System and method for distributing advertisements to a plurality of users based upon advertisement user attributes and advertisement provider attributes

• US 7,188,137 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2001
• Issued: 03/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Casio Computer Company Limited
• Inventors: Inoue, Masahiro, Haruhara, Kazuyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Wiley; David
• Assistant Examiner(s): BOUTAH, ALINA A
• Application Number:
  US09/811,724
• Publication Number:
  US 20030208560A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,178 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/203, 705/14, 705/16, 705/15
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• 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

Abstract

There is provided a system for selecting advertisement contents which are suitable for ad-user attributes, and for distributing the advertisement contents data and its corresponding advertisement attribute information through a computer communications network. Of a plurality of advertisements provided by an advertisement provider, a server computer selects a suitable advertisement for each advertisement user, in accordance with advertisement providing condition based on advertisement attribute information and advertisement user condition based on ad-user attributes of each ad user. The server computer transmits the selected advertisement data to each ad user through the communications network. Upon reception of the advertisement data form the server computer, the advertisement user print and issues the received advertisement on a receipt which is to be given to customer after each business transaction.

Claims

1. An advertisement distribution system which receives advertisement contents from at least one advertisement provider through a communications network, and provides at least one advertisement user with the received advertisement contents through the communication network, said system comprising:

an advertising information storage unit which stores advertisement contents received from the at least one advertisement provider in association with advertisement provider information for controlling provision of an advertisement and corresponding to the received advertisement contents;

an advertisement-user information storage unit which stores advertisement usage information for specifying a desired advertisement of the at least one advertisement user;

an advertisement extraction unit which extracts advertisement contents corresponding to advertisement provider information in association with the stored advertisement usage information; and

a transmission unit which transmits the advertisement contents extracted by said advertisement extraction unit to the at least one advertisement user having requested the advertisement contents,

wherein the advertisement provider information includes an advertisement providing condition which is to be specified by the at least one advertisement provider for predetermined advertisement contents;

the advertisement user information includes an advertisement specification condition which is to be specified by the at least one advertisement user;

the advertisement extraction unit searches an advertisement providing condition conforming to the input advertisement specification condition, and retrieves advertisement contents corresponding to the advertisement provider information including the searched advertisement providing condition;

said advertisement extraction unit includes an advertisement selection unit which selects, when more than a predetermined number of items of advertisement provider information including the searched advertisement providing condition are retrieved, a predetermined number of items of advertisement provider information included in the retrieved items of advertisement provider information; and

said advertisement selection unit generates, when more than a predetermined number of items of the advertisement provider information are retrieved, a predetermined number of random numbers which corresponds to the number of the retrieved items of advertisement provider information, and selects a predetermined number of items of advertisement provider information corresponding to the generated random numbers.

2. An advertisement distribution system which receives advertisement contents from at least one advertisement provider through a communications network, and provides at least one advertisement user with the received advertisement contents through the communications network, said system comprising:

an advertisement information storage unit which stores advertisement contents received from the at least one advertisement provider in association with advertisement provider information for controlling provision of an advertisement and corresponding to the received advertisement contents;

an advertisement user information storage unit which stores advertisement usage information for specifying a desired advertisement of the at least one advertisement user;

an advertisement extraction unit which extracts advertisement contents corresponding to advertisement provider information in association with the stored advertisement usage information; and

a transmission unit which transmits the advertisement contents extracted by said advertisement extraction unit to the at least one advertisement user having requested the advertisement contents,

wherein the advertisement provider information includes an advertisement providing condition which is to be specified by the at least one advertisement provider for predetermined advertisement contents;

the advertisement user information includes an advertisement specification condition which is to be specified by the at least one advertisement user;

the advertisement extraction unit searches an advertisement providing condition conforming to the input advertisement specification condition, and retrieves advertisement contents corresponding to the advertisement provider information including the searched advertisement providing condition; and

said advertisement extraction unit includes a changing unit, which changes an item parameter included in the advertisement specification condition when a number of items of advertisement provider information including the advertisement providing condition does not reach a predetermined number, so as to search the advertisement providing condition conforming to the changed item parameter included in the advertisement specification condition.

3. The advertisement distribution system according to claim 2, wherein said changing unit repeatedly changes a corresponding item parameter included in the advertisement specification condition, until the number of items of advertisement provider information extracted by said advertisement extraction unit reaches the predetermined number.

