained profile on the end user from
past search sessions and/or historical data gathered on their
buying habits, in the product selection processing. The associative search engine correlates the user's identity to data in
the user profile database 48 which it maintains and updates
with data (e. g., search argument received with search request)
from the current search session.
3) The search engine 44 provides the end user with the
results of the search against the given argument including the
initial product advertisement from the associative search
engine 40. The results and advertisement are displayed by end
user device 12.
4) The end user refines hislher search by either clicking on
a result, or refining their search through additional arguments
or search criteria.
5) The associative search engine 40 and the database search
engine 44 again work together in providing refined data as in
(2) above. In the case, of the end user clicking on (selecting)
a specific search result the associative search engine 40 further refines its logical tree strategy and selects the probable
best fit product and generates an advertisement.
6) The end user device 12 search results advertisement
window is continually updated on each selection or refinement using a technology such as Java, providing the end user
with a continually updated product advertisement that is considered to be most relevant (best fit) at that point in the search.
In addition, failure of the end user to click on the advertisement is used as a criterion in the logical tree ill providing the
appropriate advertisement. The access provider's home page
sent to the end user can also contain a specialized advertisement constructed from the end user's profile data (e.g.,
searches and/or buying habits).
7) Once the end user is led to click on the advertisement, the
associative search engine 40 of the selling machine 30 takes
control and connects the potential buyer to the WWW site of
the seller of the product, thereby exacting a toll for the transaction of bringing a buyer and seller together.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that various modifications and changes could be made to the invention without
departing from the spirit and scope thereof. It should therefore be understood that the claims are not to be considered as
being limited to the precise embodiments of the selling
machine set forth above, in the absence of specific limitations
directed to each embodiment.

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The invention claimed is:
1. A method for operating an advertising machine implemented on at least one computer to provide advertisements
via a communications link to a data processing device of a
user, the method comprising:
receiving from the data processing device via the communications link a search request that includes a search
argument;
searching at least one database using the search argument
to produce search results;
selecting at least one advertisement from an advertisement
database relating to at least one of the search argument
and the search results;

US 7,895,178 B2
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transmitting the search results together with the at least one
advertisement via the communications link to the data
processing device;
receiving search refinement input from the data processing
device via the communications link;
producing modified search results based upon at least the
search refinement input;
selecting at least one other advertisement from the advertisement database based upon at least one of the search
refinement input and the modified search results; and
transmitting at least one of the modified search results and
the at least one other advertisement via the communications link to the data processing device.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein both the search results
and the search argument are used to select the at least one
advertisement.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein both the modified search
results and the search argument are used to select the at least
one modified advertisement.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the search refinement
input is based upon user selection of an element of the search
results.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the search refinement
input comprises at least one additional search argument.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the search refinement
input comprises additional search criteria.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one advertisement includes a link to a website sponsoring the advertisement.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining, via communication with the data processing
device that the user does not select the at least one
advertisement; and
updating advertisements provided to the data processing
device based upon a determination that the user does not
select the at least one advertisement.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the
at least one advertisement based upon a least one of user
profile data and user preference data.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the
search results based upon at least one of user profile data and
user preference data.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results and
the at least one advertisement are included in a web page data
file that includes executable code that, upon execution by the
data processing devices causes presentation of a displayed
advertisement on a display of the data processing device.
12. A method for operating a data processing device of a
user to receive advertisements via a communications link
from an advertising machine implemented on at least one
computer, the method comprising:
based upon interaction with the user, creating a search
request that includes a search argument;
transmitting to the advertising machine via the communications link the search request that includes the search
argument;
receiving search results and at least one advertisement via
the communications link from the advertising machine,
the at least one advertisement relating to the search
argument;
displaying the search results and the at least one advertisement on a display of the data processing device;
based upon interaction with the user, receiving search
refinement input;
transmitting the search refinement input to the advertising
machine via the communications link;

receiving modified search results and at least one other
advertisement from the advertising machine that are
based upon at least the search refinement input; and
displaying the modified search results and the at least one
other advertisement on the display of the data processing
device.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the search refinement
input is based upon user selection of an element of the search
results.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein the search refinement
input comprises at least one additional search argument.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein the search refinement
input comprises additional search criteria.
16. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one
advertisement includes a link to a website sponsoring the
advertisement.
17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
determining that the user does not select the at least one
advertisement; and
transmitting the indication that the user does not select the
at least one advertisement to the advertising machine via
the communications link.
18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:
receiving user input to indicate selection of the at least one
advertisement; and
transmitting the indication that the user selects the at least
one advertisement to the advertising machine via the
communications link.
19. The method of claim 12, wherein the search results and
the at least one advertisement are included in a web page data
file that includes executable code that, upon execution by the
data processing devices causes presentation of a displayed
advertisement on a display of the data processing device.
20. An advertising machine implemented on at least one
computer and operable to provide advertisements via a communications link to a data processing device of a user, the
advertising machine comprising:
a communications interface operable to interface with the
data processing device of the user via the communications link;
a database search engine operable to:
receive from the data processing device via the communications link a search request that includes a search
argument; and
search at least one database using the search argument to
produce search results;
an associative search engine operable to select at least one
advertisement from an advertisement database based
upon at least one of the search argument and the search
results;
the communications interface operable to:
transmit the search results together with the at least one
advertisement via the communications link to the data
processing device;
receive search refinement input from the data processing
device via the communications link;
the database search engine further operable to produce
modified search results based upon at least the search
refinement input;
the associative search engine further operable to select at
least one other advertisement from the advertisement
database based upon the modified search results; and
the communications interface further operable to transmit
at least one of the modified search results and the at least
one other advertisement via the communications link to
the data processing device.

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21. The advertising machine of claim 20, wherein the

search refinement input is based upon user selection of an
element of the search results.
22. The advertising machine of claim 20, wherein the
search refinement input comprises at least one additional
search argument.
23. The advertising machine of claim 20, wherein the
search refinement input comprises additional search criteria.

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24. The advertising machine of claim 20, wherein the at
least one advertisement includes a link to a website sponsoring the advertisement.
25. The advertising machine of claim 20, wherein the associative search engine is further operable to select the at least
one advertisement based upon at least one of user profile data
and user preference data.

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