Serving content-relevant advertisements with client-side device support

• US 20040167928A1
• Filed: 08/05/2003
• Published: 08/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Gonsaves, Carl Laurence, Buchheit, Paul, Shivakumar, Narayanan, Dean, Jeffrey A., Shazeer, Noam, Anderson, Darrell, Harik, Georges R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,086,559 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/104.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A client-side application (such as a browser, a browser plug-in, a browser toolbar plug-in, etc. on an end user'"'"'s computer) is used to support the serving of content-relevant ads to the client device. The client-side application may provide such support by sending document information (such as a document identifier, document content, content relevance information, etc.) to a content ad server. The client-side application may also be used to combine content of the document and the content-relevant ads. For example, the client-side application may combine content of the document and the ads in a window (e.g., in a browser window), may provide the ads in a window above, below, adjacent to a document window, may provide the ads in “chrome” of the browser, etc.

Claims

1. A method for use in an environment including a client device and an ad server, the method comprising:

a) accepting document information, sourced from an application on the client device;

b) determining at least one ad relevant to content of the document using at least the accepted document information; and

c) sending the at least one ad determined to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the act of determining at least one ad relevant to the content of the document further uses at least ad relevance information.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the ad relevance information includes an ad concept.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the document information is document relevance information.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the document information is at least one concept of the content of the document.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the document information is a document identifier.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the act of determining at least one ad relevant to the content of the document includes

i) using the document identifier to lookup document content relevance information, and

ii) using the document content relevance information to determine at least one ad relevant to the content of the document.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the document information includes document content.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the application is a content requesting and rendering application.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the application is a browser.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the application is a browser plug-in.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the application is a browser toolbar.

13. A method for use in an environment including a client device and a content-relevant ad server, the method comprising:

a) receiving, by the client device, a requested document including content;

b) submitting, by the client device, a request for at least one content-relevant ad to the content-relevant ad server;

c) receiving, by the client device, at least one content-relevant ad, sourced by the content-relevant ad server; and

d) rendering, by the client device, at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the request includes an identifier of the received document.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the request includes content of the received document.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the request includes concepts derived from the content of the received document.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

extracting, by the client device, concepts from the content of the received document, wherein the request includes the concepts extracted by the client device.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the act of rendering, by the client device, at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received includes rendering the at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad in association with the content of the requested document.

19. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

e) rendering, by the client device, the content of the document in a first window,

wherein the at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is rendered in a second window.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the second window is rendered over, and at least partially covers, the first window.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the second window is rendered beneath the first window without covering any part of the first window.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the second window is rendered adjacent to the first window.

23. The method of claim 13 wherein the request for at least one content-relevant ad is generated and sent by a browser application on the client device.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is rendered by the browser application.

25. The method of claim 13 wherein the request for at least one content-relevant ad is generated and sent by a browser plug-in on the client device.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is rendered by the browser plug-in.

27. The method of claim 13 wherein the request for at least one content-relevant ad is generated and sent by a browser toolbar on the client device.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is rendered by the browser toolbar.

29. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

e) rendering content of the requested document,

wherein the act of rendering content of the requested document is initiated before the act of submitting a request.

30. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

e) rendering content of the requested document,

wherein the act of rendering content of the requested document is completed before the act of submitting a request.

31. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

e) rendering content of the requested document,

wherein the act of rendering content of the requested document is initiated before the act of rendering at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is initiated.

32. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

e) rendering content of the requested document,

wherein the act of rendering content of the requested document is completed before the act of rendering at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is initiated.

33. The method of claim 13 wherein the act of submitting a request for at least one content-relevant ad to the content-relevant ad server occurs before a request for the requested document.

34. The method of claim 13 wherein the act of submitting a request for at least one content-relevant ad to the content-relevant ad server occurs substantially concurrently with a request for the requested document.

35. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

e) rendering, by the client device, the content of the document in a browser window,

wherein the at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is rendered in the browser window.

36. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

e) rendering, by the client device, the content of the document in a first part of a browser window,

wherein the at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is rendered in a second part of the browser window, wherein the second part of the browser window shares no space with the first part of the browser window.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the second part of the browser window is a browser chrome part of the browser window.

38. The method of claim 36 wherein the second part of the browser window is a browser toolbar.

39. The method of claim 36 further comprising:

f) rendering browser chrome in a third part of the browser window.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein the third part of the browser window is arranged between the first and second parts of the browser window.

41. The method of claim 39 wherein the second part of the browser window is arranged between the first and third parts of the browser window.

