Method and system for creating, serving and tracking advertisements

• US 20040117259A1
• Filed: 10/28/2003
• Published: 06/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gruender, Joseph, Bell, Edward, Morrisroe, Lawrence
• Granted Patent: US 8,000,999 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements

Abstract

A method and system for providing an ad is disclosed. The method of one embodiment comprises combining an ad input file with a conduit file to create an integrated ad file, wherein the ad input file identifies at least the content of the ad and the conduit file identifies at least the tracking data for the ad. The integrated ad file may then be served. According to a further embodiment, the method further includes effectuating a modification to the ad content by updating the ad input file, recombining the modified ad input file with the conduit file to create a modified integrate ad file and serving the modified integrated ad file.

Claims

1. A method for providing an ad, the method comprising:

combining an ad input file with a conduit file to create an integrated ad file, wherein the ad input file identifies the content of the ad and the conduit file identifies tracking data for the ad; and

serving the integrated ad file, thereby providing the ad.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a modified ad input file, the modified ad input file representing a change to the content of the ad;

combining the modified ad input file with the conduit file to create a modified integrated ad file; and

serving the modified integrated ad file, thereby providing the ad having the change.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a modified conduit file, the modified conduit file representing a change to the tracking data;

combining the modified conduit file with the ad input file to create a modified integrated ad file; and

serving the modified integrated ad file, thereby providing the ad having the changed tracking data.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the ad is a Flash ad and the files are .swf files.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the ad input file includes an empty movie object and the combining includes inserting the conduit file into the empty movie clip.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the empty movie clip is given a predefined name and the combining the ad input file and conduit file includes searching the ad input file for the predefined name.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the ad includes one or more actions for linking to one or more web pages and wherein the ad input file specifies one or more button actions, each having an exit code, and wherein serving the integrated ad file includes html code loading the integrated ad file, the html code specifying URLs for the Web pages.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein serving the integrated ad file includes html code loading the integrated ad file, the html code including a variable and wherein the conduit file includes code that determines whether the ad opens in a parent window or new window based on the variable.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein serving the integrated ad file includes html code loading a JavaScript file, the html code including a variable and wherein the JavaScript file includes code that determines whether the ad opens in a parent window or new window based on the variable.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein serving the integrated ad file includes html code loading the integrated ad file, the html code including a tracking identifier, the method further comprising tracking the ad using code in the conduit file and the tracking identifier.

11. A method of providing an ad based on an ad file, the method comprising:

identifying a first file;

identifying a second file;

identifying a placeholder in the first file; and

inserting the second file into the placeholder to create the ad file.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the first file specifies ad content code and the second file contains ad-tracking code.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving a modified first file, the modified first file representing a change to the ad content and including the placeholder; and

inserting the second file into the placeholder in the modified first file to create a modified ad file.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first file identifies ad tracking data, the method further comprising:

receiving a modified first file, the modified first file representing a change to the tracking data; and

inserting the second file into the placeholder in the modified first file to create a modified ad file.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the placeholder is an empty movie clip.

16. A method of providing an ad based on an ad file, the method comprising:

identifying a first file;

identifying a second file;

identifying a third file;

identifying a first placeholder and a second placeholder in the third file; and

inserting the first file into the first placeholder and inserting the second file into the second placeholder to create the ad file.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the first placeholder is an empty movie clip.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising html code loading the third file.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the third file includes one or more buttons corresponding to links to one or more web pages, and wherein the html code specifies URLs for the one or more web pages.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the inserting includes using an executable program.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein the inserting includes using a web-based application.

22. The method of claim 16 wherein the first file includes ad content, the ad file including the ad content and wherein the method is further for creating a modified ad file including a change to the ad content, the method further comprising:

identifying a modified first file, the first file including the change;

inserting the modified first file into the first placeholder and inserting the second file into the second placeholder to create the modified ad file.

23. The method of claim 16 wherein the first file includes ad tracking data, the ad file including the ad tracking data and wherein the method is further for creating a modified ad file including a change to the ad tracking data, the method further comprising:

identifying a modified first file, the first file including the change;

inserting the modified first file into the first placeholder and inserting the second file into the second placeholder to create the modified ad file.

24. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon for performing a method of creating an integrated ad file, the method comprising:

identifying a first file;

identifying a second file;

identifying a placeholder in the first file; and

inserting the second file into the placeholder to create an integrated ad file.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24 wherein the first file is an ad input file and the second file is a conduit file.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 25 wherein the ad input file and conduit file are created using Flash.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 26 wherein the placeholder is a movie clip.

28. The computer readable medium of claim 25 wherein the integrated ad file is for providing a modified ad, the method further comprising:

identifying a modified first file, the modified first file including a change to the ad;

inserting the second file into the placeholder to create an integrated ad file including the change.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 24 wherein the integrated ad file includes one or more exit codes referring to one or more URL variables.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 29 wherein the integrated ad file is designed to be loaded by code, the code specifying one or more URLs corresponding to the one or more URL variables, the code populating the one or more URL variables with the one or more URLs.