System and method for selectively acquiring and targeting online advertising based on user IP address

• US 7,376,714 B1
• Filed: 04/01/2004
• Issued: 05/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stripe, Inc.
• Original Assignee: David A. Gerken
• Inventors: Gerken, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, David Y.
• Application Number:
  US10/817,593
• Time in Patent Office: 1,510 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/223, 709/227, 705/14
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and method for selectively acquiring and targeting online advertising inventory based on users'"'"' Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. In one aspect of the invention, Web publishers are made aware of IP addresses of interest, determined by matching attributes of current Internet users for whom IP addresses are known and targeting attributes of ad campaigns. Then, for each site visitor from one of said IP addresses, publishers choose whether to supply ad inventory to fulfill the immediate demand. Another aspect of the invention provides for targeting of online ads based on updated user IP addresses and some associated personal data provided by ISPs. An embodiment of the invention provides for a localized online advertising network in which ad inventory is selectively acquired from web sites, as required to fulfill immediate advertiser demand, and targeted by user zip code, as registered with users'"'"' ISPs.

Claims

1. A method of targeting Internet advertising to one or more users operatively connected to the Internet via at least one Internet Service Provider wherein each of the one or more users has a browser adapted to visit a web publisher, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, from the at least one Internet Service Provider, for each of the one or more users;

(i) a user Internet Protocol address and (ii) a user attribute vector;

(b) receiving, from the browser of at least one visitor of the one or more users, to a web publisher'"'"'s site, an advertisement request;

(c) determining an attribute vector of a first visitor, of the at least one visitor, by comparing for a match of the Internet Protocol address of the first visitor and each of the Internet Protocol addresses of the one or more users;

(d) generating an advertisement targeting one or more attributes of the first visitor, wherein the generating step comprises comparing a targeting attribute of at least one current advertising campaign to a first attribute of one or more attributes of the first visitor for a match; and

(e) transmitting said advertisement to the first visitor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving, from the at least one Internet Service Provider, is repeated as each received user attribute vector is updated.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving, from the at least one Internet Service Provider, is repeated as each received Internet Protocol address is assigned to a new user by the Internet Service Provider.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the user attribute vector associated with each of the one or more users comprises a user zip code.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of generating the advertisement further comprises selecting an advertisement from among existing advertisement content.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of generating the advertisement further comprises customizing existing advertisement content.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of generating the advertisement further comprises creating advertisement content.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of generating the advertisement uses the user attribute vector in combination with secondary data wherein the secondary data is provided in a request via the browser.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the secondary data comprises at least a portion of a search query entered by the first visitor.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the generated advertisement appears on a web page having content and the secondary data comprises a classification of the content of the web page for which the advertisement is generated.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the advertisement is a display ad.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the advertisement is a paid search result.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the advertisement is a text link.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the browser is executed by a personal computer.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the browser is executed by a web-enabled personal mobile appliance.

16. A method for selectively procuring online advertising space from a web publisher hosting at least one web page contemporaneously requested by at least one Internet user, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) identifying a plurality of attributes of the at least one Internet user comprising an Internet Protocol address and a first attribute;

(b) comparing a targeting attribute of at least one current advertising campaign to the first attribute of the plurality of attributes of the at least one Internet user for a match;

(c) retrieving the Internet Protocol address of each of the at least one Internet user having a matched first attribute; and

(d) notifying, by a procuring system, the web publisher of the retrieved Internet Protocol address of each of the at least one Internet user having a matched first attribute, wherein the web publisher includes an ad tag for the procuring system in at least one web page served to the at least one Internet user having a matched first attribute.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the procuring system is an online advertising network.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the procuring system is a third-party ad server.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein at least one of the plurality of attributes of each of the at least one Internet user is updatable wherein updates to the at least one of the plurality of attributes are provided by one or more Internet Service Providers.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein one or more numerical values are associated with the retrieved Internet Protocol address of each of the at least one Internet user having a matched first attribute, thereby indicating to the web publisher a compensation amount offered to the web publisher for providing ad inventory of a specified format for the retrieved Internet Protocol address of each of the at least one Internet user having a matched first attribute.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of notifying comprises transmitting the retrieved Internet Protocol address of each of the at least one Internet user having a matched first attribute to the web publisher.

22. The method of claim 16 wherein a confirmation request is a web publisher-provided Internet Protocol address and wherein the method further comprises the step of receiving at least one confirmation request as to whether the provided Internet Protocol address is a retrieved Internet Protocol address and wherein the step of notifying comprises responding to the at least one confirmation request.

23. In a distributed network comprising at least one web publisher supplying advertising inventory and one or more users operatively connected to the Internet via an Internet Service Provider wherein each of the one or more users has a browser adapted to visit a web publisher, the method comprising the steps of:

providing at least one processor executing the steps of;

receiving, from one or more Internet Service Providers, one or more Internet Protocol address-to-user attribute vectors, wherein each vector comprises an Internet Protocol address associated with a user and one or more user attributes;

receiving, from one or more advertisers, advertisement content targeting one or more user attributes;

determining the one or more users to receive said advertisement content by comparing for a match of at least one targeted attribute with at least one user attribute of the one or more Internet Protocol address-to-user attribute vectors received from one or more Internet Service Providers; and

notifying the at least one web publisher of the one or more Internet Protocol addresses associated with each of the one or more Internet Protocol address-to-user attribute vectors having at least one user attribute matched with the at least one targeted attribute.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of responding to one or more queries of the at least one web publisher as to whether the one or more Internet Protocol addresses associated with each of the one or more Internet Protocol address-to-user attribute vectors, having at least one attribute matched with the at least one targeted attribute, matches an Internet Protocol address of one or more users visiting the at least one web publisher.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the one or more user attributes comprises a zip code.