System and method for word-of-mouth advertising

• US 10,074,093 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2008
• Issued: 09/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Inventors: Higgins, Christopher William, Davis, Marc, O'Sullivan, Joseph, Martinez, Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): Lemieux, Jessica
• Application Number:
  US12/180,486
• Publication Number:
  US 20090183112A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,700 Days
• Field of Search: 705 14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0225 Avoiding frauds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A system and method to facilitate word-of-mouth advertising and sales support associated with displayed media objects on distributed networks is described. The system provides one or more advocates to a network user accessing advertising of a brand, product, or service. One or more of the advocates may be socially related to the user. User interactions with the advocates are facilitated through a real-time communication network, follow-on commercial activity is tracked, and the value of word-of-mouth advocacy is captured and distributed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, via a computing device, a search request for content from a client device;

generating, by the computing device, a user interface, said user interface comprising a dynamic web page constructed in response to said search request and including

at least one media object, each media object representing an entity associated with the subject matter of the search request;

identifying, by the computing device, a halo context associated with the dynamic web page;

populating, by the computing device, a halo with a plurality of augmenting objects, each augmenting object associated with a communications channel and an advocate, the populating performed based on the halo context;

calculating, by the computing device, a social connection score for the halo based on the geographic locations of each of the advocates populated in the halo with respect to a geographic location of the user of the client device;

calculating, by the computing device, a benefit score for the halo based on a plurality of ratings of each of the advocates with respect to the entity represented by the media object;

identifying, by the computing device, that the halo should be displayed on the dynamic webpage if the social connection score and the benefit score exceed respective thresholds;

augmenting, by the computing device, the dynamic web page with the halo by positioning the halo around the at least one media object and embedding a script within the dynamic web page associated with the at least one media object, the execution of the script by the client device causing the establishment of at least one activatable communication channel with one of the advocates.

2. The method of claim 1, the advocates represented by each of the plurality of augmenting objects being socially connected to a user initiating the search request.

3. The method of claim 2, a social connection between an advocate and the user comprising one selected from the group consisting of ethnicity, age, sex, educational level, educational institutions, economic class, profession, geographic area, expressed user preferences, derived user preferences, and membership in a demographic group.

4. The method of claim 1, each of the augmenting objects being displayed near the media object with whose entity the advocate represented by the halo is associated.

5. The method of claim 4, at least one augmenting object in the plurality of augmenting objects being displayed statically, such that the at least one augmenting object is always visible to the user when the dynamic web page is displayed.

6. The method of claim 4, at least one augmenting object in the plurality of augmenting objects being displayed dynamically, such that the at least one augmenting object is only visible to the user when the user interacts with the at least one media objects.

7. The method of claim 1, at least one augmenting object in the plurality of augmenting objects displayed in a location selected from the group consisting of a left drawer, a right drawer, a bottom drawer, a left sidebar, a right sidebar, a bottom bar, a toolbar, a tear-off window, a pop-up window, a tabbed window, and a pop-up menu list.

8. The method of claim 1, the activation of an activated augmenting object in the plurality of augmenting objects initiating communication between the user and the advocate represented by the activated augmenting object.

9. The method of claim 1, each of the plurality of augmenting objects further including an affiliation between the advocate represented by the halo and the entity with which the advocate is associated.