Serving content-targeted ADS in e-mail, such as e-mail newsletters
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for determining content-relevant ads once an e-mail document is rendered on a client device, the method comprising:
- a) providing, from the client device, a document identifier in an ad request to a content-relevant ad server;
b) using, at the content-relevant ad server, content-relevance information associated with the document identifier and ad information to determine a set of one or more ads;
c) generating an image including the one or more ads of the determined set;
d) providing the generated image and a session identifier to the client device;
e) rendering, with the client device, the image in the document;
f) detecting a user action with respect to the rendered image; and
g) in response to the detection of the user action with respect to the rendered image, sending the session identifier and position information to the content-relevant ad server,wherein the image includes at least two ads,wherein the user action is a user selection of one of the at least two ads included within the image, andwherein the position information is a position of a cursor within the image at the time of a user selection.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Content-targeted ads are served with e-mail. A unique content identifier (“CUID”) is included in the content. A client device passes the CUID to an ad server in a an ad request. The ad server uses the CUID to identify previously registered content for determining content-relevant ads. Current information may be used when choosing and/or ordering ads. Thus, ads can be chosen and generated when the user “opens” the e-mail. An ad image may display ads in the document. Ad impression information may be encoded in a unique identifier, returned along with the ad image. The ad image and unique identifier may be provided to a client device. This unique identifier and an image map click position may be returned to the ad server upon ad selection. The ad server may use the returned information to determine the selected ad.
65 Citations
33 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method for determining content-relevant ads once an e-mail document is rendered on a client device, the method comprising:
-
a) providing, from the client device, a document identifier in an ad request to a content-relevant ad server; b) using, at the content-relevant ad server, content-relevance information associated with the document identifier and ad information to determine a set of one or more ads; c) generating an image including the one or more ads of the determined set; d) providing the generated image and a session identifier to the client device; e) rendering, with the client device, the image in the document; f) detecting a user action with respect to the rendered image; and g) in response to the detection of the user action with respect to the rendered image, sending the session identifier and position information to the content-relevant ad server, wherein the image includes at least two ads, wherein the user action is a user selection of one of the at least two ads included within the image, and wherein the position information is a position of a cursor within the image at the time of a user selection. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 22, 25)
-
-
8. Apparatus for determining content-relevant ads once an e-mail document is rendered on a client device, the apparatus comprising:
-
a) an input for accepting, from the client device, a document identifier in an ad request; b) using content-relevance information associated with the document identifier and ad information to determine a set of one or more ads; c) generating an image including the one or more ads of the determined set; d) forwarding the generated image and a session identifier to the client device, wherein, the generated image and session identifier include information which facilitates having the client device send the session identifier and position information to the content-relevant ad server in response to the detection of the user action with respect to the image as rendered on the client device, wherein the image includes at least two ads, wherein the user action is a user selection of one of the at least two ads included within the image, and wherein the position information is a position of a cursor within the image at the time of a user selection. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 23, 26)
-
-
15. A computer-implemented method for determining content-relevant ads once an e-mail document is rendered on a client device, the method comprising:
-
a) accepting, from the client device, a document identifier in an ad request to a content-relevant ad server; b) using content-relevance information associated with the document identifier and ad information to determine a set of one or more ads; c) generating an image including the one or more ads of the determined set; d) forwarding the generated image and a session identifier to the client device; and e) accepting, from the client device, the session identifier and position information, wherein the image includes at least two ads, wherein the user action is a user selection of one of the at least two ads included within the image, and wherein the position information is a position of a cursor within the image at the time of a user selection. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 27)
-
-
28. A computer-implemented method for determining content-relevant ads once an e-mail document is rendered on a client device, the method comprising:
-
a) providing, from the client device, a document identifier in an ad request to a content-relevant ad server; b) using, at the content-relevant ad server, content-relevance information associated with the document identifier and ad information to determine a set of at least two ads; c) generating an image including at least two ads of the determined set of at least two ads; d) providing the generated image and a session identifier to the client device; e) rendering, with the client device, the image in the document; f) detecting a user selection within the rendered image; g) in response to the detection of the user action with respect to the rendered image, sending the session identifier and position information to the content-relevant ad server; and h) using the sent session identifier and position information to determine a particular ad that was selected by the user. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30)
-
-
31. A computer-implemented method for determining content-relevant ads once an e-mail document is rendered on a client device, the method comprising:
-
a) accepting, from the client device, a document identifier in an ad request to a content-relevant ad server; b) using content-relevance information associated with the document identifier and ad information to determine a set of at least two ads; c) generating an image including at least two ads of the determined set of at least two ads; d) forwarding the generated image and a session identifier to the client device; e) accepting, from the client device, the session identifier and position information responsive to a user selection within the image; and f) using the session identifier and position information to determine a particular ad that was selected by the user. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33)
-
Specification