Filtering system for providing personalized information in the absence of negative data

An article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable storage device storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed, cause one or more processing devices to perform the following:

• access information indicating which documents in a set of documents were selected by a user for viewing and which documents in the set of documents were not selected by the user for viewing, wherein each of the documents in the set of documents is associated with a category;
• generate at least one positive word vector using words contained in at least a segment of at least one of the documents that was selected by the user for viewing;
• generate at least one negative word vector using words contained in at least a segment of at least one the documents that was not selected by the user for viewing;
• generate document word vectors for at least some of the documents that were selected by the user for viewing;
• perform a vector space relationship analysis of the positive word vector, the negative word vector, and the document word vectors;
• establish a document rank order of the documents selected by the user for viewing based on the performed vector space relationship analysis;
• rank the categories associated with the documents in the set of documents based on the document rank order;
• and
• create an advertising profile for the user, the advertising profile comprising the ranked categories.

A system for personalizing advertising material in accordance with preferences of a viewer of documents, the system comprising:

• one or more processing devices;
• one or more storage devices storing instructions which, when executed, cause the one or more processing devices to implement:
• a content server configured to present documents, from a set of documents, to a user such that the user can select documents for viewing, wherein each of the documents in the set of documents is associated with a category;
• an ad database configured to store advertisements;
• at least one positive word vector formed using words contained in at least a segment of the documents in the set of document that are selected by the user for viewing;
• at least one negative word vector formed using words contained in at least a segment of the documents in the set of document that are not selected by the user for viewing;
• one or more document word vectors for at least some of the documents that were selected by the user for viewing;
• a ranking engine configured to:
• perform a vector space relationship analysis of the positive word vector, the negative word vector, and the document word vectors;
• establish a document rank order of the documents selected by the user for viewing based on the performed vector space relationship analysis;
• rank the categories associated with the documents in the set of documents based on the document rank order;
• and
• an ad server, operatively coupled with said ranking engine, for presenting, to the user, advertisements having categories that correspond to one or more of the ranked categories, wherein the advertisements are presented in accordance with the ranks of the ranked categories.