Persisting advertisement data on a consumer device

• US 10,643,218 B1
• Filed: 11/13/2009
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Erdmann, David, Craft, Andrew S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoar, Colleen A
• Application Number:
  US12/618,364
• Time in Patent Office: 3,826 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Technologies are described herein for persisting advertisement data on a computing device and tracking consumer access to the advertisement data. A web-based advertisement viewed by a consumer on a consumer computing device contains a hyperlink or clickable control allowing the consumer to request advertisement data regarding a product or service offered in the ad. If the consumer clicks the hyperlink or control, a data object containing the advertisement data is delivered to the consumer computing device for storage on the device as a contact. Access to the contact containing the advertisement data by the consumer computing device may be tracked as well as access to a landing page referenced in the stored contact.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for persisting advertisement data on a consumer computing device, the method comprising performing instructions under the control of a computer system for:

transmitting, over a network, a web-based advertisement to a consumer computing device, the web-based advertisement including an interactive user interface control;

receiving a request over the network for advertisement data from the consumer computing device, wherein the request for advertisement data is generated by user selection of the interactive user interface control;

in response to receiving the request for advertisement data from the consumer computing device, generating a VCARD format file containing information regarding a product or service offered in the web-based advertisement and a reference to a webpage containing information regarding the product or service offered in the web-based advertisement;

transmitting, over the network, the VCARD format file and a cookie to the consumer computing device, wherein the VCARD format file is configured for storage as a contact on the consumer computing device, and the cookie comprises a data delivery identifier that uniquely identifies the transmitting of the VCARD format file to the consumer computing device, and wherein the VCARD format file causes the consumer computing device to display the contact;

detecting access to the webpage by the consumer computing device, the access comprising selection of the webpage reference included in the contact; and

upon detecting the access to the webpage referenced in the contact, updating a landing page hit count maintained in a tracking record associated with the data delivery identifier.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,

wherein the tracking record comprises one or more of:

an advertisement data identifier identifying the advertisement data used to generate the VCARD format file;

an advertiser identifier identifying an advertiser associated with the web-based advertisement;

an advertisement identifier identifying the web-based advertisement;

an offer identifier identifying an offer associated with the advertiser;

a consumer computing device identifier identifying the consumer computing device;

consumer data associated with a consumer corresponding to the consumer computing device;

a date and time of the transmitting of the VCARD format file;

a reference count indicating a number of times that the contact is viewed on the consumer computing device;

or

the landing page hit count indicating a number of times that the webpage referenced in the contact is accessed via the contact.

3. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a request for advertisement data from a consumer computing device, wherein the request for advertisement data is generated by a user of the consumer computing device by selecting an interactive user interface control in a web-based advertisement;

in response to receiving the request for advertisement data from the consumer computing device, generate an advertisement data object containing the requested advertisement data and information regarding a product or service offered in the web-based advertisement; and

transmit, over a network, the advertisement data object and a data delivery identifier to the consumer computing device, wherein the advertisement data object is configured for storage as a contact on the consumer computing device, and the data delivery identifier uniquely identifies the transmission of the advertisement data object to the consumer computing device, and wherein the advertisement data object causes the consumer computing device to display the contact.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the advertisement data object comprises a reference to a webpage containing information regarding the product or service offered in the web-based advertisement.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the advertisement data object comprises an image or a reference to an image associated with the product or service offered in the web-based advertisement.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 3, having additional computer-executable instructions stored thereon that further cause the computer to maintain a tracking record containing information identifying the consumer computing device and the advertisement data object transmitted to the consumer computing device.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, having additional computer-executable instructions stored thereon that further cause the computer to:

receive an indication of access to the contact on the consumer computing device created from the advertisement data object, the indication of access to the contact comprising a request for an image referenced by the contact; and

upon receiving the indication of access to the contact, update a reference count maintained in the tracking record.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, having additional computer-executable instructions stored thereon that further cause the computer to:

receive an indication of access to a webpage containing information regarding the product or service offered in the web-based advertisement, wherein a reference to the webpage is contained in the contact on the consumer computing device created from the advertisement data object; and

upon receiving the indication of access to the webpage, updating a landing page hit count maintained in the tracking record.

