SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MARKETING OF USER REQUESTS

• US 20160078482A1
• Filed: 09/15/2015
• Published: 03/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: VoiceBox Technologies Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Kennewick, SR., Michael R.
• Application Number:
  US14/855,343
• Publication Number:
  US 20160078482A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute

Abstract

In certain implementations, advertisers may be enabled to determine in real-time (as user requests are received from users) whether to include their advertisements (or other content) as part of responses to the user requests (e.g., queries, command, or other user requests). As an example, upon determining a user request based on a user input of a user, an advertisement opportunity associated with the user request may be provided to one or more advertisers. The advertisement opportunity may, for instance, comprise an opportunity to purchase an ad placement associated with the user request. Upon determining that an advertiser purchased the associated ad placement, the associated ad placement may be allocated for an advertisement associated with the advertiser so that a response to the user request will comprise an advertisement associated with the advertiser.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating purchase of ad placements associated with user requests, the method being implemented on a computer system having one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions which, when executed, perform the method, the method comprising:

determining, by the computer system, one or more user requests from a user;

providing, by the computer system, an advertisement opportunity associated with the one or more user requests to one or more advertisers, wherein the advertisement opportunity comprises an opportunity to purchase an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests;

determining, by the computer system, that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests;

allocating, by the computer system, an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests for an advertisement associated with the first advertiser based on the determination that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests; and

providing, by the computer system, a response to the one or more user requests for presentation to the user, wherein the response comprises a first advertisement associated with the first advertiser based on the allocation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the computer system, a natural language utterance of the user,

wherein determining the one or more user requests comprises determining the one or more user requests based on the natural language utterance, and

wherein providing the advertisement opportunity comprises providing the advertisement opportunity to the one or more advertisers based on the natural language utterance.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining, by the computer system, a category associated with the natural language utterance,

wherein providing the advertisement opportunity comprises providing the advertisement opportunity to the one or more advertisers based on the category associated with the natural language utterance.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

performing, by the computer system, speech recognition on the natural language utterance to recognize one or more words of the natural language utterance,

wherein determining the category comprises determining the category based on the one or more recognized words.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the advertisement opportunity comprises providing the advertisement opportunity based on one or more of a location associated with the one or more user requests, a time associated with the one or more user requests, or a device type of a device at which the user request will potentially be presented to the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests comprises determining that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests based on the first advertiser accepting a price associated with the advertisement opportunity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests comprises determining that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests based on the first advertiser placing a highest bid during an auction for an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the response comprises a first portion that addresses the one or more user requests and a second portion that includes the first advertisement, and wherein providing the advertisement opportunity comprises providing, before the first portion of the response is provided for presentation to the user, the advertisement opportunity to the one or more advertisers.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein allocating an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests for an advertisement associated with the first advertiser comprises allocating, before the first portion of the response is provided for presentation to the user, an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests for an advertisement associated with the first advertiser based on the determination that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more user requests comprise at least one of a query of the user or a command of the user.

11. A system for facilitating purchase of ad placements associated with user requests, the system comprising:

one or more physical processors programmed with computer program instructions which, when executed, cause the one or more physical processors to;

determine one or more user requests from a user;

provide an advertisement opportunity associated with the one or more user requests to one or more advertisers, wherein the advertisement opportunity comprises an opportunity to purchase an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests;

determine that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests;

allocate an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests for an advertisement associated with the first advertiser based on the determination that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests; and

provide a response to the one or more user requests for presentation to the user, wherein the response comprises a first advertisement associated with the first advertiser based on the allocation.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more physical processors are further caused to:

receive a natural language utterance of the user,

wherein determining the one or more user requests comprises determining the one or more user requests based on the natural language utterance, and

wherein providing the advertisement opportunity comprises providing the advertisement opportunity to the one or more advertisers based on the natural language utterance.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more physical processors are further caused to:

determine a category associated with the natural language utterance,

wherein providing the advertisement opportunity comprises providing the advertisement opportunity to the one or more advertisers based on the category associated with the natural language utterance.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more physical processors are further caused to:

perform speech recognition on the natural language utterance to recognize one or more words of the natural language utterance,

wherein determining the category comprises determining the category based on the one or more recognized words.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein providing the advertisement opportunity comprises providing the advertisement opportunity based on one or more of a location associated with the one or more user requests, a time associated with the one or more user requests, or a device type of a device at which the user request will potentially be presented to the user.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein determining that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests comprises determining that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests based on the first advertiser accepting a price associated with the advertisement opportunity.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein determining that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests comprises determining that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests based on the first advertiser placing a highest bid during an auction for an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the response comprises a first portion that addresses the one or more user requests and a second portion that includes the first advertisement, and wherein providing the advertisement opportunity comprises providing, before the first portion of the response is provided for presentation to the user, the advertisement opportunity to the one or more advertisers.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein allocating an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests for an advertisement associated with the first advertiser comprises allocating, before the first portion of the response is provided for presentation to the user, an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests for an advertisement associated with the first advertiser based on the determination that the first advertiser purchased an ad placement associated with the one or more user requests.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more user requests comprise at least one of a query of the user or a command of the user.