Lead generation for content distribution service

• US 10,140,622 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2017
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BrightTALK Limited (TechTarget, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BrightTALK Limited (TechTarget, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rance, Peter, Winter, Kenneth, Logan, Dorian
• Primary Examiner(s): Obaid, Fateh M
• Application Number:
  US15/480,247
• Publication Number:
  US 20170206537A1
• Time in Patent Office: 601 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services

Abstract

A content distribution service may provide lead information to content providers or other entities associated with a broadcast. The service may include both registered and unregistered (e.g., anonymous) users or subscribers that may each provide data associated with one or more subscriber attributes. Subscriber attribute information may be collected from a subscriber in a progressive manner such that sequentially small portions of data are collected over a period of time. The content distribution service may generate leads by collecting and determining subscriber attributes for each subscriber or anonymous user associated with the service. The leads may be generated in response to a request by a content provider or other requestor, or in response to an event such as the creation of a new broadcast.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating a lead, the method comprising:

establishing a webcasting service having a web event;

streaming the web event to an anonymous user;

tracking the anonymous user by a data file stored at the webcasting service;

receiving on a server a first set of user attributes at the server in response to providing the user with a first service access, the first set of user attributes including information about a behavioral pattern of the user in connection with the webcasting service;

receiving on the server a second set of user attributes at the server in response to providing the user with a second service access;

automatically detecting a subsequent web event at the webcasting service;

in response to the automatically detected subsequent web event, automatically receiving on the server a lead request associated with a desired attribute of users, the lead request being automatically initiated in response to the automatically detected subsequent web event; and

automatically executing a lead generator module stored in memory to identify one or more leads in response to the lead request, the one or more leads including at least one user having a user attribute that corresponds to the desired attribute.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising billing a requestor of the lead request for the one or more leads provided.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is associated with an account with the webcasting service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is registered with the webcasting service, and wherein the web event comprises participation of the registered user in connection with a platform, channel, or webcast.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the web event comprises an addition of a newly registered user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the web event comprises participation by an unregistered user in connection with a platform, channel, or webcast.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the web event comprises registration for a webcast by a user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of user attributes includes a data file maintained by a network server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of user attributes includes user data received from the user during a registration event, the registration event being associated with user participation in a platform, channel, or webcast.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising requesting the user to verify accuracy of the user data previously provided by the user to the server.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising querying the user for additional user data not previously provided to the server.

12. A system for generating a lead, the system comprising:

a webcasting service having an origination channel;

a web event in the origination channel, the web event comprising online content synchronized with live audio, the web event streamed from the origination channel to a subscriber;

a channel management module stored on a server and executable by a processor to receive a first set of subscriber attributes in response to providing the subscriber with a first service access, the first set of subscriber attributes including information about a behavioral pattern of the subscriber in connection with the webcasting service, and a second set of subscriber attributes in response to providing the subscriber with a second service access; and

a lead generator module stored on the server and executable by the processor to;

automatically detect a subsequent web event in the origination channel;

in response to the automatically detected subsequent web event, automatically receive a lead request at the server, the lead request associated with a desired attribute of the subscriber at the server, the lead request being automatically initiated in response to the automatically detected subsequent web event; and

identify one or more leads in response to the lead request, the one or more leads having a subscriber attribute that corresponds to the desired attribute.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a lead provider module stored in memory and executable by the processor to provide the lead to a requestor.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the lead generator module further executes instructions stored in memory to bill the requestor for the provided lead.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for generating a lead, the method comprising:

establishing a webcasting service having an origination channel;

establishing a web event in the origination channel, the web event comprising online content synchronized with live audio;

streaming the web event from the origination channel to a subscriber;

receiving a first set of subscriber attributes at a server in response to providing the subscriber with a first service access, the first set of subscriber attributes including information about a behavioral pattern of the subscriber in connection with the webcasting service;

receiving a second set of subscriber attributes at the server in response to providing the subscriber with a second service access;

automatically detecting a subsequent web event in the origination channel;

in response to the automatically detected subsequent web event, automatically receiving a lead request associated with a desired attribute of the subscriber, the lead request being automatically initiated in response to the automatically detected subsequent web event; and

identifying one or more leads in response to the lead request, the one or more leads including at least one subscriber having a subscriber attribute that corresponds to the desired attribute.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the web event comprises participation by an unregistered subscriber in connection with a platform, channel, or webcast.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the subscriber is associated with an account with the webcasting service.