CLIENT-SIDE AD CACHING FOR LOWER AD SERVING LATENCY

• US 20110167486A1
• Filed: 01/05/2010
• Published: 07/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wong, Daniel, Ayloo, Kalyan
• Granted Patent: US 9,027,100 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/23 for mobile advertising

Abstract

Advertisements are served over the Internet to clients on demand. A client module executing on a client device fetches advertisements over the Internet from an advertisement server. The client module stores these advertisements in a cache on the client device. When an application executing on the client device needs to display an advertisement, instead of contacting the advertisement server directly, the application makes a call to the client module. The client module, instead of contacting the advertisement server immediately, determines whether the cache on the client device contains any advertisements that satisfy criteria specified by the application. If the cache does contain advertisements that satisfy the criteria, then the client module provides those advertisements to the application. Otherwise, then the client module requests criteria-satisfying advertisements from the advertisement server at that time, and provides at least one of those to the application.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising steps of:

requesting one or more advertisements over the Internet from an advertisement server;

receiving the one or more advertisements over the Internet from the advertisement server in response to said requesting;

storing the one or more advertisements in a cache on a client device in response to said receiving;

receiving, from an application executing on the client device, an advertisement request for advertisements that satisfy specified criteria;

in response to receiving the advertisement request, determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria; and

in response to determining that the cache contains one or more particular advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria, providing the one or more particular advertisements to the application from the cache;

wherein said steps are performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the advertisement request for advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria comprises intercepting the advertisement request at a client module that executes on the client device, wherein the advertisement request was directed by the application toward the advertisement server rather than toward the client module.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement request specifies both (a) a minimum number of immediately needed advertisements and (b) a maximum number of advertisements, and further comprising:

in response to determining that the cache currently does not contain a quantity of advertisements that is as great as the minimum number, requesting exactly the minimum number of advertisements over the Internet from the advertisement server;

in response to receiving the minimum number of advertisements from the advertisement server, returning the minimum number of advertisements to the application;

after returning the minimum number of advertisements to the application, and while the application is interacting with a user, asynchronously, relative to the application, requesting, from the advertisement server, an additional number of advertisements needed to fill the cache with a quantity of advertisements equal to the maximum number minus the minimum number;

receiving the additional number of advertisements from the advertisement server while the application is interacting with the user; and

storing the additional number of advertisements in the cache.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria comprises determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that have dimensions that are equal to dimensions specified by the criteria.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria comprises determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that are associated with a time period into which a current time, at which said determining is performed, falls.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria comprises determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that are associated with a geographical region in which the client device is currently located when said determining is performed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria comprises determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that are associated with a user characteristic of a user of the application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the cache contains advertisements that are served to multiple different applications that execute on the client device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of storing the one or more advertisements in a cache on a client device comprises encrypting the advertisements before storing the advertisements in the cache, wherein the step of providing the one or more particular advertisements to the application from the cache comprises decrypting encrypted versions of the one or more particular advertisements in the cache before providing the one or more particular advertisements to the application, and further comprising determining whether a credential received from the application matches a credential that is associated with the one or more particular advertisements.

10. A volatile or non-volatile computer-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform steps comprising:

requesting one or more advertisements over the Internet from an advertisement server;

receiving the one or more advertisements over the Internet from the advertisement server in response to said requesting;

storing the one or more advertisements in a cache on a client device in response to said receiving;

receiving, from an application executing on the client device, an advertisement request for advertisements that satisfy specified criteria;

in response to receiving the advertisement request, determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria; and

in response to determining that the cache contains one or more particular advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria, providing the one or more particular advertisements to the application from the cache;

wherein said steps are performed by one or more computing devices.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the step of receiving the advertisement request for advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria comprises intercepting the advertisement request at a client module that executes on the client device, wherein the advertisement request was directed by the application toward the advertisement server rather than toward the client module.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the advertisement request specifies both (a) a minimum number of immediately needed advertisements and (b) a maximum number of advertisements, and wherein said steps further comprise:

in response to determining that the cache currently does not contain a quantity of advertisements that is as great as the minimum number, requesting exactly the minimum number of advertisements over the Internet from the advertisement server;

in response to receiving the minimum number of advertisements from the advertisement server, returning the minimum number of advertisements to the application;

after returning the minimum number of advertisements to the application, and while the application is interacting with a user, asynchronously, relative to the application, requesting, from the advertisement server, an additional number of advertisements needed to fill the cache with a quantity of advertisements equal to the maximum number minus the minimum number;

receiving the additional number of advertisements from the advertisement server while the application is interacting with the user; and

storing the additional number of advertisements in the cache.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the step of determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria comprises determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that have dimensions that are equal to dimensions specified by the criteria.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the step of determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria comprises determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that are associated with a time period into which a current time, at which said determining is performed, falls.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the step of determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria comprises determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that are associated with a geographical region in which the client device is currently located when said determining is performed.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the step of determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that satisfy the specified criteria comprises determining whether the cache contains any advertisements that are associated with a user characteristic of a user of the application.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the cache contains advertisements that are served to multiple different applications that execute on the client device.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the step of storing the one or more advertisements in a cache on a client device comprises encrypting the advertisements before storing the advertisements in the cache, wherein the step of providing the one or more particular advertisements to the application from the cache comprises decrypting encrypted versions of the one or more particular advertisements in the cache before providing the one or more particular advertisements to the application, and further comprising determining whether a credential received from the application matches a credential that is associated with the one or more particular advertisements.

19. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors;

an application;

an advertisement cache; and

a client module that;

(a) intercepts a request from the application,

(b) determines whether the advertisement cache currently contains a minimum number of advertisements specified by the request,

(c) requests exactly the minimum number of advertisements over the Internet in response to a determination that the advertisement cache does not currently contain the minimum number of advertisements specified by the request,

(d) receives the minimum number of advertisements over the Internet,

(e) returns the minimum number of advertisements to the application in response to the request;

(f) after returning the minimum number of advertisements to the application in response to the request, asynchronously, relative to the application, requesting, over the Internet, a quantity of advertisements that is equal to the maximum number minus the minimum number;

(g) receiving, asynchronously relative to the application, said quantity of advertisements over the Internet; and

(h) storing the quantity of advertisements in the cache.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein requesting exactly the minimum number of advertisements comprises at least one of:

requesting one or more advertisements that have dimensions specified by the request;

requesting one or more advertisements that are associated with a time period into which a current time falls;

requesting one or more advertisements that are associated with a geographical region in which said apparatus is currently located;

requesting one or more advertisements that are associated with a user characteristic of a user of the application; and

requesting one or more advertisements that are associated with an identity of the application.