Methods and systems for selectively displaying advertisements

• US 20030110171A1
• Filed: 11/21/2001
• Published: 06/12/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chau, Carolyn Khanh, Hart, Michael Patrick, Ozer, Stuart, Ada Cho, Wei Wei
• Granted Patent: US 7,136,871 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0248 Avoiding fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0252 based on events or environment, e.g. weather or festivals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A system, including a planning module, a control module and a receiver module, configured to schedule display of one or more advertising impressions of available advertising inventory. The planning module enables scheduling a requested quantity of advertising impressions in accordance with target criteria. Further, the planning module enables selecting an advertising impression goal for advertisement, assigning an advertising type and defining a weight for the advertisements. The control module receives the schedule, the advertising type and the defined weights and generates one or more metadata files that contain target criteria, advertising type and weights for the advertisements. The one or more metadata files, with the advertisements, are delivered to the receiver module that is configured to define a display frequency for the advertisements based upon one or more of the metadata files. The receiver module selectively displays advertisement content associated with the advertisements to achieve the advertising impression goal.

Claims

1. In a system, including at least one processor, configured to display advertisements to a viewer, a method for delivering advertisement content for an advertisement to at least one receiver module for subsequent display to the viewer, the method comprising the acts of:

receiving, at a control module, for each advertisement, a schedule and a location for the display of the advertisement, an indicator of the advertisement type, and a weight for the advertisement, the weight defining the frequency of display of the advertisement;

generating a data file defining, for each advertisement, the advertising type, weight, location, and schedule for display of the advertisement content for the advertisement; and

upon retrieving the advertisement content for the advertisement, delivering the advertisement content and the data file to at least one receiver module configured to display the advertisement content of the advertisement in accordance with the data file.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein receiving, for each advertisement, the schedule, the location, the advertising type and the weight comprises receiving from a planning module remote from the control module, for each advertisement, the schedule, the location, the advertising type and the weight.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein receiving, for each advertisement, the schedule, the location, the advertising type and the weight comprises receiving continuously, periodically, or sporadically the schedule, the advertising type, and the weight from the planning module.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of generating the data file comprises the acts of:

defining at least one attribute from at least one of;

a schedule time for the advertisement;

a display area for the advertisement;

a duration of the advertisement;

a time zone shift for the advertisement schedule time;

an indicator of type of the advertisement;

a weight of the advertisement; and

a demographic target of the advertisement; and

storing the at least one attribute at the receiver module.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein delivering the advertisement content and the data file comprises:

identifying a time when the advertisement content is to be displayed to the viewer;

identifying a rule stored at the control module, the rule defining when to deliver the advertisement content and the data file; and

based upon the time and the rule, delivering the advertisement content and the data file to the at least one receiver module.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein delivering the advertisement content and the data file comprises delivering the advertisement content and the data file to the at least one receiver module.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein an individual scheduling the advertisement content defines the advertising impression goal used to define the advertising weight.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the advertising type defines whether the advertising weight is an absolute weight or a relative weight.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving historical data from the at least one receiver module, the historical data defining the viewing activities of the viewer at the at least one receiver module.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the advertising type defines the advertisement as either a committed advertisement or a flexible advertisement.

11. A computer program product for implementing in a system, including at least one processor, configured to display an advertisement to a viewer, a method for delivering advertisement content of the advertisement to at least one receiver module for subsequent display to the viewer, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium carrying computer executable instructions for implementing the method, wherein the computer executable instructions comprise;

program code means for receiving, at a control module, a schedule for the display of the advertisement, an indicator of the advertisement type, and a weight for the advertisement, the weight defining the frequency of display of the advertisement;

program code means for generating a data file defining the advertising type, weight and schedule for display of the advertisement; and

program code means for delivering the advertisement content of the advertisement and the data file to at least one receiver module configured to display the advertisement content of the advertisement in accordance with the data file.

12. A computer program product as recited in claim 11, wherein the computer-executed instructions further comprise program code means for receiving from a planning module remote from the control module the schedule and the weight.

13. A computer program product as recited in claim 12, wherein the computer-executed instructions further comprise program code means for receiving continuously, periodically, or sporadically the schedule, the advertising type and the weight from the planning module.

