Method for transacting an advertisement transfer

• US 6,973,436 B1
• Filed: 12/28/1999
• Issued: 12/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AlmondNet, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AlmondNet, Inc.
• Inventors: Shkedi, Roy
• Primary Examiner(s): JANVIER, JEAN D
• Application Number:
  US09/473,078
• Time in Patent Office: 2,170 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14
• US Class Current: 705/14.44
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0245 Surveys
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0249 based upon budgets or funds
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A method for transacting an advertisement transfer from an advertisement distributor to a visitor, when a visitor visits a communication node, includes the steps of constructing a visitor profile and broadcasting the profile to at least one distributor. Responses are collected from the at least one distributor and one response is selected. The communication node contracts with the at least one distributor concerning a transference of the advertisement from the distributor to the visitor. The transfer of the advertisement to the visitor is then effected. A device for transacting an advertisement transfer includes a first module for constructing a visitor profile, a second module for broadcasting the profile to at least one distributor and a third module for collecting responses from the at least one distributor. A fourth module selects a response and a fifth module contracts between the node and the at least one distributor of the selected response concerning a transference of an advertisement from the distributor to the visitor. A sixth module effects a transfer of the advertisement to the visitor.

Claims

1. A method for transacting an advertisement transfer from an advertisement distributor to a visitor, the method comprising performing the steps of:

(a) prior to the occurrence of a visitor visitation at a communications node,

(i) making at least one advertisement distributor aware that profile information comprising visitor attributes and corresponding economic value contributions is desired,

(ii) collecting responses from the at least one distributor, wherein a preponderance of the responses have a plurality of attributes and the at least one distributor has assigned to each of at least some of the plurality of attributes an economic value contribution,

(iii) spreading the attributes of a preponderance of the responses to form a number of combinations of various attributes,

(iv) determining the price of each combination of attributes by logically and arithmetically aggregating the economic value contributions,

(b) upon the occurrence of a visitor visitation at a communications node, the communication node electronically;

(i) constructing a profile of the visitor containing various attributes,

(ii) selecting the combination from the response that includes some or all of the attributes from the profile and that yields the highest price,

(iii) contracting, between the node and the distributor of the selected combination, a transference of an advertisement from the distributor to the visitor, and

(iv) effecting a transfer of the advertisement to the visitor.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the communications node collects generalized response descriptors from the at least one distributor, and the broadcasting (step b) is done internally using the collected descriptors as proxy for the at least one distributor.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the visitor profile includes at least one item selected from:

content'"'"'s categories of the content the visitor requested or is watching;

key words, which classify the content the visitor requested or is watching;

time of day relative to server;

derivatives of the visitor'"'"'s IP address;

domain;

geographic location of the visitor'"'"'s ISP (Internet Service Provider) or OSP (On line Service Provider);

geographic location of the visitor'"'"'s company or organization if connected through a permanent point to point connection;

time of day relative to user, as a derivative of his geographic location;

Internet Service Provider (ISP);

On-line Service Provider (OSP);

browser type;

operating system;

or SIC code.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the node or the distributor is audited.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the broadcasting, contracting, or transferring is encrypted.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the advertisements are selected from the list:

banners, text, HTML page address pointers, text, hypertext, audio content, visual content, or any combination thereof.

7. The method according to claim 1 is further including the construction of at least one of the following:

an e-mail list, or a data base.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the selecting is of multiple responses.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the contracting is with any responding distributor bidding above a predetermined threshold price, and the threshold price is not known to the distributors.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the visitor submits a self-disclosure profile to the node.

11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the visitor profile is constructed from header information in the visitor'"'"'s transmission.

12. The method according to claim 1 wherein a rate structure for the contracting is determined according to a matching between the visitor'"'"'s profile and an advertisement specification in the response.

13. The method according to claim 1 wherein the contracting includes at least one transaction segment describing the visitor, describing the node, describing the advertisement, and describing the distributor.

14. The method according to claim 13 wherein the at least one segment includes a Boolean logic sections, a rate structure logic, disclosure information, or disclosure logic information.

15. The method according to claim 1 further comprising a follow-up visit by the visitor to an address associated with the transacted advertisement.

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein the follow-up visit is audited.

17. The method according to claim 16 wherein the audit includes an item selected from the list:

a purchase by the visitor of a service or commodity at a “

site”

specified in the transferred advertisement, or pointed to therefrom.

18. The method according to claim 16 wherein the node or his authorized agent receives a payment resulting from the visitor'"'"'s purchase at a site specified in the transferred advertisement, or pointed to therefrom.

19. The method according to claim 1 further comprising an intermediary between the node having a visitation and the at least one distributor, and the intermediary is for effecting additions to the visitor profile constructed by the node in step (b)(i) or is for effecting any of steps (a)(i) through (a)(iv) or (b)(ii) through (b)(iv).

20. The method according to claim 1 wherein the visitor discloses his cookie and said cookie is analyzed by the node, the intermediary, the distributor, or an address associated with the transacted advertisement.

21. The method according to claim 19 wherein the visitor discloses his cookie and said cookie is analyzed by the node, the intermediary, the distributor, or an address associated with the transacted advertisement.

