Systems and methods for managing the display of sponsored links together with search results in a search engine system
First Claim
1. A method of managing sponsored links to be transmitted to the screens of mobile devices in response to search requests from a searcher using a mobile device to access a search engine, online marketplace, or other similar service, the display of these links being responsive to time of day, the method comprising:
- maintaining records of advertiser accounts for payment for responses to a said sponsored link an advertiser account comprising at least an advertiser identifier and an account balance for each of a plurality of advertisers, sponsored links that correspond to search request keywords, modifiable offer amounts submitted by said advertisers each said offer amount being associated with at least one search keyword, and records of search requests using said at least one keyword and responses to sponsored links included with search results provided in response to said search requests;
monitoring an audience for the service, said audience comprising the number of users carrying out searches within a given time interval at a said time of day;
receiving from an advertiser a request for display of a sponsored link in association with at least one said search request keyword and an offer amount, said offer amount comprising an offer of payment for responses to said sponsored link, said offer of payment applying over a time period;
forecasting a response rate for a sponsored link associated with said at least one keyword using said records of search requests using said at least one keyword and responses to sponsored links included with search results provided in response to said search requests;
adapting said forecast response rate dependent upon a total demand for sponsored links associated with said at least one keyword as determined from said request received from said advertiser and one or more said requests from one or more other said advertisers;
responding to said advertiser request using said adapted forecast response rate;
determining an adapted forecast response rate for each of said one or more other advertisers;
providing said adapted forecast response rates to said one or more other advertisers;
establishing a balance of total demand for responses to a said sponsored link associated with said at least one keyword and predicted supply of said responses, said predicted supply being determined from said forecast response rate; and
allocating said sponsored links for serving to said mobile devices with search results provided in response to search requests using said at least one keyword such that one or more sponsored links from a said advertiser offering a highest payment per response are served at least during one or more times having a highest audience.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
We describe a method of managing sponsored links to be transmitted to mobile devices in response to search requests, the display of these links being responsive to time of day. The method comprises: maintaining records of advertiser accounts; monitoring an audience for the service; receiving from an advertiser a request for display of a sponsored link in association with a said search request keyword and an offer amount; forecasting a response rate for a sponsored link associated with the keyword; adapting said forecast response rate dependent upon a total demand; establishing a balance of total demand for responses to a said sponsored link associated with the keyword and predicted supply of said responses; and allocating said sponsored links for serving with search results such that sponsored links from a said advertiser offering a highest payment per response are served at least during one or more times having a highest audience.
461 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of managing sponsored links to be transmitted to the screens of mobile devices in response to search requests from a searcher using a mobile device to access a search engine, online marketplace, or other similar service, the display of these links being responsive to time of day, the method comprising:
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maintaining records of advertiser accounts for payment for responses to a said sponsored link an advertiser account comprising at least an advertiser identifier and an account balance for each of a plurality of advertisers, sponsored links that correspond to search request keywords, modifiable offer amounts submitted by said advertisers each said offer amount being associated with at least one search keyword, and records of search requests using said at least one keyword and responses to sponsored links included with search results provided in response to said search requests;
monitoring an audience for the service, said audience comprising the number of users carrying out searches within a given time interval at a said time of day;
receiving from an advertiser a request for display of a sponsored link in association with at least one said search request keyword and an offer amount, said offer amount comprising an offer of payment for responses to said sponsored link, said offer of payment applying over a time period;
forecasting a response rate for a sponsored link associated with said at least one keyword using said records of search requests using said at least one keyword and responses to sponsored links included with search results provided in response to said search requests;
adapting said forecast response rate dependent upon a total demand for sponsored links associated with said at least one keyword as determined from said request received from said advertiser and one or more said requests from one or more other said advertisers;
responding to said advertiser request using said adapted forecast response rate;
determining an adapted forecast response rate for each of said one or more other advertisers;
providing said adapted forecast response rates to said one or more other advertisers;
establishing a balance of total demand for responses to a said sponsored link associated with said at least one keyword and predicted supply of said responses, said predicted supply being determined from said forecast response rate; and
allocating said sponsored links for serving to said mobile devices with search results provided in response to search requests using said at least one keyword such that one or more sponsored links from a said advertiser offering a highest payment per response are served at least during one or more times having a highest audience. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of managing sponsored links to be transmitted to the screens of mobile devices in response to search requests from a searcher using a mobile device to access a search engine, online marketplace, or other similar service, the display of these links being matched to geographical location, the method comprising:
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maintaining records of advertiser accounts for payment for responses to a said sponsored link an advertiser account comprising at least an advertiser identifier and an account balance for each of a plurality of advertisers, sponsored links that correspond to search request keywords, modifiable offer amounts submitted by said advertisers each said offer amount being associated with at least one search keyword, and records of search requests using said at least one keyword and responses to sponsored links included with search results provided in response to said search requests;
monitoring an audience for the service, said audience comprising the number of users carrying out searches within a given time interval at a said geographical location;
receiving from an advertiser a request for display of a sponsored link in association with at least one said search request keyword and an offer amount, said offer amount comprising an offer of payment for responses to said sponsored link, said offer of payment applying over a time period;
forecasting a response rate for a sponsored link associated with said at least one keyword using said records of search requests using said at least one keyword and responses to sponsored links included with search results provided in response to said search requests;
adapting said forecast response rate dependent upon a total demand for sponsored links associated with said at least one keyword as determined from said request received from said advertiser and one or more said requests from one or more other said advertisers;
responding to said advertiser request using said adapted forecast response rate;
determining an adapted forecast response rate for each of said one or more other advertisers;
providing said adapted forecast response rates to said one or more other advertisers;
establishing a balance of total demand for responses to a said sponsored link associated with said at least one keyword and predicted supply of said responses, said predicted supply being determined from said forecast response rate; and
