Determining a minimum price

• US 7,349,876 B1
• Filed: 01/24/2003
• Issued: 03/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Veach, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): WEISBERGER, RICHARD C
• Application Number:
  US10/350,898
• Time in Patent Office: 1,887 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 45
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

Different minimum prices are assigned to different ad serving constraints (such as keywords, geolocations, serving times, etc.). A single auction minimum price may be determined for an auction using the minimum prices assigned to satisfied serving constraints of ads participating in the auction.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining and applying a uniform auction-wide minimum price, the method comprising:

a) receiving at least two serving constraints satisfying serving parameters associated with an ad serve trigger, of entities participating in an auction;

b) reading from a storage device, at least two minimum prices associated with the at least two serving constraints;

c) providing each of the at least two minimum prices as input to an operation, to generate an output defining the uniform auction-wide minimum price; and

e) controlling serving of the entities by applying the uniform auction-wide minimum price to each of the entities participating in the auction such that each of the entities participating in the auction is subject to meeting the determined uniform auction-wide minimum price.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the entities are advertisements and the serving constraints are selected from a group consisting of (A) words, (B) phrases, (C) locations, and (D) times.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 wherein the minimum prices are selected from a group consisting of (A) a minimum price per impression, (B) a minimum price per selection, and (C) a minimum price per conversion.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the operation determines, as the output, an average of the input at least two minimum prices.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the operation determines, as the output, a maximum of the input at least two minimum prices.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the operation determines, as the output, a minimum of the input at least two minimum prices.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the operation determines, as the output, a median of the input at least two minimum prices.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a) determining a first set of one or more advertisements that have used a particular first serving constraint;

b) determining first cost information associated with the particular first serving constraint by each of the determined first set of one or more advertisements;

c) determining a first minimum cost using the determined cost information;

d) storing, in a storage device, the first determined minimum cost in association with the particular first serving constraint;

e) determining a second set of one or more advertisements that have used a particular second serving constraint;

f) determining second cost information associated with the particular second serving constraint by each of the determined second set of one or more advertisements;

g) determining a second minimum cost using the determined cost information;

h) storing, in the storage device, the second determined minimum cost in association with the particular second serving constraint;

i) reading from the storage device, the determined first and second minimum costs for use in an auction having at least one participating advertisement with the particular first serving constraint satisfied and at least one participating advertisement with the particular second serving constraint satisfied;

j) providing the first and second minimum costs as input to an operation to generate an output defining a uniform minimum price for the auction; and

l) controlling serving of each of the advertisements by applying the determined uniform auction minimum price to each of the advertisements participating in the auction such that each of the advertisements participating in the auction are subject to meeting the determined uniform auction minimum price.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the first and second cost information are offers associated with the particular first and second serving constraints, and wherein the operation outputs one of (A) an average of the offers, and (B) a weighted average of the offers.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the first and second cost information are offers associated with the particular first and second serving constraints, and wherein each of the offers is selected from a group of offers consisting of (A) an offer per impression, (B) an offer per selection, and (C) an offer per conversion.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the first and second cost information are paid prices associated with the particular first and second serving constraints, and wherein the operation outputs one of (A) an average of the paid prices, and (B) a weighted average of the paid prices.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the first and second cost information are paid prices associated with the particular first and second serving constraints, and wherein each of the paid prices is selected from a group consisting of (A) a paid price per impression, (B) a paid price per selection, and (C) a paid price per conversion.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the first and second cost information are paid prices associated with the particular first and second serving constraints, and wherein the operation outputs a minimum price that would preserve at least a predetermined percentage of revenue from existing advertisers.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the first and second cost information are offers associated with the particular first and second serving constraints, and wherein the operation outputs a minimum price that would preserve at least a predetermined percentage of revenue from existing advertisers.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the first and second cost information are paid prices associated with the particular first and second serving constraints, and wherein the output of the operation maximizes a revenue function.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 wherein the first and second cost information are offers associated with the particular first and second serving constraints, and wherein the output of the operation maximizes a revenue function.