22. The method according to claim 1 wherein the visitor specifies a self imposed censorship restriction in order to void acceptance of certain classes of advertising, or in order to designate a class of advertising preferences.

23. The method according to claim 1 wherein constructing a visitor profile includes correlating known visitor identification parameters with a database.

24. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of selecting utilizes a logic protocol according to a relational database query semantic.

25. The method according to claim 1 wherein the visitor is associated with a commercial enterprise, a search engine, an automaton, a corporate person, or a human.

26. The method according to claim 1 wherein effecting, contracting, or constructing includes recording or storing advertisements transferred to the visitor for intentional subsequent transfer to the same visitor or for intentional avoidance of subsequent transfer to the same visitor.

38. The method according to claim 1 wherein the step of determining the respective price of the visitor profile includes using a memory cache structure matching tree.

27. A device for transacting an advertisement transfer, from an advertisement distributor to a visitor, the device comprising a sequentially linked series of modules:

(a) a first module for making at least one advertisement distributor aware that profile information comprising visitor attributes and corresponding economic value contributions is desired,

(b) a second module for collecting responses from the at least one distributor, wherein a preponderance of the responses have a plurality of attributes and the at least one distributor has assigned to each of at least some of the plurality of attributes an economic value contribution,

(c) a third module for spreading the attributes of a preponderance of the responses to form a number of combinations of various attributes,

(d) a fourth module for determining the price of each combination of attributes by logically and arithmetically aggregating the economic value contributions,

(e) a fifth module for constructing a profile of a visitor to a visitation site containing various attributes,

(f) a sixth module for selecting the combination from the response that includes some or all of the attributes from the profile and that yields the highest price,

(g) a seventh module for contracting, between a communications node and the distributor of the selected combination, a transference of an advertisement from the distributor to the visitor, and

(h) an eighth module for effecting a transfer of the advertisement to the visitor.

28. The device according to claim 27 wherein the modules are distributed or fragmented between more than one computer processor or network communications server or network communications router.

29. The device according to claim 27 further comprising at least one memory media containing data collected or data constructed in at least one of the modules.

30. The device according to claim 28 further comprising at least one memory media containing data collected or data constructed in at least one of the modules.

31. The device according to claim 27 further comprising a distributor response module for optimizing a selection from a plurality of collected profiles.

32. The device according to claim 28 further comprising a distributor response module for optimizing a selection from a plurality of collected profiles.

33. The device according to claim 29 further comprising a distributor response module for optimizing a selection from a plurality of collected profiles.

34. The device according to claim 30 further comprising a distributor response module for optimizing a selection from a plurality of collected profiles.

35. The device according to claim 31 wherein the optimizing is according to a fixed budget, or according to an advertisement campaign model, or according to subsequent modifications thereto.

39. The device according to claim 27 wherein the seventh module uses a memory cache structure matching tree.

36. A program storage device readable by a machine and encoding a program of instructions for executing a method for transacting an advertisement transfer, from an advertisement distributor to a visitor, the method comprising performing the steps of:

(a) prior to the occurrence of a visitor visitation at a communications node,

(i) making at least one advertisement distributor aware that profile information comprising visitor attributes and corresponding economic value contributions is desired,

(ii) collecting responses from the at least one distributor, wherein a preponderance of the responses have a plurality of attributes and the at least one distributor has assigned to each of at least some of the plurality of attributes an economic value contribution,

(iii) spreading the attributes of a preponderance of the responses response to form a number of combinations of various attributes,

(iv) determining the price of each combination of attributes by logically and arithmetically aggregating the economic value contributions,

(b) upon the occurrence of a visitor visitation at a communications node, the communication node electronically;

(i) constructing a profile of the visitor containing various attributes,

(ii) selecting the combination from the response that includes some or all of the attributes from the profile and that yields the highest price,

(iii) contracting, between the node and the distributor of the selected combination, a transference of an advertisement from the distributor to the visitor, and

(iv) effecting a transfer of the advertisement to the visitor.

40. The method according to claim 36 wherein the step of selecting the combination yielding the highest price includes using a memory cache structure matching tree.

37. A program storage device readable by a machine and encoding a program of instructions for executing a system for transacting an advertisement transfer, from an advertisement distributor to a visitor, the system including:

(a) a first module for making at least one advertisement distributor aware that profile information comprising visitor attributes and corresponding economic value contributions is desired,

(b) a second module for collecting responses from the at least one distributor, wherein a preponderance of the responses have a plurality of attributes and the at least one distributor has assigned to each of at least some of the plurality of attributes an economic value contribution,

(c) a third module for spreading the attributes of a preponderance of the responses response to form a number of combinations of various attributes,

(d) a fourth module for determining the price of each combination of attributes by logically and arithmetically aggregating the economic value contributions,

(e) a fifth module for constructing a profile of a visitor to a visitation site containing various attributes,

(f) a sixth module for selecting the combination from the response that includes some or all of the attributes from the profile and that yields the highest price,

(g) a seventh module for contracting, between a communications node and the distributor of the selected combination, a transference of an advertisement from the distributor to the visitor, and

(h) an eighth module for effecting a transfer of the advertisement to the visitor.

41. The device according to claim 37 wherein the seventh module uses a memory cache structure matching tree.