Relevant multimedia advertising targeted based upon search query

• US 20060053109A1
• Filed: 07/01/2005
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo AD Tech LLC
• Original Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Sudanagunta, Srinivasan, Kolar, Jennifer Lynn, Howe, Karen Nelson
• Granted Patent: US 9,910,920 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/953 Querying, e.g. by the use of web search engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation

Abstract

A facility for processing a search query is described. The facility identifies one or more items that satisfy the query, at least one of which is a media sequence. For each identified media sequence, the facility identifies an advertising message based upon the contents of the query. In response to the query, the facility returns a search result that indicates the identified items. When one of the identified media sequences is selected in the search result, the selected media sequence is provided in conjunction with the advertising message identified for it.

Claims

1. A method in a computing system for processing a search query, comprising:

identifying one or more media sequences satisfying the query;

identifying for each identified media sequence an advertising message having metadata matching terms contained by the query; and

in response to the query, returning a search result indicating the identified items, such that when one of the identified media sequences is selected in the search result, it is displayed in conjunction with the advertising message identified for the selected media sequence.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein, when one of the identified media sequences is selected in the search result, it is displayed with the advertising message identified for the identified media sequence incorporated into it.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein, when one of the identified media sequences is selected in the search result, it is displayed proximate to a still image for the advertising message identified for the identified media sequence that can be activated to display the advertising message for the identified media sequence.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, for each of the identified media sequences, adding a link to the returned search result that specifies the advertising message identified for the identified media sequence and that, when followed, causes the advertising message identified for the identified media sequence to be displayed in connection with the identified media sequence.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein, for each of the identified media sequences, the link added to the returned search result for the identified media sequence causes a browser in which the search result is displayed to independently retrieve the identified media sequence and the advertising message identified for it when followed.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the link added to the returned search result for the identified media sequence causes the browser in which the search result is displayed to retrieve a metafile, that in turn causes the browser to independently retrieve the identified media sequence and the advertising message identified for it.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the link added to the returned search result for the identified media sequence contains information identifying both the identified media sequence and the advertising message identified for it, as well as a server capable of (1) retrieving the identified media sequence and identified advertising message, (2) concatenating them, and (3) returning the result of the concatenation.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein, for each of the identified media sequences, the link added to the returned search result for the identified media sequence causes a browser in which the search result is displayed to retrieve a single file containing the identified media sequence and the advertising message identified for it when followed.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein each identified media sequence has a type that is among a category of types, and wherein, for each identified media sequence, an advertising message is identified that has a type that is among the same category of types as the type of the identified media sequence.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein each identified advertising message is a media sequence.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein, for a distinguished identified media sequence, an advertising message is identified in response to a request to retrieve the distinguished media sequence.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein, for a distinguished identified media sequence, an advertising message is identified in response to a request to play the distinguished media sequence.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein, when one of the identified media sequences is selected in the search result, the display of the identified media sequence is separated from the display of the advertising message identified for the identified media sequence by the display of a visual indication of a provider of the selected media sequence.

14. A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computing system to perform a method for processing a search query, comprising:

identifying one or more items satisfying the query, at least one of the identified items comprising a media sequence;

identifying for each identified media sequence an advertising message based upon contents of the query; and

in response to the query, returning a search result indicating the identified items, such that when one of the identified media sequences is selected in the search result, it is provided in conjunction with the advertising message identified for the selected media sequence.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises, for each of the identified media sequences, adding a link to the returned search result that specifies the advertising message identified for the identified media sequence and that, when followed, causes the advertising message identified for the identified media sequence to be provided in connection with the identified media sequence.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein, for each of the identified media sequences, the link added to the returned search result for the identified media sequence causes a browser in which the search result is displayed to independently retrieve the identified media sequence and the advertising message identified for it when followed.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein, for each of the identified media sequences, the link added to the returned search result for the identified media sequence causes a browser in which the search result is displayed to retrieve a single file containing the identified media sequence and the advertising message identified for it when followed.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein each identified media sequence has a type that is among a category of types, and wherein, for each identified media sequence, an advertising message is identified that has a type that is among the same category of types as the type of the identified media sequence.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein, for a distinguished identified media sequence, an advertising message is identified before the search result is returned.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein, for a distinguished identified media sequence, an advertising message is identified after the search result is returned.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein, for a distinguished identified media sequence, an advertising message is identified in response to a request to retrieve the distinguished media sequence.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein, for a distinguished identified media sequence, an advertising message is identified in response to a request to play the distinguished media sequence.

