Enabling Advertisers to Bid on Abstract Objects
First Claim
1. One or more computer-readable media having embodied thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method for allowing a first advertiser to bid on an abstract object targeted thereby, the method comprising:
- providing an index in a location accessible to advertisers, thereby allowing the first advertiser to view the entries of the index, wherein the index includes entries referencing one or more abstract objects, wherein the one or more abstract objects each describe a specific intent of a user when implementing a search event, and wherein the specific intent is distilled from a compilation of related user interactions with a search engine;
receiving from the first advertiser a campaign specification targeting at least one abstract object from the index and placing a bid for the at least one targeted abstract object; and
storing the bid from the first advertiser in association with the at least one targeted abstract object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Computer-readable media, computer systems, and computing methods are provided for employing abstract objects to solicit bids from advertisers and to present ads submitted by the advertisers upon a user invoking the abstract objects while conducting an online search. The abstract objects include entities, entity classes, actions, and tasks, which are mined by crawling storage locations on the Internet. These abstract objects are monetized by building an index with entries referencing the abstract objects and maintaining the index in a location accessible to advertisers. Via the index, the advertisers target the abstract objects and place bids thereon. During a user-initiated online search, the abstract objects that are relevant to a task being carried out by the user are identified. Further, ads submitted by advertisers that placed bids upon the identified abstract objects are selected for presentation. Based on the bids, the winning advertiser'"'"'s ad is presented to the user.
35 Citations
20 Claims
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1. One or more computer-readable media having embodied thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed, perform a method for allowing a first advertiser to bid on an abstract object targeted thereby, the method comprising:
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providing an index in a location accessible to advertisers, thereby allowing the first advertiser to view the entries of the index, wherein the index includes entries referencing one or more abstract objects, wherein the one or more abstract objects each describe a specific intent of a user when implementing a search event, and wherein the specific intent is distilled from a compilation of related user interactions with a search engine; receiving from the first advertiser a campaign specification targeting at least one abstract object from the index and placing a bid for the at least one targeted abstract object; and storing the bid from the first advertiser in association with the at least one targeted abstract object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer system for selecting an ad by employing and monetizing abstract objects, the computer system comprising a processing unit coupled to a computer-storage medium, the computer-storage medium having stored thereon a plurality of computer software components executable by the processing unit, the computer software components comprising:
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a publishing component to publish an index at an online location, to allow advertisers to navigate the index and to bid upon one or more of the abstract objects therein, to receive bids in association with at least one ad submitted for display, and to temporarily store the bids in association with the at least one ad; an entity-matching component to compile user interactions during a search event and to compare one or more of the compiled user interactions with the one or more abstract objects referenced by the index; and a spot-auctioning component to select an ad associated with a bid received at the publishing component, wherein selecting the ad comprises; (a) identifying an abstract object from the index that matches the one or more compiled user interactions upon comparison using the entity-matching component; (b) identifying bids placed by one or more of the advertisers targeting the identified abstract object; and (c) selecting the ad from a plurality of ads associated with the identified bids. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. A computerized method carried out by a search engine running on a processor for monetizing abstract objects during an online search event, the method comprising:
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providing an index referencing one or more abstract objects, wherein the one or more abstract objects each describe a specific intent of a user when implementing a search event, and wherein the specific intent is distilled from a compilation of related user interactions with the search engine; receiving a selection of at least one abstract object from the index; receiving a bid for the at least one selected abstract object; receiving user-interaction information upon the user conducting the search event at the search engine, wherein the user-interaction information comprises at least one of a query string, a selection-action within a UI, a user-profile capturing historic search behavior of the user, or a query log capturing historic search behavior of a plurality of users; matching the user-interaction information against the at least one selected abstract object; and recording a charge of an amount of the bid for the matched at least one selected abstract object. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification