VIRTUAL BILLBOARD DISPLAY ON A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20090149199A1
• Filed: 12/06/2007
• Published: 06/11/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Maghoul, Farzin
• Granted Patent: US 9,064,019 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0212 Chance discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A method, system, and apparatus are directed to providing advertising information to a mobile device over a network. A request is received from the mobile device. The request may comprise a query, geo-location information, and/or a user preference. If the request comprises the query, a search result is generated based on a search for the received query and/or the received geo-location information. At least one virtual billboard is determined, wherein the at least one virtual billboard is in proximity with a first geo-location identified by the received geo-location information and/or a second geo-location associated with the search result. The virtual billboard may also be based on a type of the virtual billboard, a time, a user preference (criterion), and/or a keyword included in the query. The virtual billboard is provided to the mobile device. An advertising usage is recorded for the provided virtual billboard.

Claims

1. A method for providing advertising information to a mobile device over a network, comprising:

receiving a request from the mobile device over the network;

if the request includes a query and excludes geo-location information;

generating a search result based on the query;

determining the at least one virtual billboard in proximity with a first geo-location associated with the search result;

if the request includes the query and includes the geo-location information;

generating the search result based on the query and the geo-location information;

determining the at least one virtual billboard in proximity with the first geo-location or a second geo-location identified by the geo-location information; and

providing the at least one virtual billboard to the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the geo-location information comprises Global Positioning System (GPS) data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the request includes the geo-location information and excludes the query;

determining the at least one virtual billboard in proximity with the second geo-location identified by the geo-location information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the request includes the geo-location information and excludes the query;

generating the search result based on the geo-location information;

determining the at least one virtual billboard in proximity with the first geo-location.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recording an advertising usage for the provided at least one virtual billboard.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving traffic information for the first geo-location or the second geo-location;

generating a price for the at least one virtual billboard based on the received traffic information;

providing the at least one virtual billboard for purchase based on the price; and

receiving a purchase of a right to associate an advertisement with the at least one virtual billboard, before providing the at least one virtual billboard to the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ordering the at least one virtual billboard based on a proximity between each location of each of the at least one virtual billboard and the geo-location information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the at least one virtual billboard based on a preference of a user associated with the mobile device.

9. A mobile device for communicating geo-location information over a network, comprising:

a transceiver for communicating data;

an output interface configured to communicate multimedia information; and

a processor configured to perform actions comprising;

sending a request;

receiving at least one virtual billboard in proximity with a geo-location identified by the request or another geo-location associated with a search result; and

providing the at least one virtual billboard an output interface of the mobile device.

10. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein the actions further comprises:

if the mobile device is capable of generating Global Positioning System (GPS) data, including the generated GPS data with the request.

11. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein the actions further comprises:

providing an alert for an availability of the at least one virtual billboard.

12. The mobile device of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving the search result based on the request.

13. The mobile device of claim 9, wherein the actions further comprises:

sending traffic information over the network.

14. An apparatus for providing information to a mobile device over a network, comprising:

a transceiver for communicating data;

a processor configured to perform actions comprising;

receiving, from the mobile device, a request;

generating a search result based on a first search for a query and geo-location information, if the received request includes the geo-location information;

generating the at least one search result based on a second search for the query, if the received request excludes the geo-location information;

determining the at least one virtual billboard associated with the geo-location information, if the received request excludes the query; and

providing the at least one virtual billboard to the mobile device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the geo-location information comprises a geo-location point based on a Global Positioning System (GPS) data, or a geo-location area based on the GPS data.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the actions further comprises:

providing an auction for the at least one virtual billboard before providing the at least one virtual billboard.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the actions further comprises:

determining a price for the advertising usage, wherein the price is based on a plurality of Global Positioning System (GPS) data associated with a plurality of mobile devices in proximity with another geo-location associated with the at least one virtual billboard, or based on an amount of historical query results associated with the other geo-location; and

receiving a payment for the advertising usage based on the price.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the actions further comprises:

selecting, before providing, the at least one virtual billboard from a plurality of virtual billboards based on a user preference criterion, wherein the plurality of virtual billboards is determined by the received request.

19. A processor readable medium for providing information to a mobile device over a network, comprising instructions executable by a processor to perform actions comprising:

receiving a request;

if the request includes geo-location information associated with the mobile device and excludes a query;

determining at least one virtual billboard in proximity with a first geo-location identified by the geo-location information;

if the request includes the query and excludes the geo-location information;

generating a search result based on the query;

determining the at least one virtual billboard in proximity with a second geo-location associated with the search result;

if the request includes the query and includes the geo-location information;

generating a search result based on the query and the geo-location information;

determining the at least one virtual billboard in proximity with the first geo-location or the second geo-location; and

providing the at least one virtual billboard to the mobile device.

20. The processor readable medium of claim 19, wherein providing the at least one virtual billboard comprises:

filtering the at least one virtual billboard based on at least one of a user preference, a type of the at least one virtual billboard, a time, or a keyword included in the query.

21. A system for providing information to a mobile device over a network, comprising:

a client device configured to perform actions comprising;

sending a request; and

receiving at least one virtual billboard in response to the request; and

a server device configured to perform actions comprising;

if the request includes geo-location information associated with the mobile device and excludes a query;

determining the at least one virtual billboard in proximity with a first geo-location identified by the geo-location information;

if the request includes the query and excludes the geo-location information;

generating a search result based on the query;

determining the at least one virtual billboard in proximity with a second geo-location associated with the search result;

if the request includes the query and includes the geo-location information;

generating a search result based on the query and the geo-location information;

determining the at least one virtual billboard in proximity with the first geo-location or the second geo-location; and

providing the at least one virtual billboard to the mobile device.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein providing the at least one virtual billboard comprises:

filtering the at least one virtual billboard based on at least one of a user preference, a type of the at least one virtual billboard, a time, or a keyword included in the query.