Method and system for selling and purchasing media advertising over a distributed communication network
First Claim
1. A method for buying and selling media advertising units over a distributed communication network, comprising the steps of:
- providing a server on said network, said server including a database containing information pertaining to available advertising units in conjunction with specific media content provided by media content providers;
providing buyers of said advertising units access to said database over said network, whereby said buyers may enter desired search parameters into a search engine and receive search results indicating particular advertising units meeting the search criteria;
receiving bids on advertising units selected by buyers from said search, and communicating said bids to sellers of said advertising units; and
providing sellers of said advertising units access to said database over said network, whereby said sellers may enter said information, receive bids entered by said buyers, accept said bids and enter contracts into said server for communication to said buyers over said network;
wherein said advertising units comprise time slots associated with television content and wherein said information includes program times, days of week, category according to defined time segments, and demographic viewer information.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for buying and selling media advertising units over a distributed communication network, such as the Internet, provides a server on network including a database containing information pertaining to available advertising units, such as advertising time slots in television programming schedules, provided by media content providers. The server provides buyers of the advertising units access to the database over the network, whereby buyers may search the database and make bids to the sellers for selected advertising units. Sellers of advertising units access the database over said network to enter the information, receive bids entered by buyers, accept bids, and enter contracts into the server for communication to buyers over the network.
576 Citations
14 Claims
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1. A method for buying and selling media advertising units over a distributed communication network, comprising the steps of:
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providing a server on said network, said server including a database containing information pertaining to available advertising units in conjunction with specific media content provided by media content providers;
providing buyers of said advertising units access to said database over said network, whereby said buyers may enter desired search parameters into a search engine and receive search results indicating particular advertising units meeting the search criteria;
receiving bids on advertising units selected by buyers from said search, and communicating said bids to sellers of said advertising units; and
providing sellers of said advertising units access to said database over said network, whereby said sellers may enter said information, receive bids entered by said buyers, accept said bids and enter contracts into said server for communication to said buyers over said network;
wherein said advertising units comprise time slots associated with television content and wherein said information includes program times, days of week, category according to defined time segments, and demographic viewer information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A system for buying and selling media advertising units over a distributed communication network, comprising:
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a server coupled to said network, said server including a database containing information with pertaining to available advertising units in conjunction with specific media content provided by media content providers;
advertising buyer stations coupled to said network, providing buyers of said advertising units access to said database over said network, whereby said buyers may enter desired search parameters into a search engine and receive search results indicating particular advertising units meeting the search criteria;
said server receiving bids on advertising units selected by buyers from said search, and communication said bids to sellers of said advertising units; and
advertising seller stations coupled to said network, providing sellers of said advertising units access to said database over said network, whereby said sellers may enter said information, receive bids entered by said buyers, accept said bids, and enter contracts into said server for communication to said buyers over said network;
wherein said advertising units comprise advertising time slots associated with television content and wherein said information includes program times, days of week, category according to defined time segments, and demographic viewer information. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for buying and selling media advertising units over a distributed communication network, comprising the steps of:
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providing a server on said network, said server including a database containing information pertaining to available advertising units in conjunction with specific media content provided by media content providers;
providing buyers of said advertising units access to said database over said network, whereby said buyers may view particular advertising units for sale by sellers;
receiving bids on advertising units selected by buyers, and communication said bids to sellers of said advertising units; and
providing sellers of said advertising units access to said database over said network, whereby said sellers may enter said information, receive bids entered by said buyers, accept said bids, and enter contracts into said server for communication to said buyers over said network;
wherein said advertising units comprise advertising time slots associated with television content and wherein said information includes program times, days of week, category according to defined time segments, and demographic viewer information.
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11. A method for bidding on available advertising units via a distributed communication network, comprising the steps of:
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creating a primary search profile including at least one of a plurality of search criteria;
transmitting an instruction to apply the search profile to a data base having available advertising units;
receiving a list of a plurality of available advertising units meeting said search profile, and storing said list as a shopping list; and
transmitting an instruction to bid for at least one of the available advertising units in the shopping list;
wherein said advertising units comprise advertising time slots associated with television content and wherein said information includes program times, days of week, category according to defined time segments, and demographic viewer information.
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12. A method for selling advertising units via a distributed communication network,
comprising the steps of: -
specifying information about a plurality of available advertising units, each of said available advertising units corresponding to an advertising slot;
transmitting an instruction to store the specified information in a data base having available advertising units;
receiving a bid for at least one of a plurality of available advertising units;
reviewing the bid; and
transmitting an acceptance of the bid of specified criteria are met, otherwise transmitting a rejection of the bid;
wherein said advertising units comprise advertising time slots associated with television content and wherein said information includes program times, days of week, category according to defined time segments, and demographic viewer information.
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13. A computerized system for bidding on available advertising units via a distributed communication network;
- comprising;
primary search profile data including at least one of a plurality of search criteria;
a search instruction, responsive to a user command, indicating that the primary search profile is to be applied to a data base having a plurality of available advertising units;
a list of a plurality of available advertising units meeting said search profile, received in response to said instructions, stored as a shopping list;
and a bidding instruction, responsive to a user command, to bid for at least one of the available advertising units in the shopping list;
wherein said advertising units comprise advertising time slots associated with television content and wherein said information includes program times, days of week, category according to defined time segments, and demographic viewer information.
- comprising;
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14. A computerized system for selling advertising units via a distributed communication network, comprising:
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locally shared information about a plurality of available advertising units, each of said available advertising units corresponding to an advertising slot;
an instruction, responsive to a user, to store the specified information in a remote database having available advertising units;
an acceptance instruction, responsive to a received bid for at least one of a plurality of available advertising units, if specified criteria are met, advising of acceptance of the bid; and
a rejection instruction, responsive to the received bid, if specified criteria are not met, advising of rejection of the bid;
wherein said advertising units comprise advertising time slots associated with television content and wherein said information includes program times, days of week, category according to defined time segments, and demographic viewer information.
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Specification