Dynamic backfill of advertisement content using second advertisement source

• US 20070150347A1
• Filed: 03/28/2006
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hussain, Muhammad, Zia, Aftab, Sobotka, David, Kannapell, John, Bhamidipati, Venkata, Khan, M.
• Application Number:
  US11/391,088
• Publication Number:
  US 20070150347A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.540
• 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 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for dynamically backfilling a deficient number of advertisements from an advertisement supplier. In one embodiment, a method includes identifying a first request from an advertisement requester, the first request identifying a desired number of advertisements to receive from a first advertisement supplier; identifying a first fetching period; sending the first request to the first advertisement supplier; monitoring to determine whether the desired number of advertisements from the first advertisement supplier are received within the first fetching period; and if the desired number of advertisements are not received within the first fetching period, performing a backfill mechanism to supply the desired number of advertisements.

Claims

1. In a computer system, a method for dynamically backfilling a deficient number of advertisements from an advertisement supplier, the method comprising:

identifying a first request from an advertisement requester, the first request identifying a desired number of advertisements to receive from a first advertisement supplier;

identifying a first fetching period;

sending the first request to the first advertisement supplier;

monitoring to determine whether the desired number of advertisements from the first advertisement supplier are received within the first fetching period; and

if the desired number of advertisements are not received within the first fetching period, performing a backfill mechanism to supply the desired number of advertisements.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the backfill mechanism is at least one of:

sending a second request to the first advertisement supplier within a second fetching period using a different keyword than used in the first request;

sending a first request to a second advertisement supplier within a second fetching period using the same keyword as used in the first request;

sending a first request to a second advertisement supplier within a second fetching period using a different keyword than used in the first request;

accessing a database of filler advertisements within a second fetching period and selecting one or more filler advertisements;

or

selecting one or more extra advertisements received from a second advertisement supplier during the first fetching period.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein monitoring to determine whether the desired number of advertisements from the first advertisement supplier is received within the first fetching period further comprises determining whether a condition of a trigger condition exists if the desired number of advertisements is not received within the first fetching period.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein sending the first request to the first advertisement supplier further comprises:

identifying a base request from an advertisement requester;

identifying a first keyword associated with the base request; and

dynamically altering the base request with the first keyword to form an altered request.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein identifying a first keyword associated with the base request comprises identifying the first keyword based on at least one of:

the content of the base request based on at least one of;

identifying search terms in the base request;

crawling the content of a URL identified in the base request;

or

identifying content in a content, category or hint parameter included with the base request;

or

factors that may or may not be related to the content of the base request based on at least one of;

synonyms to content in the base request;

relevancy to the content of the base request;

current popular keywords for a given day;

historically popular keywords for a given day;

the time of day;

the time of week;

or

the context of the base request based on at least one of;

identifying trends;

identifying system requirements of a user;

identifying the time and date of the base request;

identifying past user search history;

or

identifying user demographics.

6. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein identifying a first keyword associated with the base request comprises identifying a user response history associated with the first keyword based on at least one of:

click-through-rate (CTR) of advertisements obtained using the first keyword;

cost-per-click (CPC) of advertisements obtained using the first keyword;

ad response percentage (ARP) of advertisements obtained using the first keyword;

call response ratio of advertisements obtained using the first keyword;

or

views of advertisements obtained using the first keyword.

7. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein sending a second request to the first advertisement supplier within a second fetching period using a different keyword than used in the first request or sending a first request to a second advertisement supplier within a second fetching period using a different keyword than used in the first request further comprises:

identifying a base request from an advertisement requester;

identifying a first keyword associated with the base request; and

dynamically altering the base request with the first keyword to form an altered request.

8. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein identifying the first keyword to be used to dynamically alter the base request comprises at least one of:

performing the identifying of the first keyword on a periodic or non-periodic basis;

assigning a usage weight to the first keyword indicating the percentage of times that the first keyword should be used to dynamically alter the base request;

or

generating an optimized profile identifying at least the first advertisement supplier and the first keyword to be used to dynamically alter the base request.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

sending the advertisements to an advertisement requester; and

tracking user response to the advertisements.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising identifying which of the advertisements were supplied from the backfill mechanism.

18. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

sending the advertisements to an advertisement requester; and

tracking user response to the advertisements.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising identifying which of the advertisements were supplied from the backfill mechanism.

20. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising using a prioritizing parameter to determine the order of the advertisements returned to the advertisement requester.

11. In a computer system, a method for dynamically backfilling a deficient number of advertisements from an advertisement supplier, the method comprising:

identifying a first request from an advertisement requester, the first request identifying a desired number of advertisements to receive from a first advertisement supplier;

identifying a first fetching period;

sending the first request to the first advertisement supplier;

monitoring to determine whether the desired number of advertisements from the first advertisement supplier are received within the first fetching period;

if the desired number of advertisements are not received within the first fetching period, determining whether a trigger condition is met; and

if the trigger condition is met, obtaining one or more advertisements from a backfill mechanism within a second fetching period.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the backfill mechanism is at least one of:

sending a second request to the first advertisement supplier within a second fetching period using a different keyword than used in the first request;

sending a first request to a second advertisement supplier within a second fetching period using the same keyword as used in the first request;

sending a first request to a second advertisement supplier within a second fetching period using a different keyword than used in the first request;

accessing a database of filler advertisements within a second fetching period and selecting one or more filler advertisements;

or

selecting one or more extra advertisements received from a second advertisement supplier during the first fetching period.

13. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein sending the first request to the first advertisement supplier further comprises:

identifying a base request from an advertisement requester;

identifying a first keyword associated with the base request; and

dynamically altering the base request with the first keyword to form an altered request.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein identifying a first keyword associated with the base request comprises identifying the first keyword based on at least one of:

the content of the base request based on at least one of;

identifying search terms in the base request;

crawling the content of a URL identified in the base request;

or

identifying content in a content, category or hint parameter included with the base request;

or

factors that may or may not be related to the content of the base request based on at least one of;

synonyms to content in the base request;

relevancy to the content of the base request;

current popular keywords for a given day;

historically popular keywords for a given day;

the time of day;

the time of week;

or

the context of the base request based on at least one of;

identifying trends;

identifying system requirements of a user;

identifying the time and date of the base request;

identifying past user search history;

or

identifying user demographics.

15. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein identifying a first keyword associated with the base request comprises identifying a user response history associated with the first keyword based on at least one of:

click-through-rate (CTR) of advertisements obtained using the first keyword;

cost-per-click (CPC) of advertisements obtained using the first keyword;

ad response percentage (ARP) of advertisements obtained using the first keyword;

call response ratio of advertisements obtained using the first keyword;

or

views of advertisements obtained using the first keyword.

16. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein sending a second request to the first advertisement supplier within a second fetching period using a different keyword than used in the first request or sending a first request to a second advertisement supplier within a second fetching period using a different keyword than used in the first request further comprises:

identifying a base request from an advertisement requester;

identifying a first keyword associated with the base request; and

dynamically altering the base request with the first keyword to form an altered request.

17. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein identifying the first keyword to be used to dynamically alter the base request comprises at least one of:

performing the identifying of the first keyword on a periodic or non-periodic basis;

assigning a usage weight to the first keyword indicating the percentage of times that the first keyword should be used to dynamically alter the base request;

or

generating an optimized profile identifying at least the first advertisement supplier and the first keyword to be used to dynamically alter the base request.