Displaying advertisements in a computer network environment

• US 7,962,604 B1
• Filed: 10/17/2000
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo AD Tech LLC
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Steele, Colin, Morris, Harry W., Watkins, Bob, Lippke, David Lowell, Bosco, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tiv; Backhean
• Application Number:
  US09/690,007
• Time in Patent Office: 3,892 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/225, 709/232, 709/229, 725/10, 725/18, 725/29, 725/42, 705/7, 705/10, 705/14
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0243 Comparative campaigns
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A method of presenting advertising to viewers in a computer network environment includes monitoring a viewer'"'"'s interactions with an associated computer system, and adjusting a timing of displayed advertisements on the viewer'"'"'s associated computer system based on one or more of the viewer'"'"'s monitored interactions.

Claims

1. A method of presenting advertising to viewers in a computer network environment, the method comprising:

monitoring a viewer'"'"'s interactions with an associated computer system; and

based on the viewer'"'"'s monitored interactions, varying a first amount of display time for which a later displayed advertisement is to be displayed on the viewer'"'"'s associated computer system, the first amount of display time being different than a second amount of display time for which the later displayed advertisement is to be displayed on another viewer'"'"'s associated computer system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting an ad expiration tuning parameter configured to set a quantity of time for which an advertisement is available for display.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting a maximum display count configured to set a maximum number of times to display an advertisement to a user viewing a batch of ads.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein varying the first amount of display time for which the later displayed advertisement is displayed comprises adjusting a minimum display time configured to set a minimum amount of time to display the later displayed advertisement before another advertisement is displayed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein further comprising adjusting an idle delay configured to cause a delay from the time a user has gone idle before a first advertisement is replaced with another advertisement.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting an active delay configured to cause a delay from the time a user goes active before displaying another advertisement.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting an idle (no spin) parameter configured to stop the display of a first advertisement from being replaced with the display of another advertisement after a user goes idle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the viewer'"'"'s interactions with the associated computer system comprises monitoring a use of a computer mouse.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the viewer'"'"'s interactions with the associated computer system comprises monitoring a use of a computer keyboard.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the viewer'"'"'s interactions with the associated computer system comprises monitoring an auditory signal.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the auditory signal is the viewer'"'"'s voice.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the viewer'"'"'s interactions with the associated computer system comprises monitoring a maximization and a minimization status of a screen displaying advertising.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the viewer'"'"'s interactions with the associated computer system comprises monitoring a viewer'"'"'s use of a device that sends an input, or causes an input to be sent, to the associated computer system.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the timing of displayed advertisements on a screen displaying advertising is configured to not switch between advertisements if the screen displaying advertisements is minimized or occluded.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the viewer'"'"'s interactions with the associated computer system includes continually monitoring, during operation of the associated computer system, the viewer'"'"'s interactions with the associated computer system.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the viewer'"'"'s interactions with the associated computer system includes monitoring the viewer'"'"'s interactions with the associated computer system that are unrelated to a manual adjustment of the timing of the displayed advertisements.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the timing of the later displayed advertisements includes varying lengths of time during which the advertisements are displayed on an advertisement-by-advertisement basis.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring a viewer'"'"'s interactions comprises monitoring a viewer'"'"'s interactions other than interactions indicating an amount of display time for which a later displayed advertisement is to be displayed on the viewer'"'"'s associated computer system.

19. The method of claim 1 monitoring a viewer'"'"'s interactions comprises monitoring a viewer'"'"'s interactions with an application operating on the viewer'"'"'s associated computer system, the application being other than an application for indicating the first amount of display time for which a later displayed advertisement is to be displayed on the viewer'"'"'s associated computer system.

20. A computer-readable storage medium device storing a program for presenting advertising to viewers in a computer network environment, the program comprising:

a monitoring code segment that cause a computer to monitor a viewer'"'"'s interactions with an associated computer system; and

an adjusting code segment that, based on the viewer'"'"'s monitored interactions determined amount of time, causes the computer to vary a first amount of display time for which a later displayed advertisement is to be displayed on the viewer'"'"'s associated computer system, the varied first amount of display time being different than a second amount of display time for which the later displayed advertisement is to be displayed on another viewer'"'"'s associated computer system.

21. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the adjusting code segment further causes the computer to adjust an ad expiration tuning parameter that sets the quantity of time for which an advertisement is available for display.

22. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the adjusting code segment further causes the computer to adjust a maximum display count that sets a maximum number of times to display an advertisement to any individual user viewing a batch of advertisements.

23. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the adjusting code segment causes the computer to adjust a minimum display time that sets a minimum amount of time to display an advertisement before another advertisement is displayed.

24. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the adjusting code segment further causes the computer to adjust an idle delay that causes a delay from the time a user has gone idle before a first advertisement is replaced with another advertisement.

25. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the adjusting code segment further causes the computer to adjust an active delay that causes a delay from the time a user goes active before displaying another advertisement.

26. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the adjusting code segment further causes the computer to adjust an idle (no spin) parameter that stops the display of a first advertisement from being replaced with the display of another advertisement after a user goes idle.

27. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the monitoring code segment causes the computer to monitor a viewer'"'"'s interactions with an associated computer system by monitoring a use of a computer mouse.

28. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the monitoring code segment causes the computer to monitor a viewer'"'"'s interactions with an associated computer system by monitoring a use of a computer keyboard.

29. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the monitoring code segment causes the computer to monitor a viewer'"'"'s interactions with an associated computer system by monitoring a maximization and a minimization status of a screen displaying advertising.

30. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the monitoring code segment causes the computer to monitor a viewer'"'"'s interactions with an associated computer system by monitoring a viewer'"'"'s use of a device that sends an input, or causes an input to be sent, to the associated computer system.

31. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the monitoring code segment causes the computer to monitor a viewer'"'"'s auditory interactions with an associated computer system by monitoring auditory signals.

32. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 31, wherein the auditory signal is the viewer'"'"'s voice.

33. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the timing of displayed advertisements on a screen displaying advertising is configured to not switch between advertisements if the screen displaying advertisements is minimized or occluded.

34. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the monitoring code segment causes the computer to monitor continually, during operation of the associated computer system, the viewer'"'"'s interactions with the associated computer system.

35. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the monitoring code segment causes the computer to monitor continually, during operation of the associated computer system, the viewer'"'"'s interactions with the associated computer system that arc unrelated to a manual adjustment of the timing of the displayed advertisements.

36. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20, wherein the adjusting code segment causes the computer to adjust the timing of the later displayed advertisements by varying lengths of time during which the advertisements are displayed on an advertisement-by-advertisement basis.

37. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20 wherein the monitoring code segment causes the computer to monitor a viewer'"'"'s interactions other than interactions indicating the first amount of display time for which a later displayed advertisement is to be displayed on the viewer'"'"'s associated computer system.

38. The computer-readable storage medium device of claim 20 wherein the monitoring code segment causes the computer to monitor a viewer'"'"'s interactions with an application operating on the viewer'"'"'s associated computer system, the application being other than an application for indicating the first amount of display time for which a later displayed advertisement is to be displayed on the viewer'"'"'s associated computer system.

39. A method of optimizing a click-through rate of a user viewing content in a computer network environment, the method comprising:

downloading advertisements and a set of tuning parameters to a user'"'"'s computer, wherein the set of tuning parameters are configured to cause a display of a first advertisement on the user'"'"'s computer to be changed to a display of another advertisement on the user'"'"'s computer by varying a first amount of display time for which the later displayed advertisement is to be displayed based on a user'"'"'s activity with respect to the user'"'"'s computer, the varied first amount of display time being different than a second amount of display time for which the later displayed advertisement is to be displayed on another viewer'"'"'s associated computer system;

storing click-through information for the advertisements; and

sending the click-through information to a host computer.

40. The method of claim 39, further comprising:

varying the tuning parameters downloaded to the user'"'"'s computer; and

utilizing a correlation technique to determine a correlation between the tuning parameters downloaded to the user'"'"'s computer and a click-through rate of the user.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising setting another set of tuning parameters based on the correlation between the tuning parameters and the user click-through rate.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein the tuning parameters are configured to vary lengths of time during which the advertisements are displayed on an advertisement-by-advertisement basis.

43. A method of displaying advertisements to users, the method comprising:

accessing data related to a particular user'"'"'s interactions with a computer system used by the particular user;

based on the accessed data related to the particular user'"'"'s interactions with the computer system used by the particular user, determining an amount of time to display advertisements to the particular user;

identifying an advertisement to be displayed to the particular user;

accessing, from electronic storage, advertisement display attributes configured to control display of the identified advertisement, the advertisement display attributes including a general timing attribute that indicates an amount of time to display the advertisement to users;

adjusting the general timing attribute based on the determined amount of time to display advertisements to the particular user;

associating the adjusted general timing attribute with the advertisement to be displayed to the particular user as a user-specific timing attribute that indicates the amount of time to display the advertisement to the particular user; and

causing a display of the advertisement to the particular user on the computer system used by the particular user such that the advertisement is displayed for the amount of time indicated by the user-specific timing attribute.