allocating said sponsored links for serving to said mobile devices with search results provided in response to search requests using said at least one keyword such that one or more sponsored links from a said advertiser offering a highest payment per response are served at least for one or more geographical locations having a highest audience. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A system for managing sponsored links to be transmitted to the screens of mobile devices in response to search requests from a searcher using a mobile device to access a search engine, online marketplace, or other similar service, the display of these links being responsive to time of day, the system comprising:
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at least one records system for maintaining records of advertiser accounts for payment for responses to a said sponsored link an advertiser account comprising at least an advertiser identifier and an account balance for each of a plurality of advertisers, sponsored links that correspond to search request keywords, modifiable offer amounts submitted by said advertisers each said offer amount being associated with at least one search keyword, and records of search requests using said at least one keyword and responses to sponsored links included with search results provided in response to said search requests;
an audience monitoring system for monitoring an audience for the service, said audience comprising the number of users carrying out searches within a given time interval at a said time of day;
an interface for receiving from an advertiser a request for display of a sponsored link in association with at least one said search request keyword and an offer amount, said offer amount, said offer amount comprising an offer of payment for responses to said sponsored link, said offer of payment applying over a time period; and
a processor coupled to data memory and to program memory storing processor control code, the code comprising code for controlling the processor to;
forecast a response rate for a sponsored link associated with said at least one keyword using said records of search requests using said at least one keyword and responses to sponsored links included with search results provided in response to said search requests;
adapt said forecast response rate dependent upon a total demand for sponsored links associated with said at least one keyword as determined from said request received from said advertiser and one or more said requests from one or more other said advertisers;
respond to said advertiser request using said adapted forecast response rate;
determine an adapted forecast response rate for each of said one or more other advertisers;
provide said adapted forecast response rates to said one or more other advertisers;
establish a balance of total demand for responses to a said sponsored link associated with said at least one keyword and predicted supply of said responses, said predicted supply being determined from said forecast response rate; and
allocate said sponsored links for serving to said mobile devices with search results provided in response to search requests using said at least one keyword such that one or more sponsored links from a said advertiser offering a highest payment per response are served at least during one or more geographical locations having a highest audience.
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16. A system for managing sponsored links to be transmitted to the screens of mobile devices in response to search requests from a searcher using a mobile device to access a search engine, online marketplace, or other similar service, the display of these links being matched to geographical location, the system comprising:
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at least one records system for maintaining records of advertiser accounts for payment for responses to a said sponsored link an advertiser account comprising at least an advertiser identifier and an account balance for each of a plurality of advertisers, sponsored links that correspond to search request keywords, modifiable offer amounts submitted by said advertisers, each said offer amount being associated with at least one search keyword, and records of search requests using said at least one keyword and responses to sponsored links included with search results provided in response to said search requests;
an audience monitoring system for monitoring an audience for the service, said audience comprising the number of users carrying out searches within a given time interval at a said geographical location;
an interface for receiving from an advertiser a request for display of a sponsored link in association with at least one said search request keyword and an offer amount, said offer amount, said offer amount comprising an offer of payment for responses to said sponsored link, said offer of payment applying over a time period; and
a processor coupled to data memory and to program memory storing processor control code, the code comprising code for controlling the processor to;
forecast a response rate for a sponsored link associated with said at least one keyword using said records of search requests using said at least one keyword and responses to sponsored links included with search results provided in response to said search requests;
adapt said forecast response rate dependent upon a total demand for sponsored links associated with said at least one keyword as determined from said request received from said advertiser and one or more said requests from one or more other said advertisers;
respond to said advertiser request using said adapted forecast response rate;
determine an adapted forecast response rate for each of said one or more other advertisers;
provide said adapted forecast response rates to said one or more other advertisers;
establish a balance of total demand for responses to a said sponsored link associated with said at least one keyword and predicted supply of said responses, said predicted supply being determined from said forecast response rate; and
allocate said sponsored links for serving to said mobile devices with search results provided in response to search requests using said at least one keyword such that one or more sponsored links from a said advertiser offering a highest payment per response are served at least for one or more geographical locations having a highest audience.
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17. A method of responding to a search query from a wireless communications device, the method comprising:
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determining a collection of search results in response to the search query;
determining at least one sponsored link to be included with said collection of search results;
packaging said collection of search results with said at least one sponsored link into a data package for display on said wireless communications device; and
sending said package to said wireless communications device for display of at least one of said search results together with said at least one sponsored link; and
wherein said determining of said at least one sponsored link comprises selecting said sponsored link from a data store comprising a plurality of sponsored links, responsive to a time of day. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer system for responding to a search query from a wireless communications device, the system comprising:
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a search system interface for sending said search query to a search system and for receiving a collection of search results in response to the search query;
an advert storage system interface for receiving advertising data comprising at least one sponsored link to be included with said collection of search results;
a wireless network interface for receiving and responding to said search query from said wireless communications device;
data memory for storing data for packaging;
program memory storing processor control code; and
a processor coupled to said search system interface, said advert storage system interface, said wireless network interface, said data memory and said program memory, to load and implement said control code, said code comprising code for controlling the processor to;
obtain a collection of search results in response to the search query;
obtain at least one sponsored link to be included with said collection of search results;
package said collection of search results with said at least one sponsored link into a data package for display on said wireless communications device;
send said package to said wireless communications device for display of at least one of said search results together with said at least one sponsored link; and
wherein said code to obtain said at least one sponsored link comprises code to selectively retrieve said link via said advert storage system interface responsive to a time of day. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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Specification