9. A computer-implemented method for persisting advertisement data on a consumer computing device, the method comprising performing instructions under the control of a computer system for:

receiving a request for advertisement data from the consumer computing device, wherein the request for advertisement data is generated by a user of the consumer computing device selecting an interactive user interface control in a web-based advertisement;

in response to receiving the request for advertisement data from the consumer computing device, generating an advertisement data object containing the requested advertisement data, wherein a format of the advertisement data object facilitates the advertisement data being stored and accessed as a contact on the consumer computing device; and

transmitting, over a network, the advertisement data object and a data transmission identifier to the consumer computing device, wherein the advertisement data object is configured for storage as a contact on the consumer computing device and the data transmission identifier uniquely identifies the transmitting of the advertisement data object to the consumer computing device, and wherein the advertisement data object causes the consumer computing device to display the contact.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the advertisement data object comprises a file in a format based upon a VCARD specification.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the advertisement data object contains a reference to a webpage containing information regarding a product or service offered in the web-based advertisement.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the advertisement data object contains an image or a reference to an image associated with a product or service offered in the web-based advertisement.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the interactive user interface control comprises a hyperlink embedded in the web-based advertisement.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the interactive user interface control comprises a clickable icon in the web-based advertisement.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising maintaining a tracking record containing information identifying the consumer computing device and the advertisement data object transmitted to the consumer computing device.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein maintaining the tracking record further comprises:

receiving an indication of access to the contact on the consumer computing device created from the advertisement data object, the indication of access to the contact comprising a request for an image referenced by the contact; and

upon receiving the indication of access to the contact, updating a reference count maintained in the tracking record.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein maintaining the tracking record further comprises:

receiving an indication of access to a webpage containing information regarding the product or service offered in the web-based advertisement, wherein a reference to the webpage is contained in the contact on the consumer computing device created from the advertisement data object; and

upon receiving the indication of access to the webpage, updating a landing page hit count maintained in the tracking record.

18. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive a request for advertisement data from a consumer computing device, wherein the request for advertisement data is generated by a user of the consumer computing device by selecting an interactive user interface control in a web-based advertisement;

in response to receiving the request for advertisement data from the consumer computing device, generate an advertisement data object containing the requested advertisement data, wherein the advertisement data comprises information regarding a product or service offered in the web-based advertisement;

transmit, over a network to the consumer computing device, the advertisement data object for storage as a contact on the consumer computing device, and a data transmission identifier that uniquely identifies the transmission of the advertisement data object to the consumer computing device, wherein the advertisement data object causes the consumer computing device to display the contact;

receive an indication of access by the consumer computing device to a webpage containing information regarding the product or service offered in the web-based advertisement, wherein a reference to the webpage is contained in the advertisement data object; and

upon receiving the indication of access to the webpage, update a landing page hit count maintained in a tracking record.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, having additional computer-executable instructions stored thereon that further cause the computer to:

receive an indication of access to the advertisement data object on the consumer computing device, the indication of access to the contact comprising a request for an image referenced by the contact; and

upon receiving the indication of access to the advertisement data object, update a reference count maintained in the tracking record.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the advertisement data object comprises a file in a format based upon a VCARD specification.

21. A system for persisting advertisement data on a consumer computing device, the system comprising:

a processing unit;

a display device;

an input device;

a network interface controller configured to connect the consumer computing device to other devices;

memory storing instructions executable by the processing unit and that, when executed by the processing unit, configure the system to perform operations including;

receiving, via the network interface controller, a web-based advertisement including an interactive user interface;

displaying, via the display device, the web-based advertisement including the interactive user interface;

receiving, via the input device, a user interaction with the web-based advertisement;

responsive to the user interaction with the web-based advertisement, sending a request, via the network interface controller, for delivery of persistent advertisement data related to the web-based advertisement;

responsive to the request, receiving, via the network interface controller, a file configured to be storable as a contact in a contact database accessible by the consumer computing device, the file being the persistent advertisement data and the file including data related to a product or service offered in the web-based advertisement; and

causing the file to be stored as a contact in the contact database accessible by the consumer computing device.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the file is in a format based upon a VCARD specification.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the file contains a reference to a webpage containing information regarding the product or service offered in the web-based advertisement and an image or a reference to an image associated with the product or service offered in the web-based advertisement.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the interactive user interface control comprises a hyperlink embedded in the web-based advertisement.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the interactive user interface control comprises a clickable icon in the web-based advertisement.