System and method of providing advertisements to Wi-Fi devices

• US 7,778,873 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2005
• Issued: 08/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Crolley, C. Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Jasmin; Lynda
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHORNESKY, ADAM B
• Application Number:
  US11/110,980
• Publication Number:
  US 20060242010A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,945 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/10, 705/14.64, 705/14.4, 705/14.46, 705/14.69, 705/14.7
• US Class Current: 705/14.64
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

A method of advertising is disclosed an includes monitoring at least one Wi-Fi access point of a Wi-Fi network. Also, the method includes identifying at least one Wi-Fi device after the at least one Wi-Fi device associates with the Wi-Fi access point and determining at least one type of media file that is supported by the Wi-Fi device. Further, the method includes transmitting at least one advertisement to the device that is specific to the location of the Wi-Fi access point. The advertisement is transmitted in a format that corresponds to the at least one type of media file supported by the Wi-Fi device.

Claims

1. A method of advertising, the method comprising:

determining at least one type of media file format supported by each of a first wireless device and a second wireless device when the first wireless device and the second wireless device enter a coverage area of a wireless data access point;

transmitting at least one advertisement for an advertising entity to the first wireless device via the wireless data access point in a first format that complies with the at least one type of media file format supported by the first wireless device;

transmitting at least one advertisement for the advertising entity to the second wireless device via the wireless data access point in a different format than the first format, wherein the at least one advertisement sent to the second wireless device is transmitted in the at least one type of media file format supported by the second wireless device; and

generating a billing report for the advertising entity based on the first format of the at least one advertisement transmitted to the first wireless device and the different format of the at least one advertisement transmitted to the second wireless device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless data access point is deployed adjacent to a freeway exit and the at least one advertisement transmitted to the first wireless device is associated with a business accessible via the freeway exit.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring the at least one advertisement sent to the first wireless device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising generating a usage report based on the at least one advertisement sent to the first wireless device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring movement of the first wireless device within a wireless data network and transmitting a plurality of advertisements to the first wireless device, wherein the plurality of advertisements comply with the at least one type of media file format supported by the first wireless device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the movement of the first wireless device is monitored based on a plurality of time and date stamps.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising polling the first wireless device in order to determine the at least one type of media file format supported by the first wireless device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying a database with a wireless device identification in order to determine the at least one type of media file format supported by the first wireless device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying a database with a make and model of the first wireless device in order to determine the at least one type of media file format supported by the first wireless device.

10. A system, comprising:

at least one wireless data access point along a road;

a database including a plurality of advertisements, wherein at least one advertisement of the plurality of advertisements is associated with a business located along the road, and wherein the at least one advertisement is associated with an advertising entity and is stored as multiple media file formats;

a server coupled to the database and having access to the at least one wireless data access point, the server comprising;

a processor;

a computer readable medium accessible to the processor; and

a computer program embedded within the computer readable medium, the computer program comprising;

instructions to determine at least one type of media file format supported by a wireless device after the wireless device associates with the at least one wireless data access point;

instructions to transmit the at least one advertisement to the wireless device via the at least one wireless data access point, wherein the at least one advertisement is transmitted as a media file format from the multiple media file formats, wherein the media file format is supported by the wireless device;

instructions to track the media file formats of advertisements for the advertising entity sent to wireless devices via the at least one wireless access point; and

instructions to generate a billing report for the advertising entity based at least partially on the tracked media file formats.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one advertisement is specific to an exit from the road that is not located within a coverage area provided by the wireless data access point.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer program further comprises instructions to charge the advertising entity for a transmitted advertisement based on whether the wireless device is located within the coverage area provided by the wireless data access point.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the billing report includes a higher price for tracked media file formats that include voice and video than for tracked media formats that do not include voice and video.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the media file format of the at least one advertisement transmitted to the wireless device corresponds to a service tier of a service level agreement.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the service tier is lower than a second service tier, wherein advertisements in the second service tier includes video and voice.

16. A server, comprising:

a processor;

a computer readable medium accessible to the processor; and

a computer program embedded within the computer readable medium, the computer program comprising;

instructions to determine one or more types of media file formats that are supported by a wireless device in communication with a wireless data access point;

instructions to transmit one or more advertisements to the wireless device as the wireless device moves along a road within a vehicle, the one or more advertisements transmitted in media file formats supported by the wireless device;

instructions to track which types of media file formats of a plurality of media formats available for a particular advertisement associated with an advertising entity are sent to each wireless device of a plurality of wireless devices associated with the wireless data access point; and

instructions to generate a billing report for the advertising entity based on which types of media file formats for the particular advertisement are sent to the plurality of wireless devices.

17. The server of claim 16, further comprising a database, the database storing a plurality of advertisements associated with one or more businesses located along the road.

18. The server of claim 17, wherein each of the plurality of advertisements is stored in multiple formats associated with multiple types of media files.

19. The server of claim 16, wherein the instructions to transmit one or more advertisements to the wireless device comprise instructions to transmit the one or more advertisements when the wireless device is in a coverage range of the wireless data access point.

20. The server of claim 16, wherein the one or more advertisements comprise a particular advertisement for a business near the road, and wherein the instructions to transmit the one or more advertisements to the wireless device comprise:

instructions to transmit the particular advertisement when the business is open; and

instructions to not send the particular advertisement when the business is closed.