On-line interactive system and method for providing content and advertising information to a targeted set of viewers

• US 6,026,368 A
• Filed: 07/17/1995
• Issued: 02/15/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: 24/7 Media Incorporated (WPP PLC)
• Inventors: Brown, Yale Robert, Walker, Matthew Brown
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomas, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US08/503,268
• Time in Patent Office: 1,674 Days
• Field of Search: 395/214, 395/226, 395/227, 395/207, 395/201, 395/200.31, 395/200.32, 395/200.49, 395/200.5, 395/200.53, 395/200.54, 395/651, 395/673, 705/14, 705/26, 705/27, 705/7, 705/1, 707/102, 707/104
• US Class Current: 705/14.56
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0243 Comparative campaigns
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0258 Registration
• 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 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0279 Fundraising management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

Prioritized queues of advertising and content data are generated by a queue builder and sent to an on-line queue manager. A computer mediated communications network provides content and subscriber data to the queue builder and receives content segment play lists from the on-line queue manager. An exposure accounting module calculates and stores information about the number of exposures of targeted material received by subscribers and generates billing information. An information warehouse manager is employed to receive data from advertisers'"'"' data bases and third party sources as well as from the computer mediated communications network.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a queue builder for generating priority queues;

a computer mediated communications network for sending content data and subscriber data to the queue builder;

an on-line queue manager for receiving the priority queues from the queue builder and for sending content segment play lists to the computer mediated communications network; and

an exposure accounting module for receiving exposure data from the on-line queue manager and computing and outputting exposure billing data,

wherein the queue builder is provided with profile editors through which rule developers create definitions by building data base selection criteria for extracting records with a common profile,

wherein the queue builder accesses a disk storage that stores targeting data and rules for generating the priority queues, and

wherein the disk storage is also accessed by the exposure accounting module to adjust priorities in order to meet exposure goals.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein the exposure accounting module comprises an exposure billing module, a contract maintenance module, and an exposure accounting storage;

wherein the exposure billing module receives data stored in an exposure storage of the on-line queue manager; and

wherein data is transmitted from the exposure billing module and the contracts maintenance module to a targeting data storage of the queue builder.

3. A system according to claim 2 further comprising an information warehouse manager coupled to the exposure accounting module and including an importer/translator, an information warehouse controller and an information warehouse storage, wherein the importer/translator receives data from an advertiser customer database and a third party database.

4. A system according to claim 1, wherein the on-line queue manager comprises a priority queue storage for receiving the priority queues output from the queue generator, the priority queue storage being connected to the computer mediated communications network.

5. A system according to claim 4 wherein the priority queue storage includes a subscriber queue, a location queue and a time period queue.

6. A system according to claim 1, wherein the computer mediated communications network comprises an on-line application server connected between a plurality of subscribers and the on-line queue manager.

7. A system for providing advertising and content information in an intelligently prioritized manner to an interactive computer mediated communications network comprising:

queue building means for gathering content and advertising information, combining the information gathered with predefined rules, and outputting prioritized queues resulting from the combination; and

on-line queue managing means for receiving the prioritized queues and outputting play lists to the computer mediated communications network in real-time,

wherein the queue building means is provided with profile editors through which rule developers create definitions by building data base selection criteria for extracting records with a common profile, and

wherein the queue building means accesses a disk storage that stores targeting data and rules for generating the priority queues whose priority is adjusted according to predetermined criteria.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the on-line queue managing means comprises a priority queue storage for receiving the priority queues output from the queue generator, the priority queue storage being connected to the computer mediated communications network.

9. A system according to claim 7, wherein the queue building means and the on-line queue managing means are used to create segment sequence definitions to ensure that multiple segments are shown in a specific sequence to a specific subscriber.

10. A system for providing targeted information to a user in an on-line computer mediated communication comprising:

a queue builder for combining a targeting data storage with a plurality of editors and outputting resulting data to a queue generator; and

an on-line queue manager including a priority queue storage which receives data from the queue generator, the on-line queue manager including a queue server coupled to the priority queue storage and connected to a server for an on-line information service via a request broker and a network interface,

wherein the queue builder is provided with a profile editor through which rule developers create definitions by building date base selection criteria for extracting records with a common profile, and

wherein the queue builder accesses the targeting data storage and rules for generating the priority queues whose priority is adjusted according to predetermined criteria.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the plurality of editors includes a rule editor and a time period editor in addition to the profile editor.

12. A system according to claim 10, wherein the on-line queue manager comprises an exposure status server for storing exposure data into an exposure storage.

13. A system according to claim 12 further comprising an exposure accounting module including an exposure billing module, a contract maintenance module, and an exposure accounting storage;

wherein the exposure billing module receives data stored in the exposure storage of the on-line queue manager; and

wherein data is transmitted from the exposure billing module and the contracts maintenance module to the targeting data storage of the queue builder.

14. A system according to claim 13 further comprising an information warehouse manager coupled to the exposure accounting module and including an importer/translator, an information warehouse controller and an information warehouse storage;

and

wherein the importer/translator receives data from an advertiser customer database and a third party database.

15. A system according to claim 10, wherein the queue builder and the on-line queue manager are used to create segment sequence definitions to ensure that multiple segments are shown in a specific sequence to a specific subscriber.

16. A system for providing advertising and content information in an intelligently prioritized manner to an interactive computer mediated communications network comprising:

a queue builder for generating priority queues;

a data storage having content and advertising information, wherein this content and advertising information is combined with subscriber information and prioritized queues are outputted as a result of the combination; and

on-line queue managing means for receiving requests from the computer mediated communications network and outputting play lists to the computer mediated communications network in real-time,

wherein the queue builder is provided with a profile editor through which rule developers create definitions by building data base selection criteria for extracting records with a common profile, and

wherein the queue builder accesses the targeting data storage and rules for generating the priority queues whose priority is adjusted according to predetermined criteria.

17. A system for providing advertising and content information in an intelligently prioritized manner to an interactive computer mediated communications network comprising:

a queue builder for generating priority queues;

a data storage having content and advertising information, wherein this content and advertising information is combined with subscriber information and prioritized queues are outputted as a result of the combination; and

on-line queue managing means for receiving subscriber requests and outputting play lists to the computer mediated communications network in real-time,

wherein the queue builder is provided with a profile editor through which rule developers create definitions by building data base selection criteria for extracting records with a common profile, and

wherein the queue builder accesses the targeting data storage and rules for generating the priority queues whose priority is adjusted according to predetermined criteria.