System and method for creation, distribution and tracking of advertising via electronic networks

• US 20070265923A1
• Filed: 05/16/2007
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rich Media Club, LLC (Rich Media Worldwide)
• Original Assignee: Rich Media Club, LLC (Rich Media Worldwide)
• Inventors: Mentchoukov, Nikolai, Krassner, Brad, Edwards, Alan, Bernstein, Fred
• Granted Patent: US 10,380,602 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.510
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A system and method for creation, distribution and tracking of advertising via electronic networks, enabling creation of advertisements using licensed third party content and placement of said ads at desired network locations, utilizing an auction of ad spaces based on bids placed by advertisers to have their ads displayed at such locations. When a network user/ad viewer requests an ad by clicking or other action, an auction algorithm executes to select the ad to be displayed from those that bid for display at such ad space location and then the ad is composed and delivered to the ad space location by accessing a relational database storing commands that retrieve, assemble and dispatch the licensed ad content. Usage and display of licensed content on designated ad space is tracked to enable cost-per-use charging for both use of licensed content and ad display at the designated ad space.

Claims

1. A system for the creation, distribution and tracking of electronic advertisements on a network, comprising:

a system-end computer equipped and configured for network communications, including computer processing means,

a dispatcher server containing a database that stores one or more files containing parameters and commands for each advertisement,

a system advertiser user-end computer configured and equipped for network communications and communicating with said network,

an ad publisher-end computer configured and equipped for network communications and communicating with said system dispatcher server and network user-end computers,

one or more advertisement servers configured and equipped for network communications communicating with said system-end dispatcher server and ad publisher-end computers and having one or more advertisement content files stored thereon which are made available for licensing for use in creating an advertisement,

one or more network communications interface software applications for interfacing with system advertiser users and also providing a menu for selection of one or more advertising content files made available for licensing for use in creating an advertisement and creating a file in said dispatcher server database that contains parameters and commands to retrieve, assemble and display said one or more advertisement files as well as the total cost-per-use of the licensed ad content files and the location(s) where the ad will be displayed,

network communication means for displaying said advertisement, and

a tracking server communicating with said advertisement server and said dispatcher server for tracking of usage of licensed advertisement content files to calculate and charge said system advertiser user the cost-per-use rate for said licensed advertisement content files each time said files are displayed.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said tracking utilizes file server direct connection.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said content files are made available for licensing on a cost-per-use basis.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for a system advertiser user to upload information about said advertiser user'"'"'s products/services into said system and means for completing e-commerce transactions via said system involving purchase of said products/services from said system advertiser user in response to said system advertiser user'"'"'s advertisement.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said dispatcher server database ad parameter file further includes keyword terms that said ad will be associated with and said system advertiser user'"'"'s bid for display of said advertisement at said display location in response to said keyword terms being referenced by a network user by action at said display location.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said system software applications further include an ad module software application that is embedded at the desired ad display location and which, when acted upon by a network user, causes the system to conduct a real-time auction to select an advertisement to be displayed at said ad display location based at least in part on said advertiser bids, which in turn causes said ad parameter and command file for the selected advertisement to be activated, thereby retrieving said ad content files from said one or more ad servers and assembling and displaying said ad at said ad display location.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said system advertiser user bids comprise the product of said system advertiser user'"'"'s licensed .ad content cost-per-use rate multiplied by said ad'"'"'s usage rate.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein said advertiser bids are specified by said system advertiser users.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein said auction to select an advertisement to be displayed at said ad display location is based at least in part on one or more parameters of said advertisements selected from the group consisting of:

click-through rate, ad space size, display region and ad type.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein said tracking server further tracks display of each ad to calculate and charge said system advertiser user the amount bid for each display.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein said network comprises the Internet.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein said network comprises a cable communications network.

13. The system of claim 6 wherein said network comprises a cellular communications network.

14. The system of claim 6, wherein said network comprises a satellite communications network.

15. The system of claim 6, wherein said network comprises a combination of two or more networks selected from the group consisting of local area computer networks, wide area computer networks, the Internet, cable communications networks, satellite communications networks, television frequency networks, radio frequency communications networks, and cellular communications networks.

16. The system of claim 6, further comprising means for ad publishers to participate in a barter-based advertising exchange network wherein said ad publishers contribute advertising impressions/views in said ad publishers'"'"' network locations in exchange for impressions/views of said ad publishers'"'"' own advertisements at other ad publisher network locations.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said ad publishers contribute more ad impression/views than they receive in exchange such that a pool or inventory of available impressions/views is available for selection and use by system advertiser users and ad publishers.