23. One or more computer memories that collectively contain a media sequence advertising data structure, comprising, for each of a plurality of media sequence advertisements:

information indicating one or more search terms to which the media sequence advertisement relates; and

information usable to retrieve the media sequence advertisement, such that the contents of the data structure may be used to construct a search result for a search query that contains links to one or more primary media sequences, each contained link causing a media sequence advertisement relating to search terms contained in the search query to be presented together with the primary media sequence of the link when dereferenced.

24. The computer memories of claim 23 wherein the data structure further comprises, for each of the plurality of media sequence advertisements, an indication of a media sequence type of the media sequence advertisement, such that, for each of the primary media sequences, a media sequence advertisement may be selected that has the same media sequence type.

25. The computer memories of claim 24 wherein the indication of a media sequence type of the media sequence advertisement indicates a media sequence filename extension.

26. The computer memories of claim 24 wherein the indication of a media sequence type of the media sequence advertisement indicates a class of media sequence filename extensions.

27. One or more propagated data signals collectively conveying a married media sequence link data structure generated in response to a query containing query terms, the data structure comprising data such that, when the link is dereferenced, a primary media sequence having metadata matching one or more of the query terms contained by the query is presented together with an advertisement media sequence having metadata matching one or more of the query terms.

28. The data signals of claim 27 wherein an advertiser benefits from the presentation of the advertisement media sequence, and wherein the metadata of the advertisement media sequence is specified by the advertiser.

29. The data signals of claim 27 wherein the data structure explicitly identifies the primary media sequence.

30. The data signals of claim 29 wherein the data structure further explicitly identifies query terms contained by the query that may be used to select the advertisement media sequence.

31. The data signals of claim 27 wherein the data structure explicitly identifies the advertisement media sequence.

32. The data signals of claim 27 wherein the data structure explicitly identifies the primary media sequence and the advertisement media sequence.

33. The data signals of claim 32 wherein the data structure explicitly identifies the primary media sequence and the advertising media sequence by containing a URL usable to retrieve the primary media sequence and containing a URL usable to retrieve the advertisement media sequence.

34. The data signals of claim 32 wherein the data structure explicitly identifies the primary media sequence and advertising media sequence by containing an identifier for the primary media sequence that may be mapped to the primary media sequence and an identifier for the advertisement media sequence that may be mapped to the advertisement media sequence.

35. The data signals of claim 32 wherein the data structure explicitly identifies the primary media sequence and the advertisement media sequence by containing an encrypted version of both a URL usable to retrieve the primary media sequence and a URL usable to retrieve the advertisement media sequence.

36. The data signals of claim 27 wherein the data structure explicitly identifies a data structure containing both the primary media sequence and the advertisement media sequence.

37. One or more propagated data signals collectively conveying a data structure defining a display that is generated in response to a query containing query terms, the data structure comprising data that establishes in the defined display a media sequence rendering region in which a primary media sequence having metadata matching one or more of the query terms contained by the query is rendered, as well as one or more advertising image regions, in each of which an advertising image is displayed that has metadata matching one or more of the query terms.

38. The data signals of claim 37, wherein the data structure further comprises data such that a user may activate one of the advertising images to display an advertising media sequence associated with the activated advertising image.

39. The data signals of claim 38, wherein the advertising media sequence is displayed in the media sequence rendering region.

40. The data signals of claim 38, wherein the advertising media sequence is displayed in the advertising image region of the activated advertising image.

41. The data signals of claim 38, wherein the advertising media sequence is displayed in a region that is larger than and contains the advertising image region of the activated advertising image.