Search engine account monitoring
First Claim
1. A method of generating an ordered search list via a search engine, the method comprising:
- receiving from a searcher over a network a search request, the search request having at least one search term;
retrieving from a search results database a set of search listings associated with the search term, wherein at least some of the retrieved search listings in the set are associated with an advertiser'"'"'s account such that the advertiser'"'"'s account is charged a priced amount if a chargeable event occurs in connection with a selected search listing of the advertiser;
determining an account balance for the advertiser'"'"'s account based on a difference between charges and deposits from respective advertisers, including determining a reconciled balance for the advertiser'"'"'s account, where the reconciled balance comprises a difference between deposits and a set of current chargeable event charges;
ordering the search listings into a search result list according to a predetermined ordering methodology, including ordering the search listings associated with advertisers with reconciled balances that are below a reconciled threshold as if their priced amount was zero, and including ordering the search listings after disregarding charges for non-chargeable events to reduce over-delivery of the search listings and reduce over-billing of competing advertisers;
providing the ordered search list to the searcher via the network; and
assessing charges to the advertiser'"'"'s account as a function of the searcher selection of the search listing, includinggenerating a result event list,eliminating from the result event list events which are non-chargeable events or fraudulent events, anddeducting an event charge amount from the account balance for the advertiser'"'"'s account.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method of generating an ordered search list via a search engine by determining various account balances to determine where a search listing will appear, if at all, in a search results list. If a web site advertiser'"'"'s account is below a threshold, the search listing associated with the advertiser will not appear in the search list. Various balances may be used. Some of the balances may be closer to real-time balances and others may be more accurate, for example by removing certain event charges that were later determined to be non-chargeable. By using and monitoring the various account balances, the search engine prevents over-delivery of advertising through search result listings and possible over-billing of the advertisers.
116 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method of generating an ordered search list via a search engine, the method comprising:
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receiving from a searcher over a network a search request, the search request having at least one search term; retrieving from a search results database a set of search listings associated with the search term, wherein at least some of the retrieved search listings in the set are associated with an advertiser'"'"'s account such that the advertiser'"'"'s account is charged a priced amount if a chargeable event occurs in connection with a selected search listing of the advertiser; determining an account balance for the advertiser'"'"'s account based on a difference between charges and deposits from respective advertisers, including determining a reconciled balance for the advertiser'"'"'s account, where the reconciled balance comprises a difference between deposits and a set of current chargeable event charges; ordering the search listings into a search result list according to a predetermined ordering methodology, including ordering the search listings associated with advertisers with reconciled balances that are below a reconciled threshold as if their priced amount was zero, and including ordering the search listings after disregarding charges for non-chargeable events to reduce over-delivery of the search listings and reduce over-billing of competing advertisers; providing the ordered search list to the searcher via the network; and assessing charges to the advertiser'"'"'s account as a function of the searcher selection of the search listing, including generating a result event list, eliminating from the result event list events which are non-chargeable events or fraudulent events, and deducting an event charge amount from the account balance for the advertiser'"'"'s account. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer-readable storage medium storing a network search engine for generating an order search list comprising:
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a search results database having a plurality of search listings, wherein each search listing is associated with a network location and a respective priced amount; an account database that maintains account information associated with search listings; an account monitoring system that monitors accounts in the account database and determines an account balance for each account, including determining a reconciled balance for an advertiser'"'"'s account, the reconciled balance including a difference between deposits and a set of current chargeable event charges, the account monitoring system configured to deduct event charge amounts from the account balance for an account upon the occurrence of a predetermined event for a search listing associated with the account, the account monitoring system further configured to eliminate event charge amounts which are non-chargeable to the account; and a search engine which receives from a searcher over a network a search request, the search request having at least one search term, the search engine retrieving from the search results database at least one of the search listings associated with the search term, the search engine generating an ordered search result list including the at least one of the search listings from the search results database for which the account balance determined by the account monitoring system is above a threshold, the search engine ordering search listings in the ordered search result list based on respective priced amounts of the ordered search listings, the search engine ordering search listings for which a reconciled account balance does not exceed a reconciled threshold as if the respective priced amount for a given search term was zero, or ordering the search listings as if the respective priced amount for a given search term was above zero and below all other non-zero priced amounts in the ordered search result list to reduce over-delivery of the search listings and reduce over-billing of competing advertisers. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification