Internet advertising system

• US 20020029186A1
• Filed: 08/10/2001
• Published: 03/07/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/1997
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: BEH Investments LLC
• Original Assignee: BEH Investments LLC
• Inventors: Salisbury, Dylan, Roth, David William
• Application Number:
  US09/927,981
• Publication Number:
  US 20020029186A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system for providing advertisements from a central server to viewers who access web sites. The central server stores both advertisements which are to be displayed and an information data base. The data base includes information about viewers, information about the characteristics of particular web sites and other information relevant to which advertisements should be displayed for particular viewers. Proposed bids submitted by different advertisers are evaluated in real time in order to determine which particular advertisement will be displayed to a viewer. Each proposed bid can specify a price or amount that the advertiser is willing to pay for the opportunity to display an advertisement (a) to a viewer who has a particular set of characteristics and (b) on a web site and web page that meets a particular set of criteria. The system includes (a) a web server system which has data bases stored therein, (b) bidding agents which compare the characteristics of view-ops to the specifications in proposed bids and which submit bids as appropriate, and (c) bid selection logic which decides which bid to accept for each particular view-op.

Claims

1. A system for supplying advertisements for display during a series of viewing opportunities (view-ops) which occur during the display of web pages on the Internet world wide web, each of said view-ops having specific characteristics,

a plurality of bidding agents,

a server for providing information concerning each view-op to said bidding agents,

a bid input system for providing proposed bids to said bidding agents, each proposed bid including, a reference to a specific advertisement, specifications of a desired view op and a monetary amount which will be paid for displaying said specific advertisement in response to a view-op which meets said specifications of a desired view-op,

each of said bidding agent including logic for submitting a bid and a reference to a specific advertisement to said server if the information concerning a view-op satisfies the specifications of a desired view-op contained in a proposed bid, and

said server including bid selection logic for selecting the highest bid submitted by a bidding agent and for transferring the advertisement referenced in said highest bid to the web site presenting said view-op.

14. The system recited in claim 1 wherein each view-op has an associated viewer and said server includes a data base of information concerning viewers.

15. The system recited in claim 1 wherein said server includes a data base with information about web sites.

2. A server system for providing advertisements in response to HTML references from a web page, each HTML reference includes information identifying the source of said web page, said server system including,

a data base of advertisements,

a data base of viewer information including information concerning prior HTML references,

means for accepting proposed bids which specify a monetary amount for providing a particular advertisement in response to web page HTML references which satisfy specified criteria, said specified criteria including information included in said HTML reference and information from said data base of viewer information,

means for determining if a particular HTML reference satisfies said specified criteria,

means for selecting the highest bid which satisfies said specified criteria, and

means for responding to said HTML reference with the particular advertisement specified by said selected bid.

3. A system for placing advertisements on web pages on the world wide web which are accessed by a viewer,

a first server which stores advertisements, said web pages having HTML references to said first server,

a data base of information on viewers,

bid input means for accepting bids to place advertisements on web pages which have particular characteristics and which are accessed by viewers having particular characteristics, and

bid selection means for selecting the highest bid for placement of an advertisement on a particular web page.

4. A system for displaying advertisements to viewers who access a web page comprising

a web server which stores a plurality of advertisements,

bid input means for providing to said system bids specifying characteristics of users and web sites where it is desired to display advertisements and a dollar bid for the right to display an advertisement on a site with the specified characteristics

a server system which includes means for evaluating bids, for selecting one of said advertisements in response to said bids and for designating to said web server which of said advertisements should be displayed,

whereby the particular advertisement that is displayed to a viewer is determined by a bidding process.

5. In an Internet which is operating according to the HTTP protocol, and which includes a browser for viewing web pages and for HTML referencing to remote servers,

a server which has stored therein a number of advertisements,

means for providing to said system bids for the opportunity to display advertisements on web pages which have been accessed by a viewer having specified characteristics,

selection means for evaluating said bids and comparing them to the characteristics of a viewer that accesses a web page, said selection means including means for selecting the highest bid for a particular view-opportunity.

6. A method of placing advertisements on web pages on the world wide web which are accessed by a viewer utilizing a browser,

storing advertisements in a data base on a first server, said web pages having HTML references to said first server,

maintaining a data base of information on viewers,

accepting bids to place advertisements on web pages which have particular characteristics and which are accessed by viewers having particular characteristics,

selecting the highest bid for placement of an advertisement on a particular web page.

7. A system for placing advertisements on web pages on the world wide web, said web pages being accessed by viewers, each viewer utilizing a browser,

a first server which stores advertisements, said web pages having HTML references to said first server,

a data base of information on viewers and on the web sites that have been accessed by particular browsers,

bid input means for accepting bids to place advertisements on web pages which have particular characteristics and which are accessed by particular browsers which have been previously used to access web pages having particular characteristics,

bid selection means for selecting the highest bid for placement of an advertisement on a particular web page which has particular characteristics and which has been accessed by a browser which previously has accessed particular web sites.

8. The system recited in claim 7 where said world wide web is accessed by using HTTP protocol on the Internet.

9. A system for determining which advertisement to place on a web page that has been accessed by a viewer using a browser,

a first web server which has stored thereon advertisements, said web page having a HTML reference to said first web server,

a client server which provides means for entering bids to place particular advertisements on particular web pages which have particular characteristics and which are accessed by particular browsers which have previously accessed particular web pages,

a viewer data base which has information concerning which web pages have been accessed by particular browsers,

a view server which evaluates the bids which have been entered and selects the highest bid for displaying an advertisement on a particular web page.

10. The system recited in claim 9 including a server which includes means for checking bids to determine if web page meets the specifications in a particular bid.

11. The system recited in claim 9 wherein a determination of which advertisement to place on a particular web page in done in machine real time and said bids are entered in human real time.

12. The system in claim 9 wherein said viewer data base includes information about viewers.

13. A method for placing advertisements on web pages on the world wide web, said web pages being accessed by viewers, each viewer utilizing a browser,

storing advertisements on a first server, said web pages having HTML references to said first server,

storing a data base of information on viewers and on the web sites that have been accessed by particular browsers,

providing bids to place advertisements on web pages which have particular characteristics and which are accessed by particular browsers which have been previously used to access web pages having particular characteristics,

selecting the highest bid for placement of an advertisement on a particular web page which has particular characteristics and which has been accessed by a browser which previously has accessed particular web sites.