ASSOCIATING AN ACTIVITY WITH AN ONLINE ADVERTISEMENT

• US 20090006188A1
• Filed: 06/26/2007
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Guo, Shunri, Jain, Kamal, Russell, James, Sacheti, Arun K., Ward, Bradley W.
• Application Number:
  US11/768,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20090006188A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.270
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

The disclosed subject matter pertains to systems and/or methods that facilitate associating user activity, such as offline user activity, with an online advertisement. An ad link component can receive information associated with online activity and offline activity of a user, online advertisements, and other information, and can analyze such information. The online activity can include viewing, clicking on, pledging interest in, or obtaining a token related to, an online advertisement. The ad link component can employ ad link criteria to determine whether offline user activity, such as a purchase or other desired activity, can be associated with the online advertisement. If the ad link component determines the offline user activity is associated with the online advertisement, an incentive, which can be based on incentive criteria, can be awarded to the user. A distribution component can distribute the incentive to the account of the user.

Claims

1. A system that determines if user activity is associated with an online advertisement, comprising:

an ad link component that receives information associated with at least one user activity and at least one online advertisement and determines if the at least one user activity is associated with the at least one online advertisement, the at least one user activity comprised of at least one offline user activity.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an analyzer component that can receive information associated with the at least one user activity and the at least one online advertisement, analyzes the received information, and compares the received information to a subset of ad link criteria.

3. The system of claim 2, the subset of link criteria is based on at least one of a type of user activity, a period of time to perform the user activity, a date certain, or a combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 2, the analyzer component determines at least one of a type of incentive or an amount of incentive, or a combination thereof, based on a subset of incentive criteria.

5. The system of claim 4, the subset of incentive criteria is based on at least one of a type of user activity, a period of time to perform the user activity, a date certain, or a combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a distribution component that can facilitate distribution of an incentive to a user, the incentive is comprised of at least one of money, points, coupons, awards, products, or services, or a combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a token component that can facilitate generation of at least one token associated with the at least on online advertisement.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data store that can store information associated with the at least one of a user activity, the at least one online advertisement, a user, a client, or a merchant, an advertiser, or a combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 1, the at least one offline activity comprises at least one of a purchase, sampling of a product or service, registering for a product or service, filling out a form, or providing a review or comments regarding a product or service, or a combination thereof.

10. The system of claim 1, the at least one user activity further comprises at least one of viewing the at least one online advertisement, clicking on an object associated with the at least one online advertisement, pledging interest in the at least one online advertisement, or obtaining a token related to the at least one online advertisement, or a combination thereof.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising an intelligent component that makes an inference as to whether the at least one user activity is linked to the at least one online advertisement.

12. The system of claim 1, the at least one online advertisement is displayed in at least one of a web site, a web page, a blog, an e-mail, or an instant message, or a combination thereof.

13. At least one computer that comprises the ad link component of claim 1.

14. A method that facilitates determining if user activity is associated with an online advertisement, comprising:

evaluating information associated with at least one of the user activity, the online advertisement, or a user, or a combination thereof; and

determining if the user activity is associated with the online advertisement based on a subset of link criteria.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

comparing the information associated with at least one of the user activity, the online advertisement, or a user, or a combination thereof, with the subset of link criteria, the user activity comprising at least one of an online user activity or an offline user activity, or a combination thereof, and the subset of link criteria is based on at least one of a time for performing at least one user online activity, a time for performing at least one offline user activity, or a date certain, or a combination thereof;

distributing an incentive based on a subset of incentive criteria if the user activity is associated with the online advertisement.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving information associated with at least one of the user activity, the online advertisement, or a user, or a combination thereof, the at least one of the user activity comprising at least one of viewing information, click information, pledge information, token information, or a combination thereof, associated with the user.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving information associated with at least one of the link criteria or the subset of incentive criteria, or a combination thereof;

determining at least one of a type of incentive or an amount of incentive, or a combination thereof, based in part on the subset of incentive criteria.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

generating a token;

linking the token to the online advertisement.

19. A system for linking an activity of a user with an online advertisement, comprising:

means for analyzing data associated with at least one of activity of a user or an online advertisement, or a combination thereof; and

means for determining if the activity of a user can be associated with the online advertisement based on at least one ad link criteria.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

means for monitoring data associated with at least one of online activity of the user;

means for receiving data;

means for storing data;

means for generating at least one token associated with the online advertisement;

means for comparing the data associated with at least one of activity of the user or the online advertisement, or a combination thereof, with the at least one ad link criteria or one incentive criteria, or a combination thereof;

means for determining an incentive to provide the user if the at least one ad link criteria is satisfied; and

means for providing the incentive.