SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING ELECTRONIC ADVERTISING RESPONSIVE TO TRAFFIC CONGESTION

• US 20090099910A1
• Filed: 10/11/2007
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Merkin, Aaron E., Pagan, William G.
• Application Number:
  US11/870,634
• Publication Number:
  US 20090099910A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.69
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising

Abstract

A system and method for counting vehicle traffic, for providing electronic advertising, for providing a billing system, and for providing an auction system having the following features: enabling the owner of an electronic advertising display device to charge advertisers per number of vehicles which pass the advertisement; enabling advertisers to bid to have their respective advertisement shown for a particular congestion level and dynamically changing the advertisement shown; cycling through a series of advertisements and based on calculated average vehicle speed; determining how many of the advertisements were likely viewed by the occupants of a vehicle; and calculating the average number of viewers of the advertisements.

Claims

1. A system for managing electronic advertising of advertisements from advertisers responsive to traffic congestion of vehicles comprising:

a) a traffic congestion detection apparatus for estimating aggregate vehicle flow and/or individual vehicle count and determining congestion level;

b) electronic advertising display device such as a video billboard for displaying one or more advertisements from one or more advertisers;

c) a control system for managing the currently displayed one or more advertisements;

d) an auction system for enabling advertisers to bid for display of their respective advertisement based on the determined congestion level, individual vehicle count or aggregate vehicle flow; and

e) a billing/accounting system for calculating charges based on frequency with which advertisement is displayed, and/or the determined congestion level, individual vehicle count or aggregate vehicle flow that pass within visible range of the advertising media.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a communications channel connected to each element for allowing the elements to communicate with each another.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising advertisements g0, g1, g2 . . . gN provided by the advertisers for being displayed on the electronic advertising display device.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the traffic congestion detection apparatus communicates with the control system providing information on the current traffic congestion level.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the control system relays congestion information to the auction system, and the one or more advertisers place bids to have their advertisement (g0, g1, g2 . . . gN) shown.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein, as the congestion levels reported by the traffic congestion detection apparatus to the control system change, and the control system updates the advertisement (g0, g1, g2 . . . gN) shown on electronic advertising display device.

7. A method for managing electronic advertising of advertisements from advertisers responsive to traffic congestion of vehicles, the method being run in a system comprising a traffic congestion detection apparatus for estimating aggregate vehicle flow and/or individual vehicle count and determining congestion level, electronic advertising display device such as a video billboard for displaying one or more advertisements from one or more advertisers, a control system for managing the currently displayed one or more advertisements, an auction system for enabling advertisers to bid for display of their respective advertisement based on the determined congestion level, individual vehicle count or aggregate vehicle flow, a billing/accounting system for calculating charges based on frequency with which advertisement is displayed, and/or the determined congestion level, individual vehicle count or aggregate vehicle flow that pass within visible range of the advertising media, and a communications channel connected to each element for allowing the elements to communicate with each another, the method comprising the steps of:

a) displaying advertisements g0, g1, g2 . . . gN provided by the advertisers on the electronic advertising display device;

b) determining the current traffic congestion level by the traffic congestion detection;

c) communicating the current traffic congestion level by the traffic congestion detection apparatus to the control system;

d) relaying, by the control system, the congestion information to the auction system; and

e) receiving, from the one or more advertisers, bids to have their respective advertisement shown.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of, as the congestion levels reported by the traffic congestion detection apparatus to the control system change, updating, by the control system the advertisement (g0, g1, g2 . . . gN) shown on electronic advertising display device.

9. A method for managing electronic advertising of advertisements from advertisers responsive to traffic congestion of vehicles, the method being run in a system comprising a traffic congestion detection apparatus for estimating aggregate vehicle flow and/or individual vehicle count and determining congestion level, electronic advertising display device such as a video billboard for displaying one or more advertisements from one or more advertisers, a control system for managing the currently displayed one or more advertisements, an auction system for enabling advertisers to bid for display of their respective advertisement based on the determined congestion level, individual vehicle count or aggregate vehicle flow, a billing/accounting system for calculating charges based on frequency with which advertisement is displayed, and/or the determined congestion level, individual vehicle count or aggregate vehicle flow that pass within visible range of the advertising media, and a communications channel connected to each element for allowing the elements to communicate with each another, the method comprising the steps of:

a) maintaining, by the traffic congestion detection apparatus, an absolute count of the number of vehicles which pass the electronic advertising display device;

b) controlling, by the control system, the electronic advertising display device;

c) causing electronic advertising display device to cycle through one or more displayed advertisements; and

d) determining, by the control system, the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while an advertisement has been displayed.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein step d comprises the steps of determining, by the control system, the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while advertisement g1 is displayed, determining, by the control system, the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while advertisement g1 and g2 are displayed and subtracting the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while advertisement g1 was displayed from the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while advertisement g1 and g2 are displayed thereby determining the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while advertisement g2 is displayed.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of the control system passing this total to billing/accounting system.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of the billing/accounting system calculating the total charge to one or more advertisers by multiplying the charge per vehicle by the number of vehicles reported by control system.

13. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for operating in a system comprising a network I/O, a CPU, and one or more databases, for implementing a method for managing electronic advertising of advertisements from advertisers responsive to traffic congestion of vehicles, the system further comprising a traffic congestion detection apparatus for estimating aggregate vehicle flow and/or individual vehicle count and determining congestion level, electronic advertising display device such as a video billboard for displaying one or more advertisements from one or more advertisers, a control system for managing the currently displayed one or more advertisements, an auction system for enabling advertisers to bid for display of their respective advertisement based on the determined congestion level, individual vehicle count or aggregate vehicle flow, a billing/accounting system for calculating charges based on frequency with which advertisement is displayed, and/or the determined congestion level, individual vehicle count or aggregate vehicle flow that pass within visible range of the advertising media, and a communications channel connected to each element for allowing the elements to communicate with each another, the method comprising the steps of:

a) maintaining, by the traffic congestion detection apparatus, an absolute count of the number of vehicles which pass the electronic advertising display device;

b) controlling, by the control system, the electronic advertising display device;

c) causing electronic advertising display device to cycle through one or more displayed advertisements; and

d) determining, by the control system, the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while an advertisement has been displayed.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein step d of the method comprises the steps of determining, by the control system, the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while advertisement g1 is displayed, determining, by the control system, the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while advertisement g1 and g2 are displayed and subtracting the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while advertisement g1 was displayed from the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while advertisement g1 and g2 are displayed thereby determining the total number of vehicles which have passed electronic advertising display device while advertisement g2 is displayed.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the method further comprises the step of the control system passing this total to billing/accounting system.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the method further comprises the step of the billing/accounting system calculating the total charge to one or more advertisers by multiplying the charge per vehicle by the number of vehicles reported by control system.