Advertising Platform Transaction Management

• US 20100262498A1
• Filed: 03/05/2010
• Published: 10/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AppNexus Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: O'Kelley, Charles Brian, Nolet, Michiel, Dilling, Andrew S., Lu, Frederick Bou-Hsuen
• Granted Patent: US 10,262,337 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.710
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation

Abstract

A computer-implemented method includes generating, using a transaction management computing subsystem of an advertising platform, a set of primary bid requests responsive to receipt of an advertising call. Each primary bid request includes information sufficient to characterize an impression consumer and information sufficient to characterize each of one or more impressions identified in the advertising call. The method also includes sending the set of primary bid requests from the transaction management computing subsystem to a first set of decisioning computing subsystems of the advertising platform. Each decisioning computing subsystem of the first set being operable to generate a bid response based on the information included in a primary bid request. The method further includes selecting, using the transaction management computing subsystem, a first bid response from among the bid responses generated by the first set of decisioning computing subsystems; and taking, by the transaction management computing subsystem, an action on the first bid response.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

generating, using a transaction management computing subsystem of an advertising platform, a set of primary bid requests responsive to receipt of an advertising call, each primary bid request including information sufficient to characterize an impression consumer and information sufficient to characterize each of one or more impressions identified in the advertising call;

sending the set of primary bid requests from the transaction management computing subsystem to a first set of decisioning computing subsystems of the advertising platform, each decisioning computing subsystem of the first set being operable to generate a bid response based on the information included in a primary bid request;

selecting, using the transaction management computing subsystem, a first bid response from among the bid responses generated by the first set of decisioning computing subsystems; and

taking, by the transaction management computing subsystem, an action on the first bid response.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating each primary bid request includes:

determining an estimated winning bid price based in part on a bid curve formed by an analysis if win rates of historical bid responses;

providing the estimated winning bid price as a parameter of the primary bid request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the first bid response includes:

comparing the bid prices provided in the bid responses generated by the first set of decisioning computing subsystems with an estimated winning bid price; and

setting a winning bid price based on results of the comparing.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein setting a winning bid price based on results of the comparing comprises one of the following:

if the highest bid price and the second highest bid price provided in the bid responses are both higher than the estimated winning bid price, designating the bid response associated with the highest bid price as the selected bid response and setting the winning bid price to be a value that is based on the second highest bid price provided in the bid responses;

if the highest bid price is higher than the estimated winning bid price and the second highest bid price is lower than the estimated winning price, designating the bid response associated with the highest bid price as the selected bid response and setting the winning bid price to be a value that is based on the estimated winning bid price; and

if the highest bid price and the second highest bid price are both lower than the estimated winning bid price, designating the bid response associated with the highest bid price as the selected bid response and setting the winning bid price to be a value based on to the highest bid price.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising call is received from an advertising server outside the advertising platform.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising call is received from a browser operable by the impression consumer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising call is received through a canonical name redirect.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein taking an action on the first bid response comprises:

generating an advertising call response that includes information sufficient to identify a creative associated with the first bid response; and

providing the advertising call response to a source of the advertising call.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving from the source of the advertising call a notification that the creative associated with the first bid response was served to the impression consumer.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein taking an action on the first bid response comprises:

generating a set of secondary bid requests each including information associated with the first bid response; and

sending the set of secondary bid requests to a second set of decisioning computing subsystems of the advertising platform.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

selecting, using the transaction management computing subsystem, a second bid response from among the bid responses generated by the second set of decisioning computing subsystems;

generating, using the transaction management computing subsystem, an advertising call response that includes information sufficient to identify a creative associated with the second bid response; and

sending the generated advertising call response to the source of the advertising call.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

selecting, using the transaction management computing subsystem, a second bid response from among the bid responses generated by the second set of decisioning computing subsystems;

generating, using the transaction management computing subsystem, an advertising call that includes information associated with the second bid response; and

sending the generated advertising call to a decisioning component outside the advertising platform.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the generated advertising call satisfies advertising call formatting requirements associated with the decisioning computing component outside the advertising platform.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the advertising call formatting requirements includes a specification of a bid price as a range of values.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the advertising call formatting requirements includes a specification of a priority metric.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein creative information associated with the first bid response is represented in the generated advertising call as a uniform resource locator, a javascript variable, or a cookie.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the primary bid requests include information selected according to predefined constraint criteria specified by an impression seller member with respect to each of the one or more advertisement spaces.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the primary bid requests include information selected according to predefined constraint criteria specified by an impression buyer member.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein for each transaction that occurs following the receipt of an advertising call by the transaction management computing subsystem, logging at least some of the following information:

