Systems and methods for selecting advertisements to be provided to users via a communication network

• US 20040186778A1
• Filed: 01/29/2004
• Published: 09/23/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Innovation Interactive LLC (Dentsu Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Innovation Interactive LLC (Dentsu Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hansen, Christopher J., Margiloff, William A., Dallara, Keith M.
• Application Number:
  US10/767,242
• Publication Number:
  US 20040186778A1
• 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 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

According to some embodiments, systems and methods are provided to select advertisements to be provided to users via a communication network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining payment information associated with a plurality of graphical advertisements to be electronically provided to users via a communication network, the advertisements being associated with a number of different advertisers;

determining user response information for each advertisement, the user response information being associated with an action taken by a user in response to an advertisement; and

selecting at least one of the advertisements based on the payment information and the user response information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the advertisement is not based on information received from a remote user device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication network is the Internet, the action by the user is clicking on the advertisement, the payment information is a cost-per-click value, and the user response information is a click-through-rate value.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said selecting comprises:

selecting the advertisement based on the cost-per-click value multiplied by the click-through-rate value.

5. The method of claim 1, the communication network is the Internet, the action by the user is a purchase, the payment information is a cost-per-action value, and the user response information represents a user purchase frequency.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the selected advertisement to a user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting information about the advertisement to a remote user device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote user device locally determines when the advertisement will be displayed.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the determination by the remote user device is based on contextual information associated with information being accessed by a user.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device in communication with said processor and storing instructions adapted to be executed by said processor to;

determine payment information associated with a plurality of graphical advertisements to be electronically provided to users via a communication network, the advertisements being associated with a number of different advertisers;

determine user response information for each advertisement, the user response information being associated with an action taken by a user in response to an advertisement; and

select at least one of the advertisements based on the payment information and the user response information.

11. A medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method, said method comprising:

determining payment information associated with a plurality of graphical advertisements to be electronically provided to users via a communication network, the advertisements being associated with a number of different advertisers;

determining user response information for each advertisement, the user response information being associated with an action taken by a user in response to an advertisement; and

selecting at least one of the advertisements based on the payment information and the user response information.

12. A method, comprising:

storing a first bid amount associated with a first graphical advertisement and contextual information;

storing a second bid amount associated with a second graphical advertisement and the contextual information;

determining contextual information associated with remote information being accessed by a user;

selecting one of the first and second graphical advertisements based on the first bid amount, the second bid amount, and the contextual information; and

arranging for the selected graphical advertisement to be displayed to the user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first bid amount is received from a first advertiser and the second bid amount is received from a second advertiser.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said selecting is further based on an advertisement rule.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein bid amount is associated with at least one of:

(i) a cost per advertisement and (ii) a cost per user action.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein said determining is performed locally at a user device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the contextual information comprises at least one of:

(i) a keyword, (ii) a search term, and (iii) uniform resource locator information.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein said selecting is further based on supplemental information associated with the user.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the supplemental information is associated with at least one of:

(i) geographic information, (ii) user device information, and (iii) other advertising information that has been provided to the user.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the graphically advertisement is transmitted to a user device via a communication network and is displayed to the user when the user device is not communicating via the communication network.

21. A method, comprising:

selecting an advertisement category based on contextual information associated with remote information being accessed by a user;

providing an indication of the advertisement category to the user, wherein the indication of the advertisement category does not identify an advertiser;

receiving from the user an indication that the user is interested in the advertisement category; and

arranging, in response to the indication received from the user, for advertising information associated with a particular advertiser to be provided to the user.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the contextual information comprises at least one of:

(i) a keyword, (ii) a search term, and (iii) uniform resource locator information.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein a plurality of keywords are associated with a single advertisement category.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

selecting the particular advertiser from a plurality of potential advertisers.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein said selecting is associated with at least one of:

(i) a bid amount, (ii) a payment amount, (iii) a random process, (iv) a round robin process, and (v) user information.

26. The method of claim 21, wherein the indication provided to the user comprises at least one of:

(i) a text indication, and (ii) a graphical indication.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein the advertising information comprises at least one of:

(i) a text advertisement, and (ii) a graphical advertisement.

28. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device in communication with said processor and storing instructions adapted to be executed by the processor to;

select an advertisement category based on contextual information associated with remote information being accessed by a user;

provide an indication of the advertisement category to the user, wherein the indication of the advertisement category does not identify an advertiser;

receive from the user an indication that the user is interested in the advertisement category; and

arrange, in response to the indication received from the user, for advertising information associated with a particular advertiser to be provided to the user.

29. A medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method, said method comprising:

selecting an advertisement category based on contextual information associated with remote information being accessed by a user;

providing an indication of the advertisement category to the user, wherein the indication of the advertisement category does not identify an advertiser;

receiving from the user an indication that the user is interested in the advertisement category; and

arranging, in response to the indication received from the user, for advertising information associated with a particular advertiser to be provided to the user.

30. A method, comprising:

receiving product information from a set of potential advertisers associated with a product;

determining that contextual information is related to the product, the contextual information being associated with remote information being accessed by a user;

selecting one of the potential advertisers based on the product information and a rule associated with the product; and

arranging for advertising information associated with the selected advertiser to be provided to the user.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the product information comprises at least one of:

(i) a product price, (ii) a product quality, (iii) a product availability.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the advertising information comprises at least one of:

(i) a text advertisement, and (ii) a graphical advertisement.

33. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

dynamically constructing the advertising information in substantially real time.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein said constructing comprises aggregating advertising components.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein said receiving comprises at least one of:

(i) a periodic process, (ii) a batch process, and (iii) a process performed in response to a determination of contextual information.