42. Apparatus, for use in an environment including a client device and an ad server, the apparatus comprising:

a) an input for accepting document information, sourced from an application on the client device;

b) means for determining at least one ad relevant to content of the document using at least the accepted document information; and

c) means for sending the at least one ad determined to the client device.

43. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the means for determining at least one ad relevant to the content of the document further uses at least ad relevance information.

44. The apparatus of claim 43 wherein the ad relevance information includes an ad concept.

45. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the document information is document relevance information.

46. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the document information is at least one concept of the content of the document.

47. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the document information is a document identifier.

48. The apparatus of claim 47 wherein the means for determining at least one ad relevant to the content of the document includes

i) means for looking up document content relevance information using the document identifier;

and

ii) means for determining at least one ad relevant to the content of the document using the document content relevance information.

49. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the document information includes document content.

50. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the application is a content requesting and rendering application.

51. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the application is a browser.

52. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the application is a browser plug-in.

53. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the application is a browser toolbar.

54. Apparatus, residing on a client device, for use in an environment including a content-relevant ad server, the apparatus comprising:

a) means for submitting a request for at least one content-relevant ad to the content-relevant ad server;

b) an input for receiving

i) a requested document including content, and

ii) at least one content-relevant ad, sourced by the content-relevant ad server; and

c) means for rendering at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received.

55. The apparatus of claim 54 wherein the request includes an identifier of the received document.

56. The apparatus of claim 54 wherein the request includes content of the received document.

57. The apparatus of claim 54 wherein the request includes concepts derived from the content of the received document.

58. The apparatus of claim 54 further comprising:

means for extracting concepts from the content of the received document,

wherein the request includes the concepts extracted by the client device.

59. The apparatus of claim 54 wherein the means for rendering at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received renders the at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad in association with the content of the requested document.

60. The apparatus of claim 54 further comprising:

e) means for rendering the content of the document in a first window,

wherein the at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is rendered in a second window.

61. The apparatus of claim 60 wherein the second window is rendered over, and at least partially covers, the first window.

62. The apparatus of claim 60 wherein the second window is rendered beneath the first window without covering any part of the first window.

63. The apparatus of claim 60 wherein the second window is rendered adjacent to the first window.

64. The apparatus of claim 54 wherein the means for submitting the request for at least one content-relevant ad is a browser application on the client device.

65. The apparatus of claim 64 wherein the means for rendering is the browser application.

66. The apparatus of claim 54 wherein the means for submitting the request for at least one content-relevant ad is a browser plug-in on the client device.

67. The apparatus of claim 66 wherein the means for rendering is the browser plug-in.

68. The apparatus of claim 54 wherein the means for submitting the request for at least one content-relevant ad is a browser toolbar on the client device.

69. The apparatus of claim 68 wherein the means for rendering is the browser toolbar.

70. The apparatus of claim 54 further comprising:

e) means for rendering content of the requested document,

wherein the means for rendering initiates rendering content of the requested document before the means for submitting submits a request.

71. The apparatus of claim 54 further comprising:

e) means for rendering content of the requested document,

wherein the means for rendering completes rendering content of the requested document before the means for submitting submits a request.

72. The apparatus of claim 54 further comprising:

e) means for rendering content of the requested document,

wherein the rendering of content of the requested document is initiated before the rendering of at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is initiated.

73. The apparatus of claim 54 further comprising:

e) means for rendering content of the requested document,

wherein the rendering of content of the requested document is completed before the rendering of at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is initiated.

74. The apparatus of claim 54 wherein the submission of a request for at least one content-relevant ad to the content-relevant ad server occurs before a request for the requested document.

75. The apparatus of claim 54 wherein the submission of a request for at least one content-relevant ad to the content-relevant ad server occurs substantially concurrently with a request for the requested document.

76. The apparatus of claim 54 further comprising:

e) means for rendering the content of the document in a browser window,

wherein the at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is rendered in the browser window.

77. The apparatus of claim 54 further comprising:

e) means for rendering the content of the document in a first part of a browser window,

wherein the at least one of the at least one content-relevant ad received is rendered in a second part of the browser window, wherein the second part of the browser window shares no space with the first part of the browser window.

78. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein the second part of the browser window is a browser chrome part of the browser window.

79. The apparatus of claim 77 wherein the second part of the browser window is a browser toolbar.

80. The apparatus of claim 77 further comprising:

f) means for rendering browser chrome in a third part of the browser window.

81. The apparatus of claim 80 wherein the third part of the browser window is arranged between the first and second parts of the browser window.

82. The apparatus of claim 80 wherein the second part of the browser window is arranged between the first and third parts of the browser window.