RANKING ADVERTISEMENTS SELECTED FROM ONE OR MORE DATABASES BY GEORELEVANCE

• US 20120150627A1
• Filed: 12/10/2010
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hicken, Wendell, Melick, Joshua
• Granted Patent: US 10,565,610 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.42
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0243 Comparative campaigns
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements

Abstract

A search request is received from a user and the user'"'"'s context is determined. A publisher is determined for the search request. Candidate advertisements are retrieved from at least one advertisement database to create an advertisement candidate pool, the retrieving based on the user context and the search request. A set of advertisements are selected from the advertisement candidate pool. A georelevance is determined for each of the set of advertisements. The set of advertisements is sorted, wherein the advertisements are sorted based on, at least in part, the georelevance of each of the set of advertisements. The sorted set of advertisements is then transmitted to the user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a search request from a user;

determining a context of the user;

retrieving, via a data processing system, candidate advertisements from at least one advertisement database to create an advertisement candidate pool, the retrieving based on the user context and the search request;

selecting, via the data processing system, a set of advertisements from the advertisement candidate pool;

determining, via the data processing system, a georelevance for each of the set of advertisements;

sorting the set of advertisements, creating a sorted set of advertisements, wherein the advertisements are sorted based on, at least in part, the georelevance of each of the set of advertisements; and

sending the sorted set of advertisements to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, additionally comprising:

determining a publisher for the search request, wherein the georelevance of each of the set of advertisements is determined using a georelevance determination technique selected based on a sensitivity of the publisher to distance, a primary search category for the search request, and the input geo accuracy of the search request.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the georelevance determination technique is a distance significance factor technique.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the distance significance factor technique assigns each of the set of advertisements into one of a plurality of distance bands, each of the plurality of distance bands comprising a minimum distance from a geographic point and a maximum distance from a geographic point, and

the geographic point is a search center determined using the search request and the user context, and

each of the set of advertisements is assigned to a respective one of the plurality of distance bands where a distance from the geographic point associated with the respective one of the set of advertisements falls within the respective one of the plurality of distance bands, and

wherein each of the set of advertisements is sorted by the respective one of the plurality of distance bands in which the respective one of the set of advertisements falls.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the set of advertisements are secondarily sorted by performance, such that advertisements falling within a respective one of the plurality of distance bands are sorted by performance with respect to one another.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein:

each of the set of advertisements is assigned into one of the plurality of distance bands using one of a set of distance factors calculated using an equation of the form;

y=m×

+b

wherein

y is the distance significance factor

x is a distance from the geographic point b is a minimum distance significance factor

m is a distance sensitivity factor

wherein each of a set of progressively increasing values of x are used to calculate a respective one of the set of distance significance factors,

wherein for each of the set of advertisements, a respective one of the plurality of distance significance factors is selected where the distance from the geographic point associated with the respective one of the set of advertisements is at least equal to the value of x associated with the respective one of the plurality of distance significance factors and less than the next greatest value of x.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the georelevance determination technique is a direct match technique.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the georelevance determination technique is a distance boosting technique.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the distance boosting technique assigns each of the set of advertisements into one of a plurality of distance bands, each of the plurality of distance bands comprising a minimum distance from a geographic point and a maximum distance from a geographic point, and

the geographic point is a search center determined using the search request and the user context, and

each of the set of advertisements is assigned to a respective one of the plurality of distance bands where a distance from the geographic point associated with the respective one of the set of advertisements falls within the respective one of the plurality of distance bands, and

a distance boosting factor is assigned to each of the set of advertisements based on the respective one of the plurality of distance bands into which the respective advertisements falls,

wherein the set of advertisements is sorted using the distance boosting factors assigned to each of the set of advertisements as boosting factors.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the performance of each of the set of advertisements is additionally used as boosting factors in sorting the set of advertisements.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the distance boosting factor assigned to each of the set of advertisements is a distance band boosting factor relating to the respective one of the plurality of distance bands, and

the distance band boosting factor for each of the plurality of distance bands is determined using an equation of the form

y=b−

mx

wherein

y is the distance boosting factor

x is a distance from the geographic point

b is a maximum distance boosting factor

m is a distance sensitivity factor

wherein, for each of the plurality of distance bands, x is the respective minimum distance from the geographic point associated with the respective distance band.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the georelevance determination technique does not assign a georelevance to any of the set of advertisements.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein the selecting the set of advertisements comprises selecting the set of advertisements using weighted advertisement rotation.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein prior to selecting the set of advertisements, advertisements in the advertisement candidate pool are sorted into at least a first bucket and a second bucket, the first bucket having a higher advertisement selection priority than the second bucket, and the selecting further comprises selecting the set of advertisements using weighted advertisement rotation.

19. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is additionally configured to:

determine a publisher for the search request, wherein the georelevance of each of the set of advertisements is determined using a georelevance determination technique selected based on a sensitivity of the publisher to distance, a primary search category for the search request, and the input geo accuracy of the search request.

8. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the direct match technique assigns a georelevance to each of the set of advertisements based on how closely the respective advertisement matches the input search request.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon computer readable instructions, the instructions causing a data processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a search request from a user;

determining a context of the user;

retrieving, via a data processing system, candidate advertisements from at least one advertisement database to create an advertisement candidate pool, the retrieving based on the user context and the search request;

selecting, via the data processing system, a set of advertisements from the advertisement candidate pool;

determining, via the data processing system, a georelevance for each of the set of advertisements;

sorting the set of advertisements, creating a sorted set of advertisements, wherein the advertisements are sorted based on, at least in part, the georelevance of each of the set of advertisements; and

sending the sorted set of advertisements to the user.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, additionally comprising:

determining a publisher for the search request, wherein the georelevance of each of the set of advertisements is determined using a georelevance determination technique selected based on a sensitivity of the publisher to distance, a primary search category for the search request, and the input geo accuracy of the search request.

18. A data processing system, comprising:

memory storing at least one advertisement database;

at least one processor coupled to access the memory, the at least one processor configured to;

receive a search request from a user;

determine a context of the user;

retrieve candidate advertisements from at least one advertisement database to create an advertisement candidate pool, the retrieving based on the user context and the search request;

select a set of advertisements from the advertisement candidate pool;

determine a georelevance for each of the set of advertisements;

sorting the set of advertisements, creating a sorted set of advertisements, wherein the advertisements are sorted based on, at least in part, the georelevance of each of the set of advertisements; and

sending the sorted set of advertisements.