18. A method for licensing of electronic advertisement content for use in creation of an advertisement on a network, comprising the steps of:

selecting one or more advertisement content files previously stored in electronic file format in an advertisement server configured for network communications and made available for licensing on a recurring cost-per-use basis for use in creating an ad for placement at a network location,

storing the network location address where said one or more selected advertisement files will be displayed, the server location address for said advertisement files, as well as the total cost-per-use of the licensed content comprising said files and tracking parameters in a dispatcher server-based database ad parameter and command file for use in retrieving, assembling and displaying said ad files,

embedding in said ad display location a software application that is executed when a network user acts on said ad display location to communicate with said dispatcher server to retrieve said stored ad parameter and command file, which in turn communicates with said ad server to retrieve, assemble and display said licensed ad content files as an advertisement for the network user and calculates the total cost-per-use to be charged to the advertiser for both use of said licensed content files and display of said ad at said ad display location.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said content is licensed for use on a recurring cost-per-use basis.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of storing in said ad parameter and command file one or more keyword terms with which said ad will be associated.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of storing in said ad parameter and command file the advertiser'"'"'s bid amount for display of said ad at a specified location when one or more of said specified keyword terms are referenced by a network user at said ad display location, and selecting the ad to be displayed at said ad display location via a real-time auction based at least in part on a ranking of said advertiser bids for same.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein said advertiser bids comprise the product of said advertiser'"'"'s licensed ad content total cost-per-use multiplied by said ad'"'"'s usage rate.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein said advertiser bids are specified by said advertisers.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein said real-time auction to select the ad to be displayed is based at least in part on one or more parameters of said advertisements, selected from the group consisting of:

click-through rate, ad space size, display region and ad type.

25. A method for ad publishers to exchange ad views/impressions via bartering, comprising the following steps:

contributing ad views/impressions available on an ad publisher'"'"'s network location to a system for the creation, distribution and tracking of electronic advertisements on a network, comprising a system-end computer equipped and configured for network communications, including computer processing means, a dispatcher server containing a database that stores one or more files containing parameters and commands for each advertisement, a system advertiser user-end computer configured and equipped for network communications and communicating with said network, an ad publisher-end computer configured and equipped for network communications and communicating with said system dispatcher server and network user-end computers, one or more advertisement servers configured and equipped for network communications communicating with said system-end dispatcher server and ad publisher-end computers and having one or more advertisement content files stored thereon which are made available for licensing for use in creating an advertisement, one or more network communications interface software applications for interfacing with system advertiser users and also providing a menu for selection of one or more advertising content files made available for licensing for use in creating an advertisement and creating a file in said dispatcher server database that contains parameters and commands to retrieve, assemble and display said one or more advertisement files as well as the total cost-per-use of the licensed ad content files and the location(s) where the ad will be displayed, network communication means for displaying said advertisement, and a tracking server communicating with said advertisement server and said dispatcher server for tracking of usage of licensed advertisement content files to calculate and charge said system advertiser user the cost-per-use rate for said licensed advertisement content files each time said files are displayed, thereby creating an inventory pool of available ad views/impressions on said system for use by ad publishers and other advertisers seeking to publish their ads, and providing to said ad publishers in exchange for said contributed ad views/impressions the right to display said ad publishers'"'"' own ads using network location views/impressions selected from said inventory of said contributed ad views/impressions.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein said ad publishers contribute to said system more ad views/impressions than said ad publishers are provided in exchange therefor.

27. A system for the creation, distribution and tracking of electronic advertisements on a network, comprising:

a system-end computer equipped and configured for network communications, including computer processing means,

a dispatcher server containing a database that stores one or more files containing parameters and commands for each advertisement,

a network user-end computer configured and equipped for network communications and communicating with said network,

an ad publisher-end computer configured and equipped for network communications and communicating with said system dispatcher server and network user-end computers,

one or more advertisement servers configured and equipped for network communications communicating with said system-end dispatcher server and ad publisher-end computers and having one or more advertisement content files stored thereon which are made available for licensing for use in creating an advertisement,

one or more network communications interface software applications for interfacing with system users and also providing a menu for selection of one or more advertising content files made available for licensing for use in creating an advertisement and creating a file in said dispatcher server database that contains parameters and commands to retrieve, assemble and display said one or more advertisement files as well as the total cost-per-use of the licensed ad content files and the location(s) where the ad will be displayed,

said system software applications further including an ad module software application that is embedded at the desired ad display location and which, when acted upon by a network user, causes the system to conduct a real-time auction to select an advertisement to be displayed at said ad display location based at least in part on said advertiser bids and at least in part on one or more parameters of said advertisements selected from the group consisting of;

click-through rate, ad size, ad display region and ad type, which in turn causes said ad parameter and command file for the selected advertisement to be activated, thereby retrieving said ad content files from said one or more ad servers and assembling and displaying said ad at said ad display location,

network communication means for displaying said advertisement to said network user,

a tracking server communicating with said advertisement server and said dispatcher server for tracking of usage of licensed advertisement content files to calculate and charge an advertiser the cost-per-use rate for said licensed advertisement content files each time said files are displayed, and

means for a system advertiser user to upload information about said advertiser user'"'"'s products/services into said system and means for completing e-commerce transactions via said system involving purchase of said products/services from said advertiser user in response to said advertiser user'"'"'s advertisement.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising means for ad publishers to participate in a barter-based advertising exchange network wherein said ad publishers contribute advertising impressions/views in said ad publishers'"'"' network locations in exchange for impressions/views of said ad publishers'"'"' own advertisements at other ad publisher network locations.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein said ad publishers contribute more ad impression/views than they receive in exchange such that a pool or inventory of available impressions/views is available for selection and use by system advertiser users and ad publishers.