DELIVERY OF INTERNET ADS

• US 20070214118A1
• Filed: 09/27/2006
• Published: 09/13/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Looksmart, Ltd (Looksmart Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Looksmart, Ltd (Looksmart Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Martin, Bruce, Schoen, Michael
• Application Number:
  US11/535,914
• Publication Number:
  US 20070214118A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A system for delivering advertisements via the internet may include an index file having entries related to advertisements for delivery via the internet, an extraction engine for updating the index file entries in accordance with changes in a database of said advertisements, a matching engine for matching a keyword in a query string to a plurality of the index file entries, a ranking engine for selecting an advertisement, for inclusion in a search result set responsive to the query sting, in accordance with an estimated monetary yield related to one of the plurality of index file entries matching a keyword in the query string and a pricing engine for discounting a charge for that inclusion in accordance with an estimated monetary yield for another one of the plurality of index file entries.

Claims

1. A system for delivering advertisements via the internet, comprising:

an index file having entries related to advertisements for delivery via the internet;

an extraction engine for updating the index file entries in accordance with changes in a database of said advertisements;

a matching engine for matching a keyword in a query string to a plurality of the index file entries;

a ranking engine for selecting an advertisement, for inclusion in a search result set responsive to the query string, in accordance with an estimated monetary yield related to one of the plurality of index file entries matching a keyword in the query string; and

a pricing engine for discounting a charge for that inclusion in accordance with an estimated monetary yield for another one of the plurality of index file entries.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein the index file further comprises:

an estimated monetary yield for inclusion of the advertisement associated with each index file entry in a search result set.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein the estimated monetary yield in each index file entry is based in part on an agreed maximum charge for each selection of the related advertisement from a search result set.

5. The invention of claim 2 wherein the estimated monetary yield in each index file entry is based on the product of an agreed maximum charge for each selection of the related advertisement and a rate at which the related advertisement has been selected when included in a search result set.

6. The invention of claim 2 wherein the extraction engine updates each index file entry in accordance with data related to selection of the related advertisement when included in search result sets.

7. The invention of claim 1 further comprising:

a reporting system for monitoring a rate at which each advertisement has been selected when included in search result sets,

wherein the extraction engine is responsive to the reporting system for updating the index file.

8. The invention of claim 1 wherein the ranking engine selects the advertisement in accordance with the index file entry having the highest estimated monetary yield.

9. The invention of claim 8 wherein the pricing engine discounts the charge for inclusion in accordance with the entry having the next highest estimated monetary yield.

10. The invention of claim 1 further comprising:

a table of contents file having TOC entries related to entries in the index file.

11. The invention of claim 10 further comprising:

a first memory for storing the index file; and

a second memory, having a faster time to retrieve data than the first memory, for storing the table of contents file.

12. The invention of claim 11 wherein the extraction engine periodically rebuilds the index and table of content files.

14. The invention of claim 1 wherein the matching engine further comprises:

a first selectable matching algorithm for matching keywords in the query string to keywords stored in each of the index file entries.

15. The invention of claim 14 wherein the matching engine further comprises:

a second selectable matching algorithm for matching keywords in the query string to words in each related advertisement.

16. The invention of claim 15 wherein each of the index file entries includes a selection between the first and second matching algorithms.

17. The invention of claim 1 wherein the matching engine does not match a keyword in the query string with an otherwise matching one of the index file entries when the matching file does match a specified negative keyword in that one of the index file entries with a keyword in the query string.

18. The invention of claim 1 further comprising:

a database of advertisements and click through rates for each advertisement in the database, wherein the extraction engine updates the index file in accordance with changes in the database.

4. The invention of clam 2 wherein the estimated monetary yield in each index file entry is based in part on a rate at which the related advertisement has been selected when included in search result sets.

13. The invention of 12 wherein the extraction engine updates the index and table of content files more frequently than they are rebuilt.