Generating And Presenting Targeted Advertisements Including Representations Of Subject Individuals

• US 20090228335A1
• Filed: 02/26/2009
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ByteDance Inc. (ByteDance Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: LivingSocial Incorporated (Groupon Incorporated)
• Inventors: Gentzel, David Robert, Niyogi, Sourabh
• Granted Patent: US 10,949,485 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute

Abstract

Advertisements are generated and selected for display to users, wherein the advertisements include representations of subject individuals. These subject individuals can be friends with whom the user interacts on the Internet and/or any other contributors who may or may not have expertise with regard to the subject matter of the advertisement. A subject individual can be portrayed in an advertisement by including any type of representation of the individual.

Ranks for the subject individuals are determined based on the subject individuals'"'"' interactions with advertisements and/or on other factors. An advertisement is selected and presented to a user based on a score derived from friends'"'"' and/or contributors'"'"' interactions with the advertisement. According to various embodiments of the invention, a method is provided for choosing which advertisement(s) to show to a user and which subject individuals to portray in the advertisements.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for selecting and presenting an advertisement to a user, comprising:

at a server, receiving a request for an advertisement to be presented to a user;

for each of a plurality of advertisements, determining at least one rank for a subject individual, each rank comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of;

a friend rank, comprising a metric associated with at least one subject individual with whom the user has interacted; and

a contributor rank, indicating a degree of authoritativeness of a subject individual with respect to subject matter of the advertisement;

for each advertisement, generating a score based at least in part on the determined rank;

selecting an advertisement based at least in part on the generated scores; and

electronically transmitting the selected advertisement to a client machine for output thereon, wherein the advertisement includes a representation of at least one subject individual selected from the group consisting of;

a subject individual with whom the user has interacted; and

a subject individual who has contributed input with respect to the subject matter of the advertisement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the representation of at least one subject individual comprises a representation of at least one individual with whom the user has interacted.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the representation of at least one subject individual comprises a representation of a contributor associated with subject matter of the advertisement.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the representation of at least one subject individual comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a picture of the subject individual;

a name of the subject individual;

an icon representing the subject individual; and

an identifier for the subject individual.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an advertisement based at least in part on the generated score comprises selecting an advertisement having a generated score exceeding a threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one rank comprises a friend rank associated with at least one subject individual with whom the user has interacted on an electronically implemented social network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one rank comprises a friend rank indicating a degree of interaction between the user and the subject individual with whom the user has interacted.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one rank comprises a friend rank generated responsive to at least one interaction between the individual with whom the user has interacted and a web-based component associated with the advertisement.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the representation of at least one subject individual comprises an indication of the subject individual'"'"'s previous interaction with an advertisement.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining at least one rank comprises determining a plurality of ranks and aggregating the determined ranks.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected advertisement is output as a component of a web page display.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected advertisement comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a visual advertisement;

an audio advertisement;

an animated advertisement;

a video;

a text based advertisement;

a text message;

an instant message;

an email message;

a web page;

a banner; and

a portion of a web page.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the user'"'"'s interaction with the advertisement; and

storing the user'"'"'s interaction in a storage medium.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a score based at least in part on the determined rank comprises generating a score based on the determined rank combined with a user score based on the user'"'"'s history of interactions on the Internet.

15. A computer-implemented method for selecting and presenting an advertisement to a user, comprising:

recording a subject individual'"'"'s interaction with a user interface element;

selecting an advertisement for a user, based on a degree of interaction between the user and the subject individual, and based on the recorded subject individual'"'"'s interaction with a user interface element; and

presenting the selected advertisement to the user, the selected advertisement comprising a representation of the subject individual and indicating the subject individual'"'"'s interaction with the user interface element.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the user interface element comprises the advertisement.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the user interface element comprises an advertisement distinct from the advertisement presented to the user.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the user interface element comprises an advertisement substantially identical to the advertisement presented to the user.