4. A method for receiving advertising contents sent from an advertisement provider using an advertisement provider terminal through a communications network, and sending the received advertisement contents to at least one advertisement user from an advertisement server, said method comprising the steps of:

storing the advertisement contents sent from the advertisement provider using the advertisement provider terminal and advertisement attribute information in association with each other;

storing advertisement user information sent from the at least one advertisement user using the sent advertisement contents;

retrieving advertisement attribute information conforming to the stored advertisement user information, and extracting advertisement contents corresponding to the retrieved advertisement attribute information;

sending the extracted advertisement contents to the at least one advertisement user;

receiving predetermined advertisement contents sent from said advertisement server to the at least one advertisement user and advertisement attribute information corresponding to the predetermined advertisement contents, and storing the received advertisement contents and the advertisement attribute information sequentially in received order;

outputting and specifying one of the advertisement contents included in the stored advertisement contents, when using an advertisement;

outputting the advertisement contents specified by said outputting step;

updating and retaining, every time the advertisement content is output by said outputting step, advertisement-usage-context management information corresponding to the advertisement content;

sending the advertisement usage context management information retained by said updating and retaining step to said advertisement server at predetermined intervals;

obtaining a number of output advertisement contents included in the advertisement usage context management information sent to said advertisement server from said at least one advertisement user in said sending step;

determining whether the obtained number of output advertisement contents exceeds a maximum number of to be provided advertisement included in the stored advertisement attribute information; and

when it is determined that the obtained number of output advertisement contents has exceeded the maximum number of to-be provided advertisements, removing the advertisement content from target advertisement contents to be extracted by said extracting step.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

calculating an amount of money which is charged for advertisement charges toward the advertisement provider, based on the obtained number of output advertisement contents which is obtained by said calculating step; and

issuing a bill representing the amount of money which is calculated by said calculating step, to said advertisement provider.

6. The method according to claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

calculating a payment amount to be paid to the advertisement user, based on the obtained number of output advertisement contents obtained by said obtaining step; and

issuing a payment statement representing the payment amount to be paid which is calculated by said calculating step.

7. A computer readable recording medium which records a program for controlling a computer function as:

an advertisement information storage unit which stores advertisement contents received from the at least one advertisement provider in association with advertisement provider information for controlling provision of an advertisement and corresponding to the received advertisement contents;

an advertisement user information storage unit which stores advertisement usage information for specifying a desired advertisement of the at least one advertisement user;

an advertisement extraction unit which extracts advertisement contents corresponding to advertisement provider information in association with the stored advertisement usage information; and

a transmission unit which transmits the advertisement contents extracted by said advertisement extraction unit to the at least one advertisement user having requested the advertisement contents,

wherein the advertisement provider information includes an advertisement providing condition which is to be specified by the at least one advertisement provider for predetermined advertisement contents;

the advertisement user information includes an advertisement-specification condition which is to be specified by the at least one advertisement user;

the advertisement extraction unit searches an advertisement providing condition conforming to the input advertisement-specification condition, and retrieves advertisement contents corresponding to the advertisement provider information including the searched advertisement providing condition;

said advertisement extraction unit includes an advertisement selection unit which selects, when more than a predetermined number of items of advertisement provider information including the searched advertisement providing condition are retrieved, a predetermined number of items of advertisement provider information included in the retrieved items of advertisement provider information; and

said advertisement selection unit generates, when more than a predetermined number of items of the advertisement provider information are retrieved, a predetermined number of random numbers which corresponds to the number of the retrieved items of advertisement provider information, and selects a predetermined number of items of advertisement provider information corresponding to the generated random numbers.

8. A computer readable recording medium which records a program for controlling a computer function as:

an advertisement information storage unit which stores advertisement contents received from the at least one advertisement provider in association with advertisement provider information for controlling provision of an advertisement and corresponding to the received advertisement contents;

an advertisement user information storage unit which stores advertisement usage information for specifying a desired advertisement of the at least one advertisement user;

an advertisement extraction unit which extracts advertisement contents corresponding to advertisement provider information in association with the stored advertisement usage information; and

a transmission unit which transmits the advertisement contents extracted by said advertisement extraction unit to the at least one advertisement user having requested the advertisement contents,

wherein the advertisement provider information includes an advertisement providing condition which is to be specified by the at least one advertisement provider for predetermined advertisement contents;

the advertisement user information includes an advertisement-specification condition which is to be specified by the at least one advertisement user;

the advertisement extraction unit searches an advertisement providing condition conforming to the input advertisement-specification condition, and retrieves advertisement contents corresponding to the advertisement provider information including the searched advertisement providing condition; and

said advertisement extraction unit includes a changing unit, which changes an item parameter included in the advertisement specification condition when a number of items of advertisement provider information including the advertisement providing condition does not reach a predetermined number, so as to search the advertisement providing condition conforming to the changed item parameter included in the advertisement specification condition.