MAIL MONETIZATION - REVENUE SHARING MODEL

• US 20090083142A1
• Filed: 09/25/2007
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Keswani, Girish
• Granted Patent: US 9,836,722 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.360
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• 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 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user

Abstract

This disclosure describes systems and methods for including advertisements in outgoing electronic messages and rewarding the sender for every recipient who clicks on an included advertisement. The disclosure further describes various methods for selecting keywords used to generate the advertisement as well as a method for allowing the sender to directly select the advertisement from an advertisement listing. Furthermore, the disclosure discusses various forms of rewarding the sender including a revenue sharing method.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a transmission request from a sender, the transmission request identifying a text message and one or more recipients of the text message;

generating an electronic message containing the text message and an advertisement;

transmitting the electronic message to at least one recipient;

receiving a notification that a recipient selected the advertisement; and

rewarding the sender.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

prompting the sender for permission to include advertisements with text messages identified by transmission requests from the sender; and

receiving the permission from the sender.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

storing, in a profile associated with the sender, information indicating that the permission was received; and

in response to receiving the transmission request, verifying that the permission has been received from the sender.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating the advertisement using at least one keyword.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating the advertisement using at least one user profile.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

selecting the at least one keyword from the text message.

7. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

receiving, from the sender, at least one suggested description associated with the recipient; and

using the at least one suggested description to select the at least one keyword.

8. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

accessing a first set of information regarding the sender; and

selecting the keyword from the first set of information.

9. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

accessing a second set of information regarding the recipient; and

selecting the keyword from the second set of information.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying a listing of advertisements to the sender;

receiving, from the sender, a selection of the advertisement for inclusion in the electronic message.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein rewarding is selected from:

paying the sender;

giving the sender a gift certificate;

bestowing names upon the sender;

granting the sender special privileges;

granting the sender access to special services; and

granting the sender discounted services.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein rewarding further comprises:

receiving a payment from an advertiser associated with the advertisement; and

paying the sender an amount based on the payment received from the advertiser.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a transmission request from a sender, the transmission request identifying a text message and one or more recipients of the text message;

generating an electronic message containing the text message and an advertisement selected by the sender; and

transmitting the electronic message to the one or more recipients.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

prompting the sender for permission to include advertisements with text messages, the text messages identified by transmission requests from the sender; and

receiving the permission from the sender.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

storing, in a profile associated with the sender, information indicating that the permission was received; and

in response to receiving the transmission request, verifying that the permission has been received from the sender.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

receiving a notification that a recipient selected the advertisement;

billing an advertiser associated with the advertisement a first amount; and

rewarding the sender with a second amount based on the first amount.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

displaying a listing of advertisements to the sender;

receiving, from the sender, a selection of the advertisement for inclusion in the electronic message.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

receiving a notification that a recipient selected the advertisement;

billing an advertiser associated with the advertisement a first amount; and

rewarding the sender with a third amount based on the first amount.

19. A system comprising:

an electronic message system for receiving a transmission request from a sender, the transmission request identifying a text message and one or more recipients of the text message, and generating an electronic message containing the text message and an advertisement selected by the sender.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising:

an advertisement engine for selecting advertisements based on the keyword.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the system communicates with the sender and the recipient via a network.

22. The system of claim 19 wherein the network is an Internet.

23. The system of claim 19 wherein the electronic message system communicates with the advertisement engine via the network.