19. A computer program product for selecting and presenting an advertisement to a user, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium; and

computer program code, encoded on the medium, for causing an electronic device to perform the steps of;

at a server, receiving a request for an advertisement to be presented to a user;

for each of a plurality of advertisements, determining at least one rank for a subject individual, each rank comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of;

a friend rank, comprising a metric associated with at least one subject individual with whom the user has interacted; and

a contributor rank, indicating a degree of authoritativeness of a subject individual with respect to subject matter of the advertisement;

for each advertisement, generating a score based at least in part on the determined rank;

selecting an advertisement based at least in part on the generated scores; and

electronically transmitting the selected advertisement to a client machine for output thereon, wherein the advertisement includes a representation of at least one subject individual selected from the group consisting of;

a subject individual with whom the user has interacted; and

a subject individual who has contributed input with respect to the subject matter of the advertisement.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the representation of at least one subject individual comprises a representation of at least one individual with whom the user has interacted.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the representation of at least one subject individual comprises a representation of a contributor associated with subject matter of the advertisement.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the at least one rank comprises a friend rank associated with at least one subject individual with whom the user has interacted on an electronically implemented social network.

23. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the at least one rank comprises a friend rank indicating a degree of interaction between the user and the subject individual with whom the user has interacted.

24. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the at least one rank comprises a friend rank generated responsive to at least one interaction between the subject individual with whom the user has interacted and a web-based component associated with the advertisement.

25. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer program code for determining at least one rank comprises computer program code for determining a plurality of ranks and aggregating the determined ranks.

26. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the selected advertisement comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a visual advertisement;

an audio advertisement;

an animated advertisement;

a video;

a text based advertisement;

a text message;

an instant message;

an email message;

a web page;

a banner; and

a portion of a web page.

27. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising computer program code for:

receiving the user'"'"'s interaction with the advertisement; and

storing the user'"'"'s interaction in a storage medium.

28. A computer program product for selecting and presenting an advertisement to a user, comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium; and

computer program code, encoded on the medium, for causing an electronic device to perform the steps of;

recording a subject individual'"'"'s interaction with a user interface element;

selecting an advertisement for a user, based on a degree of interaction between the user and the subject individual and based on the recorded subject individual'"'"'s interaction with a user interface element; and

causing the selected advertisement to be presented to the user, the selected advertisement comprising a representation of the subject individual and indicating the subject individual'"'"'s interaction with the user interface element.

29. A system for selecting and presenting an advertisement to a user, comprising:

a server, for receiving a request for an advertisement to be presented to a user;

an advertisement rank computation and selection engine, for;

for each of a plurality of advertisements, determining at least one rank, each rank comprising at least one selected from the group consisting of;

a friend rank, comprising a metric associated with at least one subject individual with whom the user has interacted; and

a contributor rank, indicating a degree of authoritativeness of a subject individual with respect to subject matter of the advertisement;

for each advertisement, generating a score based at least in part on the determined rank; and

selecting an advertisement based at least in part on the generated scores; and

a transmission device, for electronically transmitting the selected advertisement to a client machine for output thereon, wherein the advertisement includes a representation of at least one subject individual selected from the group consisting of;

a subject individual with whom the user has interacted; and

a subject individual who has contributed input with respect to the subject matter of the advertisement.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the representation of at least one subject individual comprises a representation of at least one individual with whom the user has interacted.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the representation of at least one subject individual comprises a representation of a contributor associated with subject matter of the advertisement.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the at least one rank comprises a friend rank associated with at least one individual with whom the user has interacted on an electronically implemented social network.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein the at least one rank comprises a friend rank indicating a degree of interaction between the user and the subject individual with whom the user has interacted.

34. The system of claim 29, wherein the at least one rank comprises a friend rank generated responsive to at least one interaction between the subject individual with whom the user has interacted and a web-based component associated with the advertisement.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein the advertisement rank computation and selection engine determines at least one rank by determining a plurality of ranks and aggregating the determined ranks.

36. The system of claim 29, wherein the selected advertisement comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a visual advertisement;

an audio advertisement;

an animated advertisement;

a video;

a text based advertisement;

a text message;

an instant message;

an email message;

a web page;

a banner; and

a portion of a web page.

37. The system of claim 29, further comprising:

an interaction receiving engine for receiving the user'"'"'s interaction with the advertisement; and

a storage device, for storing the user'"'"'s interaction.

38. A system for selecting and presenting an advertisement to a user, comprising:

an interaction receiving engine for recording a of a subject individual'"'"'s interaction with a user interface element;

an advertisement rank computation and selection engine, for selecting an advertisement for a user, based on a degree of interaction between the user and the subject individual and based on the recorded subject individual'"'"'s interaction with a user interface element; and

a transmission device, for electronically transmitting the selected advertisement to a client machine associated with the user for display thereon, the selected advertisement comprising a representation of the subject individual and indicating the subject individual'"'"'s interaction with the user interface element.