a transaction identifier, an impression consumer, the impression consumer'"'"'s web browser, an ad tag, an impression, a creative selected to be served, the impression consumer'"'"'s response to a creative that was served, a decisioning computing subsystem identifier, a bid response, a winning bid price, an estimated winning bid price, an identifier of a third party data provider that contributed data towards the generation of a bid response, a bid response time, and a no-bid response.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising taking at least one or the following actions with respect to the logged information:

generating summarized information for the logged information at periodic intervals, and storing the summarized information for analysis;

disseminating at least some of the collected information as market ticker data, report data, or both;

disseminating an abstracted version of at least some of the collected information as market ticker data, report data, or both; and

generating a debug log that is based on at least some of the collected information, and sending the debug log to an impression seller member.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein for each transaction that occurs following the receipt of an advertising call by the transaction management computing subsystem,

generating a notify request specific to each decisioning computing subsystem, wherein the notify request includes at least some of the following information:

owner kept notification information, owner sold notification information, information about revenue or cost generated by the sale of an impression, non-owner win, lost, or pending win information, bid price information, winning bid price information, error notification information, impression information, and impression consumer information; and

sending the notify requests to respective decisioning computing subsystems.

22. A system that provides an advertising platform, the system comprising:

decisioning computing subsystems each including a processor that is coupled to computer readable media having computer readable instructions recorded thereon for generating a bid response based on information included in a bid request; and

a transaction management computing subsystem including a processor that is coupled to computer readable media having computer readable instructions recorded thereon, wherein the processor is operable to execute the computer readable instructions to;

generate a set of primary bid requests responsive to receipt of an advertising call, each primary bid request including information sufficient to characterize an impression consumer and information sufficient to characterize each of one or more impressions identified in the advertising call;

send the set of primary bid requests to a first set of the decisioning computing subsystems;

select a first bid response from among the bid responses generated by the first set of the decisioning computing subsystems; and

take an action on the first bid response.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the computer readable instructions to take an action on the first bid response include instructions to:

generate an advertising call response that includes information sufficient to identify a creative associated with the first bid response; and

provide the advertising call response to a source of the advertising call.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the computer readable media further includes computer readable instructions to:

generate log data identifying the creative associated with the first bid response as having been served to the impression consumer based at least in part on a notification received from the source of the advertising call.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the computer readable media further includes computer readable instructions to:

generate a set of secondary bid requests each including information associated with the first bid response; and

send the set of secondary bid requests to a second set of decisioning computing subsystems in the advertising platform.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the computer readable media further includes computer readable instructions to:

select a second bid response from among the bid responses generated by the second set of decisioning computing subsystems;

generate an advertising call response that includes information sufficient to identify a creative associated with the second bid response; and

send the generated advertising call response to the source of the advertising call.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the computer readable media further includes computer readable instructions to:

select a second bid response from among the bid responses generated by the second set of decisioning computing subsystems;

generate an advertising call that includes information associated with the second bid response; and

send the generated advertising call to a decisioning component of a system other than the system that provides the advertising platform.

28. The system of claim 22, wherein at least one of the decisioning computing subsystems is operable to receive a bid guide that specifies an impression buyer member-specific set of decisioning rules.

29. The system of claim 22, wherein at least one decisioning computing subsystem is associated with a plurality of impression buyer members.

30. The system of claim 22, wherein at least some of the decisioning computing subsystems and the transaction management computing subsystem are physically co-located within a data center.

31. The system of claim 22, wherein at least one decisioning computing subsystem is formed by a plurality of instances, each operable to generate bid responses on behalf of one or more impression buyer members.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the computer readable instructions to send the set of primary bid requests to a first set of the decisioning computing subsystems include instructions to perform load balancing among the instances of a first decisioning computing subsystem.

33. The system of claim 22, wherein the computer readable media further includes computer readable instructions to:

send a ready call to each of the decisioning computing subsystems; and

send the set of primary bid requests to the first set of decisioning computing subsystems selected based at least in part on receipt of respective responses to the ready call.

34. The system of claim 22, wherein the computer readable media further includes computer readable instructions to:

send the set of primary bid requests to the first set of decisioning computing subsystems selected according to predefined constraint criteria specified by an impression buyer member, the impression seller member, or both.