Method and system for optimum placement of advertisements on a webpage

• US 6,907,566 B1
• Filed: 04/02/1999
• Issued: 06/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Overture Services Incorporated (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Radford, Michael, McElfresh, Charles, Mineiro, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Sanjiv
• Application Number:
  US09/285,929
• Time in Patent Office: 2,265 Days
• Field of Search: 715/517, 715/501.1, 715/513, 705/14, 705/17
• US Class Current: 715/210
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0243 Comparative campaigns
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0247 Calculate past, present or future revenues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A method and system for placement of graphical objects on a page to optimize the occurrence of an event associated with such objects. The graphical objects might include, for instance, advertisements on a webpage, and the event would include a user clicking on that ad. The page includes positions for receipt of the object material. Data regarding the past performance of the objects is stored and updated as new data is received. A user requests a page from a server associated with system. The server uses the performance data to derive a prioritized arrangement of the objects on the page. The server performs a calculation regarding the likelihood that an event will occur for a given object, as displayed to a particular user. The objects are arranged according to this calculation and returned to the user on the requested page. The likelihood can also be multiplied by a weighting factor and the objects arranged according to this product.

Claims

1. A method of providing placement of a plurality of graphical objects on a page accessible by a user, the graphical objects including graphic and text symbols, the page having positions for receipt of the objects, each object having at least one link to information, the link being invoked by an event identifying the object by a computer pointing device, the method comprising:

storing and retrieving performance data associated with the likelihood of the event occurring for each object; and

arranging the objects relative to one another on the page according to the performance data.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the performance data is used to calculate a likelihood that the event will occur, and the arranging of the objects is prioritized according to this likelihood calculation.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein each object has an associated weighting factor, the likelihood calculation is multiplied times the weighting factor, and the arranging of the objects is prioritized according to this product.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the objects include advertisements and the weighting factor includes the price of the advertisement.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the likelihood calculation includes computing a statistical probability that a user will identify the object.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the performance data for the objects has been grouped and sorted according to user characteristics, and the statistical probability is computed based upon the user information, and upon past performance data for that object.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the price of the advertisement is measured by the amount paid by the advertiser for each time a user identifies the advertisement.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the page includes a web page, on at least one website, accessible by an Internet based system, and the link includes a Uniform Resource Locator.

9. A system for providing placement of a plurality of graphical objects on a page accessible by a user, the graphical objects including graphic and text symbols, the page having positions for receipt of the objects, each object having at least one link to information, the link being invoked by an event identifying the object by a computer pointing device, the system comprising:

a device for storing data associated with the past performance of an object;

a server for prioritizing objects relative to one another on a page according to the data.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the server performs a calculation which predicts the likelihood of an event occurring for the object, and the server prioritizes the objects on the page according to this calculation.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein a weighting factor for each object is multiplied times the likelihood of an event occurring, and the server prioritizes the objects on the page according to this product.

12. The system according to claim 9, which further includes a device for creating and arranging data groups for storing the data associated with the past performance of an object.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the data groups are delineated by user characteristics.

14. The system according to claim 13, which further includes a device for gathering and storing user information.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the server collects a set of objects associated with the user information, and the server performs a calculation which predicts the likelihood of an event occurring for each object within the set from the data associated with the past performance of the object, and the server prioritizes the objects on the page according to this calculation.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein the server collects a set of objects associated with the user information, and the server performs a calculation which predicts the likelihood of an event occurring for each object within the set from the data associated with the past performance of the object, a weighting factor for each object is multiplied times the likelihood of an event occurring, and the server prioritizes the objects on the page according to this product.

17. A method of arranging a plurality of graphical objects on a page viewable by a user on a computer display, comprising:

storing a plurality of graphical objects;

calculating a value indicative of the rate that a specified event occurs for each graphical object displayed to the user; and

displaying at least some of the graphical objects to the user, where the displayed graphical objects are arranged relative to one another on the page using the calculated values.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the displayed graphical objects are arranged in decreasing visual prominence on the page in decreasing order of calculated value.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein each displayed graphical object includes a link to information, and the specified event is a user invoking the link.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the specified event is a click-through and the calculated value for a graphical object is indicative of the rate that users click through the link associated with the graphical object.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein each graphical object includes at least one of graphic and text symbols.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein each graphical object is one of an advertisement and a topic tile.

23. The method according to claim 19, wherein a stored graphical object may have associated with it at least one constraint on the display of the graphical object.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein one constraint is a restriction on pages or positions where the graphical object may be displayed.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein one constraint is a restriction on a demographic variable of a user to whom the graphical object should be displayed.

26. The method according to claim 17, wherein the displayed graphical objects are arranged on the page in descending order using the product of the calculated value and a weighting factor.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the weighting factor is a monetary amount.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the monetary amount is revenue per user.

29. The method according to claim 27, wherein each displayed graphical object includes a link to information, the specified event is a user invoking the link, and the monetary amount is a price per click through when a user invokes a link to information associated with a graphical object.

30. The method according to claim 17, wherein the calculated value is based, at least in part, on the prior performance of the graphical object.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein when a graphical object is new, the calculated rate initially is set to an overestimated value so that the calculated value converges from above.