14. A computer program product as recited in claim 11, wherein the computer-executed instructions further comprise:

program code means for defining at least one attribute from at least one of;

a schedule time for the advertisement;

a duration of the advertisement;

a time zone shift of the advertisement;

an indicator of type for the advertisement schedule;

a weight of the advertisement;

a demographic target for the advertisement; and

a display area for the advertisement; and

program code means for storing the at least one attribute.

15. A computer program product as recited in claim 14, wherein the computer-executed instructions further comprise:

program code means for identifying a time when the advertisement is to be displayed to the viewer;

program code means for identifying a rule stored at the control module, the rule defining when to deliver the advertisement content of the advertisement and the data file; and

based upon the time and the rule, program code means for delivering the advertisement content of the advertisement and the data file to the at least one receiver module.

16. A computer program product as recited in claim 14, wherein the computer-executed instructions further comprise program code means for delivering the advertisement content of the advertisement and the data file to the at least one receiver module.

17. A computer program product as recited in claim 14, wherein the computer-executed instructions further comprise program code means for defining an advertising type where the advertising type determines whether the advertising weight is an absolute weight or a relative weight.

18. A computer program product as recited in claim 14, wherein the computer-executed instructions further comprise program code means for receiving historical data from the at least one receiver module, the historical data defining the viewing activities of the viewer at the at least one receiver module.

19. In a system, including at least one processor, configured to display an advertisement in accordance with available advertising inventory, a method for selecting the advertisement to be displayed to a viewer, the method comprising:

receiving at least one data file defining each of a plurality of advertisements as either a committed advertisement or a flexible advertisement;

generating a display frequency, at the receiver module, for each of the committed advertisements; and

selecting advertisement content of the advertisements to be displayed by the receiver module based upon the display frequency for the committed advertisements.

20. A method as recited in claim 19, further comprising generating a display frequency, at the receiver module, for each of the flexible advertisements.

21. A method as recited in claim 20, further comprising generating the display frequency for the committed advertisements before the flexible advertisements.

22. A method as recited in claim 19, further comprising selecting the advertisements based upon the display frequency of the committed advertisements and the flexible advertisements.

23. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein receiving the at least one data file comprises periodically, sporadically, or continuously receiving the at least one data file.

24. A method as recited in claim 19, further comprising selecting advertisements for display using target information, the target being defined by zero or more viewer demographic characteristics.

25. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein selecting advertisements comprises:

defining a list of available advertisements from the committed advertisements and the flexible advertisements; and

selecting the advertisements from the list of available advertisements based upon the display frequency.

26. A method as recited in claim 25, further comprising removing advertisements from the list of available advertisements where the target values of said advertisements are not valid for the chosen display area and viewer demographics.

27. A method as recited in claim 23, further comprising displaying the selected advertisements within a document displayable through the receiver module and removing the selected advertisements from the list of available advertisements.

28. A method as recited in claim 24, further comprising removing the selected advertisements from the list of available advertisements for subsequent requests for advertisements within the current instance of the document.

29. A method as recited in claim 19, further comprising generating a log of the advertisements displayed to the viewer.

30. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising transmitting the log to a control module.

31. A method as recited in claim 19, further comprising generating a log of the advertisements interacted with by the viewer.

32. In a system configured to display one or more advertisements selected from a plurality of available advertisements, a method for selecting one or more advertisements to display to a viewer, the method comprising:

identifying, for a defined target, each advertisement from a plurality of advertisements as either a committed advertisement or a flexible advertisement;

upon identifying a first absolute weight for each committed advertisement and a relative weight for each flexible advertisement, defining a total flexible advertising inventory value as the difference between the sum of the first absolute weights for the committed advertisement content and a base factor;

defining a second absolute weight for each of the flexible advertisements based upon the relative weight of the flexible advertisement, the sum of the relative weights of the flexible advertisement, and the total flexible advertising inventory value; and

randomly selecting the advertisement based upon the first absolute weight of the committed advertisement and a second absolute weight of the flexible advertisement.

33. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein the target is defined by at least one of market area data, date data, time data, ad type date, an ad space data.

34. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein identifying the advertisement comprises:

receiving a data file defining an advertisement of a plurality of advertisements as either a committed advertisement or a flexible advertisement; and

analyzing the data file to identify the advertisement as the committed advertisement or the flexible advertisement.

35. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein defining a total committed advertising inventory value comprises summing the first absolute weight for each committed advertisement.

36. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein defining a total flexible advertising inventory value comprises subtracting the total committed advertising inventory from the based factor for the target.

37. A method as recited in claim 32, further comprising, defining a relative weight for each committed advertisement based upon the first absolute weight for each committed advertisement when the total of the absolute weights of all committed advertisements is greater than the base factor, indicating the total committed advertising inventory is greater than the total available advertising inventory.

38. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein randomly selecting the advertisements comprises:

defining a list of available advertisements from the committed advertisements and the flexible advertisements; and

selecting the advertisements from the list of available advertisements based upon the absolute weight and the relative weight for each advertisement.

39. A method as recited in claim 38, further comprising displaying the selected advertisement within a document displayable through the receiver module and removing the selected advertisement from the list of available advertisements.

40. A method as recited in claim 38, further comprising removing the selected advertisement from the list of available advertisements for subsequent requests for advertisements within the current instance of the document.

41. In a system, including at least one processor, configured to schedule display one or more advertising impressions of available advertising inventory, a method for scheduling and displaying a requested quantity of advertising impressions in accordance with target criteria, the method comprising;

selecting, at a planning module, an advertising impression goal for a plurality of advertising campaigns, an advertising type and a weight for each of a plurality of advertisement content displayed in association with the plurality of advertising campaigns, the advertising impression goal being specific to one or more target criteria;

upon scheduling the display of the plurality of advertisements to attain the advertising impression goal for each of the plurality of advertising campaigns, updating, at a control module, a display schedule for the plurality of advertisements;

upon intermittently delivering a plurality of advertisement content for the plurality of advertisements, the advertising type and the weight for the each advertisement of the plurality of advertisement to a receiver module, defining a display frequency for each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements to enable the receiver module to selectively display the advertisement content of the advertisement following the display frequency to achieve the advertising impression goal.

42. A method as recited in claim 41, wherein the one or more target criteria comprises data defining at least one of market area data, date data, time data, ad space data, and ad type data.

43. A method as recited in claim 41, wherein the weight is automatically calculated based upon the advertising impression goal selected and a total available inventory associated with the one or more target criteria.

44. A method as recited in claim 41, wherein updating the control module comprises continuously, periodically, or sporadically delivering data indicative of the display schedule.

45. A method as recited in claim 41, further comprising generating a data file, specific to the advertising campaign, containing the plurality of advertising content of the advertisement, the advertising type and the weight for the each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements.

46. A method as recited in claim 41, further comprising generating a data file, specific to the advertisement, containing the advertising type and the weight for the advertisement.

47. A method as recited in claim 41, wherein defining a display frequency comprises:

identifying, for the specific one or more target criteria, an advertisement from a plurality of advertisements as either a committed advertisement or a flexible advertisement;

upon identifying a first absolute weight for each committed advertisement and a relative weight for each flexible advertisement, defining a total flexible advertising inventory percentage as the difference between the sum of the first absolute weights for the committed advertisements and 100%;

defining a second absolute weight for each of the flexible advertisements based upon the relative weight of the flexible advertisements, the sum of the relative weights of the flexible advertisements, and the total flexible advertising inventory percentage; and

randomly selecting the advertisement based upon the first absolute weight of the committed advertisements and a second absolute weight of the flexible advertisements.

48. A method as recited in claim 41, wherein defining a display frequency comprises:

identifying, for the specific one or more target criteria, one or more advertisements from a plurality of advertisement content as either a committed advertisement or a flexible advertisement;

defining a relative weight for each committed advertisement based upon the original absolute weight for each committed advertisement divided by the total of all original absolute weights for committed advertisement when the total of original absolute weights is greater than 100%, indicating total committed advertising inventory percentage is greater than the total advertising inventory; and

generating the display frequency for the committed advertisement based upon the relative weights of committed advertisement, and setting display frequency to zero for flexible advertisement since 100% of advertising inventory is allocated to the one or more committed advertisements.