DELIVERING CONTENT BASED ON PHYSICAL OBJECT CHARACTERISTICS

• US 20080167913A1
• Filed: 01/05/2007
• Published: 07/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Piper, Anne Marie, Silverstein, Dana L., Wiswell, Christian N., Sunday, Derek
• Granted Patent: US 9,280,776 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for delivering content based on physical object characteristics. When a physical object is detected within a specified proximity of a component of a computer system, the computer system submits an accessed object identifier for the physical object to a content portal. The content portal identifies content and corresponding layout information for the computer system by at least determining the commonality between object keywords for the physical object and target keywords for content providers and determining content placement priorities corresponding to content providers. The content portal sends the content and layout information to the computer system. The computer system filters a subset of content from the received and presents the filtered subset of content on a presentation surface in accordance with corresponding layout information.

Claims

1. At a computer system including a presentation surface for presenting content, a method for presenting content associated with a physical object detected at the computer system, the method comprising:

an act of detecting that a physical object is at least within a specific proximity of a component of the computer system;

an act of accessing an object identifier corresponding to the detected physical object;

an act of submitting at least the accessed object identifier to a content portal;

an act of receiving content and corresponding layout information from the content portal, the received content determined to be appropriate for presentation on the presentation surface based at least on the submitted object identifier;

an act of filtering a subset of content for presentation on the presentation surface, the filtered subset of content satisfying content filter conditions at the computer system, the filtered subset of content filtered from among the received content; and

an act of presenting the filtered subset of content on the presentation surface in accordance with the corresponding layout information.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein act of detecting that a physical object is at least within a specified proximity of a component of the computer system comprises act of one or more sensors embedded in the presentation surface detecting that the physical object has come into physical contact with a portion of the presentation surface.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing an object identifier corresponding to the detected physical object comprises an act of accessing the object identifier from a tag attached to the physical object.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of accessing an object identifier corresponding to the detected physical object comprises an act of scanning the portion of the object in physical contact with the presentation surface to determine an object type for the physical object.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of submitting at least the accessed object identifier to a content portal comprises an act of submitting the accessed object identifier along with a venue identifier corresponding to the venue where the computer system is physically located.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein an act of receiving content and corresponding layout information from the content portal comprises an act of receiving content having associated target keywords with sufficient commonality to object keywords associated with the physical object.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein an act of receiving content and corresponding layout information from the content portal comprises an act of receiving content associated with a sufficient high placement priority.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of receiving content and corresponding layout information from the content portal comprises an act of receiving content and layout information for simultaneously presenting appropriate content for the physical object and second different physical object on the presentation surface of the computer system.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of filtering a subset of content for presentation on the presentation surface comprises an act of filtering a subset of the received content in accordance with at least one reject filter.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of presenting the filtered subset of content on the presentation surface comprises an act of presenting a user-interface to permit the user to interact with the filtered subset of content.

11. At a content portal computer system configured to provide content to other computer systems, a method for providing content to a computer system, the method comprising:

an act of receiving at least an object identifier from a computer system, the object identifier corresponding to a physical object that was detected at least within a specified proximity of a component of the computer system, the presentation surface for presenting content at the computer system;

an act of accessing object keywords corresponding to the received object identifier;

an act of identifying appropriate content and corresponding layout information to return to the computer system in response to receiving the object identifier by at least one of;

an act of determining the commonality between the accessed object keywords and target keywords received from content providers; and

an act of determining content placement priorities corresponding to content providers; and

an act of sending the identified appropriate content and corresponding layout information to the computer system for presentation on the presentation surface.

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

an act of receiving object keywords associated with the object identifier from a manufacturer of the physical object prior to receiving the object identifier from a computer system.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the act of at least an object identifier from a computer system comprises an act of receiving the object identifier along with a venue identifier a venue identifier corresponding to the venue where the computer system is physically located.

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

an act of determining a venue identifier corresponding to the venue where the computer system is physically located based on the Internet Protocol address of the computer system.

15. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein identifying appropriate content and corresponding layout information to return to the computer system comprises an act of determining the commonality between venue keywords and target keywords received from content providers, the venue keywords corresponding to the venue where the computer system is physically located.

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

an act of receiving content presentation statistics corresponding to a portion of the appropriate content from a venue that presented the portion of appropriate content, the content presentation statistics indicating how the portion of appropriate content was utilized at the computer system.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

an act of submitting an appropriate charge to a content provider based on the content presentation statistics;

an act of receiving funds for paying of the submitted charge from the content provider; and

an act of allocating a portion of the funds to the venue that generated the content presentation statistics

18. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the act of sending the identified appropriate content and corresponding layout information comprises an act of sending layout information indicating one or more of content position, content size, content shape, content form, content orientation, and content duration for the appropriate content.

19. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the act of sending the identified appropriate content and corresponding layout information comprises an act of sending layout information for simultaneously presenting appropriate content for the physical object and second different physical object on the presentation surface of the computer system.

20. In a network environment, a distributed system for presenting content based on the characteristics of a physical object, the system comprising:

a computer system including;

one or more processors;

system memory;

a presentation surface for presenting content; and

one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the computer system to perform the following;

detect that a physical object is within a specific proximity of a component of the computer system;

access an object identifier corresponding to the detected physical object;

submit at least the accessed object identifier to a content portal;

receive content and corresponding layout information from the content portal, the received content determined to be appropriate for presentation on the presentation surface based at least on the submitted object identifier;

filtering a subset of content for presentation on the presentation surface, the filtered subset of content satisfying content filter conditions at the computer system, the filtered subset of content filtered from among the received content; and

present the filtered subset of content on the presentation surface in accordance with corresponding layout information; and

a content portal including;

one or more processors;

system memory;

one or more databases for storing object keywords and target keywords; and

one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the content portal to perform the following;

receive at least an object identifier from a computer system, the object identifier corresponding to a physical object that was detected within a specific proximity of a component of the computer system, the presentation surface for presenting content at the computer system;

access object keywords corresponding to the received object identifier;

identify appropriate content and corresponding layout information to return to the computer system in response to receiving the object identifier by at least one of;

determining the commonality between the accessed object keywords and target keywords received from content providers; and

determining content placement priorities corresponding to content providers; and

send the identified appropriate content and corresponding layout information to the computer system for presentation on the presentation surface.